14 September 2009

Welp, once again, thanks to the high quality internet here in peru, looks like Im going to have to cut this email short!!!! But anyway, we are alive and well here. I skimmed your email mom and Im so glad you guys got the package!!!!!!

Lets see, the news here in Tacna. Our investigator, Angela, who needs to get married to get baptized, and was also pregnant, had her baby this week!! She named her Christa!! Just kidding. That would be awesome, but she had a boy and named him Jesus. I guess thats almost as good. She did have her baby on my 11 month mark though so I think thats significant. She is so great. Shes probably the favorite investigator Ive ever had. The Relief Society ladies put together a big basket for her and her baby and we are going to deliver it tomorrow. I REALLY want to be here long enough to see her get married and baptized which will be in October so pray we dont have changes on Sept 27!!

Also, as we were leaving the hospital from visiting Angela. Peruvian hospitals STILL terrify me by the way. We ran into a lady in our ward who is like 70 years old. She was walking around by herself outside of the emergency entrance. I asked her what she was doing and she said an iron rod had fallen on her head??!! So we accompanied her inside and helped her fill our her papers and talk with the doctors. Turns out one of her doctors is a less active lady and the doctor listened to the missionaries and read the Book of Mormon when he was 17? I was kind of stressed out about missing appointments and spending 2 hours in the hospital with her, but I couldn’t leave her outside by herself either and I guess it just goes to show heavenly father knows what hes doing. We were able to talk to a few people about the church while helping her.

What else…I saw a cock fight this week!!! An honest to goodness cock fight. I thought people were gathered around in this park by our house just chatting or having a picnic or something and it turns out they were watching a cock fight. Oh peru.

Anyway, I hope youre all doing great. I still love you and Im still praying for you all. Everyday. Multiple times a day. Hope its having some kind of affect!!! Love you!!! Be safe!!! Talk to you soon!!!

7 September 2009

Hey HEy Hey!!!

And hows my family today? Im doing pretty good here in Tacna. Not too much has happened this week actually. It went by really fast...I guess thats a good thing right? Anyway, we are doing good here. And since I dont have too much exciting news from this week Ill share some stories Ive been saving up from weeks passed. hope I havent already shared these. Sorry if I have.

1. One day we were walking along the street and a man in a car pulled over and offered us a ride. We told him no, but he kept insisting!!! He said he always sees us walking and wanted to be a good Samaritan that day. He had a nice car and didn’t look like the kidnapper ( missionarynapper) type AND he had his girlfriend or wife or something in the car with him so after like 5 minutes we finally got in. He said, Youre not headed too far right? Just up the street and around the corner? And he was right, we were on our way to visit a new member that lived up the street and around the corner. I was thinking, maybe hes an angel or something. How does he know where we´re going? So we got in and got to talking with him and the lady and we started to talk to them about the church. They said they weren’t members, but had friends that were members. Supposedly super active members. We were a little confused because we didn’t recognize their names, but we didn’t think much of it. So as we´re talking the car comes to a stop and I realize he´s waiting for us to get out. I thought it was kind of weird he never asked us what house we wanted to be dropped off at, and was just going to drop us off in the middle of the street instead of at the ladys house, but I didn t want to complain so we thanked him and got out. Well as the car pulled away my companion and I realized he had dropped us off at the Jehovas Witness chapel!!!!! I didn’t want him to feel bad for confusing us with the JWs so we pretended to walk into the chapel!!!! So, in case youre wondering, Im STILL getting myself into awkward situations. Thought youd enjoy.

2. We were knocking doors the other day and a man came out with a scythe. A SCYTHE!!!! Like for harvesting wheat. He was polishing it as I started to do our door approach, but I was so shocked, scared, that I didn’t get very far. He finally saw the fear in my eyes and said he is a worker at the house and was cutting weeds and didn’t have time to talk. We walked away laughing and so relieved.

3. About a month ago we found a really great investigator. She invited us in and gave us oranges and was interested and listened. She travels a lot so we haven’t been able to meet with her much, but when we do she always accepts what we teach and asks really good questions. So we went last week to teach her and we extended a baptismal invite and she told me she´d already been baptized (like pretty much everyone does) so I explained to her that she needed to be baptized like Jesus Christ and she said she had (which everyone does ) so I started to explain to her more….after 20 MINUTES it came out that she is a member!!! She got baptized like 10 years ago and doesn’t go to church now, but still has her FHEs, and pays tithing!!! I felt so dumb!!!! How had she not told us she was a member after talking with her so much-??!?!!! More importantly, how had she sat through our lessons and asked questions like an investigator?!! I have never been so confused as when we made the realization that our golden investigator is a baptized member of the church. So yeah, we´re going to keep visiting her hoping she´ll come back to church, but looks like we wont be planning her baptism anytime soon.

