Tres Mil Papas (Three Thousand Potatoes): Week 7 - October 20

Jonah arrived in the Trujillo North Mission and today we found out he was assigned to work in Cajamarca. Specifically the Baños del Inca area. When he arrived he found out that he is in the same location that Sister Candace Nielsen is working. She is also from Caldwell, definitely a small world He seems to have had an amazing week. Unfortunately his camera did not upload photos this week so we will be posting some pictures from the blog of the Mission President kurtandkathymarler.blogspot.com

Heyyyyy Everybody! So I kinda had the biggest 2 weeks (ish) in mylife! It was incredibly memorable and I can't believe that I've madeit to my area with my new companion! So I'm basically gonna skipeverything that happened in the CCM because it was super boring andjust classes. Except the last day! We found out that only the TrujilloNorth mission would be leaving a whole day early on Monday instead ofTuesday! So that was super crazy and terrifying haha. But yeah, onMonday all we did was travel and get settled in at the mission homefor one night. The mission home is a little slice of the USA in Peruhaha. Anyway, now I'll start with the good stuff :)

On Tuesday, we had some introduction classes in the mission homewith the AP's and Presidente Marler. We had a short interview, andthen we were told that we would be assigned our new companions andareas in a few short hours. We walked to the chapel when it was time,and we all sat down in the capilla across from the trainers. Theyannounced my name first, and so my new companion for at least the next12 weeks is Elder Salinas!! He is so fantastic! He's from Lima Peru,and he's been in the field now for 9 months. And we have been assignedto the Cajamarca, Baños del Inca Area!! It's at roughly 8500 feetwhich is super loco, and it reminds me a lot of Idaho because there'stons of farms and vaqueros and cows haha. Anyway, we then learned thatit would be a 7 hour bus ride which kinda stinks but whatever :)

On Thursday, all we did was travel haha. But yeah, there were about10000 turns on the way there on this super sketch road, so about anhour away from Cajamarca, vomitè lol. We arrived safely and then haddinner with the missionaries in my ward. And get this. Hermana Nielsen(Candice Nielsen) is in my ward! Probably the most loco coincidence inthe world haha. Then we taught a Noche de Hogar with the Hermanaswhich was still hard for me to comprehend because Hermana Nielsen, inmy same stake, was teaching a family in Spanish with me lol.

On Friday, I was super humbled. In more than one way. During ourlessons in proselyting, I had no idea what was going on for more than50% of the time. Elder Salinas is a phenomenal teacher, but whenever Iwould say something, I would stumble everywhere, conjugateincorrectly, and basically repeated what was just said haha. Anyway,we also visited a less active that lived in super poor conditions. Hishouse was completely made of stone and dirt, except for thedeteriorating wood ceiling. He was bed-ridden, but still has a superstrong desire to learn the gospel. He seems super happy even in histough conditions.

On Saturday, Elder Salinas started to get up 15 minutes early to gofor a run every morning and it is so fantastic :) We had a zone anddistrict meeting and it was super cool to meet everybody. Also, I hadthe best Lomo Saltado in my life, and I had to take a picture of it.Our pensionista is a miracle worker!

On Sunday, we had a multi-stake conference with a live broadcast ofElder Neil L Andersen. It was specifically for just Bolivia and Peruwhich was super cool. Elder Andersen tried to speak Spanish eventhough he only knows Portuguese, but it was super cool to hear him. Itwas super easy to understand him because he talked really slow haha.Also, Sunday night, I had my first door contact and it was terrifyinghaha. But we are going to teach them on Tuesday!!
Well that pretty much sums up everything. I've been working super hardon my Spanish and I feel like I've learned a whole ton. But also Ihave a whole bunch more to learn. I've been humbled every day here andmy new catch phrase is 'otra vez, pero mas lento por favor' haha. Ican't wait to teach more and to bless peoples' lives cada dia. It'sprobably the coolest thing that I will ever be able to do. Alright!Love you all! ¡Viva Perù!