Panettone: the (fruit) cake of the devil.

                Panettone: the (fruit) cake of the devil.  Widely discovered throughout South American countries, such as Perù. In some occasions used as a torture instrument on north Americans. Panettone is fed to the north Americans in every place and every moment, until they have no choice but the leave and never return or die a terribly unhealthy death. The day of Christmas, we were fed panettone in almost every meeting. That night, after skype, the mission leader sent us home with a slice of panettone each. Then we had more panettone with dinner and then after breakfast (with panettone) someone gave us a whole panettone, and thus the pattern has continued. But aside from that, things are grand here. My companion knows all the words to Angels and Devils. He has impeccable taste in music. He´s a huge fan of Soda Stereo. Remind me to look them up in two years. I could not get a picture, but there´s this great store sign on one of the little shops here. It´s old and faded, but it reads: “Dental care, laundry, and clothe-mending”. They wash and repair all types of clothes…. And teeth, I guess. But be sure to let Uncle Dan know that I found work for him down here. Or the rest of that side of the family, for that matter. They could have “Haws Dentistry and Spicy Mustard”. Just throwing ideas around, ya know. But I´m loving it here. Just soaking in the beauty. Ill try to attach some pictures.

That´s so cool that dad´s in Japan! How exciting! We vistited all of our families on Christmas and wished them merry Christmases all day. haha. I was wrong about the fireworks. They didn't stop until 4am.

Much love,

Elder Alexander

Feliz Navidad!

Well, it has been another week in the promised land. Tons of great experiences. I ate cow foot in the form of a soup. It tasted how you would expect a cow´s foot to taste. We taught a lot of Christmas messages, which I love doing. We went to Tarma for a couple days for a zone conference. I've been oxygen-spoiled down here. Man, it was hard to breath when we first left. Why don´t we eat duck more? Ducks are everywhere and they don’t taste bad. They eat ducks here. But the ducks here are a little bigger, and they wag their tails like puppies. If I had a tail, I´d give thought to wagging it now, because I´m excited for Christmas. Christmas is like any other day for us, but it´ll at least be fun to go around wishing people a Feliz Navidad. I´m going to try to do the picture thing, finally.

Me with the natives.

The jungle

Here we have the baptism of two awesome young girls and some people from the sister missionaries,

 and me flouting to the hills.

"Wilbur Alexander"

I've had nutcracker songs stuck in my head a lot recently. I guess my brain knows it's that time of year. haha. Im sending my letter today, to Grandma's address. Its usually a little more than a week before it arrives. 

Life is good here. Interesting, as always. It's always good entertainment, simply greeting people on the streets because we get such mixed reactions. I've come to realize that we really look exceptionally odd. One gringo, one latino, young men, dressed really fancy for something, walking around town all day, every day. We usually say something like "buenas tardes, Hermano/Hermana" to which they usually at least mumble a little "buenas" in our direction. They probably would say more, but they often times forget the time of day. (We get a lot of "good morning"s at night, and viceversa.) Also, they're never sure what to call us. We're known to most as the "Hermanos". Close enough. They can't really say Elder, anyways. Today, sombody called my companion Wilbur. Meh, that works. Wilbur Alexander has a nice ring, actually. 

We aslo just met an old lady who is 114 years old. And she still cooks, even though it takes her 5 hours. Lots of super old people here. Its really admirable, amist all the greasy foods, diseases and tocosh. Oh, and car crashes. People drive like children here. Possibly because a lot of drivers are children. Dang kids these days. Always getting into trouble, playing marbles for keeps, and driving taxies. 

Remember that tie Brother Sevy gave me that's covered in flowers? Well, whenever I wear it, everybody tells me how beautiful it is, including guys. One girl started naming all the different flowers, and her name was Margarita, which means Daisy, so I guess the people here just really like flowers a lot. I love showing families the picture book you sent with me. The one comment that everyone always makes is how beautiful Emmaline is. And last night somebody asked me if you were my little sister (mom). And I always tell everyone that the picture with Abby and Harmony and Kylan and Malorey are all my girlfriends. haha. But anyways. Im excited to see you all via internet soon! Love you much much much!

