June 30, 2014

We had a nice meeting with the lady and her kids the other day. We mainly just talked to her to see how she was doing because we weren’t able to talk with her all last week. She is feeling better now and still wants to get baptized which is good. We were also able to visit her the next day with the branch president and she opened up to us. Apparently her husband was a bad guy who drank a lot and did bad things and when he died he left her with a ton of debt. She felt like God had abandoned her and she actually bought poison at one point to kill herself. She says that the only reason she is still here is because she would see her daughters praying together every night for her. It was really cool. On Sunday we called her and asked if she wanted us to come get her and she said she wanted to come on her own today which we were really excited to hear. She stayed for the entire time this week and she really enjoys coming now. So all we really have to do is interview her and then baptize her this week or the next. 

For that one party though that was around the beginning of June I think. I can’t remember what is was for either. It was also on the day we were doing divisions which didn’t really work out that well because no one was in Choquehuanca so we all went to Pucara to check it out. Also my comp has a video of him in Puerto Maldanado (the Jungle) and he was at this zoo and he paid this guy to let a jaguar come up to him and lick his face. It looks a little terrifying but I mean how many times do you get to have a jaguar lick you. 

I haven’t gotten my package yet but hopefully it will be getting here this next week but we'll see. Every time I thing of the stuff you put in there my mouth just starts to water. Also I want some of those cherries. However they would never last the trip here XD Here is something crazy, I now am 1/4 done with my mish, crazy how fast time flies. My time with Elder Davis just feels nonexistent. And I imagine that July will be the same.

Also I know how you feel about getting frustrated with people. Especially here. It’s really hard to not get mad at people when they have trouble doing things that would seem simple in our eyes. We’ve been having a problem like that with our branch president. However they have been getting better little by little. Also yesterday we had a combined meeting and the branch is starting to set up home teaching. Hopefully that can help us with some less actives. 

But yea glad to hear that you are all doing well and that things have gone back to normal.  I found another husky today and he looked a lot like Cusco. I just wanted to go give him a big hug. XD Anyway that’s all for me this week. Hope you guys have a great week too. I love you all.

Elder Halverson

June 23, 2014

Well I’m glad to hear that everything with trek went good for you guys. As for me this week was terribly slow. First off, the lady we have been teaching was sick this whole week so we weren’t able to do anything with her. As for everyone else, the world cup has been taking its toll because everyone was preoccupied with harvesting or the world cup.

Yesterday was pretty nice, though. We had a higher assistance than normal and all of our talks and lessons in the branch have finally started to sink in. The leaders are finally ready to start helping us little by little. The branch president and district president really burned them though as well as themselves. They were basically saying that no one there has a strong testimony and no one including themselves would be saved. I think that had more impact coming from the leaders than the missionaries, but hey if it makes the branch want to work then it’s fine with me.

Anyway in the mission they want us to focus on family search and family history. For us here that might be a little bit harder because people here don’t even know who their grandparents are and the 2 internet places here aren’t very good so I’m not sure how well the family search website will work. Anyway we will start trying it out in our lessons and see how well people respond to it. I think it will go pretty well and hopefully it will make people have more of a desire to make a trip to the temple. But if it’s something that’s from the first presidency then I don’t know why it wouldn’t work.

Anyway that’s basically all that’s been happening here. The nice thing is we can take our time with this sister now that I know I’m going to be here longer which in the end will probably be better for her.

Anyway I love you guys and I hope you’re doing well.

Elder Halverson

This was just a funny thing we did a few weeks ago when there was a party in Pucara. So yes I've been to Macchu Picchu. With tigers!

Me with my comp and Elder Porcaro (the elder who is from Spanish Fork) at Chiles. However, I didn't have my food in this picture but I got a blue cheese bacon burger. (The best thing I've eaten here.)

June 16, 2014

 Hello.

So this week was a little weird. We had a party here all week plus the world cup started this week. We weren’t able to do our baptism this week because we weren’t able to get her an interview yet.

Also something cool that happened is that on Friday we went to Cusco because Elder Oaks came down here to our mission to talk with the missionaries from our mission. The cool thing is that my zone was the farthest away who got to go. Every other zone in Puno and Puerto didn't get to come. While we were in Cusco I saw Nicholls again which was pretty cool. We also got lunch at Chilies after the conference. It was cool though because in the conference Elder Oaks taught about Commitments and Priesthood keys. Also we entered a bus with the Sicuani zone and I met an Elder Porcaro. Apparently he is friends with Ammon Stone.

