August 4, 2014 - First e-mail from Peru!

Hola from Perù!  The field is so much better than the CCM.  The CCM was great and all but so much better in the field.  The language in the CCM is not the same.  I honestly feel like people are speaking Mandarin sometimes.  Oh well.  I am already starting to understand more.  When we got to Perù we had orientation stuff and breakfast and lunch until 2.  At 2 we had a meeting with the entire mission and the new missionaries sat up in the front and there was a slideshow and it showed us our companions then we got up, gave them a hug and then sat with them.  My companion is Elder Apaza.  He is awesome.  He is from Cochabamba, Bolivia.  He has been in the mission for 18 months and speaks about as much English as I do Spanish.  Maybe less.  But we get along great and have fun, he is the district leader.  I hope that I am with him for a long time because I like him.  

The food is really good.  The first thing I ate was a big mac from McDonalds.  But since then, all Peruvian.  Normally we just have some bread for breakfast with cheese or deli meat or something.  Every day for lunch we have lunch with members.  The first day, Wednesday, I will just say I was terrified.  It was the first time I have ever eaten something that was looking back at me.  It was shrimp and potato and peas and a clam and a crab in a soup.  We would rip off the head of the shrimp and then suck out the contents.  Nothing I have eaten has tasted bad.  It is all good.  My favorite thing to eat is CHIFA.  in the 1800s there was a huge Chinese Immigration to Perù and so there is Peruvian chinese food and it is so good.  President and Sister Pratt from the CCM lived in Peru and Hong Kong and they said that the Chinese food in Peru is better than the Chinese food in China.  

The weather is nice.  We wear sweaters all day long.  It is chilly in the mornings and at night.  The biggest change is all the houses have dirt or cement floors and everything is dirty all the time.  It is definitely humbling.  Another humbling thing... THE SHOWER.  First of all, a ton of door ways I am taller than so I have to duck.  I am taller than our shower.  Also, It is difficult because the water is one tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny stream of water that is freezing.  We have a thermal heater for the water but it doesn't do anything.  It is really cold.   I also really miss carpet.  I just want to lay down on carpet.  

We had two baptisms this week.  Well there were three but two were from our sector.  I am in sector Bello Horizonte.  Zona Palao.  in the city cercado de Lima. There are dogs everywhere.  

I will tell you about last night.  We randomly found these grandparents and their grandson one day.  Invited them to church and we went to walk with them to church on Sunday morning but they were not there.  Last night we were walking by the house and the grandpa was sitting outside his house and we started talking.  We asked if there was a time we could teach him and he said I have work all during the week and so we asked what about now?  He invited us in and we had a really good lesson.  He committed to be baptized August 30 so hopefully he keeps his committments and prepares.  That would be awesome.  Investigators have to go to church 3 times in Perù to be baptized.  

That is all from this first week. I love you all. 

Love, Elder Baker