So things are going really good here, and were continuing to work hard. Those pictures make it look like it´s freezing in Utah right now haha! Winter time was the best I loved last year going snowboarding and such. The family party with the Christophersons looked fun, the pictures are sweet. Tell everyone I say hi! Bryce is in Disneyland right now? I´m jealous that sounds fun, that was the best when we went. I love Disneyland ha, that´s nice of the Skousens to take him along. That´s a bummer to hear you guys are feeling sick right now, get feeling better! The flu is the worst. Chinese food for Christmas? That sounds so good, I am thinking I am going to get sick of eating rice, chicken, and potatoes but for now it´s okay. I eat a ton of bread haha at our pension they make really good bread, I think I am gaining weight I´m not sure. I hope not haha. The pension is making a lot of Paneton (fruit cake) for Christmas time here, it´s so popular but I hate it haha. It taste horrible. Your looking for another Dog mom? Does dad know about this? Haha. I´d be surprised if Dad lets you get another dog. But that would be good for Lulu to have another dog in the house. Is she potty trained yet? Dumb dog haha.
This week was really busy, and were working really hard to get this family married and baptized on the 24th. Israel and Dilma, they´re really cool and super nice. Israel is a stud, he has a lot of faith and has a testimony of our message. Although yesterday they didn´t attend church, I guess Israel was with his friends drinking. It was a bummer for us to hear about that, we just went over to their house with the bishop in our ward. We talked with them, and he still wants to be baptized although he feels bad about drinking on Saturday and it caused him to not want to come to church. We resolved some of his doubts and were going to get everything squared away for their baptism and marriage. We also were searching through some old teaching records and found this girl, her name is Luciana. She´s 17 and her dad is a member and is active but her mom is inactive right now. She is really cool and has desires to be baptized and make some changes in her life. We set her baptism for the 24th and she is really excited about it.
I am learning how important baptism is and recieveing the Holy Ghost. I can remember when I was 8 and dad baptized me and I got the Holy Ghost, but I didn´t really understand it then. The Gospel of Jesus Christ faith, repentance, baptism, recieving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end is essencial for us in our short life here on the earth. The only way to return to live with Heavenly Father again is through Jesus Christ.
So I got your guy´s package! I am super excited to open up my Christmas presents from you guys, and the pictures and the sour punch straws were delicious. I love that candy. The leaders of the zone told me i have two other packages coming I am super excited to get.
So when I call on Sunday, I will probably call from a phone first but I want to do a video chat through Skype. It´s free and I think it would be sweet to be able to talk that way. You have my laptop and you would be able to do a video chat from my laptop. My username: chriscc89 or search christopher connelly. You guys will have to make a username on skype as well and we can probably get that figured out while we talk on the phone and get it all squared away. The program should be set up on my laptop but you may need to update it i´m not sure. Have dad download and install it if it´s not on there or needs a program update. In the house we live at the family is leaving for Christmas so i´ll be able to use their computer with the video camera and all that. You guys would want to do a video chat more than a phone call right? For me it´s easier and also free this way, I think it would be cool this way.
Love you guys!! Can´t wait to talk to you on Sunday, thanks a bunch for the package and tell Grandma marian thanks for the package as well!! I recieved hers when I got the one from you guys! Love you!!
-Christopher
Monday, December 19, 2011
Familia! Dec 12th
Another week has come and gone! Time is going by really fast for me right now, we had a good week. We´re are continuing to work hard and try and be as effective as possible. Pacori and I get along really well, and he´s been such a big help to me right now with everything.
Looks like Utah has quite a bit of snow from the pictures that you sent me, did the resorts open on Thanksgiving? The Christmas decorations you have set up look sweet! As well as the pictures of the moon, that looks really cool! There was a lunar eclipse? Also the pictures of Bryce and Jr-Jazz look pretty sweet, how is Jr-Jazz? How many games has your team had? Jr-Jazz was the best, and church ball haha. Ava looks like she is doing really good and happy! The pictures of the boys are always funny, they look like they´re enjoying themselves. Have you guys been able to go sledding or snowboarding yet this winter. You had better go a lot, I am gonna miss going snowboarding but it´s cool here the mountains are nice and remind me of home.
How was the company party? It was at memory grove, sounds like that was pretty fun. Brandon is home? That`s crazy, times flys. Right now for me the days are flying I can´t believe it´s been a whole month now since I left the CCM. I really want to enjoy all the time I have on the mission, you don´t get to many chances like this. Craig is sick? That´s crappy, but I am glad he´s feeling better now. I have felt really good, and haven´t been sick yet. I do get a little bit of allergy problems but I have the Zyrtec mom packed me so I just take that and feel a lot better. You guys went to the surfing place? That`s sweet, that was fun when we all went there.
So this week we had a lot happen. We had two baptisms yesterday, Hermana Sebastiana and Hermana Yovanna. Both of them are really nice. Sebastiana has a lot of problems with her family as well as she has random seizures i´m not sure what you call that. We were actually going over the baptism questions in her house and she had a seizure it was scary, but it happens a lot I guess and she was fine within 5 minutes. Sadly Sebastiana didn´t make it to church yesterday for her confirmation. So she´ll get the Holy Ghost next Sunday. She is really hard to work with and her sons as well as her husband have problems with Alcohol. It´s a big problem here, the people like to drink a lot. My companion has been doing this program for people with Alcohol addictions he was doing before I got here and it helps the people a lot. Hermana Yovanna is really cool, all of her family are members so she was the last of her family to be baptized. Another problem here is that a lot of people need to be married. The 24th of December we have two families that are getting married, we have to do an activity in order to raise money for them because they can´t afford it. Our pension sells bread out of their house, and they have a sweet set up for making a lot of bread, and were going to make bread and sell it to the members in our ward to raise money. Israel and Dilma are one of the families that need to be married and we found them last week I think, but they´re are so nice and humble. Israel is 23 I believe and were going to work with them this next week to have his marriage on the 24th as well as his baptism and his wife´s baptism in the same day! Were pretty excited about it. And were hoping that it all works out. We also have been working a lot on inviting people to baptized in the first lesson we have with them. And commiting them to action, and were seeing it help a lot. It´s been really spiritual for me to see people prepare themselves to be baptized, and recieve the Holy Ghost. I have had some struggles with the language and being able to teach really well, and I know it will come with time. I get frustrated with myself but I know it just takes time haha. I am really trying to teach simply and plainly, it´s easy to do when I can´t get very detailed with what I talk about. I am really enjoying myself, and I am finding that I am happier when we are working hard.
I am so excited to talk to you guys on Christmas, we may be able to get to talk through Skype i´m not sure I can find out and let you know next week in my email and we can get it figured out. I am going to try and send a package to you guys something small I think, we may have some time to do that today we´ll see. It won´t get to you guys til January probably ha! Christmas here is pretty cool they have Christmas lights and stuff, but they eat a lot of Paneton its fruit bread and its disgusting! Haha. Well I´ll talk to you guys next week! Thanks for everything that you do for me I am so blessed with the family I have :) Love you!! I am writing some letters to you today! BYEE!!
-Christopher
Looks like Utah has quite a bit of snow from the pictures that you sent me, did the resorts open on Thanksgiving? The Christmas decorations you have set up look sweet! As well as the pictures of the moon, that looks really cool! There was a lunar eclipse? Also the pictures of Bryce and Jr-Jazz look pretty sweet, how is Jr-Jazz? How many games has your team had? Jr-Jazz was the best, and church ball haha. Ava looks like she is doing really good and happy! The pictures of the boys are always funny, they look like they´re enjoying themselves. Have you guys been able to go sledding or snowboarding yet this winter. You had better go a lot, I am gonna miss going snowboarding but it´s cool here the mountains are nice and remind me of home.
How was the company party? It was at memory grove, sounds like that was pretty fun. Brandon is home? That`s crazy, times flys. Right now for me the days are flying I can´t believe it´s been a whole month now since I left the CCM. I really want to enjoy all the time I have on the mission, you don´t get to many chances like this. Craig is sick? That´s crappy, but I am glad he´s feeling better now. I have felt really good, and haven´t been sick yet. I do get a little bit of allergy problems but I have the Zyrtec mom packed me so I just take that and feel a lot better. You guys went to the surfing place? That`s sweet, that was fun when we all went there.
So this week we had a lot happen. We had two baptisms yesterday, Hermana Sebastiana and Hermana Yovanna. Both of them are really nice. Sebastiana has a lot of problems with her family as well as she has random seizures i´m not sure what you call that. We were actually going over the baptism questions in her house and she had a seizure it was scary, but it happens a lot I guess and she was fine within 5 minutes. Sadly Sebastiana didn´t make it to church yesterday for her confirmation. So she´ll get the Holy Ghost next Sunday. She is really hard to work with and her sons as well as her husband have problems with Alcohol. It´s a big problem here, the people like to drink a lot. My companion has been doing this program for people with Alcohol addictions he was doing before I got here and it helps the people a lot. Hermana Yovanna is really cool, all of her family are members so she was the last of her family to be baptized. Another problem here is that a lot of people need to be married. The 24th of December we have two families that are getting married, we have to do an activity in order to raise money for them because they can´t afford it. Our pension sells bread out of their house, and they have a sweet set up for making a lot of bread, and were going to make bread and sell it to the members in our ward to raise money. Israel and Dilma are one of the families that need to be married and we found them last week I think, but they´re are so nice and humble. Israel is 23 I believe and were going to work with them this next week to have his marriage on the 24th as well as his baptism and his wife´s baptism in the same day! Were pretty excited about it. And were hoping that it all works out. We also have been working a lot on inviting people to baptized in the first lesson we have with them. And commiting them to action, and were seeing it help a lot. It´s been really spiritual for me to see people prepare themselves to be baptized, and recieve the Holy Ghost. I have had some struggles with the language and being able to teach really well, and I know it will come with time. I get frustrated with myself but I know it just takes time haha. I am really trying to teach simply and plainly, it´s easy to do when I can´t get very detailed with what I talk about. I am really enjoying myself, and I am finding that I am happier when we are working hard.
I am so excited to talk to you guys on Christmas, we may be able to get to talk through Skype i´m not sure I can find out and let you know next week in my email and we can get it figured out. I am going to try and send a package to you guys something small I think, we may have some time to do that today we´ll see. It won´t get to you guys til January probably ha! Christmas here is pretty cool they have Christmas lights and stuff, but they eat a lot of Paneton its fruit bread and its disgusting! Haha. Well I´ll talk to you guys next week! Thanks for everything that you do for me I am so blessed with the family I have :) Love you!! I am writing some letters to you today! BYEE!!
