Week 3: Halfway through the CCM

Hey Everybody,

This week not as much happened and I don't have that much to say. But this week started off pretty bad. After writing last Wednesday my zone went out to play gringo soccer (basically when its only white people because the Latinos don't have physical activity, its tons of fun) but as I was chasing a ball, somebody put their foot under mine so I stepped on their foot and I rolled my ankle really bad. I couldn't put any pressure on it and felt really bad. So I had to hobble to my room and I iced it and wrapped it. Basically for the first 3 days of the week I couldn't walk on it and it felt like it was broken. My foot turned purple and it was pretty awful. But by today I'm able to walk on it and its feeling a lot better. 

Here at the CCM we have casitas, very small fake houses where we go and teach our practice lessons with "investigators," I'm told we`re the only MTC that has them. My practice lessons have been going really good and my Spanish is improving a ton. My companion barely speaks Spanish so I do most of the teaching which really benefits my Spanish. Down here in Peru the moon makes a smiley face/frowning face while its a crescent. It was really cool to see for the first time, its been so cloudy I haven't been able to see it most nights, but Sunday we were able to see it. 

Sunday is by far the best day here at the CCM, the weather is always gorgeous, its 100 percent English, and all the lessons are super spiritual and fun so the day goes by really fast. Every other day is starting to drag, all the classes feel like the same and the schedule from day to day is pretty much exactly the same. I'm ready to get out into the field. 

Sunday night there was a big tie trade with the avencados (the older Americans who left yesterday), I traded some of my bad ties and got some really nice ones. We started a game called the "spoon game," they have small teaspoons at the cafeteria here so we take 3 spoons and the goal is to reverse pick pocket somebody by sneaking the spoon into their pants or shirt pockets, and if you get spooned you have to pass the spoon on by trying to stick it into somebody else's pocket, its lots of fun. 

Starting today I'm an avencado and all the greenies come in today/tomorrow, its weird to think its already been 3 weeks, and I only have 3 more weeks. It was weird to say goodbye to all of the friends I made here even though I barely knew them, and its weird to think 70 more greenies are coming. That's all I really have for this week, I'm enjoying my time here, the food is getting really old, but I still love it, just making everyday the best day of my life.

Love,

Elder Luke Gruber

 Basketball/soccer court on the roof of a house

 Street Views

 More delicious drinks, they sell them in the cafeteria at the Temple

 Scripture case I bought at the Temple

 All the laundry from the old rooms that they need to clean for the new people coming in.

 The casitas where I teach

 Photos from the third floor window

Week 2: Time is Ticking

Hey everybody. I have a lot less to tell this week, and I'm not quite sure what to say, so I might be all over the place. Last weeks p-day went by so fast, especially my one hour of writing. It flew by and I didn't write as much as I wish I could have. This week went by a lot faster, but still felt long. The days are slowly becoming longer and longer, and getting more boring. Its basically the same thing everyday. Classes, physical activity, meals, and more classes. Laundry here is really bad, it is so unorganized and they don't have enough machines so its a nightmare trying to wash clothes, but they get done. The biggest change has probably been having to stay with my companion 24/7. Everywhere I go, he has to come with me, and I have to go with him. Its strange. 

My companion since he is from Australia brought Vegemite and eats it every morning. I tried it and nearly threw up its nasty, tastes like super super salty soy sauce but as a solid! There were 3 earthquakes Wednesday night, they were all really small and I slept right through them. We pulled a really good prank on my companion this week. He fell asleep during one of our study times, so everybody left the room, we turned off the lights and slammed the door closed, he woke up and was so scared, he ran out the door just to find us there staring at him. 

The days here are also very long, so when I get to bed I am so tired, and then I wake up super tired. It's a struggle, I will sometimes forget my tie or my belt and get all the way to class before recognizing it. I really began to miss music this week, just all types of music, and sometimes I'll try to sing a song but there is just a big block in my head that makes me forget every tune and every word its frustrating. But as a district we have had Disney sing alongs which are really fun, we all just start blasting our favorite Disney songs, and just go back to back to back, it brings me lots of joy. But Elder Tuiatua does not like Disney and doesn't understand the hype, so he just sits in the corner and judges us. 

