WEEK 3: PERU MTC
October 24, 2018
Hey fam, I have literally no time to write tonight, but I love you all so much. I miss yall but I'm probably never gonna come home, hahahahahaha. No I miss you guys a little, but I know that I am supposed to be here. I love the people so much and I love talking to them and learning about their lives and loving them. Also splits with Jackson was sooooo crazy but I'll write about it tomorrow.
October 25, 2018
Today was a really long day and I was so tired all day long. I love being at the CCM though. I love learning espanol even though it is so hard, I love the language and it isn't too different from English, honestly. So yesterday I saw good old Jackson - I mean Elder Shockley - and it was so crazy. The chances were so low that I would see him, and I had no idea that he was even going to be there. So, at the CCM, only missionaries that had been out for 5 weeks are usually able to go on splits with the missionaries, but this was the first time in the history of the CCM that 2 week old missionaries had the chance to go. There were 4 groups going to different areas in the Lima East mission, and we were placed in random groups. I know that God orchestrated this because there is no way it was a coincidence. We pulled up and I saw Jackson immediately, because he stood out so well, like all yall know. He was talking to a guy in a transportation cart-looking thing, but I was crying so much when we saw each other. Honestly it was like Alma and the sons of Mosiah meeting again. I was crying so much when I saw him and we hugged for probably about 2 hours. Oh my gosh it was insane to see him. We were partners and he showed me and Elder Merritt how to proselyte and he was wayyyyyy good at Spanish. I knew enough Spanish that Jackson let me talk to most of the people - he's basically a pro - and together we were able to contact so many people. It was crazy and he was so afraid of the dogs because he would always try to run away and the dogs would try to bite him because he was running and showing signs of weakness haahahaha. Elder Merritt and I would stand our ground and kind of fight the dogs away. Jackson has so much merch, and he said he got a custom supreme American flag shirt. I love Peru, and I love the craziness of the city, because there are literally no rules. No one follows the rules of the road, there are people walking literally everywhere, and the entire city is covered with dirt. But the people are humble and I love the city here. I honestly love the chaos of this place, haha. Anyways, today was good, and the CCM is getting really boring, pero, esta bien, and my life is so good.
*An excerpt from Elder Shockley's letter about their time together:
"...So we had CCM attack last Wednesday but usually they are on Saturdays. When I hear that Owen, I mean Elder Huff was in the Lima CCM, I was like ooh I hope that they do the attack in my area with him and I had been praying that if there is any way possible that it could happen. Usually they take out the missionaries who have been at the CCM for 5 weeks and so when they said that we were doing the attack I was like, dang it, because Elder Huff only had 2 weeks in the CCM.
SO the morning of, right before the attack, I decided to say a quick little prayer in my heart, and I said if there is any way possible that I could somehow see Owen and that it could work out. Well, I was contacting when the bus pulled up to the area and I wasn't paying attention but I hear someone shout "JACKSON!" LOL, and I look over and I see my best friend.
Wow.... the emotions were pretty strong. I can't describe what it was like, haha. Kind of how in Alma when he had been preaching for a long time and then he finally sees the sons of Mosiah and he is just filled with joy... kind of like that. But we gave each other a huge man hug and then we got to go contacting for 2 hours in Peru. I never ever would have thought that I would have been able to go spread the gospel in Peru with my best friend. It was such an amazing experience and man that was the fastest 2 hours of my life. Owen's Spanish is crazy, crazy good for being two flipping weeks in the CCM. He was able to to contact someone by himself like the whole time. It was awesome. He is going to be an incredible missionary. This just shows that miracles really do happen and God does answer our prayers..."
*An excerpt from Elder Shockley's letter about their time together:
"...So we had CCM attack last Wednesday but usually they are on Saturdays. When I hear that Owen, I mean Elder Huff was in the Lima CCM, I was like ooh I hope that they do the attack in my area with him and I had been praying that if there is any way possible that it could happen. Usually they take out the missionaries who have been at the CCM for 5 weeks and so when they said that we were doing the attack I was like, dang it, because Elder Huff only had 2 weeks in the CCM.
