Week 12

Hello mom and dad and Mercedes and Christal and everyone! Everything is going great!! The baptism for Brigitte was really awesome, I baptized her, we ended up not being able to go to the party because the missionaries from the mtc came and contacted in our area and we were in charge of 24 missionaries! it was fun and actually kinda a relief to talk to people who have less experience than me! I'm no longer in the new group because we get new missionaries today!! pretty awesome!! Transfers are this week, so i could get transferred until about Wednesday, they will call us and tell us where we're going or if we're staying! its crazy, they call and you have to be ready to leave in like an hour! So I haven't moved yet but we will see! 

It's not really pollution here its more just dust and fog always, it really is dreary but I'm getting used to it now, and i like it when its really foggy! Yeah we have a lot of people progressing! we have 2 baptisms next Saturday! its really crazy! when we contact people either give us a day to come back or else we go right in and teach them! its pretty awesome. A lot of our referrals are actually pretty good too! we have a lot of success right now and i think in the next 6 weeks we should have probably 6 more baptized!! its nuts!! 

We usually have time with members to get referencias and they always try to give us food but we can't eat the things they cook, only on Sundays can we eat with the members!!

hahaha you have a ton of questions!! Its kinda cold, i bought a sweater and usually just wear that, if i stay in Lima i probably won't need my coat honestly.. but we will see cause apparently august is the most cold, but its nothing like the cold at home! Pariachi has only little stores, so for most big things we go to chaclacayo where they have stores called metros that are kinda like smiths and have everything!! 

Unless i go to the huancayo mission this week i will only be in Lima, but eh its okay! I'm used to it now and it doesn't really matter! We pay 80 soles for 1 month of wash which is like 30 dollars and that's not from our money! the mission pays for that! I'm glad you had fun in Cali! I wish i could have come but I'm kinda busy!! hahaha! AH i wanna see the beach here!! but its far from where i am kinda, its not in my mission! but it might be cause the missions here all are changing areas! That's awesome about the cotton candy!!  The Manti pageant thing sounds really fun too! remember when we went and it was that crazy storm!! 

Oh man Steve, i hope everything will be okay, i will definitely pray for him this week! 

So a couple more things from this week!! This week i learned that there is definitely and force working against us. One of our investigators was telling us about an experience he had after he had been reading what we wanted to him and prayed about it. He woke up in the night and heard a man calling his name from the next room, he said at first he thought it was just his dream but then he heard it really clearly again when he knew he was awake. He said he had the worst feeling hes ever had and just felt cold! its crazy, its like what happened to Joseph smith! it gives me the chills! But he knew it wasn't of god and that it was a testimony that the changes he was making are the right thing to do to keep that kinda thing out! it was really crazy and creepy cause it was like 9 at night when he told us! 

Also this week i went to Lima with all the north Americans for our migrations! it was awesome because it was a full day of only speaking English! everything went well, we did Interpol! so now we have our Peruvian ids which is pretty cool, they just got all our info and stuff. this week i think i will go back again to finish up! that's pretty much all the cool stuff that went on this week! I hope all is well with you mom, i miss you so much and i hope you're doing great! 

Love you so much and take care!

Xavi's First Baptism June 15, 2013

Brigitte 

The Church!  I said to him at least it is nice and clean on the inside and he said, "yeah, but not on the outside"!

Xavi and Elder Diaz!

Look how cute!  His Pension sets up a nice table in all of that construction!

The whole zone at the temple June 6, 2013!

Week 11

He sent this and said, "Terrible Huh"?

Peru Templo

Hola mom! Everyday is super busy it’s crazy! When we go to the temple it’s our whole zone! So 14 of us! It was really cool to be able to go back into the somewhat normal part of Peru! That’s cool about the pictures! I most likely won’t see Nate again after this transfer unless I get moved to huancayo! Oh yeah that could happen this week by the way so if I’m delayed on writing that’s why! Because it’s the last week of the cambio! Yeah our first baptism of a little girl is on Saturday so that will be pretty awesome! I’ll make sure she has all the stuff she needs! Her mom is having a party after the baptism which should be pretty cool! Hopefully we don’t die from the food! hahah! Yes I’m with elder Diaz but I think because we get along so well that this will be our last week! But we will see! I haven’t gotten the box yet but maybe tomorrow because Tuesday is when we get mail! hahah rabitto!!! He is our dog! He is really cool; dogs here know their houses like cats so he will walk with us all the way to the bus stop and all over the place! He got hit by a bus at some point we heard and he’s kind of coo coo but he’s nice, but really gross! He likes to fight other dogs so he’s all cut up and what not but eh it’s normal! Nasty dogs here seriously, the dogs native to here have no hair and they are disgusting!!! 

