Week 3 in Cusco

Phew, I am exhausted today--- Today we woke up, did our studies and played soccer from 10 to 1. I am so terrible but its still fun. I finally got my mission bag from the office, took them 3 weeks to make it. Apparently Elder Salazar must have forgotten I ordered a bag a month before I left for the mission!
 (The same thing happened to my companion too though).

Today, after soccer we went to Real Plaza, which is just a mall. We shared a pizza from Papa Johns , and my pepsi actually had ice in it! All of the drinks here are lukewarm or hot. Apparently the people here think that you will get sick from cold drinks. Nothing hits the spot better than a hot glass of lemonade!

After Papa Johns, we just returned here to write, after this we plan on just chilling for about 30 minutes until we have our district meeting to end the Pday.

Today we had a meeting with a family who lives way up in the hills, it was a crazy hike.

My week was pretty cool, sometimes it seems the same though.
We have a super cool investigator though, who recently moved here from a different part of Peru. He was passed to us by other missionaries from there.
He is attending church and going to like every family night and accepting all the lessons. We plan on planting a baptismal date next visit!

I am starting to get more comfortable, but there are still a few rough times.

That old lady in the picture is Hermana Juana, she is an old lady who is a recent rescue (meaning she was inactive and then reactivated), she is a little, or maybe a lot, crazy but is totally cool.

And yes, I did make a video for moms birthday, hope you guys enjoy!
Next pday, we plan on maybe going to a touristy place and getting some cool pictures.

Well, i just tried to send the video, but the file size is too big, my companion uses dropbox for all of his videos, should we try that:]?

Week 2 in Cusco

Hey guys, I´m going to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures this week. Today has been a lot of walking because we didnt have too many appointments except for yesterday. Im going to make a video sometime this week of our house from outside.

Today was our second pday. We played soccer for almost 3 hours, it was way fun. Im really sunburnt now though i can feel it.

After this, we plan on going to Real Plaza ( a mall) and shop for stuff.

The picture that i sent is just our internet cafe, where we email every week. I took it right outside.

[We asked if he had received the package we sent.]

Yes, I received my package, the same day you said actually. Right after emailing i went to the office and it was there.  I was confused because I had a package and my companion did not. His parents said his package arrived nearly 2 weeks ago. It must just be lost in the office. The coat is awesome, thanks! I usually dont need it, at least here, but i heard that later in the year, its going to start to rain a lot.

I actually dont have a lot of people to email this week, a lot more last week, so its okay, ill try to sum up something though in my next email

Okay here we go

So this was my second week in the field, it actually went by really quick. This week was really a ton of walking, but sometimes it pays off.

This week we went to visit a member who lives out in the middle of the hills. Its a shame I didnt have my camera with me, but it was really really far out from the city. We were literally like climbing for almost 30 minutes.

Our pension is super awesome, they are willing to make anything we want. The only real problem I have is with the drinks. Apparently they love hot drinks here, so literally everything is hot. A hot cup of Chicha doesnt really hit the spot after walking and climbing all day.

[We asked him how he was doing with the altitude -- since Cusco is at 11,000 feet -- and he appears to be doing a lot of walking!]

I didnt think it really hit me until we started doing the climb up to that guys house.
Today, when we played soccer for almost 3 hours, you can really feel it.

I think im doing pretty good, we speak a lot of english but also spanish. Spanish is still going to be a struggle for a while, ive just heard it comes with time. It seems like everyone speaks spanish a little bit different!

[We asked him if he was nervous not speaking solely English, given his next companion might be a Latino Elder who only speaks Spanish.]

No, im not really nervous because I feel like i can communicate sufficiently. Something i didnt know was, apparently we are supposed to teach all of our latino companions english, because it will like help them a lot later in life with their jobs and stuff. Not quite sure how thats going to work out, but we will have to see! I expect a latino companion after these two changes, thats what usually happens i heard.! Transfers are 6 weeks long, you get two while training. So we go until the start of november!

[We asked him generally how he was doing and if he had seen any Llama's yet]

The first day we arrived, this kid holding 3 of them walked up to us!

Yeah, everything is going okay, its just seems like a lot of rules sometimes, and definitely a lot of work! Im going to make a video this week!

Its definitely a lot of work sometimes, but the experience is really awesome too.

I hope I can get in better shape on my mission, but our pension here is truly awesome in her cooking.
Also, one family gives us food every time we go over there! I am somewhat hoping that my next pension wont feed me that much, because I want to take this time to try to shape up both spiritually and physically!

Thanks a lot for the package, the coat and the ties are awesome.
I know its really expensive to send packages, so thanks!
After this internet session, we are going to go to the Mall and shop.
I am hoping to find:

1. A stain remover marker that my companion has, its really handy for removing stains in like ties and white shirts.
2. Me and my companion are considering buying a soccer ball, so we could have a decent one to use when we want to play
3. Perhaps more ties, I really like the look of ties called "Paisley". Im not sure if i can find them here though, im going to try!

That is a picture of what one looks like

[Note:  Although Connor might not be aware of this -- but Mom and I in fact lived through the 70's and 80's and know what a paisley tie looks like! :)]

Im not sure why, but I love ties now, I guess its because thats about the most exciting thing we get to change from day to day, ties and watches.

