Hola familia!
Well we sat on the plane about two hours on the runway from Atlanta to Lima, but finally arrived at the CCM about 3/330ish in the morning. When all 24 (22 elders and 2 hermanas) of us were getting on the plane, one lady said something like this plane is full of mormons! I had to chuckle because it did kind of seem like we were taking over the plane. It was a little hard on the way over because we couldn't have music or tv or write letters or anything and so I switched off reading Jesus the Christ, trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, and playing the scribble game with the elders next to me. The sunset in the air was breathtaking on the way over! As we flew over Lima in the dark, the city lights stretched on forever! I had no idea that Lima was SO big. We landed, went through customs, magically found all of our bags (luckily no baggage was lost out of twenty four missionaries in the Lima airport), met the tour bus driver out front, had our first experience with crazy driving (the bus always won went it honked because it was so much bigger, watched a dozen KFCs roll by the window, were met by CCM missionaries in the parking lot, taken to our rooms, put on PJs, went right to sleep until we had to get up three hours later (luckily today is a big nap day for us). The craziest thing I saw last night was the gas station right on the side of the road. I don't know how they're supposed to work, but at the stop light there was a parking spot for a car and where the median should have been there was a gas station......what happens if the light turns green while you're filling up?
There are three buildings at the CCM here. Girls sleep 6 to a room in the 4 rooms above the classroom building and I have no idea where the elders sleep. The cafeteria has an auditorium above it in the next building over. People basically come and go in 3 week shifts here. There are the 'North Americans' and the 'Latinos'. Everything is in Spanish. The other American sister who's been here three weeks already warned us Hermanas BBB that the food takes 3 weeks to get used to your system....until then it{s constipation and/or diarrhea. I just hope I don{t take the adjustment too hard. Breakfast this morning was a choice of chicken with fried sweet potatoe chips or frosted flakes/fruit loops with warmish milk, juice, banana. The food is different, that's for sure. Lunch was an empenada thing, soup, rice with steak and yucca root, two different juices, lemon jello pudding dessert thing, and other stuff that i can{t even remember how to describe.
Took almost two hours filling out immigration forms today and got to meet with the CCM president, President Whetten. He and his wife are really nice and he just kept telling me to be patient with the language and always ask my companion for how to say things in Spanish because I might be able to do the same for them in English. I guess the 100 missionaries that are here right now are one of the smallest they've had. Luckily, I'm still in the same district with Hermana Bell and Brown. Them being here is such a comfort. Basically it's gringo zones during the day and at meals and Latin companions during TRC and proselyting......SO, it's still the BBB trio or my new companion. Her name is Hermana Pereyra and she's from Lima, Peru. She's 34 (Hermana Brown's is 26) and really nice. She's already been wonderful at helping with words I can't come up with or being patient with my gringo sentences. It's kind of awkward right now because I've used up all of my packet get to know you sentences and so a lot of the unpacking time was silent.. Oh well...it'll come.
Oh and small world with some of the elders here: Elder Pugmire is cousins with the Pugmires at Orem--you know, Kylie from our stake? And then last night on the way to the CCM on the bus I realized there was an elder Northcott across the aisle from me. I couldn't put a finger on why his name sounded familiar and then it hit me--Christa and Camron's wedding! He's Christa's friend's the Northcott's nephew! Crazy.
We're supposed to go proselyting with our companions every Saturday...yes, like actually out in the city! Wow and I thought that teaching my MTC teachers was crazy. It's really cold here right now. It's constantly 'misting'. It's overcast like it should be rainy, but instead of raindrops it's just a constant mist of water. As Hermana Brown says, we feel 'moist' all the time. I'm excited to go out in the city on Pday and can't wait to get used to everything here. The gospel's true and in Lima it is, too! (Thanks, Frances for my new mantra).
There are three buildings at the CCM here. Girls sleep 6 to a room in the 4 rooms above the classroom building and I have no idea where the elders sleep. The cafeteria has an auditorium above it in the next building over. People basically come and go in 3 week shifts here. There are the 'North Americans' and the 'Latinos'. Everything is in Spanish. The other American sister who's been here three weeks already warned us Hermanas BBB that the food takes 3 weeks to get used to your system....until then it{s constipation and/or diarrhea. I just hope I don{t take the adjustment too hard. Breakfast this morning was a choice of chicken with fried sweet potatoe chips or frosted flakes/fruit loops with warmish milk, juice, banana. The food is different, that's for sure. Lunch was an empenada thing, soup, rice with steak and yucca root, two different juices, lemon jello pudding dessert thing, and other stuff that i can{t even remember how to describe.
Took almost two hours filling out immigration forms today and got to meet with the CCM president, President Whetten. He and his wife are really nice and he just kept telling me to be patient with the language and always ask my companion for how to say things in Spanish because I might be able to do the same for them in English. I guess the 100 missionaries that are here right now are one of the smallest they've had. Luckily, I'm still in the same district with Hermana Bell and Brown. Them being here is such a comfort. Basically it's gringo zones during the day and at meals and Latin companions during TRC and proselyting......SO, it's still the BBB trio or my new companion. Her name is Hermana Pereyra and she's from Lima, Peru. She's 34 (Hermana Brown's is 26) and really nice. She's already been wonderful at helping with words I can't come up with or being patient with my gringo sentences. It's kind of awkward right now because I've used up all of my packet get to know you sentences and so a lot of the unpacking time was silent.. Oh well...it'll come.
Oh and small world with some of the elders here: Elder Pugmire is cousins with the Pugmires at Orem--you know, Kylie from our stake? And then last night on the way to the CCM on the bus I realized there was an elder Northcott across the aisle from me. I couldn't put a finger on why his name sounded familiar and then it hit me--Christa and Camron's wedding! He's Christa's friend's the Northcott's nephew! Crazy.
We're supposed to go proselyting with our companions every Saturday...yes, like actually out in the city! Wow and I thought that teaching my MTC teachers was crazy. It's really cold here right now. It's constantly 'misting'. It's overcast like it should be rainy, but instead of raindrops it's just a constant mist of water. As Hermana Brown says, we feel 'moist' all the time. I'm excited to go out in the city on Pday and can't wait to get used to everything here. The gospel's true and in Lima it is, too! (Thanks, Frances for my new mantra).
Love always, Hermana Bowles
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