-Christopher
Monday, December 12, 2011
Heyyyy!!! December 5th
Familia!
Hey how´s it going? Is it absolutely freezing in Utah right now? From what you guys are saying it sounds like that ha. It´s kinda cold here in Cajamarca it´s pretty much moderate all the time and sometimes at night it gets pretty cold, but luckily I have a bunch of jackets to wear. Believe it or not but it rains a lot here so I wear that North Face wind breaker all the time. I enjoyed looking at all the pictures you guys send me it`s awesome. The pictures of the boys and Ava are so cute. I completely forgot it was her birthday just barely, give her a hug from me (: haha. I am glad to read from you Dad that the NBA lockout ended and the season is starting thats sweet i´m sure your stoked about that. Also that you were able to fix that problem with AF, that was annoying whenever that would reset and it´s cool you were able to fix it. The pins you have make quite the collection no? Also that`s sweet you had some Inca Kola, it´s my favorite soda here. There`s little tiendas all around the city here where you can buy candy, soda, toilet paper, etc. They have american food so that`s been nice, and the chocolate here is amazing I´m addicted. Chocman´s, Sublime´s, and Cazino cookies ahh man it´s the best. It´s also very cheap money goes a long ways here, I believe 2.70 solace=1$ americano you´d have to look it up. There aren´t any mosquitos here so that hasn´t been a problem. You guys had better go snowboarding this winter a bunch don´t wuss out haha, it was funny when I was in Lima there were some kids skateboarding and I skateboarded with them for a minute it was fun haha. Don´t worry about sending anything more than what you send me it´s difficult to get packages here we have to go to the Notaria to approve the packages that come in and out of here. Today we went and got stuff signed for a package thats waiting for me at the mission home, I am excited for that :D
Let´s see que paso this week, we were pretty busy. We have two investigadors con una fecha de bautismal for this coming saturday. Nothing with the people here is for sure, things can change last second it´s tough. A lot of the people here always have excuses as to why they can´t come to church on Sunday or why they couldn´t read the Book of Mormon haha. We found a family in some old teaching records that were taught a year ago but were never baptized, but we still need to set a date for a baptism for them. There´s a kid named Victor I think he´s Bryce´s age who has gone to church for the past year and a half but isn´t baptized because his mom won´t give him permission, she´s a catholic by tradition. We also were supposed to have a baptizm on Saturday last week, but in her entrevista the ZL´s felt that she wasn´t ready. A lot of the people here have problems with alcohol, and we have a program every night monday-friday for people with addictions specifically alcohol and investigadors and members come. It helps them a lot I think. There was a christmas devotional last night in Salt Lake with the General authorities and we had some of our investigadors come it was cool they broadcasted it here in Cajamarca. Also today we played some basketball with some of the elders in our zone, it was fun to play something rather than soccer. But I have grown to like soccer a lot more.
Time is flying, I can´t believe I´ve been gone almost three months. It´s hardly anytime at all compared to the 24 months, but it does feel like you guys dropped me off yesterday. I am trying to enjoy every second I have with this experience. It was cool a couple nights ago I had a dream that I was skiing with Josh haha. I am finding out that enjoying the little things on the mission are important, and to just enjoy yourself and work hard. My comp loves to work so he´s helping me to set a good tone for myself. The spanish is coming, I learn something new everyday. I try not to get down on myself, and I understand it takes time. I am pretty much limited to talking about the Gospel for now. But I assume with 22 months in Peru I should be somewhat descent at Spanish right? Haha.
I recieved a bunch of letters from you guys today it was awesome as well as from my friends. I have two hours worth of phone card to talk to you guys on Christmas, I may have to buy more and I don´t know if the phone cards you sent will get here on time. But I should be able to buy stuff here. I´m sorry I cant send a package from here to you guys! Its super difficult to send anything to the US but possibly in January or February I hope. Sorry I didn´t talk back and forth with you guys via email today. Tell everyone I say hi!! Love you!! I look forward to talking to you guys in three weeks :D Love youuuu!!
-Christopher
P.S. Sorry there isn´t any pictures, this next week I´ll send some!
Hey how´s it going? Is it absolutely freezing in Utah right now? From what you guys are saying it sounds like that ha. It´s kinda cold here in Cajamarca it´s pretty much moderate all the time and sometimes at night it gets pretty cold, but luckily I have a bunch of jackets to wear. Believe it or not but it rains a lot here so I wear that North Face wind breaker all the time. I enjoyed looking at all the pictures you guys send me it`s awesome. The pictures of the boys and Ava are so cute. I completely forgot it was her birthday just barely, give her a hug from me (: haha. I am glad to read from you Dad that the NBA lockout ended and the season is starting thats sweet i´m sure your stoked about that. Also that you were able to fix that problem with AF, that was annoying whenever that would reset and it´s cool you were able to fix it. The pins you have make quite the collection no? Also that`s sweet you had some Inca Kola, it´s my favorite soda here. There`s little tiendas all around the city here where you can buy candy, soda, toilet paper, etc. They have american food so that`s been nice, and the chocolate here is amazing I´m addicted. Chocman´s, Sublime´s, and Cazino cookies ahh man it´s the best. It´s also very cheap money goes a long ways here, I believe 2.70 solace=1$ americano you´d have to look it up. There aren´t any mosquitos here so that hasn´t been a problem. You guys had better go snowboarding this winter a bunch don´t wuss out haha, it was funny when I was in Lima there were some kids skateboarding and I skateboarded with them for a minute it was fun haha. Don´t worry about sending anything more than what you send me it´s difficult to get packages here we have to go to the Notaria to approve the packages that come in and out of here. Today we went and got stuff signed for a package thats waiting for me at the mission home, I am excited for that :D
Let´s see que paso this week, we were pretty busy. We have two investigadors con una fecha de bautismal for this coming saturday. Nothing with the people here is for sure, things can change last second it´s tough. A lot of the people here always have excuses as to why they can´t come to church on Sunday or why they couldn´t read the Book of Mormon haha. We found a family in some old teaching records that were taught a year ago but were never baptized, but we still need to set a date for a baptism for them. There´s a kid named Victor I think he´s Bryce´s age who has gone to church for the past year and a half but isn´t baptized because his mom won´t give him permission, she´s a catholic by tradition. We also were supposed to have a baptizm on Saturday last week, but in her entrevista the ZL´s felt that she wasn´t ready. A lot of the people here have problems with alcohol, and we have a program every night monday-friday for people with addictions specifically alcohol and investigadors and members come. It helps them a lot I think. There was a christmas devotional last night in Salt Lake with the General authorities and we had some of our investigadors come it was cool they broadcasted it here in Cajamarca. Also today we played some basketball with some of the elders in our zone, it was fun to play something rather than soccer. But I have grown to like soccer a lot more.
Time is flying, I can´t believe I´ve been gone almost three months. It´s hardly anytime at all compared to the 24 months, but it does feel like you guys dropped me off yesterday. I am trying to enjoy every second I have with this experience. It was cool a couple nights ago I had a dream that I was skiing with Josh haha. I am finding out that enjoying the little things on the mission are important, and to just enjoy yourself and work hard. My comp loves to work so he´s helping me to set a good tone for myself. The spanish is coming, I learn something new everyday. I try not to get down on myself, and I understand it takes time. I am pretty much limited to talking about the Gospel for now. But I assume with 22 months in Peru I should be somewhat descent at Spanish right? Haha.
I recieved a bunch of letters from you guys today it was awesome as well as from my friends. I have two hours worth of phone card to talk to you guys on Christmas, I may have to buy more and I don´t know if the phone cards you sent will get here on time. But I should be able to buy stuff here. I´m sorry I cant send a package from here to you guys! Its super difficult to send anything to the US but possibly in January or February I hope. Sorry I didn´t talk back and forth with you guys via email today. Tell everyone I say hi!! Love you!! I look forward to talking to you guys in three weeks :D Love youuuu!!
-Christopher
P.S. Sorry there isn´t any pictures, this next week I´ll send some!
!Cajamarca! November 28th 2011
-Family :)
What have you guys been doing?! I enjoyed looking at the pictures you guys sent me, sounds like everyone had a really awesome Thanksgiving. The zipline looked awesome, Dan put up a pretty sweet Zipline it looks like. It also looked like everyone was enjoying the pinball machines, and the pictures of the mods you got for TZ looked sweet Dad. Ava has teeth now? Wow! Haha, that´s awesome, she´s so cute haha. From all your guy´s pictures there´s no snow? What gives? Last year there was a lot at this time if I am remembering right? Maybe not. I was talking today with the Mom of the family that we live with and she was telling me that there´s not any snow in Utah currently. The family we live with are very nice, and their house is super nice too compared to the houses here in Cajamarca. I get hot showers it´s something to look forward to everymorning ha.
So I feel pretty adjusted now to the life in the field I think, it´s a lot different than in the MTC. I am dead beat tired everynight we come home from the days work. I don´t think I have worked this hard in my entire life haha, my comforter makes my night it´s so comfy!! Haha. Elder Pacori is a stud though, he´s all about working really hard and he´s helping set the tone for my whole mission he helps me a ton with anything I need. I feel really blessed to have him as a trainer. We had a baptism on Saturday, it was really cool! The hermana we baptized is 18 her name is Edelmila, and I was able to baptize her. It was very spiritual for me, I hadn´t baptized anyone before this so I was a little nervous. But it went great, and she recieved the Holy Ghost on Sunday during Sacrament meeting. We have another lady Hermana Sebastiana, and she has a baptismal date for this Saturday. We are going to work hard with her to prepare her for Saturday, she´s really nice and very humble. I am learning a lot from the people here in Peru. It´s so cool I think it was yesterday or two days ago we taught a family the first lesson and I taught about the story of The Restauration (I can´t spell good), but anyways when I started talking about the first vision I felt the spirit so strong while I was sharing this with them. As missionaries we are the guides for the people to a conversion, the Spirit does all the work of the conversion. They can ask God about the our message to know it is true and recieve an answer through the Holy Ghost, we can testify of this to the people here. My testimony is growing everyday especially when it´s tough haha. Everyone here is very open to what we have to say and at the least, listen to us usually so thats been helpful.