4. We started talking with a man the other day and he told us he believed in God, but not in a specific religion. We asked him why and he said it´s because he´s been abducted by aliens, seen the future, and visits daily with ghosts and no religion he´s investigated believe in those things. The practices we did in the MTC did NOT prepare me for that.

Anyway, I better wrap this novel up, but I love you and I miss you all!!!

31 August 2009

Happy ALMOST September!!!!

How are you guys? Im doing pretty good. We had a baptism Saturday so Im actually doing really good. Im pretty happy about that. Nury finally got baptized! It turned out really nice. We have a lot of good ward members who are always willing to help us so that’s been a big blessing. OH, also, my wildest Peruvian dream also came true this week!! I was serenaded by mariachi!!! I felt like I was right back in Sparks in Birtha Mirandas. We left our house after lunch yesterday and there was a mariachi band in the street right outside our door getting ready to perform for a neighbour. The lead singer has taught English for 30 years and accosted me and started talking and forced me (it didn’t take much forcing though) to put on a sombrero and take pictures with them! Then they played us a song and then we went on our merry way. Best surprise ever!! Things are alright with my companion. Shes a good teacher, but is pretty serious. For example, yesterday, while my dreams were coming true, she said in a stern voice, ¨Hna. Keele, but it´s the Sabbath, we cant let them play a song for us, we cant listen to their music on the Sabbath.¨ So as they were putting on their accordions and had placed the sombrero on my head she started to walk away!! Luckily they cranked out a quick number and I was able to give them back their sombrero politely before shed gotten too far. BUT we have an appointment to visit them and teach them this week so I feel justified in living out my fantasy yesterday. OH, I finally bought a CD player this week!! Theres a young couple in my ward who are so good to us. They are both dentists and don’t have any kids so they treat us very well!! So the husband reminds me a lot of Darren and last week they went with us to help me pick out a CD player. He, nestor, was asking a million questions about how many woofers, memory, mp3, dvd, etc. I didn’t understand any of it, but I do know that he helped me buy my adorable little CD player and after 10 months of silence we finally have music!! The only problem is I lent all the church CDs I had to ward members that went on vacations so we´re still in silence…but not for long! Oh, I heard the funniest story this week. One of our investigators, Jessica, is from the jungle in the north of peru but lives here now. She was telling me about the pet monkeys she used to have. Em, you NEED to move to the Peruvian jungle from the sounds of it. Anyway, she said one of her monkeys used to smoke! Hed light his cigarette and smoke it!! She also said another one would get mad if the family wouldn’t let him have his way and hed sneak into the kitchen and pee into the pots and pans with food that were cooking!! Im terrified of monkeys, but they sound pretty funny. Then my companion piped in and told us about the time she tried to share her ice cream with a turtle and he bit her and she still has a scar. Peru is interesting. But good.

24 August 2009

Hey guys!!! Happy pday!!! And happy birthday mom!! What are you guys going to do to celebrate?! Wear your seatbelts in the convertable is all I ask!!! And eat cake for me!!! Hope you guys are doing great!!! Im doing pretty good here. Well, surviving. I guess that´s pretty good.

My companion,Hna Cavero, got here at 1130 on Wednesday night from the mission home. She´s from Trujillo, Peru. She lives 2 blocks from where the new temple is being built!! I really like her. Shes a good missionary. 15 missionaries came into the mission this change so I figured tons of people must be training and president davis basically had a lack of options. Turns out 14 elders came and 1 sister!!!! I heard once that the missionaries that get assigned to train are the ones that need to be trained again and thats pretty much the only solution I can find for this change, but whatever. Shes nice, but has a sad life. Her mom was shot and killed in front of her 5 years ago!!! I swear, feature full length movies could be made about the lives of every one of my companions thus far and could win academy awards.

Oh, good news Andre called me this week!!! His aunt called me to tell me they closed Pachacutec and there arent missionaries there anymore. I was sad, but happy because now his aunt, Mirriam, can have her room back that shed been renting to us. Get this, Andre sang me Sweet Dreams Are Made of These in English!!! Hes been practicing and sang it perfectly!! I was cracking up!!!

Oh, sad news. Hna Sonya, the lady thatd had cancer, but was making a remarkable recovery, passed away this week. It was sad. We went to her funeral and they wanted ME to speak on the plan of salvation!! Luckily the high priests group leader showed up and got me off the hook. Im sad for her family, but happy I got to know her. She was a really neat lady.

Good news, our investigator Angela really wants to get baptized and we talked to the bishop this week and the church is going to help her pay for half the cost of getting married so she can get baptized! Hopefully in September thatll all be happening.

