Elder Jones and One of his Favorite Teachers

Elder Jones and Friend

Getting Muffins at StarBucks for Breakfast 

Group Picture With Friends

There are probably like 70 or 80 missionaries here and every 2 weeks, on Tuesday, we have Latinos and gringos leave and new ones come in on Thursday. There are roughly 30 gringos here and that's it right now. We get 2 days to ourselves. The gringos get Tuesday as their PDay and the Latinos split Wednesday and Thursday. I do not need anything special. I can pretty much buy whatever I want here and it's about the same price as the U.S. except the candy is a little more expensive. Nothing really has changed this week. We have class everyday but we went tracting on Saturday in Lima North again. My companion was Elder Ullua from Argentina. He spoke perfect English so it was not a problem at all. He was really cool and we had some good times together. My favorite Latino from this group was Elder Quispe. he was so Awesome poor really poor but amazing. he was from Cuzco and he age bugs and told us lots of stories. He knew some common phrases in English but we could communicate with him really well. When we went tracting this time I knew pretty much what everybody was saying but I couldn't say much other than introducing us and bearing my testimony. It was really cool. So far I have not met anybody else going to Lima East haha. I've been spending probably too much but the stuff here is really cool. I've bought a watch, lots of snacks, 6ties... I sent 2 home! I bought 2 today from our teacher who is starting a tie business and then 2 from the temple store. I've bought a Peruvian bag, a hymn book and case. A journal, some Spanish scriptures. ect. I gave my watch to Elder Quispe though because his was broke and he wanted to buy mine from me. I paid 20 soles for it which is about 7 bucks so I just gave it to him. He was so so grateful. The temple has been closed for 2 weeks for cleaning so we've only shopped.

PICS!

Looking Down at Elder Jones and Comp.

CCM Court Yard

PDay Fun

Elder Jones and Sister Missionaries

Elder Jones in front of Lima Temple

Looking at Baptism Picture in CCM

Half Way Through The CCM

This week was a really good week here in the CCM. Not a whole lot has changed since I talked to you last because we pretty much just sit in class all day long and do gospel stuff but PDays are always interesting. We didn't go tracting this week and that made Saturday drag on. Sundays are always very nice here. We get to watch a devotional by one of the Apostles and it's always super up lifting. I'm glad things are going really well at home. It's super weird to think about Ken being home. I really want to see him since he'll probably be married before I get home. I'm glad I took Spanish in High School because it seriously helps a ton. The houses down here are pretty sad but in my mission they are not nearly as bad.
Things that happened to me this week: we had homemade pizza. Kinda weird but good. We had homemade hamburgers, weird but good. We got a new teacher for our afternoon classes, Hermano Huieto, or something like that. He is strict and doesn't know English. Every 3 weeks we get a new DL(District Leader) and Elder Pond became the DL. It's super good for him because now the has to work harder and obey more rules, haha. I miss good beef and pork. We, as a district, have sang a coulpe musical numbers and we are pretty dang good! We have a hermana in our district who is a pro at playing the piano and some really good singers. The lations are terrible singers and I feel so bad for them when they sing. They are cool though. They all want to learn English so bad, but can't pronounce anything. Here is an example... Elder Panta A..ate B..beat C..seat. D..deet and so on haha. Everything sounds rough, haha. There is a latino here named Elder Soria and he can speak English really well. It's funny, he tells me the music he likes and it's like Farmers Daughter and stuff like that. They all watch U.S. movies and listen to U.S. music.

Elder Jones Shares Some Difficulties

The MTC has a ton of rules. Mostly stupid rules too. Like you cant sit in the soft rolling chairs in the class rooms, you have to sit in the desks. You can't chew gum, haha. You can't leave your class room until 9:30 on the dot, haha. It's definitely not what I'm used to but my companion is a strict letter of the law kinda guy so I'm super obedient as well. Make sure you enjoy the small things at home like the cold and being able to do things for yourself. It's seriously a luxury. 6 weeks of the CCM can definitely drive a man insane but I'm half way there!! We go shopping ever Tuesday and the markets are really cool!! There is one called Garjae and each little boot has like a garage door. Everything is packed in down here. The people are really great though. I think that they will be very easy to teach. When you read in the Book Of Mormon, at least in first Nephi, you can notice how it talks about he Gentiles bringing the gospel to the Lamanites in the latter days. That's exactly what I'm doing here and that's exactly what mom did. missionary work is amazing. Spainish is tough and I get tired of talking it sometimes. It's going to be nice when I get out into the field and can actually eat a snack when I want and have a little bit more freedom.
Love
Elder Jones