Week 8 Elder Jones

Hey Guys! I have so much to write about this week.  We left the CCM on Monday night and we all sang hymns on the bus ride to the airport.  While we were waiting in the airport we all talked to as many people as we could about our church and it was a really good experience because I wasn`t afraid to talk to anyone. 

So we arrived in Lima Tuesday morning and took a bus to a stake center in our mission.  We met the missionaries there that went to the Lima CCM, and Hermana Natalie Sievert was there! She only had two weeks in the CCM. I met the Borgs and honestly they`re the nicest couple in the world. Sister Borg is really really happy all the time and she just made me really happy to be here. President Borg is really nice too, but he knows how to get things done.

I met the Assistants to the President there too, and one of them was finishing his mission the same day that I arrived.  He recognized me because he served in our ward in Buffalo Grove while he was waiting for his visa!! His name is Elder Thoresen. He was companions with the Elder from Denmark that used to be in our ward. He said he taught Josh Crenshaw and Zenaida and Keith and he asked me if any of them got baptized.  I told him that all of them got baptized, and he was so happy. 

There are 220 missionaries in our mission. My new companion is Elder Torres. He`s from Chiclayo, Peru. There are two sets of missionaries in Caja de Agua and the other two missionaries are Elder Gutierrez from Paraguay and Elder Marquez from Argentina, and all three of them are super short. Our area is the furthest from the coast and most of it is on the side of a mountain so in most of my pictures it seems like the same view because it`s all the same mountain. We can`t see the coast or downtown Lima because there`s another mountain in the way, but behind our mountain you can see a ton of really really really green mountains and some rainforest. We`re on the side of the mountain probably 90 percent of the day and there aren`t really roads-- there are stairs.

The people here talk really fast, but after a couple of days I got used to the differences between Mexican Spanish and Peruvian Spanish.  I can understand most of what people say. The first couple days were tough for me, though, because I had no idea what anyone was saying and it`s such a different lifestyle than I`ve ever known.  I`ve never been anywhere near poverty like this. There are a ton of opportunities to serve here because the people actually need help with things. 

The people here are so nice and humble and willing to talk to us. We teach about 15 lessons a day-- it`s kind of crazy. One of the hardest things here is figuring out what time we can schedule appointments because we have so many teaching and service appointments. I love teaching the people here. I`m not afraid to participate in the lessons here because no one really cares if you mess up. 

One of the challenges we have, though, is that it`s normal here to start a family without being married. We have a few people that want to be baptized but aren`t married to the person they live with, but they can't afford a civil marriage and they can`t really separate from someone they`ve had 6 kids with. 

There are a ton of stray dogs here. It`s kind of sad because all of them are starving and dog fighting is kind of big here. Also there are a lot of children here. The adults here are usually responsible for at least 3 or 4 kids.  There are also many teenage parents, as well. Whenever we`re walking around Caja de Agua and we see a group of children, without a doubt, they will ask me to speak English or tell them what their name in English is.  When I see really little children they just stare at me and look confused. A little girl named Maite is really confused by my skin , eyes, and hair. She thinks I can only see things that are blue. 

We teach a lot of inactive members here and when I say inactive members I mean inactive inactive members. We taught an inactive family that just found out from us this week that Gordon B. Hinckley passed away and that we have a new prophet. Church attendance is difficult because everyone we teach has to work every day of the week. I met our ward yesterday and I love them so much. It was testimony meeting and when people bore their testimonies they didn`t tell long stories or go off on tangents-- they just told the congregation what they know and what they have a testimony of and sat down and their testimonies were really powerful. Not that telling stories is bad, but it was just interesting because it was really powerful.

I got a fever on Friday. My entire body was shivering and I had a massive headache and a sore throat but we had people relying on us to teach them and paint their houses and help them with things, so we went anyways and I almost made it the whole day, but I threw up in the street right before our last appointment. That was fun.

In Caja de Agua they don`t really eat the amazing Peruvian food that everyone talks about. Pretty much every meal is rice, chicken, and potatoes. But I don't mind because I`m not here on vacation. My companion has gained 60 pounds from eating this food for 14 months so that`s enough motivation for me to get up early and exercise!  

Saturdays are cool because they`re futbol days. That`s when all the soccer matches happen and they have them for every age. Truly every age. They have a few concrete soccer fields at the bottom of the mountain and everyone has a special jersey for their team and its really cool. 

Oh and the best part about Caja de Agua is that I`m going to be here for 7 and a half months! after I'm done with my training, I`m going to stay here and train. By the time I leave here I`ll be 9 months done with my mission!  I think that`s everything... I probably forgot something, but I hope you guys have a great week!