Week 68

Not really anything cool happened this week. Super normal. 

We are still trying to get the Venezuelan couple to get married. Pres contacted the mission pres in Venezuela to see if we could get one of the documents that they need so we are waiting for an answer.

We also got news that we will NOT be participating nor going to the temple open house. All missionaries outside of Arequipa won't go. But all of the sister missionaries in the entire mission are invited

This week we have to go down to Tacna for like a quadruple zone conference.

But ya nothing really happened. 

Peace

Elder mortenson

Week 67

Super normal week besides the fact that I hit 15 months lol.

Umm let's see. So we had changes today and I'm staying here for my 4th change with the same companion haha so that's cool. I don't mind. So I definitely thought I was gonna leave so Saturday I took all my converts out to eat which was cool. They were all super sad but then we got changes and ya I'm staying so it's chill.

Umm ya I can't think of anything else that happened. Hahaha. There's a super cool chick we are teaching that will prob get baptized this week or the next. We will see.

That's literally it though haha

Peace

Elder mortenson

Week 65

This email is coming in a little late lol. But ya

Little different this week. Tuesday one of the secretaries called and said that Wednesday me and the 2 other elders from my group here in ilo had to go to arequipa for migraciones. So we went lol. Like a 4 hour bus ride. They didn't put any movies on which was sad. We got there at night and stayed with some zone leaders there which also happened to be from my group. So it was pretty sick that night with 5 of us. We ordered pizza hut. First real pizza I had in over a year.....then in the morning w ate the leftover pizza for breakfast. Then we went to migraciones. I ended up having to wait in line twice cause they spelled my name wrong. Them after, we were gonna go to Chili's but it was closed cause it was only 11 in the morning. The only thing open was pizza hut in the mall lol so we got it for lunch and ate it on the way back. Then we got back to ilo in the afternoon. Also we had a family home evening that might and we ate pizza. So I had 4 consecutive meals of pizza. Although I was completely fine with all the ones with pizza hut.

Man I described that a lot. But ya not a ton else besides conference. We watched it in English which was nice. It's funny here basically everyone only watched the Sunday morning session and no other one. But ya that was my 3rd conference of the Mish. Only one more...

Still don't have the pics, but we did find a thing so that my comp can download them. So hopefully next week

Peace

Elder mortenson

Week 63

So ya decent week. We were able to baptize this 21 y.o. guy on Saturday which was cool. And sorry I can't send the pics rn cause we took them all on my comps camera and he doesn't have a cable to connect it to the computer lol. He also has the other pics from my bday. So as soon as we can find a cord for it I will get the pics.

Other than that not much else happened. Just a normal week.

Went to KFC today and got these chicken wrap thing w bacon and it was actually way good. Surprisingly.

But ya besides that not really anything. Pretty boring email lol. I'll try to get the pics by next week.

Peace

Elder mortenson

Week 60

Lol ya so I've forgotten to write for a couple weeks hahaha whoops. But ya not a lot has happened honestly.

We have some good people we are teaching. 2 of them are progressing really well so we will probs put fechas with them this week. Also we had changes last week and I stayed here in ilo again for my 3rd change. Which I'm completely fine with cause the weather here is perfect right now hahaha.

Also my birthday was super sick. I technically had 2 party's which was sick. Got my face shoved in cake twice. Last week I sent pics from the first party but I still don't have the pics from the second one. I will try to get them to send them next week. Besides those I have no other pics.

Umm ya what else. Oh ya we went to KFC today which was sick. First American fast food I've had in 11 months. But it wasn't quite as good as it is in the US

Ummm can't think of anything else. But ya everything is good here. Complete 14 months this week. and it's Laura's bday tambien so happy birthday hahaha.

Anyways

Peace

Elder mortenson

Week 56

pretty normal week. nothing really happened. the couple we are teaching was gonna get married on tuesday but something happened and they didnt get married so thats annoying. we will see what happens with them.

all the other people are fine. not much to say about that.

KFC is still closed. that was prob the saddest thing of the week hahahha. maybe next week?

i sent all the pics so ya lol idk which ones i sent i just picked the ones that i thought were good

peace

elder mortenson

Week 55

Super normal weak...nothing too cool happened. 

The hermanas we baptized are doing super well. One of them just barely got called as the Relief Society counselor so that's sick. 

We have two couples we are teaching that want to get baptized but they aren't married so that's going to be an issue to work on...too bad.

