December 29, 2014

Greetings from Peru,

You guys may be in Blanding, but I am in Peru. We will definately have to take a trip down there in two years. It sounds way cool and I love to be out in wilderness exploring old ruins, especially Indian ruins. 10 miles straight of beer bottles, huh, it is just pure garbage on the sides of the streets. I want to take some pictures of it but it would be really weird to pull out my camera in the middle of the street and take a picture of a big pile of garbarge. I will find a way to take the picture though, I will just have to be secretive.

I am trying to think what I should write because we just talked on Thursday. Well, after we talked I went to lunch and then went to Rony's house. I taught Rony and his brother Robert about rootbeer floats. We made them with Fanta because they don't have rootbeer here. They loved it. Everytime we come now they want to go buy ice cream and soda to make them. It has turned into an addiction. I also shared some beef jerkey with them and they are in love with that too. My comp has a huge addiction to beef jerky, too.

With Christmas it was hard to find people in their houses and on Sunday we needed 9 lessons to meet our goal of 32 lessons a week. We went on divisions with 2 young men from the ward. We taught 13 lessons and ended up beating our goal. That night, Bustamante told me he wants to teach 40 lessons next week. He has been working really hard and staying motivated. I am really glad that he isn't acting trunky and doesn't want to work.

It was really good to see you guys on Christmas. Sorry this letter is a little short but I don't know what else to say because we just talked on Christmas.

Love,
Elder Karter

Feliz Navidad! (December 22, 2014)

Feliz Navidad!!!!!

Well, first thing first, I am still in año Nuevo with E. Bustamante. I am turning into a mass murderer. I am going to kill him too. I will probably be in Año Nuevo for 5 transfers. It is kind of rare to have 5 transfers in an area in this mission, but it looks like I will be here until march. I am excited that I will be able to be with people I know for Christmas. It should be fun and I can't wait to talk.

Speaking of talking, I think I will do it through facebook because I already have a facebook and I don't have skype. I still don't know what time I will call, but I am doing it in the bishops house, basically my house, so I can do it at whatever time I want. I will do the pre call today or tomorrow and will talk to you then to give you all the details. Hopefully the internet will be fast and I will be able to see you guys.

Thinking about your second graders makes me laugh. The people here get excited about Christmas but It's not quite the same. They do chocolotadas in the street or an elf goes around with santa and gives out prizes and hot chocolate to the kids. Don't ask me why they give out hot chocolate in the summer but they do.

We worked hard this week and met our goal of 32 lessons this week. I don't think we will make our goal next week though with Christmas. Everyone drinks on Christmas eve and gets really drunk for Christmas and then they go do it again for New years. One more don't worry, I'll stay safe Mom.

I can't wait to talk to you. I am super excited.

Merry Christmas,
Elder Isaacson

P.S. I got a letter from Uncle Brent. It was really fun to read and I loved Eric's jokes on the back.

December 15, 2014

Feliz Navidad...Casi,

Don't tell me you cried in Mom's talk Dad. Ser un hombre (Be a man). I am glad Mom's talk went well. The title definately made me laugh. I could probably send more ''Don't worry Mom'' moments, but they just seem normal to me. Don't worry Mom I am always safe.

I got your second package this week. Bustamante was super excited to get a package. His mom had a baby 5 months ago so he wasn't going to get anything for Christmas. You made his day. I am waiting to open my stocking so I will have something to open on Christmas morning along with Kaylee's gifts. Cousin Bev sent me a package, too. The little turd. She didn't have to send me anything. She sent me a package full of California sweets. They should last me a long time. Thank you so much for the package Cousin Bev. I haven't recieved any letters yet but I will look for them with anticipation. Thank you so much everyone who has sent me something. It always makes my day.

We went to the Center of Lima Tuesday for P-day. We went to 2 museums that were pretty cool. One had pure gold artifacts from Peru so that was really cool. Afterwards we all went souvenir shopping. I don't know if you saw but I took 200 soles off my Debit card. I bought some stuff for you guys for Christmas. I will send it home through Vanessa when she is back up and running.

Today is cambios. There is a good chance that I will get changed. I am kind of scared. I finally feel comfortable in my area and am starting to get along really well with the members. It would be fun to be here for Christmas but I will have to wait and see. Also, Busti is a really good companion and we get along well. I would enjoy being with him for another cambio but he is also about to go home so that would be hard... If I stay I would definately struggle getting him to keep working hard. I will just have to wait and see.

Since I don't know if I will have a change or not I have looked for a place to skype. I will look this week. I will end up calling sometime next week for just 5 minutes or so to set up the skype appointment. The bbq is on the 24th of December and we call/skype on the 25th. I am excited to talk to you guys but you better not make me trunky.

I ate a super expensive hamburger this week. It was 14 soles. It was called the otorongo. It was massive and super good. I had wanted to eat for a long time but never had. I finally ate it because I might get changed.

Time is flying by. I can't believe it is almost Christmas and can't wait to talk to you,
Elder Karter

December 8, 2014

Hola,

It sounds like I am a lot safer here in Peru than I was in Utah. A lockdown at Fremont!!!! I thought that would never happen. How crazy is that. First a bomb threat at Roy a few years ago, and now a kid brings a gun to school at Fremont. What is the matter with Weber School District. I am sure I am safer here because I haven't even seen a gun yet.

Harrison, El Pobrecito (The poor kid), I don't think my ZL is going to try and kill himself. At least he was able to help out by getting the knife away from the kid. I will try and write him and cheer him up today.

I got one of the two Christmas packages, the one with the frisbee and Kaylee's gift. I still haven't opened the wrapped packages because I am going to wait until Christmas. On the 24th, the mission is going to get together and play games and have a bbq. I have heard it is more like the 4th of July than Christmas. Christmas here is kind of weird to me. I have seen a few trees but it is just weird without snow. It is also weird not hearing Christmas music or the stores going mad for the holidays. I have also heard that during the week of Christmas, we can't really work because the streets are full of drunk people.

As for your questions, The ward is about 500 members, but only about 150 are active. We do a ton a less active work here, but it is like this through all the mission. The ward council has really stepped it up this month and are helping us out a ton. I don't think I can narrow it down to the one most important thing I have learned on my mission, but I have a few. The Gospel is true. It is amazing to see the spirit work in the lives of the people here. Working hard is hard, but it has its rewards in the long run. Never give up and stay concentrated. I struggle with that one a little bit, staying concentrated. I need to stop letting myself daydream while I study and thinking about going home. I still have a lot of time before that happens.

This week was kind of a rough one. I have come down with a cough that has made me exhausted. I am starting to feel better though. Don't worry. We didn't have any investigators at church yesterday but we had some less actives which is good because we work with them a ton.

Yesterday was Elder Bustamante's birthday. We got two cakes and were given lunch and dinner.

Thanks for all your love and support,
Elder Karter.

December 1, 2014

Buenas Dias,

This week was pretty good. First off, for Thanksgiving, I didn't eat turkey. It was kind of sad. No turkey, turkey sandwiches, or any other thing with turkey. Instead for Thanksgiving I went to the temple. I love going to the temple. It was basically the same experience as last time. It is always nice to be able to go to the temple. It was a little weird though to be in a session with only 10 people, 4 of whom were missionaries. The Temple is always peaceful but getting there never is. We took metropolitano. The City bus system. They cram so many people into those busses, you can't put your arms down and you don't need to hold onto anything because you can't fall. We were crammed in the bus for about and hour and a half.

I saw Preston Hodsen (Hodson; I don't remember how to spell it) in the temple. He is in the east mission. He is doing good and looked happy. I can tell he has been eating well, too because he had gained some weight. I found a scale the other day and found out I have gained about 8 pounds. I hope I don't come home fat. We are going to start going to a gym in December so hopefully that helps.

