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!