HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!!
Holy cow, I got so many emails today. Thank you to EVERYONE who emailed me, it was hard to read them all through my tears...thanks a lot. But really, thanks a lot. I love hearing about life back home and I am so thankful for all of the support and love I feel, even though I'm 3000 miles away.
Also, just so you know, the spanish keyboard is slightly different so that;s why all of my punctuation is always wrong and I'm typing at the speed of light so please excuse any errors.
So this past week was AMAZING. Last Thursday was my first p day, and I emailed you before we went out into the city so I didnt get to tell you about it, but the city of Lima is incredible. Its like nothing Ive ever seen before. All of the buildings are different colors and sizes, and most of them are super old and ghetto. When we go out to go shopping, we take the bus, and the bus drivers are insane. The buses are so sketchy..the whole experience is just hilarious. Drivers here are actually insane and there are basically no traffic rules. All of the missionaries just pile on to these little buses and hold on for dear life as the speed through the city. Its impossible not to laugh, but crying is also normal. Just kidding. Dad, you would hate the drivers here.
On Saturday, we had our first experience prostelyting. This was my favorite part of the week by far. So even though we speak hardly any spanish at all, they sent us out into the city to teach people like real missionaries do. It was so crazy and I was super nervous. All of the missionary companionships were partnered with either a missionary, a teacher, or a member of the church living in Lima. Me and Hermana Thiel were paired with a sister Missionary from Chile, so she was obviously fluent in spanish and had been out for a while so she knew her stuff. The very first thing that we did when we got off the bus was walk down to this old, run down shop and met the old lady to teach her. She was really quiet and slurred all of her words, so since I already don't speak any spanish as it is, it was nearly impossible to understand her. Also, people here, whenever they greet you, they kiss you on the cheek. So that was new. But I'm sure all get used to it. So we sat in the back of this little shop, and taught her about the priesthood of the church, which is something that we had never ever ever practiced in class before. Me and Hna Thiel looked at each other and simultaneously pooped our pants. But, it went really well. all I really did was tell her in what little spanish I know about what I believe about prophets and the priesthood. It was really cool for me because I realized in that moment that it doesn't matter if I speak fluent Spanish .. I'm here to preach the gospel, and if I can tell people in my broken spanish that I know the priesthood (sacerdocio) is real, that prophets are real, and that the Book of Mormon is true, that's real all that matters. It was an incredible experience. The lady we were teaching was not super down to have a couple of gringas teaching her, but I just couldn't stop smiling. So that first lesson was crazy and awesome. Crazy awesome. Then, we got to do that exact thing for about 3 and a half more hours. Haha it was so insane. There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE in the city. They just run around. bark sometimes, and eat food off of the streets. Occasionally the get in giant dog fights in the middle of the road, but they don't even come near people so it's really not a huge deal. A lot of them wear little puppy shirts and stuff, which is so weird, but it's normal here I guess. Anyway, we talked to so many people. We would walk up to them and say HOLA! Mi nombre es Hermana Scott, y ella es Hermana Thiel (or the other way around) Podemos compartir un mensaje con usted? Then we would speak really really painfully slowly about how God is our loving Heavenly Father, or about how Jesus Christ died so that we could be forgiven of our sins, and I just had so much fun. It was the most exhausting thing in the entire world to listen to all of that Spanish, but I found that even if I can't speak fluently, I can understand almost all of what I hear, which was amazing. People are so confused and sad. People all over the world look for something that will bring them happiness, and we literally just have it. So many people would just listen to what we had to say. It was kind of sad because a lot of the people I talked to, I probably wont see ever again, since we were just out that one day. Although, we got contact information for 4 different people, because they wanted the missionaries to come back and teach them more, so maybe someday I;ll see some of them again. But one more awesome thing that happened.. the missionary we were with had a meeting scheduled with a 12 year old girl who had been taking the discussions with the missionaries for a while. We taught her about baptism, and the sister missionary had us share personal experiences about how being baptized and becoming a member of the church has blessed our lives