Rony (I just learned I have been spelling it wrong) got baptized on Saturday. I baptized him. It was great. The baptism was supposed to start at 6 but it started at 7:30 because we were running on a Peruvian schedule. I hope he stays in the church for the rest of his life.

Alright, I guess I will tell you. The thing I saw last week was a kid get mugged. Actually, he didn't get mugged because other people stepped in. But he did get hit a few times. Don't worry though, the missionaries are protected and I have never heard of anything happening to a missionary. This is nothing like Mitch is going through. I would never tell you the things Mitch tells his family. Those things never happen here so I don't have to worry about it.

For the ward, all my stories I have I have shared with you. The spiritual thing you could share is that prayer and scripture study really do make you come closer to God. I have recognized it in my life. We are reading the scriptures so much and praying so often, we really do create a strong relationship with God.

Love you a lot,
Elder Karter

P.S. Mom, you don't need to keep that cat. There are so many stray cats here I don't want to come home to another cat. We found our own stray cat in our house the other day but we solved that problem. Don't worry, we didn't kill it but made it so it can't get inside anymore.

Karter is Now 19! (November 24, 2014)

Hola Familia,

Sorry if this email is full of typos, the keyboard I am using is crap and the keys either stick or don't type. I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving, time has flown by. They don't celebrate thanksgiving here so I won't do anything. Maybe some of the Gringos will get together and we will go do something. I can't believe it cost that much to send 2 packages. I really don't need anything, I could have waited. Is it expensive to send packages through Vanessa? I have not seen the frog smoothie, but if I do, I might just have to try it. I'm only in Lima once, right? That's too bad that Roy lost but cool how they made it to the finals. Chelsea is serving a mission!? I didn't see that one coming.

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes. I had a really good birthday. We had a zone meeting in the morning and the whole zone was wishing Elder Delgado and I a happy birthday. His birthday is the 22nd also. At the end of the zone meeting the zone leaders brought out 2 cakes for everyone to eat. They sang to us and then both of us got our faces shoved into one of the cakes. My face got shoved in so far, my nose touched the table. It was really fun and the zone is really cool. Afterwards, we went to lunch with the Familia Berospi. He is an RM and is really cool. After we were finished eating, his wife brought out a cake. The members here are awesome. Percy and Paola are making me come to their house this Tuesday to give me a cake because they were busy on Saturday. Don't worry about me here Mom, the members take care of me. For the rest of my birthday I just relaxed. We didn't teach that much and just went around and visited a few members. I ended the night by going to a restaurant and eating pollo a la brasa. It was a good day.

As for the mission work here, It was alright. I was supposed to baptize a girl on Saturday, but she just up and moved back to her house in the Selva. So that stunk. We should baptize Roni, the 17 year old kid, this Saturday but we have to get his dad's permission. He has to sign the permission slip and he is either never home or passed out drunk. I am sure everything will work out though.

We have had a little trouble finding new people to teach but we are going to focus more on that this week.

I saw something really cool the other day, but I decided it might be better to tell you after my mission. It wasn't in my area though because I was on a work visit. Don't worry I have felt really safe here and you don't need to worry about anything.

As I looked over your email again, I realized I didn't answer your question. Yes there are M&Ms here but none are peanut butter. They only have snickers and M&Ms and sometimes hersheys. They all cost like 4 soles though. They are really expensive but every once in a while I buy myself a treat.

Thanks for all your support,
Elder Karter

November 17, 2014

Hola Familia,

It sounds like your week was pretty hectic. I'm glad you guys are keeping busy. I don't really know what I would say to the ward, just thank them for all the prayers I get out here. I know people pray for me because I can feel the prayers. I thought I told you but I guess not, I am in the Estaca Comas (Comas Stake). When we go to the temple we have to leave the mission boundries. The mission is really small. I'm not sure, but it might be the smallest mission in the world. If it isn't, it is close to the smallest. We go to the Lima Temple, the only temple in Peru. Another temple in Peru should open up in 2015. It is in Trujillo. We get to go to the Temple 2 times every year. I could go up to 6 times in my mission. Elder Bustamante wants to go and I think we are going to go on the 27 of November. That will be my 2 times this year.

I won't be suprised if I leave this transfer. President would do that. But, I really like my companion. He is way cool. He is definitely trunky, he falls asleep during our studies all the time, but he is a really good missionary. We get along really well and joke around a lot. Planning takes forever because we always get distracted and start to talk. Some missionaries are like robots and won't make that good relation between the people and the missionaries. My companion is not like that. We joke around with everyone. We will sometimes play with the kids in the street too.

There was a huge earthquake this Friday. The epicenter was about 2 hours away, at least thats what my companion said. I can't remember how big it was. It was either a 5.3 or a 5.8 on the Richter Scale. We were on the second floor of a house when it happened. Everything thing was shaking pretty bad. I wasn't scared. It felt more like a massage as we sat on the couch and waited it out. Appearently some people ran outside and start to pray and beg for forgiveness. We were inside so I didn't see that though.

The work is really progressing. We had 7 Incas this week. (investigators en la Capilla) Everyone is on track for their baptisimal date. It is really fun to see all our hard work paying off.

Remember Elder Osborne? Well this week he woke up and was in a ton of pain. He went to the clinic and his appendix was about ready to burst. He had to go into surgery and have it removed. Don't eat the hot tomatoes or you will have to have your appendix removed. Just kidding, I think.

When we go to the temple I think I will pick some things up to send home as gifts. But we will still see. I still haven't used my debit card but need some money so I will probably be using it within the next few weeks. I hope it works.

Love you and thanks for all the Birthday wishes,
Love,
Elder Karter

November 10, 2014

Hola Familia,

Well, I have a new companion. His name is Elder Bustamante. He is from the North part of Peru. He has 21 months in the field and dies in 2 changes. Not again! Another trunky companion. Oh, well, I will just drag him around with me all over the hills. I am pretty sure I won't kill him though because if I do I will be in Año Nuevo por 2 changes. So, I am pretty sure I will go to a new area in the next change, December 16, right before Christmas. I will probably be in a new area for Christmas.

I got an email today from elder Ruiz with pictures of his house. They made me a little trunky but it is all good. Iquitos is really green. The part of Peru I am in is all dust. Lima is kind of the armpit of Peru, and then The north is the armpit of that. It is fine though because it makes me thankful for what I have and the people are really humble.

I had a spiritual experience this week when a six year old boy who is blind said the closing prayer to one of our lessons. It was so heartfelt. He loves when we (the Missionaries) come to his house. He gets so excited. Everytime we come and go he gives us the biggest hug. He doesn't even act like he has any challenges in his life. It made me realize why Christ taught we should become like little children. Hopefully his grandma brings him to church.

We had four investigators in the church and all of them are progressing. If everything keeps going like it is we should have a handfull of baptisms this month on the 29. We have been teaching a 17 year old kid, called Roni. He is way cool and funny. He has a baptismal date for the 29 also.

Usually the food here is not hot at all, but this week we ate in someones house for their fathers birthday. Before she served us, she asked all six missionaries if they wanted it spicy. I like spicy so I said yes, and I think 3 other elders said yes too. We started eating and it was really good. I went to eat a ''tomato.'' It wasn't a tomato. It was soooooo hot. My mouth felt like it was on fire and I couldn't drink enough inca kola to get rid of the burning. Elder Osborne didn't believe us that they were that hot so he took 2 and ate them. It took 30 seconds before his face went bright red, and he started to sweat and cry. It was hilarious to watch. The burning lasted at least ten minutes. Elder Osborne is sitting next to me and says Hi. He is really cool kid and we are going to stay in contact after the mission.

