First Week in MTC

Hey guys,they dont give us much time here, so I am just uploading all of my pictures, whether they are good or not. I am also typing on a spanish keyboard, so its really hard because the shift and other things are not in the normal places.

This week has been pretty crazy learning the language. I think it may be the longest week of my life.
My companion is Elder Frehner. He is from Hurricane, Utah. He did track in high school and is pretty tall. I think we get along well because we are really similar (regarding attitudes that is).

My Room is Me,
Elder Frehner- Hurricane, Utah------Iquitos Mission
Elder Hafer- Orange County, CA ----Lima Central
Elder Williams- San Diego, CA-- Lima Central
Elder Noel(Also our district leader)-- Ogden,Utah.----- Lima Central
No other elders that I know and talk to are going to Cusco, only a few sisters.

The food at the CCM is really, really repetitive, and Im only in my first week. The portions are pretty small and theres no seconds, I dont think its that similar to the provo MTC in that regard.
My usual meal consists of...

White Rice
Chicken
Potatoes
White Bread
Some kind of Soup

Some of the meals are pretty tasty, but some, not so much.

During phsyical activity, (3 to 4), I usually play soccer because thats where everyone else is, even though im not that good.

I think Mom would be happy to know that I have had 0 urges to play video games ( because I remember how she was scared of that).

The main thing in my prayers is the gift of tongues because I feel like they definitely expect a lot of us.

From talking to some missionaries, and from personal experience, I think I can conclude that you are ALWAYS tired on a mission. You go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 6:30, but I am still always exhausted.

On the 4th of July, they had an¨North American meal for lunch. Everyone was pretty excited. It was pretty good, but I dont think it was very "North American" because it may have been the smallest burger I have ever seen. That was also the last meal we had before we began our fast, not eating until lunch the next day.

We had to go to "Immigraciones" twice this week. It was very similar to the DMV, but speaking Spanish. On the bus people saw a women using the bathroom in the middle of the street.
On the second trip, I really appreciated getting out of the CCM. When we were out, Elder Noel and I actually gave out 2 Book of Mormons and got contact information for 3.

It´s really crazy to see how interested people are in the missionaries, like people taking pictures and stuff.

One of the people went up and gave Elder Noel a hug, and actually gave him their food. He was pretty reluctant to accept (because it looked like her lunch), but she really wanted him to. The picture that you see is their first person they ever talked to.  [This picture didn't come through! :(]

Today was P-Day. It was pretty awesome. We took a bus (not provided by the church) to the temple. It cost .50  nuveos soles. Or about 16.5 cents. It was about a 5 minute ride. It´s hilarious riding in the bus, its jam packed full of missionaries and random people, and its just chaos. Stop and start and stop the bus is just lurching because people drive like maniacs in Peru.
That´s on of the biggest things that has stuck out to me, the driving. People are crazy here! 100x worse than California.

The temple experience was pretty cool, because they had headsets in english. But the last part was really hard because it was 100 percent spanish. The temple is really small but relaxing.
After the temple, we went and bought some Llama Ties and a coin purse (they use a lot of wierd coins here). I will send you pictures of my ties and coin purse in my next email.
After that, we went to the grocery store, and bought whatever we wanted. I got a big bag of doritos, a bag of chips ahoy and a bottle of Inca Cola.

I was going to get the 1L Inca Cola, but the 3.3L was half off so it was only around 3 Nuevas soles. ($1). Stuff is really cheap here. I think I got all of the food for around $6. It seems like a lot but since we only get to shop once a week, + im sharing it, I dont think its even going to last.

My district is District 111
Everyone in it is
Hermana Morris
Hermana Hansen
Hermana Steward
Hermana Anderson
Hermana Scarlett
Hermana Eckman
Elder Noel
Elder Hafer
Elder Williams
Elder Frehner
Hermana Barfus
Hermana Harris

As my time comes to an end, I just wanted to give my overall thought about the CCM so far.

I think it does a really good job preparing missionaries, but I can see why people get sick of it, fast.
There are some really cool people here, especially the Latino´s who only speak spanish. They are super friendly and always try to mess around with the gringo elders and our spanish skills.
I really am going to continue praying for the gift of tongues. I need it.

Although it seems like the time is going fast, 2 years still seems like a LOT to me. I met a missionary in the temple today as I was leaving who said he leaves next week. He said, like I´ve heard a dozen times before "Time Flies". I just dont really see it that way, but I hope I can. Anyways, I love and miss you guys a lot and hope you are doing okay with the kids. I also hope mom is having fun in London, can you please send this to her? I dont really want to try to figure out how.
Love Ya!
-Elder Barry