Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Cook coming to Iquitos!!!

Mom.com,

     This week was actually really good, too!!!! We baptized another family!!!! They were so so so so funny. They both were so excited to hear and accept the gospel, but they were a very very very humble family. They both have about a second grade education level and neither of them can read or write very well. (teaching them was always interesting haha) but they progressed fast and got married and baptized this week! My dearest sister Kjirsten sent me a message and told me it made her laugh when I told her that I feel like the wedding planner haha. The weddings we plan are soooooooooooooo not by any means fabulous, but the people who we marry and baptize are some of the best people I have ever met. We don´t actually plan the weddings haha. All we do is get ALL of their papers together (which is so hard sometimes) and then the Municipalidad does the rest. To get somebody´s birth certificate, you have to go to the little pueblo where they were born (or make a sketchy fone call there) and find a way for them to send you the certificate (which is usually very impossible... it usually comes by boat along the amazon river) and for you to send them money (which is even more impossible sometimes because the small pueblos we call don´t have banks!!!! the most technology they have is 1 public phone that´s in their main city hall place...which is usually a wooden shack with a leaf-roof) haha. It´s really interesting sometimes, but it amazes me how much God blesses us and makes it possible for these people to get married and baptized.
     We had one of the coolest experiences last night! So the Gonzales family got baptized last week, but their son didn´t get confirmed cuz he was at some school activity thing. So this week he got confirmed and now they are all members haha. So we went to their house last night to take them their new members boxes (I have no idea what it really is in english... it just has a book of mormon, a bible, a picture of the lima temple, and a hymn book) and to talk about the temple. When I met the Gonzales family about 7 months ago, they never did anything together! The mom was always screaming at her kids, the dad always came home late from work without any money smelling like alcohol, and they never got along! It was so bad sometimes. When we walked into their house last night, I almost just wanted to cry. We felt the spirit. They were all in their house together just laughing and playing. They just looked so happy!! We got in and sat down with them and gave them their retention boxes and they all got so excited and opened them up and loved everything about it. After that, we  talked about the temple with them and let them see the picture of the Lima temple. Then felix, the dad, looked at us, then at his family and said ¨We will be there in 1 year¨. I know they will!! The coolest part is that they all just looked happier. So much happier. Their faces were just brighter. I wish I could send you a picture of this family, but my camera decided to get way broken!!!!!!!!!! Sorrryyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´ll show you after the mission and I know you will just fall in love with them haha.
      Ok. biggest news of the whole world. Monday, 11 June, Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Cook are coming to Iquitos, Perú!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you even believe that!!!!!!!!! THAT´S WHERE I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO SEE THEM!!!!! President Blunck just sent us all a message telling us that we get to go!!!!!!!!!!! We have no idea what he will be talking about or anything, but I am SUPER STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will be talking in one of the stake centers that is about 30 minutes away from where I live. President just told us all to be there before 6 p.m. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How crazy is that!!!!!?????? Iquitos, Perú just seems like the craziest place for an apostle to come to, but they are definitely coming!!!!!!!! Wow, I just got so excited that I got all out of energy.
      Well, that´s what´s going on in Iquitos! super excited stuff!! 1 huge favor. Remember when you guys did that thing where I asked you to send me that camelback and you sent me that? Was that hard to do? Was it super expensive? Cuz I totally totally was wondering if maybe it would be possible that you could maybe consider sending one to my companion? That would be so tight. It´s just kind of hard to carry around a water bottle everywhere and if we don´t drink water..... we´re done for. It is getting so so hot here. It is St. George hot, but with humidity. Lots of it.
     well, out of time. goodbye. I LOVE YOU.

Elder Emett (el Iquiteño)

Happiest night of his life!!!!

