Week 17

One more week of training, I'm almost there! Never thought I'd make it through training. It's weird to think that after next week I will have spent 18 weeks in training which is almost 1/5 of my mission and I still don't know Spanish. 

I will probably end up staying here for the next transfer cause this is E. Lozano's 3rd transfer here.

So our baptism that we had set fell through, which is too bad. We were supposed to visit with her and her mom so we could talk about it and get a signature and stuff but every time we called and/or went over she was never there...but yeah, we will see what happens. we have a lot of good investigators, it's just hard to get some of them to commit to baptism.

This week we found this cool couple that we are teaching. The guy is 22 and the girl is 19 lol and they have a little daughter. They aren't married so we are trying to get them married. 

My companion does "switchback" up stairs. You know, like what you do if you're hiking you go back and forth so that its "easier"? Well yeah, he does that when we walk about these super big stair cases that they have on these big hills. and its so dumb and funny cause he thinks it helps for some reason, but it doesn't do anything cause every step is the same height no matter and you're just wasting energy going back and forth, in my opinion!

Other random news, I found this soda here called Cola Escocesa and it is made in Arequipa and only sold there. I was introduced to it and bought some last time we were there and it is soooo good!!!

E. Lozano ripped his pants the other day on this sharp object that was sticking out in the hallway of our apartment building hahhaa it tore his pants from his thigh to his shin! Maybe we'll have to burn those!

So event of the week: yesterday we were out trying to get people to come to church and when we were walking back there was this big hill that we had to go down. Right before we started down it these 2 drunk guys came sprinting out from behind a car and started down the hill in a full sprint. The one in the back stumbled a bit and then fell and got an entire face full of asphalt hahhaha it was the funniest thing I've ever seen! Then he like rolled over and laid there for a second then got up and started sprinting again and just about got another face full of asphalt.

That's about it. Tomorrow is gonna be super sick because we have to go to migrations again and all the guys from my group will be there. And then for the rest of the day we are doing splits with the zone leaders and they are super cool. Then on Wednesday 2 other elders in our district are coming to La Joya to do splits with us.

So that's about it! Have fun planning Bryce's wedding everybody!

Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 16

So yeah decent week! 

Tuesday we had our district meeting. One of the zone leaders (from South Jordan) had to go talk to the other district during our district meeting so he took me with him so it was super fun to chill with him, he is super cool. we actually have splits with them next Tuesday so that should be super sick.

After our meeting we had to stay in Arequipa cause we had to meet with the zone leaders (cause E. Lozano is the district leader) and then we had to stay for a leader meeting with all the leaders in the mission. We didn't get back to La Joya until like 9:30 at night.

Halloween was on Wednesday (I think). They actually do celebrate it here, kind of, except its super weird cause everyone thinks it's like the day of the devil and that it's super bad to dress up (even if you dress up as a princess or whatever) so yeah that is weird. I would tell everyone that everyone celebrates it in the US cause it's from the US and everyone was horrified cause they would ask if all the kids dressed up as like vampires and stuff and I was like, yeah obviously.

El Dia de los Muertos was on Thursday. We fetching couldn't get any appointments or teach anyone cause literally EVERYONE was going or was already at the cemetery. Our pensionista went to the cemetery and took a video and showed us and it was insane, literally the entire town was there just partying and getting drunk hahhaha.

So we placed 2 (kind of 3) baptismal dates this last week! Two of them are 2 brothers named Miguel, who is 17 and Luis, who is 13. They are super cool. We finally had the baptismal interview for one of our good investigators who was supposed to get baptized like a month ago so we put her new date for the 17th.

I only had 2 people try to touch my blonde hair this week hahahaha.

Saturday night there was a fiesta de disfraces which is just a costume party. It was actually pretty fun.  Elder Lozano and I just went to a shop nearby and bought Star Wars masks for 9 soles hahha. But yeah we had games and music and stuff and food so it was chill.

Talk to you guys next week

Elder Mortenson

I will try to send those videos rn...

Week 15

 I'm trying to upload some videos right now to send you but I don't think they will finish before I have to go. I forgot to tell you guys but like a week and a half ago we burnt Elder Lozano's shirt for his 1 year mark hahhaha. And then last Wednesday some other elders came down to do splits and one has the same amount of time as E. Lozano but he hadn't burned his shirt yet. So E. Lozano grabbed another shirt and we went up to the top of the apartment and they both burned their shirts!  So that was sick.

We have a couple of super good investigators. Hopefully we can get this 18-year old named Alexander baptized this week. He is super cool. And maybe the week after if we can get the other good investigators to attend church and hopefully set their dates for the Saturday after this one, we will see.

Like I said, we did splits last Wednesday which was pretty good and something super cool happened. We were in a lesson with this girl and I started talking and all the sudden I had the gift of tongues for like 2 - 3 minutes, it was amazing! I started talking and all the sudden the Spanish just started coming out without me trying and I didn't even have to try to think about what I was saying. I was even using some complex grammar, like imperfect subjunctive, and tons of other  grammar without even trying, so yeah that was super amazing! I'm pretty sure my Spanish was perfect during those 3 minutes and the only explanation I have is that the Spirit must have blessed me because after that the rest of the day it was normal haha but yeah that was sweet.

So we were getting out of a taxi right when this tall Peruvian dude was walking by, so he walked right past me and like stopped for a sec to look at me cause I was his same height, then he gave me a sup nod then kept walking, lol so that was funny.

Another cool thing is that I ate peanut butter sandwiches! We brought a lot of bread back to our room cause we didn't have time for dinner and I got out my jar of peanut butter and we made peanut butter sandwiches, they were amazing.

