"One Moment... I Am The Best English Man"

 Haupei! Hola! Hello all!! It is a surreal feeling to be on a different contientent, however sure enough... I am basically Peruvian now. As you guys know I left home last Wednesday and after a measely 3 hour connecting flight, 2 hour layover and 8 hour direct over night flight from LA, we landed in Lima at 8ish on Thursday. Naturally, we were all utterly exahusted, and as we should be... but it was so amazing to actually get to MEET in peson the people that we've gotten on to so many zoom calls with. Home Mtc was long (lo siento Nathan), but my comp and the Elders in my district are amazing. We all sorta thought that Thursday was just going to be a chill, unpack sleep day but nope no rest I guess for the servants of the Lord and so we got straight to work. And by the time we actually got to bed on Thursday I felt like I´d been awake for two straight days, not to mention all the exahustion from travel, entering a new country, and litterally starting the MTC it was insane and by the end we were all so tired.

Our classes are split 50-50 between English and Spanish. We learn the doctrine in English in the mornings, have personal and comp study in the Afternoon and then Spanish and sometimes devotionals after Dinner. Our whole day is absoultely packed and I love it! Hermano Pacherezz our Spanish teacher is absouetly amazing! He was a convert to the church in 2019, and our district and him get along so well. There's 8 of us in the class room, 6 Elders and 2 Hermanas and all of us (bar 1) is going to the Paraguay Mission! We already are all tight and it'll be sad to go our seperate ways next month... but I can't wait to just hear the faint sound of a harmonica playing at one of our Zone Conferences and see Elder Parra coming around a corner absouletly jamming to Loor al Profeta. It will be fire. Speaking of Harmonicas, its amazing me and about 7 of the other Elders in my District and in District Moroni (aka the other Americans we started home mtc with) and so because of how small the Peru MTC is you can always here a harmonica playing during one of our transition times. 

Los Latinos son Genial!! Something that's super amazing about this MTC is that me and Elder Castro's roomates are all Latinos that only speak Spanish... Elder Kun, Elder Perez, Elder Diaz, and Elder Tzul. They have been soo fun to talk to and thanks to Elder Castro whose Dad's Salvadorin and Mom's Mexican we have been able to communicate pretty well with them and so we've shared many a laugh. I even traded my Phoinex Suns tie away (lo siento Elder Bentely) but got a traditional tie from Niguragua. Elder Kun is the best though haha he want's to learn English so he can marry an American (more as a joke haha) but he'll always say "one moment" clear his throat very thouroughly and then walk up to us and in English say "I am the best English Man." I love the immersion that comes from being here and I feel like my Spanish is coming FAST. I can understand alot of things, and I am getting better at speaking! I love getting to know the Latinos culture. 

So back to my days haha sorry this first email might be long lo siento if you've read this far it seems you truly love me haha. Well, Friday and Saturday we're normal class days which were long but also seemed to fly by. And honestly, we spent most of those days just getting used to this brand new country and lifestyle we got thrown into. In the mornings we played Soccer with the Latinos which was funn haha there all so good, and they challenged all the Americans to a game... fortunately we have two 3 D1 Football commits (BYU, Utah, Utah Tech) among the Ameicans (2 from District Jacob which is the other district of Americans that got here 4 weeks before us) and so we hold our own haha. Sunday, was amazing! We had all of church in Spanish and the spirit was so strong... I got picked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting (they sorta just announce it during the meeting so everyone prepares talks during the week so there ready to give one)  but yeah I was one of the people who got picked and so I got to give a talk in Spanish. Monday was normal. Tuesday we got to go to a new temple in Lima that got dedicated 3 months ago and it was an abosuletly amazing expereince. We did Baptisms, Confirmations and Inatories and the Celestial room was soo beautiful. 

Finally, I want to just let you guys know how amazing this work is! How excited I am to be in the field. The gospel can and really will change your life I know it. I have a testimony that grows daily in the power of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It is a witness of Christ that is the instrument by which we will bring people to Christ as Missionaries. We watched a really powerful video in Elders Quorum on Sunday that I'll include here and invite you all to watch from Jeffery R. Holland about the Book of Mormon. Finally, I testify that this is Christ's Church. That when we turn to God he will hear our prayers. The gospel of Jesus Christ is real.