All Roads Lead to Mala

Once again I get the opportunity to write another blog entry. Here's the situation in Mala, where I am currently at: After having left the CCM in Lima, I arrived here in Mala with my new companion Elder Juárez at night. I discovered that we lived inside of a member's home upstairs with our own bedrooms. Not only that, but her home was also the chapel for Mala. There are only two other missionaries here along with my companion and I. Their names are Elder McAllister and Elder Boulton. Here in Mala, the amount of members is rather small, so we have a branch instead of a ward here in Mala. On top of that, Elder McAllister is the branch president, so we have no bishop nor other member to take the place of Elder McAllister as branch president. In short, us missionaries here are pretty much starting up the church here in Mala, with our small chapel inside of a member's home. It's a new experience because this is the first time I've been with a branch this small.

Our whole membership here is about around 230 people, but 80 of them attend regularly. As I said, it's rather small, and we're part of the zone Cañete. Here in Mala, there are dirt roads up in the small mountains where we reside, and paved roads down below. It's a nice small little town, and not many cars either. However there are a ton of mototaxistas, which are basically three-wheeled motorcycles with a cabin for two people. As far as food and things to buy, because it's such a small town, there are no American places like McDonald's or American products to buy here. That's all in the capital of Lima, and in the larger cities. Every person here in Mala works, and almost every home has a store at their bottom floor where they sell common items like you would find at a 7-11.

We eat our lunch and dinner at our pensionista's house. The pensionista's name is Luisa, and she gets paid to cook food for us missionaries. However, we are responsible for our breakfast. Right now I'm getting accustomed to living here in the small town of Mala, and us Elders are always working to gain more members so that we can have a chapel built here in Mala, because they really need it. Out of time again, so I will continue next week with more info.

New Ball Game

I have finally left the Missionary Training Center, (aka Centro de Capacitacion Misional) in Lima after 6 weeks. Also, because I'm out in the field, us missionaries get 1 hour to email and write home instead of 30 minutes. Another cool fact is that the internet cafe doesn't have the restrictions on the computers like the CCM did, so I can now update the blogs myself instead of burdening my parents with the responsibility, and possibly upload photos.

I had sent an entry to my parents about my experiences in the CCM for everyone to read, but they haven't received it yet. I have asked them to post it when they receive it, but right now I'll update everyone on what my situation is right now.

I had left the CCM on Wednesday, August 19, and arrived at the Lima South Mission Office to meet with my mission president for the 3rd time. There were a total of twelve of us Elders going to the Lima South Mission. During our orientation in the office, we had interviews with the president and discovered our first areas, and what to expect when on the mission. After the quick orientation we walked to his apartment and had some spaghetti and vegetables which was amazing for all of us missionaries becuase we've been eating chicken and rice almost every day at the CCM. After our meal we got to meet our companions, and soon after a quick talk about the mission we headed back to the office to get our luggage. I did not enjoy carrying my 3 bags of luggage at all.

When we all collected our stuff, we all separated and left the Mission Office to go our separate ways. My first area is a place called Mala, Peru. The journey on bus took about 2 hours because of traffic, so my companion, Elder Juarez, and I arrived at night. It turns out us Elders sleep inside of one of the member's home, whose name is Rosa, in separate bedrooms. Her house is also the chapel for all of Mala. I wish I could describe more details at this moment, but my hour is about to run out. Next week I will talk more about my first impressions in Mala. Google up Mala to see what it looks like. Take care!

Emiliano

Blog 5: Reflection of flight to Peru

When our travel group of elders arrived in Atlanta, we immediately grabbed some Panda Express because we figured there wouldn't be any more Pand Express in Peru. When we finished eating, we decided to call our parents using the airport phones since the MTC told us we were allowed to talk to them. After a brief talk with my mom and dad for 20 minutes, I had to hang up and head to my gate to depart for Peru. All of us were cramped in one huge line trying to get inside of the plane, and this next plane ride was going to be 7 hours instead of 5.