Oh, finally, the Herrera family will be coming to Utah in June 2010 now. Im trying to talk them into Gardnerville. They definitely want to visit Vegas though so at least theyll get some of Nevada.

Anyway, I hope youre all doing great. I miss you all and love you!!! Guess what, only 5 changes left in my mission!! 8 months sounds long, but 5 changes isnt too bad right?! Love you!!!!!!!!!

17 August 2009

Welp. The elders called at midnight, literally, last night and I am no longer with Hermana Arroyo. I found out last night that this change I will be training. WHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the elder was joking with me. After 5 full minutes of me asking him who my real companion was going to be and telling him to stop joking he got annoyed and hung up. So yeah, I am going to train. And the poor new missionary that is going to be my companion is going to die!!! I cant train!! Talk about the blind leading the blind!!!!!! But, I have high hopes that she will be amazing and like all my other companions, take charge and be the real senior companion-trainer. So yeah, she gets here on Wednesday and since 5 am when I took Hermana Arroyo to the bus station Ive had to be with the elders. Theyre looking for a temporary companion for me until Wednesday. So what Im trying to say in the worlds longest paragraph Ive just written is pray. Harder. I dont know anything about her yet, but Im guessing by next week Ill have a LOT to report!!

Oh, I also finally used my ATM card last week and it worked! Dad knows me well. I bought my companion a coat because she didnt have one. Hope thats okay. But yeah, it is working and thank you for sending it!!

So this week we were walking to an appointment at night. Well we were walking along, not paying much attention and I realized I was right by a window of a house. So I glance over as Im walking by and have never done a bigger retake in my life. A CASKET with a BODY was in the living room of this house!!!!!!!!! Apparently its tradition here when somebody dies. For a full day the casket is in the house and they have the viewing there. Wow. Glad nobody ever warned me about that one. Good thing Ive got 23 years of funeral experience. My companion on the other hand refused to walk in that neighborhood for the rest of the week. Oh peru.

We had a lesson this week with a lady named Nelly here that does PR! IT was really fun to talk with her. Shes busy planning the anniversary of Tacna until September so we are going to go back to visit her then, but it was cool to talk to her about what pr people in peru do. Besides promote llamas of course. Since thats all I knew about peru before I came.

Oh, sometime could you guys send me a printout of the blog again? I havent seen it since January or so so if you could print off a little afteer that itd be fun to read. Next week Im finally going to send your package for you guys. Sorry it wont make it for your bday mom, but know Ill be thinking of you and looking for something good to eat in your honor!!

Anyway, I have to go, but I love you all and miss you all and hope youre doing great. Keep praying. Please. Love you!!! Be safe!!

July 7 - August 10, 2009

7 July 2009
So yeah, after just about 9 months in the mission Im finally going to have a companion for more than 6 weeks!! Im actually really happy about it. First of all because we had the best pday ever yesterday. Except for the fact we couldnt email of course. But anyway, since we didnt get changed and other people did and were traveling and waiting for their companions we had the day free!!! We didnt have our district meeting yesterday, we had it today instead. So yesterday we had a real pday!! We cleaned our room, organized our things, slept, wrote letters, walked to and from the center and in and out of every shop there, got treated to ice cream by a lady wo speaks chinese, spanish and english and struck up a conversation with us, developed photos, took pictures, and basically loved every minute of our freedom. So yeah, Im still with Hna. Arroyo and Im happy. I think we will have a good 6 more weeks together.

Our district leader has 2 investigators that are getting baptized and married this week except he got transferred to puno along with his companion so now my companion and I have to help with the wedding!! Shes going to be a witness and everything! Im sure Ill have stories next week.

I love you and miss you all!! Be safe and I hope that hot dog feed for 7-8-9 comes to fruition. And in the words of Bon Jovi (this song is playing in this internet right now and I think its a sign) Oh, oh were halfway there, oh oh livin on a prayer...pretty fitting I think. Love you!!!!

Love,
Christa

13 July 2009

Anyway, we had a good week. We´ve started to volunteer in a bakery one morning a week!!! We went Wednesday and peeled a mountain of apples and helped make empanadas and treats, that, get this, we ended up eating that night at the house of a member who had called and ordered them!! Small world. It was really fun, but volunteering in a bakery can´t be good for my health. Oh well. It feels like Im working in apple hill and Im a fan.