Anyway as far as the changes go I’m going to be here for another change if not 2 because my comp is going home at the end of this new change. Anyway that’s about all the news for this week.

Love you all,

Elder Halverson

June 9, 2014

Hello, Sorry I’m writing so late. We had to wait a while before the internet place opened. Also it’s really slow here so it took a while for it to open up my mail. Anyway we had a good week. For the most part we just visited the lady’s family who we are going to baptize this week. They are really excited about all we are teaching them and they seem excited about their baptism too. Hopefully everything will continue to go good this week. 

But yea this is our last week in the change. It felt like this change has flown by. Pretty crazy though, everyone also tells me that times just continues to go by faster and faster and you get more time. Anyway I’m not sure if I’ll get a change or kill my comp. A part of me really want to go to a new sector just because I feel like I don’t really know the mission that well. On the other hand there some people here who I still want to help out but who knows what’s going to happen. My comp is convinced that I’ll be going to Cusco though which would be pretty darn awesome. 

Anyway it’s pretty cool that Trek is finally here. I hope it all works out for you guys and that everything goes smoothly. I wish I could go to Famous Dave’s to celebrate when I do something cool. But I know I’m just going to pig out when I go somewhere that has better food. We got sick again all yesterday because I think we ate some bad hot dogs. So we spent the day just sleeping and going to the bathroom every hour. Luckily every time I’ve been sick it’s only for a day. However it’s really starting to take it out of me and I don’t have too much energy. 

I’m glad to hear that everyone is doing good though. I’ve been getting really anxious for that package though because my comp just got one full of candy so I’ve just been watching him eat it for the past week. Anyway nothing much has been happening here. We kinda had to burn our branch president because he has really been getting lazy with his responsibilities and tried to call a kid who is only a priest to be the young men president. We are thinking of have a training meeting for all the leaders to teach them their responsibilities. 

But yea that’s about all that’s happened here. I’ll let you guys know what happens for changes next week and how the baptism is. Anyway I love you all and hope you are having fun and working hard.

Love, 

Elder Halverson

June 2, 2014 -- 19th Birthday!

Man it’s pretty crazy. I don’t feel like I turned 19 or that it was my birthday. It’s also weird to think that I’ve been out for 5 months and that I graduated a year ago. Time feels like it’s going too fast. Anyway my birthday was pretty fun. It was funny because it was on a Sunday so everyone at church just told me happy birthday. A few of the kids even said it in English. After church, though, we went to Ayaviri for a zone conference to talk about the last month. So the husky that I befriended there just goes into the church whenever he wants to and the whole branch loves him. In the middle of the meeting he just started walking around the room and everyone was just petting him. XD Anyway, after that we went to my pensionista for my birthday dinner. We had kankacho (which is basically like Peruvian steak) and potatoes with a beet salad. They also have a tradition here when it’s your birthday to smash your face in the cake and smash eggs on your head and throw flour at you. It was really fun though, just a little cold. After that we headed back to Ayaviri and hung out with the zone and made a fire to roast hot dogs and then just played Monopoly. Today we are spending our p-day in Juliaca to go eat some pizza and play basketball. So I guess in a way it still feels like my birthday. 

As for the other news, not much has happened this week except for one big thing. One of the families we have been working with finally accepted a baptismal date for the 14 of June, the day before we have changes. It was a nice booster for me to know that I will be baptizing a few people in my first sector. Especially if I leave this change. I was so excited that I called Nicholls in Cusco to tell him the news.

Anyway me and my comp are getting along really well. We find silly stuff to do to have fun here. Now that it’s dead of winter we don’t get any rain so everything is brown and yellow. Also in the morning everyone goes out to their fields to harvest and I don’t know how long that’s going to go on for. But as far as weather goes, the sun burns you during the day but it’s probably only like 60 degrees in the shade, and then it’s freezing at night so we really have to bundle up. This change has really sped by though; we are now in the last 2 weeks of this change. 

That’s a pretty sweet story about the guy you met at the store. Hopefully he will be interested and will want to talk to the new missionaries there. Anyway I’m glad to hear that all is well back home and that everyone is doing good. I love you guys and hope Trek goes well for you!

Elder Halverson 

Birthday dinner of kankacho (like Peruvian steak) and 

potatoes with a beet salad.

 Chase and his companion, Elder Davis.

 Getting his face smashed in his birthday cake. Peruvian traditions aren't too 

far off some of our own traditions!

 After getting the cake smashed in his face, the eggs smashed on his head, and flour thrown on him to celebrate his birthday.  What an awesome birthday!!