last week in the CCM

Hola Familia!!

 

This week has flown!! Sorry if this is a short one, but there really hasn´t been too many new things... hehe.

 

This week I´m getting over a weird cold, but I´ve been feeling fantastic recently, and that´s awesome!! My roommates have been so awesome about it! I went to bed early on night because I was feeling really bad, and they were so sweet and left me notes and were quiet so I could sleep. They´re the best and I´m really going to miss them when we leave in 5 DAYS!! EEK!!

 

Thursday, Hermana Pugmire and I were in charge of teaching the Book of Mormon lesson in class and we talked about the Stripling Warriors! We had everyone draw some pictures on the whiteboard and everyone loved it! Our teachers took a picture since we´re only allowed to take pictures on P-day, and they haven´t emailed it to me yet... but as soon as I get it, I´ll send it over! At the end of our lesson we sang "Armies of Helaman" and the spirit was so strong!! Missionary work is so cool!

 

Friday, Hermana Pugmire and I had to teach 3 large lessons and 2 small ones with our class.  WE taught this guy named Ricardo a 20 minute lesson, and for some reason, we totally had the giggles. So we weren´t surprised when we got our evaluation and it said, "control the laughing". But we just laughed-- It´s better to be too happy than to have him tell us we need to smile... Hehehe.

 

Some funny things that happened this week: While we were reading our information sheets on our investigators, Elder Williams said, "Ok, there must be a lot of typos in this or we really can´t read Spanish!" our teacher came over and looked and told him it was in Portugese! We had a good laugh about that! Then, one day while we were doing TALL (the language program here) Elder Wright, who is a super nice, polite guy just exclaimed, "My spine hurts... I think it´s because I have the Nunca´s!!!" we all were silent for a minute and then all busted out laughing...! It´s the little things here... hehe.. If you don´t know what the Nunca´s and the Siempre´s are, I´ll just say it has something to do with how often you have to go to the bathroom... haha.... ha...

 

This Sunday was really good here in the CCM. Our district was in charge of the special musical number, so we sang Praise to the Man. The last verse, however, we did in English. It was sooooo cool!! I miss English Hymns sometimes, but it´s cool to see how things are progressing with my spanish!!

Later that day, we got to watch... (Maya you´ll like this...) EPHRAIMS RESCUE!! I remember when Maya came home and wanted to watch it and she told us it was the funniest movie ever. At the time, I didn´t appreciate it, but this time.. I laughed a lot!! Everyone should watch it! It made my companion cry and I thought it was really sweet!!

 

On P-Day Adam (That´s what we call Monday here... P-DAy Eve... P-Day Adam.. hehe) we got to sit by President Gonzalez and his wife at dinner!! Presidente is this really cute little old man who seems quite and a little scary... but they told us how they met and how he proposed and he was so cute and funny!! Haha... It´s weird thinking that I won´t see them after a few days... EEK!!

 

Last night (P-day Eve) we had an AWESOME fireside by Elder Goloy... (I think that´s how it spelled...) He is a member of the 70 and apparently he talked in conference a few years ago. He talked about how we can be better missionaries, and it was so good!!!

 

Today was P-Day and WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!! The temple has been closed these past weeks we´ve been here for repair and so it was awesome that on our last p-day we got to go!-- We got to go our first too, so it was cool how it progressed! We wear headphones with the English translation playing in our ears, but one of the new girls´headphones weren´t working, so i gave her mine and I listened to the whole session in SPANISH!!! It was so cool!!! I felt like I could totally understand, and I gelt great about it!! And I got to meet a couple of sisters who are serving in my mission right now while we were out!

 

Besides that, my dear family, I am anxiously awaiting next week when I´ll be in the field, but I am also scared to death!! I think I´m ready to go, but I will definitely miss the CCM!!

 

I´m not sure how it will go email wise next week, so if you don´t hear from me, know that I´m well and IN THE FIELD!!!

 

Love you guys lots and think and pray of you everyday!!!

 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

 

P.S. Sorry there´s no pictures... there´s hardly enough time on P-DAy for me to take any!! I´ll defnitely have some next time!!

 

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

1month down 17 more to go!

Hola My Dearest Family!!

Holy Cow I can´t believe that I´ve already been out a month! (If we´re going by weeks, not the number day.. hehe) I miss you like crazy cakes, but I´m loving it here!!! It feels like I just talked to you, and yet... So much has happened!!