KFC opened today. But it opened like half an hour ago so we didn't have time to go. We are gonna next week.

but ya that's it!

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 54

Pretty good week actually.

The one baptism that we had planned actually turned into 2! Actually it didn't really turn into two we just put a fecha with another hermana that we were teaching and she accepted hahhaha.  So we had Luzmila´s baptism on Saturday morning and it was cool and I baptized her. Then on Sunday we had Fernanda´s baptism which also went super well and Elder Escayola baptized her.

Saturday night we got notice of changes. But then they called us back like 10 minutes later and were like "Elder Escayola, you need to pack rn cause everyone that is gonna leave are actually leaving tomorrow and we don't know what time but probs in the morning." So ya we were up til 3 helping him pack and stuff and it was super crazy and everyone was all sad and stuff. Then Sunday morning they called and told us that there weren't any buses until 3 PM so that's when he was gonna leave which turned out to be good that happened because Fernanda really wanted him to baptize her and she told us she cried like all night cause she was super sad cause he had called her and said that he wouldn't be able to do it.  So it was kinda hectic (is that how you spell that?) Sunday morning because we had to go to church and get everything ready for the baptism and get clothes and everything and then after the baptism we had to get all his stuff loaded and down to the terminal so he could leave.

My new companion got here at like 6 last night, he is from Columbia and seems dope. He doesn't really have the Columbian accent like most do but he speaks pretty normal.

I don't have the pics from any of the baptisms cause we took them all on Escayola's camera cause he has a super nice Canon. so ya, as soon as he sends me the pics I will send them all. 

That's pretty much it.

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 53

so finally hit the 1 year mark on Thursday and it was pretty sweet tbh. We went and got hamburgers that were actually super good and then got salchipapas that were also bomb. Then we came back and the Pensionista's family threw a little surprise party for me which was cool. The pics of it are on my companions camera and he didn't bring it so I'll have to have him send them to me. I also burned a shirt afterwards which was super satisfying after thinking about it for so long. My comp tried to convince me not to burn one and told me I should like give it to someone instead and I was like bro I didn't wait a year thinking about burning a shirt just to not burn a shirt. 

Other than that not a ton happened.

the girl I told you about that had a dream didn't have permission from her parents, yet. But some things happened that I'm too lazy to explain and then she ended up bringing her parents to church and we talked with her dad and stuff and he ended up giving us permission to baptize her, so that is sick! She is gonna get baptized this Sunday after church cause there's a huge stake dance thing activity on Saturday and we want everyone to be there to support her, so that's why it'll be on Sunday.

That's it pretty much.

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 52

Decent week.

Thursday we spent all day cleaning cause they told us that President was gonna come look at all the rooms haha. But we cleaned it so well that it reminded me of in Diary of a Wimpy Kid when they clean after the party but then realize that it's "too clean" so then I left some stuff out on my desk and stuff like that lol. Then we had interviews Thursday night, so basically didn't do anything Thursday. And then he didn't even come by to see the room. President Marsh seems cool. He is a tiny bit taller than me and is from Texas. He definitely hasn't used his Spanish since his mission hahahaha and his wife, who is President Nelson's daughter, doesn't speak hardly any Spanish.

Friday we had zone conference in Moquegua. Going back there just made me realize how awesome it really is to be here in Ilo during the winter while it's cold. 

We were able to put a fecha for the 27th with this 17 year-old girls we are teaching. She wasn't sure about getting baptized but she told us she had a dream then described the dream and it was pretty sick...so ya that's cool

All last week my comp was fetching freaking out about meeting President Marsh and interviews and stuff.  So just for interviews he opened a brand new shirt that he had and ironed it and had his suit cleaned and ironed it and got his haircut Monday and I was like bro chill you have 3 changes left in the mission you don't need to chupar sus medias.

This Thursday is 1 year for me!!! So pumped!  It took long enough lol. defs gonna burn a shirt so I'll be sure to take pics.

That's it though, gotta run

Peace 

Elder Mortenson

Week 51

Normal week,

but it was the 4th of July! I couldn't really do anything to celebrate cause I mean what is there to do here? lol  All I did in honor of USA was wear my tie with stars on it and drink a mountain dew hahaha so that was sick!

Not a ton happened this week. 

This week we have interviews on Friday with the new president, so we´ll see how that goes.

happy b-day to Trish this week!

That's it...

