January 25, 2017

Wow Ive been out on the mish for a month now its crazy how fast time flies. So we were supposed to go proselyting last saturday but we did something diffferent instead haha. Elder Cook came to the Lima CCM and talked to us!! It was super awesome, everyone got to shake his hand casue there are only like 100 missionaries in the CCM. So we'll get to go proselyting this Saturday instead! Besides that not too much has happened! My spanish is improving ever so slowly, but its coming! The days are starting to speed up too now. The CCM kind of feels like a prison, but in less than 2 weeks Im out of here! Thats crazy to think about how close it is but Im super pumped to finally be out in the field and teaching real investigators! So i dont think this is normal for most MTCs but i get to see and talk to the MTC president everyday. He is super chill and I dont think the missionaries in Provo really get to see that! Well I dont have much else to say, just a spiritual thought. One thing i learned this week from one of our devotionals is about our service to the Lord and becoming more Christlike. Our mission success doesnt come from how many baptisms we get but by how obedient and faithful we are so that we can have the Holy Ghost with us always! The Holy Ghost is the real teacher and we are the instruments! I hope I can continue to try to be more like the Savior every day and do the Lord's will, not mine! Love and miss you all!!

January 17, 2017

Wow it is so crazy how fast time flys here. So this was the last week with our avanzados, the elders who have been here for 3 weeks, and they left today so that kind of sucked. Most of them were pretty chill and we were eachother alot but they left last night and now we're the senior missionaries here its wack! Well honestly not much happened this week! We did a fast of english words 2 days ago and I only made it to lunch cause I basically couldn't say anything haha. My spanish is improving every week I can definitely tell, but all the Latinos here talk so fast i can't understand most of what they say to. I had to give a lesson Sunday on obedience in our district class and just preparing for my talk and reading and preparing about the blessings of strict obedience really stuck out to me. I helped me to better understand why we have so many mission rules and why it is so crucial for us to follow every single one even if we don't know why! We did a gringos vs. latinos soccer game 2 days ago and we beat them so that was pretty awesome cause all the latinos were bragging and said we gringos sucked, haha it was very satisfying. We get along super well with them tho! The Latinos love all the Americans haha. We get new elders to the CCM tonight at 3 am just like we did and it is going to be so funny to see them wide eyed, exhausted, and just thrown straight into the mission 5 hours after they get here. When I first saw all the 3 week old missionaries here they all looked so old and mature but now Im exactly where they are, its pretty crazy! Also this Saturday we going proselyting out into the street... We're going out into Lima for 5 or 6 hours basically on like splits with the missioneries its going to be wild, but Im super excited it will be super humbling but also an awesome experience! Hopefully haha. Well I love all you guys back home! Its still a little surreal Im on my mission, but I know I'm doing the Lord's work and the people of Bolivia are waiting for me!

The sunsets here are always super dope and one the janitors is super chill and let us get on the roof haha, and the 2 other people are my companion and an elder from my district out cold haha

January 11, 2017

Hola mi familia y amigos!! Well this week was definitely a ton better than last week. I was super down last week cause of the transition and language and everything but I definitely felt alot more comfortable this week and getting the hang of things in the CCM. Spanish is coming along little by little haha but I can see how much Ive improved since my first day here. We had some really good devotionals here this week. My favorite one was by Elder Bednar and its called ¨Be Good Boys and Girls¨  Apparently its only found in the CCM and you cant find it anywhere else so thats pretty cool, but he talked about how we need to stop worrying about whether we think our thoughts are our own or from the Spirit. He said that sometimes our promptings will just seem so out of the ordinary or maybe even just dumb. but he testified that as we will heed all the promptings of the Spirit we will be blessed. I think everyone can relate to that, and I know that as we follow and heed all our promptings, whether we know the reason or not, we will be blessed! So today actually was terrible, Ive been sick all day and Ive been in the bathroom for probably half the day haha, but getting emails from the fam definitely helps to make it better! Well we got 2 new fake investigators this week to teach and we didnt have like anytime to prepare a lesson because we´re always busy so we had our first lesson Monday without any notes or anything prepared, everything is in spanish by the way, and we gave a 20 minute lesson, so the gift of tongues is real haha. Well I hope everyone at home is doing well and know that I miss and love you all!!

The fruit things tastes like honeydew a little bit but it seriously feels like slime when you slurp it down, its called a granadia

the guys from my district

my companion, Elder Clobes

January 4, 2017

Wow well that was a loooong first week in the CCM let me tell you. We got in at 3 am on Wednesday morning and then we didnt stop from there. My campanions name is Elder Clobes, hes from Ventura, California. Hes a pretty chill guy and loves rugby a ton haha. The food here is very hit and miss. Breakfast is always this tiny little plate of eggs and toast and thats it so im starving in about 30 minutes haha and then sometimes the lunch and dinner is freaking fantastic and then sometimes its 3 week old ham so you just never know haha. We get an hour of physical activity every day and we always play soccer with the Latinos cause they are really good at. I´m not bad at soccer I figured out and when a gringo is good at soccer the latinos respect you a ton haha. Learning Spanish freaking sucks let me tell you. We do a few hours every day studying it and learning how to do certain things pertaining to the gospel every day but it´s just not clicking. Its pretty stressful and sucks, but I can definitely tell Ive made some improvement. Also Peru is so ghetto its crazy and they drive like maniacs. On way to the CCM from the airport we drove through the middle of Lima and every building is stacked atleast 4 stories high and most of them dont have roofs and it honestly looks like they were a bunch of bombs dropped everywhere and the drivers just dont follow any of the rules and i swear im about to die everytime i get in a car. New Years is like their biggest holiday down here in Peru in something so all night fireworks were going off so we couldnt sleep and so like everyone was awake and the sky literally looked like it was day outside it was sweet. Well thats about it for the first week. Everyday went suppper slow, but i cant believe its already been a week! Love and miss you all!!