Last Thursday, the whole Zone here in the CCM decided to do an English Fast... which meant... no English from when we woke up until 9pm that night. Wow... that was SO hard!! By the end of the night, all I could say was... ¨Mi cerebro es frito¨which means ¨My brain is fried!!!¨haha.. Even though it was hard, I realized I know more Spanish than I thought I did and it was a great way to practice. :)

Friday night, class was SO fun! Our teacher, Hermana Luna is always energetic (even when we´re dead tired) and always does fun stuff with us. She taught us how to sing ¨Do as I´m Doing¨In Spanish! So fun!

Saturday, WE WENT PROSELYTING!!! When you become an Intermedio, your last Saturday before becoming an Avancado, you go into the field and proselyte!!... with another experienced missionary of course... teehee.. I had the opportunity to go to the Lima South mission, and it was such a great experience!! The streets are so interesting and you get to see the most amazing things.... it´s crazy!! While we were walking down the street, we saw a lady who was cooking meat... and blow drying it... HAhahaha.... We laughed pretty hard at that :) There´s also a lot of cat-calling that happens down here... baha...We were fortunate enough to sit in on a lesson in this woman´s house! She was so sweet and it was crazy seeing a real lesson! It made me realize how much spanish I don´t know... hehe. Although it was a great experience, I was happy to get back to the CCM :) I will definitely enjoy these last 2 weeks as much as possible.

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to play the piano in Sacrament Meeting! It was a little nerve-racking because it was for all the english-speaking missionaries in the CCM, but I was blessed and didn´t mess up too bad ;) It reminded me of the first time I played the organ in sacrament meeting. Haha.. I miss our home ward! :) This Sunday, we had like, 4 hours of personal study..! However, at about hour 3, I was taking a small break and eating a cookie and lying on the floor and suddenly the room got quiet... I looked over towards the door and our branch president President Murray was looking in the window on the door and laughing!! Haha... eek.. But, he just laughed and said he was making sure I wasn´t asleep. He´s a super cool guy.

Sunday night was a little sad because the Avancados were getting ready to leave and so we sang them a songs in the hallway. It´s crazy to think that in 2 weeks, that´ll be us!

So remember how I stepped on a nail? Well.... this week, they sifted through the WHOLE sand pit!! I felt a little bad because that sounds like the least-fun job I´ve ever heard of, but I´m glad they were trying to keep the CCM safe... And the sand felt glorious after they were finished!

Overall, time is not a thing here in the CCM´, and I have a feeling I´ll feel the same in the field! I miss you guys SO much every day! I love you! I hope you have an amazing week!!!

Oh yeah! The video I talked about last email is called, ¨La Obra Misional y la Expiación¨I think if you search for it in youtube, it should come up! It´s so good!

I love you guys!!! Until Next Week!!!

And that’s how I got tetnus…. (;

Hola Familia!!!

What a week! It feels like I just wrote you yesterday, and yet... I have almost been out a whole MONTH!! hahaha...

There´s so much to tell too!

Last Wednesday after I emailed home, we went into the city.. I ordered you guys the scripture cases already because I was afraid that they wouldn´t be ready in time if I ordered them later... They´re all pictures of Jesus, which I was hoping would be ok. :)

Anyways... on our way home, we were riding this bus and I got to sit by this nice Peruvian lady! I talked to her and told her who we were and she told me that her son is actually on a mission!! So cool... Hahha.. She was so nice about it and when we asked her if she was a member she said no... and when we asked her whyshe said ¨Poco y poco¨which means ¨Little by Little¨!! It was pretty cool! And I got to work on my Spanish as well.. Haha.

One cool thing that I noticed about being her on a mission (There are a million.. but I thought this one was especially cool) Are the many blessings I find for myself while I´m here. Like, I really have gotten into the scriptures! I started the mish in the VERY beginning of Alma, and I finished it this week! I have never really been into the scriptures, so it was really cool for me to be able to dive in and care and be sad about things like when Moroni died or stuff like that.. haha.. so dorky... but I love it. Another blessing I´ve been able to notice is my shoulder has not been giving me any problems!! it´s fantastico!! Haha... The deep tissue massage before I left may have contributed to that, but I love thinking of how my body is blessed with health here as well while I´m here!

Speaking of good health.... This week while playing in the sand volleyball court, i stepped on something sharp... I dug around in the sand and found A RUSTY NAIL....... Not going to lie... I totally freaked... but I saved the nail to go in my journal (priorities... I know :P) Anyways, it was just a little stab, but it bled quite a bit.. So i went to Hermana Gonzalez-- the CCM President´s wife who takes care of the health of missionaries-- and she gave me wound wash. No one seemed very scared that I had stepped on a rusty nail.. I guess they just figure that my Tetnus shots are up to date... haha.. But really, I went to go see the actually doctor of the CCM and he said I shouldn´t worry about Tetnus since I´ve had regular shots, but that I should be extra careful that my wound doesn´t get infected.. Don´´t worry Mom!! I haven´t experienced lock-jaw or anything like it!! I´m healthy! And Happy! :)

Our first time as a split district happened this week!! We have 2 new teacher: Hermano Janampa in the morning and Hermana Luna at night! They´re awesome and we love them! They´re both excellent teachers...

