As you can probably guess from the subject line......It was a fairly uneventful week...

We had 3 P-day's which was fantastic......hahaha like really awesome. But other than that.....things went along like normal.

On Tuesday we had a giant Christmas party, where half the mission got together in our stake center and we had a giant party! We had a nice Christmassy dinner, played soccer, and watched skits that the other zones put together (We had one too, but it was absolutely terrible and I'd rather not re-live it by describing it in this e-mail). We had a secret Santa too! I got a giant bottle of C-fruit (think giant bottle of sunny D) and A bunch of cookies! It was a pretty generic gift, but I honestly couldn't have been happier!

Anyway....that was the Christmas party, and then on Christmas eve, we just kind of wandered around from house to house eating fruitcake (I didn't think it actually existed until I came her...) and hot chocolate. Until we eventually stayed in one house and watched fireworks from their roof, going home at about 1 in the morning (with permission from the president of course).

And then Christmas day we hung out in the mission leaders house and got to skype our families! So, that was incredibly awesome!!!

I hope you all can take a moment before this year is over to appreciate your families!

And I also hope you can forgive me for this scattered e-mail! (I'll do better next week)!

I love you all!!!

Happy New Year!! !!

-Elder Winn

                                                                      Pedro

                                                                    Fireworks!!!

           

                                                      
                                                                    Mission Seal

                                                            

 

With Luana on Christmas

Not a whole ton to talk about this week, but it was awesome!

To start off, this past Saturday the ward put on a play of "A Christmas Carol"

Elder Isaguirre was Scrooge, I was the ghost of Christmas present, Villarruel was the ghost of Christmas past, and Elder Fitzmorris was the ghost of Christmas Future.

We practiced all this week, it turned out really well, we had about 200 people come! It was funny and fairly well put together! We had a lot of fun! I'll make sure to send all the pictures next week!!

As for Christmas.....it's weird here. It's the middle of summer, 80 degrees, and sunny everyday. But that doesn't stop them from drinking hot chocolate....so far I think I've eaten 1 metric ton of fruitcake and about 10 gallons of hot chocolate.....aside from the weather though....it's about the same....they still have Christmas Tree's, and presents....it's certainly odd....

Finally, I'll tell you about La Cachina.

You know how we've all heard about "The Black Market" but it's more of just a myth kind of thing?

No it's not.

Hahahaha "la Cachina" is this magical place where they sell everything.....and like 90% of it's stolen so they sell it for almost nothing!!!

Anyway, that's where I got my camera, but I just as easily could have bought: An anaconda, a shopping cart, an Xbox, fried chicken, a telescope, or a gun.

Those are all things that I saw with a price tag at "La Cachina"......don't worry, I'm sure I'll be going back soon!

I love you all!!!! Have a Merry Christmas!!!

-Elder Winn

December 15, 2014

So, this week we had a random baptism.....like, really random.

Last Sunday we were waiting in the hall after priesthood, when a woman comes up and asks us if we'll arrange a baptism for her grandson. We tell her we'd love to, but first we'll need to teach him all the lessons, and he'll have to come to church at least 2 more times.

She explains that that's not going to work, because he needs to be baptized before Saturday, because after that he goes back to his house in San Luis.

It then starts to make sense, she's his grandma, and wants us to baptize him this week before he can go home to his parents.

But we don't say anything to her, we tell her that we'll see what we can do, and we'd stop by later that day.

So after church, we stopped by.

Turns out, he'd had all the lessons before.......And he lived in the ward, he just went to school in San Luis.......And his parents lived in the same house and were members.

The only reason the baptism was urgent was because the Grandpa (who was going to baptize his grandson) was leaving to Argentina on a business trip Sunday morning.

Anyway......after a whole lot of talking we got it all straightened out. The Grandma was just terrible at explaining things, and we would have a baptism that Saturday.

Anyway, here's a picture of us with Pedro, all we did was have one gigantic 3 hour lesson with him :)

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carlos finally got his birth certificate!!!!!!!!!!

We're going to the municipality with them tomorrow. If all goes well we'll baptize them this Saturday.

It was honestly a miracle.

We went to his house after we'd heard the news and he said "Elders, you'll never believe it, I prayed and asked if this church was true, that I might receive all that I need to get married, and baptized."

"Elders, two days ago my old job paid me the two hundred soles they owed me from over 5 years ago. And just today my neighbor gave me one of her husbands’ old suits......All I'm missing now is the birth certificate”!

