Week 15

So this week has been pretty good! i am starting to enjoy this a little more and get used to my circumstances here. it has been hard and i still am not completely there but it is a little easier. 

 

I have been keeping a personal dictionary where i write down all of the new words that i hear and it is filling up fast! but it has really been helping me learn the language. i still have trouble with the way that they say things and the structure of things but i am learning everyday. it has been nice to have Elder Gozalvez as my comp who speaks practically no english. one of the things that i noticed this week that is a real disability as we were talking with a less active member is that i have no idea how to help these people with some the things they experience in their life. haha im only 19 with practically no life experience and they expect me to help these people? but as i was thinkin about that i realized that i dont need to because the gospel of jesus christ is there to help everyone find their answers and solutions. i love the invitation that the brethren make to us, that if we have a deep question or concern in our life, read the book of mormon with it in mind and look for ways that it answers it. the book truly can answer almost anything in ways you never wouldve thought. 

 

i have had some experiences with some agnostic people and even a couple of atheists as well. trying to teach these people or listening to them make their point kind of tests your faith occasionally. it makes you really think about what you believe. but all of my doubts disappear when i realize how perfectly everything in this church fits together. i just thank God everyday that i was born into a family where i know what i know since i was born and for the blessings that i have received through that knowledge. it is so sad to see how lost people are out here and for the ones we find, how hard they have been searching for the message that we bring. it is amazing. 

 

i was reading in PMG this week about Eternal Marriage because we are trying to ease this couple into getting married so she can get baptized because he is less active and i found the coolest quote. it says ´heaven is a continuation of the ideal home´ it made me think of how my future home might be and how it should be. imagine heaven how you will and then put that into your own home... pretty cool thought. 

 

Anyway i am learning a ton out here. more than i ever could have anywhere else. things that i think i always knew, make sense now and i have been given so much knowledge. i just hope that i can continue learning and growing constantly. thanks for all of your prayers and support i really have felt the strength and the hand of the Lord in my life these recent 3 months. 

 

oh and i found out when we are heading to the temple. We are going Nov 29th at like the 8:30 morning session here. so i am excited. time is going by pretty fast i cant believe this transfer is already winding down. i am excited to see where i might be transferred next. I might have to train because we have a ton of noobs coming in. that would be super hard but fun. 

 

ya anyway reading over what i just wrote makes me feel a little weird like that was all gospely so i gotta say some more. cant wait to get home to play some fetching ball. cant wait to speak spanish like a boss. Brett said it best, ´aint no billionaire that didnt have to work hard´ to be a boss you gotta work like one. AMEN

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 14

So in my last email i was really struggling but this week has been much much better. We contacted so much last week and into about tuesday were just days full of contacting but now we are seeing the fruits of it and i have some stories. 

so remember that one time that i said that i would punch that dog in the face at Lake Powell? ya well it happened. we were headed to pick up some investigators to go to church and there came out of nowhere these two huge dogs one was like this huge black lab and they werent peruvian dogs, they had been well fed and had their battle scars and whatnot. anyway they chose me and ran full speed to jump on me and tried to bite me. idk if i told you but we have to carry around  a BoM in a case with us everywhere we go and so i smacked this thing down with it and then the other came at me and i kicked it in the face. this happened a couple times and they almost got me hah. my comp just stood off to the side. i freaking kicked these things so hard in the face it was so dope but they just kept coming back until about the sixth time.

story two, we prayed for an hour and 15 minutes. It was our first lesson with this guy named Carlos and it was hot and after lunch and there was slow music playing that made us drowsy while he talked but he started telling about how his son had passed away and he had had tons and tons and tons of problems in the past. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and invited him to pray at the end of the lesson. He made up every excuse not to. he told us he felt like a pharisee and other weird things that we shot down. after about 30 minutes of that we told him that we would kneel down and wait for him to pray. the spirit was so strong and had guided our words and responses so well throughout this lesson. i spoke spanish as if i had been born doing it. we felt that if he said this prayer he would change his life so we didnt give up and we ended up kneeeling down for an hour and 15 minutes! hahaha he finally broke and prayed. we will see how he does after this because that was on friday. 

something i am looking forward to this week is that i hit 100 days on wednesday! that is a mark! i am finally starting to have some time under me. The language is still difficult, i can understand almost perfectly but speaking gives me trouble. there is so much to learn hahah.

we committed 7 investigators to baptism this week. one family that is straight gold that will get married the 19th and then get baptized afterwards and then some others who are pretty solid too that i think will hold out. It is amazing to see these miracles happéning because at the start of this transfer we literally had nothing. i found a cool quote tht i would like to share that says {there is no education like adversity.} haah boy have i found that to be true. it reminds of a talk dad gave as a bishop where he talks about the tearing down of muscle fibers to rebuild them even stronger and i have just beeen trying to keep that in mind right now. because i sure have been torn down. 

 (A "dope" USU Bull on a taxi)

also i would encourage you guys to go and listen to the conference talk by elder bednar idk exactly what it is called but i think it is the 20 marc note. it is super cool and i found a lot of inspiration in that. 

