Pictures

Pictures from TJ!!

Dec. 21, 2010

We are looking forward to the phone call this week. 

We will post about that Sunday or Monday.

I have not received the emails from TJ the past two weeks. 

When I get ahold of those I will post them!

Happy Holidays!

Dec. 6, 2010

We did some crazy service on thursday with all the elders in the  zone we carried bags of sand up to the top of a hill for a service that they were doing.  It was a mile walk about with steep hill and stairs. i was dead afterwards.  I miss technology and raods and stuff it was crazy

Dec. 6, 2010

Hey hey everybody!

So sorry that i was not able to write last week we were cut short on time because we got to internet late.  Speaking of late that has been i thing that i have had to learn to deal with.  Ive always been a semi
punctual person.  And in the MTC we were trained to never ever ever be late for anything but rather early.  I came out here to peru and quickly realized that ontime does not exist.  So that has been something that i have had to learn how to deal with.  Its not unusual for a meeting to start 30 or 40 minutes or even an hour after its
supposed to.  And that throws off the rest of our schedule for the entire day and we have to cancel appointments and all that stuff.  Its frustrating really frustrating sometimes.  But what a perfect opportunity to work on my christlike attribute of patience haha. 


Yeah anyways things are going fairly well here in Lima.  my companion and i have a baptism this saturday.  A 17 year old girl named tessy.  She is a shy little girl with a big testimony.  So we are excited for the baptism this saturday because we have been working with her since i got here.  As the christmas season approaches here in Lima its getting hotter and hotter.  Its getting to the point where its hot.  Its totally throwing me off because its december and its super hot outside.  As far as holiday decorations go nobody here has enough money to decorate so they dont.  So its definitely not the same as at home.  


My adjustment to the food is going pretty good.  A lot of rice. But thats just how the food is because the people cant really afford anything else.  Our pensionista is super cool.  The food is a little bland but their family is fun to hang out with.  


The work is going good.  We are working on trying to find some new investigators.  A lot of people will let us into their home and even believe on our words but it rarely drives anybody to action.  They think we are just here
to talk about God or something idk but for that reason we are trying to find a refreshed group of investigators with more of a disposiotion to keep their commitments.  Im finding that i attract a lot of attention in the streets. a lot of people will yell hello at me or yell how are you in english.  When they do that i just start talking
to them in english and the get a smile on their face and run away.  


 Anyways thats a small update of Peru.  The language is coming slowly but surely.  Im finding that my understanding is improvig a lot faster than my ability to speak. but yeah anyways.  It is improving and thats whats important.  Hope everything is well back in the States.

Elder Hesselgesser

Nov. 22, 2010

Hello everybody!

Well things are improving this week for sure.  We are starting to get some people that actually want to listen to us!  HAHA but yeah its going good.  Nothing too crazyor out of the ordinary happened this week.  We went on exchanges for half the week because my comp had to go to a meeting on the other side of lima for a few days.  So i got to hang out with the Zone leader for a while.  It was nice to have a change of scenery.  

The housing situation here is like the opposite as in the united states.  There are a bunch of hills that surround Lima and the closer you are to the city the nicer the houses.  The further up into the hills you get the more poor the housing.  Some of them are litereally four sticks and a tarp over top and nothing else.  Its unbelievable what people live in and deal with here.  The weather is finally warming up.  It is actually bordering hot.  I cant believe that its almost december.  To me it still feels like august.  This whole southern hemisphere thing is messing with my mind haha.  

Im not sure if thanksgiving was this last thursday or this coming but my comp and i celebrated it last thursday.  We bought hamburgers and ate them.  And that was it.  We had a busy day so didnt have time to do much else.  I miss the loads of pumpkin pie and delicous foods at home.
But from what i hear ill be eating good at christmas here.  Though maybe a little strangely as well.  I have newarly eaten every part of a chicken now and i can add beaf heart to the list this week.  It was actually pretty good!  

Exchanges were this last week.  Since training lasts 2 changes im staying as well as my companion.  So we will get to be here for chirstmas.  The language is improving little by little. Sometimes i find myself speaking without thinking but rarely.  It is improving though and im learning alot faster out here in the field then i did in the MTC.  