Much love,

Elder Alexander

*Note from Shelly (mom): For those of you who, like myself, do not know what tocosh is this is what Wikipedia had to say...

Tocosh (also known as Togosh) is a traditional Quechua food prepared from fermented potato pulp (corn is less common). It is often prepared for celebration events and has a strong odor and flavor. Tocosh can be used as a natural antibiotic because penicillin is produced during the fermentation process.^[1] Medicinally it is used for the common cold, gastric ulcers, pneumonia, and altitude sickness among others. The Incas believed it was a gift from Inti for preservation of the body.

The fermentation process of creating tocosh was discovered by the Incas (or possibly one of the many tribes in their empire). A pool of water with a current is found or dug on the banks of a stream. The potatoes or corn are then placed in a mesh bag of grass, covered with stones, and left undisturbed for six to twelve months. The current flows through the stones to wash away bacteria during fermentation. Once fermentation has occurred, the tocosh is dried in the sun and stored for future use.

The most common preparation in the Huánuco region of Peru is to make a mazamorra or jelly-like dessert.

Ummm...... Yum? 

"In your country??"

Mother, you know I love you, and I know your a little confused about technology since I left, but you cannot email letters. Emma will have to send it through the postal service. I did get another package, though! It had Ensign and lollipops and coins and love. Ive enjoyed reading the english and spanish Liahona side by side. And I love those lollipops but I fear Ive given quite a few away to children who think theyre the coolest thing on earth. One kid told me hes coming to the US to find more of them. The peppermint bark is a great idea. Me and the pentionista are going to make it and we can give some to investigator families. I think that"s a great idea for YW. Did you see the adress last night? It was great. I cant believe its so cold there and Im sweating buckets right now! haha. peruvians celebrate christmas basically the same. Not so many decorations, but lots of houses have plastic pine trees with ornaments, etc. For missionary night last week, we made christmas cards. But to help the kids, we made some outlines to color in on the cards. One outline I drew for a card was of santa clause making a snow angel. It was a fantastic drawing. Except I didnt realize that people dont know what snow angels are here. The child who used it colored the angel part orange and red, and it just looked really weird. But he was proud of it, so its all good.

 My health is doing much better. I figure people must be praying for me. Also, the language is much better from when I started. Im beginning to have conversations. But I can only understand specific people. Some people speak way too lazy. And its very easy to use the wrong word, because they all kind of sound the same. Last night, I was helping a member with her english homework, and I told her that next time, Im going to charge. But I used the wrong word for charge, and used a very formal way of saying that I am going to poop. I havent tried cui yet. The best cui is at the end of the month, the locals say, so we shall wait. But we get chifa a lot, which is chinese food. Lots of chinese and native american culture here. Apparently the oringinal inhabitants here were a native american tribe, and then the spanish, who brought chinese slaves. Thus, the funky culture. But I love it. I keep trying to convert english jokes to spanish, but it doesnt work. I asked one kid where you find a turtle with no arms and no legs. With a very fascinated look on his face he asked "In your country??". The answer was "where you left it." But I still try. Monday, Im going to command the letter to you. I havent had a lot of time to write, lo siento, so it took a while. How did your finals go? Hows the fam? Hows the dog? Hows the fish?

I love you much,

Elder Alexander

There is not a greater gift that man can give, than a bunch of beautiful Peruvian bananas.

Well, I've had an interesting week. Ive been serenaded by catholics, yelled at by evangelists, and I ate a cow stomache. Not necessarily in that order. I've seen monkys, very colorful birds, and ducks that squeak instead of quack. And the snails here are bigger than my fist, so I think they count as animals too.

 The people here in San Ramon seem to all think they live in the greatest town in the world, and I may be beginning to subscribe to that idea. I love it here so much, Im already beginning to dread leaving. I'll most likely be here another transfer to finish my training, and then one more transfer to train someone else in the area (as the jr companion).

