6 mOnThS

Hey everyone!

Sorry I didn't email last week. It was a little crazy. So I guess I'll start with the crazy. So in a couple days I'm getting a new companion because my companion, Elder Price, is getting emergency transferred. This is happening because there is a policy in my mission that if you get robbed, you get emergency transferred to a different area... So yeah, I wasn't going to tell y'all about this until after my mission but you have to explain emergency transfers.

My new companion will be from Bolivia so the days of speaking English have come to an end. But don't worry, nothing happened to me. Three drunk guys came up to my companion and asked him for money. He said he didn't have any so the guy got mad and took his watch and then they ran off, since people were watching. So it wasn't even bad. We actually had a lot of money on us and our cameras and stuff so it definitely could have been worse. And since then we have been looking for a new apartment. But the people here are rough. Even though we were asking around for an apartment, people would still shut their door in our faces before we could tell them anything. So that has been a big summary of the past few weeks.

Yesterday we went outside the city areas and contacted. People who live in mud adobe houses are a lot nicer than those who live in the city. So even though its a farther walk, I'm going to try to go out there more.

Haha now I want to end with a funny story. A couple days ago our district did service for an old lady. We cleaned her house and everything. But the lady was super funny. We gave her the nickname Yoda. She is so old that she has forgotten her age. We guessed she is over 100 without exaggerating. And she is about 3 feet tall and walks with a little wood stick just like Yoda's. She forgot we were coming and got super mad at us. So we gave her dolls to calm her down. She lives alone (don't ask me how) and she really thinks that the dolls are her children. So it was an interesting service.

Also another funny thing to see is when a guy is so drunk that he falls over and can't get back up. Then they just give up and sleep on the side of the road until they can get up. Haha so I guess a lesson would be don't drink until you fall and can't get up. Also this transfer I have made popcorn at my pensions house a lot. They love it. So I guess all those days at the movie theater have paid off haha now my popcorn making skills are world famous ;) Anyway, that's it for me, I hit 6 months this week so that's cool. Hope y'all have a great week!

Dog Count: 499 for week, 6078 total.

Photos are views of Huanuco. P.S. those houses built up on the mountainside are super fun to walk to ;)

Bienvenidos a Huánuco!

Hey how's everyone doing?

First off I want to say that Huánuco is a lot different than Huancayo. Huancayo was more on the cold side where I could wear sweaters when it rained. Also it was more city like. Here it's super hot. I only don't feel hot and sweaty after I take a cold shower at night. Then there are the freaking ninja mosquitos here. In Logan I could see the mosquitos biting me but here the bites just seem to appear. Also there aren't as many dogs here so rip the dog count. But it's super nice here. The mountains are really green and since the jungle is close by we get more fruit.

One super cool thing you need to look up on youtube is the Negritos de Huánuco. Basically in the month of January people dress up in crazy costumes and dance all over. The one I saw was where two people dance at the front with white masks and represent the Spaniards. Then the rest put on black masks to represent the slaves. The negritos even dance with a weird bell cradle thing in one hand to represent the chains. Anyway I don't know how politically correct it is, but it's cool to watch.

First with my week, I want to say happy new year! New year's eve was p-day so that was fun and then that night a family fed us a mountain of food. Haha I slept good that night thinking I was finally going to get some rest on new years eve, but I thought wrong. At midnight I was woken up by a giant firework going off right next to us. For a second, I thought it hit our window. After that I just stayed up and watched all the craziness.

Then after New Years the week was pretty normal. Our area had a rough 2018 with progress, so there might not be as many baptism pictures here, but we`ll work on that ;) On Monday we had to go to the city part to get our money and I found mint flavored ice cream! I definitely enjoyed it, because it might be the only time I see it here. Also in a store I found imported Cherry Coke! It was a little pricey but also definitely worth it.

Oh if you want a good laugh, there is a guy in our ward named Adolfo Hitler who is a super funny guy.

One nice thing about the work being slower is that we have time for our studies. And if you want your mind to be blown over and over again into a million pieces you should read the Infinite Atonement by Tad R Callister. Thats my invitation for all of you this week, to study the Atonement. Because it is the most important doctrine we can learn about, but sadly is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the world. Anyways that's it from me, have a great week!

Dog count: 489 for past two weeks and 5579 total 🐶

Adios Huancayo

Hey everyone, how was Christmas?!!

I guess I'll start with my Christmas since Monday was Christmas Eve. Monday night we went and spent the night at the Zone Leaders house. There were about 8 elders there and it was so much fun. A cool tradition here is that at midnight on Christmas Eve literally everyone lights off fireworks and firecrackers. And they're not the wimpy fireworks that are sold in the U.S. but are the giant cool ones. So at midnight we went outside and it felt like I was in Nam. We were totally surrounded by giant fireworks and it was so cool. And this one funny guy next to us was just lighting firecrackers from his apartment and throwing them out the window. After that, one Elder taught us how to play poker. It turns out to be pretty fun and I even won! Now it's a shame that we are missionaries and only played with chips made of paper... Haha that's just a joke.

So after getting a couple hours of sleep, my companion and I and 2 other elders spent Christmas with my pension and their family. It was super fun and for lunch we gathered around and had a nice turkey dinner. It felt just like Christmas. Also Christmas Eve it hailed a little and then the 26th of December it hailed so much that it looked like snow. Do I get to say I got a white Christmas?? Haha

Then the next few days were rough since the summer break for school just started so a lot of our families were out of town. My companion was also a little sick, so one day I took out the book Our Heritage and read it. You all should read it as it gives you a good knowledge of the history of our church, and tells it in a fun way. It's crazy to read about all the different trials and miracles that have taken place.

Saturday picked up and was super crazy. At lunch time we found out that I was getting transferred to Huánuco, which is the farthest away. I took a bus Sunday night and arrived Monday morning here. Anyway, it was super sad to leave my area as I had grown so close to so many of the people here. And my pension and her family became my family. But I guess the world moves on. I just hope I will get to see them again. Also on Saturday we had another baptism!! So that was a good way to end the era of Mantaro in Huancayo.

Then Sunday I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting. I felt pretty good because before my mission my mom wrote a good part of all my talks (thanks mom ;) ) and for this talk I just went up with my scriptures and a sticky note. Later we just went around and said goodbye to everyone which was sad. So yeah, now I'm in Huanuco in an area that is close to the jungle but isn't the jungle. So it's hot here. I went from sleeping in a sleeping bag to sleeping with no blankets. My new comp is Elder Price from St George. I'm super excited to be with a gringo companion and I think this transfer is going to be really fun! Also he is district leader, so now that's 7 for 7. This is about it from me. I hope you all have a great week!!

Oh p.s. I saw in a newspaper the other day that Donald Trump is creating a space army?!? Can anyone confirm to me if that's a real thing or not?

Pics: Baptism, Goodbye Huancayo, and got some more dope lightning pics, but don't worry I took them inside this time ;)