Date
July 31, 2017
Area
Puno Peru - 2nd Area
Companion
Elder Jhoswill Obeb Barrios
Week 31!
-Hooray for email chats! I missed Cody a lot this week but the time we had to send emails back and forth really helped. Lots of great stories and pictures. He was surprised when I told him how many people read his emails and have told me that they love his letters. If you have a second, send him a quick note and tell him yourself. It will make his day!
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Martes
Not much happened. We had a mediocre day, so when we got back to Chanu Chanu we had a pretty fun dance party. Good way to keep the mood light and get ready to get rocked the next day.
Miercoles
We went to the landlady for our house and did the contract, made a few changes to it, and did some other bank paperwork and stuff so that we can hopefully move into the house tomorrow. It wasn’t very exciting at all, but guys, I freaking did a housing contract and everything to rent out a house in freaking Spanish. To quote Robert Oppenheimer who quoted somebody else when he tested the first atomic bomb, “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” That’s right everybody. I can freaking rent out a house in Spanish now.
Jueves
Not much exciting happened today either. We had an appointment with our investigator named Alex. He looks like a grown man, but he turns 18 in August. But the dude is really cool and really likes the church and it all makes sense to him and it’s awesome. So we asked him if he wanted to be baptized on the 19th or the 26th of this month. He sat in silence for a second, and then said, “Let me pray about it.” Elder Barrios and I just looked at each other and smiled. We taught him right. Super satisfying when you teach someone to pray about everything and then they actually do it. Alex gets it. He’s a great convert and I can’t wait until he’s baptized.
Also today we picked up our clothes from our laundry lady and her four-year-old daughter was being stupid adorable. I really wanted a picture, but didn’t get one. Maybe this week. She was showing me clips of her favorite movies and talking in her Spanish that is only slightly better than mine (Just kidding, I would rock that four-year-old in a Spanish deathmatch) and then she put stickers on my cheeks and called me pretty.”
Viernes
We had just left the pension with a couple other elders that ate with us that day and we had to walk down a big set of stairs. A lightbulb turned on directly over my head. We had to take a video of us synchronized walking down these stairs. So we did it.
Later in the day Elder Barrios and I were talking about what we were going to do on P day. He said we were going to play football. And then I added "Naked!" In Spanish, "Calato!" I may have yelled it slightly too loud because there were about ten older women in front of us that all turned around and stared. I looked each one right in the eyes as we walked by and I said in English, "You heard me!" and Elder Barrios tried not to pee himself while he laughed himself to tears. We didn’t end up playing naked, but it made for a good time.
Sabado
We did service in Salcedo with some other elders. We were helping to pickaxe away a mountain so they can build a house there. Something that would be done in half an hour in the US with heavy machinery, but in Peru we use people and pickaxes for hard labor and it’s only going to take a few weeks! So I spent about half an hour on this hill when I decided that I was in the middle of nowhere and I was going to look like freaking Arnold Schwarzenegger if I took my shirt off and pickaxed this mountain all the way to Lake Titicaca and back. So I freaking went to town on this bad boy, shirtless. Three hours later we called it a day and went back home to change and do some missionary work. And then I found out that I had a 59th degree sunburn on my back. It hurt to wear a shirt, it hurt to sleep, it hurt to breathe. It still hurts actually. Pretty awesome. So I may be hurt temporarily, but at least I can tell my grand kids about that time I freaking shirtlessed Schwarzeneggered the crap out of a mountain in Puno, Peru.
Domingo
We went to church. After Sacrament Meeting a man named Thomas came up to us and asked for a blessing. A white guy. Crazy long hair, big fatty beard. He limped into a classroom. Turns out that the guy has knee problems. He was born in Georgia, baptized in Japan in 1977, lives in Chile, and is traveling through Peru. Really cool guy. We talked to him for a while and then he left. Turns out he believes that the New World Order controls all the hospitals and so he refuses to get real medical care for his knee problem. We meet with him again tomorrow. Should be interesting.
That’s my week! I hope you all have a great week! Remember that prayer is a conversation with God, and he always wants to hear what each one of us has to say to him. Say your prayers! Love you all!
Elder Cody Clobes