When we got inside of the plane, I was surprised at how large it was inside. There were 3 columns of seats inside the plane, which meant two walkways inside to relieve our legs. Us Elders didn't get to sit all next to each other, but we were relatively close. It was nice trying out my first international flight to a different country. Flying Delta International surprised me because they had complementary meals and drinks, which meant I didn't have to spend a dollar to eat. The only downside was having to sit inside of a plane for nearly 7 hours as we flew over Florida, the Pacific Ocean, Cuba, Mexico, and Ecuador. I had thought that our trip to Peru would be easy and without grabbing attention, but it just so happened we were seated next to a large convoy of Baptist members going on a mission trip to Peru for 2 weeks. They were nice, but they just wanted to keep poking at us nearly the whole 7 hours, and contend with us missionaries why we believe in the Book of Mormon, and try to prove us wrong. Good times.

When we finally arrived at the airport in Lima, we got off of the plane and had to haul our carry-ons through the airport, and attempt to decipher all the signs and commands spoken in Spanish to exit the place. It was HOT inside of that airport wearing our suitcoats and hauling luggage, but we all were glad to leave that airplane. When we got past the line of people getting through the first checkpoint, about 10 minutes had passed, and we then ended up waiting another 45 minutes for our heavy duty luggage to arrive on the conveyor belts. When all of us missionaries finally got our luggage and passed through customs, and found our ride to depart, another 20 minutes passed by. Add on to that the 45 minute drive to the CCM, and ridiculous amounts of time had passed. I don't recall how long everything took, but I do remember that we had arrived in Lima at about 10:50, and arrived at the CCM at about 2am. We were greeted by the older North American missionaries at the front gate, and they helped us carry our luggage, and get settled. I was just glad to finally get some sleep, even though it was 2am, and we were scheduled to wake up at 6:30am.

The next morning us new missionaries from the US had orientation meeting after meeting. Luckily our CCM President Groeberg allowed us to just unpack and settle down for the rest of the day. I quickly discovered that here in the Peru CCM, things were a lot more relaxed here because there weren't as many missionaries here compared to Provo. Here in Peru it's under 100, but Provo was easily over 2,000. I had met my first latino companion Elder Zárate, who replaced my old companion Elder VanDuyn. Long story short, he was a bit shy and timid, but he was an awesome companion because he knew a lot about the gospel and how to teach.

Three minutes left to type, so I´ll sum up a few weeks worth in this last paragraph. All we basically do here is learn how to speak Spanish correctly, and how to teach the Gospel lessons to people. We get 1 hour of sports time, which means soccer, soccer and more soccer. Every meal here was basically chicken and rice disguised in many different forms, which got old fast. A lot of the new missionaries had diaherria for the first week when they arrived, including myself. We also went to go visit families who were inactive in the church on Saturdays and go proselyting and teach real people in the streets, which helped me learn a lot. 30 seconds left, so I will tell more about my new companion and what has passed since then next time.

Emiliano

Blog 4: Last Reflections of MTC in Provo, Utah

I finally got time to write another update, which is really the rest of the previous entry because I ran out of time. It´s now 7:10pm in Lima, and I swear this is the last entry about Provo. I´ve been here in Lima, Peru for 3 weeks and have a dumb time limit that hinders me from catching up!

We had Independece Day at the MTC in Provo, and we got to celebrate. American flags were hanging everywhere, and us missionaries got to leave our dorms late at night to watch the fireworks. I had heard that the fireworks were supposed to be so big they would fill up the sky. However, because of our distance from the BYU stadium - which is where the show was held - we didn´t have any sky get filled. I could see them being shot into the air, and they were pretty big for being about 10 miles away. There were a huge amount of missionaries hanging out in the lower part of the MTC campus cheering and singing the national anthem. Did I mention sparklers and glowsticks? There were a few among the couple thousand. The explosions were loud enough to echo off of the mountains behind the MTC, so it was a really cool effect to hear explosions in rapid successions.

