Communications from the Lima West Mission...

Well, he made it to the mission home and had a quick moment to write us a note on the mission letterhead.  It's short, but oh so sweet...

And they sent us a quick picture of Elder Sivley with his first companion, his trainer.  We've zoomed in on the picture and it looks as if his name is Elder Alanes.  But that's all we know so far!  We don't know what area he is serving in or anything else.  :)  Can't wait for more details next Monday, but the smile on his face says it all.  He is happy to be serving the Lord.  We couldn't be more proud.

Last week at the CCM.... YEEEAAAAHHHHHH!

Hola mis amigos y familia! This is the LAST email I will send at the
CCM. As of Tuesday Oct. 4, I will be in the field preaching the gospel
with a new companero!

Stories this week:
1. Soooooo I kind of broke my companeros ankle. We were playing
soccer and he was defending me. I went to kick the ball, he went to
kick the ball, our legs collided. Elder Sivley was blessed with tree
trunks for legs, Elder Thompson was not. So I now carry him up the
stairs to our 3rd floor bedroom every day because there is no
elevator. Good news is its not a complete break so he doesn't have to
go home! They said 3 weeks healing max so he will just have some fun
on crutches. I felt so bad, but luckily hes super nice so he isn't that
mad at me.

2.  We committed our hardest investigator to baptism! She was finally
able to accept that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, therefore
verifying the truth of the Book of Mormon. Glad to have had such a
tough one that brought up polygamy, the fact that she used to be a
prostitute and had 2 abortions, and smokes weed at 45 yrs old. *knocks
on wood* cant get worse than that.

3.*TEAR JERKER ALERT* My favorite latino elder is Elder Mazco. 
He is from Iquitos, Peru which is smack dab in the middle of the Amazon. Its
a tradition here for elders to trade ties with each other. Elder Mazco 
has this really cool one so I asked him to trade and he said that it
was the only tie he owned that his mom gave him. I asked him why he
only brought one and he said it was all he could afford. This really
struck me so I took a couple of my ties to give him for free to help
him out. I presented the ties to him the next day and he just broke
down crying and gave me the warmest Peruvian hug (they are all so
short so their foreheads just bury in your chest) and said "Gracias
Cap (Capitan America), Le amo (I love you) elder." This is where it
gets sad. He told me that when he was 14 his mom, dad, and 2 little
brothers were killed in a flood. From age 14-16 Elder Mazco was living
by himself until a ward member took him in and scraped up enough
money for him to serve a mission in Bolivia. This elder who literally
had NOTHING is willing to give EVERYTHING to God. Needless to say I
was balling my eyes out. He is an awesome elder.


I am so thankful for my mission for teaching me more about charity. I
have only been out for 5 weeks but I feel like I have changed so much.
I have a list that i self check myself every day, from Preach My
Gospel on pg 126. Its about Christlike attributes and i feel so happy
all the time when I follow it and work hard to attain these
attributes. I am excited to develop them more over the next 2 years
and for the rest of my life.

New thing: A quote, scripture, hymn or saying of the week at the end of every email!
***Week of 10/2: "Senor te necesito; si te necesito; bendiceme oh Cristo;
vendre a ti."  Translation: "I need Thee, oh I need Thee, Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee."


My district here at the CCM.

My branch here at the CCM.

The next time I email will probably be next monday on my first Pday in
the field. So itll be a long week full of stories. Lima Oeste, here I
come!

Week 4 CCM

I went proselyting this week for 3 hours and I got 4 CONTACTS. It was a very proud moment for me and the gift of tongues is real. I am
slowly but surely making my way to the field, my emails will be much
more interesting when Im out there haha. Other than that, classes,
classes, classes.Not too much to say this week but its cool. I love
and miss you all and I will talk to you soon!

Week 3 CCM

Hola mi familia!
This week was pretty average here at the CCM. However, I am now an
Avansado! I am an example to all the new elders coming into the CCM,
I'm gonna try to help out these prinicipiantes (new missionaries) as much as I can and
build their confidence. Because that first week is ROUGH. Lots of
doubting and stressing and questioning yourself. But once you hit that
first Sunday, it's all good. Amazing how satan tries to get you even in
the MTC.

My favorite thing this week was Sunday. I had the greatest sabbath day
en mi vida (in my life). It was all about Joseph Smith and The Restoration. I sang
a song in sacrament meeting in front of the whole CCM with Hermana
Ford, a sister going to Cusco for her mission. Best part: she wrote
the song herself. Its fantastic, all about our purpose as
missionaries. Im going to send my mom a picture of the lyrics to send
y'all because it really hit me and gave me a pat on the back as to why
I'm here. Glad she asked me to participate in the song with her as she
played piano. Our MTC president and his wife thanked us after.

And then, after sacrament meeting we did a timeline of the Restoration and we
are so blessed by those events, I know they are true. To end off the
day we watched "Joseph Smith Prophet of The Restoration." If you havent
seen this before WATCH IT. Best representation of Joseph I've ever
seen, and the relationship he has with Hyrum and Emma really touched
me.  (Click on title above)

In our district meeting that night we went outside and sang the "Star
Spangled Banner" around the American flag in the courtyard. In honor of
9/11. Super patriotic and special.