Speaking of Birthdays, I got my package. Thanks for all the candy, decorations, and thanks for the book Kaylee. I loved reading all the letters and Cards. They were probably my favorite part. I am excited to celebrate my birthday.I am going to buy cake and ice cream. Elder Bustamante's birthday is on Dec. 6 so there will be 2 birthdays in Año Nuevo this transfer. That will be fun. For Christmas, I really don't know what I want, maybe butterfingers and cookies, But I know it would be impossible to send cookies.

Thanks for all the prayers,
Love Elder Karter

November 3, 2014

Hola,

Well, I killed my companion this week. Actually I kill him tomorrow in the morning when I send him off to the offices and then the airport. As he packed his bags last night, it made me super trunky(Not really only a little). He is now packed up and ready to leave. I am going to be honest, we didn't work the hardest this week. Since Elder Ruiz is leaving, he went to all of his old areas to say his goodbyes. I was with elder Schouten a lot this week because his companion went with mine. We were one companionship in two areas. It made it really hard to teach in both our areas. Everything will go back to normal this week when I get a new companion tomorrow in the morning. I feel like I am ready to take over the area. I know where everyone lives, besides some of the members. I will be able to do whatever I need to do in this area with my new companion. My only worry is being able to find the members houses of where we eat, because that is the most important, right? But, I know most of them and can get the addresses of the others.

I officially obtained my visa this week. I had to go to interpol and take more pictures and fingerprints. But this time they gave me my visa. Which was promptly taken by the mission.

Nothing much really happened this so I don't know what to write.

I am really glad that Connor got cleared to go back to El Salvador.

They do celebrate the Day of the Dead here but it wasn't really anything. I woudn't have known unless someone had told me. They also celebrate Halloween here. Some kids dress up but only a few of the larger tiendas give out a small bit of candy. A lot of the people think Halloween is of Satan. They think we are crazy (Americans) for celebrating Halloween.

They don't have daylights saving time here so now we are 2 hours a part. It is starting to get warmer here. When we have to climb high up the mountain, Elder Ruiz and I are sweating quite a bit by the time we arrive because of the heat and humidity.

For the Christmas package, You can put whatever you want in it. I guess I could use a calender. I heard that air mail in Peru was on strike for the past month but I heard it is now over. So if anyone sent letters, I still haven't gotten them yet.

Love and miss you,
Elder Karter Isaacson

October 27, 2014

Hola!!!!

I am glad you had a nice birthday. I celebrated it here in Peru, too. Since I knew it was your birthday I went and bought a slice of cake to celebrate. I took a picture and might try to send it if I have time.

I remember junior year in high school was crazy. Kenzie will be kept extremely busy all year round with tests, sports and the ACT. Good luck in volleyball and have fun playing co-ed soccer. I remember having a ton of fun playing co-ed.

That is really cool how Dex will be able to work closer to home and in the days, But will he still be able to duck hunt? I am so going hunting when I get back. There is a really cool elder in my zone, Elder Osborne who got here six weeks after me, and we talk about hunting all the time. Elder Osborne and I have become really good friends. We get along really well.

Good luck Kaylee taking care of the entire eighth grade. That should be fun.

That's too bad that Helen passed away. I have a lot I could write about this but I will just let you guys imagine what I would say.

Utah sports sound like they are doing alright. 4th string qb for the win. Way to go USU. Let's hope U of U can keep it up and get somewhere. That is kind of sad about BYU and Bronco. It sounds like there isn't much he can do.

I feel so bad for Connor. I can't believe he had to come home. That would be awful. I hope he gets better and can go back out and work. Wherever he gets sent is where he is supposed to be. Send him my regards and that I hope he gets well. Don't worry Mom, I don't drink the water. We have 4 five gallon jugs in our room of drinkable water that we use. And the water in the juices people make for us has been made sterile. There are no worries.

I had a really good week. Elder Ruiz recognizes he only has one week left now and is working his butt off. We just go and go and go. We taught 38 lessons this week withut doing divisions with members. The goal of the mission is 32. We work really hard and walk a ton. We come home every night exhausted. After planning, both of us just crash into our beds.

I got to go to the temple this week! It was amazing. I love the peace and tranquility I feel in the temple. I listened to the entire session in Spanish and was able to understand almost all of it. Also, I sat next to a marine in the session who spoke English. That was kind of cool how I was able to talk with someone in English while I was at the temple. The temple is really pretty but is smaller than the ones I know in Utah. I took a lot of pictures while I was there.

We did these really crazy work visits in the zone this week. They split up every companionship and no one was with their regular companion. I went with Elder Cruz in Infantas. He has six months in his mission. Between the two of us we had less than 10 months of experience in total. His area is kind of struggling but it was good that I got to talk more. Also, his area is flat which was really good. I rolled my ankle really bad that morning on some cracked cement. It hurt really bad. By the end of the night, it hurt so bad I could barely walk on it. I am glad I just didn't have to climb hills on a sore ankle. In the morning it felt a lot better and it has just kept getting better.

Since my companion is leaving this next week, he went to one of his old wards to visit people yesterday. We did divisions with members. I was with a member from 8 in the morning until 9:30 at night. I had to keep track of everyone of our investigators in the church and then I had to teach all the lessons. The member never served a mission so I had to teach everything. He talked a little bit and bore his testimony but I had to be the guide for everything.

All in all, it was a really good week.

Love,
Elder Karter Isaacson

October 20, 2014

Hola Familia,

My first question, when did you get a laptop? I knew you got a new computer but I didn't know that you got a laptop.

Secondly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remembered your birthday all on my own. Even though Dad mentioned it I already had it written in my agenda to wish you a happy birthday. I hope it is good and I hope you like the outfit I ''Dad'' got for you.

Wow, It sounds like you had a lot of cars to work on this week. At least almost all the repairs are free. It sounds like you are working with Rich a lot Dad. Since I'm not there to push you to work I guess someone has to motivate you. You guys could fix just about anything, and when I say you guys, I mean Rich. Just kidding.

It sounds like the only sports team in Utah right now is U of U. Hopefully Real gets into the playoffs and all the other college football teams injuries heal up.

They do the soccer tournament about every six months. They did the last one over Mother's day because we didn't have to write emails because they had justed talked on the phone. My team did pretty good in the tournament. We got eliminated in the semi-finals 2-1. I took some pictures Mom, don't worry. I have tried to send some pictures but don't think they have sent. The computers in this place don't always like to send photos.

We have had some good luck with baptisms while I have been here but I think they are going to slow down for a little bit. The investigators now need to attend church 3 times for all 3 hours. That makes it a little more difficult. I think the baptismal rate will go down for a month or two and then climb back up. Pres. Erickson is really focused on keeping recent converts right now which is really good. The last president focused more on getting baptisms and I have been able to recognize that in my companion.

This week was a lot better. We worked a lot harder, taught more lessons, and found more investigators. My companion went through a trunky slump and didn't want to work but now he has realized that his time is really short and he is working hard again. I like it. It felt really good to get out and work hard.

I had the best contact this week. I saw a man with a U.S.A. jersey on and went to talk to him because I could have a connection with him through the jersey. As I started to talk, his family walked up. They just kept coming and coming. By the end of the conversation I was talking with 12 members of his family. They didn't live in our area so nothing came of the contact but it was still really cool that I was able to contact 12 people at once.

Thanks for the quote Dad, I know exactly what you mean. If you can't control it, then don't let it bother you. There are a lot of things I can't control that are in the mission and that quote will help me out. I need to let things not bother me that I can't control.