 I would like to take a moment to habla about food, if that's alright. They have lots of food here, because most people work in the chakra, and have trees and plants, and chickens, or cows, or sheep, or guinea pigs or all of the above. All the food you get is local, because there isnt really a place to buy corporate foods. The fruit here is very rich with flavor. And the people love fruit. It's funny to watch kids get excited about an app'e or a pear. People keep giving us fruit as gifts. Yesterday we received Papayas and bananas, but weve also recieved many mangos and apples. And let me tell you¨, there is not a greater gift that man can give, than a bunch of beautiful Peruvian bananas.

Another thing is that we eat a ton of fruit cake here. Its called paneton. And its a little gross. And now I understand why Minnie Mouse wasn't excited about receiving one for Christmas. Although, I still don't understand why it was so heavy. I'm still working on that one..  I have yet to try the cui, but Im going to today, for lunch. Every p day we go out for lunch. Last week, we ate at a restaurant where, literally, the only option was rice and chicken, and the seats were tree trunks, and they played the entire Bob Marley, One Love album. A lot of people actually use tree trunks as chairs in their houses. Its cool. It feels like you're camping, but the way a lot of the houses are here, you are basically camping anyways. One house we visited the other day had no door. Just a thick bush you have to push your way through to get inside. Its a nice concept, but we had nowhere to knock, so we had to stand outside awkwardly yelling "good morning" for a few minutes. Its starting to rain a lot. And when it rains, there is no more air. It is replaced with H2O. You could prabably stand in the rain for no more than one second, and be drenched. But its not cold. Its nice.

 Questions? Fine. =)

1. Did you get your Christmas packages? (A big yellow envelope from me and a box from Grandma?) I will be sooo sad if you have no gift for Christmas. :(

I got the candy and the peppermint bark package. They take about a month to get from the US to me. Unless they were sent to the CCM, or not addressed to the president.

2. how is your health?

Much better.Crazy, right? Miracles happen, once in a while.

3. How does your outlet converter work? And blankets/towels etc? Is there anything that you need?

Outlet works great! I dont use blankets, its like a thousand degrees you nut. =) Nada mas que necesito. Soy un hombre de necesidades simples.

4. What can you tell me about the Christmas Phone call? or can you skype?

We get a phone call, for 45 minutes. Skype is too much for the silly computers here.

I love you all so much, and miss you!

Much love,

Elder Alexander

Loving life here!

Jay-Z was wrong. There is much church in the wild. And many of them meet every night and they bang drums and chant and clap and yell a lot. Perhaps part of the reason behind the great amount of baptisms here is because people are a little afraid of the other churches. The church is a little different here. Kind of relaxed. Ex: Someone brought their dogs to church yesterday. Two medium-sized, rather dirty, dogs. And I was the only one to point out that it was a little strange. But we filled the chapel yesterday, whihc is a big deal because a few weeks ago, only about half the the chapel would be occupied. Weve been visiting quite a few less active members, and a lot of them actually came this week. I really love the people here. We always offer service to everyone, and the other day some people accepted. One family asked us to go look for their two chickens that ran off that morning. We spent a little while searching for the chickens before realizing that there are chickens everywhere and were kind of wasting our time.

 So then the next house we visited invited us to kill spiders. Her home was one smallish room, and there were spiders decorating every corner and space in between. On Thursday we're going to help build a roof for a family. So, yeah. We stay busy. Although I have traveled far from home, I seem to have not traveled far enough to escape the mercilessly mind-numbing reach of North American pop-music. I dont go oa day without hearing at least one song by One-Direction, Carly Rae Jebson, or Madonna. They do love Madonna here. They are into a lot of 80s pop here. And reggaetone. Reggaetone is a genre..... or a song. The genre is one song, basically. And not necesarily a good song, either. Oh no, this is how music rants begin. lets talk about something else.

                                                     P-day relaxation!

 We met a girl named Kay, which is an unfortunate name because it means "what" in Spanish. This is our conversation translated into English:

Whats your name?

What.

Whats your name?

What.

What?

What. Thats my name.

What.

Thats my name. What.

Yeah. Nice to meet you What.

And her sisters name is Yay, like the exclamation. Im starting to understand more Spanish, and speak a little better. So thats nice. Anyways, Loving life here. This place is beautiful. Were going on a hike to a nearby waterfall today. Oh, and Im sending the package today, along with the SD card. Yeah. You should send more pictures like last time. I liked that!

