Called to Serve: 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