Yeah we always have those yellow potatoes! I told dad every lunch! For breakfast we have some meat with pan y some avocado! It’s pretty good! Usually something similar for cena! We eat a ton for lunch and then not so much for dinner, I’m used to it now! I’m getting a lot better with my stomach; I think I’m getting used to the food now! It’s nice. Yeah it’s rough to wake up that early for soccer but eh its fun! We don’t have any other time to play really! Well mom will try to send some pics and I hope you’re all having fun in Cali! I love you so much and thank you for everything!! Have a fun week! 

Xav! 

He's Alive!

Ok, so this has been a long week.  We always here from Xavi on Mondays.  This week no email.  I told Ted if we don't hear from him by Wednesday we are going to call Peru....  Well, nothing!!  So, Ted calls and they tell him that they changed his p-day this week to Thursday because they have planned a trip to the temple!  Well, ok, but you have to let us know these things!!  He said they tracked him down and it was funny!  (He said, "I knew you would call mom"!  Your'e right I will call.  I told him that they need to let me know when things happen or I will call the First Presidency! HEHEHE  (I really would!!)  Anyway, needless to say he is fine and he knows that we love and miss him.  Here is his most recent letter and pictures from the Mission President!

Hey mom! Whew I will try to respond to everything on here!! I am seriously just always tired, but I can wake up without it being too bad now which is pretty cool, it’s really hard for my companion though, but I just yell at him and he jumps up, it’s really funny! 

For the window...eh we just shut the door, it’s in the back and it’s not really a problem, plus we don’t really have the time to fix stuff! But we have hot water now! Our neighbor rigged up our hot water thing, it’s like a little drizzle, but hey it’s hot!! 

The language is rough still but I can pretty much understand all, I just have to focus super hard every lesson and i can get whats going on but by the end of the day I understand less and less because I’m so tired of trying to figure out what they’re saying, but teaching is going great!

The little girl Bridgett is getting baptized the 15 of June along with a teenager named Patty! One of them will be my first baptism!! Awesome yeah??? and we have another baptism on the 22 of June!!  It is crazy how the lord puts us in peoples houses who are just ready to be baptized!! Last night we went to a couples house who the man is a less active and his wife is a non member, we were going to teach the importance of marriage and when we walked in they said they were ready to be married on the 22nd and that afterwards the woman wants to be baptized! What the crap? hahah it is so awesome! Transfers don’t happen until about the 17th of this month, I will most likely stay put and be in Lima for the rest of my mission! Which kinda sucks but hey it doesn’t really matter where I wanna be! It is sad though because Elder Turner is in the huancayo mission! So he won’t be in my mission anymore!! 

The dogs, eh it’s not so bad, they come at us sometimes but we just use the dazzer, throw rocks or use our book of Mormons to smack them! It’s pretty funny! 

It sounds like you are all having fun though with the young women’s stuff and with Mercedes going to t swizzle!!! That is awesome!!

Ah, that makes me happy about grandma too, she needs to enjoy herself and I hope she will! Tell her hello for me!!

Wow grandpa is 80!! that is crazy!! He’s getting up there; I hope you can fix his van!!

I went to the Lima temple today and the rooms are tiny but it was really cool, but also really intense in Spanish! But it was an awesome experience, I’m starting to blend in though, the presidency there is American and to the other Americans they were talking to in English and then started talking to me in Spanish! hehe they don’t know I can’t speak! We have zone meeting every week! But it’s not really anything special! We don’t ever see the president unless there’s a problem...so yeah!! 

This week was just full of work! I have one story, so we have these cases for our book of Mormons that have pamphlets and handouts and a book of Mormon to hand out, and during a lesson a huge spider climbed on my leg and the members said uhhh elder there’s a spider on you and I threw my book of Mormon at it and all my stuff went flying all over! Super embarrassing, but I killed it! Oh and one more, one of our investigators, we taught them the law of chastity and the next day they were sleeping in different beds! Awesome! Haha let me know if you have any more questions.

Love you mom and I hope everything is fine with you! I think and pray about you all everyday!! Take care!! write more qs if you have them!! 

