Week 19: New Companion

So this week was a really good week, it went by really fast. My new companion Elder Arteaga is super awesome. When we are outside of the room he is a super hard worker and is helping me a ton. I have learned so much in this last week. Especially with my Spanish, he only speaks Spanish which has been difficult at times, but I'm learning a ton. He has commented that he is learning patience from me. I am only his second gringo companion, and often I don't understand what he says so he has to take time to either say it slower and/or explain. But this week was mostly just work, showing my comp around the area and introducing him to members. 

A funny experience we were knocking doors, we asked a lady that answered if she had ever taken lessons from us before, she said she has never seen missionaries like us before, but just behind her on the table we could see she had a pamphlet from some other missionaries. 

We also taught a lady, then returned the next day to teach her again, we saw her sitting outside her house, she saw us and quickly ran inside her house, we knocked but "nobody was there." So as we turned the corner she came back outside her house and sat back in her chair. I don't think she wanted to talk with us. 

One great experience I had this week was on Thursday, we had a day full of citas and people to visit. I was super excited. But one after one all of our appointments fell. I kinda thought to myself that the day was kinda wasted, we weren't sure what to do other than knock a few doors. One of the first doors we knocked we met a lady named Leyla. She just moved to our area from Piura a few days back and was really interested in hearing our message. Some times things don't go the way we want them to, or the way that we expect them to. But we shouldn't be discouraged, because its going the way the Lord wants it to. Sure all of our citas fell, but we were in the right place and the right time to find this sister. I think that's something very important to always remember. I also read a really good talk by President Utchdorf called the 3 sisters. It was given in the general women's session, but I recommend everybody read it! It talks about how we need to be glad, we shouldn't let what others say or do affect us, we should be grateful and be glad. This week we also had our first real rain fall, Sunday morning walking to church it just started pouring out of nowhere, we were soaked by the time we got to church, it made me miss Washington. This week was super awesome, and everyday here is the best day ever! I love and miss you all a ton!!! 

Love, 

Elder Luke Gruber     

 This food was my lunch Saturday. It is the same everyday, flavorless rice, over cooked chicken, potatoes covered in that yellow sauce. But that yellow sauce does not taste good. 

 We went to Aguas Verdes this week again, it was my comp's first time there.

 Peruvian logic: tape a flash light to the front of the moto for a headlamp.

The put a towel over the forks so the flies and dirt wont get on them, but they don't care that the sides are wide open. 

Week 18: End of Transfer Two

This week started off great, on Tuesday we had p-day, but we got permission to have p-day at night and on the beach, so the entire zone went to the beach. We played soccer, volleyball, kickball, got soaking wet (by splashing each other, we cant swim, and didn't swim), made a fire, burned scarecrows, and roasted marshmallows. It was super fun, just hanging out, the only bad part was after the sun went down the mosquito's came out, I came home with about 30 bug bites. But was still the best day ever. 

Then on Thursday we taught an English class to a group of 15 kids, from ages 6-14. It was fun and energetic, but I doubt the kids actually learned anything. But it was still really fun. 

Friday we painted our room, the walls were super dirty and falling apart so me and my comp painted the walls. It turned out really bad, and took a while to do, but it ended better than when we started. Also on Friday I tried a special Peruvian drink. There are tons of carts filled with bottles of liquids that are on the sides of the road. I always thought it was just alcohol, but walking by one with a member he told me what it actually was, it is a cart with a bunch of healthy juices and liquids that are supposed to help you out a ton. So I bought one, it tasted really good and was apparently really healthy for me. 

Saturday the hermana's in our district had a baptism, it was a 9 year girl whose family is all members but just forgot to baptize her when she turned 8. There was like 40 people that showed up to the baptism, it was a lot of people. 

Then on Sunday our time changed, so we now assist at 10 am, so the extra sleep was nice. When we got back from church there were tons of kids on the street and they all had water balloons. So me and Nieskens had bought some a few days back, so we filled them up and from the 3rd story balcony we just destroyed these kids while they could do nothing to us. It was fun but they didn't think so, so we made more and went out into the street, me and my companion versus 15 kids just full on water balloon war. It was super fun, I got super wet, they ended up just bring out buckets of water and chucking them at us. It was great, we are becoming really good friends with all the families that live on our street, hoping that we will hopefully be able to teach some of them soon. And now transfers. So my companion got transferred to the farthest area away from me in the middle of the desert. I will stay in my same area and my new companion will be Elder Arteaga from Lima.  It will be strange to only be able to speak Spanish, and to be with a Latino. I am currently still waiting for him to arrive. This week I also ate a soup with chicken intestine inside, very tasty. I saw my first fire truck, it was a huge Volkswagen monster, so much cooler than the fire trucks in the states. That's about it for this week, it was the best week ever. I love and miss you all so much!!!!! 

Love, 

Elder Luke Gruber

Week 17: Happy New Year

Hey Everybody, 

This week went by really fast, with Christmas, then Tuesday was p-day, and then New Years Eve and New Years- everything just seemed to fly by. But it was still the best week ever. This week was filled with entertainment, mostly because the most entertaining thing to me are drunk people. Since this week was a holiday week everybody was drinking and drunk so that made for some great times. The best was this guy stopped up on the street, he could barely stand straight, told us how he has 4 daughters and asked us why god didn't give him a son. Then asked "Do you guys believe in Joseph smith?" We said we believe he was a prophet. Then he asked, "well if Joseph Smith is a prophet then why don't I have a son?" And then ranted about his daughters, and Joseph Smith, then telling us Joseph wasn't a prophet because he's not in the bible. We talked for probably 15 minutes with the guy, it was just really funny.  

Also this week all the kids were out of school so they all just hung out together, so one day we were walking down the street, see two kids on the side of the road, they see us and yell inside their house "Gringos, Gringos, come look at the gringos," and 15 kids came running out of the house and at us started yelling gringo and hello as we walked by, also made me laugh. 

Story number 3 that was really funny/frustrating. We were teaching a lesson and got an emergency call from a member saying that a member of their family was dying, and they wanted us to give them a blessing. So we end our lesson really quick and hopped in a moto to this house on the other side of town. We get there kinda freaked out like oh no this is bad. There entire family is there crying, super sad and torn. Then they tell us, our dog is super sick and is going to die soon. The dog was the member of the family and they wanted us to give it a priesthood blessing. We just sat there, and partly angry that they told us it was a family member. It was a pretty interesting experience. 

Then New Years Eve came around, we just headed back to our room, and on the balcony just watched all of the fire works, it was huge, every street, every home was lighting off fire works, it was huge. 

Then one big tradition is that they make these big scarecrow type dolls stuffed with straw, and with fireworks, then light them in the middle of the street, the air was just filled with smoke and fire was everywhere, it was super hype. Then yesterday, there was nobody in the streets, every store was closed, so I thought, they are all home waiting for us in their homes. So we went contacting for 3 hours, and there was nobody, the 5 people we found were still half drunk and half hung over. So we gave up. But then right before heading back to the room I got the feeling I should knock one last door, so we knocked it and the lady we found was so ready for us. She had heard of our church before, shes been invited by friends to assist and wanted to listen. It made 3 hour s of 0 success worth every second. 

Tonight we are going to have a zone p-day on the beach, make hot dogs, and burn some scarecrow people that we made. So that should be really fun. Every day here is the best day ever, I love and miss you all a ton!! 

Love,

Elder Luke Gruber