a PERUVIAN adventure

I am a little behind, so I need to talk about the workshop. I only ended up with nine finishing it which was a little disappointing and kind of made me feel like I had done something wrong. With so many students, it was hard for me to pay attention to all of them, but I talked to Hermano Nunez about it and he reassured me that it just happens sometimes.

Thursday´s phone calls went really well with the group and all of them made phone calls, some of them got past the gatekeepers and got some really useful information. It was really cool! Afterwards a few of my students stayed after to chat with me and thanked me profusely for what I was doing. It feels so good to know not only that they are going to be successful, but that they FEEL like the workshop was worth their time. I was really grateful.

I rushed home after the workshop Thursday, packed a bag and headed for the airport. I took a shuttle to the airport so it was nice and hassle free. On the flight I sat next to a Colombian man who was hitting on me the whole time so I made up a boyfriend so he would leave me alone. He invited me to Colombia...I commented that they didn´t exactly love Americans there and he assured me that it was only in ´certain parts´ that they didn´t like Americans...I´m pretty sure he was just trying to lure me into going to Colombia so he could kidnap me and make money off of it. He also kept trying to pull my guitar down so that I could play for him...Crazy

The flight to Lima is about three and a half hours, so I got their with quite a bit of time to wait for my connection to Tacna. I got my boarding pass and then went upstairs to get some Peruvian money (Soles) and find something to entertain myself. Well much to my surprise, my debit card decided that it wasn´t going to allow me to pull money out. I was a little worried, but I figured I would worry about it later and just exchanged my Chilean pesos for Soles. Well much to my surprise, I then realized that I had to pay an entrance fee to get into Peru. I started to get pretty worried about it, so I walked up to the counter and asked the man if I could pay with a credit card. He said no and that the tariff was about 100 soles...I had 49. This is where I really started to freak out. I explained to him my situation and asked him what I could do. He shrugged. I couldn´t believe this was happening. I walked away pretty close to tears when this man walked up to me and asked me where I was going. I said Tacna and he told me that the tariff for flights within the country should only be about 20 soles and to go back and talk with the cashier and if I still had to pay 100 soles to find him and he would help me. I almost cried. I went back and the cashier apologized, I paid my 20 soles and when I turned around the man that had offered to help me was gone. It was really amazing because I had just read the conference talk about angels among us and I just felt the spirit telling me that the Lord was looking out for me.

I got to Tacna at about 7 am. The airport is pretty much four walls and a conveyor belt which was kinda fun. I stood there waiting for my luggage and Susan (Hillary´s mom) came running in and gave me the biggest hug. She was then reprimanded by the security because aparently she was supposed to wait outside, she just kind of stared at him because she had no idea what he had said. It was so funny. When I saw Hill I couldn´t believe it. She is SO skinny! I gave her the biggest hug. It was so nice to see her. We went to one of her former investigator´s house where we had a quick breakfast, I took a quick shower, and then we were off to Arequipa. The drive was BEAUTIFUL! I don´t think I ever remember driving through a desert so it was really amazing and I took so many pictures (coming soon). I also took a nap since I hadn´t really slept the night before and then we just chatted the whole time. It was so funny because Susan told us we could talk about the boring stuff in Spanish but all of the juicy stuff had to be said in English. :)

We got to Arequipa and had a big lunch with some of her investigators and her former companion with her new companion. The new girl was american and had only been in Peru a month and a half. She was such a cutie and I promised her that the spanish would come. At the lunch was another investigator of Hill´s that is waiting for permission from her parents to get baptised. She cried so hard when we left. We ate ceviche there which is SOOOOO good and Papa a la Huancaca or something like that that was really good. We went to a lesson with the sisters so that Hillary could say goodbye to them and it was really cool to see her teach. I got to help as well and the spirit was really strong.

We stayed the night with another companion of Hillary´s in another area of Arequipa sister (don´t ask me how that is allowed, it seems her mission was much more lenient than mine) which was fun but also kind of weird. Apparently they are opening an area and so they didn´t have much to do so we just hung out with them that night. We woke up at 4 a.m. to drive to Juliaca to meet up with some members there and head to Lake Titicaca in Puno. I was so tired the whole drive but it was another beautiful drive and I took a ton of pictures. (So many that my camera battery died very soon after) We got to Juliaca, checked into a hotel, changed our clothes and then headed off to Puno which is just about a half hour from Juliaca and one of several cities founded around Lake Titicaca.