I cant believe how cold it is back home tahts crazy that is down to single digits.  I cant even comprehend that right now.  Its getting hotter and hotter here every day.  I have been enjoying good health ever since i arrived.  I owe that to spending all summer and all the time in the MTC being sick i think.  Blessings in disguise.  Yeah not too much new to report on this week but im sure ill have some more crazy stories next week.  Feel free to write at any time

Love Elder Hesselgesser

Nov. 15, 2010

Hey Hey these are a few of the photos i have taken in Peru i hope they tide you over for a little while feel free to put them on the blog.  I have a lot more but the computer im using is a liittle slow so yeah anyways its taking a while to load them and these are all i had time
to load. I have pictures of my last two companions as well as my current companion.  Nothing too crazy i dont get much of a chance to take photos but i will try to do so at my pensionistas house and all that so you can see where im eating every day and stuff.

Also i got my package of ohenries today.  Only im so stuffed with rice beans and fried fish that i cant even think about eating it right now haha.  But im really really really excited to eat them soon.  Thanks tons.  The package thing does work.  But ive heard that packages that have the most success have virgin mary and jesus stickers on them. Its a little strategy i heard about haha so you can try it if you want.  Feel free to send whatever whenever

Nov. 8, 2010

Hola!

Welp another week in the mission has passed and it is time to write you again.  This past saturday One of our investigators got baptized! His name is Jorghino and he is a way cool kid.  13 years old.  My companion baptized him and i got to confirm him the next day in sacrament meeting.  So that was the climax of this week for sure.  

On Wednsday we were teaching an eternal investigator.  Which is to say they love the missionaries but never keep commitments.  She was a super nice lady and offered us some food.  So of course we said yes. I knew i had made the wrong decision when I saw her bringing a bowl of
soup with a chicken foot sticking out of it.  Yeah anyways that was interesting.  The next day we sanded and painted an entire house.  It wasnt very big so it didnt take too terribly long.  Then later that night we taught a lesson up in one of the hills.  The house didnt have electricity so we taught by candle light.  It was pretty cool.  

Other than that the language is improving.  A little bit every day.  Its going to take time but i know it will come sooner or later.  I cant wait for the day when i can understand everything and be able to properly express myself.  But i suppose the Lord is helping me develop patience. 

 The food here generally is actually delicous.  Im pretty sure im gaining weight because im eating a lot of food.  Walking down the streets here is like walking through the fairgrounds in Yakima with all the delicous smelling food.  So yeah I do eat a lot.  And its really good.  They sell churros on like every street corner but i try not to eat those too often.  Other than that not too much new news. Im sure there will be more next week.  

Miss you all and Love you.

Nov 1, 2010

Hola!

Well this week was a little crazy.  A lot of stuff happened so ill try and paint an accurate picture of what happened.  First of all on thrusday mornings we do service for three hours.  This thursday we helped dig a new out house for a family because theirs was full.  Yeah a lot of the houses here dont have running water.  Anyways it was aobut three feet deep and 8 feet deep when it collapsed on elder bearnson and burrined him up to his waist.  So next week we have to go back and dig a new one.  We also filled in the old one which was a real stinky process.

Anyways,  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Haloween in peru is wierd.  There was a lot of parties.  But almost none of them had anything to do with halloween.  WHen people here have parties they build a giant tent in the middle of the road blocking the entire road.  Then they playm music loud enough to hear throughout the entire city of Lima,  And they dont stop until exactly 6 in the morning.  So two nights ago theyhad one right outside of my apartment so we didnt really sleep much that night. 

Two nights ago we were walking to an appointment when a disabled lady in a wheelchair asked us to push her home.  Of course as missionaries we agreed.  What she didnt tell us was that she lived at the top of a super steep hill with no real road leading to it about three miles away.  It too me and my companion together to be able to pull her up the dirt hill backwards in her
wheel chair.  I was extremely scared because i about lost my footing a couple of times and had i of done so she probably wold have gone rolling right on down to her death or extremely seriouse energy because she would not have been able to do anything.  Yeah crazy stuff.  

My health is great I was blessed to be sick in the CCM so i havent got sick in the field yet its been really really nice.  The funny thing is that this place has got a ton of Jehovas witness missionaries.  So we kind of have a silent battle with them. Yesterday we saw some talking with one of our investigators so we just waved at our investigator as we walked by and she smiled and waved back it was kind of funny but yeah.  