One thing that has been kind of funny here in Cajamarca is all the doors here are super small, so I feel like a giant whenever we go in someones house haha. I´ve hit my head a couple of times in the past week on doorways ha. The traffic here is really safe, I don´t think I could ever get hit by a car haha. Everyone honks or flashes their brights to let you know they are coming so it´s not a big deal at all. Riding the Mototaxis is awesome. I am getting the rest I need 8 hours is plenty of sleep but I am tired everynight from hiking these stinking hills we walk around in you should see how many stairs we climb everyday it´s tiring! I´ll take a picture and send it to you of these stairs haha. We talk to tons of people everyday in the street and we have about 4 to 5 lessons everyday scheduled. My Spanish is descent at best, I still feel like the biggest gringo with my Spanish but little by little I think it i´ll come. I have to be patient, sometimes I want things to come immediately haha. Last P-Day we went to this cool place called the Culpa, I think I sent a picture of it. You could look it up online or something. I am excited for Christmas so I can call you guys! I was talking with our Zone Leaders about how we may get to watch some christmas movies on christmas with the zone, ie A Christmas Story for example! It´s only a rumor, we´ll see what Presidente Risso says. I hope so. I also heard during Christmas time the people here eat a lot of Fruit cake haha, I dont´know if i´m excited about that. But I´ll get over it. I´m learning not to be so picky, the food here is pretty plain though so it´s not a big deal. I haven´t eaten anything super weird yet haha.
Elder Sud was talking to you Mom?? Haha what a loser, he shouldn´t be on Facebook haha. Thats cool though! I´m glad your were able to talk to some of my friends, tell them I say hi and tell anyone if they haven´t recieved a letter from me its because the mailing system is horrible and i am also really busy haha, I am going to write a couple of letters and send them though. Ryan Harvey served here? That´s sweet haha, it´s so awesome here I love it. Gerry is in the bishopric of the singles ward? Thats awesome he´ll do an awesome job, good ol Ger Bear hah! Tell Konnor I say hi I don´t know what his real address is so I don´t know where to send a letter, haha. I am going to try and send a Christmas package to you guys i´m not sure how it will work and if it i´ll come on time. I was told by my district leaders that I have a package, it arrived in the mission home and I have to sign and fingerprint a document before it can come here. I was thinking it´s going to be awesome to call you guys on Christmas! I am excited to talk to you guys (: Tell Bryce to shoot me an email or something, tell him he´s a loser for not writing me! Haha kidding, but I want to hear how he´s doing! and Joel Evan and Eli, tell them I say hi! What have you guys been doing?? Playing the pinball machines jumping on the tramp?? haha. I miss hanging out with you guys!
I was thinking about if you guys send me a package for Christmas send me a lot of Candy I like, Sour punch straws, sour punch watermelons, etc anything thats not going to melt or spoil. Sorry if I sound selfish asking for stuff haha. I don´t really need anything at the moment and I already lug around enough stuff as it is haha. But lots of food chips or whatever would be awesome. Actually I´ll leave it up to you guys to send whatever! Haha I sound so selfish. I hope I can get a package out you guys before Christmas, if I do it by next monday it will probably get there after Christmas. Oh yeah I still have those calling cards, so I think i should be able to call on Christmas I think it´s two hours worth I believe.
Well let me know how things are going and continue to send those pictures! I enjoy getting them (: I love you guys, thanks for everything that you do for me! I am so blessed. Love you!!
-Christopher
What have you guys been doing?! I enjoyed looking at the pictures you guys sent me, sounds like everyone had a really awesome Thanksgiving. The zipline looked awesome, Dan put up a pretty sweet Zipline it looks like. It also looked like everyone was enjoying the pinball machines, and the pictures of the mods you got for TZ looked sweet Dad. Ava has teeth now? Wow! Haha, that´s awesome, she´s so cute haha. From all your guy´s pictures there´s no snow? What gives? Last year there was a lot at this time if I am remembering right? Maybe not. I was talking today with the Mom of the family that we live with and she was telling me that there´s not any snow in Utah currently. The family we live with are very nice, and their house is super nice too compared to the houses here in Cajamarca. I get hot showers it´s something to look forward to everymorning ha.
So I feel pretty adjusted now to the life in the field I think, it´s a lot different than in the MTC. I am dead beat tired everynight we come home from the days work. I don´t think I have worked this hard in my entire life haha, my comforter makes my night it´s so comfy!! Haha. Elder Pacori is a stud though, he´s all about working really hard and he´s helping set the tone for my whole mission he helps me a ton with anything I need. I feel really blessed to have him as a trainer. We had a baptism on Saturday, it was really cool! The hermana we baptized is 18 her name is Edelmila, and I was able to baptize her. It was very spiritual for me, I hadn´t baptized anyone before this so I was a little nervous. But it went great, and she recieved the Holy Ghost on Sunday during Sacrament meeting. We have another lady Hermana Sebastiana, and she has a baptismal date for this Saturday. We are going to work hard with her to prepare her for Saturday, she´s really nice and very humble. I am learning a lot from the people here in Peru. It´s so cool I think it was yesterday or two days ago we taught a family the first lesson and I taught about the story of The Restauration (I can´t spell good), but anyways when I started talking about the first vision I felt the spirit so strong while I was sharing this with them. As missionaries we are the guides for the people to a conversion, the Spirit does all the work of the conversion. They can ask God about the our message to know it is true and recieve an answer through the Holy Ghost, we can testify of this to the people here. My testimony is growing everyday especially when it´s tough haha. Everyone here is very open to what we have to say and at the least, listen to us usually so thats been helpful.
One thing that has been kind of funny here in Cajamarca is all the doors here are super small, so I feel like a giant whenever we go in someones house haha. I´ve hit my head a couple of times in the past week on doorways ha. The traffic here is really safe, I don´t think I could ever get hit by a car haha. Everyone honks or flashes their brights to let you know they are coming so it´s not a big deal at all. Riding the Mototaxis is awesome. I am getting the rest I need 8 hours is plenty of sleep but I am tired everynight from hiking these stinking hills we walk around in you should see how many stairs we climb everyday it´s tiring! I´ll take a picture and send it to you of these stairs haha. We talk to tons of people everyday in the street and we have about 4 to 5 lessons everyday scheduled. My Spanish is descent at best, I still feel like the biggest gringo with my Spanish but little by little I think it i´ll come. I have to be patient, sometimes I want things to come immediately haha. Last P-Day we went to this cool place called the Culpa, I think I sent a picture of it. You could look it up online or something. I am excited for Christmas so I can call you guys! I was talking with our Zone Leaders about how we may get to watch some christmas movies on christmas with the zone, ie A Christmas Story for example! It´s only a rumor, we´ll see what Presidente Risso says. I hope so. I also heard during Christmas time the people here eat a lot of Fruit cake haha, I dont´know if i´m excited about that. But I´ll get over it. I´m learning not to be so picky, the food here is pretty plain though so it´s not a big deal. I haven´t eaten anything super weird yet haha.
Elder Sud was talking to you Mom?? Haha what a loser, he shouldn´t be on Facebook haha. Thats cool though! I´m glad your were able to talk to some of my friends, tell them I say hi and tell anyone if they haven´t recieved a letter from me its because the mailing system is horrible and i am also really busy haha, I am going to write a couple of letters and send them though. Ryan Harvey served here? That´s sweet haha, it´s so awesome here I love it. Gerry is in the bishopric of the singles ward? Thats awesome he´ll do an awesome job, good ol Ger Bear hah! Tell Konnor I say hi I don´t know what his real address is so I don´t know where to send a letter, haha. I am going to try and send a Christmas package to you guys i´m not sure how it will work and if it i´ll come on time. I was told by my district leaders that I have a package, it arrived in the mission home and I have to sign and fingerprint a document before it can come here. I was thinking it´s going to be awesome to call you guys on Christmas! I am excited to talk to you guys (: Tell Bryce to shoot me an email or something, tell him he´s a loser for not writing me! Haha kidding, but I want to hear how he´s doing! and Joel Evan and Eli, tell them I say hi! What have you guys been doing?? Playing the pinball machines jumping on the tramp?? haha. I miss hanging out with you guys!
I was thinking about if you guys send me a package for Christmas send me a lot of Candy I like, Sour punch straws, sour punch watermelons, etc anything thats not going to melt or spoil. Sorry if I sound selfish asking for stuff haha. I don´t really need anything at the moment and I already lug around enough stuff as it is haha. But lots of food chips or whatever would be awesome. Actually I´ll leave it up to you guys to send whatever! Haha I sound so selfish. I hope I can get a package out you guys before Christmas, if I do it by next monday it will probably get there after Christmas. Oh yeah I still have those calling cards, so I think i should be able to call on Christmas I think it´s two hours worth I believe.
Well let me know how things are going and continue to send those pictures! I enjoy getting them (: I love you guys, thanks for everything that you do for me! I am so blessed. Love you!!
-Christopher
Saturday, November 26, 2011
First Week! Nov 21st
Family :D
Hey! How´s it going?? Those pictures you sent were awesome, of the family, the snow, and the pinball machine. The snow looks so cool in our backyard with the trees and all, it made me miss winter time. You have passes to go skiing at brighton right?? That´ll be fun! The pinball machines in the basement look cool, and MM looks really fun. I am really enjoying myself here in Cajamarca, it´s really pretty. It feels a lot like home with the mountains surrounding the city. You guys would love it here.
So the first week has been pretty cool, I am tired all the time haha. The area of Cajamarca that me and my comp have is literal on the mountain, so when were tracting it´s pretty tiring the hills we walk are super steep haha. But I am getting used to it. The people here have been nice so far, and it´s very laid back here. The situation with the cars driving around on the streets is a little sketchy but you just have to be careful and it´s not a big deal. I feel so lucky to be in the area i´m in, President Risso told me that most missionaries don´t get the chance to serve here so I am really excited about it. We have appointments and were teaching all the time were crazy busy all the time. My companion is really cool, and he knows a lot. So I am learning a lot from him. He helps me with my Spanish and what not so it´s been really helpful. I am still very confused with Spanish, I am learning little by little and I am forced to speak it every day. It´s weird this whole week I don´t think I have spoken a word of English. So I think this will help me to learn Spanish very quick. I am okay when it comes to talking about The Gospel but my vocabulary for things not pertaining to that is very limited. I think it will just come with time. Our apartment is very nice it´s sweet, we don´t talk much with the family we live with in fact I think I have only met them for like 5 minutes. Our pension where we eat food is awesome, the family is super nice. They sell pan from their house, it´s really good bread.
