Email 9/29/2010

Once again sorry about the weird format! 

Hello everybody!

Well this week was pretty good a lot happened and there is no way I could possibly explain everything that has happened! but i will try. so first of all its good to hear that everyone is doing alright.  Dad sounds like you are working hard as awlays.  

At our devotional last night we learned about how to be a trabajando caballo or a work horse.
Anyways last wednsday after i emailed you like I said we went on a little mini tour of Lima.  When we went on this tour we did a couple of things.  The first thing we did was go to one of the most famouse surfing beaches in Peru.  Talk about torture right?  I personally didnt find that to be very fun but for some people it was the first time they had ever seen the ocean so that was cool for them.  The beach wasnt at all like Hawaii.  I was picturing a nice sandy beach but really it was just a pile of rocky dirt that leads straight into the ocean.  I took my camera but it died so i didnt get any pictures! i was very disappointed.  

Anyways after we went to the beach they took us to the Peruvian equivelent of the White house.There was like 50 armed guards standing out front so that was a little bit intimidating.  There was a lot of crazy people there too and a lot of people trying to get money from us because we were Americans.  So that made things a litte difficult.  I got to eat a burger and fries which was pretty good but not nearly as fatening or greasy as in the US.  

We had a guy come up to us and start confessing his sins because he thought we were priests or something so that was a little interesting.  There was a lot of shops we got to go around to
as well.  I discovered that Peruvian Churros are fantastic.  They fill them with Carmel in the middle and they are very Delicous.  I also got to buy some cool stuff for dirt cheep.  I spent the American equivilent of about 8 dollars and i got an awsome Argentina Soccer Jerzy, and a sweet llama hat with matching llama socks.  haha they are great.  

All the new missionaries came in last wednsday and thursday so its been fun showin them around.  The new Latinos decided to challenge us white kids at a soccer game on Friday to show their skill.  The problem is the biggest Latinos weight 120 at best and could probably bench press about 80 pounds.  Im not that big and i feel like a really big guy around them.  So they have tons of soccer skill but basically no athletisism.  So pretty much we killed them at soccer it was fun and it probably got way too intense for Missionary soccer but hey thats alright nobody got hurt.  

So have been having a hard time in my new district.  There are a some Elders that pretty much dont care about learning or studying or any of that jazz and they just ruin it for the rest of us.  Its difficult to feel the spirit because everybody is always arguing about something or just goofing around. So thats been my challenge for the week just trying to be patient and
find a way to keep the spirit even when its just chaos around me.  I dont know if i have ever told you about how the people here pronounce my name.  It is actually really funny. Most of the time the teachers or the Latinos will come up to me shake and shake my hand with a big smile.  but when their eyes make it to my name tag that smile quickly fades to a look of terror and then they usually spit out some throat gargling sound that is similar to when some one hawks a loogie.  So that has provided me with some entertainment.  Sometimes i wont tell them how to say it i will just make them try.  

I just realized today that I am two days short of going a full month without drinking any milk.  That is probably the longest i have ever gone in doing that.  I refuse to drink the milk because its room temperature and i have no idea what animal it comes from.  I also finally discovered that toilets do go left here.  Wierd... I still dont feel like im on the other side of the world but its settling more and more every day.  

I
cant even describe how excited i am to get out into the field.  I feel like i will progress so much faster once im out there speaking more and being forced to live my life all in spanish.  For now i am making strides in the language for sure.  Last night I did part of the translation for the new North American elders.  We had a memeber of the 70 at our devotional which is a big deal for here.  so that was fun to translate part of the devotional.  And mom you said something last night about the haircuts here.... Weell yes i got my head shaved to pretty short.  Why? I have no idea.  But whatever.  Everybody here has their hair like that.  

I got a new teacher this week as well. Unfortunately i dont have the one that i really liked anymore but thats alright the new one is good too.  His name is Hermano Casanova. He has never taught NorthAmericans before so his speaking is really fast which is good because im understanding more and more every day. He also comes and plays soccer with us like everyday which is pretty cool.  Lastly i have a scripture i would like you all  to look up its not very inspirational but its pretty funny I think.  Job 39: 9-10. Just look it up and tell me what you think.If you are going to send me any letters please send it to the following address because by the time it gets to where i am now i will be gone.

here is the address

     Elder Thomas Hesselgesser
Av Jorge Basadre 592 Oficina, 604A
         Edificio Torre Azul
           San Isidro
            Lima 27
             Peru

PS i like letters so feel free to write me any time. Emails and DearElder.com Always work too.

Email 9/22/2010

The sentences are kind of mixed up, sorry everyone -kelly

Hello Everybody!

wow! talk about a flood of letters this week! thanks for all the emails i got to read most of them thoroughly but i wont be able to respond for times sake.  I will write letters once i recieve some stamps from home because there is nowhere here that i can buy them!

Anyways This week has been a bit harder for me.  Last Thursday i came down with a bug kind of like what Tyler got when he went over to Latvia but way less intense.  To say the least i have been extremely uncomfortable all week.  I can still function and do classes its just a bit of an added challenge.  I skipped a couple of meals then decided that it was better to have food in my stomach and feel sick than be hungry haha.  Anyways thats been my challgenge for the week other than that its been a good week!  

