ATTACK OF THE DOGS!

Hey everyone!

Last week was flippin loco! So last Monday was zone p-day so we ate lunch as a zone and played sports. It was pretty fun. We ate chaufa which is this really good Peruvian rice stuff and drank chica morada which is like the Peruvian purple corn juice which tastes pretty good.

Ma desk

Weight Room

Kitchen (really messy)

On Tuesday we had interviews with president and that was really nice. President and Hermana Amato are some of the nicest most caring people on the planet. I am super glad that I get to have them for two years of my mission.

Outside his apartment

Nothing much happened on Wednesday and Thursday. We just contacted all day. We find people to have lessons with us but they either give us the wrong address or they're not home when we come to teach so it's kind of frustrating.

On Friday, we went and had a lesson with some new converts and they're super cool. They live in the mountains so all they have are some metal sheets and tarps to make their home. It's pretty cool to see. The dad, Fred, makes supreme clothes, lol. So down here, there are so much fake clothes of all the popular stuff back home, like Nike Supreme, Gucci and Adidas. It's crazy insane how much fake clothes there are but the thing is they look pretty legit, lol. 

On Saturday we were able to take the newbs from the CCM tracting so that was fun. It was also Peru's Independence Day on Saturday and yesterday so there was barely anyone in the streets when we went contacting. The Lord is giving us a trial of faith right now. All we have been doing for the past couple of weeks is contacting. The thing is, our area the past two months has been one of the highest baptizing areas in the mission and it has been super hard to find anyone to contact.

View of his area

Random chicken

The miracle of the week was yesterday. We were able to find 6 people to teach. I so hope Elder Rod and I can at least get one person that is legit. It's alright tho because I have faith that the Lord will send us His chosen in His own good time.

A lot of Peruvians call me Dragon Ball Z, who knows why, but I found this on the street, lol!

Alright so for breakfast, Elder Whitby has a waffle iron that he doesn't use so I have been making myself waffles for breakfast, so that's just been awesome! Also I don't remember if I said this in my last email but Elder Whitby also has bought some dumbbells and a triceps  bar, so I am able to lift some weights, thank goodness.

Oh also, the dogs here are insane. They have something against missionaries because me and my comp will just be walking and then all these dogs will just come out of nowhere and  try to attack us, everyday, lol. I have to swing my bag at them so they'll stay back. It's super annoying. You also don't want to run or else it'll trigger them and they hunt you down and try to bite you. This past week has been challenging but great. The beginning of the week was challenging but the week ended up being great. I am slowly adjusting to the missionary life and I am progressing each day a little bit at a time. 

FIRST WEEK!

WOAH. That was probably the slowest week of my whole life, lol. It was good though. So the church building was right next to the CCM so we just walked through a gate and bam we were in our mission. We all met our new companions, had an interview with presidente and then we left to the field. Elder Rodriguez is my new comp and is from Argentina. His Spanish is super slurred and he mumbles so much but its aight cause I told him to speak slower and we can now talk to each other and pretty much almost have a full conversation. So we get to our room and I change out of my suit and then we go contacting. Tuesday was such a hard day. I had no idea what to expect but we teach the gospel really differently down here. A lot of people are religious down here and have faith in Christ. So what we have are 3 filter questions that we ask which are: Do you have time on Sunday; Are you married, single or live together, and if they have a desire to learn more about the gospel. Pretty much if someone has a true desire to hear the gospel from us and makes time for an appointment with us then we teach them. So Elder Rod had no investigators when I got here... so we just contacted the first day. Pretty much what we do all day everyday is contact which is the missionary life. 

On Wedneday we had a zone meeting in the morning. Elder Woolf and Elder Lewis are in my zone and Elder Woolf is in my district so that's dope. Then after the meeting we contacted again. The mish life is hard but its just great especially when you find people that want to listen to you. 

Thursday was super long, just contacting all day. We had this FHE thing at some members restaurant and it was a member's bday so we had this amazing cake. It wasn't some fake American cake but a legit Peruvian cake that tasted sooo good. 

On Friday, we finally had someone to teach. Gabriela and Alejandro from Venezuela. They came here to get away from Venezuela and all they had was a single room with a mattress on the floor and a folding table with a cooker. We invited them to be baptized in two weeks and they both accepted.. except we invited them to church and only Alejandro came and we had an appointment but they bailed and they said they both didn't know if they'd have time again so ugh. Please pray for them! 

On Saturday there was a church activity and a bunch of different wards came out to church and they all dressed up and marched around the block and all the missionaries handed out cards and then they did this dance and I wish I would've filmed it. Also on Saturday we went up these stairs in our area to the mountains and there are houses up there that are like shacks and it's just like this dirt mountain. We were walking and then this group of dogs just come out of nowhere and were barking at us. I jumped down unto this lower pathway so they couldn't get me but Elder Rod just stood there and one of them took a bite at him but it got his B of M in his hand instead and then he jumped down. There are so many dogs here, and they are so trashy. I feel so bad for them. 