Funny story... So Hermano Janampa is this small peruvian guy who is hilarious and makes so many crazy funny faces! One day, we were just talking to him and we asked him if he´d ever been the the Estados Unidon (US) and he said that he hadn´t.. so we were likë... just get married and go on your honeymoon in the US! It´s awesome! and he´s always telling us he´s forever alone... Haha.. so he said ¨Maybe I´lll marry an American girl!¨haha.. and os i said jokingly... ¨I have a sister who just got back from her mission!!.. haha..¨and.. HE WANTED TO SEE A PICTURE OF MAYA!! hahahaha... it was so funny! So I brought one in for him and he now wants to add Maya on Facebook (so... maya... if you get a friend request from a Gian Marco Janampa.... you know what its for) BAGAGAG... sorry Maya... But he´s funny!! Hahaha..

This week, something really cool happened... The newbies came in on wednesday morning and that night, it´s interviews for them. This was before our district split and so our large class was booted out of our classroom while they were holding interviews. WE were up waiting while our teacher tried to figure out where we would be, and there was this new north american sitting outside waiting for his companion to get interviewd. Here on the mish, it´s cool to have stickers on the back of your tag and all the notebooks down here have a bunch of goofy ones.  I had an Avengers notebook with some pretty sweet stickers.  While we were waiting around, I just went over and introduced myself and offered him a sticker! he was really happy and nice about it and I did´n´t think much of it. I would say Hi to him when I saw him at the CCM and he´d always say hi back and show me his sticker.. Well.. Sunday while we were walking back from a fireside, I saw him and said hi and he said hi back and then.. he genuinely Thanked me for the sticker. he told me that Wednesday was a hard time for him since it was the first night in the CCM and when I gave him the sticker... it totally made him day and he knew it was going to be ok... HOW COOL!! PEOPLE.... you never know how the little things you do will affect others!!! there is a FANTASTIC Mormon Message about it online and I seriousl encourage you all to watch it! It totally made my night! The church is true!!

Saturday night, we watched a bunch of Mormon Messages and we watched the one about Elder Uchdorf´s mom when they traveled to the US. Mom watches it all the time in nursery and I teared up a little when we watched it! I miss you (and the nursery) MOM!!!! Man... I´m sorry if this email jumps all over the place!! there´s just so much to say and so little time!!

Before I leave, I wanted to tell you about this really cool video our teacher showed us about missionary work and the atonement. (Mom, if you could find Elder Holland´s portion and send it to me, I´d greatly appreciate the written words!) If you look on Youtube... oh man! I can´t rememver what it´s called and can´t seem to find where I wrote it down.... But I will send it next week! It´s a youtube video with Henry B. Eyring and Jeffery Holland talking about the atonement and missionary work! it´s fantastic!!

Anyways.. I love you all so much and miss you like crazy! I love this church so much and couldn´t think of a better place I could be right now. When one of the missionaries came home in the YSA ward, he said.. ¨No amount of money, schooling, or time is worth what my mission was to me¨and I can TOTALLY see how that´s true in my life already!!

I love you guys!!!

Until next week!!

xoxoxox

Love, 

Hermana Andrus

PICS.. Elder Parkinson and I

My cool Peruvian pants and shoes!

Week Dos!

Hello Family!!!!!

What a week!! It feels kind of like it was just yesterday I emailed, but so much has happened that it couldn´t have been just yesterday.... bahaha...

Well well.... What to tell....? Haha

On Thursday [the day after p-day last week] We went to Interpol!! Interpol is this magical, scary place where you not only have to get your teeth checked, but you also have random people come up to you and tell you that Jesus is an extraterrestrial! Hahahaha... Luckily, he said it to one of our Elders, not me, so that´s good, but it DID happen! Haha... We had to get up super duper early to make our bus... But then it ended up it was late.. So we waiting 40 more minutes for our bus and then.. it was a van. So some of them went in the minivan and the rest of us had to wait until the bigger bus came. Once we were finally on our way, we realized we left our passports [AKA the most important things we needed] so we drove back to the CCM and picked up our passports and then went to interpol! It was crazy! Haha... The real world is so dang cool here in Perú! So many interesting people! But most of them are nice!! We had to fill out a bunch of paperwork, and the Missionary who was helping direct all of us had me go around and make sure everyone got their paperwork, and he said I´d be a good missionary! Haha.. That made me feel pumped!