All of the avanzado missionaries and the Latino Missionaries left yesterday.  The avanzadoes had been here three weeks by the time we got here.  So i had to say goodbye to Elder Hanneman who was one of my friends from Hawaii who was here but at least ill be able to see him again when i get back.  they all left yesterday.  

The letters were awsome to have this week ive been mail hungry i got a dear Elder from Kelly and a card from mom and Lots of Emails thank you everybody!!! So I switched companions again yesterday.  They keep you on your toes here.  And i got assigned to be a Zone leader.  So i suppose that should be fun.  

This morning at about 3:00 we had an earthquake!  crazy!!!  It woke me up and for some reason the first thing i thought was that my new comp was shaking my bed.  But then as my brain woke up i figured out what was going on.  I dove under my desk just as the bunk bed came tumbling over right where i would i have been.  Okay so i exaddurated a little but there really was an earthquake and I was a little bit scared haha. 

other than that proselyting on saturday was interesting.  We placed another book of Mormon on Saturday and did some teaching inside less active houses.  I still cant teach well in spanish but its def getting better.  

Now im going to tell you about laundry day.  They have 14 washers and 14 dryers here for approx 120 missionaries and we all have to do our laundry between the hours of 6;00 AM and 5 PM.  To say the least it really turns into a war in the laundry room.  So this morning i got up at 5:45 and waited outside the laundry room for 45 minutes for them to open it so i could be the first one in.  so no problems today lol. 

Well i must say im happy to hear ill be having another nephew!  Its exciting!   

Today we are going on a tour of Lima which should be really awsome.  We get to go to the beach and look at the water which does not sound at all like fun to me but whatever.  and we get to go to the Peruvian white house and all that so it should be a good time i cant wait.  Welp i dont think i have more to report on for this week.

The language is slowly making progress and im slowly getting it.  But it will definitely be a while before i feel comfortable.  Im looking forward to getting into the field but i plan on enjoyin my time here. Ive been playing a lot of soccer which is kind of wierd.  For some reason nobody ever wants to play basketball here so yeah.  crazy.  We have to change teachers which stinks because i love my teacher that i have right now.  She is awsome she is like our mom out here.  She fixes our clothes and brings us cookies and heals all of our battle wounds from soccer and all that jazz.  You are welcome to message her
on facebook she would love talking to you she understands a little english so you can write her in english but use simple words. She is already friends with me i think so you can look for her there

anyways thats it from me love you all Peace out!

Email 9/15/2010

Hello Hello!   

Sounds like life at home is a little borring? So dad are you just doing the whole Yakima Transfer thing yourself? you should rename it Todd Transfer in Storage.  I feel guilty reading your letters because i feel like i should be there helping you.  But i know you would rather me be here.  At least you are staying busy.  

So this week was pretty crazy!  we had our first contacting experience.  On Saturday we got to go out in the real world and do real life teaching in spanish.  It was crazy! we took an hour bus ride to another side of town and came to a chapple that was in the middle of the ghetto with big fences around it that were like 20 feet high.  Thats pretty much how any building of worth is around here.  Anyways then we went with a member to go and visit a bunch of inactives.  As i walked through the town i couldnt believe the houses people were living in.  I wish i could have taken some pictures to show you.  It was like i wasnt even on the same planet.  There were houses with portions of rooves  and walls and windows missing.  Houses with dirt floors and all sorts of crazy stuff.  I couldnt believe what people actually live in.  There is also a huge stray dog population down here.  On any given streets its not uncommon to see 10 or 15 strays just lounging around.  Kind of crazy.  We only got let into one house.  We just shared a quick message and that was all he had time for.  

Afterwards we had an extra hour so we decided to go street contacting.  This was interesting because i am one of the north americans that doesnt have a latino companion.  so pretty much it was really hard to understand people what they were saying.  Some people actually spoke really clear and i could understand quite a bit but others just mumbled.  Anyways we gave away a book of Mormon and a plan of salvation pamphlet and got three reffurrals for the other missionaries in the area in about 45 minutes.  I dont know if people were faking it but it seemed like everyone we talked to except for one or two people were really excited to hear about what we had to say.  It was a really neat experience.  After we got back to the church we had one book of mormon left and we found out we had a little more time.  So we went back outside to give it away and try and get another refurral.  

I saw a guy sitting on a street corner and felt like i should go and talk to him.  Just as we were getting close to him i saw hime pull out a shot glass  and a glass bottle pour one in and take a swig.  My companion wasnt really paying attention so as i stopped to turn around he just went up and started talking to him.  The guy turned around and with beat red eyes that were twitchin around like crazy he said in very slurred spanish.  "No puedo escucharlo Estoy Borracho!"  translation i cant listen im drunk lol so we just decided to turn around.  I was thinking to myself why in the world did the thought pop into my head to go and talk to that guy!  No sooner had we turned around than we saw a guy on the other side of the road leaning up against a building and reading a news paper.  As we approached him he looked up put his news paper away and greeted us like he was waiting for us to come and talk to him!  We talked with him for a good 10 -15 minutes about his family and the book of mormon and how it could bless his family.  We got his address and information to give to the other missionaries.  Idk if anything will come of it but it sure seemed like he was just waiting for us to come and bring him a solution to his problems.  It was a pretty awsome experience.  

