Week 1

Hey everyone, I'm here in Peru. Things are going pretty great I'd say. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. Right before I left, I was kind of still having doubts about my mission. Like man, this is expensive and it lasts 2 whole years. But the night after I got ordained, I had a dream. In it, I was sharing a scripture with someone. The scripture was at the end of Alma chapter nine. When I got up, I was curious to see what was there. So I went to go check and in Alma 9 27 and the first part of 28 it says (sorry, you'll have to translate it because I forgot my English version) "Y he aqui, viene para redimir a aquellos que sean bautizados para arrepentimiento, por medio de la fe en su nombre. Por tanto,preparad la via del senor, porque esta cerca la hora en que todos los hombres recibiran el pago de sus obras..." (And behold, he cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance, through faith on his name. 28 Therefore, prepare ye the way of the Lord, for the time is at hand that all men shall reap a reward of their works, according to that which they have been—)  That hit me like a wall of bricks. I still feel the spirit every time I think of it. So yeah, there's really no doubt in my mind that this is where God wants me to be.

The day I left, I got up at 3:30 am for my 7 am flight. Goodbyes were hard with my family. When I was trying to get breakfast, a man saw me and took me to get breakfast with him. It's awesome that the Lord was already watching out for me. There were 5 other missionaries with me on the flight to Atlanta and like 50 of us on the way to Lima. We had a five hour layover, so we didn't land until like midnight. Then because of customs, a sister that never showed up I guess, and an Elder that lost his passport in Atlanta, I was finally in bed at 3:30 am again. 

Turns out the 3 week program is the native's courses with me and two other gringos. Everything is in Spanish. The only times I hear English is when I happen to see someone in the hall, or when I go to bed at night with the 4 other gringos. I've learned fast. I just hope I haven't missed anything too important. There was one elder at first who I thought was speaking a mix of Japanese and Geonocian (from Star Wars), but we're friends now. Turns out he's just Chilean. My companion is Elder Villanueva. He knows enough English to bail me out when I'm really in trouble. But he's also the slowest eater I've ever met. He's even slower than I am. I'm gonna end up hopefully really good at soccer in a few years though, because they play it every day.

The weather here is really weird sometimes. It doesn't rain, but sometimes there's like a fine mist in the air. It's like always walking through one of those mist fan things. Everything gets wet. 

The natives put ketchup and mayo on literally almost everything. It's kinda disgusting and pretty weird. I've tried a lot of weird food here since I've arrived, but I don't think I'll ever be like that.

I met elder Johns, who's from AF, so it was nice to see a face from home. We know a lot of the same people. He's a pretty cool dude. Elder Dodds is in my room and he's one of the most interesting people I've ever met. He's the kind of guy that shakes everyone's hand, but also sleep yells at us. He's pretty funny and also one of the single most inspired guys I've every met. Just follow the spirit guys. When you find some time, go read Alma 26. That's a great chapter. That's all I really have time to say this week because we only get an hour. 

Follow the spirit y'all

-Elder White