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 50

pretty good week lol.

we had 2 baptisms on Thursday which was sick. We had it on Thursday cause that was the sister's b-day, she turned 19. We also baptized her little brother who is 14. It went super well and everything was chill. They got confirmed yesterday which was good.

 We have some other cool investigators so we´ll see what happens with them.

Today we went to a Mexican Restaurant in one of the other areas and it was really good!

Also, I finally downloaded the pictures so here they come lol

Peace 

Elder Mortenson

Week 49

Ya I'm fine here in Ilo and my comp is fine. He's from Mexico and most of the Mexicans are usually pretty chill. He's chill most of the time so ya its fine. It sounds like you spent mucho dinero getting Laura settled in Spokane huh, and dad always tries to say that I'm expensive lol!

Grandma's heart-rate was higher than I get my heartbeat going usually lol. But that's good that they found the problem and she's getting help now.

I heard the food in the Phillapine's (idk how to spell it in English) is really good so at least Jaxon Hill has good food  lol.

The weather here is awesome! It's cloudy 90% of the time and it's not hot. it actually gets kinda chili at night, which is nice!

All I've been doing for the past couple of weeks is making a little cheat sheet to glue on the back of the cover of my scriptures just for roasting people.  I just finished that so that should be good.

Maybe I'll call later, my headphones aren't working again.

Week 48

don't have a lot of time to write since we had changes today

I'll send a better email next week hahaha so ya bye

peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 47

chill week, don't have a ton of time to write

interesting thing, went to a "university" this week and taught a religion class with the other elders cause they were learning about the church hahahha

also saw a dog get run over by a van during a lesson. turned out it was their dog so ya that was unfortunate .

today we went to Tacna to get vaccinations for something. so ya that was cool. that's why I don't have much time today hahahha

but ya that's pretty much it

peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 46

Normal week, not a lot happened. I don't have much time cause I've been trying to fix my microphone lol.

We still don't have permission for one of the sick investigators we have to get baptized...story of the mission.

Maybe this week I'll take some pics, who knows?

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 45

chill week. not a ton happened. we were able to put a date with one of the cool dudes we are teaching for the 15th of June which is cool. other than that ya not much.

Let's see.

printed like 3 pages of tongue twisters so I can practice pronouncing super well and stuff so that's fun and they are super hard hahaha.

On Saturday we had this kid end the lesson with a prayer and he called us prophets in it, so that was interesting.

We heard the news about the temple being dedicated here in December and the Open House starting in November, which is sick! Hopefully I will be in Arequipa at least by the time that happens so I can participate in all the excitement. That gives me 3 changes at most to get there for all that, hopefully!

The mission belt buckle I ordered finally came. They actually do ship to Peru, hahaha the buckle I brought with me broke so I contacted them to order the screw that had broken out and they told me that they didn't have the screw but would be able to replace the buckle itself since it was warrantied.  I told them that I was in Peru and asked them if they could ship it there and they said yeah.  So, I gave them the mission address and I actually received the new buckle this week! Best Day Ever lol Also, I got the sick UofU Med-school grad announcements from James and Laura

That's pretty much it!

peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 44

Not a ton happened this week. I literally don't know what to write. We have a super cool 15 year old kid that is going to get baptized.  We just need permission from his parents is all.  We also have a 21 year old guy that is going to get baptized but he works a ton so it's hard to find him at home.

I think that's dope that James and Laura actually graduated from Medical School!

I hear that the Temple here is coming along.  Someone told us that it will be done next May.  I hope we're able to go to the dedication but we will see.

I passed the ten month mark!

That's basically all I can tell you as nothing else happened this week lol. 

super boring email!

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 43

pretty normal week. not a ton happened as usual.

We put a couple of "goals" for baptism. They are just goals because we don't have permission from their parents yet and they are both under 18, they are super cool though! We were hoping to put a date with this one 21 year old guy but the appointment fell through and he couldn't come to church either, so hopefully that will happen this coming week.

Just another week here in one of the sunnier parts of the mish. It finally started cooling down a bit in the mornings and at night as well, but during the day it's exactly the same temperature. I can't remember if I talked about my comp last week but I'm sure I probably did because he is chill.

But ya not much else happened

Peace

Elder Mortenson

(don't have any pics yet haha)

Week 42

Interesting week.