Love and Miss you,
Elder Karter Isaacson

P.S. I probably shouldn't send you the address but I will when I learn what my address is. My house is really easy to find, but the addresses here are really weird.

October 13, 2014

Hola Familia y Amigos,

It sounds like a lot has happened in the last two weeks. Kyle hopes to go to Germany, maybe he should learn German first before attempting to do that. Kenzie sounds like her normal self. Staying up really late doing her homework and not going to bed. Too bad Dex didn't get a deer but at least he will get to go duck hunting. He won't get that many though without me there do shoot them for him. (Just kidding, sort of) Kyle's got a girlfriend. Kyle's got a girlfriend. Kyle's got a girlfriend. Maybe he is taking the advice of Elder Cook's talk. He can get married before I come back. That just means one less night of long suffering. I have never heard of the Lamanite Ward, sorry Ron Kirby.

This week we were able to baptize a lady who had been waiting almost 2 years to be baptized. Once all her problems with marriage papers were worked out we were able to baptize her. Her testimony after the baptism was very powerful. It is moments like that that make me realize why I am serving a mission.

The language seems to just keep coming little by little. Sometimes I feel like it will never come, but then I realize it has just been three months and I can actually communicate with people. I may have to ask people to repeat a lot of things but, oh well, we can get the points across.

My companion is definately a little trunky, but who wouldn't after 2 years. He may be searching for ways to waste time a lot but I am starting to feel more confident and making him come work with me.

Conference was really good, what I could understand. It was really cool how we could listen to people speak in their native tongue. I could understand the native speakers better than I could understand the translations. I was able to understand principles of the talks but if the speaker started telling a story I would usually get lost. People here in Peru don't understand that we should go to all the sessions. The only session that was filled was the Sunday morning session. All the others, besides maybe priesthood, there were more missionaries watching the conference than there were members.

I don't know what happened to the mission blog. The soccer tournament was really fun. Everyone showed up in the jerseys they had made for each zone. Ours are the blue, long sleeve ones that are the France Jersey. You can make personal jerseys here really cheap and have your own design put on it. I scored the first goal of the entire tournament. That's right me. Not a Latino like everyone would expect, but a Gringo. There are other athletic Gringos in the mission and they can play pretty well. Everytime I have played soccer the Latinos take it very seriously and they play very physical. It was super fun.

Well I don't have much more time, but we are still teaching the Familia Villegas. We don't have that many investigators right now so we need to go find so more this week. That means contacting. Yay, not. I have heard about Mitch and Kaden. Don't worry Mom, Peru is really safe and I haven't felt threatened at all. Only some of the dogs are a little scary.

Love and miss you all,
Elder Karter Isaacson

October 4, 2014

Hola Familia,

I know this letter is a little early this week, but it is because we have ''mundial'' this p-day, or the mission soccer tournament. It was kind of sad knowing that when I came today to write that I would not have a letter from the family. I look forward to reading about your week every p-day.

I don't get to watch all of conference this week. This Sunday, in Peru is elections. Every year the first Sunday in October is elections. Everyone in Peru is required to vote or they will get a huge fine. Almost everything will be closed tomorrow, including the church. We are going to try and watch some of the sessions with investigators or members over the internet today and tomorrow. It might be a little difficult though because I don't know if the internet is fast enough to keep up with the video. Either way, next week the whole stake is going to watch all the sessions next week in the stake center. I hope I can watch it in English because I will get a lot more out of it and understand a lot more.

I contacted a lady earlier this week and we have started teaching her and her 2 children. It is really fun to teach them because the 2 kids are really fun and really smart. I wouldn't be suprised if the kids are smarter than the mother. The kids are really into the lessons and want to get baptized. They have been doing all the assignments that we have been leaving with them. Hopefully, in a few weeks we will be able to have a baptism of a family.

Elder Ruiz woke up sick this morning. I think he is actually sick but I also think it is a small case of trunk-itis. He has 23 months in his mission and is completely exhausted, mentally and physically. I have to keep working really hard and am going to have to push him to continue to work hard.

I have been trying to work on getting over the fear I have in the mission. I am scared when I talk. I strart to close up my body like I want to curl up into a ball and disappear. When I do that I don't think as clearly and it makes everthing worse. I am working on just studying the language and the lessons where I can feel more comfortable to just talk. I need to realize that I will probably never see these people again and it is ok if I make mistakes while I talk. Hopefully I can get over this fear.

I am expecting a big letter next week because it will be two weeks without a letter. I hope you all enjoy Conference (in English), you will probably get more out of it than I will, but I might be suprised how much I will understand.

Love and miss you,
Elder Karter Isaacson

P.S. Someone just told me how USU beat BYU 35-20. Go USU!!! It is a little sad for BYU though because they are ranked right now.

September 29, 2014

Hey,

I haven't heard of the virus and don't need to wear my mosquito repellent because mosquitos don't exist here. It is one nice thing about living in a desert. The only things that live in Peru are humans, dogs, cats, pigeons, and flys. Nothing else.

It sounds like you all had a crazy busy week again. Kenzie had better get used to doing a lot of English homework since she has Mr. Fendrick. It is good your students like to read. I think you should read a Halloween book with them so they can experience something different. That is really cool how Kenzie gets to play so much in volleyball. And Kyle brought a girl down!No, they don't have slow cookers here. Everthing is fried in a stove or deep fried in the street.

This week was really cool. We had two baptisms yesterday. Loidi and Hugo. We had been teaching Loidi for a long time because she isn't very smart. We had to teach everthing at least 3 times. I actually baptized Loidi and a member baptized Hugo. I didn't feel that Hugo was quite ready but he passed the interviews, ( I think barely) so we baptized him. Since it is my companions last five weeks now, I feel he is more focused in numbers than he is in actually teaching the people. I am going to try and help him out with it but if you have any advice that would be great.

I did another work visit this week with my District Leader. This time we did it in my area. I had to know where everthing was and lead him around. I was amazed I did as well as I did. I still get a little lost in my area sometimes but I know where I am at, just not where a certain house is. My DL's companion is finishing his mission in five weeks, like mine, so sometimes we just need a little break from the trunkiness and will do a work visit. I don't mind, I need the breaks, too.

We did practices in our zone on Saturday, and my companion decided to test me and didn't say a word. I was amazed how much I actually knew and was able to teach the whole lesson. My ZL had watched the whole thing and I felt really good when he came up afterwards with a huge smile on his face and gave me some compliments.

We had changes this week. We got a new ZL. He is Peruano. I am now the only gringo in Año Nuevo. Another missionary is now training a new missionary. I am finally not the youngest missionary in the zone.

I have asked some missionaries for the information of the lady who comes to Peru and delivers packages. I will tell you it when I get it. I heard that she is probably the safest way to get a package to Peru because it is guarenteed to not get stuck in customs. For my birthday, Maybe just more CD's (EFY music or Vocal Point, and one with Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,), Ensigns in English, and Candy. Reeses FastBreaks and KitKats.

Thankyou for all your support. I love all of you,
Elder Karter Isaacson

I hope these pictures send. They are of the people we baptized. Hugo is a little strange so he put his head on me for the picture. Don't ask me why. He can't remember my name so I am just the Gringo.

September 22, 2014

Hola,

Tranfers are on Tuesdays but I am not expecting anything. I will most likely have 6 more weeks with Elder Ruiz. These are his last six weeks so I will learn what it is like to be trunky. I wonder how much I will have to work with him to keep him working hard.