SO the morning of, right before the attack, I decided to say a quick little prayer in my heart, and I said if there is any way possible that I could somehow see Owen and that it could work out. Well, I was contacting when the bus pulled up to the area and I wasn't paying attention but I hear someone shout "JACKSON!" LOL, and I look over and I see my best friend.
Wow.... the emotions were pretty strong. I can't describe what it was like, haha. Kind of how in Alma when he had been preaching for a long time and then he finally sees the sons of Mosiah and he is just filled with joy... kind of like that. But we gave each other a huge man hug and then we got to go contacting for 2 hours in Peru. I never ever would have thought that I would have been able to go spread the gospel in Peru with my best friend. It was such an amazing experience and man that was the fastest 2 hours of my life. Owen's Spanish is crazy, crazy good for being two flipping weeks in the CCM. He was able to to contact someone by himself like the whole time. It was awesome. He is going to be an incredible missionary. This just shows that miracles really do happen and God does answer our prayers..."
October 26, 2018
Today was a really good day, and Elder Merritt and I taught our first really good lesson in completely Espanol. The first couple of lessons I taught the majority of the lesson, because Elder Merritt didn't really know that many words. But today, it was half him teaching and half me, and we were speaking semi, half-good Spanish. We were just teaching one of our maestras in different clothing and acting like a different person, but we felt the spirit so strong and the lesson went so great. We had a huge lesson plan written out and we went into the lesson and the Spirit told us to go a completely different way with the lesson. The Spirit definitely put words in our mouths because the Spirit was so strong. I love the CCM and I love having the Spirit because it can help us with everything we need to do. Oh, Elder Merritt and I arm wrestled for about 5 minutes straight, we were so equal in strength, but I let him win ahahahaha. I need to work on my form in arm wrestling though, because I'm trying to beat the champ in the CCM tomorrow. Elder Merritt beat him tonight and he made the excuse that his arm was too tired to wrestle again, so we'll see tomorrow.
October 27, 2018
Today was a really long day. I love being at the CCM but I realized that we are only halfway done with our time here. I'm torn between wanting to stay and wanting to go because I know literally no spanish, but the CCM is so boring. It literally is so boring here, and we have 100,000 different things to learn on our own time. But they never actually give us our own time, so I try to study before bed every night, in-between classes, and sometimes while we are in class, and I'm still not reaching my goals. I have never been good at role-plays, and we do so many of them here. I want to go out and teach the people, but I don't know Spanish well enough yet. Also, Elder Condori and Elder Bravo are leaving in 2 days because they know espanol and they were just here for 3 weeks, so thats pretty sad, but I got their instas, so thats good. Also, I traded one of my sock ties for a sickkkkkkk once-in-a-lifetime tie from Elder Condori, so that was dope. Also, tonight this Latino Elder was going around with some thread, cutting the elders unibrows and stuff like in the mall, and he was way good so I got my eyebrows cut real nice, because why not?
October 29, 2018
Hey everyone, sorry I couldn't write last night, but we were way busy. Last night was the last night of a ton of the missionary's last days here, because the Latino Elders are only here for three weeks, and the older missionaries are just starting to leave. Last night was their last night, and its a tradition for all of the elders in the CCM to gather in the hall in the second floor of our building and sing our last hymns together. We sang 'God Be with You Till We Meet Again' in espanol, and that was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. There were probably like 70 or 80 Latino and North American missionaries packed in one hall and we were all singing, and it was so crazy. I have grown super close to all of the Elders here, especially the Latino Elders that are leaving. I love them all so much and we always mess around. I met Elders from Columbia and Peru, and some Elders from Guatemala that spoke Chekeche or jeckhchee is how it sounds. Elder Bravo and Elder Condori are from Bolivia and I love them so much. We talk about everything we can because of my broken Spanish, and honestly sometimes I relate better with the Latino missionaries than anyone else. I just love them like brothers. Some of the Elders are smaller than Gabe, actually most of the Elders, I am pretty much a giant here. I arm wrestled a bunch of Elders and let them win to make them feel good ahahahahaha. Oh also yesterday Elder Merritt was called as one of the Zone Leaders, and I am now a District Leader. I love being here and I love this work. Oh and I'm talking to yall tomorrow because our Pday is tomorrow.
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