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

Oh man, so much to write, so little time....

Well, I'll start back at the CCM. It was our last day and we needed something exciting to do. But, being in the CCM, it was understandably hard to find something like that to do.

So while we were thinking, We made some paper airplanes, which progressively led to contests, which eventually led to Super Ultimate Paper Airplane Racing or SUPAR.

anyway, we went to the Thomas S. Monson Building and threw them from the top floor....and for a glorious moment, they flew.....and for a less glorious 2 seconds, they dropped like rocks....but it's the 45 minutes of thought, effort, and wasted time that counts, right?

Anyway, 3 other elders from my district and I said our goodbyes around noon on monday and flew to Peru along with 16 other elders and one hermana.

The plane touched down around 9 o'clock, and then we arrived. Oh we arrived.

After a 15 minute bus ride we pulled up to a 5 star hotel, even by US standards. It turns out that we had saved enough money on the flight over, that the church could house us all in those rooms.

It was glorious.

Albeit after 6 weeks of sleeping on straw most anything would be.....but it really was an incredible way to arrive.

So, after an all you can eat breakfast buffet, we headed to the mission office for training.

After training we went to the mission meeting. One of the perks of such a small mission is that every 6 weeks every missionary in the Peru Lima central mission can get together for exchanges.

Anyway my new companion is Elder Glassford.

He's incredible.

He's from Provo, and he's been out here 23 months. This is his last exchange before he leaves, but he works harder than anyone else out here!

So far we're pretty successful according to Elder Glassford! We've already got a baptism!.....but not really, the other elders in the district taught her, we just got the baptism because we're opening a new sector and she's in our boundaries.

We've been teaching an older couple, Juana y Carlos most of the week, they've attended over 3 weeks now, and as soon as they get their marriage licencse they'll be ready for baptism! They're the best!

The dogs. 

The dogs are everywhere.

The dogs are everywhere and they are ugly. But they're not aggressive...at least here....but Elder Glassford says in Limatombo they're pretty vicious... 

Oh yeah, remember the clean, sunny, metropolis that Lima was?

Nope....at least on the first 2

hahaha but it's great anyway!

The photo attached is the view I have right now as I write this letter.

Anyway, Gospel is true and all that jazz.....

It's awesome here and I'm thrilled to serve!

I love you all!

Elder Winn

P.S. Haven't eaten Guinea pig yet....but yesterday we did eat meat.....in the form of a ball....but it was not a meat ball.....hahaha there were bones....and I think feathers....the real problem was that it looked like chicken......and tasted a bit like pork....but it definitely mostly tasted like stale peas.....

Lots of Love!

Just heard from President and Sister Borg.  He is healthy and happy in Lima!!!

I love you guys!

Everything is going great!

I don't have much to say this week. I'll be leaving monday at 11:00 AM to the airport, my flight leaves at 3:00, and we should get there at 9:00. So not too bad! Although I am incredibly excited to leave the CCM!

Story wise....

We had a devotional on specific prayer a few weeks back. Essentially the point is that if you sincerely pray for a specific thing, or a specific event, with all your heart, it shows to god your determination and faith, and he will answer your prayers(or something like that....I fell asleep). 

But anyway, Elder Neeley and I were missing American food badly. We were beginning to forget the simple joys that a cheeseburger could bring. 

So. We decided to use specific prayer, and pray for cheeseburgers the next day.....now, I understand to most of you reading this, that that sounds incredibly shallow. And you're not wrong. But, at the time, there was not anything in the world we would not have traded for some good old fashioned cheeseburgers. Anyway. We prayed that night, and went to sleep.

The next day, we were on our way to lunch, when about 50 feet from the cafeteria, we hit a wall. A wall made entirely of smell.

The smell of cheeseburgers.

We ran those next 50 feet, and to our joy saw the words "Hamburguesas con queso". Suffice it to say our whole district was in uproar that that actually worked.

Anyway, we got into the line, and just before we got our food....they ran out of hamburgers.

Neeley and I turned to each other, and accepted the fact that at the very least our prayers were answered.

When, all of the sudden, the chef came out with another platter. I can tell you right now, that very well may have been the happiest I've been since I arrived.

Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is that no matter how trival a prayer may seem. The lord is still there listening.

I also think the scripture that states "You shall not receive a witness until after a trial of your faith" applies nicely to the last part.

Anyway, there was actually a lot more that happened, which I will have to share next week. Because it works better with pictures.

Here are some pictures of my district though. I'll e-mail again probably next monday!

Love, 

Elder Winn

This is all we got this week.  He got a haircut and is getting ready to leave for Peru on Monday.