My usual daily routine is: 6:30 wake up and exercise for 30 minutes. After that I shower and get dressed. After I cook breakfast which is usually toast or an egg, or an egg sandwich. By 8 we have personal study for an hour. From 9 to 10 we have companion study. from 10 to 11 we should have language study but it seems like we always have some sort of meeting till lunch. Sometimes we teach a lesson before lunch, too. We go and eat at a members house for lunch at 1. After we study till about 3 usually. Afterwards we just go from lesson to lesson until 9 or 9:30. We stop and eat dinner in there somewhere from a restaurant or buy something from a chicken broaster (vender) in the street. We then do daily planning and get ready for bed. We are usually in bed by 10:30. I wish it was sooner usually. I have said that a mission is the only place where you can get 18-21 year olds to want to go to bed before bedtime.

The temple sounds amazing. I wish I could have seen it in person. I have seen some photos and it looks beautiful.

I never thought Rich would ask you for advice on how to repair a car, I must have trained you well. I am sad to hear Jacob got in an accident but at least he is OK. That is what I am worried about with Kenzie.

I am really jealous of Dex going hunting. That sounds really fun. I really want to try muzzleloading but it will have to wait a couple years.

Thanks for my friends updates. As for a mission nurse, I have never heard of one. We have Sister Erickson, who is the mission mom, but we don't have a mission nurse. Also, what is with people have seizures with the missionaries around. First me, and now Paul! Juan Carlos is not great. His health is getting worse. He is going to the doctors this week for tests but his mom is worried about the money. The only good thing that has come from this is his mom has opened up and started taking the lessons.

I went to the immigration offices this week. It was for my visa. All I had to do was sign a few papers and get my fingerprint taken. It was really easy but was far. Only the new missionaries went. It was really fun to catch up with all the missionaries that were in the CCM with me. Some of the things they told me were hilarious.

We went to the Center of Lima. It was really cool. First we went to a park full of art. It had a lot of statues and an art museum but we didn't have much time in the museum. We then went through a museum of the history of Lima. I didn't understand most of the Spanish in the presentations but I still learned a lot from looking at everthing. Don't worry, I took a lot of photos but forgot my camera today so I can't send any. The way we get there is crazy though. They cram a million people into the busses. You feel so violated afterwards. You don't need to hold onto anything when you are standing because there are so many people jammed in there really tight.

I didn't buy anything this time but we should go back every 3 months. As for mail, when I went to immigrations, I talked with the Assistents to the President. They said that about every two to four weeks a lady travels from Peru to Utah. She lives in Utah. Appearnetly some parents send packages with her and the have always gotten delivered without problems. I don't know if I could send something with her back to Utah but I probably could.

The weather here is pretty nice. It starts to warm up for one week and then will be chilly the next. It is spring here, but mainly there are just two seasons. Spring and Summer.

I went on work visits with my District Leader this week who is a Gringo. I learned a ton from him. He kind of burned me in a few things but it was all for my own good and has helped me out a lot.

Yesterday we finally met a lady named Reyna Saico. She just moved into the area and has taken all the lessons from other missionaries in a different mission. Everthing we talked about she already knew. Those missionaries did all the work and all I have to do is basicially enjoy the baptism.

Oh, I almost forgot. I moved houses this week. My new house is above the Bishops. It is awesome! The house is bigger, has a hot shower, and there are really nice couches I get to study on. We moved because the old house was aweful. Half of the time we didn't have running water and we were over charged. My first warm shower in Peru was probably the best shower I have ever had because I had not had one for a long time. We can't use the stove and shower together though or the breaker is always popping. It is so worth it though.

Love and miss you,
Elder Karter Isaacson

September 15, 2014

Hola,

It sounds like your week is pretty crazy with school and sports going on. It is really cool how Kenzie gets to play for JV the whole time. I am sure she is learning a lot. I can't believe she actually drives to school. Dad and I will probably have to fixed a wrecked car when I get back since she is driving. Just kidding, sort of. That is realy cool how BYU football is doing so well. I feel bad for Chuckie because he was doing so well last year until his injury. I wish Kyle would have known that girl before my mission. It would have been nice to know what to expect. At least now you have someone to tell you about my mission.

Hmna. Gloria was really scared about going under the water, so maybe it is just because they don't have bathtubs. The first attempt was the closest to getting her baptized. I almost had her completely under when she started to thrash and grabbed my tie and about choked me to death. She has been really busy this week and it has been hard to meet with her, so I don't know when we will try to baptize her again.

Juan Carlos was doing good but appearently yesterday he had another seizure. His mom said that he fell and cut his head again. We had stake conference this week and he didn't go. It was probably good that he didn't because there were a lot of people there.

Conference was really good, at least the parts I could understand. President and Sister Erickson spoke and I could understand them really well because they don't have accents. Actually they are the ones who have accents, but in my mind they don't. My mind was exhausted the final half hour after trying to understand what was going on. My mind is exhausted every night from trying to understand everything.

On Tuesday I did work visits in Retablo with another Elder Ruiz. This one is from Ecuador. He is hilarious. It was really fun to work with him because he made everything really fun and entertaining. It was good to be able to teach with someone else and see how someone else teaches, too. Also, it was nice to get away from my Elder Ruiz. I needed a break.

One Elder asked how I was doing with him the way you ask a question when you have experience with someone and know it is difficult. He then said something that makes perfect sense. Elder Ruiz doesn't always think before he says something. Therefore, he insults a lot of people and many of the things he says are insulting. I am definately learning patience right now.

I went on member splits again this week. They help me out a lot because I have to take charge and get a little break from Elder Ruiz. My spanish, when it comes to talking about the Gospel, is pretty good. If they talk about something else, I am usually completely lost.

For P-day today, we are only writing and then are getting right back to work. We are doing that because tomorrow we are leaving the mission and going to the centro de Lima as a zone. We are going to go to a Museum and then go shopping for souvenirs. I don't think I will buy much because I still have a lot of time in the mission and don't want to have to lug a lot of stuff around with me that entire time.

September 8, 2014

Hey guys,

So it sounds like you guys had a pretty fun week. If I was there you would have only had to do the brakes once.

First off, my shower head didn't get fixed so they are still ice cold. This week has kind of been chilly here. It has ''rained'' here almost every day. Although I can't call it rain because it is just really heavy mist, similar to snow flurries that cover the ground. I have worn a sweater almost everyday. I did loan my sweater to Elder Ruiz for a day because all of his were in the wash, don't ask me why he didn't do them seperately.

I bought my stove this week. I bought the stove, a frying pan, spatula, and two forks for less than 50 soles. It was probably 20 to 25 American dollars for all of it. It was all really inexpensive but seems like it should hold up.

Having a native companion is definately tough. His culture and mine definately butt heads sometimes. He never cleans the dishes after using them which drives me crazy. I am always doing it. Also, everything he says is kind of commanding. Since I am new, he acts like I am kind of stupid sometimes, it really bugs me. Today he freaked out at me for not knowing how to fill out the paper after four weeks. But it is hard to know how to do it when he just takes it and does it and doesn't say anything or show me how to do it. I kind of chastised him and told him he has to teach me and not just show me.

I had my first baptism in the mission field. Elder Ruiz baptized Juan Carlos and I baptized Janeth and Isabel. I realize I love the people of Peru so much. I experienced a ton of joy when I realized I was starting the salvation of someones soul. I could feel the spirit really strong. I realized this is what serving a mission is all about. It made me feel really good and made me want to teach a lot more and work harder so I can experience more joy. The sad part is Hermana Gloria was not babtized. She got in the water, I said the blessing, and as I went to put her under she struggled and through her arms out so it wasn't legitimate. Elder Ruiz then tried and the same thing happened. We tried for probably 30 minutes in the freezing water but she would never go under. We are going to try and baptize her in the stake center where the water will be hot.