We have a lady with a baptism for this Saturday that were pretty excited about, her names Gladis. She´s really nice and excited about the Church. It´s tough we had two other people with baptism dates, but it´s tough because they have to attend church two times before they can be baptized and a lot of the people have a hard time with that. The people here are very receptive of the Gospel though from what I can tell. We teach a lot of different people and it´s tough to remember all the people haha, we have been trying to have a member with us in our lessons it helps a lot. Pretty much everyone here is Catolica. It´s funny that you brought up those Mototaxi cars mom, we ride those when we have to go somewhere out of our area. But it´s actually really safe, and when we have to go to our apartment we take a taxi cause the mototaxis can´t get up the hills. I am trying to enjoy myself right now and not get down on myself it´s hard when you feel like you can´t communicate as well and it affects your ability to teach. But I was told my Spanish is pretty good for 9 weeks of experience with it so that made me feel good haha. With the Zone today we played soccer and volleyball at the church, it was fun. Everyone in my zone is super cool.
So as far as mail and packages go I am actually not really sure I can figure it out and tell you this next monday. I can recieve pouch mail but I can´t send it out. We don´t have an address here in Cajamarca. Don´t worry at all about sending anything for the people here or for my companion, it i´ll make things more dificult for me. But if you want to send a package to me I would send it in the next week or so, or it won´t get to me on time. I think you should be able to look it up somehow. If not I will be able to send you guys the address next week. The mission pays for two of my letters a week. It costs 7 solace for a letter here through serpost. I have two minutes, but I am going to send some pictures next week. Love you guys!! Sorry I couldn´t talk longer.
-Christopher
Hey! How´s it going?? Those pictures you sent were awesome, of the family, the snow, and the pinball machine. The snow looks so cool in our backyard with the trees and all, it made me miss winter time. You have passes to go skiing at brighton right?? That´ll be fun! The pinball machines in the basement look cool, and MM looks really fun. I am really enjoying myself here in Cajamarca, it´s really pretty. It feels a lot like home with the mountains surrounding the city. You guys would love it here.
So the first week has been pretty cool, I am tired all the time haha. The area of Cajamarca that me and my comp have is literal on the mountain, so when were tracting it´s pretty tiring the hills we walk are super steep haha. But I am getting used to it. The people here have been nice so far, and it´s very laid back here. The situation with the cars driving around on the streets is a little sketchy but you just have to be careful and it´s not a big deal. I feel so lucky to be in the area i´m in, President Risso told me that most missionaries don´t get the chance to serve here so I am really excited about it. We have appointments and were teaching all the time were crazy busy all the time. My companion is really cool, and he knows a lot. So I am learning a lot from him. He helps me with my Spanish and what not so it´s been really helpful. I am still very confused with Spanish, I am learning little by little and I am forced to speak it every day. It´s weird this whole week I don´t think I have spoken a word of English. So I think this will help me to learn Spanish very quick. I am okay when it comes to talking about The Gospel but my vocabulary for things not pertaining to that is very limited. I think it will just come with time. Our apartment is very nice it´s sweet, we don´t talk much with the family we live with in fact I think I have only met them for like 5 minutes. Our pension where we eat food is awesome, the family is super nice. They sell pan from their house, it´s really good bread.
We have a lady with a baptism for this Saturday that were pretty excited about, her names Gladis. She´s really nice and excited about the Church. It´s tough we had two other people with baptism dates, but it´s tough because they have to attend church two times before they can be baptized and a lot of the people have a hard time with that. The people here are very receptive of the Gospel though from what I can tell. We teach a lot of different people and it´s tough to remember all the people haha, we have been trying to have a member with us in our lessons it helps a lot. Pretty much everyone here is Catolica. It´s funny that you brought up those Mototaxi cars mom, we ride those when we have to go somewhere out of our area. But it´s actually really safe, and when we have to go to our apartment we take a taxi cause the mototaxis can´t get up the hills. I am trying to enjoy myself right now and not get down on myself it´s hard when you feel like you can´t communicate as well and it affects your ability to teach. But I was told my Spanish is pretty good for 9 weeks of experience with it so that made me feel good haha. With the Zone today we played soccer and volleyball at the church, it was fun. Everyone in my zone is super cool.
So as far as mail and packages go I am actually not really sure I can figure it out and tell you this next monday. I can recieve pouch mail but I can´t send it out. We don´t have an address here in Cajamarca. Don´t worry at all about sending anything for the people here or for my companion, it i´ll make things more dificult for me. But if you want to send a package to me I would send it in the next week or so, or it won´t get to me on time. I think you should be able to look it up somehow. If not I will be able to send you guys the address next week. The mission pays for two of my letters a week. It costs 7 solace for a letter here through serpost. I have two minutes, but I am going to send some pictures next week. Love you guys!! Sorry I couldn´t talk longer.
-Christopher
I'm in the field!! Nov 16th
Family :D hey!!! So guess where my first area is at?! Its in Cajamarca! It´s so awesome, it´s up in the highlands of Peru in the middle of the mountains. It´s super pretty and really awesome weather, a lot cooler than down in Chiclayo. Anyways i´ll try and tell you as much as I can.
So we left on Tuesday at 7:30 and left for the airport, our flight left Lima at 11:20 and we arrived in Chiclayo aroud 1:00. One sweet thing was I was able to teach a lady on the plane the first lesson and give her a book of mormon it was awesome. We were greeted by President Risso and his wife, they´re are super nice and helpful. From there we went to Norky´s (its like KFC) we ate lunch here and then drove to the mission home. We went through a welcome meeting introduced ourselves to some of the missionaries in the area. We were then assigned our companions and where are first areas would be. I had heard that the mountain highland mission in Cajamarca was really cool and pretty so I was super stoked when they called my name and said I would be serving there. My companion Elder Pacori is awesome and really nice and easy going he´s 26 which is pretty interesting haha, but he knows a lot and he will be very helpful. We left the mission home at 10:30 and took a double decker bus through the night up the mountains into Cajamarca, we arrived at 5 in the morning so I´m fairly tired haha. Our apartment is really nice, a lot nicer than I expected. I feel really blessed for the area i´ll be in and the companion I have. We are living with some members in the ward. The room is about the size of my room at our house and it´s just me and Elder Pacori. I feel really safe where I am at. I talked to my companion about Cajamarca and I asked him if I needed to worry about anyone trying to rob us and he said it´s super relaxed here and tranquil (I think thats how you spell it). You should look up some pictures of the city, I was going to send some pictures but I don´t really have any time. I should be able to email you guys on Monday (P-Day). Umm so que mas?? I hear the members are really cool, and we are teaching some lessons to today to some less active members and some investigators. Were planning on commiting one of the investigators to baptism so we´ll see what happens. We went this morning to a members how where we eat all our meals and they were so nice and we ate some pan, eggs, and hot chocolate. They´re very nice people. I still can´t believe im in the field now and that i´m in the city i´m in, it´s so pretty and peaceful. I feel really safe here. There´s mountains surrounding the city, so it feels just like Salt Lake City :D it´s so awesome. I can´t wait to get in on some real lessons, my spanish isn´t near where it needs to be but I am very excited for this opportunity I have, it´s like nothing else. We are teaching a class tonight at 8 for people struggling with addictions, alcohol is a big problem for a lot of the people here so they hold a addiction recovery class thing at the church. I´m stoked about that!
So what´s going on with you guys right now? Have you been getting a lot of snow lately?? Or going sledding?? I really enjoyed recieving the letters you guys sent me, I got some just before I left the CCM in Peru. Have you been playing the pinball machines and all that?? Fill me in on everything :D I feel bad I dont have a ton of time but on monday i will have a hour for email.
As far as my mailing address goes i´m not sure what it is, but when we have our district meeting I should be able to find that out. Also so I have pouch mail, I can recieve letters through pouch. But I can´t send through pouch which is a bummer. The church pays for two cartas a month I believe, but its 7 solace to send a letter out through SerPost so its pretty expensive! But anyways let me know how you guys are doing´!! I´ll talk to you on Monday :D Love youuuuu!!!!
-Christopher
So we left on Tuesday at 7:30 and left for the airport, our flight left Lima at 11:20 and we arrived in Chiclayo aroud 1:00. One sweet thing was I was able to teach a lady on the plane the first lesson and give her a book of mormon it was awesome. We were greeted by President Risso and his wife, they´re are super nice and helpful. From there we went to Norky´s (its like KFC) we ate lunch here and then drove to the mission home. We went through a welcome meeting introduced ourselves to some of the missionaries in the area. We were then assigned our companions and where are first areas would be. I had heard that the mountain highland mission in Cajamarca was really cool and pretty so I was super stoked when they called my name and said I would be serving there. My companion Elder Pacori is awesome and really nice and easy going he´s 26 which is pretty interesting haha, but he knows a lot and he will be very helpful. We left the mission home at 10:30 and took a double decker bus through the night up the mountains into Cajamarca, we arrived at 5 in the morning so I´m fairly tired haha. Our apartment is really nice, a lot nicer than I expected. I feel really blessed for the area i´ll be in and the companion I have. We are living with some members in the ward. The room is about the size of my room at our house and it´s just me and Elder Pacori. I feel really safe where I am at. I talked to my companion about Cajamarca and I asked him if I needed to worry about anyone trying to rob us and he said it´s super relaxed here and tranquil (I think thats how you spell it). You should look up some pictures of the city, I was going to send some pictures but I don´t really have any time. I should be able to email you guys on Monday (P-Day). Umm so que mas?? I hear the members are really cool, and we are teaching some lessons to today to some less active members and some investigators. Were planning on commiting one of the investigators to baptism so we´ll see what happens. We went this morning to a members how where we eat all our meals and they were so nice and we ate some pan, eggs, and hot chocolate. They´re very nice people. I still can´t believe im in the field now and that i´m in the city i´m in, it´s so pretty and peaceful. I feel really safe here. There´s mountains surrounding the city, so it feels just like Salt Lake City :D it´s so awesome. I can´t wait to get in on some real lessons, my spanish isn´t near where it needs to be but I am very excited for this opportunity I have, it´s like nothing else. We are teaching a class tonight at 8 for people struggling with addictions, alcohol is a big problem for a lot of the people here so they hold a addiction recovery class thing at the church. I´m stoked about that!
So what´s going on with you guys right now? Have you been getting a lot of snow lately?? Or going sledding?? I really enjoyed recieving the letters you guys sent me, I got some just before I left the CCM in Peru. Have you been playing the pinball machines and all that?? Fill me in on everything :D I feel bad I dont have a ton of time but on monday i will have a hour for email.