Words cannot describe the joy I felt when I told him "Actually Brother. ....We 've got your birth certificate right here".

It was an experience I'm never going to forget......

Which brings me to my last point......

 The people down here don't have a lot.....most of them don't even have roofs on their homes. I've seen a good share of dirt floors and plywood walls......but through all that. I've yet to meet a single member who wasn't willing to give it all for this gospel.....

Just the other week an investigator asked me if he had to be a member to pay tithing. And yet another asked if after tithing and fast offerings if there was another way he could give.

It's been completely amazing to see......Even when they don't have anything. These people are still willing to give.

Anyway; I love you all, and I hope you all remember, it is truly is better to give than to receive.

Elder Winn

December 8, 2014

So, this was an incredibly exciting week!

It started off with changes. I know we were all hoping for a change, but alas, it was not meant to be.

But that's ok! I talked with Villarruel and I think now things are looking up!  Which brings me to my next point.

I have completely changed in the past 7 days.

I decided at the change meeting, right after I got assigned to Villarruel a second time; that I shouldn't just obey the rules, and go through the lessons because I have to, I should do all that because I want to. So, starting the next day, I woke up at 6:30 with a smile on my face, and have been happy since.  It's been rough on Villarruel keeping up with the new Elder Winn, but I think it's better this way!

Anyway, completely contrary to what I just told you. Here's this story.

So.

There's this scene in "The Shawshank Redemption" When Andy Dufresne gets into the warden's office, locks the door, and starts blasting this Italian opera music over the loudspeaker.

Obviously the warden gets angry and screams at him to turn it off. He leans over, puts his hand on the volume knob.....and thinks, he then cranks the volume and reclines back in the warden’s chair with a smile on his face. Proud of the beauty he has created in this prison.

So.

A member downloaded the soundtrack for me the other day (because he's a saint and my district leader gave me the go ahead) and I was listening to it in the shower, when that opera song comes on. So, I start laughing and appreciate it for all it's worth when Elder Villarruel says "What is this? Elder Winn this sounds terrible turn it off"!.....so I stick my hand out......put my finger on the volume and think......"What would Andy Dufresne do".....so I turn up the volume....then he starts pounding on the door, saying "Elder Winn, turn it down" perfectly recreating the scene from the movie. It was glorious.

(Dear family, feel free to edit this if you want, if you think that you shouldn't send it to everyone else, I understand....but I felt like you'd enjoy it. P.S. I told him about the movie afterwards and he laughed, we get along great now). 

As for today, we went to Larco Mar! It's all the beautiful pictures you see of Peru! Chances are, if you've googled images of Peru, 9/10 of them were from Larco Mar, it's right next to the ocean and it's absolutely beautiful! I would send you pictures if my camera hadn't have died......but yeah! We played beach soccer and essentially went window shopping! Not a bad day!

As for a spiritual update.

We're getting references left and right!

We've got Mirah, a 21 year old woman who has approximately an infinite number of questions about the gospel and who wants to learn it all.

David Y.-  a 15 year old who thinks the church is super cool and wants to be baptized.

Hermano S.- Who is the only non-member in his house and knows that the church is true. 

and Jorge and Carolina- who have had drug problems in their past and want to know if they can be forgiven.....

I don't know about you but those sound like future converts to me!!!

Hahahaha It's another change with Villarruel, but I'm as happy as can be!!! 

I love you guys more than anything!

-Elder Winn

Elder Winn and the Super-Incredible-Very-Good-Day

December 1, 2014

Thanksgiving in Peru, Elder Winn and the Super-Incredible-Very-Good-Day

Well as I'm sure you're well aware, this past week was Thanksgiving. I didn't even realize that it was Thanksgiving until 6:00 Thursday night when I was told that we would be fed by the members in a different ward! It was fantastic!!! 2 members who were very wealthy (comparatively that is) invited all the gringos in the zone, and their companions  (about 20 missionaries) to come to a Thanksgiving dinner! They prepared a turkey, potatoes, and fruit salad (made mostly of apples and mayonnaise, about as good as it sounds), accompanied by generous amounts of cake and Inca Cola. Everyone in the room said what they were grateful for. I said I was grateful for moments like these, that I would get to take home with me, the moments that are just so incredible you couldn't forget them if you tried..... haha it was just so ridiculously spiritual...... anyway, definitely the highlight of the week!!!

