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