Dear the T-tt-t--t--t-t-t-t-tt-tt-t-

TThammss,

     Wasssssuuuuuppppppp?????????????? Gonzales family??? BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was probably one of the happiest nights of my life! I have been teaching this family and searching for their marriage papers since NOVEMBER!!! I love them so much. Their baptism was such a special moment for me. I would totally send pictures, but my computer is having like super virus problems and I don´t dare plug my camera in hahaha. It really was a good good week. We did a work visit to Nauta (the one place thats like 100km away) on friday and we stayed the night there and got to be their for their baptism on saturday morning. It was quite the experience! Then we just came back to our area and got our other family prepared thats going to get baptized next saturday.
     There is going to be a giant marriage on june 22 here in Iquitos and it´s going to be absolutely FREE!!!! That will be so nice for all these people. We are preparing about 7 familias in the zone to get married that day and we set a goal of 10. I really love the focus of the mission right now. Our motto is ¨we baptize families¨. In the month of April as a mission, we baptized 40 families!!!!!!!!!! The average for the mission before that was about 7 per month. We have already baptized more families in this year than we did in the entire year of 2011. President is super stoked and all the missionaries are too. We all feel very blessed for all the work we are doing.
     Thanks for sending me all of Ben´s emails. You don´t have to send me the emails that you send to him hahahahaha, I just want to read what he says. But keep sending them!! And if you´re going to send packages and letters and all that good stuff just remember that the first part of the mission is A LOT harder than where I´m at in the mission so if you just feel like sending a random box of candy to one of your children... send it to Ben!!!!!!! And I will help you guys send him stuff when I get there cuz it really helps out so much in those first few months!
     We have a super busy week planned out! We have conferences with President Blunck here in Iquitos, and we have 2 marriages to organize before thursday!!! Have you ever seen the movie the wedding planner? I feel like that lady. She just helps out everyone to get married and she´s like the best at it. That´s exactly how I feel....... just that I´m not a lady.
     Ah man. I think the computer just gave my camera a wicked virus...... Thats a shame. I was totally going to send you all those pictures!!! oh well. big deal.
Love you!!!!!!!

Elder Emett (el Iquiteño)

Well, this is the week!!!

Maammmie,

 

     I sure did have fun talking to you all yesterday!!! What a great family I have! It was fun to hear from all 7,294 of you!!! It was way fun to hear from all the nieces and nephews even though I couldn´t really understand anything they said haha. I told Becca that I´m going to get home on her birthday hahaha (sorry!!!) and that we are going to have a race in the pool to see who wins! Should be pretty embarrassing to lose a race to my little sister! I also told Michele that we are going to go on a date so I can tell her all my mission stories (don´t tell Josh!!!) haha. And Amelia told me that she told Kimber Timber that she has to marry me! Hahahahahaha! She already has like a hundred of boyfriends. I had fun listening to you guys laugh when I told you that you can buy a crocodile or a monkey or a sloth or an owl or a snake for $7!!! Now that I think about it, that does sound ridiculous, but it´s totally normal here!! I really did enjoy talking to you all so much!

     Well, this is the week!!!!! The Gonzales family is finally getting married on friday, then baptized on saturday, then confirmed on sunday!! I am going to take at least 6 or 4 pictures! We have been working on their papers since November of 2011!! What a blessing! Then another family is going to get married on the 25th then baptized on the 26th. We were teaching them before, but then the guy left Iquitos to go to la rivera between Perú and Brasil to work for some company, but he just got back so they are going to be getting baptized too!

     I messed up on one of the reports I sent so I just spent like 43 and a half minutes fixing it and now I don´t have any more time left to write.... I love you!!!!

 

Elder Emett

 

Pictures

Zebra Cakes!!

Dude, dear mom

 

     I´m going to call you TODAY!!!!!!! We get to do what is callled a pre-call and I am super stoked!!! Wow. The zone has changed a lot! We had four missionaries leave (including my companion) and we have one new Elder who is just starting his mission out. He is from Payson, Utah. His name is Elder Brown. I don´t really know too much about him cuz I have just seen him once, but I know he will do good in his area. He has a really good companion. Sooooooo..... The Gonzales family will finally be getting baptized on the 19th!!!!!!!! and married on the 18th!!!!!!!!!! We already announced it in the newspaper! hahahaha. We´re so cool. There is another family that is going to get married on the 26th of May, too!! We are totally totally stoked! 6 people in total. And they are all just great great people. Life is better than good.