Oh, so we had a funny run in with 2 Jehova´s Witnesses this week. We were knocking doors and boy were they excited to see us!! They were like 2 80 year old little ladies who came out with their bibles in hand and were trying to get their glasses on and remember where to find scriptures. I couldnt even be roused into being contentious by the apostasy they were sharing because they were just too funny/pathetic. They asked me what our beliefs are about life after death and I explained to them a little about our beliefs about the spirit world and resurrection and 3 kingdoms of glory, at which point, one of them thoughtfully replied, ¨But we can´t live on the sun!!! It´s just too hot!!! Maybe on the moon, but then only astronauts would go to that kingdom. Explain that!¨ So we took their watchtower magazine, wished them a good day and laughed for like an hour about the conversation we´d had. Good times. Actually though, it was a really good experience. Ive never talked with Jehova´s Witnesses before and it made me SO grateful to be a member of this Church, that teaches that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers even if we dont really even know how to pray, and that there´s not a set number of people that will go to heaven, that He´s given us all the chance to return. Wow, thank you JEhova´s Witnesses.

27 July 2009

Hey guys!!!

Howd the week go? hope you all survived, had a great time, ate good, took lots of pictures and are now finally getting some sleep!! things are good here. im writing later than usual because we had a baptism today!! It was quite possibly the most hectic day of my mission. His name is willian. hes 13 years old and has been ready to get baptized for 3 weeks, but has been waiting for his mom to come who works in chile. Well she finally got here, but fell and had to go to the hospital today!! So the baptism that was going to be at 12 got changed to 3, then we couldnt find the member that was going to baptize him or the member that was going to speak or the keys to the chapel that had vanished!! i was sprinting a good portion of the day pulling my companion behind me!! To make matters worse we had bought 40 empanadas and were scared the baptim wasnt going to work out. luckily ive just come from the baptism and he got baptized and his mom came and it all worked out better than it would have anyway. So thats been my day.

this week one of our investigators had a picantada to raise money so she can get married and baptized so we helped her. Picante is a poular dish in peru and especially in Tacna. it is basically a stew of red hot chili peppers, not the band, tripe and potatoes served with a rustic bread they make here. we peeled potatoes for hours!! She Angela, was cooking it all in a huge pot outside over a little fire. well they only had like 3 little pieces of wood and needed more so they started pulling wood off the log cabin they live in to burn!!! my companion and I were horrified so we ran to a farm tha has a bunch of branches and dead trees and started hauling wood from there. of course at the end of the day they served us heaping bowls of picante to thankus. i tried to talk them out of it, bt when people have burnt their house to give you this food you cant say no!! So remember how i think toothpaste is spicy??? OH. MY. GOSH. This is THE hottest thing Ive ever eaten!!! I couldnt feel my lips for 3 full hours. Even my companion was sweating trying to eat it!! but somehow we finished off our bowls. thats quite possibly the biggest miracle of my mission to date. my companion told me shes never been more proud. She said I just kept shoveling spoonful after spoonful into my mouth and she cant believe I did it. Neither can I. Neither can I. but yeah, hopefully Angela will be able to get married and baptized soon.

Tomorrow is Perus 4th of July so happy 4th of July in peru to all of you! wednesday we have a stake activity with native dances and food that we are going to take investigators to so it should be fun. ill be sure to take lots of pictures.

Love,

Christa

3 August 2009

Hey Hey Hey Family,

Happy August!!! How are you guys?! Im doing pretty good. Not too much to report here this week. The week has actually gone by really fast.

We had that stake activity on Wednesday and it was really good. Peru knows how to have an activity. Every ward presented a typical dance from Peru and they all had traditional dress and every ward had built a booth, display of a different department in peru and had food and drinks and pictures and animals and clothes and music and all kinds of crazy stuff from that area. We ended up having like 14 investigators there. Funny how we´ve never had more than 7 in the chapel for church on sunday, but for an activity where they have food and candy and clowns and music and dancing, the whole world is able to show up! It was really fun though. They judged the booths to see which ward did the best job and part of the criteria was how much cheering the ward could do when the judges came by. Lets just say the mission hasnt made me any less competitive. No less than 3 people told me their ear drums had been damaged by my screaming. It was like Darrens graduation all over again-when Britt and Em and I screamed and everyone stopped and stared. They told me we had to cheer to win so I cheered!! How was I supposed to know I was going to hurt peoples ear drums?! Anyway, we won!! And yesterday in church a member bore his testimony and in it mentioned how good it was to see the missionaries involved in the activity screaming their lungs out. How embarassing. But we won so I dont regret it.

So picante is haunting me! We ate it AGAIN yesterday in our pension and we have to help a sister in our ward clean out peppers to make it for the primary kids on saturday!! The good news is I think my stomach has finally adjusted to peru because now nothing, not even picante with hot peppers and cow stomach, affects me.

Today we are going to the beach. Again. The members in the ward of the elders have a combie and they are going to take us there to eat lunch. Hopefully itll be fun. Im sure itll at least be good for stories.