I'll have all you know that while I completely meant what I said that night, More than anything I'm grateful for all of you praying for me back home. I'm grateful for the memories that I have of all of you that I could take all of those memories with me on my mission!  And of course I'm eternally grateful for this wonderful gospel that has been restored to us.

Aside from the Thanksgiving, I had another incredible day this week.

This past Friday I went on interchanges with Elder Brown, our district leader, in his sector. I started off the day knowing 1 thing.

1. He had repeatedly told me that his sector is the worst. Nothing ever happens there.

But, I didn't really have a choice so I went anyway.

The day started off normal....studying, practices, praying, But then we left to go teach (Something that doesn't usually happen with Villarruel because we have language study and the first 12 weeks study in the mornings. Anyway, we went to a less active who hadn't gone to church in 10 years because her husband cheated on her with a different ward member who still goes there. (Yikes!). He said his hope was just to try and see if she still had a testimony.

She reluctantly let us in and we started talking, when her husband came in, and we were assaulted by waves of awkward. Clearly she had not forgiven him, they sat on complete opposite sides of the room and tried to berate each other with insults whenever we weren't talking......after about 5 minutes of this, Brown turned to her and said "Sister, We're going to pray, and after that prayer, we're either going to leave you two to continue arguing, or you will stop shouting long enough to let us teach you something". They stopped arguing and we proceeded to teach. Towards the end of the lesson, Elder Brown said "Look, the members in this ward are terrible (which they are, you wouldn't believe half the things that go on there). But that shouldn't stop you from partaking of the sacrament. If you don't take the sacrament and renew those baptismal covenants in all reality, you will be condemned......I affirmed what my companion had said and told her that we cared about her and we just wanted to see her there this sunday. That she should come for her desire to live according to how god wanted.

She agreed, and this Sunday after 10 years of inactivity she came to church.

We had 3 other lessons that day, each as spiritual and life changing for the investigators and less actives as that one had been.

It was probably the best day of my mission so far.....

Well, I'm grateful for all of you. Thanks for everything. I love you more than you could ever know.

Elder Winn

November 24, 2014

Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing great!

As for me, I'm doing great, and loving Peru!

As you can probably guess from the somewhat alarming subject line.

I've been closer to a drug deal than you have.

Hahaha, this past Thursday night we were walking along one of the streets in our sector, when we saw David, one of our investigators standing in the street with some friends.  We went up and were talking with him and the rest of the group, when one of the other guys excused himself from the group, turned around, talked to another man, handed him a bag, received a whole lot of money, and then turned back to join our conversation.......

Now, I hate to hastily judge people.....but....I think he was a drug dealer. Now it could be the sketchy friends.....and place, or the various pairs of shoes suspended on the telephone wire above our heads.....or the very distinct and powerful aroma of marijuana......but for whatever reason I think he sold drugs.......Anyway we promptly said goodbye to David and left, I then turned to my companion and gave him the oh so unique look of "Hey, we're two missionaries who were just in the middle of a drug deal, right" and he gave me an affirming nod as we went to our dinner appointment.

.....hahahaha aside from that wonderful report. Things aren't too bad! We've had some trouble with the marriage of Christian and Angela....but they've got a definitive date for the 13th of December.....other than that things have just kind of slowed down......But The work is still moving along!

More than anything this week was a time for me to grow. As I'm sure you know my companion and I haven't exactly got along great, but this week I've been trying really hard to try and get along regardless.....and it's working quite nicely!....I think he's kind of realized that he's been the cause for a lot of contention and is now trying to fix it.....so companion wise....things are going great!

HAHAHAHAHA Mom, don't read this next story.

So, last night, we were on our way to Christian and Angela's to talk about their marriage some more, when all of the sudden we hear *pop* *pop*.....which is fairly typical in my neighborhood, as people are always lighting off fireworks.....but these fireworks were really close...and more high pitched than usual.....so we looked over to see a crowd of screaming people and a motorcycle. The motorcycle hits the gas, and two people fly by..... a couple seconds later 2 cops on motorcycles and another 3 cars fly by.....after 20 seconds an ambulance pulls up to the crowd of people.....

