Thursday, September 3, 2015

WEEK THREE WAS A BREEZE (but not really, it just rhymed)

Hola Familia!

Wow I've already been here for three weeks! It feels like two days but also two years at the same time!
Lima Peru Temple


Okay so Elder Bednar came last week, which was so great! It was a three and a half hour meeting though, so I was a little sore afterwards... haha.  Luckily, he made it go by fast because instead of a talk it was like a Q&A.  We talked a lot about how to better teach people, and how asking questions and gaining their trust is essential to finding out how you can best help and teach them. It was really good! He didn't stay around to shake hands though... all the CCM missionaries and missionaries from three of the Lima missions were all there.  It was a total of 700 missionaries or so.  It was crazy ...but so good! 
We got to hear Sister Bednar speak too ... she is the cutest! One time Elder Bednar said something was stupid ... she stands up, interrupts him and says, "I tried to get him to stop saying that word!" and then he said "I can´t even repent because I don´t feel sorry about it". So sorry if that gives anyone an excuse to call something stupid, but Elder Bednar did say it to a bunch of missionaries.   ;)

This week we also had the privilege of going to Interpol to apply for our visas... it was less of a train wreck than the trip to immigration.  It was still pretty funny since we don´t know Spanish. They had to do a tooth examination.  They just looked in my mouth with a flashlight and then recorded how many teeth I have.  When I go in there, the guy is like "sorry I don´t speak good English, but you have a..." and it took me a minute but I realized he was talking about my baby tooth.   I tried to explain that I didn't have a permanent tooth underneath, but of course I had no idea how to say that in Spanish.  So I said "baby tooth? si, si..." and I think he understood... haha.   They also took our fingerprints and this cute Peruvian man was trying to teach me how to say each of the fingers in Spanish.  The only one I can remember now is pulgar, which is thumb...so obviously I learned a lot that trip. :)

Oh also, apparently "Gurney" is a super hard word to say in Spanish.   They all pronounce it like "goo-where-knee" or sometimes they just don´t even say it at all, haha.

Also lets see, some random things from this week-

There was an earthquake the other day! It was like a small one, like the ones we had in California.  Everyone was freaking out. It was pretty funny cause my knee was hurting that day from playing futbol so much.  I had just shifted my weight onto the hurt knee right when the earthquake happened. So I thought it was my knee shaking from the weight of my body and I was so worried I had actually messed up something in my knee. But then everyone else felt the shake, so it´s all good. Also my knees don't hurt anymore, so no worries.

This week we changed leadership... Elder Meier is no longer our district leader, which is so sad.  Now the district leader is Elder Hosch, so hopefully he can fill the shoes Elder Meier put forth. The sister leaders changed too, so now Hermana Gillingham and Dickman are the sister leaders! I feel bad cause the Hermana leaders are over all girls at the CCM... so they have to deal with the problems of like 30 Hermanas.   They are feeling overwhelmed, but they´re such nice people that they´ll do awesome!

Today we went to the temple again! It was great! They only had four headsets to listen in English, so again I had to listen to Spanish...but i was so happy.  I actually generally knew what they were saying! I didn´t know specifics, but I knew when they said to do what and stuff. I´m so proud of my Spanish!!  Afterwards we went to the Metros, which is just like Tottus (where we went last time) but it has more clothes. Then there's these little outlet stores next to Metros, which have sports jerseys and tribal pants, so we all bought these cute tribal pants. (Hermana Dickman and I bought the same pair of tribal pants, not even on purpose, so that just proves how we are legit twins)  Brandon and Tyler, I tried inca cola.. I think it was you guys who told me to try it. It´s a strange taste. It's bubble gum flavored soda, and it just tastes strange. Also we managed to fit 20 missionaries into the aisle of one bus today, instead of only 16 last time. It was a huge achievement.

Our matching tribal pants!

 Anyways, I´m doing good! It still frustrates me that I don´t know Spanish yet, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing really well for just three weeks!  This Saturday we´re doing a proselyting activity where we just go out in Lima and actually try to talk to real Peruvians.. so that will be the real test of my Spanish. Wish me luck and please pray for my Spanish skills!  

Everyone from left to right: Me, Hermana Fink, Hermana Gillingham, Hermana Dickman, Elder Hosch, Elder Almond, Elder Meier, Elder Farnsworth, Elder Jenkins, and Elder Arrington. They´re all so great! We literally have the best district in the CCM! We´re all sad that the elders are going to Piura and not Iquitos.  It´s going to be a very sad day when we all leave the CCM! 



Love you all tons!
Hermana Gurney

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