Anyways on Sunday we had church and then went to a members house to eat and it was pretty good. Then we went tracting again, lol. So also in our apartment, we have 3 zone leaders, Elder Whitby from Washington, Elder Espinoza from Cusco and Elder Burley from Arizona. Elder Whitby and Elder Espinoza go home next month. I am so glad that I have a couple of elders that speak English though because I am able to ask them questions that Elder Rod isn't able to answer so that's great. 

My mamamita is this super cute, petite Peruvian grandma and she cooks some good food. So overall, the mission field is nothing at all like the CCM. There's dirt everywhere with dogs everywhere, people speak super fast, its pretty cold, it smells weird where ever you go, the mission is hard, but everything is just great. This past week I have had to remember that I'm out here to find others and bring them the truth and that this isn't for me. When I remember this I feel a ton of peace and I am able to have a positive attitude and to keep looking for those people.

I forgot my connector for my photos so I'll send a lot next week.

Made it FINALLY!

I finally made it to the field! I sent you guys the pics.

They cut my hair really short again but oh well.

My companion is Elder Rodriguez and he's pretty cool! He's kinda quiet but that's alright. He's been out for 3 months and he doesn't know any English, so that's really good for me. I am going to learn Spanish a lot faster that way.

Hermana Amato, President Amato and Elder Rodriguez

I met President Amato and Hermana Amato and they're so cool!

President and Sister Amato

My mission area that I am in is Vitarte, I think.

All the new missionaries

Everything is so different down here so I'll have to adjust but things are looking pretty great!

New missionaries with their companions. The 3 girls on the front row are The Amato's daughters. 

Last PDAY!

Well today is the last Pday in the CCM and then the real stuff begins!

Elder Mendoza and Elder Miranda

Alright so last Wednesday it was the 4th and we had our own BBQ, lol. Everyone got chips and a Coke. It was pretty great. 

District BBQ

On Thursday in the morning for breakfast, I don't know how but someone's toast caught on fire somehow in the toaster, and it was this huge flame but someone was able to blow it out, thank goodness. 

So on Saturday I got to go proselyting and that was just great. All of the elders went to this district called Manchai, I'm pretty  sure. There was only dirt for the roads and it was so cool to see. There were a ton of dogs everywhere and they were just laying there, haha. I went with a Latino elder named Elder Vegas. He knew how to speak a little bit of English, so that was good. So he just told me to go invite people to church and hand out cards and that was dope. I would say a couple of things, like share a message about the gospel and that's all we did. We walked to like the top of the mountains and knocked on some doors that he had appointments with but no one was home. Then we went to this ghetto computer place and he sat down at the computers. I was like what's going on and he said something about typing up stuff or something; I have no idea, but the way the cubicles were made was so you couldn't see the computer next to you. So the elder just puts on headphones and he's just sitting there at the computer and I could see the light on the wall changing colors, so I'm pretty sure he was watching soccer. I was super tempted to get on youtube and watch a recap of the finals, but I resisted temptation. So we were on the computers for about an hour, so that was great, lol. 

I can't wait to get out but I hope my trainer will want to go out and work and not watch soccer, haha. Monday dragged on supppper slow but oh well. 

District Photo with Hermana Juarez, our trainer

Hermana Juarez

The Pelirojos

I have gotten really good at volleyball here. We play district volleyball together and it's way fun. Spanish is coming along great. The real test will come next week so I'm excited!

Hermano Soto is getting in like a week and him and his fiancee came to the temple and we got pics with them.

He has a ring on his finger, lol!

We love Hermano Soto :)

Hermano Soto and I are bros, haha. He's the best teacher ever. He's so lax.

The B of M in Quechua

My mish is pretty small, lol.

Happy 4th of July!!

This past week was pretty much the same again except that the sun was out most the week and that felt great.  On Wednesday all of the new missionaries arrived and there were so many Americans. It's kind of annoying to be honest.  All of the Elders are really immature and yeah but it's fine. The MTC should be great for them.

Dope llama tie I got.

We got new roommates, Elder Mendoza and Elder Miranda. Elder Mendoza is from Guatemala and Elder Miranda is from Bolivia. There aren't as many Latinos and it's kinda sad. Soccer isn't as fun anymore so our district just decided to play sports together and it's pretty fun. We play basketball, soccer and volleyball together and everyone goes ham, haha; it's so fun.

So on Sunday it was fast Sunday. So for dinner on Saturday night I ate as much food as I possibly could and it worked! Not really, lol. I got hungry a couple of hours later. On Sunday and Tuesday we watch devotionals and they're just great. The apostles always share this crazy spiritual stuff and it's just amazing each time. We had Elder Bednar and Elder Cook and they were both amazing.

For food they've good some pretty good fried rice and the ice cream sandwiches are good too. Alright, well I hope everyone is doing great. I go proselyting on Saturday finally and then I'll be out of here!