The language is a processs. Little by little its improving i jus to be patient and dilligent.  I just feel really akward when somebody is talking to me and i have no idea what they are saying.  Its really easy to get a little discouraged out here but its also easy to be happy if im focused and doing what i need to be doing.  Thanks for all the prayers I appreceate it!  

We have a boy of 13 years old that should be baptized this saturday im really excited for that he is a great young man and ready to take the steps in his life to follow Jesus Christ. Yesterday my companion baptized a lady that adopted her son away to the united states when he was barely a couple months old.  Her son knew nothing of her except that she lived Peru.  He was called to the Peru Lima South mission and one week before he went home he found her. So we got to see the end of a pretty awsome story yesterday. She is a way cool lady.  Super nice.  But it was a crazy story to hear.

Anyways thats about it.  We are working hard and are hoping for a few baptisms in November we have to with a date right now and hopefully more to come.  There are a lot of flakes here.  When we set a time to teach they dont show or are gone.  But thats an easy way to weed out who is ready to hear the word and who is not i suppose.  There are a lot of crazy religous demonstrations in the streets here its wierd. They carry around giant statues and stuff with bands playing and like pray to them.  I dont wanna judge but its a little wierd.  Anyways miss everybody hope everything back home is going well

Love
Elder Hesselgesser

October 25, 2010

Hola Buenas Tardes

Well I have found that the mission for me so far is simply a large helping of humble pie.  Odr like 20 large helpings of humble pie. HAHA but anyways its been fun and difficult these last couple of weeks.  I appreceate all of the encouraging words in the emails thanks
so much it helps a lot.  

So  none of the members here can say my name so a select few of them have decided to rename me. I am now known to all of the single young adults and the woto family as Elder Vanhelsing.  HAHA  yeah why?  I have no idea.  There are about as many dogs on the streets here as there are people.  And since there is no grass the dogs like to leave their feces in the middle of the roads and sidewalks.  Its quite unpleasant but i am ajusting to that. Usually the dogs are pretty calm but every once and a while one will get a bunch of them all pumpled up and they will come running after us.  The further up in to the hills we get the meaner the dogs yet. When we are up there at night they hide in dark corners where we cant see them then jump out at us and scare the living daylights out of me.  But yeah im sure ill get used to that too.  

This past sunday without any warning in sacrament meeting the bishop announced that i was going to be giving a talk.  I didnt even know what was going on all i heard was the bishop say some deformed version of my last name and my companion start cracking up next to me.  So yeah that was an interesting experience.  Giving a talk i had not prepared for in a language i dont know how to speak.  But as far as i know it turned out alright.  

Anyways as far as the food goes I cant complain too much. So far i really like it.  Sometimes its a little bland but it is usually quite tasty. Except the fish.  Its not as good as moms home cooking but it is good and it is filling.  And sometimes they feed us ALOT.  But thats cool with me because it turns out i like to eat a lot haha.  

The one thing that is really hard for me is that in the mornings and evenings and nights here it gets quite cold.  Our room has no heater or ac or nothing so we just have to adjust.  But we dont have any hot water either so that makes it really hard in the mornings when its freezing enough to begin with.  My feet usually dont warm up until after noon.  unless we are climbing the hills then they warm up sooner.  Our apartment is small with bunkbeds a bathroom and not much else.  Its good enough for me i have no complaints about that.  

This week has been a rough one.  We had one investigator with a baptismal date run out on us.  She is randomely leaving for two weeks.  And the other one we had didnt go to churhc yesterday.  And the last two days every one of our appointments and backup plans failed.  So we havent
been able to do much teaching but we were able to do some contacting. Its not easy but its improving.  Im definitely happy to be here and to be in the Lords work.  I just need to work on my patience with the language i know it will come i just want it to come as fast as possible.  

But yeah anyways If you want to send a package keep it small.  Idk what i want.  Ohenrys would be awsome.  Ive been craving them.  But be creative.  Theres nothing i desperately need right now. My address as far as i know is the mission home i have no idea what my street address here is.  They do things wierd.  But yeah anyways thats whats going on with me this week keep me updated on sports and world news and stuff i have no idea what is going on in the world.  Miss you all a bunch and love you.

Oct 18, 2010

Once again sorry about the weird format. It must be how his email is set up!