In those 3 short weeks in Utah, my companion and I grew attached to our district members, so it was a bummer that we already have to leave them behind. Our teachers´lessons, the sand volleyball, Devotionals, and Independence Day all passed by quickly. I, however, enjoyed most the stories that our teacher Brother Swensen told us about his mission. Particularly about Marcos in Chile. He was a hairy and scruffy man who was always drunk and always found the missionaries on the street thinking they were from the CIA looking for Osama Bin Laden, and would always tell them "¡Arriba los manos!" To avoid trouble, Brother Swensen and his companion would play along like they actually were from the CIA and talk into their watches like in the movies, and later tell Marcos thanks for the tip. The funny thing is, every encounter always started exactly the same because Marcos was so drunk all the time that he wouldn´t remember the previous encounter... sort of like 50 First Dates.

Our district in Provo had many memorable events at the MTC, so the night before we left, it felt like high school graduation all over again because people were signing journals saying goodbye. On top of that, I had to repack everything which took forever. Out of our entire district, my companion Elder VanDuyn and myself were the only ones going to Lima, Peru. The rest of our district, Elder Nash, Echolls, Stafford, Cameron, Miller, Fisher, Chaay, and Udall were going to Independece, Missouri. On top of that, only about 10 other missionaries were going to Lima on July 8th, with my companion and I, out of the whole MTC. I already miss those guys back in Utah. They were really good friends.

3 minutes left on the clock, and I have finished my experience in Utah. Next update I will try my best to sum up 4 weeks in one entry.

Emiliano

Blog 3: Pressing Forward

Sorry for the late update, but getting time to write about my adventures here is difficult, especially with a time limit. For now, this update I´ll just talk about my highlights during the 3 weeks in the MTC at Provo.

I have already arrived at the MTC in Lima, Peru, which is called the CCM (Centro de Capitacion Misional). I had sent my memory card back home to my parents while I was in Utah, but somehow it got stolen, which means the photos of me and my parents outside of the MTC before I departed are all gone.

Therefore, I will try to make up for those photos with a large update. I was only at the MTC in Utah for 3 weeks before I left for Lima, Peru. During those weeks some interesting events occurred. Our schedules as missionaries in training was waking up at 6:30am, having all day filled with classes and studying and teaching lessons, and sleep at 10:30pm. I had breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 30 minutes at around 8am, 1pm, and 6pm. I was exhausted the first day because I had never woken up that early since high school, but I eventually adjusted. In our classes we learned Spanish grammar and gospel doctrine to teach.

During our Spanish Class, one of the Elders kept getting frustrated and wouldn´t listen to our teachers. He was a test of our patience, to say the least. We really had awesome teachers and they had great stories to tell about their missions. In our first week, we already had to teach our lessons in as much spanish as possible to Brother Ortiz, who played the role of "Fidencio" as an investigator. When we taught him, none of us spoke any Spanish except for the prayers. We slaughtered the language and said things that made no sense, but at least it was only practice.

One of the Elders , no matter how hard he tried, could not seem to remember any Spanish taught to him, which our entire district thought was hilarious. He learned more and more, but complained each time how terrible the grammar of Spanish is, or how pointless the teaching is. He wouldn´t admit it, but he knows more Spanish than he thinks he does because he improved a lot from the first day. He just didn´t want to try.

In Provo, the presidency of the church called new mission presidents, so the entire quorom of the 12 was present at the MTC, along with Thomas Monson. I didn´t get to see any of them in person, unfortunately. It was on Friday June 26 when Jeffery R. Holland gave a devotional talk about teaching by the Spirit. It was important to the missionaries, but the gym was already full, so my companion and I, along with many other missionaries, were kicked out and moved into the cafeteria. My companion almost exploded with rage, so I had to calm him down a bit.

We also had Independece Day at the MTC, but I will talk more about that later in another update because my time is running left on 30 seconds. So until next time, I´ll finish later.

Emiliano

Blog 2 : Flight to Peru

Hey familia and amigos, I made it to Peru finally. Luckily we were given time to rest for 2 hours to do whatever we want, such as unpack or take naps. My travel group and I arrived in Lima at 11pm, and we were excited to finally stretch our legs. I had thought that going towards Lima in missionary attire wouldn't attract much attention, but I was mistaken because we had many people at the Utah airport calling out ",Good luck, Elders!"