I love you all and miss you so much!

Much love,

Elder Alexander

La Merced Zone Conference Nov. 22, 2013

Pictures from President Henderson's Blog : http://misionperuhuancayo.blogspot.com

                                                                    La Merced Zone

Greetings from the most beautiful place in the world!

Greetings from the most beautiful place in the world! And I state that solely as an opinión. Not everyone is quite so natural of a jungler as I. The other day I killed a bee the size of a bird. (I was under attack. I would never willingly hurt another creature).  I love it here so much. Green everywhere. As far as you can see. And so many different flowers and birds and pretty things.

 This is a little off topic, but did you know that they sell bananas by the branch here? Crazy Peruvians.

 We get to far-off appointments via “moto-taxi”. A moto-taxi looks like a ferris Wheel capsule was welded onto the back of a motorbicycle. It costs one sol (per person) to go somewhere. Its literally that vague. Weather its one block away, or twelve, you pay the same. We walk for the most part, though. And I like that better anyways. We greet everyone, and everyone greets us. Its chévere. The people are super friendly. 

I baptized my first investigator on Sunday which was a truly incredible feeling. I also was really touched that she asked me to be the one of baptize her, because my companion had been giving her lessons for a time before I arrived. Ill try to attach a picture. Her younger son loves me a ton. Its really sweet. But on Sunday he was playing with a marble and I jokingly pretended to put it in my mouth and swallow it. Then I pretended to cough it up. I then offered it back to him, but he wouldnt take it. He said its dirty now, and I didnt know how to explain that I was just pretending in Spanish, so now I have his marble and I feel a Little bad.

 But anyways… Its really interesting Reading the scriptures in Spanish, because its written in normal Spanish. Whereas its in Old English for us. Its almost easier to understand in Spanish. But somethings translate a Little differently. Like in Mark 4:39 Jesus says Peace, be still, or something like that. But in Spanish, he says something more like “shut up. Settle down.” Im not sure which translation I like better. 

"First, we take out our eyes"

Did Obama get impeached? haha. Im not sure Peruvians are a viable source for American news. 

Answers to Mom's Questions:

1. Have you been sick?

Aproximately 10 times a day.

2. Have you tried your Dog Dazer?

Nope. haha. The dogs arent too bad here. I got bit by one, but it wasnt too hard.

3. Do you have someone that cooks for you?

Our pentionista is wonderful! She makes us a ton of delicious food. Shes younger, with a 6 year old boy and a 8 month old boy, and a super cool husband. They are SUPER nice. I mentioned that I was interested in the little banannas I saw at the market and the next day she had two different kinds for me to try. Theyre amazing. The bananas and the family. Her mom also lives with them and she washes our clothes. Theyre a lot like your usual American young mormon couple, and they're not poor like a lot of families here.

4. Did you open your packages? Which ones did you get? 

I got two. Candy, and Pepperment bark. Me and my companion ate all the candy in two nights. haha Thanks so much for that!

5. Tell us about your typical day.

Get up, excercise, shower in liquid ice, get ready, walk 10 min to pentionista for breakfast (a couple sisters have breakfast with us as well), back to the room for personal, companion, and language study. Meetings, lunch, meetings, dinner, review our day and plan for tomorrow, sleep.

6. How is the teaching going?

I dont teach a lot, because I dont speak too well yet, but I can do the first half of the Restoracion, and talk about faith. haha. We had that baptism this week and have baptisms schedualed for the next three weeks.

7. Do you guys help at the church?

We teach the new member class, and set up chairs, and talk to everyone. Your usual stuff.

Gabe with his new companion. 

We taught a lesson to an investigator this week, and my companion turned to me and asked me to teach him how to pray. I looked at the investigator, took a deep breath, and said, in perfect Spanish "First, we take out our eyes". He gave me a weird look. My companion informed me of what I just told him. I clarified, "Its very important because we can only do it once". He then laughed and we all laughed because Im a gringo and thats funny. Anyways, this place is simply the most beautiful place on earth. I love it here so much. The people are so nice, too. I may just move here after my mission I love it so much. The only thing I dont love is that, in my companions words, "everything here bites". Ive got quite a few mosquito bites and some that arent mosquito bites, but are other forms of bites. One of which swelled up with puss and hurt a lot. I do love it here though. So much fruit. Mangos grow naturally here. When we went trailblazing in the jungle last p day (slightly stupid idea), there was an area where we were just walking on mango shells. And there was a tree with a massive spider web with millions of spiders in it, and one landed in my hair, but it was super fun.