10 August 2009
Hey Fam!!

Whats going on?! Things are pretty good here in Tacna. Transfers are next week and sadly I think my time with Hermana Arroyo is coming to an end, but Im pretty sure Ill still be in Tacna next monday. Anyway, we had zone conference this week and it was good. IT was nice to see the Davis´. Sister Davis is actually in oregon right now. She left sunday and will be there for 2 weeks because 2 of her daughters are getting married. In my interview with president davis he said the stake president had said some very nice things about me so basically i feel like I owe that man my life!! He, Pres. Herrera, and his wife are the nicest people ever. They are planning a trip to go to general conference in Oct. 2010 and I told them I would be there to drive them, feed them, show them around, so yeah, hopefully Ill be able to make it up to him for the lies hes been telling to president davis.

Oh, yeah, so we ended up going to the beach last monday. It was actually pretty fun. The bech we went to this time had a bunch of rocks so my companion and I spent our time playing around on those. We started out attempting to catch these crabs we spotted, but after 20 unsuccessful minutes we switched to catching starfish. You know, something a little more stationary. We ended up finding like 20 and my companion brought one home as a pet!! She tried to talk me into it otoo, but thanks to some unknown childhood trauma, I had visions of waking up in the middle of the night with my pet starfish stuck to my face smothering me. What was I allowed to watch when I was little??!1But anyway, it was fun. Anyway, my time is up, but I will write more next week!! Love, Christa

9 MONTHS DOWN, 9 MONTHS TO GO!

So...I'm a major slacker. Here's a larger than life update of Christa's emails from the past two months!!


27 April 2009
Hey guys, hows it going? Not too much to report here. Mom, it looks like I finally got your letters. I just spent 20 minutes writing you guys an email and the computer just erased mine!!! So sorry this is going to be pretty short this week.Im doing pretty good. Not too much to report here. We have some good investigators, but a few of them come to find out need to get married so we will see what happens. Welcome to peru where nobody is married!!This week 2 little girls randomly showed up on our doorstep because they were late for school and needed help with their english homework. I should have sat them down and walked them through it, but they were late so I basically did their homework for them and sent them on their way. And I didnt even feel bad about it. I felt pretty good about it actually. If theyre smart enough to figure out where we live to come get help, Im happy to do their homework for them!! Oh, so everyone wears uniforms to school here. It is so cute. The 4 year old, Andre, who we live with always has his suspenders and tie and sweater on. I love that kid. The other day as we were leaving he asked us if we were going to talk to people about God. We said yes and he yelled after us down the street, well why dont you try doing that here sometime!! You havent talked about God not even one day to me!! Hes 4, but he sure managed to tell us!Well I hope you guys are doing great!! More next week, I promise. Im going to write all my emails in word from now on so they cant get erased!! Love you all!! Hope youre doing great!!Love,Christa


4 May 2009
Hey guys!! So lets hope the internet actually works this week for a change!! Anyway, things are okay here. It has been kind of a tough week. We have gotten rejected more this week than ever and it has been a little rough. Nobody wants to listen!! I blame it on the Virgencita de Chapi that all of Peru is celebrating this week. I don’t know what the real problem was but it wasn’t a good week. On top of that the elders call every night to find out our numbers for the day and if theyre not great, well, we get burned as they like to say down here. I went to bed crying 3 nights this week!! But today and yesterday were good days. The little girl Mabel we baptized got confirmed yesterday and then she bore her testimony. It was so good. The bishop also blessed her that she would serve a mission too! So yeah, it kind of put things in perspective. Ive also found a quote this week by president Hinckley that’s helped me a lot. It says, ¨It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers.¨I love that President Hinckley.
So get this, last pday I almost got robbed!! My companion and I were walking down the street and I hear her go, ¨hey!¨And I thought she saw another missionary or something, but it turns out there was a guy who had opened my backpack and had his hand in it!! He looked pretty terrified that she caught him and ran away scared. Good thing my companion pays attention to things like that!
So the other night my companion was in the shower and I was on my bed reading. I heard these weird scratching noises coming from under my bed. I wanted to look but was too scared. I thought Sweet D, Ems rat, had escaped from Gville and was going to attack my face if I looked under the bed!! (if it isn’t apparent by now, I think I might just have inherited some neuroticism from this family) So instead I spent 20 minutes using my camera to try to take a picture of whatever it was so I could know without putting my face under the bed. After 20 unsuccessful minutes and pictures of only my luggage and the dust that’s accumulated under my bed a giant cockroach finally came strolling out!! Better than a rat, but still disgusting. Love, Christa


11 May 2009
Hey Hey HEy!!
Welp, not too much has happened in the last 12 hours. It was sooooo good to talk to you guys!!I also never finished telling you guys about mothers day here. On Friday all the schools invite the moms and the kids either dance or sing or act or their moms. Andre, who i will be bringing hoe with me, knocked on our door Friday morning and came in in his pig costume asking if we wanted to take pictures of him. of course I did. He performed the 3 little pigs and later told me it went ¨super well¨because he had been practicing for days. I love you guys and thanks for everything and i will talk to you soon!! Love, Christa


