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!!

May 26, 2014

Sorry about not writing you last week; our internet was really terrible last week and nothing was loading.  

Anyway it’s funny about you guys dieting and stuff. If you really want a good diet just move here. XD I eat a ton and I’m still losing weight.  

Our week here has been kind of slow, too. One day the other companionship got sick so we had to help them out for a good chunk of our day. There was a cool fair for 2 days for the anniversary of the high school here. Each class was dressed in traditional clothes and was dancing. Consequentially, everyone was gone to be in the party. We also lost power here for 2 days which was a little scary when we went to dinner. So basically for those 2 days we couldn’t work after it got dark because it gets a little sketchy. We had an activity planned for the branch on one of those days but had to postpone it till later this week. One of our investigators was talking to a member and she told us that she wants to be baptized along with her 2 daughters which would be awesome. The only problem is that it’s hard to get an appointment with her with a member because she is always working and whenever we do have an appointment we can’t get a member to go.   

But yea also Sunday was really intense yesterday because our church attendance has been dropping recently so all the missionaries here gave talks on the Book of Mormon because we are trying to get the leaders to do stuff and gain testimonies as well as all the members so we burned them a bit and hopefully now they can see why this stuff is so important.  

Me and my companion are doing good together and are doing our best. Sorry if it looked like we were really trunky. XD It was just when he talked to his family they made him a little trunky. Oh, also as far as the other cities go, Ayaviri is like a 30 minute drive in a van and Juliaca is one and a half hours in the other direction from Choquehuanca. But yea, all’s well here in our little pueblo. Also you’re right about being able to understand the people you work with because the people here have the equivalent to a redneck accent but with Spanish.  

Anyway I love all you guys and I hope you’re enjoying the warmth. We had a cold front blow in and it is absolutely freezing here. We sleep in 40 degree weather every night even in our adobe house so we really have to bundle up. Anyway till next week everyone!

Love,

Elder Halverson

May 12, 2014 - New Companion

Hello family,

This week not much happened because I didn’t get my companion till Thursday so I just did divisions with the 2 elders left in Ayaviri. Then, for the rest of the week there was a party so we couldn’t meet with anyone and then I was sick for a day. Hopefully this next week will be a lot more productive.  So, I’ll mainly tell about today.

We went to a place about 30 minutes away from Ayaviri called Tinujani. It’s really cool.

Anyway, it was really cool because I got to meet the new zone for the first time. During changes we had half our zone leave. Anyway I really like all the new guys. Both me and my new companion, Elder Davis, get along really well. It was a fun day, though, because the place looks a lot like southern Utah with all the rocks and everything. Anyway it was really funny because there was a river we had to cross and everyone wanted to try and jump it but I just found a bridge to cross. Everyone ended up getting their feet wet because they landed in the water. When we got back we had a skipping competition in the river. It was a pretty fun day.

Anyway, I don’t have much time to talk so that’s all for now.

Love,

Elder Halverson 

 Last dinner with his trainer, Elder Nicholls

 Last picture with old zone

 Chase's new "best friend" (Lobo the husky). He says all the huskies are named "Lobo", which means wolf in Spanish. 

 "Working in Compo"

Loading up to go to Tinujani

Chase at Tinujani

New zone at Tinujani. New companion on far left next to Chase.

Sunday, May 11, 2014 -- MOTHER'S DAY PHONE CALL!!!

Note from Chase's mom:

It was sooo wonderful to talk to Chase on Skype for Mother's Day!  He is completely happy and loving his mission!  His Spanish sounds really good, too!  (But of course, what do I know?  I'm just a gringa...and his mom, which, of course, makes me a little prejudice!)  

Unfortunately, our connection wasn't very good and we had to call back three or four times to re-establish our connection.  But, we were able to talk for about 40 minutes and it was absolutely wonderful!  I was just sitting down in Relief Society when his message came in, "Hey, I'm on Skype now", so I just booked it out of church and ran home to get on the computer as fast as I could. I was so excited that I used the wrong key to try to get into my car. LOL

Chase told me that he's lost weight and his pants are all loose.  He says he just mostly eats chicken, potatoes, and rice.  It's bland but it's filling...at least at first.  He says that the food doesn't stay with him for long and he doesn't stay full.  He doesn't like the cheese in Peru and misses all the different cheeses we have here.  I told him of a box I'm putting together for him containing some meat and cheese and I could almost see him drooling -- he was that excited about it!

He's starting to enter the winter months so he's already wearing sweaters and says it's pretty cold except when the sun is shining during the day when it's a bit warmer.  He just got a new companion on Thursday named Elder Davis from Kaysville, Utah.  He says he really likes him and they get along really well. 

Chase said there was some party or wedding going on in Choquehuanca that slowed down the work last week.  It sounds like the wedding from "Bride and Prejudice" (Bollywood version) where the whole town celebrates.  Chase was also sick on Saturday and stayed in bed all day.  :-(

Chase is amazing and I'm so proud of him!  His letters aren't eloquent and he doesn't write a lot of details, but when I saw his face today, his countenance showed the light in his eyes and the testimony that he's growing!  He's becoming a completely different young man and is truly a disciple of Christ!