Mango shells.

Giant spider web.

 Keep me updated on everything thats going on! I love to hear about it!

Much love!

Elder Alexander

Im loving life right now!

Im loving life right now. I am currently sitting in the single most beautiful town in the world. So many trees and sky and everyone is soooo nice and life is simple here. We prostelited yesterday after we arrived, and we taught some less active members and made some contacts. One nice old lady (who says that when Christ was born she was eating soup) asked us to enterpret a dream of hers. We then tried to explain baptism to her, but she didnt understand at all, so we just bore our testimonies and she commited to be baptised this Saturday. A lot of the children here are baptised, but not many attend church, because their parents dont. Its a very odd situation. One lady said she wants her son to become a mormon because she wants him to be a good person. haha. Our town is very small, and many people recognize us. My companion has only been here five weeks, but he knows like everyone. Hes a super funny guy, and hes really nice. Hes from Arequipa, but he speaks a bit of English as well. Hes also the DL. Hes just a really good missionary. I took my first cold shower this morning, and it was rather painful, but I may be able to get used to it. Its so warm here, and I love it. Im in Heaven. We have nothing to do today, so me and mi companero iremos to the top of the mountain that overlooks the town. I cant even tell you how beautiful it is here. Its unreal. Its true about the pretty girls I guess. haha. Everyone also says this is the mission that everyone wants. Im just super lucky. Our teacher trained us how to fight jungle animals using our tie. No joke. The dogs arent very nice here. Most people who Ive talked to have been bit at some point. Theyre like wild dogs, and they run in packs like in lady and the tramp. On the 4 hour drive from Huancayo to San Ramon, we had to listen to the radio, and literally every other song was by Michael Jackson. LITERALLY: We placed bets on what the next Michael Jackson song would be. And we were right sometimes. They also played a lot of Toto and Madonna, and one New Order song, mixed with Peruvian stuff. Were allowed to listen to anything that doesnt take from the spirit here, and Presidents assistant was listening to alt. rock, so I think Im okay w Joni. Its my second day here, and I dont really know anything. I kind just look lost everywhere I go, because Im the only white person in this town and I dont know how to talk yet. My favorite thing so far was cruising through beautiful Peruvian country, while singing and dancing to Madonna in the back of a mini van full of Peruvians who think youre completely insane. S all good though. Mail is a bit expensive to send here, but Ill send the SD card next P day, I think. Anyways, Im loving life, loving the gospel, and loving you all, as always!

Much love,

Elder Alexander

Ready to go!

All ready for the road to Huancayo. One last picture at the Lima CCM. What an awesome group!
(Gabe is second from the right in the back row)

Huancayo!

Hello, family!
 I'm not supposed to write a letter. Just tell you I'm here in Huancayo and I didn't, in fact, die on Ticleo Pass. I only threw up twice. Much better than many other people in my district. I'm staying in the mission home right now, and in the morning I head out for San Ramon, which is deep jungle. SOOOOO EXXITTEEEDDD. I've been told I'll get really sick at first, due to the humidity and extreme heat, but s'all good in da hood.

Much love,

Gabe

.

The bus to Huancayo

The Newbies with President and Sister Henderson

Traditional Peruvian ..... Burger King?

...and Pizza Hut!

Last P-day at the CCM!

Hello! Last P day at the CCM. I leave on Saturday for the highest pass in the world, where it is very likely that I will either vomit or pass out. haha. I was talking to a lady on the bus this morning and she said shes been a few times, but she only went by train. Because everyone throws up on the bus. So, I look forward to that. I want to hear all about your halloween! Pictures are absolutely acceptable. You should start sending me pictures every week, in fact. I miss your faces. This week was great. Im really in the groove of everything now that I have to leave. We teach lessons here with fake investigators (our teachers in disguise) and one of ours is named _______.