Yesterday in church we confirmed those three members of the church and gave them the Holy Ghost. Afterwards in Gospel Principles, Juan Carlos had a seizure. He has epilipsy. It was really scary. He fell foward out of his chair and scraped his head. I didn't quite know what to do. It is a good thing there were a lot of members there who could help. They were telling people what to do and I felt pretty useless because when it comes to medical terms in Spanish I have know clue what is going on. We ended up carrying him to a members car and drove him to emergencia. Elder Ruiz and I then went and got his mom to go to emergencia with us. He came out after a while and was alright but looked pretty out of it.

Since I got to go to emergencia, we didn't go inside but I still got to see it. I realize I could go there and be alright if I had to but I would prefer not to go.

Tuesday was Elder Escobedo's birthday. He is a kid from Utah who is my ZL and the in the other companionship in my ward. Since he is in my ward, we went and ate with him and the members. I got Lomo Saltado and Papa Rellena. My two favorites. Papa Rellena is basically mashed potatoes that are stuffed with meat and other stuff. It is then quickly baked so it looks like potatoes in the shape of a football. It is really good. We also got cake at each house. I was stuffed by the end of the day.

Mitch's week sounds pretty crazy. I love hearing about my friends and how they are doing. I haven't heard much about Kaden and have heard nothing about Colby. How are they doing? I wore my tie yesterday because it was fast Sunday.

 Love you and keep me updated,
 Elder Karter Isaacson

September 1, 2014

Hola,

I didn't have to learn the hard way that you get shocked if you touch the showerhead. Other elders in the mission taught us that on the first day. It doesn't matter to me right now anyway because mine is broken so I take a cold shower. Someone should be coming to fix it this week. The powerlines do look pretty haphazard but they don't seem very close to my head. You don't need to worry about me getting electrecuted.

I have not had suri yet but I have heard about it. I have also heard a lot about ceviche. It is Peru's main dish or signature food. It is raw fish with certain seasonings. I have heard it is amazing. I really want to try but can't. Missionaries aren't allowed to eat ceviche because apparantly a lot of missionaries get sick from eating it. Lomo Saltado is the dish I had in the Restaurant in SLC. It is fried beef with french fries and vegetables. It is probably my favorite dish so far. I will try and take more pictures of the food although most of it is just chicken and rice.

We are planning on going to buy a stove today. I don't think a microwave would be that great. I am going to use the money I brought with me to buy it and then next month I will pull some out of the ATM to restock it. Everything here is dealt with in cash. The only time we use cards are when we go to the ATM once a month to pull out the cash for the month.

We should have four people get babtized this Saturday. I hope it goes through. One is Juan Carlos, and the others are Hermana Gloria and her two daughters. Yesterday we went on member splits. It was so I would have to do all the speaking. It lasted for three hours and I had to teach the lessons all by myself basically. I also had to do a lot of contacting in the street by myself also. It was really hard. I feel like my Spanish isn't very good but then I realize that I am actually able to communicate with these people. I have a really hard time understanding them but I learn a little more everyday.

I can't believe school has already started. I can definateley relate being exhausted at the end of the day. Mostly my mind is dead from trying to understand what people are saying.

Don't get to attached to my ipod Kenz because I get it back in two years. Your necklace sounds really cool Mom. I have now taken Kyle's spot as the favorite child.

Love,
Elder Karter Isaacson

P.S. For some random reason this week I was wondering if the trailer lights worked. Appearntly they do.

August 25, 2014

Wow, it sounds like you had a way busy week. Between volleyball, school, work, and every other thing, you guys are really busy. I hope Bev enjoyed the temple. It sounds like it looks beautiful. I haven't gone to the temple for quite awhile. I am pretty sure I will go before my companion leaves though.

Those earthquakes sound huge. I felt another earthquake yesterday in my house. It wasn't too big. It just felt like a really big truck was driving by the house for 30 seconds or so.

Yep, that is my church. There is one other companionship in the ward with us. We are pretty close to the other missionaries. We all meet up for P-day. The building is really nice. Everything here is a little beat up and covered in dust. The ground here is so dry. I have to polish my shoes everyday or they look like I have had them for almost a year. The area around the church is part of my area. If you go up the mountain that is also my area. I climb up that hill almost everyday. The area up there is really poor. We had to teach a lesson on tithing up there. It was really hard to teach about giving up money when you are teaching on a dirt floor and all their possesions are beat up and they don't have a lot. It is a good thing the people are very humble.

My apartment is pretty nice. We are on the third floor of one of the buildings. It is one of the nicest houses I have seen here. We have a mini fridge and a few utinsels. We don't have a stove or something to heat food with. I might buy a small electric stove and pan to cook stuff for breakfast. Other missionaries have done this and it sounds like a good idea.

We got to a place where you pay one sol and get to use the internet. The speed is pretty good. If I get a ton of letters it might push me a little bit on time but I enjoy reading them so it is ok. We have an hour and fifteen minutes to email. The first fifteen minutes are used to write the president though.

I forgot to tell you last week that the package you sent me last week was here when I arrived.

For my first p-day, we went and played soccer at the stake center. Afterwards we went to Plaza Norte to eat. It is just like an American mall. It was really weird to see all of the stuff there. Outside Plaza Norte is a market that reminds me the Alley in LA. It is a bunch of faked goods. Some elders bought ties for 15 soles or about 5 American dollars. They have a lot of shoes there, especially soccer shoes. They are faked but are really cheap. Some elders told me that you buy shoes there and then take them to a shoe maker in the street and they are as good as brand name shoes.

We teach a lot of lessons everyday. We are supposed to babtize Juan Carlos on September sixth. He reads so much. When I got here he was in first Nephi. Now he is reading in Mosiah. The people here are very nice. Every meal I have usually starts with a huge bowl of soup and then we get chicken. I had some lomo saltado and it is amazing. The restaurant we went to in SLC is authentic. Also with every meal we get fresh juice that has just been squeezed. It is usually warm but is really good. The only cold drink I get is Inca Kola. They always give us a lot of warm drinks.

Good luck starting school and tell me how it goes.

Love,
Elder Karter Isaacson

Everything here is really dusty. This is a picture of my shoes before and after a polish. Also the houses on the hill are just wooden shacks made of whatevery they could get there hands on. The houses there all have dirt floors and are usually pretty small. The houses in the picture are pretty far apart. Usually the houses are crammed in together. There sometimes are random stairs in the middle of the hill to help people get to the top.

First Week in Peru! (August 18, 2014)

Hola,

 My first week in Peru has been pretty interesting. I am in the Ano Nuevo 2 area. It is in Comas. Comas is in a district of Lima. I wish I had a good map to study to learn all the areas. If I did not have a companion I would be completely lost here. The streets are really confusing. My area is at the base of a mountain. I cover part of the valley, but most my area is up the mountain. I get to hike a mountain everyday to go teach lessons. Dad, you need to be ready to hike King's Peak when I get back because I will definately be ready.

My companion is Elder Ruiz. He is from Iquitos Peru. He speaks just a little english that he has learned in Peru. I am his 4th greenie but first gringo greenie. It is really different for him too. It is really hard to communicate and talk with people. I feel like I can talk better than I can understand. Yesterday, we went contacting and Elder Ruiz made me start every single conversation. When we are talking about the gospel I can kind of follow the conversation but when we talk about other things I am completely lost.

