Letters from Peru CCM

Here is a compilations of letters from Ian's 6 weeks in the Peru CCM (MTC):

August 4th, 2011

"Hey Everyone!

Things are great here in Peru. Flights went well, but were rather long. I felt really bad because I got to my dorm room and my companion was already asleep and it was like 2:30 in the morning. He is from Argentina, Elder Sandoval. Today has been really hectic but kinda fun because we are all trying to learn and understand as much as we can. My companion looks a lot like Michael Radchuk from Ukraine. He is really nice, but speaks with a strong accent that is sorta hard to understand. But he is patient with my questions. One of the coolest parts about this place is the small size of the MTC (CCM in Spanish). There are 150 of us, about 75 natives and 75 whities. I think the procedure is that you are with a Latino companion for 3 weeks before they leave, then depending on your Spanish you will get paired with another native, or with other North Americans. I loved seeing those pictures of Elliott; what an aware individual. The picture of Adam giving him a sponge bath is really funny. Oh! there is a astroturf soccer field too that we get to use for gym. It´s gonna be great. Don´t send any packages, they say it is hard to get a hold of them and they´re expensive. I´m missing my district from Provo though, especially Elder Garret who reminds me so much of a mix between PJ Howland and Kyle Moffet. OH! this morning, we got up at 6:30 after our little nap of a night sleep, and once we were showered and dressed, they took our passports and cut our hair! SO short. Everyone except the girls. Anyway, all is well. I will write again on my p-day, which is Wednesdays. Have a good week!

Elder Blackwelder"

August 10th, 2011

"This week has been awesome! I love the Peru CCM (MTC in spanish), but it has been tough. I'll start with the tough things: Very small, 150 people. It's hard to get a lot of meat out of the classes for two reasons:  

a. it's all in Spanish   

b. some members of our class hardly know anything about Spanish so the teacher talks soooo slow. 

Good things: everything else! The food is really good. Every day there is a funky juice, and most of the North Americans don't like them, but I think they're really good. There is a purple one that is made from some sort of corn and has kinda a bland bark taste. Others are just straight watermelon watery juice, beet juice, and all sorts of others. My teacher brought in a passion fruit for us to try in class, a maracuya, it is so good! It smells incredible and there are two varieties, one is tangy, the other is like bubble gum. Most of the meals are a potato side dish, soup, plate with rice and some sort of chicken or beef and a dessert. So far I've like just about all of them. The high amount of rice, though, makes for slow going through your digestive tract....I hadn't gone #2 for like 4 days....

Today is the first day we get to go out! Every North American has a Latino companion who we bunk with, and they are our companions when we go out in the city. Today we take the bus to a store and buy whatever we want and come back after a few hours. But on Saturday, we go out with them and hit the streets for real and knock on some doors, or visit less active members. My companion's name is Elder Sandoval, he is from Argentina and I always think about Damai whenever he talks about Argentina. We have an hour a day to have gym time, and we always play soccer on the awesome artificial field...so beautiful. I always love to play defense because I have 0 footwork. It's so funny to hear the Latinos say things in English because it's always a reallly random quote from some movie or song that they know...classic. I've run out of time, but I love you all, I think about everyone! 

Love Elder Blackwelder"

August 24th, 2011

"So I'm so sorry about not sending a good email last week. i ran out of time because I was talking to an Elder I recognized from BYU, Elder Johnson. He lives in Tujunga and is from the Frame's stake. He and I were talking about working together after the mission on community designing. Everything is still going great. Food is getting old, but that's what happens no matter where you are I suppose. We've been out proselyting twice now, the first time was so difficult for me. It was me and my companion with a youth from the ward, an older member, and a teacher from the MTC. We got bussed to a ward building in a part of Peru, and then broke off and went to our assigned areas. Ours was way up on this hill, the most poor. Everything here is just brown gray, the nastiest color from all the pollution that gets deposited with rain. Even the plants are brown on the older leaves. We walked all over this shanty town trying to meet up with some inactive members, but to minimal success. Only one lady let us in (the daughter of the older member we were with) and there was no floor, hardly a roof over half the house and walls made of scraps of wood and corrugated metal. 

The next week was better though, this last Wednesday, we were in a different area and the goal we were focusing on was getting to teach inside the homes and not just at the door. We found one tiny little lady, a midget, sitting on the sidewalk knitting. We went up to talk with her and we could tell she wasn't really interested even though she was talking with us. I felt that she felt so insignificant because we were standing and she was sitting so far down, so I sat down in the dirt next to her. My companion did the same, and immediately she began to express interest. She put her needles down and asked questions and listened well. It was great. My favorite part was we were teaching her in her home, her living room essentially, because she was homeless. Quite an incredible experience. 

We got to go on a tour today because there were only about 25 of us here now because all the Latinos left after their 3 weeks along with the advanced North Americans. On the tour, we got to go to the beach! So cool. There were people surfing and everything! We got some pics and we also got to go to the center of Lima. It was cool, we ate some pizza and ice cream and churros. 

Elder Oaks is coming today! He is speaking in an hour or so. It's been so great here, but there is NO sun. Its winter, so it's always foggy/cloudy.

Talk to you next week,

Love Elder Blackwelder     

PS. if you send any mail now, send it to my mission home in Quito:   

Elder Blackwelder

Mision Ecuador Quito 

Calle Robles 640 y Amazonas 

Quito

ECUADOR

September 7th, 2011

"So, I have only one week left! I'm so excited. Elder Anderson and I went out on Saturday and got to talk with some less active members. I think that is the toughest: trying to get some grouchy old people without any teeth to believe in something they once did, but are just a bit to callused to care now. And it's almost impossible to understand their Spanish. 

Speaking of Spanish, it is coming along great. Other than elderly folks, I can understand most types of accents now. Every day Elder Anderson and I try to sit with a different Latino missionary at breakfast, lunch and dinner so we can hear as many people speaking as we can. I think that is definitely the hardest part now, just getting the listening down. I can't wait to see Quito, Here in Lima, it is always cloudy, cold, really polluted and there are only hills without any vegetation to look at. I think all the vegetation has died from the pollution, it's awful. The past 4 days actually have been sunny. I'll try to send some pictures over today, I don't think it worked last week.

Love you all and will talk with you in another week from Ecuador!

Elder Blackwelder"

September 13th, 2011

"So, I made it to Quito and have a few minutes to write to say I'm here and safe! The view is incredible and the air is definitely thin! I'll write you more on Monday (P-day)!

Love you all!"