We finally got sun this week!! It was so nice, for two straight days it was in the 80's and sunny, its weird to say but I actually miss the sun, its always overcast here. The Latinos think its freezing here, they are all wearing gloves, scarfs, thick jackets, etc, mean while I'm sweating because its hot (even on the overcast days). But I've become super best friends with the Latinos, they have helped me with my Spanish a lot. I sit by them during meals and its a blast! I love them. One Monday we found a huge bug in our class room, a cockroach/grasshopper, the girls started freaking out and it reminded me of Emelie. So I threw a tissue over it then dropped a book on it. Then I picked it up and was offered 5 soles to lick it, so I had to accept, so I touched it with my tongue and got 5 soles (about 1.75 us dollars, I was able to buy an Inca cola, mentos, and a bag of chocolate crisps). 

On Sunday my district had to sing in sacrament and that was fun, we sang a Child's Prayer (in English) and it turned out good. On Sundays they choose people to talk in sacrament meeting during sacrament meeting. So everybody has to write a talk on Saturday and hope they don't call on you to speak. I luckily didn't have to speak. I've played a lot of Foosball during physical activity it is a lot of fun, but I am the best out of everybody, they think I cheat when they cant score. We aren't allowed to keep score so we never really know who wins or loses, but its always obvious I'm better. If you every wonder how my body is responding to the food just read Jeremiah 4: 19-20. On Tuesday night we watched an amazing devotional by Elder Bednar and it was amazing. It was all about how you should always act on a good prompting. He said to quit worrying about if its you or the spirit giving you that feeling, just do it. My p-day next week will be on Tuesday because we get newbies on Wednesday. Which means I'll be in the older group of Elders which is crazy. I love you all, I miss you a ton!

Having the best day ever,

Elder Luke Gruber

Week 1: Arrived

Hello everybody!

I have so much to write/read and so very little time to do it. So if my letter doesn't make complete sense I'm sorry. Not sure how to start so I'll just go through each day.

My first flight from Seattle to Atlanta was quick, I read letters from the family and read the fourth missionary. Slept for maybe 15 minutes. By the time we landed in Atlanta my other plane was already boarding on the other side of the airport. So me and Elder Brandon had to run across the airport and we barely made our second fight. The second flight was good, we got a ton of food which was good since I didn't have time to eat anything in the Atlanta airport. There was a total of 28 missionaries on the plane. 6 sisters and 22 elders. There should have been 23 elders but one elders flight got canceled to Atlanta. I starred at the plane move across the map for pretty much the entire flight, but the time went by really quickly. When we landed it was about 11:30 pm Peru time. Immigration was a breeze and all my bags made it. Then we walked out of the baggage claim into the main lobby where we got picked up, all I saw outside was a big mob of people screaming and yelling and tons of flares going off. At first I thought it was a protest. But then I was told the national soccer team was leaving (or arriving, not sure which) and there was a huge celebration. Tons of Peruvian flags and drums and a lot of drunk people in the street at about 12:30 AM. It was madness, there were so many people, at least 5 thousand if not more. Then all 30 of us made it to a big coachline bus and waited for about 30 minutes while they tried to figure out how to load our bags. They wouldn't allow any of us to help either, so it was one person loading about 70 bags. Then we took a 45 minute bus ride from the airport to the CCM. The city looked really bad and beat up, but it looked cool with the mountains and all the lights. Reminded me of Rio de Janeiro. When we got to the CCM it was about 2 AM, we were all wiped, and most of the people only spoke Spanish so there was a lot of confusion. We got a small "dinner" of a juice box and a bag of chips. We got our room keys and went to our dorms. There is 6 of us in one small room, we each get a small cabinet. I am not allow to take photos inside any of the buildings so you wont be able to see them. With my luck I got a top bunk which sucks. We all went to bed around 3:30 am. The next morning we woke up at 6:30 unpacked our things and began our day.

Each day consists of the following:

Breakfast- containing one egg, one slice of cheese, a lot of white bread, and juice. It is not a lot.