We were meeting with him and teaching him the Word of Wisdom, when he brought up that he has an addiction to coffee. I said "Oh! I have a great scripture for you. Would you read here please?" (in spanish, of course) I meant to give him Revelation 3 20-21, but I told him to read Revelation 3 2-3 on accident. Look those up. Big difference. He broke caracter and had a laughing attack. I did too, when I realized, rather than giving him a scriptrure about how the Lord will reward those who overcome, I gave him a scripture that told him to repent or God will kill him. At least it wasnt a real lesson. Me and my companions taught a couple investigators this week too. They asked us a few questions about the church and stuff. I didnt really understand the situation. I thought it was a practice, so I wasnt taking it seriously. At the end, we all bore our testimonies, and then I kind of jokingly asked "Would you like to get baptised now?haha" They looked at eachother and were silent for a moment. Awkward pause. Then one said "Si" and the other one nodded and said "Si" as well. I laughed and congradulated them and then we said our goodbyes. Ten minutes later, I find out that I just commited my first baptisms..... and I wansnt even trying. So, good week, basically. I havent been sleeping well at night though. I keep waking up multiple times throughout the night. The counselor gave me some Advil PM, after doubling my Melatonin dosage didnt help much. So, well see how that works. We get like 4 hours of Personal study time every day. I keep nodding off. It helps reading Proverbs and racking my brain trying to figure out what they mean. Proverbs 25:11. Im working on that one. I sent a letter on Monday. Let me know when you get it. I still havent recieved yours, but not many people here have. Some get here faster than others for some reason.

Anyways, I love you all so much! Keep me updated on everything. Miss you tons.

Mucho amor,

-Elder Alexander

"Dios le amo"

I did not get the letter you sent yet, but I did get one from Emmaline! It made my weeek! I read it in front of my district and everyone laughed because Emma is hillarious. Ive had a great week. I really love my district sooo much. I now have two companions. My Spanish is coming along well. I know all the words I need to know to teach the basic lessons, but I still struggle with casual conversation. The people in Lima speak super fast, but it gets better in Huancayo, Ive heard. I have been to the temple, every week that Ive been here. Its very beautiful, but kind of small. Ive been getting into all sorts of new music here. Mostly classical that others have showed me. I love the song This Is The Christ. Blows my mind every time. Theres a kid that plays it on the piano and makes people weep. Ive also been getting good at piano. Ive learned a couple hymns. Everything I need, I usually can just get at ____, but they dont have chewable melatonin here, so well see how long mine lasts. I keep giving it out like drugs though, because everyone is having trouble sleeping. I went prostletizing last Saturday, and I cant tell you what an incredible experience it was. I was paired with a latin companion, Elder ____, and we taught two lessons and got one street contact. We werent even supposed to be street contacting, we were supposed to be meeting with less active members, but we stopped at a shop to ask a lady for directions and she almost forced a lesson out of us... while she was dealing with customers. So, that was interesting. One Hermana in our district actually had someone chase them down and ask for a lesson. I though people were exaggerating about how easily people accept the gospel here. I guess not. haha. One members house whom we visited had no roof, no floor, just dirt, and a large pile of bricks, etc. But I had to pee really bad so I asked to use the bathroom. I wont even describe it. It was very humbling. I feel terrible for being born with carpeted floors. I may have to pull a Brian Wilson on my room mates and fill our room with dirt. Maybe not. But there was a grafiti that said "Kiss the love forever" and that was pretty cool. Because it was english. And one of the lessons, I told an old lady "Dios le amo", instead of "Dios le ama" which is apparently the difference between "God loves you" and "Gosh, I love you." She laughed at me. We get laughed at a lot. Especailly by the Latino Elders. So we taught them that "cutie pie" means "stud" in english. So, they walk around calling each other cutie pie and its really sweet.

I miss you all mucho mucho mucho!

Keep me updated on everything going on!

Love you so much!

