Week 8 Two Months and Time Keeps Moving October 5, 2015

Everything is great here in Morropon. It's kind of difficult here because I don't feel like we are really making that big of a difference. There are several reasons why this area really struggles. The people are Catholic by tradition. And no one is willing to give up tradition. Sometimes we'll be in a lesson and I'll say the opening prayer and the people will start repeating everything I say. Then we know, oh no they're super Catholic. Then I think, "I wonder if I started speaking in English if they would continue to repeat everything I say. Or we'll hand someone a pass along card with Jesus on it and they will start smothering it with kisses. Also these people are super content with their way of life. They are extremely laid back and sit on little plastic chairs outside their dirt houses and watch people walk by all day long. A lot of the men work out in fields and they only ever come home to eat and sleep so it's hard to find a time to meet with them. We have one investigator I can actually see potential in. Her name is Maria and she's a little bit older. She seems very open and willing to keep the commitments we give her so I'm praying for her! We are pretty worried about the branch. Elder Cruz predicts that if the branch shuts down in December they would all go inactive other than presidente, they either don't have the means or motivation to travel each Sunday to the next nearest branch.. 45 minutes away. So we really hope that that doesn't happen.

Other things, I hate lunch! Well no I just hate rice with a passion! We all get fed a mountain of rice. A MOUNTAIN. We have twice as much food than the man of the house. I don't understand it. I always walk out of there close to vomiting. I begged my comp to tell our pensionista that we can't eat that much food. So she did and Hermano Alan, the husband of our pensionista, got pretty mad. He thought my comp was trying to be mean to me and deprive me of food. Then when she explained that I really couldn't eat that much food he protested and said "No, the missionaries need to eat tons of food because they work all day long" Oh he drives me crazy sometimes. Once I have finished my mountain and am about to explode he asks me, "Do you want more?" and of course I say,"Oh no no gracias." But still he gives me more... I feel like there must be a different word for no thank you in Spanish because I seem to be getting it wrong. I've had to eat papaya a few times and I would take that over rice any day. So it's inevitable. I'm going to be chubby. I've decided that I'm not going to stress too much over it because the people that love me with still love me and continue to love me by helping me lose the weight when I get back (: But I haven't completely come to terms with it and still make my comp get up and go running with me. Well actually we just walk to the stairs that lead to the cross on the hill and she sits on the bench while I run stairs. Hey, it works. Hermano Alan is always wanting to talk to me at lunch time about everything, about America. Yesterday he said "America can't be as calm and peaceful as Morropon because everyone hates America and wants to destroy it. Aren't you scared to live there?" I honestly didn't know how to respond to that haha and especially not in Spanish. "Yes Hermano Alan I wake up everyday fearing for my life in Elk Ridge, Utah." 

So another thing,... there has been a lot of talk about the phenomenon EL NINO. -Que the horror music here.- Basically a weird thing happens with the weather where tons of water will be dumped in Piura. And it's pretty bad because these people never see rain and their houses are far from waterproof. No doubt there will be flooding and a lot of the houses will be destroyed. We had a zone meeting and talked about how the missionaries with 2nd floor apartments will have to let more missionaries move in with them because of the flooding. I'm not sure how I feel about it because my mission might turn into a service mission for a while if it does happen. But an adventure either way.

Probably the biggest thing I learned this week was the importance of communication. My comp and I obviously struggle with this because for one, there's a language barrier and we both are similar in that we don't like to share our feelings openly. So its been tough and the relationship has been poor. The other night I finally just laid it all out there in the best Spanish I could muster. Then she told me some really amazing things. One thing that really stuck out to me was that if we as a companionship can't be open with each other and have a strong relationship then we aren't going to help anyone. The spirit won't be with us and then we might as well not even try. The spirit is the teacher. So she then opened up to me about everything in her past and she has had a super rough life. I have so much respect for her. I'm going to do my best not to bottle anything up so that the second that there is a problem it can be resolved quickly. Hopefully we will see some serious improvement this week!