18 May 2009
Fam a lam!!!Shwat is up?! Not too much is going on here. Just same old same old. It´s been a tough transfer in terms of investigators who are progressing, but that gives me hope that we will have some really good ones lined up for the next 6 weeks. Speaking of which, transfers are on the 25th and I do NOT want to go! If you don’t get an email from me at the usual time next week that means Im on my way to who knows where! So lets all hope you get a normal email from me and that pachacutec is my home for 6 more weeks. So one of our converts, a single mom named cris, who has 2 little girls, came to my English class on Saturday after just being robbed. She had 500 soles in her purse and somebody stole it. She was going to pay rent and buy food with that money! She had to cut the lock off her door because her purse had her keys in it and she only had 6 soles in her pocket. It was so sad. We usually take her some of our food when we help her clean her house every week and this week I want to giver her everything I own!! I wont, but Im sure there are a few things she could use more than me. The bishop gave her a blessing on Sunday and she seems to be better, but still so sad.
The good news of the week is we learned how to make empanadas in enrichment this week! That’s one good thing about being a sister missionary, we are expected to attend enrichment. Im not sure Darren got to do that much on his mission. Anyway, I hope you all are doing great. I love you and am praying for you! Talk to you soon!!
Love,Christa


26 May 2009
Welp. Im in Tacna. We got the call at 10 pm Sunday night and at 10 am Monday I was on the 6 hour bus ride to Tacna. So I thought I had bus experience when I had the privilege of riding the Greyhound to visit Britt in Vegas once, but I was wrong!People got on at every stop yesterday selling watches, necklaces, corn, avocados, pork, etc. Also, we had to look out the windows everytime we pulled over to make sure people werent robbing our things from under the bus!! Anyway, I am now with Hna. Arroyo who is from Cuzco and has been on her mission for 3 months. The elders told me Id been demoted to junior companion and I told them that sounded about right, but unfortunately they were kidding and Im still a senior companion. My companion seems really great. Shes only been a member a year and a half! Crazy.
So I was sad to leave pachacutec. I cried. My companion cried. The lady that does our laundry cried. The extremely catholic mom of our pensionista even cried! But I did get some pretty good parting gifts. Among them a miniature wooden house, shinguards, a cinderella diary, a list of recipes, and pictures of Andre in traditional peruvian dress when he had to perform a dance one time! It was hard to leave, but if I stayed longer I know it would have been harder so I guess it is good.
But yes, I am in Tacna. It is pretty close to Chile. I dont know what I ever complained about in Arequipa because we had flushing toilets ther!! Here there is a pitcher in the bathroom that we fill with water to throw in the toilet bowl - that doesnt even have a seat!! Also, compared to here the water in the shower in Arequipa was scalding!! Also, we have a tin roof and after waking up to scratching noises Im pretty sure theres a coop of chickens up there. Per usual. But dont worry too much. I always take a while to adjust but end up loving my areas. See my early emails from Pachacutec for proof. Im sure Tacna will be great. Just pray for me a little harder the next couple of weeks.
Good news mom, my package came this week so I was able to leave cinnabears and jelly bellies with people and they were SO happy to have that candy.
Anyway, thanks for your emails. Im going to go read them now. They keep me going! But I love you all and miss you and hope you are safe and healthy and happy and still watching tv and eating out for me. Love you!!
Love,Christa


1 June 2009
We had a baptism Friday. I like Tacna. I had nothing to do with it of course, but that didn´t stop me from enjoying the fruits of someone elses labor. The mom of a lady in our ward lives in Lima. 3 weeks ago she had a dream she was dressed in white and got baptized. So she took the 20 hour bus ride to come visit her daughter in Tacna to talk about it. While she was here my companion and her companion taught her the lessons. She went back to Lima, but came back this week and on Thursday night told us she wanted to get baptized Friday! It was a little crazy to get pulled together, but it all worked out. We had lessons with her husband everynight they were in town and Im hoping he has the same dream and comes back to get baptized too!! I pray for my investigators to have dreams. They NEVER go against their dreams. I love it. So after 9 years of her daughter being a member Hna. Paulina got baptized this week.
I really do think I like tacna. We have parts of downtown in our area which remind me a little of San Fran. there are also parts that remind me a LOT of death valley too. It has a little bit of everything. Supposedly it is one of the hottest places in the mission, but since it is winter we havent seen too much of the sun. Even though it is a little chilly it is still WAY better than puno or arequipa this time of year Im sure so thank you for your prayers. Oh!! I got your package with gloves and nylons and makeup!! Thank you!!
I think our pensionista is good. After having missionaries live here for 10 years she finally got baptized last year. Get this though, her husband is a full blown buddhist!! There is always incense burning and he chants in Chinese!! he is really nice though. But it always takes a little bit of getting used to when we have to change pensionistas. For instance, Isabel is convinced I dont eat enough so she piles my plate HIGH with rice and potatoes and then sits by me until I finish it all!! My heart hurts from eating so much!! Im thinking of telling her I have diabetes and require a special diet...We´ll see. Also, we ate fried fish the other day and I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out what part of the fish I was eating and then I picked up a little round thing on my plate and realized I was holding a fried fish eye!!! It was then confirmed to me that we were eating fish heads. The good news is a family offered us calamari this week!! I was in heaven. Speaking of which we are going to the beach for pday today!! Itll be my first time to see the ocean here! I will gather seashells for you all. Love, Christa

