Monday, December 19, 2011

Feliz Navidad! Dec 19th

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

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

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!

!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