Elder Ruiz and I are in an apartment all by ourselves. It has a bedroom, bathroom, and one big open room with two desks, and a counter and fridge. I take a cold shower every morning and then study. It is kind of cold here. Temperature here isn't that cold but it is the humidity that makes it feel kind of cold. I am glad you made me bring those sweaters now. :-)

As for food, in the morning for breakfast I usually have cereal in yogurt. That is really normal here. The yogurt is drinkable. Lunch is the big meal of the day. We go to a members house and get fed. I have had chicken and rice for almost every meal. The food here is really good. Dinner, we usually will use the money we have allotted for food and buy dinner. It is really good. Everything here is really cheap. A large meal is about 6 soles or 2 american dollars. We ride in these weird vans/bus things when we have to go a longer distance. They cram close to 20 people in these vans that probably seat just 10.

We teach lessons every day. The work here is progressing rapidly. I got invited and am going to the wedding of a recent convert this Friday. That will be different because I have never been to a wedding service before.

Congrats on making the volleyball team Kenz. Yesterday I saw a lot of people playing volleyball in the street. Next to soccer, volleyball is the most popular sport I think. Tell Cousin Bev I will miss seeing her and going to get bagels in the morning.

Love and miss you,
Elder Karter Isaacson

These pictures are at the top of my area. As you can tell Lima is a desert. I won't see any green for 2 years. Also, this is definately a third world country. The houses on the hill are built out of whatever they can get there hands on. I have had lessons on dirt floors. It is way cool. These pictures are loading way slow. So, I will write a little bit more. I like to see other missionaries because than I can hear english and learn more about the country. I walk a ton. Let's hope my shoes hold up to all the walking. All the stores are just a bunch of corner stores. There is one big mall but I have not been there and don't know when I will go. My pictures are loaded so I will talk to you next week.

Handwritten Letter from Elder Isaacson!

He Made It to Peru! (August 11, 2014)

This is the e-mail we received from Karter's Mission President's wife.

Dear Isaacson Family,

We are pleased to welcome Elder Isaacson to the Peru Lima North Mission and look forward to working with him. His p-day will be on Monday and he will e-mail you then.

Sincerely,
Hermana Erickson

Last Letter from the CCM! (August 9, 2014)

Hola,

So, Mom you aren't going to be very happy about this. We found out we aren't supposed to call in the airport. I might be able to call and say I arrived safely but that is solely up to Pres. Erickson. President Pratt made it a rule we cannot call in the airport because apparently a few missionaries have missed their flights because they were talking on the phone. I don't know how they could talk that long since we have to be to the airport three hours early. I don't know what I would say anyway. I could tell you in about five minutes what has happened these past six weeks. I wake up, study, go to breakfast, go to gym, study, go to lunch, study some more, go to dinner, study, go to TALL (language study on the computer), plan, go to bed. That is what has happened every day for the past six weeks.

I am super excited to go to Peru, although I am definitely a little nervous. It is a little sad to leave the CCM because I have made so many good friends and I like the teachers a lot. I am ready though to experience something new. I kind of want a native companion so the language will come faster but it would be really hard if I wasn't able to ask him to help me translate certain words or phrases. I saw a map of our mission today. I hope I get sent to the one stake that covers the entire mountainous area. I want to go to the pueblos. I would much rather be there than in the city but I will have to be in the city most of the time probably. There are nine stakes, I think, in my area and eight of them are lower down in the city.

I will be flying with about 15 elders. My bus leaves the CCM at 11 o'clock in the morning. My flight lands just before nine so I figure I won't get out of the airport until at least 10 at night. I don't know what we will do then. Maybe we will spend the night in the mission home because I don't think they will try to get us to our companions that late at night.

Don't worry I will always use my filter bottle. I will try and get a few extra filters before I leave also. I will do my best to stay healthy and safe. Don´t worry I will be fine. I packed most of my bags today besides the few things I will still need. I am surprised I could get it all to fit in my bag. I still haven't packed the books but I should make the weight limit although it will probably be pretty close.

I am glad to hear that the kid was able to get my car registered. I had been wondering about that. Hopefully it will treat him well. It should though because it was a good car to me.

Hopefully I will be able to let you know I made to Peru safely, but if I can't I will have made it fine and talk to you in a few weeks.

Adios,
Elder Karter Isaacson

My District and Hmno. Martinez in front of the entrance sign.

 ​Hermano Martinez and I. He is a RM and my teacher. He is really cool. He can be very fun but also very spiritual.

Hermano Leon and I. He was my afternoon teacher. He was a little more serious but got distracted a little easier.

August 5, 2014

Hola,

I am so ready to leave the CCM. I hit my one month mark on Saturday. I can't believe I have been on my mission for an entire month already. It seems like it has gone way fast, but when I look back it also feels like it has gone real slow. I got some of my flight plans yesterday. I fly out to Peru on Monday. My flight leaves at 2:57 in the afternoon. I have a straight 6 hour flight to Lima. I am flying Trans American Airlines flight 961. I am supposed to get some more information and am supposed to email it to you Saturday night. I can't wait til Monday so I can leave the CCM.

I am glad to hear my friends are doing well. We are all experiencing the same thing so differently. Since it was fast Sunday, I got to wear the tie that Colby's mom gave us. It was fun to know that all of us were wearing the same tie. They were right, that tie is a small way to keep us all connected.

It sounds like you are working at least a little bit out in the barn, Dad. You better start cleaning it now if you want it to be clean by the time I get home. I know it will take you at least 23 more months before the barn is clean. It needs to be clean so you can remember where all your tools are because now I am not there to tell you where they are. :-)

The temple sounds amazing. You will have to tell me what you think of it. Dwayne will be a great Young Mens president. He was a great leader for me and he will continue to be a great leader for others. You will have to tell me who the new Young Mens leader is when you fine out.

Not much happened in the CCM this week. On Wednesday a huge storm came in. I have never seen so much rain in my entire life. The streets inside the CCM disappeared and turned into river. One of my teachers was walking home in it and took a video of the streets outside the CCM. There was about 18 inches of water running down the street. The best part of the video though was a man trying to bike through it. He was doing pretty well until he hit a deep part and went right over the handlebars into the water. It may have been rude of me to laugh at the video, but I needed something to laugh at to cheer me up.

I did get the doughnuts. They were really good. Thank you for sending them. Don't worry I did share my ''cookies.''  Even better than the doughnuts were, I got Kyle's letter he sent to me. It took just over 3 weeks to get to me. Yes, it was all in Spanish. It took me a little bit, but I was able to read it. It was fun to hear from him. I really enjoy getting letters and hearing from people.

For the first time, this Sunday I didn't even feel tired during any of my classes. Usually through at least one I struggle to stay awake. Not this week. I was able to stay awake the entire day. One of the lessons was a little bit about marriage which seemed kind of weird to me. We have only been on our missions for a few weeks and they are already telling us to get married. That is still a long ways away.

My Spanish keeps improving, I think. It is really hard and I need to just keep practicing. We started learning the subjunctive last week. It is really hard. I don't know if I will ever understand it. I can't wait until I can speak and understand Spanish just as well as English. It will be so cool when I don't have to sit and think how to translate every word and the language will just come out of my mouth.

Well, I will let you know all my flight information Saturday. I think my P-day in Peru is on Monday. So it might be 2 weeks before I actually get another P-day and am able to sit down and write you.

con amor,

Elder Karter Isaacson

July 29, 2014

Hola Mi Familia y Amigos

I have emailed Colten a short email every week. It is fun to hear from him. Please keep me updated on him because I don't have much time to check his blog. If Mitch feels like he is in prison, he should try and learn another language and stay in the MTC for four more weeks. I sent Kaden and Harrison a couple short emails and got a reply. I have not read them yet but I am super excited to hear from them. Colten sent me a ton of pictures. They are really funny. Colten definitely still has the fun entertaining side of him. I got all of your photos from JoAnn. They are amazing. I love them so much. I hope I can get a couple hard copies of them some how. I don't have any pictures of my friends. Maybe I can print them off somehow. Tell JoAnn Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! The pictures are awesome. I can't believe Carson found a dead body. If I found a dead body, I don't know if I would tell you guys about it.