My first view of the lake was absolutely breathtaking. We got to the place where all of the boats were contracted out to take you out to the uros (floating islands) and we had to negociate really hard to get the man to take us to the island where all the members live that they talked about in conference. The island is called Apu Inti and we finally got them to take us for about $3 each. I brought my guitar so we played guitar on the boat ride over and then we got to the island and they gave us an amazing presentation. The islands are about 12 feet deep and literally float, but they are anchored down so they don´t move. If someone doesn´t work on t he island, they simply cut there house off from the rest of the island so that they have no lazy people. The cool thing about being on the island was that they talked to us about how the church came to them. We met the first member who´s husband was the one giving us the tour and she shared her testimony with us. It was so powerful! They have three young men from their island currently serving missions. It was absolutely amazing.

After los uros, we went out to eat and I ate Alpaca meat! I also tried a little bit of Cuy (gerbal) which was also pretty good, but I REALLY liked Alpaca. I highly recommend it. Then we walked around the city for a little while longer and headed to bed.

Sunday we visited members and converts after church and then there was a big going away party for Hillary. It was amazing how much they loved her and all the things they said. I talked with the sister missionaries that are currently serving in her ward and one of them knows a friend of mine. After that I was whisked away to the airport in Juliaca to get back to Santiago. I had an eight hour layover in Lima which was miserable because I didn´t have much to do, but I found a corner to sleep in and everything. It was funny though because I got really groggy and then I had to try and be awake enough to hear my flight called. Landing back in Santiago was so strange because it felt like I was coming home...except that Santiago is not home. :)

HOLY MOLEY THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE!

I don't know if I have mentioned this but there are two employment centers here in Santiago. We work in the main office and there is another one on the other side of town. Yesterday Sarah told me that our managers wanted us to take all of our alumnos from our center to the other one because there were ten people at the other center that were wanting to take the workshop. I thought that didn't make any sense since she and I could just split up, so we talked about it and then presented the idea to one of our managers. He was okay with it so we decided to split up with me staying in our center and Sarah going to the other one and then we are going to switch next week and I will go to Republica and she will stay here. We had 17 confirmed for our workshop so I was expecting about 12, well much to my surprise 19 showed up! Our little room was so full that it made it really hard to do some of the activities that we normally do, but either way we had a lot of fun. The group is really lively and they are all already friends which makes it a lot easier. They have helped eachother out and have just been good to eachother, so it is going to be fun to work with them. I met a few of them at a party I went to a few weekends ago, so that was kind of funny too. They remembered me and everything. Their is also a girl from Quebec that doesn´t speak spanish. Ha ha gotta love my life.

The workshop went really well except for a few minor glitches like my manager asking me to run home in the middle and get some bills that they needed. So I had to leave my class to run home and then run back. Awkward. I have a few jokesters, but for the most part it is really fun teaching this group, so I am loving it. I was left by myself in the office while teaching today too which was funny because I guess one of our volunteers was ringing the doorbell to get in and I did hear her so after 20 minutes my students said, ´I think someone is at the door.´The poor lady was so worried that something had happened. I felt bad!

My computer died again and then was brought back to life. I will have to get it fixed when I get to the states, for now I am saving everything to a jump drive and just hoping for the best. Oh technology.

I got most of my homework done for the week after work so that I can mail it off tomorrow and then fly peacefully to Peru on Thursday night. I AM SO STOKED TO SEE HILLARY!! It is gonna be awesome.

I went on a really long run tonight. I went a good ten more minutes beyond the 5.5k halfway mark, so I am estimating it was closer to 6.5-7k one way. I felt strong! It is so cool to be building stamina. The weather however is turning to fall like, which makes it a little bit harder to motivate myself to go running. But I am going to do it because I know I need to!

We watched the Secret Life of Bees tonight. It was so good!

I hate computers, but I love home cooked meals!