As far as my mailing address goes i´m not sure what it is, but when we have our district meeting I should be able to find that out. Also so I have pouch mail, I can recieve letters through pouch. But I can´t send through pouch which is a bummer. The church pays for two cartas a month I believe, but its 7 solace to send a letter out through SerPost so its pretty expensive! But anyways let me know how you guys are doing´!! I´ll talk to you on Monday :D Love youuuuu!!!!
-Christopher
Hey!! Nov 9th
Como le va?!! Its snowing in Utah?? Oh man thats awesome, that makes me miss the cold weather in utah. I loved those pictures you guys sent the basketball game looked fun, those costumes were awesome too michael myers and the yeti thats sweet, and lagoon with terror ride frightmares is awesome, where´d you guys get the picture with the snake??, and the picture with lindsey and her husband is cool looks like shes really happy thats awesome. So i didn´t take too much time to read your emails i skimmed over them because i wanted to shoot josh a letter and i dont get enough time on here and i wanted to look at those pictures you guys sent me.
So nothing really new going on here, still studying and trying to get all prepped to head out to Chiclayo. I've been reviewing a lot of Spanish grammar and trying to learn all the rules of the language. I was told by my teacher he said that you will eventually will just talk spanish naturally and you won't have to think about all the grammatical rules that go along with Spanish so that was nice to hear. My latin companion Elder Chambergo helps me out a lot with words and whatever it is, he's super funny. I may have told you this he's a convert to the church he's 23 and he's been a member for a 1 and half. A lot of the latin elders here are 21 or older they're all super nice and cool. I've been reading from the new testament lately during some of my personal time and that's been really cool for me. What else happened this week?? Umm I got ice cream which was awesome hahah, we never get sweets like i've told you and so anytime we get any type of candy or anything its delicious.
So today we drove down to downtown lima and went to immagrations to get our id for Peru. It was about an hour drive and now i'm official here in peru haha. It was cool though we were waiting in line for to get our id cards and we started talking to this guy, he was reading out of his bible. And we talked for a quick 10 minutes about the church, and he got super excited about what we had to say it was really cool! The spirit from this guy was so strong, he was very receptive of our message and we invited him to read the BOM, ponder the message it contains in his heart, pray to know its true, and he will recieve an answer through the Holy Ghost we shared Gal 5:22 to explain what the spirit is. it was so awesome too see him light up and get so excited about the LDM and what we quickly talked to him about I got his address and tel number.
Anyways sorry I dont have a ton of time let me know how things are going?? fill me in on all thats going on!! Send some pictures of you guys playing MM!! I wanna see it! I feel bad my emails keep running so short, I get on email and read the emails you guys send and look at the pictures and then i have like 15 minutes to email back haha. But yeah things are going really good and i'm keeping a good attitude lately and super excited to get out there and do the real thing. i feel like i've lived inside an MTC my whole life hahaha. I'm going to write you guys a letter today and when i get to chiclayo i should get a hour to email you guys about everything. I met my MP last week and his wife they´re really nice so i'm excited about that. Love you soo much sorry i don't have a ton of time. Fill me in on whatevers going on!!
-Christopher
So nothing really new going on here, still studying and trying to get all prepped to head out to Chiclayo. I've been reviewing a lot of Spanish grammar and trying to learn all the rules of the language. I was told by my teacher he said that you will eventually will just talk spanish naturally and you won't have to think about all the grammatical rules that go along with Spanish so that was nice to hear. My latin companion Elder Chambergo helps me out a lot with words and whatever it is, he's super funny. I may have told you this he's a convert to the church he's 23 and he's been a member for a 1 and half. A lot of the latin elders here are 21 or older they're all super nice and cool. I've been reading from the new testament lately during some of my personal time and that's been really cool for me. What else happened this week?? Umm I got ice cream which was awesome hahah, we never get sweets like i've told you and so anytime we get any type of candy or anything its delicious.
So today we drove down to downtown lima and went to immagrations to get our id for Peru. It was about an hour drive and now i'm official here in peru haha. It was cool though we were waiting in line for to get our id cards and we started talking to this guy, he was reading out of his bible. And we talked for a quick 10 minutes about the church, and he got super excited about what we had to say it was really cool! The spirit from this guy was so strong, he was very receptive of our message and we invited him to read the BOM, ponder the message it contains in his heart, pray to know its true, and he will recieve an answer through the Holy Ghost we shared Gal 5:22 to explain what the spirit is. it was so awesome too see him light up and get so excited about the LDM and what we quickly talked to him about I got his address and tel number.
Anyways sorry I dont have a ton of time let me know how things are going?? fill me in on all thats going on!! Send some pictures of you guys playing MM!! I wanna see it! I feel bad my emails keep running so short, I get on email and read the emails you guys send and look at the pictures and then i have like 15 minutes to email back haha. But yeah things are going really good and i'm keeping a good attitude lately and super excited to get out there and do the real thing. i feel like i've lived inside an MTC my whole life hahaha. I'm going to write you guys a letter today and when i get to chiclayo i should get a hour to email you guys about everything. I met my MP last week and his wife they´re really nice so i'm excited about that. Love you soo much sorry i don't have a ton of time. Fill me in on whatevers going on!!
-Christopher
Hola!!! Nov 2nd
Que pasa? hows everything going with you!? Everything is going awesome here, and im enjoying myself a lot. I loved those pictures that you sent theyre awesome :D youll have to send me some pictures of you guys playing the new pinball machine! Is it pretty cool? Im way jealous you guys got it after I left. How was halloween? I was bummed out on halloween because we didnt do anything, not that I expected to do anything haha. But yeah holidays on the mish arent anything real special I dont think hah. Thats awesome to hear about Lindsey getting married, tell her congradulations! has it been snowing a lot? Its real nice weather down here like 75 I think, and really dry so it feels a lot like utah which is nice. Hows Gary Jones doing? Its a bummer I dont get to hear about anything that goes on and I got one letter today haha, and the email time is way too short!! You guys better go skiing a lot this year and take a lot of pictures for me.
So I got my new companion elder chambergo, and hes from lima. hes a way cool elder, I still have my american companion but its split up between both companions. Hes been really helpful with my spanish and different things and we get along really good. Yeah there was an earthquake, it was actually really cool haha! we were sitting in class and all the sudden the ground started shaking for about ten seconds and it was actually pretty cool to experience ha. It was kinda like when we were on the trip with the lavatos and the cabin shook. But it was nothing too terribly crazy. We went on the tour and it was super cool I think I already talked to you guys about that right ? We went to that old church and all that with the bones and got to tour downtown lima. I attactched some pictures so you guys should get them. Were going proselyting on Saturday I think and I am pretty excited about that, that picture of all the multicolored houses on the mountain is similiar to the place we tracted in. It was so awesome, and a cool experience for me. Just being able to go and knock doors and talk to whoever about the message we have for them was so cool and spiritual. I am so excited and nervous to leave in the next couple of weeks its going to be so cool, going out tracting makes me feel more comfortable aabout the whole thing. Ive talked to a couple of people about chiclayo and they said its really hot there in the summers, the food is aweesome, the people are really nice, and that its a lot like a desert i think. Who knows. Umm what else has been going on..my norte americano comp elder spencer is zone leader now which is awesome for him. We have been playing a lot of soccer and doing the same old stuff here, eat sleep and drink the gospel and spanish. it gets a little old sitting in class and studying for most of the day but its good for me to learn to study hard. We watched the Joseph smith movie on sunday which was cool. Oh yeah my mission president of chiclayo and his wife were visiting the CCM here with a bunch of other mission presidents in peru. And I got to meet them and theyre super nice and seem like theyre going to be really cool, they dont speak any english so thats cool hah. Today we went to TOTOUS and got some soda and food and we were walking around and there was christmas music playing and all these christmas decorations it was cool to see some things that remind me of home :D I have a minute and 30 seconds left so im going to try and upload some pictures really quick! Sorry I couldnt write much. I will write some letters and send them out with more details obout what is going on here :D and the letters I sent last week should be coming soon! Love you guys!!! Thanks for everything!!!
-Christopher :D
P.S. I tried my visa today at TOTOUS and it worked perfectly and it expires 8/13 so were good on that :D
So I got my new companion elder chambergo, and hes from lima. hes a way cool elder, I still have my american companion but its split up between both companions. Hes been really helpful with my spanish and different things and we get along really good. Yeah there was an earthquake, it was actually really cool haha! we were sitting in class and all the sudden the ground started shaking for about ten seconds and it was actually pretty cool to experience ha. It was kinda like when we were on the trip with the lavatos and the cabin shook. But it was nothing too terribly crazy. We went on the tour and it was super cool I think I already talked to you guys about that right ? We went to that old church and all that with the bones and got to tour downtown lima. I attactched some pictures so you guys should get them. Were going proselyting on Saturday I think and I am pretty excited about that, that picture of all the multicolored houses on the mountain is similiar to the place we tracted in. It was so awesome, and a cool experience for me. Just being able to go and knock doors and talk to whoever about the message we have for them was so cool and spiritual. I am so excited and nervous to leave in the next couple of weeks its going to be so cool, going out tracting makes me feel more comfortable aabout the whole thing. Ive talked to a couple of people about chiclayo and they said its really hot there in the summers, the food is aweesome, the people are really nice, and that its a lot like a desert i think. Who knows. Umm what else has been going on..my norte americano comp elder spencer is zone leader now which is awesome for him. We have been playing a lot of soccer and doing the same old stuff here, eat sleep and drink the gospel and spanish. it gets a little old sitting in class and studying for most of the day but its good for me to learn to study hard. We watched the Joseph smith movie on sunday which was cool. Oh yeah my mission president of chiclayo and his wife were visiting the CCM here with a bunch of other mission presidents in peru. And I got to meet them and theyre super nice and seem like theyre going to be really cool, they dont speak any english so thats cool hah. Today we went to TOTOUS and got some soda and food and we were walking around and there was christmas music playing and all these christmas decorations it was cool to see some things that remind me of home :D I have a minute and 30 seconds left so im going to try and upload some pictures really quick! Sorry I couldnt write much. I will write some letters and send them out with more details obout what is going on here :D and the letters I sent last week should be coming soon! Love you guys!!! Thanks for everything!!!
-Christopher :D
P.S. I tried my visa today at TOTOUS and it worked perfectly and it expires 8/13 so were good on that :D
Hiii It's Christopher! Oct 26th
HEYY, how's it going? How's October been?? I miss not being able to have fun during Halloween and go do stuff for Halloween. Haha. Everything is going really well here in the CCM.