     Ok. Ok. Ok. I don´t know if I´m going to be able  to study in BYU Idaho because I NEVER TOOK THE ACT! I´m such a lame face. I will need to start out in Dixie, but I do have plans to transfer after one or two semesters. Fun eh? I wish I heard more from my baby brother jake cuz I miss him so so so dearly. I hope he likes teaching in Texas. I always wanted to know what a mission would be like in the states. So some new guy who is here in Iquitos just barely asked me how much time I have in the mission and I couldn´t believe my own words when I told him ¨19 months¨. I felt so strange!!!!!!!!!!!! I have not been gone 19 months!!! It has felt like only 6 or 4 months! Not a minute longer! But it has been a very very long time since I have seen you guys and I do start to miss you sometimes.

     TWO HUGE FAVORS!  So my new companion is from Mexico!!! Haha, don´t tell Zakk. I love my mexican companion so much and he speaks english so we have a little bit too much fun together hahahaha. His name is Elder Blanco and he is tall and dark and handsome. I just look like a little fat baby next to him hahaha. big deal. We got talking the other day about all the food we miss from home and we both mentioned Zebra Cakes. Do you know what that is? Zakk will know if you don´t. Could you please send us some!!!??? That would be the best ever!!!!! And also here in Iquitos, the rainy season is O.V.E.R. And now it is H.O.T. and I am D.Y.I.N.G. because I do not have a water bottle, but I was thinking of something that would be sooooooo much better than a dinky water bottle that I can buy from Peru. CAN YOU SEND ME A CAMEL BACK?????????????? I don´t know how much that would cost or how hard it would be to send, but you don´t even know how much I would truly truly truly appreciate that. It would be absolutely excellent. If you don´t know what a Camel Back is just ask Dad. We always used them on hikes up Pine Valley mountain and at Thunder Ridge camp (some of my favorite memories ever..... THANKS DAD!!!!!!!!!!!).

     My testimony of prayer grew a whole lot this week. There is a part in 3rd Nefi chapter 18 where Christ is teaching about prayer and he says that we can ask God for anything that is just. I have always had a big problem getting nervous in the mission. Sometimes I get nervous while I´m teaching and I don´t know what to say and sometimes I get nervous when I´m giving a talk or sharing a spiritual thought so the other night I prayed about it and just simply asked for help. On sunday, I was called on to give the spiritual thought in priesthood meeting and I had a scripture in mind  that I wanted to share, but right when I stood up, I thought of another scripture and changed my mind completely and had no idea why I changed my mind and I had no idea what i was going to share!!! Right when I started talking I just felt a peace come over me and I shared the scripture and explained it perfectly without feeling nervous or stumbling with my words. What a blessing!!!! I didn´t even feel one percent nervous! I just feel so much more confident now. So..... Prayer works!!!! I know it! I have had tons and tons of experiences with prayer in my mission, but i just wanted to share that one with you today.

     I love you all sooooooooo much. I know when I was in the house I never wanted to be with the family and do stuff together. I never wanted to participate much in family nights and I never really tried to talk to you and dad a lot to get to know you better and just spend time with you, but I´ve been able to realize in these 19 months how much you both really mean to me. How much the whole family means to me. I really love you all so much and I´m so excited to see you and give you all a big hug and tell you all about my mission.

 

Love Elder Kolby Emett

 

P.s. I´m sending two pictures.

1. Elder Harris and I right now in the internet place hahahaha

2. My new companion and his new assigment in the mission sunday morning before church.  ¨Lider de zona¨ is zone leader.

 

 Since it´s mothers day this sunday, I will be calling you today to figure out when I will be calling on sunday

 

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!