...very small rocks (Haley hates birds!)

Letter to new Sisters...
looks like it needs a little work

We got 4 new roommates. All of them are Latina. Not one of them speaks a lick of English. It makes for some interesting conversations. Hermana Alpaca (that's her real name!!) likes to teach us slang. The rest of the girls are super sweet but I can’t say or spell or remember their names. One likes to learn English and she will just watch us all the time. Its super weird….it’s flattering too, kinda.

It doesn't really rain here (Lima). It mists in the morning and will be super foggy all day. I like it. You guys would really like it too. 

Only bad part about the CCM is the fact that there are tons of things for birds to sit on and bathe in and poop on.  It’s also bird mating season. I have become really good at chucking jelly beans and very small rocks at mating birds. It’s hard to concentrate on the law of Chastity (next lesson for Marcos the almost baptized investigator) when the birds aren’t following the law!

Little Peruvian girl thought we were cute.
We couldn't understand a
 word she was saying!

We committed one of our investigators to be baptized this week. We forgot to teach him the Word of Wisdom before I blurted out the challenge. Our next lesson was over WOW and he told us that he didn't want to get baptized.... He then laughed and said that he was joking. I gotta say almost cried right there. He then autographed Hna. Nelson's Libro De Mormon. It turned out to be a really good lesson.

Our other investigator Pilar… Oh Pilar. She seemed super interested and now she doesn't. She has a lot of friends that are not members so I think one of them may have talked to her and said our church isn't true. I'm just glad our investigators are teachers and not regular citizens.

Girls will be girls

...like a badge of honor.

This week has been super great!

There was a rash of food poisoning and a girl in my district (Hermana Hawkins) got really dehydrated and passed out on the floor of the bathroom. She was fine; she just has a slight concussion. A few of the other girls carried her down the stairs from her room and I was able to witness one of the sweetest blessings. Elder Workinger gave her a consecrated blessing. He was nervous and shaking but the Spirit was present. Then our district leader gave her a blessing of comfort and health. It reminded me of the song we sing in Primary:

''The Priesthood is restored, his truth made known to man, that God has spoken to the earth, His power is here again''.

I testify that even if you are not an experienced young man, God can work miracles through you. I was able to see that in Hermana Hawkins who is doing so much better today.

I have bruises on my knees from praying so much. It’s like a badge of honor here…I´m in 3rd behind Elder Brown who has bigger bruises and Hermana Hawkins (she got dehydrated and passed out yesterday.)

I went proselyting for the very first time. We went to a small town within Lima. It’s about 40 minutes away from the CCM. We got off the bus and the sister missionaries greeted us. One was from Idaho and spoke like a Latina (which gave me so much hope). We took a member named Wendy Flores with our group of 2 companionships. Wendy is 17 and is learning English. She wants to serve a full time mission when she turns 19. It’s amazing to me that a person so young is willing to give up time with her friends to go hang out with a bunch of new missionaries that don´t speak Spanish. It was so fun though. 

We tracted up a mountain, which are actually huge piles of loose rock and dirt. There are no paved roads off the main road. All the people in our area were living in shacks…plywood and tin roof shacks. Most everybody had an outhouse. The only people that had houses where those that lived above or behind their business. We placed 5 copies of the Book of Mormon, handed out 15 pamphlets and contacted 17 people. I can't wait until I am able to do it again next week!! 

While tracting we stopped to hang out with some little kids. They were super excited to help us with our Spanish. They told me I was not good...oh well, I am better than I was last week. While we were talking to these niños a mentally handicapped woman comes running out of the shack. The children told us not to talk to her because she was ‘sick’. She came up to me and wanted a pamphlet. I gave it to her not expecting much. She ran back to her house and gave it to her mother. Her mother read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet in less than 2 minutes. She then walked out of the doorway where she was standing and just stared at us. She never said anything. As we were walking away we decided to give her a Book of Mormon. When we told her what it was she thanked us. She said that we were a blessing. We invited her to church and with tears in her eyes she gave all 5 of us a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Heavenly Father really does prepare people for our message!

''Que in el mundo"

What a week it has been! P-day is Tuesday, so I got to go to the Temple today. It is an A-frame...almost like Dallas. It is super tiny and it smells like soup. Everything inside is a cream and gold color. I have never seen anything so beautiful. 

The food is good; they make it bland for us Americans…for good reason too. So even though the food is really weak, everybody has some issues.  When we got here there was a sickness going around. People were sick for 3-4 days just throwing up and being miserable. Luckily I did not get it nor did Hna. Nelson (my companion).

Hna. Nelson and I contacted and taught our investigator! His name is Marcos Escobar. He has 2 kids and is worried about the problems in the world. Marcos is actually our maestro (teacher) Hermano Bejar. He acted just like the real investigators will. The Peruvians don't like to make eye contact and they always mumble. It was hard because we don't have a ton of vocabulary to teach with. Both Hna. Nelson and I were able to bare our testimonies and pray in Spanish, which really set the tone for the whole meeting. I am so glad that I am here and that I can teach a little bit. 

PS. My favorite phrase is ''Que in el mundo". It doesn't mean anything in Spanish but in English is means “what in the world”. It’s the thing to say here in the CCM (MTC).