Hola!
We had a pretty sweet
week. Holy cow, though, time flies. It feels like just yesterday I was having
P-day. Nothing really crazy happened
like it did last week, but all in all it was probably my best week here. As I’m
learning more Spanish it just keeps getting better. Honestly, the hardest part
about Peru for me is not being able to talk and teach how I want to. Little by
little though it’s coming along and people keep saying they are impressed by
how much I’ve learned already. I can keep track of most conversations now and
that is a real blessing. Speaking is a whole different story, but I have faith
I can do it.
The Liahona (Ensign)
magazine is so amazing! We are so lucky
to have it. I have rediscovered my love for reading here and I am reading everything
I can get my hands on. Thank you for sending me “Jesus the Christ”- all I can
say is WOW. I can’t wait to meet Elder Talmage in person and talk to him - it
is seriously one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. I find I need to
read the same page 2 or 3 times because I don’t want to miss anything.
We went to this member’s
house and it was something out of a movie. It was in the middle of nowhere, so
I’m talking like the boondocks of the boondocks. It was right next to the water
run off system (think L.A. - those giant
concrete drainage walls) but it’s made of rocks. People just throw their
garbage there and holy cow it smells. There are dogs everywhere. It’s unreal.
Anyway, we finally get to the house and the member who is taking us there stops
us and starts yelling for the guy to come out. Out of the trees come, I’m not
even kidding, 25 dogs. I counted them. This man had 25 dogs. We were talking to
him and I guess robbery is a huge huge problem there because it’s so far off the
beaten path so he just takes in strays and feeds and cares for them and they,
in turn have his back. He is like the Peruvian dog whisperer!! I am going to
bring my camera the next time we go- it was insane. Peru really is the craziest
place I’ve ever been to – so many dogs!
From playing monkey in the middle with a soccer ball and a 140 pound
German Shepard to being chased by dogs. It’s fun though. The trick is to pick
up a rock and the dogs all run away because everyone here is like an MLB
pitcher!
We taught Abel 2 more
times and he is all ready for his baptism next Saturday. Words cannot describe how strong I feel the
spirit when Abel prays. I can’t understand him very well but his love of the
gospel is an inspiration to me. He is legit the funniest guy I’ve ever met. We
teach him at the park behind his house because he is letting his goat eat the
grass there. We were in the middle of the lesson and he jumps up and straight
up punches his goat because it was killing the baby tree! He’s 72 and has 2 teeth
but holy cow can he move. The goat’s back foot is tied to the ground and he let
it go and the goat started dancing!!!!
On Wednesday I woke up with a horrible, horrible
case of pink eye. It was huge and red and I could barely open it. I prayed
soooo hard because I really can’t have pink eye here. By dinner it was
completely gone. It was such a tender mercy. Prayer is so real.
We went to get our new
money and it took wayyyy longer than it should have so I didn’t have time to
back up my pictures so here are some pictures that I didn’t send last week. This
(picture) is Pluto - he’s the dog that lives next door and he’s so sweet. I
want to bring him home. He’s crazy smart and he protects us from all the other
bad dogs.
I can’t wait to be able to
talk to people. One of the less actives we go teach is named Russell. He’s a
musician and he really, really struggles with drugs. His English is pretty much
perfect though and I really have forgotten how much I love talking to people. I
really just want to help people and as my vocab grows so does my ability to do
that! My comp and I are getting along a lot better. It’s been a real learning
experience for me but my patience and charity have never been better. I’ve
noticed that if I pray for him out loud in our comp prayers we get along a lot
better. He is a huge League of Legends player and he loves video games so we have
gotten closer through that.
Thank you for all of your
prayers and I really encourage all of you to read Alma 5 and Helaman 5. Two short
chapters, but they are two of my favorites in the Book of Mormon. I’ve learned so much from
reading. I love this Gospel. I hope you all are doing so well!!! Thank you for
your prayers!!
Love,
Elder Nielsen
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