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.