Hey Fam,
So I had a thought…Hermana Springer’s New Groove… Has a ring
to it, huh? I say we change the blog name to that haha. Dad, my day consists of
our regular Emperor’s New Groove quotes… The one struggle thus far is that
nobody understands movie quoting like our family does! Haha.
Well the remainder of our days at the empty sea (MTC) were
spent playing baseball (we popped the soccer ball). I am experiencing what they
call “miserable joy.” I am out in the real world where we are not protected
from the four walls! We had a great last day. It was mostly spent sweating with
our eyes (not crying, duh…we are missionaries…) We had a testimony meeting and
sang “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” Hermana O. taught the last Book
of Mormon class which had an interesting beginning haha… She told us to turn to
a certain chapter and said, “But before we begin reading, I just want to say
that this is my absolute favorite chapter and has really helped me throughout
my life… So Elder F., can you begin by reading the description?” Elder
F. begins reading and says in a loud, booming voice, “Sexual sin is an
abomination.” And before we continued, Hermana O. flipped out and told us
that it was the wrong chapter hahaha… So we were pretty concerned. It all
worked out.
Then, before our flight (it got switched to the afternoon on
Tuesday), we went to the temple! I loved seeing the Lima temple one last time.
On the ride back we had to stop the bus because I think an Elder left his
companion haha. Not sure what or how that happened, but we were almost late to
get to the airport. Then we were put on a plane and the adventure has finally
begun!
When we got off the plane, we walked to the front to see
President and our mission mom with a bunch of missionaries screaming and
holding posters and a huge Peru flag. At first I didn’t know if it was a strike
at the airport or something else. There was a lot of love. We basically felt
like royalty, shaking hands, hugging, etc… I couldn’t help but quote Megamind
in my head, “And I love you, Random Citizen!”
We then got put on a bus which drove us to see our beautiful
Trujillo temple! The first thing I heard my mission mom (Hermana Marler) say
was, “There is a cemetery RIGHT next to the temple, so it’s super easy to do
baptisms for the dead! You just carry them over!” Some of the latinos who had
JUST gone through the temple at the MTC and have maybe been converts for about
a year looked pretty nervous. Haha! Then she told them she was just kidding (I
have actually had someone ask me that once…We do not do that…That’s
disgusting.) So basically Hermana Marler and I are already best friends because
she has a sense of humor.
The temple is BEAUTIFUL. All temples are, but I am not just
saying this because I am serving in Peru. It is the most beautiful temple I
have set foot in so far. I hope you can come with me to see it one day. With
special permission, we were able to go inside that night with President.
We stayed in the beautiful mission home that night. I had a
huge bed to myself…I couldn’t decide if I was at a resort or not. Then the next
day I met my companion! Holy cow she is so AWESOME! She is from Washington and
her name is Hermana Pattillo. She is an amazing missionary and basically we are
best friends already. She reminds me a lot of Lexie AND Evie. The people are so awesome in our first area. We live
about five minutes from the ocean so it smells so strongly of sea air and fish.
We live on a rooftop apartment so you can kind of see the ocean when the fog is
gone. We live right next to a lady who has a rooster… We named him Joey…and let’s
just say Joey hasn’t hit puberty yet. So every morning at 4am he starts crowing
or whatever they call it, and the first part sounds like a regular rooster, and
then it ends with what sounds like a dying rabbit. Or maybe someone is just
strangling his neck. I wouldn’t blame them. But he is a good alarm clock! We
get up at 6 and play soccer at the church with our zone and district Wednesday,
Friday, and Saturday! We are in the ward with all of the assistants of the
President, and they are great. One of the elders played soccer for Spain (where
he is from). He got paid to play! He is so good! I am learning some fancy
footwork from being here in Peru.
This week so far we have had some incredible experiences. We
found a family with two twin babies and they want to get baptized! We also got
lost one day and accidentally knocked on the wrong door and a girl opened the
door. She speaks super fast so as we taught her lesson 1, I had no idea what
she said. I can get by with words and know what’s going on, but because they
speak so fast I obviously don’t know word for word what they say (“That ain’t what
they taught me in the MTC!”). Haha… But really. BUT, side note, the latinos say
I have a really good accent! They even told another American missionary that
has been out for 14 months that she needs my accent. Haha! Don’t ask how I have
one because I still feel like I just sound like a total Gringo… But I’ll give
myself a pat on the back.
Anyways, after we taught A. (the girl whose door we
thought was a member’s), my companion and I were walking home and I said, “Ok,
so I got from that that she has lived everywhere, left her family, and I think
she had a bad experience with a church that she went to?” Hermana Pattillo
said, “Yeah, so basically she has tried a billion different churches and one of
the churches stole all of her money and said that she is going to go to Hell
for her sins, and so she hates all churches. When we knocked on her door she
was not going to answer but something told her to open it and she said that
when she did she saw that we were of some church so she was going to slam the
door, but that she couldn’t and for some reason felt peace when we talked to
her, so she wants to read the Book of Mormon and come to church.” I just turned
to her and said, “Oh ok cool.” HAHA just kidding. I flipped out! I am so
excited to continue to teach her! There are no coincidences. I know we were
supposed to get lost and knock on her door.
Ok last story and then I will have to continue next week. So
on Saturday my companion and I went to visit a member and see if she needed any
help… Well yeah she needed help, that is with killing a chicken. So yes, I
spent the afternoon seeing the guts and intestines of a chicken… The best part
was how she was washing it in a bucket full of blood. In our mission we are not
allowed to eat at members’ homes because we will get parasites or super sick.
We have a pensionista who cooks for us. So here’s the good part. After the
blood bath, cutting off limbs, occasional gagging in the corner, we were
getting ready to leave. But then our loving friend told us to wait and that she
had something for us. She grabbed two stools for us to sit on and left the room
for a little… Then our fears became reality… She presented our dear chicken
friend on a platter for us and told us to eat. Though it is a mission rule, it
is SO extremely rude to reject food… especially when you are in a home with
dirt floors and no roof. It is an honor if they give you food. So what did we
do? We ate it. And just said silent prayers that we would throw it up if there
was anything bad. So pray I don’t get parasites! Hey at least it wasn’t guinea
pig, yet. This lady has a cage of guinea pigs out back so next it might be
guinea pig slaughter time.
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| Ashley captioned this "The best fruit in the entire world." ANYONE KNOW WHAT IT IS?? |
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