Ok flip I couldn´t find my little notebook that I keep notes in about
what I want to tell everyone about so this email may be pretty lame.
It´s the end of week 1 here in the Peru MTC (or CCM) and everything is
going pretty awesome! The amount of Spanish I´ve picked up just by
being around my latin companion all the time is crazy! He´s really
cool and we´re getting along pretty well, I can kind of understand him
now! He´s from Argentina so his accent is really strong and even some
of the natives here have a hard time understanding him. Oh well, I
guess if I was meant to be his companion it means the Lord trusts me
to figure it out haha. The food here is basically the same thing every
single day, rice rice rice. Like I said in my last letter I can´t eat
too much or it´ll make me constipated which I know everybody wants to
hear all about. I know an easy way to counteract that though, just
drink more diarrhea juice and it´ll all even out.
I figured out how to start a new paragraph! For anyone who didn´t read
my last letter this is coming from a spanish keyboard and I could not
for the life of me figure out the enter button, but with perseverance
all things are solvable=)
We went to the Lima Temple this morning, coolest thing ever! My
companion wasn't endowed yet so I got to be his escort which was super
legit. I was really nervous about everything being in Spanish but they
had it all figured out for us so it everything went down without a
hitch. To get to the temple we had to leave the CCM (I´m not exactly
sure what that stands for but everyone knows that´s what it´s called
so I just go along with it) and take the bus down the road a ways. Oh
my gosh that was quite an experience!! The busses are tiny and they
drive like crazy people!!! They just cram as many people as they can
onto one bus, sometimes the doorman type guy is on the outside of the
bus just holding on while we carreen down the road swerving around
cars pedestrians and other busses. These people are insane. However
the bus ride only cost 1 Sole for my companion and I which is only
about 27 or 28 cents so I guess it´s worth it. The temple was super
cool! It´s really small as far as temples go but it was really nice.
After we finished our session we went across the street and up this
really creepy green staircase to this little store where they sell
super cool scripture cases and ties and bags and stuff. I got some
sweet cases for my Spanish Bible and Book of Mormon triplet (or Libro
De Mormón if you prefer) and a rad tie with a llama on it. That´s
right everybody, I have a tie with a llama, go ahead and weep about it
I know you want to ;)
Right after that we went to this crazy store called Tottus which is
like a giant Peruvian Walmart. It was awesome! The junk food is super
cheap!! And they carried Sprite which was amazing since I thought I´d
have to go without for a couple years but I tell you what Sprite you
haven´t seen the last of me!!
Ugh I had so much more to talk about but I really can´t remember!! =(
I´ve been having kind of a hard time the last few days, not really
with homesickness much but that´s definitely a factor. I just feel
like I haven´t been able to feel the Spirit because I´ve been studying
Spanish so much and I still don´t understand enough. I asked my zone
leader Elder McCready and my Provo MTC companion Elder Zoller for a
priesthood blessing last night and they were more than happy to help
me out. It went well and I really felt the Spirit, but maybe that´s
just because the prayer was in English and I understood it haha, who
knows? I decided to go ahead and say at least one personal prayer a
day in English because I can´t always express my gratitude or really
any of my feelings in Spanish the way I´d like to be able to. When I
tried to pray I kept mixing Spanish phrases in and it was really
weird, I couldn´t focus on one language and thus didn´t really
accomlish much. This morning in the temple though I was able to pray
in Spanish better than I´ve ever done before which just goes to show
the power of the Lord and how He knows what´s up and can help us with
anything at all.
In the Provo MTC the big thing they pushed on everybody was obedience
with exactness which is really good because there are a lot of elders
who need that. Here though the big thing they stress is that we need
to have patience, patience with the language and our companions but
most of all ourselves. It´s really easy to get discouraged and down
and to want to give up and just throw up your hands and say "What the
heck am I doing here?" but that´s not what any of us came out here
for. There are people in Peru and other places in South America that
need this message, that need to hear that the gospel has been restored
and that we have prophets again on the earth. We've had this knowledge
in our lives and like it says in Alma 32:28 it is delicious to us, now
it's our turn to give others the chance to taste it. Satan is working
hard against members of the church and especially missionaries, it´s
like being in a giant game of tug of war between two forces that are
so much more powerful than any of us. I need to be here and I know it,
but I also need to stay focused and do what the Lord has placed before
me to do. Sometimes it feels like I'm not moving anywhere or
accomplishing anything at all but all I need to do is look back at who
I was even just one month ago today when I entered the Provo MTC and I
can see already how much I've learned and how different I am. This is
the business of bringing souls unto salvation and eternal happiness
and it's not easy, but like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7 with the Lord it is
possible. Not only that though, Jesus loves his servants and will do
what he can to help them, and that's not just limited to missionaries.
I don't have much time but I hope you all know that I´m so happy to be
here on a mission and to experience these ups and downs that will
eventually make me a whole new and better person. Please keep praying
for me and I know it will make a difference. Thank you all so much for
your love and support and I want you to know it's very much
appreciated. I love it here and I love that I learn more about our
purpose in this life with every passing day. Thanks again and God
speed =)
Elder Fisher
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