August 25, 2010

Hey family,
This last month has been so ridiculous for me. You asked me about the
food and its pretty interesting. The food is good for the most part
and its just different. Most morning we have some kind of meal with
eggs, bread, and this really thin type of yogurt. On occasion we have
had french toast or pancakes, but they don´t have much syrup here, and
when we were shopping in the supermarket and went looking for it it
cost like 3 times as much as it does in the United States. In their
supermarket they have lots American foods but they are all really
expensive. For example, an 8 pack of fun sized twix candy bars is
about 15 soles, which is about 6 or 7 dollars. Here lunch is the
biggest meal of the day, and they every day we have rice and some kind
of meat. Its pretty good. They also have different appetizer type
things, most of which are pretty disgusting, one of which I got to
give it a try and it has permanantly removed any chance of me ever
eating broccoli again. Pero está bien. I just don´t get the appetizer
thing. I still get plenty of food. They also have a dessert every
day. One Peruvian type of dessert and jello... Some of the desserts
are kind of weird, but Ive become pretty good at being able to tell by
looking at it if I am not going to like it. They have also attempted
to make American desserts, but they aren´t always good. If not I get
jello, because its kind of impossible to ruin jello. Sugar and water
makes things a lot easier. During dinner we have rice and meat again
with a small dessert item that is usually pretty good. All in all the
food is different with lots of rice, but nothing other than their
weird appetizers is bad.
Im glad to hear that everything is going well at home. Its awesome
that Adam finally has someone his age in the ward that he can do
things with. Although his friends in the neighborhood are pretty
cool. Im glad to hear the work is progressing well in the ward, and
you are having a good time in the ward. Its important to keep working
and striving to help the missionaries because we can use all the help
we can get.
The weeks in the CCM in Peru are kind of all the same over and over
again. On Tuesdays we have devotionals on some mornings and some
nights we have enseñanzas, where we practice teaching situations for
investigators. They are frustrating some times, but it helps the
language and it helps with teaching skills. The CCM is kind of
frustrating because of my companion sometimes, but I just try to work
my hardest, and try not to focus on the negatives. All the latinos
and all of the older North American missionaries leave in the next
week, mostly on Monday and Tuesday so the CCM will be pretty empy for
a while. On Wednesday of next week we get to go on a tour of areas of
Peru and shop in areas where we can haggle prices and get more
experience shopping. After next week I will have a North American
companion, and things will change a little bit.
On Saturday we had an awesome experience. We went proselyting for
practice in Lima. I was actually proselyting in a part of my mission
out by the ocean. The poverty in the area I was in was incredible.
No one had very good houses and everything was dirty and poor. It was
actually a little sad to think that I had lived my life so comfortably
and they were in such poverty, but they are happy here. And they are
so kind to the people who come. That night in my journal I wrote
this:
"We went proselyting for the first time. We were focusing on inactive
members, but we also placed a Book of Mormon. We had an opportunity
to talk to an old woman who is a member. Her testimony was so
strong. she had an incredible spirit. We were in the Callao area of
Lima. The people there are so poor. it was a real eye-opener for me.
These people have makeshift homes and no luxuries. Their roofs are
hardly roofs at all, and yet they are so happy... The members are so
helpful, and if the non-members , or inactive members, don´t want to
talk to you, they are kind about it¨"
The work is moving forward and even though their church didn´t have
the running water working they praised God like the riches people in
the world would, and maybe even more. I love the people here and I
love my mission. yo sé que José Smith fue un profeta de Dios. Yo sé
que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador amaroso. Yo sé que el evangelio es
verdadero. I love you all,
Tyler