Also, I had a great a idea: I figure since Trish is reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish to relearn Spanish while fulfilling the Prophet's admonition to the women of the church. Blake should read the Book of Mormon in Tongan so he can relearn Tongan and study the BoM, too. It would also make it so he could actually talk with the USU Polynesian coaches properly, instead of just saying fukamuna (not sure how to spell it) 20 times hahaha but seriously that'd be cool.

So I have been trying to learn how to play the piano so that I can play it in Sacrament Meeting because no one here knows how to play. Hopefully, I can learn even though I don't have much time at all to practice. It sure would be super nice to have the piano when we sing! 

That's about it. I'll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Mortenson

-no hablo español

Week 14

I finally hit the 3 month "forget mark" that Brett told me about, where everyone forgets about you for the most part lol.

I got the package you sent, so super thanks for that, it has everything!

Also, I don't know if I was confusing in what I said or what but I meant that I wanted a mini hymn book in English because I already have one in Spanish. But it's chill, now I have an extra.

So here's the event of the week: We were walking down this street when all of the sudden I heard this massive crash behind me, so I look back and like 30-40 feet away I see one of the little motos (little 3 wheeled taxis) rolling backwards out of this driveway but there wasn't a driver in it, so I was super confused. Everyone here has big metal doors that they use for their house doors/garage doors. So I look over a little and I see one of those and it is bent half-way out and I can see the back of this car crushed against it...Apparently, someone must have floored it in reverse without opening the garage door and just destroyed everything!

Also, another event. So we contacted this lady and while we were talking to her, her son climbed in the window (probs like 9 years old) with no pants on. So then we got an appointment with her for the next day and we go back and the same kid comes to the door once again with the same problem!!! lol so that was weird!

Also, a couple days ago I hit 2 years from when I broke my foot the first time!

My companion and I decided last week to start really trading-off in lessons like normal companionship's do so that I can improve more, so that has been good for me.

Anyways, this week was good. we had zone conference on Tuesday, and then Saturday we went to Arequipa and had lunch with one of Elder Lozano's old converts and then went to the conference Pres. Nelson had from Lima with the missionaries.  Later we came back and watched the second conference with Pres. Nelson, which was for all the members. 

The baptism we had planned didn't come through because the man wasn't able to get the info. we needed to fill-out the paperwork, so hopefully this week we can baptize him.

Also, while we were in Arequipa we saw this white couple that said hi to me and I accidentally replied to them in Spanish. haha cool nonetheless.

Also, we met a super good investigator that has a broken foot and looks exactly like I did, except that he has crutches, poor guy.

That's pretty much it I think. Spanish is fine lol just gotta keep studying!

Papa bless!

Elder Mortenson

Week 13

I don't have a ton of time so this is gonna be super quick.

This week was pretty average. I forgot to say that transfers were last Monday. I didn't get changed or anything, but we got a couple new people in our district.

We went to Papa John's today so that was super fun and then came back and got a haircut. At Papa John's this new elder came that got here last week and it made me realize how much my Spanish actually has improved cause he didn't understand a word!

 

We have a baptismal date for this Satuday. We would've had two but the little girl couldn't come to church and she needs to attend once more, so that one will be next week.

Yeah, that's about it, things are chill...Spanish is...whatever...

Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 12

This is gonna be kinda short cause i don't have much time and the wifi here is so bad cause there's a million kids in here.

So first off, great news! they lifted the rule on our zone about only being able to go to Arequipa every other p-day. so today we are gonna hustle down there to grab some Papa John's hahaha so that is super nice.

Also it "rained" for the first time the other day! more like just a sprinkle but it was amazing nonetheless.

Wednesday evening we went to Arequipa because Thursday we had migraciones (transfers). We slept over at our zone leaders place. Migrations were super sick cause a ton of the kids from my mtc district and my group were there, so we got to chill and talk and hangout for like 4 hours hahaha it was so fun.

I can't wait till it is November or December cause that's when the rainy season is. and hopefully I'm in Arequipa during that time cause that's where most of the rain is.

We have a few good investigators. We have this 9 year old girl scheduled for the 21st so that will probs happen. We are gonna try and get this other 13 year old scheduled for the 21st as well so we will see how that goes.

But yeah that's about it. My Spanish still lacks lol. I can tell it's gotten a lot better but it is still really hard to understand people and whatnot. I suspect these next 6-12 weeks I will see a ton of progress.

Anyways peace yo.

Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 11

So first and foremost...we had a surprise baptism! we had been teaching this little group of kids since i got here and there is one little girl that is eight, she loves going to church and hearing our lessons. so last week we committed her for the Saturday and she chose me to baptize her! It was so cool! there isn't a baptismal font here so we went to the community pool for the baptism hahahhaa. we got there at like 2:55 and the baptism was at 3:00. so i hurried and changed and then we came out and NO ONE was there hahahaha lol. so we waited and waited and made some calls and whatnot. Finally, the branch pres showed up at like 3:45 and then Cinthia (the girl i baptized) and her mom and the other kids she lives with finally showed up at like 4:00 hahaha. we went to this little kiddie-pool section on the side and then did the baptism. It was super sick. lol idk why she picked me to do the baptism cause i haven't even talked to her that much due to my limited spanish. probs cause I'm Gringo hahha. but yeah it was a super cool experience!

Afterwards we went to the chapel and had refreshments and watched some short videos and then we had her bear her testimony and it was so awesome.

Not a ton else happened last week. only thing i can thing of is that this crazy preacher dude came up behind us during a lesson and started preaching during our whole lesson. then we left and he started preaching to the gate hahaha he was crazy.

but yeah tha's about it!

Peace, Love E. Mortenson