6/20/2012 - First week in the CCM

Dear Family,
 

All I can say is, wow! What an amazing experience I am having here. So to start from the beginning…

First off, Happy Father's Day Dad!  I sent off a letter but it won't get to you for probably 2 more days.  It costs six American dollars to send a letter through the mail system, so I sent it through the church.  Hopefully you know I love you and you were in my mind the whole day.

My stomach feels great.  I only got sick after one meal but since then I have been solid as a rock.... but man do I sweat here.

I have two companions for two parts of the day, one for my classes (who is American) and one for everything else (who is a Latino). They are both freaking awesome. My American one is from Wyoming and he is named Elder Maddock. He is awesome and is straight a cowboy through and through. Reminds me of a combination of Dad and uncle John. He is so awesome and we get along great. My other companion is from El Salvador. He is a convert and has only been in the church for 2 years. His name is Elder Flores, and man is he good at soccer. Seems like every Latino is...

Anyway, my lessons are going well, but they are much harder to teach down here because literally all my maestros barely speak English. I am learning that Peru has a lot of slang that they use in their conversations that other countries don't. Also, they are all either HARDCORE Jehovah's Witnesses or Catholics down here. So that should be fun. I go out Saturday proselyting with my native companion. It should be hard, but fun.

Holy cow, the food down here is amazing, and all the native Peruvians say this isn’t even the good stuff, so I can’t wait to get out there and try some of the REAL PERU FOOD. Also it is fall here and I am sweating like a pig, but I talked to my Latin comp and he said that parts of our mission are like the coldest in South America. So it looks like I get the best of both worlds. Also, I found out the MTC or CCM is in my mission. So it stretches really wide. Oh, and I got called to be district leader again.

We got to hear from Elder Holland this week, and as you can imagine, it was mind boggling. He talked specifically about how we need to teach and it got every single missionary pumped up.

Riding the bus down here is crazy, too.  It costs about fifteen cents or 50 pesos (half a sol) and no joking, the busses do not stop. They only slow down while people get on and off.  They are packed full.  Today while going to the Peru temple (which was amazingly beautiful and awesome because I did a session in Spanish), the bus made a right turn in the third farthest left lane.  I have never heard so many horns honking.... haha. It was soooo coool....

I love this place and once I learn Spanish I probably won’t ever want to leave.  My teachers are also great. One is a native Peruvian who speaks no English. He is hilarious. He always gives me a hard time because I am district leader.  He just nods his head  and says....ay ay ay mi lider de districto... all the time then busts up laughing....

I hope you guys are awesome and know that I love you. Thanks for your prayers. I feel them every day.

Love you and be thankful...

Elder Larson

Pictures to come next week!