Friday, November 13, 2009

8 November 09

(Mary decided to ask Coulson to answer questions as opposed to thinking of what to write since he does not have much time to compose - ED)

Ya, mission rules on emailing… we have exactly half an hour to write, read and do anything else that we need to do on the computer. We can only write one email, and send it to however many people we want.
President Tyler is a way laid back type of a guy, so its a lot different from President Elmer. The interviews have been a bit weird. Mostly because he is still getting used to the mission, and he has a bunch of stuff to work out before he’s really comfortable in his position. Mostly we’ve just talked about my ex companion, the problems he has made for the ward i’m in, and all the inactive people we have to work with now that they know that a Mormon missionary did all those stupid things. I basically had to stop teaching anyone who had met him to start getting baptisms again. (Coulsons mission Mom said that he was developing patience with that companion - Ed)
And speaking of baptisms, we’re gonna have a baptism this week (Anibal Berrios), the week after (Paola Velasquez) and the week after (JamierLoma) if everything works out well. Anibal is a 12 year old kid that lives close to us, his mom is inactive, and his dad doesn’t want to listen to us, but he really wants to get baptized and receive the priesthood. Paola is a single mother that had a little bit of an abusive past, left her boyfriend, and now is getting adjusted to the single mother life and the church. Jamier is 15 years old and regularly attends seminary, but isn’t so sure about the prophet Joseph Smith or a living prophet now, but is working towards his baptism on the 28th.

As to the holidays, all the regulars, and none of them are really that big of a deal as far as i can tell. Just Halloween because everyone here thinks its a holiday where everyone worships the devil and eat children and steal your soul. Its really awkward because we had to completely avoid the topic.

As to the food, we always eat in the pension, but the members always want to feed us too. I think Elder Pizarro has already gained about 20 pounds because he can’t fit into some of his pants anymore. But as for me, i just stay the same weight. Haven’t changed at all. Oh, and everyone here in Peru says that Peruvian food is the best in the world. It is such a lie! It really annoys me too because i think they know they’re lying. But my favorite food is probably lomosaltado, which i ate at that restaurant with Uncle Kevin, and la papa rellena, which is something like stuffed potato which is really good. But the freaking mashed potatoes here suck. Its basically like potato water because its so thin.

And Christmas presents... I’ve never been able to answer that question, and that hasn’t changed. But i just got your package that you sent through the mail, and even though i haven’t opened it yet, thank you so much.

Places to visit... you’d be surprised mom, but i really want to go visit a few of the museums here. We can’t really go very far on pdays cause we have to stay in the zone... and our zone is kinda poor on the touristic side of life... and my sector is even worse. More than anything i want to get out of Lima. Even though i love the people, i don’t like the city at all. I want to go back and visit the jungle, and go the the mountains.

And the story of the people will have to wait for next week cause the 30 minutes are r up.

Love you guys, and hope this email is a little bit better. Keep sending me questions like that, its easier for me to keep writing and not waste time