Wowowowowow what a place.Peru is amazing for so many reasons! Lima is hands down the biggest city I've ever been to. Its not like the US where there are tons of tall buildings and then apartments, it's just 2-3 storied buildings for hours and hours of driving. It's insane. My comp is from Bolivia and he speaks less English than I do Spanish. Let's just say we use our dictionaries a lot. We aren't allowed to eat off the street or in members homes which is too bad, but we have a pencanista (a cook who makes lunch every day) and the food is sooo good. Our area isn't too bad but I cant wear my nice watch or bring my camera because I will get robbed lol. I'm legit a giant over here! It's hilarious! To put it into perspective, my comp is considered tall to the people here. Our area, Prolima, is about 4 miles long and really skinny so we take the bus down the same stretch of street every single day. The bus holds about 20 or so people and costs 15 u.s. cents. The problem is that if there aren't any seats and I have to stand my head hits the ceiling so when i get off my neck is all kinked!!! The city buses are much bigger, about the size of the ones in Salt Lake, so its all good there.
Our apartment is about the size of my bedroom in Salt Lake. Every building here has 2 inch steel bars so we feel pretty safe. We did a deep clean today that mom would be so proud of! Our district leader and zone leaders are amazing! I'm really sad because our DL is on his last transfer and our ZLs have 2 left.
Funny story- we were teaching a lesson and we started talking about the importance of prayer and all of a sudden we heard this horrible noise. A little baby pig ran thru the middle of us with a dog chasing it!!! I had to blink a few times because it took me so off guard.
President Stauffer, our mission president, is an amazing man. I'm really lucky to have him. Think President Grant (Elder Nielsen's former Stake President) mixed with Kyle Eliason (Elder Nielsen's former Young Men's leader - both were huge influences in Elder Nielsen's life). We had Stake Conference and he spoke along with some other stake leaders. He talked a lot about every member a missionary and it was really cool. The work is exploding here in Peru. I'm really lucky to be a part of it. One baptism a month is low. A lot of people here aren't legally married so that is really hard. Probably the most amazing thing about Peru is the people. Everyone here is just so nice and they LOVE their Savior. Everyone is Catholic and it's really nice because we aren't introducing Christ we are just adding on and filling in the blanks.
We have an investigator named Nestor and he is an angel. He lives with his brother and his 2 little girls in a tiny little house. He doesn't have electricity so we have to teach by candle light. Nestor has one of the strongest testimony's of God that I've ever seen. He has unshakable faith and is soooo excited to be baptized. He has a meeting with the Stake President so please pray that it goes well. His little girl is getting baptized as well and I get to perform the baptism!!! When we told him that we would be able to baptize his youngest daughter he started crying. A few days ago we were teaching him and we asked him to pray. It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my entire life. There we were huddled in a tiny house around a candle with a man whose wife left him with 2 little girls, he has to work all day 6 days a week and he thanked God for all that he has blessed him with. When he thanked God for this gospel I had an overwhelming feeling that it is all true. He is so excited for the Temple and to get the Priesthood. I wrote down some of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon and through broken Spanish discussed them. He reads it for at least an hour a day during his break at work and then by candlelight at night. I gave him 1 of my 2 BoMs with the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price included in it and you would have thought I had given him a car. He was beyond grateful. People like Nestor are the reason I am here. I cannot wait to learn Spanish so i can bring my own sheep to the Good Shepherd.
The weather here is just fantastic. It's a little hot during the heat of the day but it really is perfection. We will have to wait and see about summer though. There are more dogs here than I have seen in my entire life. I have no idea why but they are legit everywhere. There are 2 that live with the people next to us. It's so cute to come home to them because as soon as they see us they take off after us. It makes me want a dog that much more. At night people let off fireworks and it's like WWE smackdown with dogs barking all night long. We were on our way home the other day and a bunch of dogs started chasing us!!! It was kinda scary but we were laughing the whole time as we ran. It felt so good to really run - I haven't in a while. With all this noise and my comp snoring worse than my dad it's a good thing I sleep like a rock! From the 3 wheeled taxis and the wild dogs, to the mountains and the smog, Peru is truly one of a kind. My shoes are always dusty and I'm losing weight already but I'm down for both of these things. I love you all so much! Thank you for all you have done for me.
Love,
Elder Nielsen
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