 (La Mision)

i have a couple of requests though. my comp wants a quadruple in english idk if you can get one and send it or how expensive it is? he said he would pay me back. he might want his name on it too his name is {Yecid R. Gozalvez M.} thats what he wants on it. and another comp here wants a hymn book in english so if you could send me a couple that would be nice too. and send me a rubics cube for this kid. 

  (elder Gozalvez and me)

i am doing well and i am good. thanks for your prayers and support!

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 13

This week was alright. my new comp is elder gozalvez from la paz bolivia and he speaks zero english. luckily i can understand and know enough spanish to where we are fine. he is like your average video gamer stereotype. He likes to work really hard though which is fine with me it makes the time pass faster. We have been contacting a ton this week because our old investigators arent really progressing and we need new ones. and the lord blessed us with 17 new ones this week. we will see if they progress. We had an emergency transfer this week in our district and my comp from the ccm elder hunt came from the other side of our mission so that is awesome. we get to chill and enjoy ourselves again. i like our new zone and they love to play soccer which is fun. 

on saturday we had a zone attack. we went to a different area and the elders from the ccm came on splits with us and it was fun. somehow Josh King, from Preston that i used to play ball with on the Cache valley elite, was there and so we got to talk. he is headed to trujillo. it was kinda sad and funny to see the noobs struggle with spanish. i was just thankful that i could speak better than he could in the ccm holy! i encountered some ancient investigators that were taught by elder griffin when he was here in the area 27 de abril so that was cool. 

we had our 6 week training with the president this week and all it was was just a Q & A which was nice because we had a ton of questions. i fell off of a bus trying to get on because it was so packed and there was no where to hold onto. i am fine though, luckily i am nimble. 

randomly there was a line we saw in the street that literally was like 3 miles long of people all wearing Guns n Roses tshirts so i guess guns n roses is on a world tour ahahah idk why they came to peru. There was also an earthquake the same night but it was weak. 

i am struggling pretty badly rn. i know a lot of spanish and can understand but i still cant get to know people and it is so frustrating. i cant teach like i want to either but i will just keep working. it just sucks being on the bottom of the totempole as well. i mean i guess i have to start somewhere but it sucks. because i am brand new and dont know enough spanish i feel like i just get walked on. 

all i still know is that it could be worse. The dude who is like 24 served a mini mission before this which idk really how it works but it was for 9 months. i think it is kinda like dad said about the tongans, a test run. haha he has been gone for almost 3 years. and he just showed me his wedding anouncement with his gf who waited the whole time for him lol. they are getting married in february, such a long time. 

the thing i look forward to is knowing that one day i will like this. 

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 12

Guys, 

So there goes my first transfer. My new comp will arrive tomorrow morning. his His name is like elder Gonsalvez from Bolivia and he has only 6 months in the mish. we will see how it goes. it was kinda sad saying goodbye to E. Cruz this morning. he was really excited and nervous but there goes really one of the only people i know here in the mish. he was a really was a good guy and he taught me a ton of stuff. every companionship in our zone had a transfer so we will see who the new missionaries are tomorrow. 

This week has been busy. We didnt study at all because we had a multizone and meetings and we had to go to the office for Cruz. The days here go by like weeks and the weeks fly by like days. It is crazy that i am almost 3 months in. 

I got 3 packages this week. two from dad and one from marissa for my birthday! it was awesome. i have snacks enough to last me until christmas haha. I saved the small one for saturday morning and opened up new resistance bands to use! they are awesome. Our pension made me a cake and luckily mom sent me those candles because they couldnt find any here. as they say here for my birthday we had to [tirar la casa por la ventana] it was weird to celebrate alone but it kinda just passed like every other day as i am sure most holidays will. i am just really sad about missing Halloween as the first holiday in the mish. 

it is really hard not to look at the things i am missing or will miss while out here on the mission but i am trying to keep a good attitude. 

no real stories this week. i have met some of the most humble people ever but i have also met some of the most prideful ever. people think they know everything about the bible even when Cruz would wreck them haha. It is sad to see them like that. it is also frustrating to have everyone accept our message but not really want to hear. just say they don't have time. i think we are going to drop some investigators who arent progressing. 

haha so the childrens songs CDs were a great idea too. i am going to try to find a childrens hymn book at the temple when we go next month. Also, if you are going to send another package for christmas or something i could use another twirl a tie thing or two and popcorn and some mints like altoids because we cant chew gum. Thats it though. Maybe some starburst jelly beans. 

anyway, all is well here. i am just grinding away at the time here. 