We have had some awesome opportunities lately, we were able to go proselyting on Saturday and go real door contacting. It was really cool, I didn't take any pictures cause they told us not to bring our cameras. But I don't think I have ever seen poverty like that it was really eye opening for me. The houses have tin roofs and stuff, and in this one part of the neighborhood there was a ditch and people were just dumping all the garbage out of the back of their houses into this ditch. The people we were able to talk to and teach were so nice and humble! It was me and my companion, Elder Spencer and our maestro Hermano Vega. It was way nice to have our teacher there since we don't know the first thing about spanish so whenever we got lost he would repeat what they said slower so we could understand haha. So we were able to knock doors for about 5 hours, and we were only able to teach 2 lessons and get inside 1 house. We started out and I was way intimitated to talk to anyone, but after about 3 doors I felt more comfortable. About the 4th house we got to, this one lady let us teach her and we sat on these bricks outside her house, and taught her how God loves her. She had been hit by a car and the people who hit her just drove off and didn't help her. She was curious why God would let this happen to her. I felt pretty bad for her. She didn't have a lot of time so we got her info and kept going. We talked to some kids playing soccer here, and all the soccer here is awesome. Within these neighborhoods there is just a slab of cement and soccer goals so we were talking to a bunch of kids playing soccer and they were making fun of us and laughing in Spanish and I didn't understand a thing they said hahahahaha they were nice though. But it was cool to get to really get to know the people here. We kept knocking for a while and people kept saying ''otro dia" another day, and so we just kept going. We ended up running into this lady outside of her house and she let us in her house and we taught her and her husband, they were super nice to us. We were able to teach the whole first lesson to them and covered everything. It was a very spiritual experience, and it seemed surreal I was really sitting in their house and we were teaching real people. But it was just like we had practiced in the past and it went really good. Sorry I am keeping these stories short but I dont have a ton of time. We got their info and turned it in to the missionaries in the area so hopefully they end up getting more lessons.
So today we go on a tour of Lima and I am really stoked about it! We get to go to a cathedral and I think we get to go to the beach im not sure. After that we get to come back and play soccer under the lights for like 3 hours, it's gonna be nice to get a day off and kinda play and have free time. We get our latin companions tomorrow so I am really excited about that so I can learn spanish quicker and get some experience. I have two and half weeks left and them it's outta here for me! Finally! I feel like I have been in here forever but not really at the same time. I love the environment here it's very relaxed but strict too. But were continuing to learn a lot daily. The experience on saturday was definitely my favorite so far. It was so cool, just how I imagined real tracking to be. But also almost too good to be true because of how nice the people were. And I have been told the people in Lima aren't as nice as the people in Chiclayo so we'll see! I talked to a Latino elder from chiclayo last week and he said it's really nice in chiclayo and very pretty. The food is really good he said, and i've also heard you eat a ton banana's there!?? So i'll have to get used to that hahah.
I don't have much time and sorry if these email is short I tried to get in as much as I could!! Love you guys, tell me how everything is going with you. Are you guys getting the pictures I email you??????
Christopher :D
We have had some awesome opportunities lately, we were able to go proselyting on Saturday and go real door contacting. It was really cool, I didn't take any pictures cause they told us not to bring our cameras. But I don't think I have ever seen poverty like that it was really eye opening for me. The houses have tin roofs and stuff, and in this one part of the neighborhood there was a ditch and people were just dumping all the garbage out of the back of their houses into this ditch. The people we were able to talk to and teach were so nice and humble! It was me and my companion, Elder Spencer and our maestro Hermano Vega. It was way nice to have our teacher there since we don't know the first thing about spanish so whenever we got lost he would repeat what they said slower so we could understand haha. So we were able to knock doors for about 5 hours, and we were only able to teach 2 lessons and get inside 1 house. We started out and I was way intimitated to talk to anyone, but after about 3 doors I felt more comfortable. About the 4th house we got to, this one lady let us teach her and we sat on these bricks outside her house, and taught her how God loves her. She had been hit by a car and the people who hit her just drove off and didn't help her. She was curious why God would let this happen to her. I felt pretty bad for her. She didn't have a lot of time so we got her info and kept going. We talked to some kids playing soccer here, and all the soccer here is awesome. Within these neighborhoods there is just a slab of cement and soccer goals so we were talking to a bunch of kids playing soccer and they were making fun of us and laughing in Spanish and I didn't understand a thing they said hahahahaha they were nice though. But it was cool to get to really get to know the people here. We kept knocking for a while and people kept saying ''otro dia" another day, and so we just kept going. We ended up running into this lady outside of her house and she let us in her house and we taught her and her husband, they were super nice to us. We were able to teach the whole first lesson to them and covered everything. It was a very spiritual experience, and it seemed surreal I was really sitting in their house and we were teaching real people. But it was just like we had practiced in the past and it went really good. Sorry I am keeping these stories short but I dont have a ton of time. We got their info and turned it in to the missionaries in the area so hopefully they end up getting more lessons.
So today we go on a tour of Lima and I am really stoked about it! We get to go to a cathedral and I think we get to go to the beach im not sure. After that we get to come back and play soccer under the lights for like 3 hours, it's gonna be nice to get a day off and kinda play and have free time. We get our latin companions tomorrow so I am really excited about that so I can learn spanish quicker and get some experience. I have two and half weeks left and them it's outta here for me! Finally! I feel like I have been in here forever but not really at the same time. I love the environment here it's very relaxed but strict too. But were continuing to learn a lot daily. The experience on saturday was definitely my favorite so far. It was so cool, just how I imagined real tracking to be. But also almost too good to be true because of how nice the people were. And I have been told the people in Lima aren't as nice as the people in Chiclayo so we'll see! I talked to a Latino elder from chiclayo last week and he said it's really nice in chiclayo and very pretty. The food is really good he said, and i've also heard you eat a ton banana's there!?? So i'll have to get used to that hahah.
I don't have much time and sorry if these email is short I tried to get in as much as I could!! Love you guys, tell me how everything is going with you. Are you guys getting the pictures I email you??????
Christopher :D
Hey it's Christopher! Oct 21st
-Familia
Hey hows it going!!? I loved those pictures that you sent me on here, its a bummer to really only be able to email because letters take so long. I didn´t get any mail this week, and I think thats how it will be most of the time while i´m in Peru. It´s just tough to get stuff mailed. I did send some letters to you guys this week so you should get it pretty soon here. My P-Day is typically on Wednesday´s but it´s on Friday this week because the President of international MTC´s is here at the Lima MTC. I love reading emails from you guys it´s the best! I´m glad you were able to go to Rourke´s farewell, that picture is awesome of Ava and all the girls haha. I am bummed out that I didn´t get to see Rourke come into the MTC in Provo. Hopefully he can use that tie you gave him (: I will for sure remember to keep Gary Jones in my prayers, it´s good that it wasn´t a bad stroke. But it´s a bummer he won´t be able to play golf for 6 months.
So everything has been going awesome here in the CCM, it´s nice weather all the time and it´s a really nice MTC. It´s a little bit different than in Provo, only some of the teachers speak english and if they do it´s very little, the food they serve in the lunchroom is a lot different than in Provo it´s typically chicken and rice ha. We don´t get to have any food with us in our rooms so today when we got to go to the store I bought some ice cream and sprite and it was so nice to get some sugar haha. They feed you super healthy but its nice! Study time has been really good and I´m learning a lot its sweet, and my spanish is getting better everyday. I´m excited because this next week i am going to get a latin companion so that will help a ton with Spanish I think. Oh and also on this coming Wednesday we get to go on this cool tour of Lima and check out this cathedral and a beach and stuff I am stoked. Today for P-Day we took a bus to the Temple this morning and it was such a cool experience, the temple here is so pretty and super nice. Then we went to the store and I got some food and pigged out haha. We walked back from there about a mile and half to the CCM it was awesome to be able to walk through some of Lima the buildings are super sweet looking. I was talking to a couple people at the store and at the temple and it makes me feel like I know no Spanish haha. Hopefully it i´ll come in time. So we walked back from the store and now we have like 2 hours to do whatever to play soccer, take a nap, write letters, and take a nap. I think were gonna go play some soccer here, the field is super sweet. Or play some ping pong. It´s been so nice today to have P-Day because it got prolonged three days. Oh and tomorrow we get to go proselyting in the city so I´m pretty excited about that, I´m not sure where were going to go but it should be pretty sweet. But the MTC here is pretty much the same as provo other than being able to go proselyting and different things its sweet though.
So let me know how everything is going, how´s school been for Joel, Evan, and Bryce? Is bryce going to start Drivers ED? Or are you guys gonna wait on that? It´s a bummer that I don´t get any Dear Elders from anyone, I wish I did! That´s one of the bummers of being down here. I am running low on time and want to attach some pictures so that´s all I can write but I love you guys!! I´m sorry I don´t get to write as much as I have wanted to, I´m gonna write you guys a letter tonight and it should take about two weeks to get to you :D Love youuuuu!!!!
-Christopher
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
Hey hows it going!!? I loved those pictures that you sent me on here, its a bummer to really only be able to email because letters take so long. I didn´t get any mail this week, and I think thats how it will be most of the time while i´m in Peru. It´s just tough to get stuff mailed. I did send some letters to you guys this week so you should get it pretty soon here. My P-Day is typically on Wednesday´s but it´s on Friday this week because the President of international MTC´s is here at the Lima MTC. I love reading emails from you guys it´s the best! I´m glad you were able to go to Rourke´s farewell, that picture is awesome of Ava and all the girls haha. I am bummed out that I didn´t get to see Rourke come into the MTC in Provo. Hopefully he can use that tie you gave him (: I will for sure remember to keep Gary Jones in my prayers, it´s good that it wasn´t a bad stroke. But it´s a bummer he won´t be able to play golf for 6 months.