On top of that, we also had some missionary... practice on board the airplane. I had sat next to a woman who was going to Lima, and she asked me about the mormons and why we are different from other churches, so I taught her the first lesson about the restoration. She was nice and willing to listen, so I gave her a pass-along card. However, as if that wasn't enough, there was a group of people who were going on a two week mission trip to Peru, just like our friend Jaime did. On top of that, we just happened to be sitting by a large group of girls who were going on their mission trip. They asked us some questions about our church and what we believed in, so we taught them, but then the ringleader girl would jump back at us and wouldn't hear the message. Her friends were willing to listen and wanted to know more, but Rose the ringleader wasn't. They were nice though, and wished us luck.

The biggest bump was an old baptist minister from Georgia who came to me on the plane asking about why the BOM said Jesus was born in Jerusalem, but the bible said he was born in Bethlehem. And also he tried to twist my words and started to say stuff like, "Now you mean to tell me that our bible is false, and your book is more correct? Cause it's one or the other." Thankfully, I asked one of the elders to help me out, and he saved our dillema with his testimony and words because he was from Georgia, and was able to talk to the minister named Jeremy. I thanked Elder Fortenberry later for helping me out.

Well I got 3 minutes left on this email, so I'll wrap this up. The computer keyboards here have different keys and are placed all weird. We got to Lima at 11pm, but our luggage took about 45 minutes to come out. When we finally got our luggage and passed through customs, we found our bus driver and loaded up at around 1230 am. The drive to the CCM was about 40 minutes, and after unpacking and going to bed, it was close to 2am. I love you all, I will send another letter or email soon with another blog entry. Bye

Emiliano

Blog 1

Two weeks have passed since I entered the MTC in Provo, Utah. I have been so busy getting oriented and unpacking that I hadn't had time at all my first week here. I can't update my blog at the MTC, so I email them to my dad to post for me. Thankfully I made time to write it out.

The feeling of anxiousness and reality came together on June 17th. I had already said my goodbyes to my mom and dad, and we were just sitting in the car at the MTC parking lot just counting down the minutes to 12:30pm, which was when I had to report in. Finally the time came, and I heard there were a lot of missionaries there, but I wasn't expecting to see hundreds upon hundreds of missionaries, both men and women. We drove to the entrance and followed the guides showing us where to drop me off. I unloaded my luggage, bid one last goodbye, and followed my host missionary to my residence hall, which was quite a long walk away, and it was on the 4th floor.

When I arrived at the residence hall, I decided not to unpack everything I loaded up since I'd only be staying for 3 weeks in Utah. Soon after, my two roommates walked in and introduced themselves. Their names were Elder Crandall, who gets ridiculous amounts of letters and food packages almost every day; and Elder Knudson, who is really laid pack and friendly. Surprisingly, he loves heavy metal, and one of his favorite bands is Death.

My companion was supposed to arrive, but he hadn't shown up. For the rest of the first day, I went to orientation meetings one right after another. All of them shared the same message about being a missionary, and how I'm supposed to act like one and not joke around. I finally met my companion at the last meeting, which was in my district classroom. His name is Elder VanDuyn. A district is basically a group of missionaries that are together taught the same language, and are going to the same mission. The only thing is, my companion and I are the only ones going to Lima, Peru. The rest are going to Independence, Missouri speaking Spanish. We all belonged to district 38 F, composed of my companion and I, Elder Cameron, Elder Miller, Elder Stafford, Elder Echolls, Elder Udall, Elder Chhay, Elder Fisher, and Elder Nash who is our district leader. That means he's basically a class president and is responsible for us. Our branch president is President Kreuger, a bit on t he chubby side, but is really loving and a cool person. Not to mention his hair is fabulously combed with waves. A branch is comprised of 5 districts, and the branch president presides over them all.

After we all got to introduce ourselves and explain why we chose to go on a mission, we finally got to head home to our residence hall. At 9:30pm, everyone goes back to their dorms to get ready for the next day, write in their journals, and just visit other missionaries to hang out. At around 10:10pm, there is a group prayer of the entire top floor, and then we hit the lights at 10:30. The whole first day was long and exhausting, and it sucks a bit that I have to wake up at 6:30am from now on. I'm out of time already. I'll try to update my blog sooner with more info about my experiences here at the MTC in Provo, and with pictures hopefully.