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

 Week 11

So this week was actually the best yet i think! i went on a division with elder grover our zone leader and it was the most fun that i have had. i learned a ton and i had to direct the area which was a little scary but when Cruz leaves i will have to anyway haha. The story to go along with this is no one was home or had time to be taught so i was like yo there are these girls that we contacted forever ago right here and we could visit them. so we got a member to come with us and went in to teach. Anyway it was going well and i was teaching well but when i looked over at grover he had a super nervous look on his face and kept touching his nose and his ear. i found out later that that is the signal meaning ir nos -like we need to go. haha the chick had been drawing hearts in her notebook and looking over at him telling him how she needed to learn english and if he was going to come back to visit peru. turns out she had been like stroking his leg with her foot. anyway when we left she did the hand tickle handshake thing to him and he told me that i am never allowed to go back there ahhahaha. 

anyway he also showed me how to get our shower super hot so that is awesome because i had been showering in lukewarm stuff. it runs electricity through the water so you just have to use a super small amount of water. 

i was talking to the zone leaders about how grateful i am that they aren't pharisees like brett said so many were. They told me that i would definitely have some but they just tried to be as chill as possible. 

yesterday we did service for our landlord. he had us sweep the dust off the steps and the garage area and the roof of the apartment. lol i thought cleaning mom and dad's garage was bad. i have never seen so much dust in my life and they told me that compared to some areas it was nothing. i thought about how kelly harmon told me when we were hometeaching the last time that i would miss things like cleaning the garage and boy did he know what he was talking about lol. 

so i thought about how in the ccm elder nordfelt told us about his barn analogy with the mission. The first 6 months are straight up the wall, the next are just sloped upward on the roof, and then the next 6 are sloped down and the last 6 are just a drop off. haha i am still going straight up but i think that i am adjusting well. 

i popped my package open this morning and it sure was a spirit lifter. it was almost like christmas. haha you guys made my life so much easier here with all of that so thanks. and thanks for all of the birthday wishes too! i was thinking about how this isn't so bad. i will only be 20 when i get home. one of the elders here just turned 25 so i got off lucky. 

last pday we went to Grau which is in central zone. holy fetch i have never seen anything like it. they have blocks of stores just for like shoes and whatnot. and everything is fake nike and stuff but it is like alright quality and looks real so i think i will be buying some good stuff. I have never seen so many people in one place either. they say that central zone is one of the sickest zones because there are huge buildings and malls like that and also that it can be sketch too which would be cool. All i know is that from hearing the stories from the elders in my zone, i will have some aboslutely insane stories to tell haha and some that i might never want to tell.

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Week 10

so this week was much better than the last! i think that i am starting to get the hang of things here. like it sucks being away from home and working all day everyday but this is pretty cool. there is never a dull day here because it is so crazy and there are so many people to teach. 

so i saw a dog get drilled by a bus this week on the main road by our house. it is like a 3 lane each way street with a grass median and the 

dog got hit and a lady ran out with a giant rice bag and picked it up while it was still twitching and ran away with it. haha i asked cruz if they were going to eat it and he just nodded and didn't say anything lol. 

i found out that my good pal from the ccm went home on tuesday, elder magee. i am actually pretty pissed that he gave out on us and left us here alone. i hope that i dont give out.

something that i noticed in conference as i have been going back over my notes was that James 1:5 was mentioned like 5 times during conference. i think that is an important thing to realize, that the brethren want us to find out for ourselves. that is all we can do out here in the mish is invite people to find out for themselves because they cant go off of our testimonies. 

i had a thought while reading the book of mormon this week as well. president boswell challenged us to read it again during our training and i am in alma right now. but i was reading mosiah chp 3 about the atonement and also chp 4:9-10 about believing in christ and also what i

t says in jacob chp 8. i dont remember exactly my thoughts haha but i thought that we cannot reject the scriptures or jesus. because he will be our judge and like it says in 2 nep 29:11 out of the scriptures he will judge us. shouldnt we know their teaching a little better then? its like a test that we have been given but we know exactly everything we will be tested on before. we have been given the outline. something we do here to reactivate inactives becaus there are sooooo many haha is encourage them to read for only 10 minutes a day and if they cant, at least 5 verses. who doesnt have time for that? 

so some stories about my comp real quick haha. he wears spf 50 sunscreen everyday even though the sun rarely comes out and he is one of the darkest peruvians that i have seen. idk haha. and so there is this burn mark on the floor of our room and i asked him about it and he told me that his last comps gf broke up with him and so he burned all of her pics on the floor lol. 

we committed Marco, a kid who speaks english and who i taught my first day here, to baptism on my birthday. i hope he keeps his commitment. he has a real problem with the law of chastity that i wont go into but i think he will do well. i will let you know. 

we were contacting last night and here in peru it is almost like church row in Page at lake powell. there are different little churches in garages everywhere. anyway we walked past this one and this lady had a microphone and was just screaming this spanish into it and all of the people were down on their knees just bawling. it was so frightening. i thank god everyday that i was born into the only true church. 

i am doing much better. i am starting to speak and cruz thinks that by next transfer i will be fine. i just have to take it day by day here. 

venga lo que sea,

elder mortenson

--

Much Love,

Elder Mortenson

Bryce asked me to post some addresses:

Email Address: bryce.mortenson@myldsmail.net

Mission Address, for letters and packages:

Elder Bryce Cameron Mortenson
Peru Lima East Mission
Calle Los Agrologos 268
Urbanizacion Las Acacias De Monterrico
La Molina
Lima 12
Peru

Peru Courier Services:

El Inka Envios
1604 S Prospect St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
(801) 548-0561

or

LDSXPRESS

http://www.ldsxpress.com/