Hola
familia!!
I
am in Peru!! Can you believe it? its crazy! but first let me get
there...
Please
don´t send any packages to me in peru. they are extra expensive. they asked us
to tell you to just put money on our cards if needed. I didn{t call in Atlanta
because there were only 3 working pay phones, we only had half an hour, and a
lot of elders hadn{t reached their families at all yet. lo siento. Also, my
washing stick thing takes out most stains perfectly, except it doesn{t wash out
pen.... suggestions?
Ok
so before leaving to Peru this week, we did this thing called TRC. Its awesome-
members volunteer to come and be taught. we teach them a lesson for the family
or person through the spirit. they aren{t pretending to be investigators- we
just teach them a lesson that is necessary for them. we bring all people to
Christ- not just nonmembers. its a really great experience for all people
involved- i would recommend doing it- its fun, spiritual, and very helpful to us
missionaries!
I
cut my hair 4 inches. I didn{t get it layered because the lady was in a hurry.
it is weird not being layered haha! its ok though because i can{t straighten my
hair any more. also sorry about all the { - its right where ' is on the spanish
computers.
So
monday night we didn{t get to bed until midnight because we were packing,
weighing our bags, figuring out everything for the morning flight. it was a good
last day in America. We ate lots of good food, smelled as much fresh air as we
could, learned spanish, and had a great little district reading of the
scriptures together. I loved it! And to top it all off, we heard fireworks as we
walked back to our room at night.
Well
on Tuesday we woke up at 4:30 am because H. Seaver was leaving the MTC at 5am.
So i had to be up with her. It was fine because i had so much adrenaline. I was
really nervous to leave throughout thursday-saturday, mostly because i do not
know spanish. But on Sunday, in relief society we had this amazing lesson on the
atonement. right then and there during the lesson, I prayed and just turned over
all my fears and problems i{ve been struggling with to the Lord. I traded my
yoke for his. It was a really great experience for me- its the first time i{ve
really used the atonement to literally hand over my fears instead of trying to
deal with them myself. from that moment on, my burdens were lifted and I was
more cheerful than ive ever been at the mtc! It really felt good to replace my
worries and concerns with the Saviors yoke.
Anyways...
so I had to be on the bus out of provo at 6 am. H. Sanchez and H. Danci from my
zone walked me down. I tried to stay awake on the bus to say good bye to Utah on
the way to the airport, but I was completely out by the time we passed UVU. At
the airport, I became a companionship with Elder Petersen and Ko.... Ko
something shoot i cant remember. They are both going to my same mission! and
Elder Conrad who is serving in Peru joined us so we were a foursome all day. we
ate at mcdonalds for breakfast. we thought that was a good last american
breakfast to have. (there are three fast food places that are the same in
america and bolivia according to these elders: one burger king, and two
subways). so we enjoyed it.
On
this first flight from salt lake to atlanta, i sat next to this middle aged
gentleman on a flight for his job. I tried talking to him, but i think all of us
really made him nervous. he fell asleep (or pretended ha) and I fell asleep
pretty fast after for about 1 and a half hours.
We
weren{t in atlanta long. but as we were waiting for our flight all the
announcements at our terminal were in espanol and english. we all started
realizing how real the language change was about to get haha. the airport was
huge by the way- biggest in america. it had an underground train! it was
cool.
When
we got on the plane everything was spanish and english. one of the flight
attendants smiled really big at us and started speaking really fast in spanish.
He laughed at our faces, but im pretty sure he was saying he served a mission
too. he kept talking to me all flight about how i was feeling i think... he
didn{t say any english till i was getting off where he wished me good luck! he
was really funny and nice. We got to eat twice on this flight!!! check that off
of my bucket list: go on a long enough flight to have to eat airplane food. we
ate twice i think because we had to sit on the plane for an hour before we left,
so like it was a complementary midnight snack. it was fun! i sat next to this
girl age 22 who was going to visit family in peru. shes lived in the states
since she was 2, but she visits aunts and grandmas etc often. she was really
cool. we talked lots and lots. i learned a lot about catholic nuns, because her
aunt is one. I was really trying to follow the spirit to know what to say to
her. The hardest question she asked was "why do the guys name tags say Elder?
what is that?" haha It was a hard question. the elders in front of us tried to
help with the answer. We told her a little about the priesthood and authority
and being set apart. She thought that was cool. It was fun sitting next to her,
and I hope she will see more missionaries in the future and be that much more
prepared to talk to them :) as we started flying over South america I couldn{t
stop smiling- i am
soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to
be here!!"!!!!!!!!!
Also
she told me about the shootings in the theatre in Colorado. We{ve all been super
sad about that, and we wonder if it will be different going to movies when we
get back now?
Ok
so we get to the Peru airport at 1 am utah time- 2 am peru time. no one showed
us where to go so we pretty much wandered around trying to figure out things.
there was enough english stuff that we all found our way to some missionaries
waiting for us. we got on a bus and had a 45 minute drive to the ccm (peru mtc)
i thought i would fall alseep (i slept an hour on the second flight) but i was
so excited to be in peru!!!! The city actually doesn{t look super different from
american cities. everythings just really packed in.
So
the CCM is cool. its beautiful! minus the sky is smoggy. I{ll have to take
pictures. there{s lots of pollution down here- everyone says you just have to
get used to it. the place is beautiful though! I love that there{s only 100 or
so people here. They let us sleep in till 8:30 but its go time again. I{m not
tired at all- im too excited. Even though no one can speak english, ive made it
through the first 3 hours... haha. breakfast was this leche that was really
carmel tasting, a roll with jam, and eggs. it was yummy. um.... my companion
isn{t here yet i dont think but i found out shes from salt lake. but i was told
i{m not allowed to speak in english to her. shes really advanced in spanish so
she wont speak english to me, they just didn{t have enought native
girls.
love
you got to go!!!}
hermana
black
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