So everything has been going awesome here in the CCM, it´s nice weather all the time and it´s a really nice MTC. It´s a little bit different than in Provo, only some of the teachers speak english and if they do it´s very little, the food they serve in the lunchroom is a lot different than in Provo it´s typically chicken and rice ha. We don´t get to have any food with us in our rooms so today when we got to go to the store I bought some ice cream and sprite and it was so nice to get some sugar haha. They feed you super healthy but its nice! Study time has been really good and I´m learning a lot its sweet, and my spanish is getting better everyday. I´m excited because this next week i am going to get a latin companion so that will help a ton with Spanish I think. Oh and also on this coming Wednesday we get to go on this cool tour of Lima and check out this cathedral and a beach and stuff I am stoked. Today for P-Day we took a bus to the Temple this morning and it was such a cool experience, the temple here is so pretty and super nice. Then we went to the store and I got some food and pigged out haha. We walked back from there about a mile and half to the CCM it was awesome to be able to walk through some of Lima the buildings are super sweet looking. I was talking to a couple people at the store and at the temple and it makes me feel like I know no Spanish haha. Hopefully it i´ll come in time. So we walked back from the store and now we have like 2 hours to do whatever to play soccer, take a nap, write letters, and take a nap. I think were gonna go play some soccer here, the field is super sweet. Or play some ping pong. It´s been so nice today to have P-Day because it got prolonged three days. Oh and tomorrow we get to go proselyting in the city so I´m pretty excited about that, I´m not sure where were going to go but it should be pretty sweet. But the MTC here is pretty much the same as provo other than being able to go proselyting and different things its sweet though.
So let me know how everything is going, how´s school been for Joel, Evan, and Bryce? Is bryce going to start Drivers ED? Or are you guys gonna wait on that? It´s a bummer that I don´t get any Dear Elders from anyone, I wish I did! That´s one of the bummers of being down here. I am running low on time and want to attach some pictures so that´s all I can write but I love you guys!! I´m sorry I don´t get to write as much as I have wanted to, I´m gonna write you guys a letter tonight and it should take about two weeks to get to you :D Love youuuuu!!!!
-Christopher
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
I'm in Peru!! Oct 14th
Hola Familia!
I'm sorry I wasn't able to call you yesterday after I arrived to the Peru airport, I tried to call but my phone card wasn't working on the phones there. But everything is good here at the CCM in Lima! The weather here is a lot like Kauai it reminds me of it so much. It's really moderate, just like that spring weather we read about. We got to the Lima airport last night around 10:30, 11:30 Utah time. We were expecting someone to pick us up from the airport when we arrived, but there wasn't anyone there haha. So we were at the Lima airport after our plane landed for about 2 1/2 hours, it was pretty interesting. Luckily we met some members in our connecting flight in Atlanta that were headed to Peru and they helped us out. The guys that drove us to the CCM were nice, and we packed all of our stuff in a van and me and 2 elders rode while the other 4 hermanas rode in a different car. It was so cool to drive around Lima, and it also made me realize how much we take for granted in America. There's definitely a lot of poverty here. It's such a cool place though! We were able to finally get to the CCM around 2 am.
It was really cool so on the plane from Atlanta to Peru I sat next to this Peruvian lady. She spoke very little english and between my bad spanish and her english we started talking and I asked her where she was from and such. She was born in Lima and was coming from New York. Her name is Alicia. After we had started to get to know each other she asked me why I was headed down to Peru and I explained to her why. I started teaching the first lesson to her, about The Apostasy and Restoration. I told her how El Libro de Mormon is another testiment of Jesus Christ and the people of the Americas. She told me she was Catholic and so was all of her family. Anyways after I covered all the first lesson and explained to her about the restoration I told her how she could read The Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, and that José Smith was a prophet that translated The Book of Mormon {Moroni 10:3-5}. I promised her she would recieve an answer to her prayer. I wrote my testimony down in a spanish Book of Mormon and gave it to her. It was so cool! I was really excited about it, and I think she was interested. She seemed really interested in Christ and how he suffered for our sins, and I showed her 3 Nephi 11, when Christ appears to the Nephites and she read that chapter on the plane. It was so awesome to be able to teach a real person instead of a fake investigator. It was pretty sweet!
So we got into our room around 2 am and went to bed and were woken up at 6:30 it was crummy. But we were able to go back to bed for a little longer. We went to Breakfast 30 minutes later and came back to our room after to unpack. We napped a little bit more and I still feel tired haha. But then we met with the ZL's in our district and they gave a quick orientation and we went to gym after that. Gym was awesome we played soccer with our zone and all the latino Elder's here it was sweet, the soccer field here is legit. The peruvian people our so cool and super nice to everyone. It's definitely more immersion with Spanish in comparison with the Provo MTC, it's spoken everywhere. Oh and there's some ping pong tables here so that's pretty cool so I can practice up for when I come home! I am loving it so far though, I feel a little tired and out of it but it's so sweet.
How's everything going with you guys?? I'm running out of time and I want to attach some pictures really quickly! Love you guys!! Thanks so much, it was the best to be able to talk yesterday! Love you, nos vemos!
-Christopher
I'm sorry I wasn't able to call you yesterday after I arrived to the Peru airport, I tried to call but my phone card wasn't working on the phones there. But everything is good here at the CCM in Lima! The weather here is a lot like Kauai it reminds me of it so much. It's really moderate, just like that spring weather we read about. We got to the Lima airport last night around 10:30, 11:30 Utah time. We were expecting someone to pick us up from the airport when we arrived, but there wasn't anyone there haha. So we were at the Lima airport after our plane landed for about 2 1/2 hours, it was pretty interesting. Luckily we met some members in our connecting flight in Atlanta that were headed to Peru and they helped us out. The guys that drove us to the CCM were nice, and we packed all of our stuff in a van and me and 2 elders rode while the other 4 hermanas rode in a different car. It was so cool to drive around Lima, and it also made me realize how much we take for granted in America. There's definitely a lot of poverty here. It's such a cool place though! We were able to finally get to the CCM around 2 am.
It was really cool so on the plane from Atlanta to Peru I sat next to this Peruvian lady. She spoke very little english and between my bad spanish and her english we started talking and I asked her where she was from and such. She was born in Lima and was coming from New York. Her name is Alicia. After we had started to get to know each other she asked me why I was headed down to Peru and I explained to her why. I started teaching the first lesson to her, about The Apostasy and Restoration. I told her how El Libro de Mormon is another testiment of Jesus Christ and the people of the Americas. She told me she was Catholic and so was all of her family. Anyways after I covered all the first lesson and explained to her about the restoration I told her how she could read The Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, and that José Smith was a prophet that translated The Book of Mormon {Moroni 10:3-5}. I promised her she would recieve an answer to her prayer. I wrote my testimony down in a spanish Book of Mormon and gave it to her. It was so cool! I was really excited about it, and I think she was interested. She seemed really interested in Christ and how he suffered for our sins, and I showed her 3 Nephi 11, when Christ appears to the Nephites and she read that chapter on the plane. It was so awesome to be able to teach a real person instead of a fake investigator. It was pretty sweet!
So we got into our room around 2 am and went to bed and were woken up at 6:30 it was crummy. But we were able to go back to bed for a little longer. We went to Breakfast 30 minutes later and came back to our room after to unpack. We napped a little bit more and I still feel tired haha. But then we met with the ZL's in our district and they gave a quick orientation and we went to gym after that. Gym was awesome we played soccer with our zone and all the latino Elder's here it was sweet, the soccer field here is legit. The peruvian people our so cool and super nice to everyone. It's definitely more immersion with Spanish in comparison with the Provo MTC, it's spoken everywhere. Oh and there's some ping pong tables here so that's pretty cool so I can practice up for when I come home! I am loving it so far though, I feel a little tired and out of it but it's so sweet.
How's everything going with you guys?? I'm running out of time and I want to attach some pictures really quickly! Love you guys!! Thanks so much, it was the best to be able to talk yesterday! Love you, nos vemos!
-Christopher
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hola! It's Christopher Oct.11th
Mi Familia
Hey!! How's everything going!!? Those pictures you emailed are sweet! That tarantula is nuts haha! Thanks for the package that you sent me this week, one thing though is that the ice and salsa got everywhere haha. They said to tell you not to send anything like that because it spills everywhere just be careful ha. I really enjoy every letter and all the pictures you guys draw me (: don't worry about sending hand written letters because I just want to hear from you guys! So while i'm in the MTC dear elder me a bunch, you won't get to when i'm in the field. Those pictures are so cool to look at the ping pong looks fun, too bad i'm not there to show who's hefe (boss). Haha.
So the MTC has been awesome, I've got a new companion Elder Eberhard. He's awesome, we get along really good. We teach together pretty well too. Nothing too big has happened since last time I wrote, same old schedule and all. Waking up at the crack of dawn and all haha, but I really think this experience is going to help me for the rest of my life. I was doing laundry today thinking I am way glad that mom had me and Bryce do our laundry together or I wouldn't know what I am doing. HA! The spanish is coming right along, I learn new things about the language everyday. Sometimes I get down on myself about it but then I see the Elders walking around speaking Chinese too each other and it makes me think I have it a lot easier than them hah. It will just take time i think. i have gained a testimony of the ability to learn through the Holy Ghost, you learn and retain so much more. I've made a goal to pray before study to bring the spirit and after to help me remember what i've learned. This experience in the MTC has made me realize how much I miss just being able to take a walk down the street or go biking up the canyon or whatever it is ha. It can be kind of tough being in the MTC and not being able to be in the "real world" haha. Just getting to go up to the temple is so relaxing and nice to get away from the MTC. It's hard to explain. I have spiritual experiences everyday, during study or during the devotionals we go to on Tuesday night and Sunday night. I've been studying recieving personal revelation and the Atonement right now and it's been really awesome. You can learn so much from the scriptures, if you really ponder what you're reading. It's cool you can relate the stories of the Book of Mormon to your life. In priesthood this last sunday, the first counselor in our branch presidency talked about the Atonement, the Fall of Adam, and the Creation as the three pillars of eternity. It's so cool. Since I have been studying a lot and praying the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has made so much more sense to me. Scripture study and prayer together are so important.
