December 25, 2014 - Christmas Day Skype call

We got to Skype with Chase today for about an hour and even were able to get Aaron and Kelly in on the call for a while.  He's doing well and working hard!  It was great to hear his voice and see his face.  Here are a couple of pictures from our call today as well as a partial video of him bearing his testimony in Spanish (link to YouTube).  I missed the first half of his testimony because I hit the wrong button on the camera.

Video:  http://youtu.be/926lzjNvIKc

December 22, 2014

Hello family!

Well sadly I can’t say much happened this week. For basically most of this week my companion has been sick so we have just been chillin’ in our house. When he wasn’t sick we have been busy going to all the wards in Cusco helping out their primary choirs prepare for a primary Christmas program we had on Saturday. I guess my companion is the only person in Cusco who can play piano or something.

I do have a pretty funny story, though, of something that happened this week. So a few weeks ago I contacted a guy and then Tuesday we were finally able to talk to him. He also basically told us his whole life story and that he has epilepsy and that he has been feeling really bad because of all the hate in the world and that he has been praying to God asking him when the world was going to end. Anyway so we shared our message and everything and made another appointment for Friday. So on Friday when we were leaving our pension’s house, we ran in to him and he was wearing Sunday clothes and he asked us if we were going to church right now. He accidentally got our appointment mixed up with when we have our church meetings. Anyway so we explained to him that we just had an appointment. He then told us that we couldn’t go to his house anymore because he said if his mom sees us there again that she would throw water on us. I guess she thinks that we are the witch from Wizard of Oz and that we'll melt or something. Anyway we told him we would pass by just to pick him up for church but later he told us that he wouldn’t be able to make it this week.

As for anything else that happened this week we just went to the primary Christmas program on Saturday which was good but it was basically just singing. It was funny though because basically our entire zone went to watch it.

As for when I’m going to call right now I’m thinking I’ll probably be on around 1:00 to 3:00 or sometime around there. I’m glad Ill be able to talk to everyone though. For a while I was thinking it might just be you and Kendall or something. But yea the connection will be better, I’ll be calling at a member’s house. Also I’ll be using Skype again. But yea as for Christmas music, I can’t say I’m a fan of the Latino Christmas music. It does not feel like Christmas music at all. But yea I’ll see you guys in a few days when we talk. But until then have a good week and I love you all.

Elder Halverson.

December 15, 2014

Hello everyone!

Well, first off this week was a lot better also because I was feeling a lot better. Apparently it wasn’t just me that was feeling bad. There was like something going around with all the missionaries. It could be that we are going through a change of seasons right now or something. I’m not really sure but I don’t think it was the food. Anyway point being, everything is better now.

This past week a bunch of people have invited us to go eat with them or something for Christmas but I’m not sure if we are going to do all that, especially because I am also calling home that day. I think I probably also will be able to talk with dad on Christmas. Also, even though this is a few days late, Happy Birthday Dad! 

Anyway, not too much is going on, everyone is just preparing for Christmas right now and every lesson we have taught this last week has been 'He is the Gift'. Also I got the package that you and grandma sent me and this last week. I have just been stuffing my face with the food. Also I need to know what you guys want for Christmas or if you don’t know just tell me because next week I’m going to buy Christmas presents. Also I found out today that I’m going to Macchu Picchu on January 5th. 

Um well I’m not sure what else to talk about so sorry if this feels kinda short. But I love you all and officially today I can say I will be home next year so that’s pretty crazy! Well I hope you all have a good week and until next week!

Elder Halverson

December 8, 2014

Hello  everyone!

Well for Christmas decorations I just bought a small Christmas tree with some lights as well as a banner that just says feliz navidad. It just gives a little more of a Christmas feel in our house. However, I did forget to get a picture of it... Anyway as for this week we just had to house some elders for a few days for the changes and then on Thursday we had a Christmas dinner with the mission president. However, it was only for three zones and I’m not sure if they are going to the other zones also to do it with the rest of the mission. Anyway it was pretty fun. We started out with dinner which we had some fruit salad, a weird potato casserole, some chicken, and finally chocolate cake.  We also had a ton of soda there. Anyway, it was kinda funny because when we were there I also saw everyone from my group that came with me except 2 sisters. So here is also a cool story. So there was a sister from my group that had to go home in the 4th week of the CCM because she had a ton of stress fractures on her legs. Well, almost a year later she has come back to the mission and now is in my same zone. Anyway, so back to what happened at the Christmas party, so after dinner we had a white elephant game thing were all the elders had the assignment to buy a 8-12 sol present. The game was where we all sat in a circle and the president read a Christmas story, but whenever he read certain words we either had to pass our gift to the left or right. In the end, I came out with a pretty cool bag. We finished off the day by singing some Christmas hymns and hearing a devotional from the zone leaders of the 3 zones.

Other than that, not too much happened this week because Friday me and my comp were sick. :P  Also I got a wicked cough so it was hard to work. Plus we had more elections this week so on Sunday we weren’t able to do much. However, we were able to see the first presidency devotional this week. We also did not have a baptism this week. On Saturday we talked to the family and the mom and kids are ready but the dad wants to know a little more before he gets baptized so they are thinking of doing it in January.