So right after I got off e-mailing last week, the Assistant's called and said that Elder Wersland needed to pack cause the next day he was going to leave to Chivay (this middle of nowhere area up in the mountains outside of Arequipa). So he started packing and then bounced the next morning. Then for the rest of the week I got put with the zone leaders because we share an area. So that made it so that I couldn't visit the people that we had been teaching for a week. Also, mom asked if we ever went to see cool things on P-days with the zone.  Actually, there is not much to see in any of the places I have been.  There are some things to do and see in Arequipa proper, but I haven't served there yet...going on 10 months of brown sandy nothingness.

Not a ton happened during that week except that they had found a girl to teach like the day before I joined them and she was super ready to get baptized so I was in the lessons and stuff and she got baptized on Saturday so idk if that counts for me or not?!?  So that was cool!

Not a ton else happened. 

Today the other zone leader was transferred so I had to help the other zl go and drop-off and pick-up all the elders who were coming and going from the terminal and get them to their new areas and stuff.  My new companion arrived at like

12ish. He is from Pleasant Grove and has one change less than me. We got back  to our flat and made brownies haha then unpacked and now I'm finally writing. 

But ya that's pretty much it..on my 7th white companion!  I'll probably call for Mother's Day on Monday, maybe even with a camera! idk what time I'll just message you before then.

peace

elder mortenson

Week 41

Chill week, once again not a ton. 

We are still working with the same people we have been teaching. We didn't find any new people this week who were interested in listening. 

I found out that Macchu Picchu is Quechua (I think that's how you spell it) for Old Mountain. idk just thought that was interesting.

I got out the Bernie Bott's Beans (from Harry Potter) that mom sent me, and me and my comp ate all of them lol they were so bad!

Oh so funny thing, I forgot the keys to our house so when we got back we couldn't get in and the pensionista works and wouldn't answer her phone. But here every house has like a big 10ish foot door somewhere on their house, and behind that door you can get into the house. So remembered that she always leaves the door open behind the big door into the house, so I was like ya let's just hop it! But the structure over the garage added like another 2 feet so it was like a 12 foot leap. So my comp helped me step up and I climbed up and scaled it back down and then opened the door for him.  It was sick, we just broke into her house basically.

That's about it though not much else.

peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 40

Ya another week, same as all the others.

We found the two kids that the sisters left for us that have everything in order and "ready" to be baptized...but turns out the dad is apostate so it's gonna be harder than we thought to baptize them.

My companion likes to cook and he is making us some brownies today!  We found a box of Betty Crocker Brownie Mix at the store so of course we bought it!  Anyway, last week he made pancakes on P-Day, so that's something to look forward to!!!  Our Pensionista, who usually makes our meals, works outside of the home, so she lets us use the kitchen on P-days and we do the dishes so that she doesn't have to worry about that.

Mom asked about my clothes and I would say they're still in pretty good condition, except that some of my pants are faded from the knee up.  I guess the sun has literally bleached them, because I have no idea why else they would be faded like that?!?  And no, it hasn't gotten cooler here at all!  At least in Arequipa it rains in the afternoons.  Here and everywhere else that I've been is just outright hot and I've only seen rain a couple of times!

We had an investigator come to church yesterday.  We were sort of surprised because we just met him on the street and gave him a quick lesson and invited him to church. So he came!  It was Fast and Testimony Meeting so I don't know how he liked that.  We'll have to follow-up with him and see.  I literally didn't know that it was Easter until mom asked me whether they have any kind of celebrations for it here.  I guess they don't, at least not here in Moquegua that I know of.

Our Mission President goes home in one and a half transfers.  Our new President is from Salt Lake City and is married to one of President Nelson's daughters!  We should get to go to Arequipa to say good-bye to Pres. Johnson, and hello to the new President.  That will be cool!

I can't think of anything else that happened. I did find some Canada Dry at the plaza which is cool.

That's it lol. 

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 39

As I finished the subject I realized it might seem a little weird for someone who doesn't know I just do "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" quotes as my subject heading.

So not a ton happened this week. 

I literally can't think of anything, but we have a lot of good investigators. The biggest problem is probably finding some of them. A lot of times they don't answer their phones or houses so ya it's annoying. We are trying though!

Good news is that I hit 9 months this Thursday! I decided a while ago to do a Spanish update for each month but I def forgot the last like 3 months hahaha. But yeah, Spanish is good, even though I'm still learning lots every day obviously. Not much else to say about that.

I finally downloaded all my pics just barely so here they come!