8 June 2009
Buenas tardes fam a lam! Schwat is up? Welp another week here in tacna. I dont know what map youre looking at but suposedly Im in a place called TACNA. Who knows though right??
So our zone had a meeting with our stake presidency last week and they are awesome. They asked about each ward and bishop and mission leader and how they ca n help us. Theyre also taking us out for pizza this week! They told us that theyve heard that the mission arequipa is going to change its boundaries and include Cuzco and a place called Puerto Maldonado because it is easier to travel to those places from arequipa than from lima? Im guessing the change will take years and supposedly they werent even suposed to say anything so we will see what happens. Still kind of interestiang though.
So I do like Tacna. As my companion says , ¨tacna is a box of surprises!¨ S he says that because, among other things, there is a higher p opulation of arabians in tacna than peruvians!!

Mom, in answer to your questions we do have beds and a pensionista. She is nice, but it has been another adjustment. I never thought it would be so hard to not pick what i want to eat. Dad was wondering what we have for breakfast and EVERY morning we have bread and a drink that looks and tastes suspiciously like gravy....And to think I complained about meat and tomatoes for breakfast!!
Dad, in answer to your questions zone conference is coming up in about 2 weeks. You asked if they were fun. I wouldnt exactly say fun, I mean there are definitely no milk chugging contests like in NV LVW , but we do always learn a lot so thats something good.
OH!! Guess who I got a call from this morning ?!! None othe than the one, the only , Andre!! He said his heart hurt and he wanted to sing me a song to make it feel better !! I do miss that kid. I also talked to hna soplopuco. She sounds good. I m iss her too.
So...bad news... I think I have fleas. W hen I woke up with little bites all over, and my companion too, she diagnosed us with fleas. I hope shes wrong, but what can you do? We bought a spray for ourselves and our beds and are cleaning and washing everything!!!
Speaking of waking up with afleas, I found a scripture i really like this week in D and C. Its in 6 verses 13 and 14. I definitely wouldnt have ended up here on my own!! But if its where I ended up it s where i need to be right' I also like verse 34. Its a good little section.
Anyway, sorry this message has so many errors , I think somebody spilled a soda on this keyboard or something. But I hope you are all doing great. I miss you and love you and pray for you all the time. Talk to yo soon!! Love,Christa


15 June 2009
Hey fam!!How are you guys?? Im doing pretty good. Aside from the fact that I ate lung this week of course! LUNG. Cow lung. It was a lot like eating a sponge. But actually, it really wasnt that bad. Im worried ive given you guys the wrong impression with the food situation here. Theres LOTS of food. Ample food!! Good food! It´s just the fact that I cant open the fridge or cupboard and pick what and how much and when thats been a challenge. But yeah, dont think Im not eating. Im eating. Boy am I eating!!So things are pretty good here in Tacna. Our goal as a companionship this transfer, aside from baptisms of course, is to get to know the ward members so they can help us. I think we´ve made some progress in that department because every night last week we were invited to an FHE, dinner, birthday, or other event. We shared the spiritual thought and they shared with us. Among other things I was given a bracelet, earrings, a pair of pajama pants, shoes, a half kilo of olives, etc. The members here are really great and it´s going to help us a lot to know them.Dad, to answer your questions, we have about 120 members in our ward I think. In my other ward only about 60 were attending! We also have a normal chapel with flushing toilets, but no hymnals. Not too many indigenous indians but just about everyone speaks quechua or amayra. We havent had too many lessons with members, but we´re working on that with our plan to get to know people. They really are nice though.So how was Carson Valley days? Please tell me you were all front and center living it up for me. Want to know something ironic? You know how much I love parades in the US? Here parades are the bane of my existance!! They have parades all the time and nobody can ever go to church because theyre always marching in parades!!! The good news is there was no parade yesterday and we had 7 investigators at church.Anyway, whens Trek?? I cant wait to hear all about it.D and M, happy anniversary and wish stratt a very feliz cumpleanos from his aunt. And Dad happy fathers day!! I think you should make a trip to Tacna to celebrate. Ill take you out to the punjabi restaurant! Anyway, we have our multizona this week so Im sure Ill have more to tell you next week.Love you all. Hope youre doing great. Good luck with trek if its this week. Whens Cumorah?! Thanks for your emails and prayers and support! Love you guys.Love, Christa