Well for this p-day we just went to some more ruins that are about an hour away from Cusco. I’m not entirely sure what the ruins were but it’s like a giant bowl in the ground. We weren’t supposed to go in the middle but me and another elder ran into the middle of one. (We are such rebels!) XD Anyway that’s basically all for this week. By the way, if you guys had any requests for Christmas presents, now would be a good time to let me know. If not, I’ll just get something random for everyone. Well, I love you all and glad to hear you’re all doing well.

Elder Halverson

December 1, 2014

Hello everyone.

This week was a little strange. So it was the last week in the change but it was hard to do anything because basically everyday someone in our sector was sick. Regardless, we were still able to work by doing quite a bit of work visits. XD But a new Elder, who is in our sector, is in the hospital right now because he has a stomach infection. Also, that means I won’t be able to show you the pictures of Thanksgiving we had until next week. :/  Anyway, Thanksgiving was pretty good here. Our pensionista made us some chicken roll things because they don’t really sell turkey this time of year. Also, we had mashed potatoes as well as some really good baked potatoes. Then there was rice, rolls, and an apple salad thing. All in all, for a Peruvian Thanksgiving, it was pretty good. Every time we celebrate a holiday here, my companion wants to continue celebrating it when he gets home. He and one other Latino played in our turkey bowl last week. However, the other Latino is like half American and knows perfect English so he doesn’t really count. But my comp loved playing. Also, for the Macchu Picchu trip, I think I’m going this change. 

Anyway other than that everything is basically the same for me this change. Still in Cusco with the same companion. However, something funny is that Elder Nicholls is now my new Zone leader as well as in my district so that will be pretty funny whenever we do work visits. I plan on getting some Christmas decorations today for my house. Even though it doesn’t really feel like Christmas here with it being warm and rainy and green. Anyway, I can’t believe that Christmas is only in a few weeks. It’s also weird to think I’ll be home next Christmas. I’m only a month away from having a year here.

Anyway for this week, we are just preparing a family we are teaching for baptism so that will be cool. Also we are focusing on contacting with the contact card that has a picture of baby Jesus that says "He is the gift" (I don’t know if you have seen it before) for Christmas. But other than that, I’ll talk to you guys in 24 days :)  

Well, I love you all and like always, I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well.

Elder Halverson

Peruvian turkey bowl team

November 24, 2014 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone!

This week was a little weird. On Tuesday we had a Seventy come down (Elder Evans) and talk with all the missionaries from my mission (except the missionaries in Puno because he  also went down there). Anyway, that lasted all day and he focused on teaching us about getting new investigators. It was really good but I was just super tired by the end of it. Also in my room we had elders from Puerto stay there which was funny because for them Cusco was freezing but it’s normally hot for me.

Anyway, other than that on Saturday night the young single adults had an activity for our stake where each ward did a traditional dance which was pretty cool to see. But you’re right, people here don’t even know what Thanksgiving even is. However, we explained it to my pension and she is going to make us a Thanksgiving meal. Also today for our p-day all the American elders are going to have a turkey bowl football game.

But yea this past week we didn’t have a baptism. We will have one this Saturday though. Oh so I want to tell you about this crazy investigator we had to drop. So there is a little drugstore by us where we buy all our toiletries and one day we contacted the lady that works there. She told us that would be fine because she likes to learn new things. Anyway so in our second lesson we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so she can know it’s true. She then told us that she already knows it’s true. That was a little weird so we asked her if she was willing to change the things in her life to follow the true gospel of Christ (baptism). She then told us that she couldn’t change the things she was born with (because she is Catholic). So we told her that she didn’t really know it’s true because if she did she would want to change her life. She then told us again that she knew what we were saying is true but she couldn’t change her "roots" as she called it. So we thought maybe when we teach lesson 2 she will understand it better. So we came back a week later and taught her the plan of salvation and at the end we asked her what kingdom she would want to go to and she told us the Terrestrial because getting to the highest was too hard. Anyway, needless to say, we talked for about an hour trying to explain everything to her but she still didn’t get it. So we told her if she wasn’t willing to try it out, there was no point in teaching her. But yea it was just weird. I didn’t think I would find people who believed the message but then not want to change their lives.

Well other than that we just went to some Inca ruins this morning (finally) called Saqsaywoman (sounds a lot like sexy woman), but it was pretty sweet there. We took some pictures with llamas.

But yea that’s about it for this week; we are about to head out to eat some McDonalds and then play some football. Well, I love you all very much and I hope you all continue to do well back home!

Elder Halverson

November 17, 2014

Hello everyone!

This week was really good for us. Me and my comp had a goal to have the most lessons out of our district this week and we ended up having 23 lessons, which I think is the most I’ve had in my mission for a week. Also it was super cool because both me and my comp got sick this week so if it wasn’t for that we could have had even more.

But yea on Saturday we had another baptism (a 21 year old girl named Neri). Neri is the sister of a girl who was baptized the 2nd week I got to Cusco who is a convert of my comp. It was funny though because when my comp was teaching Neri's sister (Vicky), Neri didn’t want anything to do with the missionaries or with our church. But little by little she started taking lessons from the missionaries (especially after her sisters baptism). But now we have 2 more baptisms planned. One is for the last Saturday in November for a kid who has been assisting the church for a long time after being invited by one of his friends. And the other for the first Saturday of December for an entire family. However, with all our baptisms we are running out of investigators fast and so we need to find some more.

Other than that, weather here is still the same. Sunny and hot or rainy and cold. Other than that, just working hard and all. Well glad to hear your all doing well and I love you all very much!

Elder Halverson