He sounds like he is doing fairly well. Still miss my farm boy though...just glad to know he's in the Lord's hands.
Enjoy!
Week 2:
hello everyone!
i guess ill just start from the top. this week we started to teach yolanda! she looks a heck of a lot like my teacher! anyway i dont know what i was thinking but as soon as we knocked on her front door i had this terrible realization... i dont speak spanish! so lets just say it was an experiance that left me stressed and i was on the verge of breaking down when one of the instructors came review with us. not gunna lie i have like no clue what he said but he wipped out a scripture and said something about the language. the scripture said something about all things are possible if it be the will of jesus christ. it was like i got hit by truck! the spirit was so strong! later in the weel we listened to elder bednars talk to the missionaries on christmas and he said, the natural man is the exact opposite of christ, you think that you cant learn the language you think you cant be a missionary and your right, but with gods help you can. so im not as stressed any more!
also, anyone ever hear of a guy named russle m neilson? ya he came this week and gave alot of spiritual thought. he told us about i think it was section 85? in D and C maybe not but find it and read it it made me feel better with my home sickness its about a missionary named thomas. its 80 something... its way cool. ya any was i shook elder neilsons had it was great.
so now that i got the spiritual experiances out of the way now comes the exciting parts of my week. i tell you this, relying on the hope that someone stops mom from getting on a plane to come get me! :)
so we were scheduled to go tracting last friday. and i was nervous at first but then i started getting excited. so i was assigned a bus than was going to the cata graunde ward, and also got paired with a latino companion. so we all piled on this school bus from like the hippie age. i honestly dont know where they found this gem but it was something. my companion, who was like 2 feet shorter than me had his knees in his chest. i kid you not... and i didnt think i got the singleton hips but i barely fit sideways with my feet directly out in the isle.. half of the seats werent even bolted down... it was great.
any way... when we got there as i was trying to smooth my pucker marks out of the seat(the traffic here is a whole other email.) my companion shows me a spanish word in the dictionary, whos english traslation is petty theft. then he points down with big eyes and says aqui! or here. so immediatly im like crap! now what. so we get into the church and all the teachers are going around taking everyones watches and rings and one teacher that spoke english says to me dont fight for your tie if they want it.... comforting right!? so just when we are getting ready to head out we get to the gate of the compound(of the church if that tells you anything) and we see people running and we hear POP POP POP! thats right gunshots.. like one street over! so needless to say we were pushed back into the church and we watched church videos for the next 5 hours!
haha very glad im going to huancayo everyone says its super nice there. any way my time is about up! but im going well here in the CCM! i really do feel the spirit 24/7 here i know im watched over and im where im supposed to be! i love you all
Love Elder Cook
ps im not kidding about mom... im really i in apsolutely no danger! dont freak out ;)
Week 1:
hello from peru!
so the key boards here are kinda strainge so my grammer will struggle a bet. and also i only get an hour a week so i will pretty much just be sending a mass email but i still like reading the individual ones.
where to start, so the first daywas really long because we were all running on like 6 hours of sleep and it was all meetings that i didnt understand. i found out really quick than NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH HERE. that janitor that i talked to obiously only new how to say where are you from elder, because after that nothing. i feel like talking to my teachers is like the most epic game of guesstures ever. haha of my three teachers one of them speaks alittle broken english. needless to say i am now starting to think in a spanish accent... not spanish.... just the accent.
anyway the first day the last thing we did was be interviewed by the branch presidency. so after that i was so ready for bed but then i got called to be the district leader.... ya so thats me leader of district 111. i guess thats a cool thing but it kind of just means more work for me.
so im picking up alittle spanish. so far ive learned how to pray. i seriously have never worked so hard at praying before. but its comming. each teacher has asked for our years of spanish class and i just hold my hand in a zero shape and it makes their eyes get big. one teacher either told me i was going to be a mirical, or that it was going to take a mirical for me to learn spanish. im inclined to think the later.i have read it the scriptures multiple times that all things are possible through god. so i guess i keep my nose to the grind stone and hope for the best.
so now for the shower of questions. the first day couple days i was here it was really overcast. it almost looked like smog. but the last couple of days have been perfect beautiful days, like sunny and 75.
the food is for the most part is actually good, peruvian food is really bland, not spicy. but still good. my comp elder hardison had what i can only think was a chicken spine/ backbone in has soup. we havent found any beaks yet so thats good :). they also dont cook their scrambled eggs all the way so they are wattery but some how still delicious. the biggest thing that the elders have issues with is finding the right ballence between rice and fruit juice if you know what i mean.
i cant see the ocean and ive only played soccor once and i tristed my ancle pretty good but its better now
i have moment in the CCM (Missionary Tranning Center in spanish) where i get dicourage with the language but but in times like that i just say `look how far you have come in such a short time` it makes me feel better. but 95 percent of the time i love it here. everyone is nice! well not everyone but my district is seriously like my new family. we are all friends in it and we bear each others burdens, and it is so fun to watch and be a part of.
SO MOM AND CORTNEY! NO CRYING :) Know i am safe and i love you all
LOVE Elder Cook
Ps today (tuesday) was P Day and we went to the temple and what was really simmilar to walmart... a cheap walmart! so im from ruffing it... YET...
No comments:
Post a Comment