Well hey I am running low on time, but I'm going to write a letter and send some pictures (: but I love you guys and keep writing or dear eldering me I love getting them! Real quick, did you get around to calling the Church travel services?? Just curious. Thanks a ton for everything!!! I love you guys so much!! (:
-Christopher
0ct. 4th letter
Hey how's everything going? I really have enjoyed all the food and stuff you've sent me its the best, and thanks a ton for sending those scriptures those are perfect they're exactly what I needed. Everything is going really good right now in the MTC, still learning tons of Spanish and Doctorine everyday. My visa still hasn't come, so I'll just be waiting til it comes I guess. If it doesn't come before my nine weeks here are up, then they'll reassign me somewhere in the United States that's spanish speaking til my visa arrives, somewhere like AZ, CA, or NV I don't know though. I'm praying that it comes very soon I really wanna go the Peru MTC, I think if I went there I would learn spanish so much quicker than I would here. That's mainly where a lot of my stress comes. But I have to say that Spanish is a way better structured language then English and more practical. So I think it i'll come fast. I'm am so blown away at how fast I have been learning in here, it's so weird it has to be because of the Holy Ghost. It's so cool. I've been playing a lot of Basketball whenver we have gym time, and that's the best it helps me relax and blow off steam from the day. And temple walks are really awesome too, to get off the MTC campus and go out in the real world ha. It sometimes feels like I'm living in this bubble but the leaves are changing on the mountains and it's so pretty. Conference, it was so awesome I learned a bunch and it was super spiritual. Did you guys watch conference? What was your favorite talk?? I really liked hearing from the prophet he's super funny, it's cool when you see the human side to the prophet and apostles of God. But yeah conference weekend was super relaxing and awesome. We've been teaching our fake investigators Laura and Rancho and it's been going really good. My spanish in the lessons is getting a lot better and I can get my message across a lot better now. My companion leaves tomorrow for the Peru MTC so i'll probably end up with Elder Eberhard his comp left yesterday for the Peru MTC so we'll get paired up most likely. I'm so busy lately so this last weekend was nice to not have to do as much as we normally do. We literally are doing something every minute of the day so it makes the days fly by. I can't believe I've already been here for three weeks it feels likes you just dropped me off yesterday it's weird. My teachers are super awesome and have been super helpful. I loved the pictures that Joel, Evan, and Eli sent me! How'd you guys like the pictures I sent? I was wondering if they'd get there or not sounds like they did though. Sorry it took me so long to get them too you, the printer finally got fixed. Well I'm running short on time, I spent a little bit of time emailing judi, colton denning, and mitch. But I'm gonna write some letters today so you should get some from me by tomorrow I think? I'll also send a picture or two (: Thanks for everything that you do for me! I'm so blessed to have the family I do, read scriptures and pray everynight. We teach this a lot ot our "investigators" that God loves you and he wants to hear from you, it's nice to think about it like that. So make sure and pray, family prayer is the best I loved when we would do it as a family. Well i'm 2 minutes over my alloted time but i'll send some pictures and letters today!! Love you!!
-Elder Christopher
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Mi Familia
Hola! What's up? How's everything going?? This past week has been so awesome, but really hard. I'm learning tons of Spanish and Doctorine of Christ. I think I've finally got the schedule figured out and I'm used to getting up at 6:30 AM instead of 12:00 PM haha. It's been so nice to get the candy and food you've sent me! Oh and the hacky sack and shirt, I really liked that picture too it's the best to get pictures. That's one thing I really like, so send TONS of pictures. Sorry you haven't got any pictures from me, the printer for the pictures was broken. But they got it working so I should have some pictures printed by Thursday, and i'll mail them out to you that same day. It's been so awesome being in the MTC with all my friends not that I see them all the time but it's nice being able to see them and talk. The food in here is pretty good, it's like if you ate at Golden Coral everyday. Which I can imagine getting kind of old after a while but it's been nice so far. The district has all become really good friends, and we joke around all the time and have fun. The Spanish is coming slowly, but it's going to be kind of tough. The language actually seems a lot more practical then English. I can bear my testimony, pray, and get my message across to our "investigators" when me and my companion teach. I've found that you can't teach without the spirit es muy importante. The spirit prompts you what to say so it's pretty awesome! It was cool on Tuesday cause a General Authority came, Russell M. Nielson his talk was great. He joked around a lot, and it's cool to see the more human side to an Apostle of God. I've got some bad news about my Visa. So my companion recieved his travel plans to go to the Peru MTC last week, and I didn't. So today I went to the travel office and asked them if my Visa paperwork had gone through. I had heard from some other Elders that 40 Visa's for Peru were signed. But sadly she sad that I'm scheduled to leave the Provo MTC on November 16th :( it's kind of a bummer. But there's a chance that could change, I have a week til I'm supposed to leave and my Visa could come before then. So we'll see. There's some good new though, when I do leave to go to Peru I get to call home and we can talk for about an hour or longer depending on how much time I have and I'll let you guys know when I'll be calling and all that. And I can call when we arrive in Peru and talk for like 2 minutes just to tell you I got there safely. So that'll be cool! I miss everyone so much! I have pictures put up in the room of the family, and it's comforting to look at. It's weird to think you guys are like a 20 minute drive away ha. I don't know if I say this too much, but the spirit in the MTC is so strong everyday. You feel it in everything you do it's awesome. I'm so grateful you guys (: this opportunity is so awesome. Sometimes it's hard during personal study to stay perfectly focused, i'll sometimes zone out and just be staring into space. So I need to work on that. It's nice in the MTC cause during study times we get to study outside on benches and you can see the mountains and all the leaves changing, fall time is so pretty. And from our room we have an awesome view of the Temple and the canyon. Being outside though is relaxing. It's weird feeling like you can't leave the MTC, it's like spiritual prison. Oh yeah send me a hand written letter! It's the best getting written letters, not that I don't want to get Dear Elder's because I know those are convenient but send some hand written letters. And send pictures!! Bryce, how's the ladies and school treating ya? I'm going to write you a letter today. I loved the pictures from the little kids! The picture of the Indiana Jones ride was so awesome (: I miss our trip to Disneyland that was freaking fun. So you guys are going to do a service project for Peru during Christmas? That's awesome! Do you know what your going to do yet?? That'd be sweet. And your going to learn some Spanish? It's tough! Haha. Oh yeah I was going to ask if you could possibly send me a different set of scriptures or maybe get me new ones? Mine have stickers in a lot of the pages and I can't mark scriptures, could you maybe send me a black quad set? Sorry to ask that. Just whenever you can that'd be nice. I have my P-Days on Tuesday's so maybe we can set a time to E-mail back and forth? I'll write you in a letter what time I'm going to be on the computer. I'll definitely send some pictures on Thursday though! I'm out of time though :( write me! LOVE YOU!!!!!
-Elder Christopher Robin
P.S. Send some pictures of you playing pinball (:
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Christopher's first letter :)
Hey!! Sorry I haven't e-mailed you guys yet, but today is my P-Day and we only get to e-mail on Tuesday. How's it going?? I thought I would e-mail you because I wasn't sure what mom's e-mail was. Did you guys get my letter? I think I sent it 3 days ago I can't remember. How's school going Bryce? Are the chicks treating you good? Fill me in! I'm so busy in the MTC it's crazy! Not a second of time is wasted, we always have something planned. But I think I'm getting used to the schedule and waking up at 6:30, although I definitely miss sleeping in til 12 ha. I am loving it here, my companion and my district are the coolest elders. Everyone gets along good so it's been really cool. I learn so much everyday, when I look back at the first day I got here to now it's crazy how much you learn. I can pray and bear my testimony in Spanish, and we taught our third lesson to our "investigator" yesterday in full spanish. It's still kind of hard to get across what you want to say but the spirit guides you with that. You really have to rely on the spirit to touch your investigators, making sure and testifying of what you know is true is very important. It's what will bring the spirit to the lesson. Every Tuesday night there's a devotional and a general authority comes, and there's been a lot of talk that it's going to be la profeta but that seems a little crazy. The past two weeks Elder Holland and Elder Ballard have come and spoke. So who knows. Thanks so much for the packages mom! Those shoes, the book on Peru, the notebooks, sunglasses, and yo-yo are going to be so nice to have. How's everything going at home? I really liked the Dear Elder's i've got from you guys! Joel and Evan, thanks so much for the Dear Elder that was so nice hearing from you (: I hope you guys are liking the basketball hoop! To answer your questions, I love it in here, we've played a lot of basketball and some soccer, sadly I don't get to ride a bike :'( you guys got a new fishing pole? You had better catch some big ol' trout and send some pictures, and I'm hoping that I get to fish in Peru that'd be so awesome. That was fun going fishing up at Silver Lake and at Solitude. It feels so surreal that I'm on my mission, I can't even believe it. The time after you guys dropped me off til Sunday felt like it took forever, it felt like I had been here for 3 weeks and not 3 days! But time has started to pick up and I think it has to do with the fact that you have to get used to the schedule and everything. How's the pinball? I loved playing pinball with you guys I miss playing them, hopefully by the time you guys get back you'll have Medieval Madness? Haha. Did you guys watch the U of U game, I didn't here about the game til yesterday. Correct me if I'm wrong but U of U: 54 BYU:10? That's so awesome, I thought it'd be a closer game than that. It's funny because it's like were leaving in our own little town where you don't hear about anything that goes on in the outside world. I don't even feel like i'm in Provo. I've seen Josh, Craig, Kash, Zach Myers, and kids from high school you wouldn't know but it's been so awesome seeing my friends again. Josh and I are in the same residency/dorm building but on different floors but we hang out and talk a lot, it's the best. It's sometimes so crazy in the dorm rooms, we have a good time. All the Elders are so funny. I want to print off some pictures and send them to you guys but the printer here is busted, but I should have some pictures sent to you guys in the next week I think. Also I guess a lot of the Elders and Hermanas that are going to Peru haven't been getting their visas to go to the Peru MTC, so it made me nervous that my visa won't come and i'll be staying in the Provo MTC until I head out to Chiclayo. But I'm hoping and praying it comes in on time! I was thinking a lot about the night I got set apart as a missionary and how spiritual is was, such a cool experience. The blessing that Pat gave me has been very helpful to me, I was a little confused as to why he said "forget your family" and it made me feel horrible to think that. I think of you guys everyday, and love you very much. I know that through obedience and faith that you'll be blessed and protected. The main thing I worry about is that you'll all be safe when I get back but I know that Heavenly Father will protect you guys as well as me in my endevors on my mission. I pray for you guys every night and morning. That letter that mom wrote that was from Ava was so awesome and spirtual, thanks for that mom. I got 5 minutes left to write. Make sure and send me some pictures of the family! I want to see pictures of you guys doing fun stuff without me haha! I was thinking how awesome it will be if you guys come down to Peru to pick me up when my two years is up, how cool would that be? I'm so excited to get to know the people on a more personal level and love them. Even our fake investigator that we have I find myself caring a lot for him, and then I remind myself he isn't even a real person haha. So far this has been the best experience, I can't even explain enough. It's so weird and cool to have to worry about nothing but what you're here for. I can say I definitely feel family members watching out for me daily, and I feel that comfort. It's so awesome. I've got 1:10 minutes left but I love you guys sooooo much! <3 Don't forget to write, Yo se que la iglesia es verdad!
-Elder Christopher :D
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
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