Half Way at the CCM

 I have completed three weeks of the MTC. Ready to get out there and start teaching. This Saturday, we get to go out and proselyte with the Lima East and Central missions, so we'll see how I do. There was an Elder who committed an investigator to baptism last time, fingers crossed. 

I already can't remember how to spell thing, so sorry in advance. There is an Elder her who is Navajo, his name is Elder Belone and he got picked to give a talk in sacrament and then he sang an amazing song in Navajo. He was incredible. The new batch of missionaries got here last week and two already went home, kinda sad they didn't make it. Both of them were great and have the desire, both are planning on getting back out here.

One of the new Elders is from Everett and has the same luggage as me, and he brought the big one with no charge! He told me he received his own endowment about a month ago, but on a Tuesday. Really nice guy, his name is Elder Smith. Lots of class and learning, the language is coming along great! On Sunday, we just watch videos and study, lots of time to read scriptures. 

We watched 17 Miracles and Legacy. Lots of fun and a nice time to relax. Yesterday, we watched a live feed from Provo of Neil L. Anderson. Didn't even think to look for Sarah! He spoke about sacrifices and Sid Going which was fun, how we will always have opposition, how the adversary knows exactly what is most challenging for us to deal with, and how Christ will always be there when we are even kind of turning away. 

Very inspirational! He told a story of when he was the mission president in France and a Missionary was complaining to him. He got a clear message from the Lord, I called him on a mission, not you. If he needs to complain, have him talk to me. And that was amazing, I wrote that down! 

It's getting hotter everyday. Miss the rain and trees and smell of green. It really is beautiful inside these walls, but outside is a little more scary. Hope you all are doing great! Miss you all everyday!  

Week Two

I only get an hour on Wednesdays and the keyboards down here are weird, there isn't any way to go down a space, we just have to hold the space bar... But everything is going great here. I'll finally be replaced as District leader in a few days and won't have to worry about so much. I'm improving a lot in the language, lots of church vocab to learn and lessons to teach. It' not terribly hot or cold, it mists a lot in the morning for some reason. 

We play soccer every chance we have, but it's fun to play with white people who are equally as bad. There are only two people from Utah in my district, one from PG and the other is a convert of only a few years. I sat next to him in the session and had to help him a lot because he had no headset and it was his third time.

But overall nice guys. My companion is from Connecticut, he is about an inch taller and 100lbs less, just a little guy but fun to be around. He is however very wealthy and wants to eat all the time. The other Elders are great, we have Minnesota, Sacramento, Idaho, Colorado. Very diverse but all dudes. There are a couple of Tom Brady fans which is hard to deal with but we leave that on the field. Lots of dude talk and trying to focus. 

I'm ready to get out here and teach people and only speak the language, but still have four weeks here. We decided to do an English fast for 24hrs on Saturday and pushups for every English word. Things have started flying by. We have class for about eight hours everyday which is exhausting, but it's a great spirit we feel study and growing together. We got a new batch of Latinos and White guys. No longer the Newbies, made it to the middle. 

Haven´t found any from Washington, but we'll see. We get to go shopping after the temple every week. The two stores we go to are Metros and Tottus. Tottus is just like Wal-Mart, just a lot is cheaper, unless it's American chocolate, then it's about 30 soles. Metros is a little more like a giant three story Mall with guards and not cops. They have food, clothes, chefs, and anything in between. There is a cool missionary store across the street of the Lima temple. It has cool pins and scripture cases and Llama ties, not any llama scrotums yet, but we'll see. There was a guy who told us we don't know anything about our religion on the street, so I'm looking forward to getting out there! 

The traffic is unreal, it's like I'm in Utah, but instead of regular sized lanes, they are the exact width of the bus, and you don't need to worry where the lanes are because everyone has brakes and knows how to use them. You might as well hold the horn down the entire time you're driving because that will make traffic go away. No collisions yet, we did see a guy take out a VW's side mirror, so that was fun.

It's weird to be here and realize I'm in a different country. Miss you all terribly, I really miss communicating with girls because here it's basically a sin. Take care of yourselves and keep me up to date on the Seahawks and what's going on with presidential stuff, I'm still an American!