HOLA MI FAMILIA!
Well you already got the email that I MADE it! WOOHOO! I live in a dorm with 3 bunkbeds and with 3 Americans and 3 Lantinos. Our district is only a group of 5 which is really small. The others are like 16, but there is a group of 3 Elders that got here a couple weeks before us and we just kind of group with them during meals. My district is Elder John that I met up with, Elder Meaker, a hilarious guy from Washington state, Elder Wilde (nope not related to our elder wilde.. i asked..) He's from Canada. Then me and Hermana Sisson. So the first day here after I emailed you guys we just went through orientation and got all our visa applications in we had to get fingerprinted and profiles taken by the Lima police haha. And a few other things. The food here is wonderful! Some of it is pretty weird and taste off but in general its great! Alot of fruit and vegetables which I like! They have this type of fruit, I can remember the name, but you crack it open, then peel off the shell then it kind of looks like a spider nest, a hug one, then you rip it open and inside it looks like a bunch of fish eggs, and they are clear with seeds inside them so it looks pretty nasty then you just kind of slurp them out, you cant really chew them, they are SUPER slimy and the seeds are kind of annoying but your suppose to eat them. but yeah it taste pretty good once you get past the look, we call them spider eggs.
For classes we have one room that we meet in, which is nice cause we leave everything in there, but our teacher is a Peruvian who literally speaks no english... talk about immersion. it was like a huge game of sherrads (iI don't know how to spell it) but yeah we surprisingly learned a lot. It really makes you have to focus and be active listeners cause you have to figure out what he is saying, but since its only 5 of us we get a lot of personal time and have to participate. Its fun now cause if he talks slow we can understand him pretty well. I understand Spanish a lot better then I can speak it but surprisingly after only 5 days I can speak a lot better then I thought. we just kind of replace the Spanish words we know into our talking, so its very spanglish, but I already had our first lesson practice. CRAZY! and they ask questions on the spot and we have to try and answer it with our limited vocabulary. ha. but it just motivates me to learn more and more!
so mi compañero has been kind of a struggle. First of all we are totally different personalities, in other words if we weren't companions, in real life we probably wouldn't be friends, she was home schooled so her social skills are kind of weird for me. I don't get the point of saying half the things she says. but I didn't think it'd be a problem cause i'm usually pretty easy going and get along with everyone even though we may not be besties. BUT.. after we got here I soon realized she was only here to learn Spanish. I was here to teach people what I know. Anything church and gospel related she kind of tunes out... during personal study she either writes in her journal (which we get time at night to every day) or draws in her notebook. I've never seen her read or study.. Then, every night we are suppose to plan together and she doesn't feel like we need to since we have a schedule they gave us. Then when we were preparing our lesson to teach she sat there for 10 minutes I asked if she needed help and she just kind of said she wasn't feeling it today, so I basically wrote her part of the lesson too.. SUPER FRUSTRATING! On Sunday she asked to meet with the CCM Pres, and was in there for 2 hours. so I just sat outside and got some nice scripture reading in, but I could hear a little bit, I know she was crying the whole time about how she didn't want to be here, it wasn't the right CCM for her, and she ended up calling her parents and talking to them about it. Then when she came out she acted perfectly fine and wouldn't talk to me about it. so I don't know if she doesn't like me for how I am constantly getting on her to do what we are suppose to be doing, I guess I should be more patient.. its frustrating. I'm not sure what will happen and I've tried to be more nice about motivating her to work harder. but well see, cause after that she seemed to be even more anti learning, even in Spanish. she just kept saying "no se..." ( I dont know) even the teacher you could tell was getting frustrated. ugh. but yeah not complaining, I'm learning from it. not every companion can be perfect. uhm I'm running out of time but I get to email tomorrow too so I can finish the rest up then. oh yeah and you cant take pictures here except for p-days. thats the only day. so I have no pictures... :( but today for P-day we get to LEAVE and go shopping at all the stores, so I actually get to experience Lima life! so ill tell ya about that tomorrow.
OH one more thing before I get off! I played futbol during our hour of activity time, and we played with the Lantino. and they call me SHE-HULK!! haha
LOVE YOU!!!
Hermana Nielsen
continuing with what I had, for p-day yesterday we went to a couple of grocery stores and a flea market kind of thing where they have tons of cool things! I got some Peruvian flowy pants and a headband. we then went to a lds store where they sell llama ties and scripture cases and Peruvian bags, its way cool! I got a couple things, and I really wish there was a way I could send them to you! I'm still looking into it cause they have some pretty cool stuff. so the last email was just a bunch of events and stories but on a more spiritual note, its sooo great here! Everyone is super nice and loving and the spirit is soo thick! a quick story really fast, a lady taught our relief society lesson, in English, and she had a speech impediment and every other word would cut out and it was super hard to focus and understand what she was saying, but she still taught a great lesson, then at the end she bore her testimony and as soon as she did her voice was clear as day and perfect! it was crazy! i was like looking around seeing if anyone else was seeing this too. it was awesome. anyways have a GREAT CHRISTMAS! i still don't have any time to tell you everything... ugh!! ha but I love you-!!!
Hermana Nielsen
continuing with what I had, for p-day yesterday we went to a couple of grocery stores and a flea market kind of thing where they have tons of cool things! I got some Peruvian flowy pants and a headband. we then went to a lds store where they sell llama ties and scripture cases and Peruvian bags, its way cool! I got a couple things, and I really wish there was a way I could send them to you! I'm still looking into it cause they have some pretty cool stuff. so the last email was just a bunch of events and stories but on a more spiritual note, its sooo great here! Everyone is super nice and loving and the spirit is soo thick! a quick story really fast, a lady taught our relief society lesson, in English, and she had a speech impediment and every other word would cut out and it was super hard to focus and understand what she was saying, but she still taught a great lesson, then at the end she bore her testimony and as soon as she did her voice was clear as day and perfect! it was crazy! i was like looking around seeing if anyone else was seeing this too. it was awesome. anyways have a GREAT CHRISTMAS! i still don't have any time to tell you everything... ugh!! ha but I love you-!!!
