Zone Conferences and Packages

Hey Dad, thanks for helping me with the blog. So you wanted to know about where to send packages and where my zone conferences are held? Here's the scoop:

Our Zone Conferences are held at different locations every time, and the number of zones vary every time. I recently attended one last Thursday (Sep 10) at Chincha which is an hour and a half away south of Mala. There we got to hear Elder Nash, a member of the Seventy and the area authority of Perú and Bolivia, talk about his experiences of the earthquake that demolished Pisco in August 2007. He also talked about how we can improve our teaching as missionaries. As far as when the zone conferences occur, I am not sure because we get informed a week before they happen during our zone meetings.

If you want to send me a package, just mail it to that address I sent you last time. What happens is that your package will arrive at the mission office in Lima, and then every week they distribute the mail to the zone leaders, who will then give the mail to us during our zone meeting, which is held every week on Tuesday for us.

Now because we are in Mala and are the furthest away, my district has to take a bus south to Cañete every Tuesday at about 7am (which means we wake up at around 5:30am to leave our home by 6:40am) to arrive on time at the chapel in Cañete. There, all of the districts in our zone hold meetings and talk about our progress, and the zone leaders Elder Tanuvasa and Elder Saalvedra give out our mail.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, you can send food. Elder Boulton who is in my district gets packages of cereal, chips, and snacks. I'm not sure what types of food you can't send, but I believe anything that will survive the trip to Perú is fine. I recommend putting Jesus stickers on the package, and not having it larger than a shoebox. I hear it helps lower the chance of getting robbed.

As far as the list you provided me, I don't need the deodorant. They sell it here way cheap. However, send me some flour and corn tortillas! Peruvians do not sell them here at all and I am dying for them! If you can, please send Jack Links Original flavored Beef Jerky, cereal (like cheerios, wheaties, or smacks), peanut butter and maple syrup (they don't have that either). We basically are always responsible for our breakfast, and I discovered that the meals I could make for breakfast included a lot of ingredients they don't have here in Mala because it's such a small town. Don't worry about me having to use my card to buy a steak, we have restaurants here that have good food and are cheap.

Well that's about all I have to say. I'm glad to know that you can send food, which means you can send the salsa from Little Diner too, and the chicharrones (if the salsa will survive). Just remember to send it to that address and follow my consejo, and I'll receive it. If I remember more types of food to send, I'll pass the word. Thanks for your care, and I'll talk to you again next week!

Emiliano