I turned to Villarruel in complete awe, knowing full well that we had witnessed a drive by shooting and a police chase......I look at him and open my mouth to say something, but before I can he laughs and says "This is why we don't leave the room after 9:30"

YES!!! I did get my package! It was fantastic!!! Sorry I didn't tell you earlier! I got one from you guys, and one from Alyssa! I got them 2 weeks ago! It was fantastic! Thanks!

No....We might buy some extra food and eat it....but it's an American holiday.....they don't really have it here.....

Hahaha if you think that place is a dump, you should see my city! HAHAHAHA....really though....kind of disgusting....mom wouldn't leave the hotel if she was here! Haha  Love you lots!!!

hahahahaha I love you all so much!!! I'll send pictures next week!

-Elder Winn

November 17, 2014

Well, I'm terribly sorry to say it, but another uneventful week has passed by!

Not a lot of people were home this week, so we struggled to get the few meetings that we did get.

Oh well. That didn't necessarily make it a bad week.

I accomplished a life goal. I finally learned how to solve a rubix cube this week. Haha, you'd be surprised what you can learn over the course of a week in the 20 minutes you have before 10:30 each week! Haha my companion Elder Villarruel taught me......while he's not exactly the most compassionate teacher, he did teach me, and I can now successfully solve that hellish cube.

OOH! First earthquake I've ever felt this week!!! It was super cool! We were in the house about 7:50 waiting for our dinner appointment when we both kind of felt the ground move. Elder Villarruel and I looked at each other and before I could ask what happened, the ground shook even more! I thought it was about the coolest thing ever! But Villarruel brought up the point that we were on the first floor of a 5 story building........constructed in Peru......so we went outside pretty quickly.....and after 5 minutes of uneventfulness, we went back inside.

Earthquakes are cool.

Despite being overall unsuccessful this week, we did find a new investigator!

His name is Whiston, he apparently took the discussions a few years ago! He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and says he wants to be baptized! I'm excited, but I know that often times investigators like this have some sort of problem with the word of wisdom, or one of the other commandments....but either way I know with a little help, he'll be a great member one day!

I'll leave you with a random fact, more or less to show you guys that I haven't changed too much, and am still the fountain of random useless knowledge that you all know and love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Demara

Here you can read about this dude.

He (having no medical training whatsoever) masqueraded as a surgeon on a Canadian Navy destroyer. He had to perform lifesaving surgery on 16 Korean combat casualties. He memorized a general surgery textbook 15 minutes before operating. All of the patients survived.

I'll explain the pictures later today! Love you!!!!!

Well The one picture is with me and Isaguirre.

The other one is a baptismal photo....

The other photos will have to wait.....I left the camera cable in the other internet place.....so I'll have to send the rest next week.....but I'm glad I got two out!!!

Love you lots!!!

November 10, 2014

 

Well. This was a fantastic week!

 

As you know, Patty and Piero's baptisms were this week,  so we went to ask them if they had any questions or concerns. Their only question was who would baptize them, we suggested their uncle, because it's usually better when a family member or ward member performs the baptism. Patty thought that was a great idea, but Piero really wanted me to baptize him. Haha so I happily agreed!

 

This Saturday was the first baptism I've ever done! It was incredible! It was a great meeting with a lot of family and friends! Patty's non-member parents came and said they would like to take the discussions! Anyway, it has been really amazing to see the change in their lives that the gospel has brought.  It makes all the hard days’ worth it!

 

Aside from that, Christian and Angela got their papers for their marriage! They'll be getting married the 28th and they they'll be baptized 2 days later on the 30th!

 

Ugh.   And as we were on our way to confirm the marriage date of Christian and Angela, we encountered a man who said he would like to learn more about our church. We happily consented this desire, but, as we began to teach him, he began to ask questions.....hard questions.....the kind of questions you'd need to study to be able to ask about.....anyway after about 5 minutes of this he noticed that I was stammering, he then exclaimed that I was having problems speaking and was obviously wrong.   It was then that my companion asked him if he knew where I was from, he ventured a guess ".....Mexico"?  to which my companion essentially replied " No, he's from the United States, he's got 2 months in this country, he hardly speaks the language".......the man then profusely apologized to me......

And proceeded to berate my companion with questions.

But then he slipped up he said "and this prophet Nephi, he's the son of Lehi, right"....Then we knew for sure, this man had clearly studied up on the book of Mormon just to attack us. We told him that if he knew that, then he knew the truth, and when he was ready to embrace it, we'd be there, but until then, he'd better leave us alone.