Anyways other than that ive just been working hard at the language and learning them in spanish.  Its proven to be quite a task.  But i know it will come!    Anyways im curious about some of the stuff going on at home?  Im glad Tara is doing well!  Tell her she needs to write her brother!  By the way tell Tara its hard to tell which way the toilets spin here.  They pretty much just go straight down as far as i can tell.  Also how is Kelly doing? does she know if its a boy or a girl yet? let me know these things!  and i wanna know whats going on with tyler and his whole college situation!  Wheres he headed to!  Also did you send me some stamps? i have zero and i need some and there is nowhere i will be able to get them right now if you could send me some American and some international ones i can use as well.  I can use the American ones for the pouch mail that goes out of here.  Its been over a month and i have 4 more weeks at the MTC here.  Some are leaving after three as kind of a guinea pig test but i didnt get to be one of them.  Im kind of glad because i have a long way to go before i will be effective i think.  im going to try and attatch a couple of picures to this.     Last but not least please post this email address and let everyone know they can email me here!!!!!! it was only for family in Provo but its fine for everybody here.  Im mail hungry i havent gotten anything yet lol so let everyone know and also i dont mind letters either. 

Email 9/8/2010

Hello Hello every body!  

Well P-day for this MTC is Wednsday so yeah i will be emailing on Wednsdays from now on.  So as far as the first week goes it was pretty crazy and a lot has happened.  So far i really am enjoying it here.  Things are, however, very very different.  I cant escape spanish no matter what i do haha.  Well i have a new companion and his name is Elder Hancock.  He is a way cool Elder i like him a lot.  He has been having a rough time though because he is sick.  The trip here went really smooth.  On one of the flights i had a TV on the seat in front of me though talk about temptation lol.  It was nice to have a little time to get some stuff done on the airplane.  My first day here was pretty fun as well.  Since we didnt get in until about 1 in the morning we got to sleep in until 9 which totally rocked.  Then after that we had to fill out a bunch of papers and then eat lunch and for the rest of the day with the exception of an hour long meeting in the middle we played basketball and Soccer.  It was awsome to finally do some real physical activity again.  My new comp is athletic and enjoys playing sports so thats kind of a relief.  I also got called to be my district leader.  That was interesting i had to go to a leadership meeting on Sunday morning and report on my district but the problem was the whole meeting was in spanish so my report had to be in spanish... oh well good practice i suppose.  The weather here is a lot colder than i thought it would be.  In the mornings i wear a sweater and my suit jacket to stay warm.  There is a misty fog that just kind of settles in every night and burns off at about 1 in the afternoon.  After the fog burns off it gets up to about 75 and its perfect temp.  I really like the weather so far.  Not too Hot not too cold.  The food is not so bad either.  I made it a point to eat all that i could in Provo because i wasnt sure how the food would be here.  There is a lot of rice we have rice with lunch and dinner every day.  other than that its bread and some sort of meet.  Its really pretty bland nothing too spicy or anything.  The CCM here is surrounded by like 10 foot solid brick walls so you cant even see whats outside.  Even the gates are solid.  Its a little intense.  But on P day we get let out and we have to takepublic transportation to the temple.  After that we get to go shopping at a few shops that are around the temple. I had fun doing that today.  I cant buy american candy though because its extremely expensive.  I did however find some really good stuff.  It was fun to be able to get out and try and do something thats real life in spanish.  The traffic here is crazy i think it is worse than Italy there are no rules or stopping or anything.  We had to go to interpol this morning and i was honestly scared for my life.  I would never want to drive here it is really that crazy.  My new teachers speak very little eanglish.  It is good for me but hard sometimes.  I can understand them just fine but i have to remember that they are really dumbing it down for us.  I try to take some time to get to knwo some of the Latino Missionaries everyday.  They are way awsome and way fun to talk to.  But they speak super fast.  I feel bad for anybody who has gone to Chile on their mission because im pretty sure they dont even speak spanish.  They leave of like half of every word.  The sports here are way fun.  They have a turf soccer field which is wayyy cool.  I never thought i would like soccer that much but it is pretty fun.  I am getting way better at it but i have a long way to go before i am any good. We get an hour to play every day.  They also have some ghetteo basketball courts here.  They are like 9 foot rims that are way small it makes it kind of fun.  and the cement that the courts are on is super slippery so its kind of hard but i still have fun.  The problem is nobody ever wants to play basketb all so i usually play sovver.    By the way dad your spanish rocks hhahaha              I have one request please send me an envelope with american stamps in it there is no where to buy stamps here so i need those ill try and write you later today love you! 

  Elder Hess