February 2013

February 4, 2013   Hola Familia,  Esta Bien      All is well here in Paita.  Today for p-day we went on a little excursion. We had always seen a little lighthouse of in the distance and wondered what was out there. We asked around a bit and decided to go check it out as a zone. It was a nice little walk/hike and from the top we enjoyed a nice little view of the other side of the bay and Paita. There are great people and missionaries out here that make the mission worthwhile.  I am happy and well. Thanks for the messages and pictures. The kid next to me is playing that song from japan called the horse dance or something... why is that so popular?  PS. I am praying hard for all of the extended family members that are struggling with health problems and my heart goes out to them.

 

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February 11     We have officially entered the center of the sun. Or at least it feels like it.  Our room was at 95 degrees Fahrenheit when we left to go to the internet cafe.  At night it gets down to a cool 84.  We didn´t do anything special today for p-day. Just played some soccer with a few kids from the branch in the sun and now have to clean up the room. On Friday they brought every companionship  their kitchens. The mission has been talking about starting to cook for a long time now and it has finally happened. Now every room has a fridge, electric stove, microwave, pots and pans, and dish washing supplies. We´ll start to cook our breakfast and dinner on the 15th and will only be eating lunch in a pension.  This should be a neat experience. There is ZERO room where we are right now so we had to find another room that is a little bigger. On Friday we´re moving into the new room that is just a few blocks away.

I’m posting a picture of a tree that is full of hanging plastic goods.  That is a northern tradition here. They call it a gunsi tree.  It´s to celebrate some ¨Saint Sebastian¨. They cut down a perfectly healthy and beautiful tree, then put it back in the ground and hang all sorts of ¨gifts¨ from its branches (the gifts are always plastic stuff. buckets, chairs, spoons, bowls, idk why) and then play loud music and march around the neighborhood for 2 days before cutting it down and collecting all the gifts that fall. Pretty weird.  But that is what kept us up all Saturday night. Haha, Peruvian traditions.

 

February 18     Thursday and Friday we took time in the mornings to pack up and head to the new room that has a lot more space and where we can start cooking our own meals for breakfast and dinner. Haha.  Our first cooking experience on Saturday was a disaster. Something so simple sounding ended up taking forever and we burnt the rice and didn’t eat until 11. It was a lot easier just eating in a pension and having my meals made for me. I feel like I’m at college again. The good news is that I can go back to eating just milk and cereal for breakfast but dinner is a mystery.   Elder Uceda from the Seventy is coming to visit the mission on Thursday. It will be a great opportunity to receive some serious revelation.

PS. My soccer skills are out of this world now. You can start calling me Messi Ronaldo if you want. Haha. Not really. But almost seriously.

February 28

On Thursday, Elder Uceda from the Seventy came and visited the mission. We traveled to Piura and met up with 6 other zones to hear Elder Uceda. He analyzed the words trifle and sober in the scriptures. Trifle means to take something very sacred lightly whereas sober means to be serious and committed. As a mission we must take every lesson, every commitment, every principle, and every day with soberness. If we trifle, we will not see as many results. He analyzed it in so many ways and gave so many examples of how we can take the work more seriously. It really was a powerful and spiritual discussion.
Cooking has gone well.  I've decided to prepare very easy things - egg sandwiches, noddles with tomato sauce, precooked hamburgers, etc.
I sure do miss the snow.  I am going to suffer when I get back and it snows.  70 degrees feels like a frozen tundra to me.  Two weeks until the next transfer.  That is GREAT news about Nick!  P.S.  I completed 18 months yesterday.   Woooooahh