Saturday was a very interesting day. I did some homework and then we were invited to a wedding ´reception´ for a couple we didn´t know. The sister that invited us kept asking if we were going to come and so we felt obligated to go. When we got there we realized that we were two of about 15 people that were invited and the only ones who didn´t know the couple personally. We got there as they were leaving the temple and helped with taking pictures and what not. The sister, Hermana Norma, that invited us was quite impatient. I tried to explain to her that in America we take about 3 hours in taking pictures, but she wanted everything to be quick so we could get to the party part. Well we got to the party part and after everyone had eaten, they began singing songs and reciting poetry. At one point they asked us to sing a song, and I politely refused because nothing appropriate came to mind. Then they started playing a game which was hilarious called ´Pobre Gatito´or ´Poor Cat´ which requires one person to act like a cat and the object is to approach one of the other people and they have to pet the cat and the cat has to make them laugh by the things they do. Random for a wedding reception, but funny none the less.

I had rented a movie from Itunes, so we were headed back with our friend Nell to watch it. We had a good girl chat which was fun. When we got to the house, my computer froze, so I turned it off, and when I turned it back on, it wouldn´t turn on...I freaked out and called everyone and there dog to try and fix it. The computer has ALL of my work from the ENTIRE semester on it plus all my pictures and other things. I said a prayer and hoped for the best, but nothing worked. Finally I just went to bed absolutely sick to my stomach. I woke up really early and it still wouldn´t turn on. I layed back down and said another prayer pleading for my computer to work again. I accidentally fell back asleep and when I woke up I thought it was 9:30 (church starts at 10, it takes us about 25 minutes to walk there) so I walked into where Sarah was and turned on the computer thinking nothing would happen and POOF! It turned on. God answers prayers. :)

After sacrament meeting I hopped on a bus and headed to my companion, Hermana Monje´s house. I had lunch with she and her family and got to meet everyone! It was so much fun to be with a family on sunday and just hang out. We laughed, we played guitar, they all made fun of each other...I felt like I was at home!

Seven again, an amazing run and no cold water till Monday at the soonest...

This week's workshop, Antonio, Sarah, Me, Claudio, Maria Jose, Katuskia, Rodolfo, Valesca and Maximo.

The last day this week wasn't hard at all. I feel kind of bad about saying that, but the majority of the participants in our workshop were there for the PEF and they were not all that interested in what we had to say. They just wanted to get the three days over with so that they could continue with their application process, so they got about as much out of it as they put in it. I'm not saying they were bad or anything, but they just weren't into it. We had to practically force the phone into their hands to get them to make their phone calls. Two of our students were actually looking for work and still didn't want to make any phone calls, and the funny thing was, the lady was expecting their phone call because it was a reference from one of our other students where they KNEW she was looking for people. Oh well. What can you do?

This is me and Antonio Pena, we served together in Osorno. I didn't really know him in the mission, but we have hung out a couple times since we have been here.

We also had another person join our workshop the last day, but this time I was okay with it. Mainly because he was 6 months old and was the son of one of our alumnos. I held him for part of the workshop so his mom could do her work and Sarah held him for part of it too. It was funny to teach with a baby in my hands. I felt like I should have been teaching relief society or something ha ha.

Valesca with Maximo. Don't worry he only got fussy after the workshop was over. Most of the time he was extremely calm and fun to have around.

When we got to talking about negotiation, we got a little more life out of them as we talked about it. There is a phrase however that I HATE more than anything that people try to tell us. 'Its different in Chile.' Every time someone says that I want to point to the part where it says 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'. This program was designed by the prophets and apostles, if they say it will work, then it will. I don't care what country you live in! We talked about it in that way and I think they understood.

I discovered a new running route on Thursday that is still safe and lets me get some serious milage in. I just kind of took off running and realized that there are about three different parks that are connected so I just kept running from one park to the next until I had gone out a half hour then I turned around and came back. I got to this museum, so when I got done I google mapped it to see how far it was from our house and found out it was 5.5k one way which = 11k total which = 7 miles! I have NEVER run that far in my life. I got home absolutely exhausted, but it felt so good!

