WEEK 7: BAGUA GRANDE
November 21, 2018
The last few days have been so crazy, holy. Early Tuesday morning about 2:30am, we packed all of our bags and got on a bus to go to the Lima Airport. We were at the airport standing in line for about 3 hours, and then we left for Chiclayo. The flight was only an hour, so that was chill, hahaha... Elder Eveo is from Venezuela and he was sitting by me on the plane. He looks like Shaq mixed with Sagat from Streetfighters. We got to Chiclayo and I met President Balderrama, our Mission President. He is so spiritual and funny, and he's just super amazing. That was my first impression of him. President and his wife only speak Spanish, but I understand and speak enough Spanish that we got through my first interview just fine. President and Hermana Balderrama are so amazing. We went to their house for lunch because we were new missionaries and I ate the best food I've ever had. It was some kind of chicken and beef with a whole bunch of other stuff. I am sitting on a bus as I am writing this, and I just woke up from a two hour nap. We are in these crazy mountains about five hours from Chiclayo, and we are stopped on one of those one-lane roads, stuck in traffic. But I will get to that later. We went back to the church and we learned what our areas were and who our companions are. My companion's name is Elder Maron, and my area, Bagua Grande, is seven hours away from Chiclayo.
After that I went on splits with some other misioneros, Elder Clark and Elder Serrano. It was really cool to actually go out and teach and proselyte. We were supposed to teach five lessons, but we only taught two because no one was home. We proselyted, or talked to a ton of other people, and we gave away lots of cards with the Church's information on them. We ended up proselyting for about seven hours, and I love Chiclayo. The city of Chiclayo is really small compared to Lima, but the general population is a lot more poorer than in Lima. The airport in Chiclayo is basically and one runway and one tiny building. Chiclayo is so beautiful in its own way, there is trash and wild dogs in the street, but I love the city. I kind of thrive in chaos, so this place is actually pretty sick. Oh, also I rode in one of those cart things - it's basically a modified dirt bike that has two seats in the back and a little tarp box thing around it. I think these carts are called moto cartes, and they are literally everywhere, and that is basically how you get around here. Proselyting was amazing, and this bus is moving again and the road is bumpy, so I will write later.
November 22, 2018
Today was one of the craziest days of my life, legit. I can't put into words how amazing this all is, because I have never been in this situation before. It is actually so crazy. Ok, so yesterday we were on a bus to a town called Jaen. This bus was massive and we were on the top floor of it, because it had two levels. There was only one window in the front, so Elder Merritt and I sat up there. We left Chiclayo and got on this crazy big bus and we both fell asleep. We woke up in this city that was a dirt road and had sugar and rice farms and palm trees. This is what I imagined when I pictured Chiclayo in my head. There was a bunch of weird movies playing, and we couldn't watch them because we are missionaries, but I glanced up at this movie 100 times, after I woke up. So if anyone wants to send me a plot summary of 'My Name is Khan' that would be great. The roads we were on were insane. Our bus driver was driving like he was 3 hours behind schedule. He was passing cars going like 100kmph, and he was in the oncoming lane more than he was in the right-hand lane. There are huge patches of the road that are plain dirt because there is no asphalt within four hours. Our driver was going literally so fast we almost hit about 13 goat herds, and a couple of those really skinny milk cows. Later that night we hit a huuuuge bat and it blew up on the windshield in front of us. So that was tight. Anyways, the next thing we know, we are literally in the Amazon mountains. There is a cliff on one side of the road, and there is banana trees all over the place. There were these huge mountains just packed full of green trees and little shack villages all over on the edges of these cliffs. The road was so tiny and we were on the biggest bus I have ever seen. Also, there were five or six parts of the road where the right-hand lane had fallen off the cliff, so our bus driver would swerve into the other lane - still going like 80kmph. It was so crazy, and the roads just kept going up the mountains. The road was literally like this:
Oh, and there was literally clouds where we were driving so I have no idea how our driver even could see where he was driving. I kept saying in my head that God wouldn't kill one of his messengers hahaha... It was so insane, but so cool. I will never have this experience again, so I am so grateful I'm here. We left Chiclayo at 1:30pm and got to Jaen at 8:30pm. We got to the bus station there and we packed our bags in a Mototaxi and it was pouring rain. Jaen is actually a huge city, and it popped up out of nowhere in the Amazon Jungle. We got to the Zone Leader's apartment in Jaen, and their apartment was so cool. They lived in an alley and only had a curtain between their room and the toilet/shower. They left the window open when we were sleeping so the lizards would eat the bugs. I couldn't make this stuff up, I swear this is the greatest experience of my life. I love it here.
Right now I am in Bagua Grande, with my trainer Elder Moran, and we had an amazing day. I love this work. Will write more tomorrow.
