First Letter from Peru!

Dinkleman, i put some nuevo sols in that money wallet today! I'm no gringo.

The mtc choir was not beginning until later in fall unfortunately.



Dear Mom,

I have arrived in Peru! The ALT to Lima flight was such an adventure.
Throughout the entire day, people had been smiling at us, saying hi,
or asking what we were doing and what our name tags were. On the
plane, a woman who was coming to Peru (also for a mission in a group
of about 15 other people on the plane) walked up and started talking
to the two people on the other side of my row (767.. 2-3-2). She kept
talking and one of them gave her a pass-along card and she said she
commended us on being so dedicated at such a young age!

Elders Poston and Bardzinski and Bowler I think had a similar
adventure in the back. A flight attendant started chatting with them,
and before not too long she was crying and talking about a feeling she
always felt whenever she had missionaries for our church on the plane
(which is apparently a lot). She gave them nicknames including "my
babydaddy" for Elder Poston. Hahaha!

Right. So after a full day of travel, we got on a small bus (which
looked like a large insect), and rode through the roads of Lima for
about an hour. It was so cool to see the differentness of the Lima
roads, as we passed through a spectrum of city feeling streets
and the outskirts. The biggest shocker after noting that all the
advertisements are in spanish, was the ads themselves. The popular
street ad is what looks like a temporary billboard. They had grassy
areas between and by the road for about half of the journey (the other
half of the journey passed 20 foot walls on the sides of the roads),
and in these grassy areas, people would drive massive versions of the
political signs we see sometimes around Arlington. ¿You know the type
with a wire frame and a slogan/picture that go up preceding elections?
Yeah, but they were 15 or so feet high. I think they are temporary only
because we passed several groups of around 10 men digging and putting
them into the ground. I suppose there is probably an election, but the
style of advertising makes me wonder if the space is always used for
some ad or another. And if it is, how do they keep it from getting
over crowded (they were orderly and evenly spaced).

After that fasinating ride, we arrived at the Lima CCM (spanish for
MTC) at 12:45 I think. Missionaries helped us get to the rooms and
showed us what's up.

This morming we met our companions who had been asleep when we
arrived. I have a companion from Chile, and we have exchanged...a few
words. It is odd because the native speakers are not in our district
learning spanish again... so I dont yet know when we see eachother.

Briefly about this CCM, it is so pretty. The grounds are better, the
food is better, it is more chill in general. I will elaborate later
but unfortunately the time limit is still here!

Elder Mark David Johnson
Av. Melgarejo 159
Urb. Camp verde
La Molina, Lima, Peru (u is accented)


is my address
takes like a week for mail tho


LOVE ELDER JOHNSON

31 August 2010

Dear Mom,


Is everyone still liking that club [He's talking about William's Summer Book Club for 9 year olds]?  I feel like it can't possibly last for too long.  Just because of the public feelings about book clubs.  Boxcar children eh?  I feel like I read at least a few of those.


$600 for a booth?! [at the Arlington County Fair--Arlington 1st, Arlington 2nd and Crystal City Wards split the cost for a Family History Booth that was very well received by the community].  That's a ton!  But it is a good thing.


So did they braid the rope into being? [Referring to William's cub scout camp where boys worked throughout the day at 20 minute intervals to make a rope, twisting and turning].  Sounds like a ton of work.  Kudos for an activity demonstrating what. . . the importance of child labor? Or more likely, machines.


Ashley's mom did? [asked for a link to my blog]?  Cool.  Ah, I wish High Adventure had gone down with me in attendance somehow.


So, every Sunday, there is a devotional.  Last Sunday, Elder Holland came!!!!  He was SOOOOO good and talked about how so very important his mission was to him.  He says he reckons he has gone about 1 day in 48 years without thinking about his mission.  I saw in the 5th row!!!!


Last night was another devotional!  The Administrative director of the MTC spoke.  He called up two sisters and held up a magnifying glass asking, "Sisters, what is this."  They said, "A magnifying glass."  "What does it do?"  "Magnifies the word," they answered.  Then he called up two Elders and asked, "What is this, what does this do?"  They responded, "A magnifying glass.  It burns ants."  Ha ha.  Then, he launched into a discussion of if we want to burn ants, we need to keep the glass focused on them.  That if we want to "light a fire in the hearts of our investigators," we would need to concentrate for a continuous period, not just occasionally, like weekly or so.


About my spanish:  We have taught two lessons in spanish now.  It is pretty rough, but talking for 15 minutes in all spanish after 2.5 weeks is pretty impressive no?  Gift of tongues or Don de idiomas, en espanol.  I understand everything everyone says in spanish, and recognize most of Portuguese or Italian by the way.  English too.


It's pretty cool here, you walk around the cafeteria and hear Russian, Ukranian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean. . . and more.  People walk up to you outside and contact you in all sorts of tongues.


Tell about High Adventure and Deep Creek!


P.S.  The update on the companionship drama is that it has calmed down, which means we are doing well at peace making.  I hope we have all learned something, cuz our problem isn't one that would just go away with a new companionship.


Love,


Elder Mark Johnson


P.P.S.  I don't even know my Peru address yet.  Somehow Elder Weaver has an address:  Centro de Capacitacion Misional, Melgarejo 159, La Lolina, Amazonas 12, Peru.


I'm so excited to get to Peru!!  Total immersion, here I come!