Then we go to class until lunch, then one hour of physical activity, then more class, then dinner, then more class, then bed. Lunch and dinner is almost always rice and chicken, with fruit and juice. It fills you up because there is a lot of rice. But it is always the same and getting little old.

Each day is super super long we are always super busy, but you never notice it, the time flies by. It feels as if I have been here for a month already it is crazy. Feels like a century has past since I've been in the US.

Another thing, they just kinda expect you to know Spanish. From day one they only speak in Spanish and never really teach you anything, just expect you to know what they are saying and to speak back. You learn things such as how to say prays in Spanish, how to testify and small phrases but I expected a lot more of the basics. Needless to say I am so happy for my 3 years of Spanish. I'm one of the best Spanish speakers in my district. And on day 3 (Friday) they had us teach an "investigator" a full lesson in Spanish. It was crazy, especially considering my companion. Then on Saturday we had Elder Dallin H. Oaks come and speak to us and I was able to shake his hand. It was super awesome to have an apostle from God speak literally 15 feet from me. He is 85 years old but speaks like he is 30. He has so much power and authority in his voice it was so cool and an experience I'll never forget. He taught about how we each have a mantle, and it is a lot bigger than us, but we need to try our best to fill that mantle. 

Sunday was my favorite day, mostly because its all in English so you can feel the spirit the best. It was super fun, a lot of church related lessons but it was really cool. On Monday morning we had to wake up at 4 AM to go to interpool to get our visas. We took a 15 minute bus ride and had to stand outside of the gate for  3 hours. We got there super early so that we were early in line. We were one of the first ones, and in about an hour, there was maybe 50 more people behind us. We had to fill out a lot of paper work while we waited. Then we went inside and had to wait even more, and then got our teeth checked by a "dentist." Then we got fingerprinted and got sent back. Don't have my visa yet but its processing. All in all it was about 7 hours of standing in line for about a 5 minute process. Then the rest of the day we were so tired from such little sleep. That's all I have to say for what happened, here is just some more information.

My companion: His name is Elder TuaiaTua (Two-ya-two-a), and he is from Brisbane Australia. He has a crazy strong accent and is super funny. But he came without a single word of Spanish. He didn't even know how to say hello. So not only have I been learning Spanish, I have been teaching and translating Spanish too. It is a lot of work, but he is really progressing a lot. The best companion ever.

Everybody else- everybody here is super friendly and nice, we all get a long really well and its so much fun. There is in totally 136 people in the CCM and it can fit 160. apparently its the 4th largest MTC, but soon to be 6th. Even the Latinos are super nice, we teach them English and they help us with our Spanish.

Weather- the weather is very similar to that of Seattle's in the fall. It is overcast everyday, no sun, and is about 60-65 F. I love it. But there is no rain which is nice.

Food- like I said before rice and chicken, and its always cool, never warm.

Inca cola- so there is no free Inca cola here, the only way to get it is through the vending machine for 2.20 soles each. But the vending machine only takes coins and I only have bills, but every pday you can change bills for coins so I did that today. Inca cola is delicious, but very very bad for you.

We went to the temple today, It was amazing, but very small. The endowment room is the same size as my room in Seattle, and only fits 26 people. But we did an English session which was really nice.

There is somebody here from Logandale, NV, she came 3 weeks before us, she said she knows the Chandlers, her name is Hermana Evans.

It is very clean here. Rooms are clean, showers are clean, bathrooms are clean, its very nice.

Elder Harrell who is in my room with me is from Colorado and is a big gym buff. So every day he does a workout during physical activity and I'm starting to do it with him. Other people are joining too so we are calling it "Elder Harrell's workout class." My core is very sore today, and my upper body was super sore yesterday.

I think that's all I have for now. I am writing my main letter first so I don't run out of time. I'm sorry if I don't return everybody's emails this week, I had a lot to write. Next week should be a lot shorter since I wont be doing as much.

Having the best day ever,

Elder Luke Gruber

Leaving the airport 

The eight going to Piura 

My companion  

CCM grounds

Piura Peru Mission