November 23, 2018
Oh my. Today was a crazy good day too, but first I need to tell the rest of my story. After we got to Jaen, we were in the Zone Leaders apartment, if you could call it that, and it was the coolest thing ever. They had two mattresses in the middle of a big concrete room as their table and dirt and garbage was everywhere, hahaha.. We went to their pensionista's house, and she made these kind of burger things. Then we went to sleep, and it was so hot. Legit, they had one fan that rattled all night, and I didn't have a blanket. I wouldn't have used one if I did. The fan was on rotate for four people - Elder Merritt, me, Elder Flake, and Elder Espinoza. That was some of the best sleep I have had in my life. We named one of the lizards that came in the room, too. In the morning we got up early to play volleyball with some other Elders at the Stake Center, so that was really cool. I love writing in mototaxis because it is so cool, and it costs a maximum of two soles to ride anywhere, anytime. So it is basically a 70 cent taxi. We left Jaen on one of those super old buses - that they pack like 25 people in, like a small van/bus thing - and we tied our bags on the top with a tarp because it was raining. On the bus, we went through more crazy mountain passes getting closer to the Amazon. Legit there's so many banana trees and huge green mountains and giant Amazon rivers that are totally brown. Our driver was flying at about 100kmph. We finally got to Bagua Grande and we were so lost, Elder Merritt and I. We were at a bus stop in a crazy, busy city, and we were just waiting for the other missionaries in our area. Oh, also, Elder Moran and I are the only missionaries in our area, so we were waiting for missionaries from our Zone, but a different area. Elder Merritt and I were waiting for about an hour in the splitting heat, like it was so hot. The missionaries finally showed up, and we walked our stuff to the meeting house, and it was probably 98 degrees. There was probably about 15 ceiling fans in the chapel, which was a concrete room with a bunch of chairs and a pulpit. We had a district meeting and Elder Moran and I went to our apartment. I wonder how Elder Merritt is doing right now, because this is the first time in 7 weeks that we haven't been together. He looked so scared when he was leaving with his Latino companion ahahahahahaha.. Our cuarto was about 35 degrees C, which I think is about 98 degrees F, but I have no clue. We have two fans, two desks, two beds, and a bathroom with a door - so that is nice. We are so happy with what we have. We also have a filter on the bathroom sink to get clean water. We just fill up our 5 gallon bucket from the water filter, which takes about 45 minutes because the water filter barely spits out any agua. Oh, we have a fridge here too, so that is actually sooo nice. We are living privileged out here.
Our pensionista Hermana Herlinda is literally the classic Latina abuela and she makes probably the best food I have ever tasted. She loves me because I say 'la comida es muy rica' every day. Elder Moran and I are so tight - he likes Naruto and Dragonball Z and he wants to learn English to be an 'International Negotiations' guy. He is so amazing and I love him so much. I am sweating constantly here and I already look skinny ahahaha. Hermana Herlinda will keep me fed. I love this work and we are literally in the Amazon Jungle. There are dogs and people everywhere, and yesterday, I literally helped this lady by using a machete to chop down some trees around her house on a handmade wood ladder. We are visiting them tomorrow for a first lesson. Spanish is coming really quick, and I have never been so happy in my entire life. Good night, love you all.
November 24, 2018
I love this work so much. It is so hot here I don't know what to do, ahahaha... Today was a killer. Elder Moran and I found out that if we run from each shadow to the next, then we are ok - because the sun is so hot. My Spanish is coming along, but I mostly just nod my head and say 'Si.. si!' when I have no clue what is going on. Today was amazing and I will never again have this experience. We had a lesson with this lady named Luz. She was the lady I chopped a tree down for, and she was amazing. As soon as we started teaching, she was asking so many great questions and I was speaking pretty good Spanish. I love this work. It is hot here - but the work is worth it. I have always felt the Spirit through chills going through my back, like a rush of goosebumps. So I know the Spirit is really strong when I am so hot I am soaking and dripping with sweat in someone's concrete house, but yet I am still freezing cold with those goosebumps. I have never felt the love of God more in my life. I love the people here. We visited a recently converted family of five (two parents, two little daughters, and a son), and they were so funny. Their two daughters are the cutest thing I have ever seen. We taught the family a spiritual thought, and I bore my simple testimony to them while sitting outside on a plastic chair with dogs barking in the street and motos zooming everywhere. They were listening so intently and they just wanted to feel the Spirit and be closer to God. I love this work and I think I am getting used to the heat. Love you all.
November 25, 2018
Today was an amazing Sunday. Church in the Bagua Grande Branch is super interesting. The people are so funny and I look forward to knowing them all. I stood up and gave my testimony and that was cool. It was a scorching, hot day today, but we pushed through and contacted a lot of people. We had one of the best first lessons I have ever seen with Rosa and Jose. They are one of the only couples that is legally married and they have three hijos. They were listening so intently and asking questions. Elder Moran is super good at using Bible references, it's crazy. It is cool to see Elder Moran ask the people for their household bible, which is usually passed down for many generations, and it is all old and brown because their great-grandpa had it. Elder Moran looked through the pages and showed them scriptures relating to the gospel from their own bible. Jose and Rosa were so happy to learn that Christ came to the Americas long ago. I saw the love of God in their eyes. It was our first visit and they were already feeling the Spirit so strongly. Jose described his feelings of peace and comfort, and I told him it was the Spirit. We ended and Jose gave me a huge hug - even though we were strangers, he could feel our love. Oh, also, yesterday I ate duck, which was pretty good. It is like duck is to chicken as beef is to buffalo. Also, I saw a frog the size of my fist today. So that was cool. Also, Gabe, I saw the Peruvian form of Pippie laying on a dirt road today. Love you all.
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