Week #13- new companion, Elder Chiroque!

This week was great, we had transfers so I am in the same area with a new companion Elder Chiroque from Pura Peru, he doesn´t speak any english so it is a little bit harder to communicate but one of our investigators Jorge was baptized this saturday and it was awesome. The hardest part of this week was finding where everyone lives because my old companion knew everything, so I just followed him. We have a few more investigators that are really close to baptism so I am really excited. This transfer is only 4 weeks long because we get a new president soon. My NOT birthday was awesome we ate a huge dominoes pizza and Inca Cola and they gave me a big gatorade. They did it now because i wont be in this area for my birthday. I haven´t done pushups or situps in about a week or so but I need to..
Love you all, Elder Monson

Baptism picture #1!

Baptism picture #2!

Week #12- a witness for a baptism!

We have a baptism this saturday and we have like 4 more coming up that are really close. One is on saturday. My companion wants me to do it, but I don't know yet. I have to memorize the baptism thing in spanish first! We are having a lot of success now and everything is going great. I was able to be a witness for a baptism this week for the Hermana missionaries in our district, it was really cool. Today I get to celebrate my NOT birthday with our pensionista. I get one present and we are eating a huge dominos pizza and KFC with mangos probably. I am really excited.
Love, Elder Monson

"I think I need some new shoes, what do you think?"

Week #11 & SKYPE!

Well this week in emails was kind of boring for Elder Monson because WE GOT TO SKYPE the day before!! We were all so excited. We got the call at exactly 3:00 pm. We could hear and (kinda, it was blurry) see him... FOR A WHOLE HOUR. Grandma & Grandpa Monson were there too.  He couldn't exactly hear us at first, but we got it figured out. (Thanks to Sana & Cory!!) We asked him a whole bunch of questions and he answered them. He even got to have a first look at his new cousin, Kate, who is 2 1/2 weeks. He said she was cute, so that's a plus. After about 45 minutes, Elder Monson had a few new visitors. Tyler & family said a quick hello and then left (after all, this was Mother's day.) But, they did talk in Spanish for a few minutes and he translated a few words from the hosting family... How sweet that was. They said only but nice things about Taylor, and we couldn't agree more. He seemed SO HAPPY and that was all it took. We KNOW Elder Monson is doing the right thing. Grandma & Grandpa Gertge came by for the last 15 minutes and he got to talk to them too. We are so proud of our Elder! Only 1 year, 9 months,and 2 weeks (okay, that's a rough estimate... but we're pretty excited.) until he's home. <3

Week #10- investigators that are just amazing!

This week has been awesome we got 2 new investigators that are just amazing. We have one that we have a baptism date for after the first lesson. and the other has a date after only the second lesson. This is amazing because we only have 4 investigators total. No body marries here so a lot of our investigators have to get married before they can get baptized, and they just don´t seem like they want to do all the work to be married. They have been living together for 20 plus years and have 3 kids but arent married. Its crazy. We are in San Ignacio, if you can´t find it we are by Montericco and close to a University. Hermana Tula is our pensionista. I think they like me but they make fun of me a lot because I can´t understand them a lot of the time haha .I love a lot of the food here. The drinks are amazing like chucha which is made from purple corn haha. Inca Cola is amazing here. and some spread stuff called Manjarblanco. My supplies are good, but I need more snacks haha. I can´t tell if i have gained weight yet, so maybe a little but I am in the rich area so I have heard that when I go to the poorer area we won´t eat as good and that I will most likely get sick and lose weight. well transfers are every 6 weeks, and we will get to skype for an hour and maybe a little longer. We have 10 missionaries in our district.

Love, Elder Monson

Week #9- This week was alright!

This week was alright, I think my stomach is finally getting sick of the food and I had the worst headache of my life yesterday. For mothers day we will get to call and talk to you guys for like 3 minutes a week before to coordinate things. we will be assigned a day from that week of Mothers day and will get an hour or so to skype. I don´t have any pictures of me and my companion but I found out how to send some. We have a 2 investigators that will probably be baptized on the 11th of May so I am really excited. I feel a little bit better today and I took a lot of advil and some medicine for my stomach. We drink a ton of juice here.The juice is amazing.  I don´t have pictures of the area because we can´t have our cameras with us until p day. We eat all kinds of food. They don´t use milk for cereal they use yogurt and it is really good. It is still really hot and doesn´t get below 70 degrees ever. We don´t do any door to door here. I want more contacts and I am pretty sure we will have outlets. Lima East is the rich people mission. I dont even get to use the expensive scriptures I bought much because we have to use the cover that they gave us with our name and just simple scriptures with no tabs... well that's all.
- Elder Monson

Week #8- All the people here are amazingly nice!

This week was hard because they have a week long celebration called santa semana and no one is home so we didn´t teach very many lessons. I dont know how to send photos so i will find out next time because everyone is writing their families and I can´t waste their time to write. We haven´t really talked about skyping very much. My med supply is good and I take my pills every morning. It seems to be getting hotter for some reason. It cools off to 70s at night and it feels pretty good. I got some pictures of the tree! That is so cool! We have done service once and we helped them dig a hole deeper than I am tall it was crazy! We eat dinner at around 8 and do nightly planning at 9. We never knock doors because they all have walls around their actual house so we have to talk to them through the intercom thingy and when we say we are missionaries they hang up. All the people here are amazingly nice. The weather is really hot during the day still and cools down to about 72 at night. My spanish is getting better but it is really hard to understand what they are saying. We take really small busses everywhere and some I cant even stand up in. Love and miss you, Elder Monson

Week #6/7 - Out of the CCM- in Santa Patricia!

our p day is on mondays now so i couldnt write last week. This week has been really hard because of the language barrier but my companion is awesome and helps me a lot. The people are amazing and the food is a lot better than the ccm food. I got everything in the package, I loved it so much. Thanks a lot! I loved conference it was so awesome. I think the hardest part this week was leaving all of the friends from the ccm even though 3 of us are in the lima east mission. we take busses everywhere and they are very cramped. i dont know how to work this computer so i dont think i will be able to send pictures this week.  My new companion is elder ortiz from argentina, he has been in peru for about a year. My new ward is awesome and all the people are very welcoming. I am in santa patricia. We dont get to use our own personal money in this mission so i took all my cards and money out of my wallet. They give us about 30 dollars a week for everything. The kids here are really funny, Oh and i just remembered that i gave my first priesthood blessing this week to a member that was sick. I had to say it in english of course, but after she stood up and said that she immediately felt better. it was awesome.. I love and miss you all

Love Elder Monson