The Latino Elders we all came to know and love left yesterday and we
already miss them. My favorites were Elder Mambo from Spain, Elder
Ticeran from Peru, Elder Rodriguez from Uruguay, Elder Hurtado from
Bolivia, and Elder Momani and Hermana Viviani from Brazil. Sadly, no
pictures because you can only use cameras on P-Day and Latinos had a
different Pday than gringos so I never really saw them. Tomorrow we get
new Latinos though. We love los Latinos! Except Chileans, Chileans are
punks. haha

Thats all this week! I go proselyting outside of the CCM on Saturday! Wish me luck! Adios!

This is my typical breakfast... good food!

 

 

I bought these ties... they're pretty cool. $5 each!!!  Love them.

Week 2 CCM

Hola mi amigos y familia!
A lot has happened this week. I went to the Lima Peru temple which is
literally just like the Dallas Temple except everything is in Spanish.
I loved it though and I bought a cool little Himnos (Hymn) book with a
Peruvian knit cover.

We finished our lesson with our first MTC
investigator and helped him reach baptism. Now we have a new one and
she is TOUGH. So much fury and attitude in such a small lady. Also
they announced that next friday we are leaving the walls to proselyte.
That means I have about 1.5 weeks to get pretty good at teaching the
restoration in Spanish. Our teachers talk super slow so these rapid
español words are gonna be killer.

I went to interpol to finalize the visa process and I think everything went great.
So unless I hear otherwise, I get to stay in Peru! After Sunday, I will no longer be a
pricipiante (beginner) amd will be an avanzado (advanced) missionary.
All that really means is I´ve completed 3 weeks at the CCM.
Here are a few hilarious things this week:
-Hermano Quispitupac ripped his pants during our lesson and screamed
in a high pitch Latino voice, "AYE MIS PANTALONES".
-2 elders from Bolivia and Peru think I look like Captain America and
everytime their entire district sees me all I hear is "CAPITAN AMEDICA" sooooo funny.
-Herman Rivera (my favorite teacher because she is so funny and I can
understand her spanish super well. I love talking to her because it
makes me comfortable with how much I know, and we talk about complex
stuff too not just basic vocabulary). anyways she says sloths are
called "oso perezoso" or "lazy bear" HAHA.
The food is great, my diet consists of chicken, rice, granadia, Inca
Kola, and Princessa bars (my new favorite candy)
Completed my goal to only speak spanish for the week besides Sunday so
super proud of myself.

I miss and love you all! Talk to you next Wednesday!
My mom should be posting pics because my signal is too bad to send you all some.

My companions, Elder Thompson on the left and Elder Bunce on the right

 The courtyard at the CCM-- it didn't rain, this is dew from the morning.  It rarely rains here.

 Mi Distrito (my district)

 Me and Elder Federico-- he is a convert of 2 years before coming on his mission... STUD.

 Inca Kola-- Nectar of the Gods.

 El Templo de Lima... a lot like Dallas but everything is in Spanish!

 Safety Circles... HAHAHAHA the safety circles. is case of an earthquake, these circles
are deemed the "safest" places to be. Right like if a building falls
on the circle we gonna live.

 The nicest and best place in the CCM

Our group of missionaries travelling to Lima from Atlanta

 Gave away my first BofM on the plane! (sorry for the sideways pic-- I'll edit it later!)

Week 1 CCM

THIS IS THE MOST ENGLISH IVE HAD TO THINK OF IN DAYS. I love it here
in Peru. Everyone here is so nice and loving. Except the Chileano
elders. They don´t like anyone and mess with everyone. One of them
told me he doesn´t speak spanish.....in spanish. Any way it has been
quite hectic and crazy. I play soccer everyday to let off the steam
and i have become pretty good among these latinos. Leadind scorer
among the Gringos. The food is awesome except for this sour corn drink
that made everyone gag. But the rice is ridiculously good here i dont
know what they put in it. Inca Kola is the bomb. I have 1 a day, when
I have self control. My spanish teachers are Hermano Quispitupac and
Hermana Rivera and I love them both. I think I have the best Spanish
in my district because they met with me and asked me to help teach my
fellow elders. Gunshots have been heard outside of the walls but it´s
cool. We call them fireworks even though they are in the middle of the
day so they are definitely not fireworks haha. My favorite Elders
include mainly Latinos from Peru, Brazil and One Spaniard. And then
there is a gringo named Elder Federico who is a 2 year convert before
his mission. My companions ( i have 2 because it´s uneven in our
district) are Elder Thompson and Elder Bunce. They are VERY different
from me, but I don´t mind. They are funny in their own way. But beside
that, everything is well and I love it here! Talk to you soon!

*Hunter wasn't able to upload pics this week-- hopefully next week! Dying to see my boy in pics! ❤️

DAY ONE! PERU CCM (AKA mtc)

Hola mi amigos y familia!  Today is our first real day at the CCM! I
only have about 15 minutes today to talk because we have ALOT to do
today. So I apologize to everyone that sent me a personal email that I
will not get to respond to today. I am very grateful for all the
supportive emails I have recieved. My P-Day in the CCM will be
Wednesday!
The flight to Atlanta I was alone, but as soon as I stepped off the
plane, 38 missionaries were at my gate for Lima. I sat next to an
Elder Clark who is basically a Californian version of me. We gave a
Book of Mormon on the plane to the flight attendant! My first of many
haha. I have a bunch of pictures that I will send next week. Lima
looks like a poorer version of South-Central Los Angeles. Lots of palm
trees and dogs. Dogs. Every. Where. But so far I LOVE IT. The
extremely nice Peruvian lady is now subtly hinting to me to get off
the computer so I have to go. I love and miss you all! Talk to you
next Wednesday!