22 June 2009
Warnaing-this keyboard isJACKED anda ainserts a´s all over the place anddoesnt do spaces. Sorry!!! Happy 2nd day of summer!!!Its definitely not summer here, but Im not freezing to death either so thats good news. It feels a lot like a giants night game here in Tacna. Humid and definitely chilly, but not snow worthy weather. Thankfully. Anyway, not too much is going on here I'm more interested in hearing how you all survived trek!!! Im hoping youve recovered enough to write me about ait and that em is sending me a copy of the book shes written about this painful period in her life. Things are alright here.We had zone conference this week and it was fuan to see president and sister davis. We talked about diligence and teaching and thianking about and loving and workaing with investigators. Pres Davis got rid of the standards of excellence and is letting us make our own goals every week. The standard of excellence is still the goal of the mission every moanth though soI guess things havent changed too, too much.
So Hna Soplopuco called me this week!! Iwas so happy to hear from her, UNTIL Ifound out whyshe was calliang-to tell me a guy we had tracted into in Arequipa was traveliang to Tacna to lookfor me!!We taught hima few alessoans, but he always said he couldnt focus because I made ahim nervous and there werent girls like me ian Peru. aObvioausly, we quit ateachiang him.I thinka his moam wanted gringo grandbabies or something because everytime we ran into her in town shed tell uswe had to go back and visit her son. Shed alwaysmake comaments about my hair and eyes too!! Anyway,I forgot about him, but Hna. S. ran into him and he told her he has business in Tacna for 2 weeks and is going to go chapel to chapel looking forme becauseI never told him goodbye!! So yeah, hopefully I wont have any news for you about my good friend Angel next week. Ironic that thats his name right? Hes not dangerous oranything. Im naot worried at all. Welp, theres not really toomuch toreport here. We have some good investigators.Willian, Renato, Angela, Maria, Nury...but some ofthem need toget married and some need permission from their parents so well see. OH, but Felix, the guy that we taught when he was in Tacna, the hausband of the lady that got bqaptized right when I got here, called us from Lima to tell us hes getting baptized!! I wont get to see it, but its still pretty exciting.
Anyway, how are you all?? What are the plans for the4th? When do you leave for NY?? I love you and miss you!! Stay safe! And sane, if possible.
aalove,a Christa
Sorryagain about this keyboard.Idont have time to fix itall. Love you!! Hope you can decipher this!!!


29 June 2009
What????? And to think I thought news would get to me slower in the mission! I found out about MJ the day of! Crazy. And Farrah Fawcett too?? What is going on??
Anyway, unlike the celebrities in the US, I am doing pretty good. We had a baptism on Saturday!! A 12 year old named Renato got baptized. On Fri we taught him and he prayed that a counselor in our bishopric would get home from his business trip in Lima in time to baptize him on Saturday. The wife of the counselor told us she couldnt get ahold of him and that meant he wouldnt be getting home until Sunday. Renato was sad and obviously so was I. Imagine our surprise when we were walking to the baptism with Renato on Saturday and saw Hno. Rivas walking into his house with his luggage!! You should have seen the look on Renato´s face. And on mine! So yeah, Hno. Rivas baptized Renato. We went to renato´s house on Sunday to pick him up to go to church and he wasnt there! We were so scared he wasnt going to be able to get confirmed. We waited for a few minutes and he finally came walking up. He had been at the house of a friend borrowing a dress shirt and tie to wear to church!! Precious.
Oh, did I tell you about how the bishop announced a lady in our ward had died and she really hadn´t? Yeah, well we went to visit her this week. She has cancer and is on bed rest and is the sweetest lady. And young. Shes only 50! We offered to sing her a hymn and she chose Nearer My God to Thee. I just about lost it. The bishop planned her funeral in ward council yesterday!I found the whole thing a little morbid, especially because she looks strong to me and could be around for a lot longer! So we have a ward activity today. It´s a family sports, games, fun day. My district is going to go, but get this, we dont have permission to go in pday clothes so we are attending our ward sports activity in church dress!!! Ill let you know how it goes next week...
What are you doing for the 4th??? Enjoy it for me PULEASE!!!!
Love you and miss you all!! Be safe!! TAlk to you soon!!
Love,Christa