Don't worry about fireworks going off all night. Mexico had a huge party Saturday night for the the Virgin Mary I think. It was so big they had an airplane fly over and announce it on a loud speaker. I was invited but I was kind of stuck inside the walls so I couldn't go. I could hear all the music, though. I was able to recognize the Macarena. We danced along to it in our casa. That is one of the things I miss most, music. I stinks how we can't even listen to church music here. It kind of stinks. One other thing I miss is watching sports. I hear about Real and think, ''Man I wish I could have seen that game.'' I am sure I will see plenty of cool things in Peru though.

I wrote that letter to you guys on my first P day. I think I might of had a little different attitude then than I do now. I still have not received the letters from Kaylee or Kyle. I am hoping to get them sometime this week. A few of the people in the district have received a few letters but it took between two and three weeks for them to get here.

Nothing much has happened at the CCM this week. Yesterday our teacher chastised us, or more a certain few, for not working hard and being a distraction to others. So I know I am not the only one who has noticed it. A few missionaries left the CCM yesterday that we had gotten to know while we have been here. It was kind of sad seeing them go but I am so jealous of them right now because they ''got released'' from ''prison.''

We had a really spiritual experience this week in one of our District devotionals. By the end of it, just about everyone was crying. So, there are some good things in the CCM but I am still ready to leave.

Love and Miss You,

Elder Karter Isaacson

July 22, 2014

Hey everyone,

It sounds like you all had a pretty relaxed week. Kenzies volleyball camp sounds nothing like the CCM. She actually gets to go to different places instead of being locked behind a wall and razor wire. I have not got sick yet and probably will not. The sickness is starting to leave the CCM. My Spanish is coming along well, although I am sick of studying straight language and gospel. I would like to be able to study or research something else. The food is still good in my opinion, although there are some odd dishes. There are a couple missionaries in my district who complain about it no matter what. It drives me crazy. Just suck it up and eat it. Half of the time they throw it away. If you get it, eat it. Sorry if I just vented a little there. They did give us a water filtration bottle and I use it. I do not know what to do with my other one now. The water is clean and safe to drink from the spout it just has a funny taste. It is a little worse then Taylor water. Most of our water comes out of 5 gallon jugs anyway. You do not need to worry about the water. That stinks for RSL. Two bad luck games in two weeks. I would like to go and check out everyone's blog but it is hard to do all that and write in one hour. If you are having trouble on knowing how to work on the Nissan Dad, just bring down here to Mexico. That is all they drive, Nissan Sentras.

I just got back from going to the Temple Visitors Center. It was way cool. I am kind of sad I did not get to go through the Temple because they are working on it. It was way nice to get out of the CCM though. Mexico City looks way cool. It has so many people in it though. The streets are packed with cars. Our bus got in an accident on the way to the Temple. It was just minor and everyone was ok. The bus just tapped a cars side mirror and took off the mirror and put a dent in the bus. I was fine with it though because that meant I could stay outside the CCM walls for just a little longer. I really liked the Temple. It was really pretty. I took some pictures and will have to send them either today or next week.

I did get to see Sloan. I can not even remember what it was like to be like him in his first week. He did get me the stain remover and Twix. Thanks Mom. His preparation day is the same day as mine. Hopefully I will be able to talk to him some more. The CCM is so full right now. For the last 3 weeks, between 150 and 200 missionaries came in each week and between 30 to 60 left each week. The comedor is so crowded. It takes forever to get your food now. Oh, I almost forgot, my District has been assigned to be the Ushers for all of the devotionals. The mission presidents wife really likes our District for some reason and picked us to replace the ones who leave today. Because of all the new missionaries though, the ushers will never again get the soft seats in the auditorium. We will have to sit in the gym with the rest of the people who are late. Hopefully I will get to see Jake and Tanner and maybe even more people I know who come in this week.

Other than going to the Temple, this week has been pretty uneventful. We just keep studying hard and feeling the Spirit in many different meetings. I can not believe I have been here three weeks already yet I also can not believe I still have three more weeks left. Hopefully they go by quickly.

Love,
Elder Karter Isaacson


Here are some photos:

 A way cool statue of Christ in the Visitors Center.

​The back of the Temple. We did not get to go directly onto the temple grounds because the Temple was being worked on.

​The front of the Temple. It is really pretty. It fits in well with the rest of the city yet it still stands out.

More Photos!

Here are a couple more photos I just took today. I know Sloan is coming tomorrow and I am excited to see him. It would be great if you could send some stain remover for me with him. Even get him some because he will not be able to get some either.

Look! They have already made a statue of me just outside the CCM! 

A picture of my companion and me at the sign at the front of the CCM.

First Pictures of the CCM

 ​This is half my room and my companion, Elder Connolly. You might be surprised Mom, but that mess is not mine. I am the cleanest, most organized in the room.

 This is one of the cool views of the side hill from inside the CCM.

​This is just a quick picture I snapped on the bus ride from the Airport. It doesn't depict Mexico City at all.

July 15, 2014

Buenas Dias,

It must be that families don't have to spend as much money to feed their missionaries anymore so they go by new toys. You guys got a new computer and my companion's family bought a new plasma TV. I don't think the mail is very good. I sent a letter on Thursday to you guys and I don't think it will arrive for a long time. I didn't get Kaylee or Kyle's letters. A kid in our district said his girlfriend sent him 2 letters 3 weeks before he came into the MTC and he still has not received them. Colten has sent me a couple short emails of encouragement. He says he loves it out there. It was really fun to hear from him.

I did get to hear about the World Cup from a couple of my teachers. It sounds like they were very good games. Also, please remember that "your actual boy" is in Mexico right now and did not cost the Jazz 63 million.

I can't believe Mel cried in church. I have never seen him cry before. I really hope everything is well back home in the ward. I do miss everyone back there but I am now on my own adventure. Tell Paul and Mitch congrats on their talks and that I am jealous they only have to stay in the MTC for 2 weeks.

This week has been pretty ordinary. We get up, study, read the scriptures, practice the language, teach fake investigators, and then study some more. We did have one interesting thing happen this week. There has been a virus going around the CCM and we have not been allowed to shake hands the whole time I have been here. Well, apparently Elder Toth, my roommate, got it. He had spent the day on the toilet and by the end of the day was feeling much better. After we went to sleep, we heard a thud as he flew off the top bunk, and then the splatter of his puke on the floor because he didn't make it to the bathroom in time. He cleaned it up because none of us wanted to help clean up the nasty smelling and looking vomit. Miraculously none of it got on any of our stuff. Don't worry Mom, I am staying healthy and very hygienic.

I am starting to get along with my companion better, but I am sure we still have a few things that bother each other. Let's hope we can keep working out our differences.

No, I did not feel the earthquake. Although I was up late that night because there was a huge party just outside the CCM. It sounded like a pretty epic party. The music was way loud.

Camping sounds like it was a blast and I wish I could have been there. Hopefully I can be there for the 2016 camp out. Just think, I will only have to miss one more Fourth of July. Yippee! 

Thanks Kenz for setting up the blog. We both know Mom and Dad are not technologically inclined at all. As for the Robin you saved, I could care less right now because one just pooped on my clean white shirt as I walked over here. They don't have any stain remover for us to use or buy, but one kid in our district has a little so I will try and borrow some from him.

I still have a little time left so I may get on later today and send you guys a couple pictures.

Love and miss you,

      Elder Karter Isaacson