We then shook the dust from our feet, and continued onward towards Christian and Angelas.....

 

Well aside from that instance, things are improving, and I'm really happy down here! Love you all!

 

Elder Winn

 

P.S. I suppose the reason I included that story about the man was to illustrate 2 points, first off. That dude didn't realize I was from the states for a solid 5 minutes, that's pretty good, right? And 2nd. There are many willing to accept this gospel, and there are many willing to oppose it.  But regardless; as missionaries we need to show the same kind of love, and willingness to help to all of God’s children, not just the nice ones.   :)

 

  (the following is Dave's response to Steve's letter)

 

"We had one roll called the "Fat Ass"  and it was delicious."

Hahahahahaha I first and foremost want to tell you that this is probably the best line I have received in an e-mail thus far. I am in your debt, Dad

Well, it's not exactly a maid......We have our pensionist. Whom we pay something like $45 a month to, in exchange for lunch for a month (With the exception of Saturday's and P-days) and then we have a different ward member who we take our laundry to once a week and we pay her something like $15 a month.....and that's about it!

Oh! We go to her house.

Love you!!

Wow!  It was a busy week!

1st off, Patty and Pierro are finally ready for their baptism this week!  It's incredible to see how much the gospel has changed their lives!  They're so much happier and a lot closer as mother and son now.   It's really amazing to see!   Other than that first, I gave my first blessing in Spanish this week!  It was to a 158 year old woman (or so she appeared) because she was having a lot of health problems.   At the ever so persistent nagging of Villarruel, I reluctantly informed her in my broken Spanish, I would give her the blessing and my companion would do the anointing.  I am so glad that the kid nagged me.   Because in that moment I was giving her a blessing, I suddenly knew every Spanish word I would possibly need to know.  It was a truly amazing experience!

Aside from that.   I also taught my first lesson to the district! It's only 9 other missionaries, but it's a lot scarier when they all speak better than you........and know more than you......and despise being at the meeting because it's ridiculously long and boring......Regardless, I taught a lesson about the mission objective and why it's important.  I ended my 45 minute lesson with D&C 16:6.  I'll let you look it up on your own, but it completely sums up missionary work and why it's important.  It went really well!  And I think for a couple of minutes there everyone didn't absolutely despise the fact they were there!

This brings me to my next topic.   Jesus the Christ. This is where I got the bulk of my material for my lesson, and let me just say.   That book is amazing. If any of you reading this e-mail haven't read that book yet, I highly recommend it. The amount of detail in which Christ's life is described is incredible!

Now, finally. I'll leave you with the highlight of the week.

We were eating dinner in the house of a member. We were eating what I think was pork (she told us pork, but I had my doubts) and drinking Inca cola. When someone knocks on the door (Which was really the least of our concerns seeing as we were torn between wanting to dissect our food and find out exactly what organs whatever we were eating once had, and just eating it anyway because we were so hungry). Well, at the door were two Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were declaring that this house needed to be protected from the evil missionaries spreading lies, even the awful Mormons who sacrifice children on Halloween (yes, they sincerely believe that).   Yeah, so the sister just lets them in so they can see us 4 happily smiling and waving, mouths half full of mystery meat.   And it was the darndest thing. It was then that they realized that they had said the wrong religion, and it was not in fact the Mormons who sacrificed children, but they had mistaken us for someone else.   Well, after declining our invitation to dinner, they left.   Huh.....

I love you all so much!  Stay safe!

Elder Winn

Pictures:  The one outside is with villarruel, my companion,

October 27, 2014

Well I'm going to start off by saying I feel bad. For two reasons. The first being that my past e-mails have been a bit lackluster. Using what some parents might refer to as "an utterly deplorable amount detail".....hahaha  so, starting today I will try to write these e-mails a bit better.

That being said.  Here's the second reason I feel bad.  NOTHING EVER HAPPENS DOWN HERE!!!

Hahaha honestly!!! So far I really haven't had any super cool, funny, or exciting experiences!

But I'll share what has happened.

This past week was exchanges.  Meaning Glassford left and I received a new companion, Elder Villarruel. He's from Argentina and he's got about a year out here. Fortunately for me, he's a native, so I'll have the language down very well by the end of this change.....unfortunately.....everything else about him.