Xav

Xavi and Brother and Sister Ardilla (Mission President)

Iraq not Peru?? Call of Duty??

Hey mom!! meh it’s really okay! It’s not that bad, but I swear they accidentally sent me to Iraq! I feel like i'm in call of duty, it is legit exactly how Iraq looks in pictures! The missionaries here before us were really bad.. Apparently so I doubt they really did anything productive at all!! Hahaha yes my pension! That is where I eat all of my meals! Its nuts, the first day I was seriously thinking, wow I am going to die here! I found out this week that Peru is the second to last country in south America when it comes to the how good the economy is and what not, very poor everywhere except for La Molina, which is like not even that nice.. haha. People here don’t really work for better things; they just seem to be fine with what they have, which I honestly don’t understand! I can’t imagine living here for all my life. This week the members really have started to bond with us though and it’s nice because we have a lot of help from them. Oh man some of the other apartments are so freaking nice but our area is super poor! Pretty much all of Peru is! Our pension gives us plenty to eat! My companion says she is one of the best he has had because he isn’t hungry all the time, she feeds us a ton and is always worrying about us if were like 5 minutes late so don’t worry about that! I am definitely losing weight but it’s because I sweat all day, and then we eat pretty healthy every meal so imp losing all my fat! haha! Oh and here were not allowed to eat anywhere besides the pension if the food isn’t in a package, but the members and random people give us stuff all the time which is awesome, oh and we can have fruit and what not!  

So we have a lot of freaking investigators but not so many are progressing! We have a little girl who is probably going to be baptized in 2 weeks if her mom will continue to let her to go to church with us and another lady who is going to be getting married in 2 weeks and hopefully after we will baptize her.! We have tons of lessons everyday! We have a lot of investigators who need to get married though which is our main problem here, there are a ton of members who live with their spouses but don't have the money to get married! also a lot of investigators who just have a ton of questions and its hard to get them to commit. But we will definitely have at least one in the next 2 weeks! Gosh the first transfer is already almost over!! To start the new area we had to just start from scratch, meet all the members and find people! It was hard but we already have a ton of people to teach! 

I think that the bishops brother was probably in La Molina cause where I am the stuff is not so nice! But tell him thank you so much for his prayers! Ah sounds like fun stuff at home! 

Tell grandpa happy birthday this week! I will send some pictures! I will respond to your other email too! Oh this week we did some service at a members house who is rich for here! It’s the closest thing to an American home but we found out why, he runs cock fights in his backyard and has like 50 roosters!! It’s freaking nuts, they are good looking chickens though, and it’s crazy! we got to look through all of it! It isn’t illegal here!!

A few more stories, so here is just like Dylan in Africa, the women breast feed anywhere they feel like and it is REALLY awkward sometimes, especially when it’s like in church! fetch, our church is like this little house too...different world! Oh here it’s normal to kiss on the cheek when you say hello but this one freaking lady tries to kiss me every time and were always like ahhh stop! Freaking peruanos. oh and we taught this old lady named eddy who is from the jungle, all the old people are nuts, and we asked if she prays and she’s like yeah I wake up at 430 every morning and pray until 6 before I shower, hahahahah what the crap!! And then she said the closing prayer for like 10 minutes, I seriously was trying to think of a way to sneak out of her house if she kept going! hahah so funny!

But I love you so much mom! Thanks so much for your emails and love! I will talk to you soon with more craziness!!

My friends that we find daily!

Inca Cola!  He was looking forward to trying this soda!  

Nice apartment??

Cheese!

"Hello" from Elder Maestas! (via Skype) :)

I should have posted this video sooner, but here is a little "Hello!" from Elder Maestas' Skype call 

Enjoy!
 (This post is brought to you by Mercedes, the most awesome little sister ever) :)

 Love this picture so much!

 Family Picture!

Elder Maestas and Elder Diaz!

Miss this kid, but am so grateful for the willingness he has to serve the sweet people of Peru.  He is a great example to me, and I couldn't ask for a better big brother! 

Week 2 in Peru!

