Transferred to Montero with Elder Taco!

Hola, 

So I don't have a ton of time it here it is:

Carnaval (a festival in Latin America) was wild. Just spent 3 days sleeping, eating, working out, studying, and playing board games. We played chess and a Spanish board game version of Trivia Crack called Preguntas hahaha. Also, tried to make bread.... without measuring ingredients...and without yeast.....or an oven. Needless to say, the result was interesting (kind of like crapes??) hahaha but delicious!

We found out about transfers. I got moved to a little city outside of Santa Cruz called Montero. I hated to leave and I miss Universitario, but I'm loving my new area. My companion is Elder Taco from Peru! Kinda wish my name was Elder Bell  hahaha

Out of time so I'll tell you guys more about my area and comp next week.

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 ​Parts of a beautiful talk that I read by Elder David A. Bednar. I included the link if you want to read all of it.

President David O. McKay (1873–1970): “The purpose of the gospel is … to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature.”

The enabling power of the Atonement of Christ strengthens us to do things we could never do on our own.

The Savior has suffered not just for our iniquities but also for the inequality, the unfairness, the pain, the anguish, and the emotional distresses that so frequently beset us. There is no physical pain, no anguish of soul, no suffering of spirit, no infirmity or weakness that you or I ever experience during our mortal journey that the Savior did not experience first. You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, “No one understands. No one knows.” No human being, perhaps, knows. But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did. And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy in so many phases of our life. He can reach out, touch, succor—literally run to us—and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do through relying upon only our own power.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/04/the-atonement-and-the-journey-of-mortality?lang=eng

Les amo,

Elder McClune

Note from Elder McClune's Sister: Derek wrote me a letter in Spanish, and I was very impressed with how much he has learned! He gave me a little more detail than he did in the blog so I translated a little bit of it:

"I am in a new area called Estadium.  It's a city outside of Santa Cruz.  My companion is Elder Taco, he's from Peru.  We get a long well and we are working really hard.  In the first three days we have 13 new investigators! (**Investigators are the term for people who are investigating the church, that the missionaries teach**).  I still miss my old area a lot, but I'm really enjoying my new area.  Elder Taco wants to learn English so I'm teaching him....Here the Spanish accent is very different.  Here they don't pronounce the "s" in words like 'estamos, vamos, buenas' etc.  Instead they say 'estamo, vamo, buena, etc...I'm also learning how to cook Bolivian food and other Latin American food.  Delicious!

...It's crazy how time passes so quickly but at the same time so slowly.  I'm working very hard.  I'm focusing and enjoying my mission, but of course I miss everyone at home, BYU, BBQ, clean water, more than one piece of toilet paper, normal milk, wrestling, and more.  But thats the mission! 

¡Vale la pena Elder McClune! (It's worth it!) He's working hard and giving his whole heart to the Lord and the people of Bolivia.  We are very proud of him!