Peruvian Style: Poco el Poco

Buenos Tardes!! Wow, so much to tell. Where do I start? First time on a plane was great, window seat, yes! :) Long though, very long. And we couldn't watch movies which kind of made it a bummer. The airport was packed when we got there, all Latinos picking up businessmen. We got to the CCM at one in the morning and just crashed. My companera is Hermana Ruesch. She is absolutely amazing and teaches me something everyday. A lot of lessons :) We started the next day with orientation and a lot of study, right into Spanish!! It's a little overwhelming and I was having a hard time at first, but they just keep telling us, poco el poco (little by little). We ONLY have Spanish teachers, I repeat, only Spanish teachers. Who speak ONLY Spanish. AH! It is crazy, our whole district is just looks at each other the first day with ghost like faces. It's awesome now because I can make out a good majority of what they're saying, definitely more than I can speak :) They refer to our Spanish books as Pokémon characters....... they are that important :) Hermana Ruesch and I are the only two girls in our district we have ten other elders, and it is so much fun. I love it, we are all going to Iquitos which makes it even better. We are all tons alike too. :)

In our room, it's Hermana Ruesch and I and then two other Latina companionships. They are so so sweet. I had a meltdown last night because I couldn't get the language. And the Latinas came over and just coddled me and took the Spanish dictionary so they could translate what I was saying. It was adorable. It is probably the most loving culture over here. They just want to take care of you and love you all the time.

The CCM is gorgeous. The grounds are so well kept and amazing compared to the city. We went out on the city today because it was P day and, you know those buses I was telling you about? Yeah, rode two of those. They are small and cramped to say the least. And the drivers there are nothing compared to dad's driving ;) The temple was gorgeous but kind of frustrating wearing the translator around my neck. We went to the stores and everything is just so weird here. You go outside and you feel like you are going to get lung cancer just from the air because it is so bad here. Just be so so grateful for all the blessings we have in America. We are very blessed.

So much to tell....FOOD! You guys have not tasted a churro, the churros here are amazing!! Oh my and the Chocolate is even better! Oh, and the ice cream is heaven! Let's just say sweet wise, I'm getting pretty spoiled. We have rice with every meal and some sort of meat, we all just ask each other what it is, because we never know. :) But we are so busy during the day that when we get to meals we are starving and anything will do.

I've been so sleep deprived, I'm not used to this whole getting up at 6:30 thing, and neither are my Latina roommates, they like to stay up, that's the culture, so our rule is, lights out at 10.30 but they never are. So, it is interesting.... :)

If I forget anything I am so sorry, we only have an hour and it seems so short. I will try to send some pictures of everything.

We taught our first investigator and it was our teacher. But he is an amazing actor, it was playing it up, he was crying and everything about the problems he supposedly had. It was pretty dramatic. It assisted a ton though so that we could know what we were going to be doing. This really is the way to learn Spanish though, it's perfect because you have to learn Spanish in order to survive here.

I love you all so much, and think about you everyday. Thank you for all your prayers! Poco el Poco

Hermana Larsen