On a bit of a sadder note... our district of 18 people was split this week frown emoticon Everyone is a little sad-- it feels kinda like a divorce! Haha... However, it´ll be nice to have smaller classes... I feel like i´ll learn a lot more! I´m now in District 108-- Abinidi! So cool!
Sunday was a cool day here in the CCM.. It was 1 groups last Sunday, so we got to watch 17 Miracles AND Meet the Mormons while they did some goodbye stuff! Haha..

There are so many things that have happened this wek, like my white hair was mistaken for floss! Hahahaha... That was so funny... Also, becuase Me and Hermana Flake like to quote Nacho Libre, there´s a funny story involving the bathroom... But I´ll have to tell you that in person... hehe...

Sometime this week... I can´t rememebr which day, I saw Nicolina and Heidi BALDEREE!! They were visiting with HEFY and so we took a picture! she said she would sent it to you, mom!

This week is a celebration for Perú´s independance!! On monday, our cooks made us an authentic peruvian lunch with these really yummy dessert donut-y type things! SO YUMMY!!! They also decorated the Cafeteria with Peruvian flags and they dressed up! they´re so cute!
I´m still eating rice by the bucket load, but I definitely haven´t grown tired of it!! Haha... I told Linnie this, but when we have chicken cooked this certain way, you never really know what piece of the chicken you´re eating and you have to chew it a bunch or you´ll end up eating chicken bones... hehe.. I like almost all the food here though... The bread is AMAZING (You were right Uncle Ward!!!). The only kinda weird things are the desserts.... We get to eat all the ice cream we want (When they have it) and it is SO good!! I´m not sure what it is.. but It´s richer or somethign here! Bahahaha.. The weird part is this thing called Fruit Compote.... It´s like a mix between juice and gelatin and there´s floating pieces of different fruits in it with cinnamon on top (They put cinnamon on EVERY dessert here! bahaha). I aven´t ever had the guts to try it, but some of the other girls have... bagaga.. I´m attaching some pictures of those weird fish-egg fruits also... Hehe...

Something really cool about this week was that our District (well, the large one before we are splitting) started to sing a lot... One day while we were waiting for our teacher (I feel like I say that a lot... but they say Latinos run on their own time-- LST-- Latino Standard Time.. hehe) and some of the Elders just started to sing... and everyone kept adding on... and it sounded suprisingly GOOD!! Hahaha... SO... We decided to start singing at night at 10pm by the doors that seperate the girls dorms with the boys and so we did and all the Elders on that whole floor sang!! We´re still recruiting the sisters for our side... Haha... So... If years from now, they are still singing every night before bed in the Peru CCM, just know it was started by Distric 115! haha..

Last night, the new group of Norte Americanos came in (at 2 am...) haha.. Luckily, we don't have to share our room so we weren´t waken up... Woops... woken up.. man.. My grammer is dying! haha...
BUT NOW I´M AN INTERMEDIO!! It´s funny because when I first got here, I thought the Intermedios were so cool and knew everything even though they told us they didn´t and now that I´m an intermedio... I still know nothing!! baha... But it´s kind of nice not to be the "newbies" anymore.. hehe... Since the Latinos only stay for 2 weeks, our batch of Latinos that came with us are now gone, which was kind of sad... They are SO NICE!! we love them and they loved us!!

So... We have to teach and "investigator" every few days, and we were teaching this guys named José Viscente... His wife is a member and he is intersted, but they´re also having marital problems... anyways... we were teaching him and to be honest.. it was´t going so great... Last night, however, was our last time taeching him since we´re splitting and our teacher-- Hermano Lozano-- brought his wife in to act as our investigators wife... So cool! Anyhwo.. we were teaching him ad his wife and I could feel the spirit SO strong!! so Cool!! we asked him if he would be baptized in August and he said YES!! So awesome!!

The weather here in Perú is so nice!! i usually just wear a sweater with my outfit and it´s perfect... Kinda nice coming from the California heat!!

Unfortunately we only get to take pictures on P-day here, so sorry for the lack of pictures... we didn´t get to go out yet.. (It´s about 9am here)

One thing super cool thing I learned this week was about all the cool hidden treasures in Preach My Gospel (Predicad Mi Evangelio in Español!!).. We had a whole lesson on it on Sunday! Our teacher said he heard before... "If you want to know how the Apostle´s study... follow preach my gospel!!!" So cool!! Haha...

Love you guys lots! Until next week!!

Love,
Hermana Andrus