Elder Gabriel Alexander

"I am the Book of Mormon"

Hello, lovelies! From now on, I will be emailing on Tuesdays... Until they have another crazy holiday, which seems to happen terribly often. Fire crackers basically every other night. They love to celebrate here, Im coming to find. Especially in Huancayo. Alcohol is a big part of their culture too, so I think Ive got my work cut out for me there.We just got a new wave of missionaries that came in, so we get to make fun of their spanish. For some odd reason, a common mistake is saying "I am" instead of "this is", because Ive had someone tell me they are a book of mormon a few times now. Also, the word for sins is "pecados" and the word for fish is "pescados". Long story short, apparently one of the newbies accidently basically said "I am Jesus Christ, and I paid for your fish!".

(I finally discovered how to make quotation marks!)

I have roughly 2 and a half more weeks here at the CCM. Im starting to love it here, though. I havent been homesick yet, but Im really missing a lot of music. Im super excited to get out into the field and do some real work, though.

We went to ______ today, which is a little three story supermarket. We mainly bought food, because we get super hungry in between meals and before bed.

(Can you spot the photo bomber?)

I love you all so much! 

Keep me posted!

Much love!

Elder Alexander

Que sopa?

 Im starting to get a little sick of the rice. Every darn meal, every darn day. I guess thats something we have to get used to though. We just got new room mates today. Americans! And ones a musician, so Im pretty excited about that. Im sorry to hear about the stress from school. Im finding it a little difficult to stay focused during some of my classes here. We got to watch General Conference in English. They had a seperate showing for the English speakers, so it was all good. I cant believe Elijahs growing up so fast! Im scared that Im going to get back and hell be as tall as me! Weve become better friends with the native speakers, although most have left for their missions, and weve recieved new ones. We developed a joke. When the Latinos come in and are all like ¿Que paso, hombres? (which means Whats up) We be all like ¿Que sopa? (which means What soup) and then they laugh because were dumb white people. Im getting really excited to Emmas letter.   

Im basically in better shape now than Ive ever been, because Ive been running with the cross country geeks. About three miles a day, in circles around the CCM, which is gorgeous, by the way. It really reminds me of Santa Barbara. Its Spring here, so the weather is always perfect. I feel like I could live here, which is good because I will have to. On the way to Huancayo, apparently we get to ride on the highest train in the world. The teacher said some of us will pass out or throw up. He said its okay though, because if we die, it will be a very quick trip to heaven. He has an odd sense of humour. The other day, he conjegated my name as an er verb. I really love the people in my district. Were becoming very close, like a little family. Were kind of the creative district here. Everyone is very artistic, and were constantly commissioning art peices and exchanging poems with eachother. Im excited to got to Tottus today (the peruvian walmart) and stock up on Casino Booms and Inca Cola. Anyways. I need to go catch my bus. I love you all! Keep me updated!

Much love,

Elder Alexander

                                                          Lima, Peru Temple!

I am having a blast here!

 I am having a blast here, and have been following the rules closely. My companion is very obedient. Yeah. haha. The food here is incredible. Granadillas just may be my new favorite fruit. Theres so much to say, I dont even know where to start. Its almost like a different world here. I love the people in my district sooo much. Its not all serious here like youd think. Its actually pretty laid backÑ and sometimes we show up for class and our teacher doesnt etc etc. But, nonetheless, the spirit is overwhelmingly powerful here.  Were all slowly forgetting English, and Im finding it rather difficult to think of the words in this language. I keep accidentally going to Spanish. 