Hahahahaha just kidding!....mostly....haha .  He likes to do everything the complete opposite of Glassford. He's very Very VERY by the rules, I suppose that should be commendable....but for whatever reason everyone (even the president) finds that to be an annoying characteristic, who knew!?

But he's a good kid, and I know with a few more weeks we'll get along great!

Other than that, I've started to lead the sector. Villarruel doesn't know the sector at all, so now I have to lead a sector that I know only slightly better than him.......it's the visually impaired leading the blind out here.  But everything’s still going great!  We've got 10 investigators who could get baptized this change, so we'll see!

Other than that.

The Fabulous Unicorn painting, yea, even that whose glory was unparalleled in all existence, has been stolen.

Haha apparently Elder Farias took it when they came to pick us up for an  early morning run (which due to the words "early" and "run" we obviously didn't participate in).....anyway, he gave it to a less active in our ward because his mom absolutely adores unicorns.....anyway.....As Robert Frost once said "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Anyway.  I love you guys!!! Everything's going great down here!

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes; I'll let you figure out what it means.

"Enlightenment leads to benightedness. Science entails nescience".

Much love,

Elder Winn

 

The following are questions that Steve asked Dave and his responses. 

Steve:  What do you do on P-day?

Dave:  On P-day with Glassford, we usually went to the center of Lima to buy stuff for Glassford and his family.  Other than that we usually just play soccer....it's pretty boring actually.

Steve:  What is your apartment like?

Dave:   Our apartment is small..... like really small.... probably a little smaller than our family room.

Steve:  Are you eating well?

Dave:  Hmm....I'm not not eating well.....it really depends on what you mean by eating well. I eat a lot.....I feel full....but it's mostly rice.....eh. I'll be fine.

Steve:  Losing or Gaining Weight?

Dave:  I have no idea....I would imagine staying the same.... We don't have easy access to a scale...so I don't know.... but most of the other Elders gain weight out here.

Steve:   Do you feel healthy?

Dave:  Hahaha usually......I was super sick this last week...and I felt miserable....but usually I feel fine!

Steve:  Tell us about your investigators.

Dave:  Well, right now we have:

Patty and Pierro: They don't have any problems right now....just their own hesitation. But they're progressing very well towards their baptismal date of November 8th.

Juana and Carlos: Their problem is the same as everyone else's down here, they aren't married, and are living together. He's from Puerto Rico, so we're waiting for his papers to come through.

Christian and Angela: Same problem as Carlos and Juana

Victor Barron: He's a 15 year old boy who the other Elders have had a hard time teaching....he knows the church is true, but he doesn't want to get baptized because he doesn't want to serve a mission. He's the investigator we're struggling with the most right now.

Then we have Marco and Consuela: They aren't married yet.....

Ernestina: and she just needs to attend church more.

 

Steve:  What is the biggest challenge to get people to join the church.

Dave:   Like I said before....people living together without being married.

Steve:  Do you get to do much service?

Dave:  Not a ton actually..... so far we have painted a room(essentially a house) and moved a mountain of dirt about 15 feet.

Steve:  How is the language?

Dave:  The language is great! Right after changes it really picked up.....but I don't want to give credit to my new companion. He's not so great.

Steve:  Have you given anyone a CTR ring?

Dave:  No. No I have not....but we'll see!

Love you lots.

October 20, 2014

Oh Boy.

Well, as you can see by the subject line. I have decided to write about all the things you'll see in Peru.

In short, just think of every picture you've ever seen where you've wondered "Why on earth are they doing that without proper safety equipment" or

"Who would ever think it was a good idea to do this".

To this day I still do not have an answer to those questions.  But I sure have asked them a lot! Haha the people here are crazy!!! You will not believe the outrageous amounts of things people will strap to the tops of their cars.

Aside from that, this week we were saying goodbyes to Glassfords old Zones, many people gave him some sort of gift as a sign of appreciation, an Area 70 whom he knew gave him a painting. I can only describe it as a hideous masterpiece.

It was a painting of unicorns grazing in a field that the painter had tried to make 3D......The best part is Glassford thinks it's more hideous than majestic so he gave it to me.

It is now the centerpiece of our room.

I'm getting a new companion!!!! Glassford was great and all, but I'm really excited to be receiving a new companion! Although I'm not supposed to  know him yet, Glassford told me who it is... I think his name is Veraul or something....he's a native from Argentina....so we'll see how that goes....

I guess that's all for this week! The church is true and stuff!