Week 38

pretty good week. not a ton happened though lol

We had divisions with some other elders on Tuesday so that was fun.

We also put two more dates for baptism this week with this mom and her daughter which is amazing, we put the date for the 20th.

General Conference was sick. We gotta watch it in English so that was really nice. My favorite talk was probably the one by Elder Holland on Saturday when he just basically roasted everyone. I thought it was super sweet!

We did go to the mall today and I did buy a bunch more mtn dew and stuff so tha'ts good hahah.

Peace,

Elder Mortenson

Week 37

Pretty good week here in Moquegua

so ya we are opening this area, there were sister missionaries here before us, they left us a lot of good people that we are trying to find. We put a date with one of them for the 20th and we also put a date with a reference we got for the 20th as well, so that is cool.

I need to give you a quick update about the baptism we had two Saturdays ago. so ya it went well, the only thing I want to update is that we overflowed the font hahhah so that was interesting. I took a video but I don't have my camera with me, so I will have to send my new pics and stuff next week or whenever haha. (Which is what he says every week)

Today we went to plazavea (the big mall) and I spent a ton of money lol. I found mountain dew there so I had to buy a ton of it cause it's so good. They also had snickers and kit kats and peanut butter and nutella so I had to buy all that too hahahhaa. I also bought this mini George Foreman type grill thing for like 25 sols so now I can make grilled cheese and stuff whenever I want. And it's super small so I can just take it with me when I move areas. 

Our pension has a super nice house, our room is pretty small but its chill cause we basically have the whole house to ourselves cause she works during the day. 

Anyway, that's pretty much it. 

Elder Mortenson

Week 36

Changes today. I'm actually writing this at the house of the new pensionista. I was traveling all day so that's why I couldn't get on email. I had a 2 hour trip from Pedregal to Arequipa in the morning. Then I had to wait at the terminal until 1:30 to leave. But that was sick cause while we were waiting me and a few other elders hurried over to one of the malls and ate China Wok lol it was sooooooo good!!!  But ya then left on another bus but like 2 hours into the trip to Mokegua (not sure how to spell it) the bus broke down lol. So we waiting for another hour in the middle of nowhere. Finally, another bus picked us up and then we finally made it here at like 6:30 p.m.. We came to the room and unpacked.

My new comp is Elder Wersland, he is also from my CCM group. Literally idk how I keep getting guys from my group, but ya he's from Bountiful. I was really hoping to get a Latino cause I've had straight white companions since my training and none of the american guys that have amazing spanish. 

Anyway, this pension seems pretty cool, and our room is small but nice. 

Also, we got those 2 baptisms on Saturday!!! We baptized the 17-year-old kid and his 10-year-old brother. It went super well. I got some pics but I'll have to send them next week. Sunday we were able to confirm them, so that was a great reward to have the day before transfers.

Anyways that's pretty much it, peace!

Elder Mortenson

Week 35

Pretty normal week

Not a ton really happened. We aren't gonna be able to baptize the older couple we wanted to cause the husband doesn't want to get married till August so that's too bad. But the good news is that we were able to talk with the parents of the two brothers that we want to baptize and they gave us permission to baptize them. So hopefully everything goes well this week and we can baptize them on Saturday.

Anyways, not much else happened this week lolol. Saw a pigeon get run over though so that was pretty interesting.

but ya anyways peaceeeee

Elder Mortenson

Week 34

so ya super chill week

Wednesday Elder Porter got sick so we stayed in all Wednesday and Thursday. So basically we slept all day which I didn't complain about hahaha

Friday we held the English class which actually went pretty well! A ton of people actually showed which was sick.

It was a good week other than poor health. We are still trying to get those 4 baptisms but it looks like we might only get 2 of them. But we are gonna keep trying and see what happens.

8 months next week!

Peace, 

Elder Mortenson

Week 33

So ya pretty normal week.

We had zone conference on Wednesday in Mollendo which was sick. I saw some of the Elders from my CCM group.

We finally got in to meet the cool family I told you about before a couple times, so that was sick. We also found these two brothers of this one member who got baptized back in December.  We were able to put baptism dates with them for the 23rd of March. They are more like goals because we don't have permission from their parents yet because they are both under 18.

We also have a couple of investigators who are parents of a returned missionary. They are planning on getting married on the 23rd and we are hoping to baptize them the same day, which would be sweet.

