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.