Anyways, the schedual here is basically different every day, so far. Some days we have firesides or seminars or lectures, but we always have our language class and our missionary class. I havent been using my alarm because one of our native roommates has a very loud alarm that nearly shakes the room.... with the Tetris theme song. Which is nice. Me and my compañero share a room with four native speaking elders. Theyre super nice and our always willing to help us with our spanish, but one night I asked one of them, how to say really good. Like if youre not just feeling well, but spectacular. He taught me a word that sounded about right, and had me repeat it a few times. The next day in class, we were supposed to stand up, introduce ourselves, and say how we felt about being here, in Español. I introduced myself and said I feel.... the word that he told me, with much enthusiasm and volume. The teacher asked me to repeat what I just said. I did. He stared at me blankly. I asked him if it meant something inappropriate. He nodded silently. Apparently, this was a very offensive word. Basically, the most offensive word I coulve said. So that was cool. Anyways, Im learning the Language at rapid speeds, and Im learning the concepts in Preach my Gospel pretty quickly as well. Its really baptism by fire here. And I also mean that in a literal sense, because the showers here only have two temperatures. Scalding, or liquid ice. I choose scalding most mornings. Weve been asked to tell our families not to send packages while were at the CCM, but letters are fine. In fact, only one person in our district has gotten a letter so far. Were all very jealous of him. ¡I look forward to Emmas! Post on my facebook and tell people to email me. I havent got any aside from you yet. haha. THEY HAVE COOKIES HERE CALLED CASINO COOKIES AND THEY HAVE POP ROCKS IN THEM AND THEY HAVE INCA SODA AND IT TASTES LIKE BUBBLE GUM AND I RODE ON THE BUS AND I LITERALLY COULDNT MOVE A LIMB BECAUSE I WAS SO SQUISHED AND I HAD TO BUY SHAMPOO BUT THE SHAMPOO SMELLS BAD. AND ITS SO NICE HERE ITS LIKE SANTA BARBARA WITH THE PALM TREES AND ITS HOT WHEN ITS 60 DEGREES AND ITS SO PRETTY AND ITS NOT COOL THAT IM NOT ALLOWED TO HUG BECAUSE I WANT TO HUG EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. So anyways, theres that. Im eating a caramel oreo as I type. This is my life now. haha. I love and miss you all. And I miss music. But I also miss you all. My companion is basically my best friend and we sing together all the time. Its basically great. Im so happy. I love it here. But then again, I havent even been here a week, so well see. Unfortunately, were not allowed to take pictures at the CCM and were not supposed to take pictures outside either, because we look like tourists, but I will try my best. There are actually quite a few people here from the Boise area. In my district, everyone has taken at least four years of spanish, aside from two. So, Im the third worst in my district, basically. A lot of the missionaries here have longer hair. One elder has a pony tail. A very long pony tail. Its cool. Anyways, Im almost out of computer time, but keep me posted on how everyones doing! I love and miss you all! Im sorry about the lack of punctuation. Its really weird on this computer.

Much love,

Elder Alexander.

Our first email. Safe and Sound!

 I´m typing on a spanish keyboard right now, which is actually very difficult. That, coupled with having limited time, I will keep this short and try to write a lot more in my next letter.

I miss you all dearly! The flight went well, and I, somehow, did not lose any luggage, although many missionaries did. I sat next to a famous male model from Puerto Rico on my flight from Atlanta to Lima. He had no interest in speaking to me. On the other hand, they had hot towels, which was pretty cool. When I was in the airport, it was so cool seeing all the elders all dressed in their suits and ties. I met quite a few as I went through and introduced myself. I walked up to a group of elders, standing in a circle. I kind of scooted my way into their circle, before I realized they were all in their mid thirties and not elders at all. They were also giving me very odd looks, having skipped into their group so confidently. After a heavy silence, I made a comment like Hey, what's this, the suits club? Then backed away casually. So, that was fun.

The first song I heard in Peru, playing on someone's radio, was R.O.C.K. the U.S.A. In other words, I'm being blasted by Peruvian culture at every angle. The trees here are soooo beautiful. And the air is brilliant. Something about the atmosphere is very comfortable and graceful.

Anyways, more to come. =)

I love and miss you all! I will email again as soon as I can!

I have a great companion and am loving it here so far.

Pass on my love to friends and extended family, as well.

Talk to you soon!

With much love,

Elder Gabriel Alexander.

He is Off!

Elder Alexander made it to the airport at 4:30 AM this morning and is headed straight for Lima (with two stops on the way). I feel like I will be there with him in a way because he has taken a big chunk of my heart with him! We are missing him terribly already, but are so excited for him!

We hope to hear from him tonight or tomorrow. If not "no news is good news" or so I hear. :) I will post some pictures and more news when we hear. <3


                                                                  Goodbyes at the airport...

Hope those hugs can last us two years! We miss him already but are so very excited for him!

Gabe opening his mission call, back on May 18th. Boy, has time flown. We couldn't be more excited for him! 6 more days until he's off to Peru!