Much love, Elder Winn

Everything continues to go well in the Pedregal Ward!

Elder Glassford and I have continued to have success, after opening a sector, we should have our first baptism this week! With many more to follow!

I'm sorry to report, but it was a fairly boring week!

The only thing exciting that happened was the wáter went out for two days.....apparently every once in awhile the city just shuts down the wáter because they can't afford to have it running.....so we had to buy some bottled wáter, boil it, and then shower with that.....but other than that a fairly uneventful week!

Right now as it stands this is what we're looking at baptism wise.

Victor barron(17)- this sunday

Angela and Christian (30's)- whenever they get their marraige papers.

Mauricio Sanabria(9)- next week

Juana and Carlos(70's)-as soon as they get their marriage papers.

Marco and Ernestina(40's)- The 1st of november

Patty and Pierro(31 and 8)- The 1st of November

Sorry if this week was kind of boring! If my E-mail didn't spiritually fulfill you then watch the conference talk by Elder Jorg K.......whatever his name was. That was my favorite conference talk!

 

I'll write more next week, and make sure to tell you a bit more about the investigators I mentioned!

Love all of you,

Elder Winn

This week was great!

I feel like I'm really getting used to the mission life. It's really not so bad when you get used to the routine.

It's a lot of studying in the mornings, but I feel like I'm getting the lessons and the language down pretty well, So I guess it's paying off!

The food is really routine too.

It's not necessarily a bad thing...but I think 300 years ago the country had a big meeting about food that went something like this:

"Well, we've come together as a civilization to determine what foods we would like to perfect as a nation. To determine for generations to come what culinary delicacy the Incans, and ultimately the Peruvians will be globaly recognized for making"

......."Well so far the only foods we can eat without contracting dysentery and the plague are: Rice, Chicken, and potatoes"......."Do you want us to wait until we can properly clean other kinds of food"?

"Eh....I don't really have a lot of time, lets just stick with those three......forever.....and ever".

Really though. I can't recall eating anything else.....except ceviche that one time.....which I'm pretty sure was invented by someone without taste buds.....

but other than the really repetitive nature of the mission, it's fantastic!

Last P-day we went to see the light show in the water park! They use a projector and mist from the water to do a light show, it was actually really awesome!

As for the bed......

We noticed it was kind of weak from the start....but that didn't stop us from putting the 200 pound elder up top.

Anyway, one day I jumped up and it bent a little. We could have easily continued sleeping on it, but Glassford insisted that it was broken beyond repair. When I contested, he said "Look. We can sleep on that, or we can get a new bed"! He then proceeded to jump on the bed until it became the crumpled mess that you saw.

I'm beginning to think that he really doesn't care given that this is his last change and all.....but oh well, I got a new bed out of it, so I'm not complaining.

Much love,

Elder Winn

This week was good!

 

Now. I'm sure you've all been waiting to hear about what it's like here. And It's probably about time I tell you.

 

It's fantastic! It's about 65 degrees, all day everyday. And super humid. but that doesn't really bug me too bad.

The city is super busy though. It's like New York......I've never been to New York, but I imagine that it's reasonably busy....

The buses to get anywhere are always packed and hot....so it's usually better just to walk places. Which is fine because It means I get to enjoy the diverse wildlife (That almost entirely consists of Pigeons and Stray dogs, but, oh well).

 

Right now we're opening a Sector in Palao, our ward, Pedregal, now has 4 missionaries. Elder Glassford and I, and Elder Farias and Isaguirre.

Elder Farias is my age and from Provo

Elder Isaguirre is from Argentina and 20.....Think....I don't know I don't really speak the language.

 

The only difficulty we're having right now is the cold water....We had a shower with one knob......unfortunately that knob only worked for cold water...so Elder Glassford said we'd get an electrician to come install a different one. I thought that was a fine idea.

 

I thought wrong.

 

Turns out, the reason you call an electrician is so they can run a wire from the outlet directly into the shower head.

but it works.

And here I was all these years thinking water and electricity didn't mix.....

 

Really though. It looks super sketchy....because it is.....but apparently as long as you never touch the metal....you should be ok.....

 

Anyway. I love the work here! We have 8 baptismal dates so far, and they keep coming in! So We're doing great!

                                                   Broken bunk bed---details to follow.

                                  Elder Glassford caught me studying (I mean sleeping).

Much Love,

Elder Winn