But that's about it. I started memorizing vocabulary words in Spanish like 2 weeks ago because my grammar is fire now! But memorizing words is super boring and I swear there is a word/verb for literally everything in Spanish!

but ya haha peace.

Elder

Brock Mortenson

Week 32

Same as last week literally like nothing to say

we found 2 old investigators this week totally by accident that we thought moved which was cool.  Hopefully we can get them baptized soon lolol. but ya not much else happened at all.

but ya eat some good food for me! 

Elder Mortenson

Week 31

So ya not much to put in this now that we can call every week.

Event of the week....we saw two little kids stuck between a bench and a fence in the plaza and their mom was trying to pull them out and they were screaming cause they didn't fit. It was so funny!

What I was gonna say about my companion's Spanish is that his trainer (American) told him not to study grammar and just study words cause "the grammar will come with time". So literally he hadn't opened his grammar book until this last week and his Spanish is really bad! He doesn't even know simple rules. Everyone we talk to has a hard time understanding him even though he has 8 1/2 months in the mission. It's so bad! But he finally started studying the grammar book because he saw me and the other American elder studying it, so that's good.

peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 30

Not a ton really happened this week at all.

We had transfers today. Elder Chase left to some place called Alto Inkla or something like that I really have no idea. It's still in my zone but its closer to the ocean. My new companion got here at like 10:30 from Arequipa. His name is Elder Porter and he is from Gilbert Arizona. He is from the group ahead of me so he just barely completed 8 months.

We haven't been able to meet with the cool family we found 2 weeks ago so that's too bad. 

Last week they turned the water off again for 2 days so that was dumb! But as soon as they turned it off we literally got every bottle in our room that we had saved up (ranging from a gallon all the way to like 300 ml) and filled every single one up with water still in the tank and then filled both of the big water drums we have haha so now we have enough water to last us like 3 years! lol

That's pretty much it tbh. No pics this week either, sorry! 

Peace,

Elder Mortenson

Week 29

So it was a pretty good week.

We contacted this chica on like Tuesday and got an appointment with her on Thursday. So we go to the cita and her parents listened to the lesson as well. Turns out they are super sweet!!! But ya, so we gave lesson 1 and talked about the Book of Mormon and challenged all of them to baptism and to read and pray about it. they seemed really interested and then they gave us food and mate (mahtei?) afterwards. Mate is like this stuff that you just put in water and it looks kinda like a tea bag but it's actually super good. Then we came back for the follow-up appointment Saturday but the parents weren't home and we can't teach chicas alone hahhaa. But she told us that she saw her parents reading the Book of Mormon in their room the night before, so that is super cool! We are gonna go visit them tomorrow I think.

 Also, last week, mom was telling me about the pipeline disaster in Lima and stuff and how a bunch of people don't have water. Then, on Wednesday the city of El Pedregal, where we live,  just randomly turned the water off and said it wouldn't be back on until Sunday. So we didn't have any water and couldn't shower or anything until Sunday. That was super great?!?

Not a ton else happened. Changes are next Monday so that will be interesting as usual. Our district leader thinks we are gonna get transferred but we will see.

It drizzled 2 days here which was amazing. I haven't seen or felt rain in forever... the good thing is that it is usually cloudy here so its not nearly as hot anymore.

I can't think of anything else or even an event of the week. Something probably happened but I can't remember it at this point, hahaha

Peace,

Elder Mortenson

P.S.  Here are some pics from Christmas Eve. Sorry they're so late!

Week 28

Sorry I didn't write an email last week I totally spaced it. I'm mostly just disappointed that I didn't get to do a "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" quote! lol

So yeah good last two weeks. Not a ton has happened really...it's super hard to find people to teach because everyone here travels all the time. But needless to say, we are still trying.

The Spanish is good, still learning a ton. I'm finally getting to the point where I can understand some Spanish music. It mostly depends on the song and the slower the better obviously.

So apparently I'm actually fluent we decided because one of my comps said he heard me sleep talk the other night and I said "no hay nadie"(No one's there) lolol so ya that's funny!  I must have been dreaming of knocking on doors. hahaha

Here's the event of the week so you can see how exciting things are here: So we have an investigator that is trying to learn English, so we will teach her English and then a lesson. She always gives us soda and stuff. So the other day she gave us a big thing of crackers and when we left and she told us to take the crackers with us, so we did. (so short backstory...a long time ago I got really good at throwing playing cards like super fast if you know what I mean lol). Well the crackers were perfect for throwing like that. So we were walking down the street and I was just launching them everywhere. Then this guy on a motorcycle comes driving by (going the same way we were going) not going super fast, so I was like "watch this" and I launched a cracker as hard as I could at the guy, and it was literally like a heat seeking missile lol it tracked the guy down as he was driving and then hit him straight in the back hahahahhah! He was like 100 feet away when it hit him and then he immediately stopped.
We thought he had noticed the thump on the back but turned out he was just going to buy something. But ya so that was super funny and sick.

