Week Two

 It's too hot! I just sweat from shower until bed! It's the worst. But I hope to adjust. Elder Uceda of the seventy came to speak to the missionaries of about 4 Zones. And he is awesome; he spent an hour talking about one sentence in D&C! He is so cool! And of 5 people, I was selected to have a personal interview with him! He asked about home and how I'm doing and then told me he sees a lot of potential in me. He said I'll grow as a leader and most of all in spirituality. Then he gave me a hug. He is too cool! Then later in the week, an appointment fell through and while walking away, an obviously drunk man called to us while standing at his door. We went over and started talking about Mormons. But he wanted to talk about the trinity. He however did not want to hear from my Mexican companion because he said Americans are more pure. So I told him that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus is his son. But he didn't believe me, so we pulled out the Bible to Acts 7 and explained about Stephen and he then said he wants my Bible so he can read it. He said he is very lost and needs to find the truth. So my Comp made me give him my Bible from the CCM! And he said he will see us and church and didn't come. And now I'm out a Bible! I found out from a secretary to the President that my first comp got a stomach bug and had to go to the hospital. I haven't had any problems yet, but everyone says it happens. The other thing about this city is the danger. We were walking on the street and I got clotheslined in the face. I'm too tall. But it's been fun! Miss you all! 

El Campo

 I finished the CCM. They need to make that place worse to actually prepare you for the field. My flight from Lima to Trujillo was at 7:30am so naturally we had to be awake at 3:30. It was only a 45 minute flight. It is the tiniest airport I have ever seen. There was a big welcome wagon and then we got to go see the temple. Hermana Rios posted the pictures on the Blog. We then got to a chapel in Trujillo and had breakfast and talked about what to expect. Lunch was at the mission home and then after more talking we got our companions. 

Mine is from Mexico city and his name is Elder Rivera. He has been out for 11 months and his first son is my companion's  trainer. We chatted a bit, said bye and then got on a bus to our mission. My zone is Chimbote south in a area called San Luis. We met the Zone Leaders and they took us to our home. It's in the middle of the city and we live with two other elders and our pensionista's family. So there's four of us in the building and four people downstairs. There use to be only two missionaries, but they just split it in half, because it's huge! You don't have enough time to walk across the whole thing. But the most surprising thing is there is no water. We have to fill up a bucket every morning from a truck on the street, at about 6 to be able to shower that morning. But it's too fun! It's all so new! We've been running around teaching all we can and getting to know members. There are a lot of really nice people here, funny, kind, and helpful. We took a sister out with her two little kids to teach her friend. Too fun here. My Spanish has probably tripled from the time I left school. It's challenging but everyone has been so nice here. The Zone is great, everyone is fun and able to share great exp and ideas. Love it down here. Miss you all so much, wish I could help clean up from the storm. I'll take care of it when I get back! 

Ultima Semana

 I've made it! Flying out on Tuesday to Trujillo. Heard lots of great things about it and ready to get out there and look like a typical white missionary. We had another member from the fourth Quorum of the Seventy come to speak yesterday. Elder Viar who is from Lima and served in Lima a long time ago. He told many amazing stories. Baptism numbers don't matter, an Elder served in Europe and said his mission was a failure because he only got one baptism which was just a kid. But many years later, he met with a man in the States who was a general authority. 

He found out that was his baptism. He reminded us that we have a lot of people relying on us and who want our success. His son died at the age of four, and all his son wanted to be was a missionary. So the members of the ward put their plaques in his coffin. He went on to say we are like his son. He prays for us and wants us to do our best. Great guy! There has been such a great spirit here and so much learning. Going to miss my teachers and my district, but I'll see them on the flight back to Atlanta. Email you all as soon as I can!        

Proselotismo

One month down! Two more weeks in the CCM. Lots and lots to do. So much class. My companion from Connecticut moved to the new Latino group and now I'm in a trio with some short Elders. They have a fruit called granadilla which is the same as what Sis. DeFreese had. They look terrible but tasty. On Saturday they took half the missionaries to certain missions. Half went to Lima Central and my half went to Lima East. The city I was in was called Manchay. I got paired up with a Mexican who had been out for eighteen months and another Elder from the CCM whose name was Elder Encarnacíon. 

They were awesome. We taught several people just from contacting. We met a man named Julio and he lived with his sister, but his sister wasn't there. He had never been baptized and never heard of our church. I got to talk about the Priesthood and Jesus Christ and bear testimony! It was so easy in Spanish. We even got a baptism date! There were many other lessons with people, we invited about 20 people to church! The area was up a mountain with the church building at the top. Then the whole city was in a valley like Utah. The roads were dirt so the air was a bit dusty. Loved the area though, besides the innumerable amount of dogs. 

The people were great and very easy for me to understand. We had fast Sunday from lunch to lunch, the first time I've been hungry down here. The portions of rice is too much, it's like a whole cup with a little chicken wing. Everything is going great down here. Ready to get out there and teach. Only two more weeks to bear! Love you all, don't have too much fun without me!