Flashback of Perú MTC and on to Mala

These past six weeks in Lima flew by really quickly. The Perú MTC ( also CCM) is way smaller than the one in Provo, and not nearly as many people. There were probably only about 47 missionaries total. My first compañero was Elder Zárate, who was from Huancayo, Peru. I quickly learned that everyone at the CCM spoke Spanish with the exception of President Groeberg, who was in charge of the CCM. Fun fact about President Groeberg; his brother wrote the book The Other Side of Heaven. It turns out that the movie was based off of his book, and President Groeberg’s brother was the actual missionary who went to Tonga, and the movie was about his experiences. All of that was possible because Pres. Groeberg brother published the writings in his journal and made it into a book, which became a movie.
Well, enough about movies. Every day at the CCM we would eat chicken and rice every day, which got old fast. My first latino companion, Elder Zárate, was the only member in his family, but he knew a lot about the gospel and had a strong testimony. In the CCM, we did many “enseñanzas” where we taught other companionships in a pretend situation, and the teachers would listen and teach us on what we can improve on. When we weren’t doing enseñanzas, of playing football with the latinos, the latino missionaries and North American Missionaries would split into different classes. My district with Elder Timothy, Allen, VanDuyn, and Schofield would have Spanish classes every day, while our latino companions would learn the missionary principles and lessons. Every day was rather monotonous, but also fun because we learned so much Spanish with great teachers.
The most intense part of the CCM was on Saturdays where all the Elders would go to different church stakes and go teach the inactive families. This was Proseletismo, and was scary at first, but eventually got the hang of it. Every time my companion, Elder Zárate, and I went out to visit the families, I had to rely on him because the families spoke so fast, and I barely understood what they were talking about. I was nervous too because I was afraid I would say something silly or offend someone. It turned out not to be so bad after all, even though we were only outside Proselytizing for 5 hours. The rest of the time was spent inside the CCM sitting down learning Spanish and teaching pretend families.
My second companion was Elder Silva, and was part of the second group of missionaries that arrived. Every 3 weeks a new set of Elders arrive at the CCM, while the North Americans wait 6 weeks, so they get two sets of companionships.
I’m out of time again, but that’s pretty much my experience at the CCM. Today I enter the mission field in Mala, Perú with 3 other missionaries. My newest companion, Elder Juárez, tells me the place is a small agricultural city, and we have a lot of people to help because the church over there is rather small.

Emiliano