Food & Baptism

Hey Mom and Dad,

Great to hear that you two actually tried some sushi to eat, and now you know why I love it so much. Speaking of food, I do have a list of favorite foods. Number one would have to be "tallarín rojo con pollo y papa huancaína." It's basically spaghetti with chicken in this red spicy sauce with potatoes covered in this yellow sauce of goodness. They have the same thing but with green sauce, but I prefer the red tallarín. Next would have to be "pollo a la brasa" which is basically chicken cooked over fire in rotary served with french fries. It's good stuff, but the ketchup here has more of a sweet taste than in the states. People eat so much chicken here it's not even funny. My companion tells me that in Iquitos where the jungle is at they eat the crazy stuff like turtles, paranas, monkies (the smaller monkies), fruits I never even knew existed, and a bunch of fish.

The only out of the ordinary stuff I've eaten is ceviche, which is basically raw fish cooked with lemon and spices. There are many different types of ceviche because you can eat ceviche de pescado, mariscos, pulpo, etc. I've eaten the muscles, the fish, and even octopus which is actually very chewey. It was kind of unsettling at first because when I forked a piece of octopus, you could see the tentacle suction cups. I've also eaten crab and crab soup. That stuff is delicious, but I needed help breaking open their shell, but one of the members of the church told me "just use your teeth, like this," and then he broke open their claws with his molars. Crazy.

Well our baptism was a success, and I got to perform it. Her name is Lady Martinez who is 15 years old. She wanted to throw herself in the water really quickly so I just let her drop. Water splashed, but it was success. My companion and I accidentally flooded the stake center because we left the water switch on, and we thought that it would automatically turn off because in Lima that's what happens, but we were wrong. So for 4 hours my companion and I desperately swept the water out of the doors and mopped the floors with our bare feet. Luckily nobody could tell that the stake center was flooded just hours before the baptism was held, but the only bad thing is that the stake president's office was flooded with water. If I had the keys we would have cleaned his office, but we didn't. We didn't say a thing, so I think we're fine because he wasn't mad at all, just a bit puzzled.

Well my time is up so I need to wrap up this email. That's really cool that Romney signed a book for Dad in La Jolla. It's always in La Jolla. I'll be sure to write that letter to Abuelita, but please send me Abuelito Hector's address too because I don't have it. Take care you two, and I will talk to you later. Love you both, and goodbye.

Elder Emiliano Leon

Fall Coming to Pisco

Hello Mom and Dad,

So Jeff Bridges won an Oscar? That makes me laugh since he was the villain on Iron Man. That's too bad that Steve Burke moved, but it makes sense since Blizzard is located in Irvine. Much easier to travel to work. Did you happen to get his email address? I'd like to get a hold of him. I heard Blizzard was going to start internships with the Art Institute of San Diego, you should look up on that. I'm still here in Pisco, which means I started my forth exchange in the same place. I have the same companion from Iquitos, who is Elder Souza. We get along just fine, and nothing major has happened between the two of us. Things are finally starting to pick up as far as missionary work. We found 5 people who are almost golden. Thanks to the members of our ward, they're helping us out establish friendships. I now realize how important it is when a member accompanies the missionaries, and it makes me feel like "Aw man, I wish I would have accompanied them more."

Now church email is powered by Google, which means it's faster and I get more space to receive emails. So Elder Perry is coming to Vista? I'm pretty sure that the Bobier building is going to be flooded, including the missionaries. I've only been in the presence of one apostle, which D. Todd Christofferson. I didn't even get to shake his hand, but that's alright. My new camera is pretty cool, and my companion is taking photos like crazy. That reminds me, I haven't sent you photos since the beginning of November. I'll see if I can put together another CD with photos to send to you two.

It makes me happy to hear that everything is going well for you two and the family back home. If you can, include some interesting snippets from the newspaper in the package. Tell me, have you two noticed any blessings that have come since I left for the mission? And how's the Quikwok? I miss the chinese food and Roberto's. Elder Martinez is from California, and he has an In N Out t-shirt, and it makes me yearn for a double double every time I see that shirt.

Well my time is about up, and I'll talk to you two next week. Thank you so much for sending the package, and don't forget corn tortillas! The other missionaries, especially the latinos, love the stickers you put on the boxes. The favorite is the virgencita al costado de Moroni. Be sure to tell the family I love them and that I miss them too. I can't believe I'll have about 9 months completed. Wow. Anyway, love you both and take care.

Elder Emiliano Leon

Survived the Earthquake

Hello Mom and Dad,

No need to worry about the earthquake in Chile, I didn't feel any tremors and everything is going just fine. No I didn't get the sheet music from the hymnbook of Kolob. Thanks for the packages though, I really enjoyed them. I ended up sharing the cupcakes with the entire zone of Pisco, and already ate all of the poptarts. Just be sure to only send one package at a time. Any requests? Corn tortillas, and more cupcakes. That's all.

So L.T. left the chargers? Well, now I'm really worried because what are we gonna do now without L.T.? Oh well, we'll find someone else to help better the team. That's crazy that Brian and Trent already have 6 months left, and I barely have 8 months. Time flies by quickly. I heard the Oscars are going to be this Sunday, and I also heard that a Peruvian movie made it to the nominees. I forgot the name but it talks about the terrorism that was in Ayacucho.Fun fact, Ayacucho is in my mission. Next week please tell me which movies won which awards. I'm eager to know because Up was also nominated.

Well I checked my debit card to see how much money is in my account, but it tells me I only have about 900 dollars. I remember you telling me that I should have about 1400, but my machine tells me I don't. How odd. Anyway, I have about 2,500 nuevo soles with the money that's in my card right now. I just wanted to let you know that I'm planning on buying a new camera since the one I have isn't working that good anymore. The cameras cost about 600 soles, which is about 250 dollars. I'm letting you know in advance so that you both won't get worried when I pull out that big chunk of money.

Well other than that I'm doing just fine. Just need the sheet music, corn tortillas, music CDs, and more cupcakes in the package. If you can't send it all in one package, then separate them BUT send both at different times. Thanks for always keeping me updated on what's going on back home, and giving me support. It really comes in handy. Well my time is almost up and I must close this message.

Emiliano