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!!