Hello everybody!

Well this week was my first in the field.  It was a wake up and welcome to real life eye opening experience.  I feel really stupid because most of the time anyone speaks to me i have no idea what they are saying and I have to have my companion translate from me.  My companions name is Elder Leon.  He is a nice guy.  Weve been working hard.  

We live in the middle of a hill in an area of Lima called Pamplona.  It is a really poor area.  Most houses have nothing but cement floors and walls.  Some dont even have that.  Its crazy what epople have to live in here.  We do have a pensionista.  We go to her house for food twice a day.  The food is alright.  My body seems to be taking it really well which i am thankful for.  Its a lot of bread and rice and a little bit of meat.  They also always have a hot drink for breakfast and dinner.  Its kind of a nice thing.  Except there is always one hot drink that makes me gag every time i drink it.  Other than that the food is pretty good nothing to complain about.

Everybody is really nice to the missionaries.  Its just hard because half the time i have no idea what is going on at all.  I did get the oportunity to Commit someone to be baptized my first day and she said yes so that was kind of cool.  She has a date for the end of the month.  Most people let us in their doors.  We dont do a whole lot of prosoliting right now because we are trying to sort through the investigators and see which ones will progress and which ones wont. There are a lot of eternal investigators.  

We live in the middle of a hill with big steep hills on both sides of us.  Ill try and take some pictures.  We have been doing a lot of teaching.  A lot of people like to tell stories but if its not gospel related then i have no idea what they are saying.  It is really frustrating sometimes.  I just have to stick to it and keep working through the hard times and i know the
language will come.  

I do miss sweets.  The food here is real bland. I have been craving sweets a lot.  I miss the days of being spoiled with treats every day in the MTC in Provo haha.  But im doing alright its going to be hard for the next couple of months i know but im trying to perservere.  

The people here are way nice they all are loving and usually let us in the door.  If not they just come up with an excuse they usually arent straight up mean.  And a lot of people feed us which at times worries me because sometimes i have no idea what im putting in my mouth.  Yea Ill write more next week love you all thanks for the emails keep em coming

Love

Elder Hesselgesser

October 6, 2010

Hello Hello!
Well this week has been awesome
General conference was great they had an English broadcast for us! So that was awesome.  It had me thinking a lot of howun grateful I am for all of the wonderfully influential people there are around me.  Especially my family and more
especially my parents.  So thank you thank you thank you I cant describe how thankful I am for all of the valuable lessons you all have taught me. I feel like I am the most richly blessed child on this earth.  And that is because I was blessed with loving parents and family so thank you thank you thank you I love you all so much.  And anyone else that has helped keep me on the path that has lead to me where I am right now You have my thanks.  All my church leaders friends’ family and family friends thank you so so much. 
So this week I’m going to tell you a little bit about my new teacher hermano casanova.  He is about 4 foot 8.  Ill try and get some pictures with him.  But he is really really funny.  We played basketball with him yesterday and the best I could Describe playing with him is playing with a shin high brick wall. Instead of running into him you just trip over him ha-ha.  But yeah he is a pretty awesome guy.  And he speaks way fast Spanish so it is helping with my understanding of the language.  
Well a week from now I will be in the field I leave in 6 days next Tuesday.  I’m really excited to get out of hear and finally put into practice everything that I have been learning.  It will be hard I know but might as well get the hard stuff over with
now.  
Oh also those missionaries that were singing in the priesthood session. Three of them that were in that choir were from my old district.  Talk about extreme jealousy!  Crazy.   

Well also I want to talk about Elder Russell M Ballard’s Talk a little bit.  He said that every member should be a missionary.  I talked about this before I left but just remember to always look out for opportunities to share the gospel.  Think of how it has blessed you’re lives and don’t pass up  any opportunity for other people to feel the heavenly joy and hope that we have
felt.  For you mom and dad I want you to know that you are every bit of a missionary as I am.  Your support of me will allow many people ( I hope ) to come unto Christ and feel of the love that he has for them. 

For anybody that was in any of my Spanish classes at high school I want you to know that I heard Dimelo playing while I
was in the store today.  So it turns out that Enrique is as popular in South America as in the US.  HAHAHA anyway I miss you all a tons next week should have some good stories.  Feel free to send letters! 
I will be sending pictures home in about two weeks or so.

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