Anyways, our time is done, i am off! Love you guys! Will make a video this week!

Connor in Cusco - First Area

Hey guys, havent had the opportunity to write in a while, seems like forever!
Anyways, this first week has been really interesting, fun, and challenging.

When we arrived in Cusco, I dont think the weather was too bad, at least where I am, it was just a little chilly and a little rain.

I have been assigned to labor in Cusco for my training. My companion is Elder Ludlow from Sandy, Utah. Im happy I got a trainer who speaks english but also spanish, he has been out for about 10 months.

These are pics from the cusco airport!

The house we live in is pretty nice! Its really different from what im used to, but its cool. The bathroom situation is a bit wierd, because you cant flush, so its a bit musty

[Pictures of Cusco] 

These are a few picture of cusco and of the Cristo Blanco. Its a huge tourist thing , we visited it the first day we got there.

Our housing situation is pretty awesome. Our pensions also do our laundry, and we live with them. They cook really good food, but its a little different. I have yet to try chuno or anything really wierd. Yesterday we had rooster though.

For the first 3 days in the field, Cusco did not have water (I have no clue why). Every morning we had to bathe ourselves using a bucket of water that was heated up, (phew Im happy thats over)

Talk about suprises, we got a lovely call from the bishop saturday night around 10:00 PM to give talks the following morning at 8:00 AM, How fun! I thought it went pretty well though, I only had to talk for 5 minutes on missionary work.

[I replied and asked him whether he spoke spanish for the full 5 minute talk!?]

I feel like i can speak spanish decently well, but it seems like everyone speaks it a little different. We did teach a couple lessons this week, and i taught a lot about the restoration and about prophets, prayer, and a little more.

Sometimes i feel like im struggling to communicate though.

Yeah it was okay, the talk went suprisingly well, i used a lot of scriptures and a lot from preach my gospel

This is my favorite picture of me so far in the mission!

[I asked him if he was cold / needed anymore clothes as he looked to be wearing sweaters everywhere!  Also asked if he had received the package (light weight jacket) Mom had sent.]

I havent received the package yet. From what ive heard, packages take like a month to arrive, but they usually always do. Apparently the mail just SUCKS here

Actually ive been enjoying the weather here, its definitely not too cold.

Apparently my spanish is really good for how new I am, I guess i can thank my spanish teachers for that

These two pictures are our district in the CCM. I miss a lot of those people. Look just how happy the MTC president looks! Isnt he jolly

[Connor next sent like 3 emails with various pictures attached.]

[I asked about the random motorcycle pictures and about his house / place he was staying.]

This motorcycle is from a recent convert named Gustavo, its super super loud. He was baptized like two weeks ago and loves the gospel!

Not too sure how to describe it, but our house is REALLY close to the airport, we hear planes all day. Its actually a pretty big house i would say, because a big family of members lives there, but its just super weird because they dont have the things we have like .....hot water whenever you want it.

They are super kind though, and one of them is ALWAYS listening to english music.

I dont have any pictures of outside of our house, i will make sure to get those and send them next week.

We are in "Cusco, Cusco" just in the absolute center. I think its also called San Sabastian. Its crazy being this close to the airport all the time.

I dont know our actually street address, i will find that out by next week.

There is a huge street that goes by our house, it is called Velasco Astete.

My companion says to put in "Kennedy B, Cusco" in google maps. Anyways, thats about as close as i can get.

[Here is link to Google Maps for the "huge street" Velasco Astete" going by Connor's house.]

https://goo.gl/maps/L1I6b

[Here is a link to the "Kennedy B, Cusco" in Google Maps. I assume Connor lives in one of those houses on either side of the street.]

https://goo.gl/maps/hzVre

[I asked him if he had taught any gospel lessons, had any investigators learning about the church.]

We have i think 4 or 5 investigators right now, but we are just working with a ton of less active people.

We do a lot of asking for references from the members here.

I think we taught around 4 lessons or so this week, but a lot of little scripture sharing and stuff

The members LOVE giving us food, and we are supposed to accept it and eat it when they do.
I had my first experience with that this week, it was right after lunch and they gave us a big plate of rice and beef, it was really hard but i managed to eat it all with a smile!

[I asked him about his trainer -- Elder Ludlow -- and how he was getting along with him.]

My trainer is super awesome, he is actually cousins with someone that i knew in the CCM.

I have yet to try to voice recorder, but Im going to get it going, our days are just so busy!

Our cool experience for the week is

We were supposed to prepare a "lesson" for an activity at a members house. We showed a video about missionary work, (Una obra en progressa) or something like that.

We then talked about the video, and apparently, from what we have heard from the sisters-- one of the investigators that was at the meeting now wants to serve a mission!

Anyways, my time is about up for this week, I love you guys a lot and miss you guys.
We have a lot more on our schedule this week teaching wise, so hopefully my next email may be a bit more exciting.

Love and miss you guys a lot!
I had tons of emails to respond to today and actually went a bit over time, but its all good, talk to you next monday!

We are going to go play soccer now!