and helped us overcome trials. Hna Thiel and I shared a lot, and the spirit was so strong. I was almost in tears reflecting on how blessed I have been since I have been baptized. The girl understood us for the most part, and after the lesson, the missionary asked her if she wanted to be baptized, and she said YES!!!! It was so amazing. I wish I could relive that moment, but hopefully that will happen a few times when I'm out in the field ;) Later, the missionary told us that they had been asking her if she wanted to get baptized for a few weeks, and she just felt inspired to ask again while we were there, and she ended up saying yes!!! It was so amazing. Basically, the church is true. Every 2 weeks in the CCM we get to go out and do that, so I get to go two more times before I'm out in the field for good! I will have plenty more stories to tell, I'm sure :)
Sunday was so wonderful. Sundays here in the CCM are the best. We just got to church and have a solid three hours of spiritual enlightenment, then spend the rest of the day studying and watching videos of apostles speaking their words of wisdom. But the best part of this week was Tuesday night, we got to watch a devotional LIVE from the MTC in Provo, Utah. It was the first time that the MTC in Provo has ever streamed a devotional live to all of the foreign MTCs. So it was so incredible to be able to be a part of that. The man who spoke was Elder Richard G. Scott, and he talked about the importance of prayer and the blessings that prayer brings into our lives. It was a great talk, and it just was so cool knowing that missionaries all over the world were watching the exact same thing. I can't explain what it feels like to be a missionary...being surrounded by people doing the exact same thing that I'm doing, and especially walking around and seeing so many people wearing those little black tags is the greatest feeling in the whole world. Anyway, that talk was great, and apparently we get to do that every single Tuesday night *the live broadcast thing). Its going to be so cool! Also, in a few weeks, one of the apostles are coming HERE to Peru to speak to us missionaries!!! His name is Elder Quentin L Cook, and he's coming with Elder Talmage and one other person. It's going to be so freaking awesome!!! Excuse my language, but seriously it will be amazing. I will definitely tell you all about it.
I think I told you about how we have physical activity time everyday, and at first I spent that whole time running and doing crazy workouts with my companion, but I totally dipped out on those work outs and started playing soccer every day and I'm getting so much better!!! Seriously, it's crazy. I can actually pretend that I'm good now. Obviously soccer is not the most important thing that i'm doing, but dang it's fun. Last Friday I played with a bunch of latinos and they were do intense, it was so fun to play with them. They have skill like I've never seen in all of my life. So that was cool. And yesterday I played goalie for the entire hour and only let like 4 goals in. It was sick, but I kinda tweaked my ankle so i've been limping today. Hahahaa probably not a good idea to get hurt out here just from playing soccer. But it's really not that bad. Just know that by the time I come home I'll be as good as Daniel...or Messi.
Well, I don't really know what more to tell you all. The food here is so good, i'm just hoping I don't get fat.
OH one thing I have been dying to tell you....so since none of the American missionaries are used to the food here, pretty much everyone here gets sick for like a day or two. so it's just a little stomach ache, you feel crappy for a while, but it fades. Basically you either get constipated, you have diarrhea, or you feel like youre about to barf, or all of the above. Anyway, the elders found out a clever way of figuring out whats wrong with a person as they walk out of the bathroom... in spanish NUNCA means never and SIEMPRE means always, so they just say , Is it the nuncas or the siempres? Hahah when I first heard that I died laughing. do you get it? Dang i love potty humor. Too much.
Well I'm out of time, but I just want you all to know that I love you so much. Thank you mom for the email about Emmas farewell and everything, I loved that. Daniel, i'm so sad to hear about riley. good luck in tryouts, I hear you have a good chance at sitting on the JV bench this year! Congrats ;) Dad, I'm 5,9 and so far I weigh the same as when I left...I think. Hopefully that doesnt change.
I think about you everyday, but I am happy here and doing something that I truly love. I am learning so much spanish, I'm becoming so comfortable with speaking. It's so cool. I am so happy! I miss you all and I hope that you are doing well. Please take care of yourselves. Know that I love you. I miss you, but 18 months is going to fly by. Thanks for all of your support and love. The church is true!!! I love you!!!!!! Until next time...in 7 days. i'm taking a nap in about 14 minutes! #heckyeah
I love you!!! Con MUCHO amor,
Hermana Scott
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