Thursday, August 20, 2015

Week 1 - I Made it to Peru!

Family and Everyone,
First Apt. at the MTC
just saying now im not going to be capitalizing anything or putting very much punctuation anywhere because these keyboards are different. but this week has been ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!! I sat by this Chinese guy named Wong Cei and I started to talk about the gospel with him a little and gave him a pass along card...i really just wanted a Chinese Book of Mormon but the pass along will have to do. I was wishing Anna was there because he understood Chinese way better than English. The first day we got here we didn't get to bed until super super late...like 3 or 4 am. I understand now why people say that a mission is 70 years of highs and lows in a such a short time. I feel like I have been gone for a month and its only been a week. We have already started to teach an "investigator" aka our teacher...and that is what has really made me desire to learn Spanish. I got done with my first lesson and the way me and the other missioneras described it like "we were lower than the dust of the earth." Spanish is hard, but i am just amazed how the gift of tongues is so real! we were in a MTC devotional last night and i my English translating headset wasn't working, so I prayed that I could understand what was being said. Immediately after I said that I was starting to understand more and by the end I could understand just about everything!!!!!! I can not believe how strong the spirt is here. We went to the temple this morning and oh man everything is just crazy here! We were packed tighter than sardines on a bus and there are no pedestrian laws...but there are nice people who stop and let you cross.
Airport on the Way to South America
Elder Devon Alder on the far left is also from Herriman!
Also I found the orange juice of the Peru MTC: its a fruit called a granadilla and on the outside its hard and then you break it open and it looks like fish eggs...and if you chew the seeds, everything flows a little too well in your body. :) sorry I just had to say that. The rest of the food is really good though...lots of potatoes and rice and meat just like we expected. I tried a little of this mystery meat the other day and I have never tasted anything so disgusting in my life! It was sheep apparently and i now understand how missionaries out in the field can shove food into their bags and not even care about if anything gets messed up.
My companera is Hermana Jardine and she is the biggest sweetheart! I absolutely love being her companion. My district is super awesome too. We have a bunch of crazy 18 year old young men in it and I forgot how crazy they were.
We have 50 minutes of physical activity every day and I really love it. My companion likes to run too (thank you Heavenly Father) and we run 20 minutes and then do a workout after...we`re building up to running the entire time.
Sister JardineFirst Companion at the MTC
Also the sun never shines here...what I thought were clouds is actually pollution. Crazy! And it is cold! I forgot it was winter here...not like our winters, everything is still green but it feels like our spring and fall...the warmer parts of both.
It really hasn`t hit me that I'm a missionary yet or that I am not going to be coming home in a few weeks...it really feels like EFY mixed with learning a new language. We have the best teachers that are so helpful in learning the language, but i can`t see myself being fluent in it ever. I guess one day it will just don on me that I can speak it.
First Trip to the Lima, Peru Temple
I really love it here and am so glad i decided to go on a mission. I am learning and growing in so many different ways I cant even say all of them. I love you all so incredibly much and have no idea what i would do without your support. There are latinos here that have no support from home and they are some of the most incredible people I have ever met! I love trying to talk to them. I pray for you every day. and I love you so so much!!!!!!! Never forget how important God is in your life. Without Him we are literally nothing. I am trying to be exactly obedient more because that shows God where your heart is. "Obedience is the first law of heaven, the cornerstone upon which rest all righteousness and progression."
Have an absolutely beautiful week and keep smiling!!!!
Love,
Hermana Briggs

Playing field at the MTC

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