Week 2 in Peru

Well, to start off, I've got some good news and some bad news for anyone who sent me letters. The good news is, yay, you sent me letters! You love me! The bad news is that I gave you the wrong address, so if you sent anything, I'm not going to get it for four weeks. SO! Don't send anything else to the address I gave you or I won't get it for a long time, and that saddens me. The real address is:

 

Elder Daniel Jacob Smith

Calle El Grifo 151

Urb. Campo Verde

La Molina

Lima 12

That's my address until I get out of the CCM, so send letters there instead. Anyone can also send me email now.  My email address is: daniel.smith@myldsmail.net.   Here are a few things I didn't talk about in my last e-mail! 

My flight to Dallas was pretty good, we had a really smooth take off, and not a whole lot of turbulence, so overall it was a pretty good flight. We met 10 missionaries in SLC who traveled with us all the way here. When we got to DFW,

we had a six hour layover, so most of the time there we spent sitting around, eating stuff, etc. When we were about to leave for Lima, we were met by 12 other missionaries, making it 22 at DFW. I got probably the best seat on the flight to Lima, and I found out Airplanes make me very motion sick. We landed in Lima at about 1 in the morning, and when we got though security and actually got to the MTC, we ended up going to bed at about 3 am. Luckily, we got to sleep in till 9 am the following morning. No luggage issues, everything got here fine.

Elders Coleman, Blackham, Weseman and Smith

My roommates, Elder Langford, Bridgewater, and Wesemann are all from different parts of Utah that I can't think of right now.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to really know my Latino roommates very well before they left today. They were  a bit crazy while they were here though. They'd stay up at night running around and screaming, and they'd do weird things like making sling shots out of exercise bands, etc.  A new batch of Americans and Latinos are coming in on Thursday, so that's exciting!

Anyway, major events for this week! The sun actually came out the Wednesday after I emailed you! There were blue skies! It was warm! It was amazing! ...until it was time for physical activity, because things got sweaty and sticky and miserable after that. I guess the clouds... have a silver lining. Ha!

 

Sickness in the MTC spreads like wild fire. I haven't gotten sick yet, and don't intend to so I'm being really careful about staying clean and stuff. It seems like the longer I'm in the CCM, the longer it feels sort of like a prison. At least there's only four more weeks!

Saturday was an experience for me! We woke up at the normal time, went and had breakfast, loaded onto a bus, and went out proselyting. Elder Wesemann and I went around from door to door with a native speaking guide, and tried having discussions. Elder Wesemann and I would greet the investigator, and the guide would take over from there. It did give me a good idea of how it's going to be out in my field, because we were out proselyting in my actual mission. How many missionaries can say that the went out proselyting in their mission BEFORE they got out of the MTC?

Anyway, I was struck by how poor these people are. All the houses were brick, most of them falling apart, dirt roads, garbage EVERYWHERE. Plus, there are literally hundreds of stray dogs just
wandering in the streets. Hundreds. Some sitting on street corners, others chilling on top of houses, really anywhere you can think of. It was hard to knock on doors though, because most of the houses have gates completely blocking the way to the doors. The look of everything was a strange mix of Nacho Libre and Afghanistan.

All the days mix together here, so it's often times hard to keep the days straight. The only days that are different are Sundays, when all we do is watch videos from Apostles to the Provo MTC missionaries, and study. Even still, Sundays blend in with the rest. P-days are the only really distinguishing days, because they're so relaxed. We can do pretty much whatever we want (within reason, as well as missionary standards), then we listen to a devotional for about an hour. It's really awesome! Plus, P-days are the only days we can take pictures, so that's pretty cool too.

Anyway, That brings us to now. Nothing else all that exciting. I am about out of time though, so I'll end with this. Wear pants, drink water, and be the best you can! I love you all!!
 

Elder Smith