August 15, 2013
I finally made it to Peru! It was a very long trip but it was full of fun experiences. On my first flight from tri cities to Atlanta I sat by a guy from Belgium. We talked about his family and my mission, I ended up giving him my pass along card that I got in my packet. It took me forever to give it to him, I was so nervous. When I got to Atlanta I met up with 26 other Elders and Sisters. It was fun to see the people that I met on Facebook. Our flight was 6 and a half hours, definitely the longest flight that I have ever been on. I sat by the cutest little Peruvian lady. We didn't talk much but she smiled a lot. All of the missionaries where scattered around the plane, some where lucky and sat by each other. We landed in Peru around 11:30 (10:30 TN time). It took us until 2 to actually make it through customs and get our bags. I had a blast just talking and being silly with the other missionaries. I already feel like I have made some great friends. We got our luggage and made our way to the exit. Walking out was a little overwhelming, there where so many people holding signs and waiting for people. But I found the MTC sign ( here they call it the CCM) I went towards the group and one of the MTC people started taking my bags, I was a little concerned because I didn't know that he was with the MTC lol. But I figured it out eventually. I would say that that was probably my first awkward experience. The bus ride to the MTC was about an hour. It was cool looking at the city at night. We got our keys to our room. I am on the top bunk. My first companion is Hermana Rowberry :) She is one of the girls I met on Facebook. They let us sleep in until 9:00 which was really nice. I feel like I left a lot of details out, but I do not have much time to write. I love and miss you all. Today we are just doing registration and getting everything ready. So far I love it here in Peru and I am having a blast. -also the strap thing that we bought right before we left is amazing. Saved my life. haha I will try to write more next week. Peace and blessings!
Hermana Jones
August 20, 2013
¡Hola! Time has flown by since I last emailed! I love it here so far, it has been very challenging at times, but I have been having a lot of fun as well. My pdays are on Tuesdays, I only have 1 hour to be on the computers, and it has a little clock thing that counts down your time... soo its kinda stressful. haha It was so fun to get emails from people today, I hope I have time to email people back, but if not i took pictures of my emails so I will have stuff ready for next pday.
The CCM is super small! It is basically three buildings. One building is three floors, 1st has classrooms, 2nd and 3rd are the missionaries rooms. the other two buildings are the administration buildings and the auditorium and lunch room. I love how small it is. There is about 170 missionaries here right now and it is at its max! I have a few friends from school that are coming here within the next few weeks so I am excited to see them.
I am now in a trio! A cute girl from Louisiana came here a day after I got here. She was suppose to be on the flight with us but her flight to Atlanta got canceled so she was in for a treat. She is definitely a southern bell, she has a really thick southern accent and everyone in our district thinks she is hilarious. I am glad that I have had some experience in the south so I understand some of the things she talks about. My district is mostly full of people that are going to Huancayo. There are 6 elders and 5 Hermanas. 2 elders are going to Lima west and Hermana Parker (my other companion) is going to lima south. They are all super fun. Sometimes we have too much fun!
Classes are going good, all the teachers are from Peru and speak Spanish, I feel like I have learned a TON since I have been here. Way more than I have learned in my Spanish class at school. We taught our first lesson in Spanish yesterday, it was super stressful. But everything went well. My companion Hermana Rowberry is pretty good at Spanish so she was able to answer some of his questions when I couldn't. I understand what is being said most of the time, But actually forming what I want to say in words has been hard.¡poco a poco!
Fun fact: we are the first greenie district to go to Huancayo! Making history right here!
My companions and I have gotten pretty close, they are really struggling with being away from family. I miss you guys.. But I am glad I have moved away from home for a while.
In the CCM they challenge you to read the Book of Mormon in the time that you are here. I have decided to take on this challenge.. kinda crazy with all of the studying we do. But I am already in Jarom! Pretty good right?
Sunday and pday are by far my favorite days. We just basically have church, firesides and personal and companion study. It is mostly in English.. which is super nice after only hearing Spanish the whole week. Definitely uplifting.
Pday today was AWESOME! We got to leave the CCM and ride a bus... (crazy packed full of people kind) and go to the Lima Temple!!! I loved it! It was way beautiful. everything was in Spanish so we had to get headphones to translate for us. After the temple we went to a store and got a few snacks and hangers for our clothes. It has been nice to just get those type of things done.
I feel like I have learned a lot, but I know I have much much more to learn. They push you pretty hard here to learn spanish, which is good for me. I am still struggling with speaking it but esta bien!
In my room there is two sets of trios. The other Hermanas are leaving in a week. They have been super helpful when it comes to knowing what we are suppose to be doing (they don't really give instructions very well haha) The first few days I felt lost.
John Growberg and Elder Cook are coming to the CCM to talk to us! I am super excited about that.
Thank you so much for your love and support. And your mission tips. I love you! I am going to try to get better at using my computer time. :) Peace and blessings!!
Hermana Jones
August 27, 2013
Hola!
I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!! =) It does not feel like I have been here for 2 weeks. Although some days it feels like a lifetime, but other days I feel like it has only been a week.
I am having a great time here. I think the biggest highlight of the week was meeting Elder Cook. He is awesome. He opened the time for a Q&A session which was really awesome. He left us with a promise that if we serve faithfully, with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength, that I will realize and my family will realize that this is the most important thing that I could be doing with my life- Bringing souls to Christ. This will bless my family, as well as my future family. What a blessing!! There were many other things that he said that touched my heart. He really pumped us up and got us excited about our missions.
This week a group of little kids came to visit the CCM all of them where soooooo cute. They swarmed around us and where giving us handshakes and saying the few English words that they know. SO cute!. It made me think of cute little Morgan.
My favorite thing to do is talk to the Peruvian ladies about Peru and where they are from. Seriously, I love it. I am just so excited to get to know all of these people. All of my teachers are from Peru. They are awesome and so helpful. They push us to speak Spanish even though they know English.
My Spanish is coming along; I understand more than I can say. I was getting pretty stressed about it the first few days, but my teacher told us about how when we focus on our Spanish instead of our objectivo (to invite others to come unto Christ...it’s in Preach My Gospel) that we will not learn the Spanish very well. But if we put our whole focus on inviting others to come to Christ and we focus on the people our Spanish will come. Since that time I have been more relaxed and much happier. It is still stressful but I know that I will be able to get it eventually. Poco a Poco.
All of my roommates except my companions left yesterday. Now the CCM only has 3 districts. It is crazy how small it actually is. I really like it though because you get to know people so well.
The food here is pretty good, just different. They have this really weird fruit called granadera or something like that. It is similar to a pomegranate but it looks like peeled little grapes. I don’t know how to explain it but it looks really weird. We eat rice almost every meal. They have a lot of different kinds of juices. Their churros are AMAZING they fill them with caramel. YUM!
We have been playing volleyball almost every day for PDay. It has been fun=) yesterday we played soccer with our district. I think I surprised the guys in my district, they didn’t think I would be that good.
My routine is going good. I wake up around 6:15 every morning and go to sleep around 10:30. I am always so tired by the end of the night. Last night I stayed up late to help our roommates pack because they were leaving to Bolivia.
I got a few letters this week they made my day. They were sent the day that I left so it takes a while to get the mail. We can receive packages but they don’t recommend it
Love,
Hermana Jones