Well mama, only 97 weeks to go! hahah it actually sounds short when i say that so I'm good with it. Sooo my guts are probably just going to be like this for the whole mission! and that's alright, its not too bad, it's definitely from the stuff i eat all day, its pretty crazy! Every meal consists of some form of rice, chicken and potatoes, not much variety, very bland! I miss your cooking! Seriously though this week is 2 months out! how crazy is that! The mtc felt slow but these 2 weeks here have flown by! I'm glad you were able to talk to Eutimio! Tell him hello for me!! I'll tell you a few things from this week. So all the dogs here are not very chill, and they always give us crap, but the other day I was thinking about how President Jess said Nick would be with me and there is this one dog that always follows us around and is like the only good dog! It's really weird! We walk past and he just walks with us and barks at other dogs! Weird huh! That is so cool that you had the special needs mutual! I wish I could have done that! seriously such an awesome thing! hahaha it sounds like a blast!  You guys seriously are the best, you are the best family and the best people I know. Gosh  I love hearing about what's going on at home! Its only for a minute but its so nice! I can't really think of anything for you to send me! I have pretty much all i need! Maybe some slim jims cause they don't have that stuff here! something spicy! I freaking miss the food so much at home! I crave it every single day, it's hard eating freaking bland stuff! haha!  Everything is going well and i think that we will get to go to the temple every transfer at least once! pretty cool! just a few more things I'm doing! I'm going to be teaching an English class to people in the church! it will be pretty fun!! we tried to clean the room but seriously its impossible to keep clean, our window in the back is like broken and dust just flies in so I'm getting used to being dirty! oh and the cockroaches! we made it so that they can't get into our room cause we stuffed the holes but we can see all their little antennas sticking out of the wall...pretty sketch. I'm sure i will get over my fear of bugs here, theres crap everywhere!! Money in my mind is getting messed up, I bought a ice cream the other day I thought was a rip off but guess how much it was.. like 75 cents.. haha oh boy! We finally figured out how to get warm water and we will be doing that this week! I just can't believe how people live here, you have no idea, and they don't even know its bad!! We are so busy, I wouldn't even have time to write letters if i knew where to send them!! just so nuts, everyday is a blur which is good! I love you so much and miss you a ton! I can't wait to hear from you next week! Tell everyone I love them! I love you all so much, just know I'm okay! Love you my family! 

xav

Golfing in Peru!

At least the golf course looks nice!

"Home Sweet Home"

(He's taller than the door!)

Xavi's Pensionista - She prepares his meals at her place!!  Look at that place!

Wow, are we spoiled!

Xavi and Elder Dias have found 17 people that are interested in the church!  They just need to get married.  Everyone in Peru are living as couples and have children but many of them are not married! He said that Sunday they had 6 investigators come to church! Now that is exciting!

He really likes the cool Volkswagens!

1st Week in Peru :)

So the start of week 2 is diarrhea central!! hahahah i hope i don't really get sick though! It was so awesome to be able to talk to you on skype yesterday! It was really hard for me too but afterwards it made me feel alot better because i know that i can do it because i have so much support at home! Yes i do have a regular shower but we don't need a kitchen because we always eat at the pensions house! i'll send you a picture of that! We have a store next to our house and they pretty much have everything you need so don't worry about any of that! Its not the quality of stuff at home but at least we have it!! my address, i have no idea! oh and i can't figure out how to do a question mark  on this so yeah! I have no idea about the email thing, I'm hoping that it will change soon cause it sucks that everyone has to email through you or dad! actually I'm hearing that it might have just changed, i have no idea cause i can't read the long email from the president!!  I'm starting to adjust already, its really not that bad, its just a huge shock at first!! I will probably be here for 3 months, which is my whole time of training, but it could possibly just be the one transfer of 6 weeks!! Opening a new mission is hard because you have to find all new people, we already have baptismal dates as goals for our 5 investigators but its just hard learning to know the members, and all that! My companion really is cool! he is a great trainer and is easy to get along with! the dogs, eh we can just hit them with our books or rocks, or kick them, they aren't that bad except that try to come rub on you and stuff which they are just so dirty. I feel like my English is getting bad because i have to talk really simply with my companion in English so he can understand. in the room we only speak English so that i can teach him how to speak better!  i was wondering about the school! i hope its all good! I'm glad you love it, it sounds fun, i may be teaching English to little kids in church soon! that will be fun! 93 degrees holy crap!! its always just kinda warm here! it doesn't really change that much! Tell dad i love him too! oh the dear elders will probably take like a week so keep emailing so i can respond easier! I hope you don't worry about me too much! comfort Mercedes and dad and let them know i am fine!! I love you so much mom. 

Keegan and Xavi at the MTC on May 2, 2013