Also, Elder Fulcher got emergency changed this morning to Ilo,  so that was sad hahahahha but its chill. Now its just me and E Chase.

not much else, peace!

Elder Mortenson

Week 26

Another sick week...not a ton really happened.

No one else got sick this week so that was good. 

The Patriots destroyed the Chargers yesterday hahha so that's sick.

I hit 6 months this Friday which is gonna be sweet, we are gonna burn ties!

Me and my comps get along super well, they told us that we would probs be together for 3 weeks, but we don't actually know.  We found out that Pres.  Johnson is sick and had to return to the states, so that can't be good.  At least with my companions we always have fun because we may be together for a lot longer than we thought. Plus our Pension makes pretty good Peruvian food for us.

We contacted a lady last Friday that just barely moved here and said she was going to get baptized in this other place where she used to live in Arequipa. So we are gonna hopefully baptize her not this Saturday but the next.

We have 2 other progressing investigators that would get baptized but we can't ever catch their mom at home.

So mom, are you rereading the Book of Mormon in Spanish again? 'Cause if you want your Spanish to actually be good enough to talk to me and Bryce you should prob read it a few more times in Spanish hahahhaha

That's about it.

Peace,

Elder Mortenson 

these pics are from last change in Ilo.

Week 25

I don't have much time to write today.  We had a super slow week since 2 of the Elders got sick so we had to stay in those days.

We don't have many progressing investigators but we are working to change that.

We live close to the chapel here and there's just one rama (Branch) in the area but there's quite a few members that attend, like 100-150. The weather is similar to La Joya except that it's the rainy season rn so there are clouds here sometimes, which is nice but it doesn't seem to rain much. 

Transfers are done by bus, so I had like a 4 hour bus ride to get here.  If you're outside Arequipa your district or zone leader just puts you on a bus but I don't know how transfers are done in Arequipa proper.

I haven't been able to unpack cause we don't have a closet still. Plus, if I'm the one that gets moved since we're in a threesome at the moment, I don't want to repack everything. 

Ya you guys are lucky that you got to drive nice cars on the Autobahn, I want to drive a nice car.

It's about time I hit 6 months hahaha . But ya thanks for everything

Peace

Elder Mortenson

Week 24

so interesting and unexpected week.

Christmas and all that was sick, not much more to say.

First thing first, our fecha for last Saturday fell through. The guy decided to start drinking again so that stinks.

We went to see an old investigator and when we went inside there was this white dude there that started talking to us in English. Turns out he was from Tucson, AZ and his wife is the sister of the guy we were visiting. so ya we got to talk to him for a while, which was cool.

So Saturday night we found out our changes, super unexpected. Elder Parry had been in Ciudad Nueva for 3 changes and that was my first change. So we thought I might stay in the area while he would get transferred but ya we both bounced. E. Parry went down to Tacna and I got sent to Pedregal, which is like an hour from La Joya, my first area.  Pedregal is basically La Joya except like 5 times as big. It's so huge but its better than La Joya. There are actually people here to contact and we have a decent pensionista. Also, I am in a threesome rn with Elder Chase from my group that came out together and Elder Fulcher from the group ahead of us. E. Chase wasn't in my ccm district like E. Parry was but he is from my group. Who would've thought I'd be comps with multiple people from my group???  They are both super chill and cool. There are also two other elders that live in the room next to us, one of them went home for like 5 months for back problems and just barely got back out like 2 weeks ago. He is training this  Elder from Colorado that just barely got here like 2 hours ago hahahhah.

But ya on our way over here we saw two dogs that were stuck together, I kid you not they were literally stuck together. I took a video and will try to send that with this.

Okay, well I typed that and then tried to plug my camera in but this computer doesn't have a USB port for some reason, it is literally missing the whole plug-in thing! 

Next week I'll try to send all the vlogs I took with Elder Parry lol

Peace!

eLdER mOrtEnSoN