I woke up yesterday morning and ran my route again and then went about doing homework. I didn't get a whole lot done, but I finished one paper and realized I am two papers and a book summary away from finishing one of my classes and three interviews away from finishing another. After that I have a TON of reading and a research paper left and I am done. The beauty of it is I haveuntil May 31st to turn all of that in! I love it! My goal is to be done by the time the semester ends for everyone else so that I don't have to worry about it.

We had a going away party for one of our volunteers, Manuel. He is going into his first week in college and he was so cute about it. He was asking about the hazing they do here and what is the best way to avoid it. Our manager said there wasn't any way, you just had to endure it. It is really bad here. They will paint them all, cut up their clothes, take their shoes and they have to go around the streets begging to get their shoes back. I remember seeing them when I was at the bus stations as a missionary during transfers.

Sarah and I went with our YSA group to do baptisms. We didn't want to do baptisms, so we just helped out with towels and what not. President Lyon (the temple president who was also the president of my mission way back in the day and is an AMAZING man) asked us to help out with the closing duties which we did. I really love this temple. I don't know why I feel so connected to it, but I am always so excited to be there and be with the people there. Maybe it is because I know they are all volunteers and they are all here sacrificing their time. It has been really neat.

After that I went to the first FUN YSA dance since we have been here. My companion Hermana Mercado came and so it was fun to hang out with her. We are gonna do things more often which I am excited about and she is an AMAZING dancer. For any of you who know what Samba is, it is really hard to do and I have NO clue how to do it, but she does it so well. She tried to teach me but after a while I had to explain to her that my North American body just didn't move that way. She doesn't go to YSA dances very often, so it was cool for her to be there and to get to dance and laugh with her. She is awesome. There was a ton of people and they played good music you could actually dance to. If I had known it was gonna be so good I would have gotten there sooner! Ha ha oh well. I guess now the dances should be a lot more fun because people are back from vacation and institute starts next week. I am thinking about taking a class, even if it is just for a month and a half.

Yesterday I noticed that our cold water wasn't running, but because we had hot water I assumed they were doing some sort of construction on it. Today when it didn't come back I asked the consierge about it...Apparently we were supposed to have gotten the bill and given it to our manager to pay, but since we didn't know, the bill didn't get paid and they turned off our water...but just our cold water. I am choosing to see this as a blessing because being without water in general would be terrible, as it is we just have to shower really quick because the water starts to come out scalding hot very fast. Sarah and I were really greatful that we had two water jugs in the fridge full of water. ANOTHER TESTIMONY OF FOOD STORAGE! Ha ha I never thought I would actually NEED it, but I am glad we had it!

Sarah with her really good Pastel de Choclo (Corn Casserole...or pie if you are chilean:)

Then there were six

So yesterday we started out with seven people in our workshop, then Hermano Alfaro our assistant manager escorted two teenage girls in. They were obviously not there by choice and giggled throughout the whole day. Needless to say they didn´t come back today, which we weren´t all that sad about, but we did lose an older man that was looking for work Herman, so I am sad about that. We are left with all PEF students, which is an ABSOLUTELY new experience for us. You would think that them all being younger, the activities would be more interactive and they would all have a great time, but we are finding that the small group makes for a lot quieter of an experience. Sarah and I were talking about it and we find we are kind of comparing our groups to each other which probably isn´t the best idea...

Our mock interviews went pretty well today, Hermano Alfaro was there for the whole experience adding questions of his own which completely elongated the process, but we have come to grips with the fact that since he normally teaches the workshop, he has nothing better to do and so he pops in and out. He is having withdrawls. He says things sometimes though that drive me nuts, like today when he explained to our workshop that we were doing an internship so he had to come in and see what we were doing and then told us things we needed to improve IN FRONT OF OUR CLASS! That is an educational no no, but at this point, Sarah and I are just learning to shrug it off. We had a lot of fun with our mock phone calls and they started to liven up a bit after that. One thing that I really like about this group is that although they aren´t really excited about the process, they ask a lot of questions which makes it easier for us to lead discussions and what not.

I wrote another paper after the workshop. I have four more for one of my classes and then it is over. I am proud!

After work, Sarah and I decided to go out to dinner at this restraunt near our house that hs typical Chilean food. We had to sneak in because we are friends with all of the guys that work at all the restraunts around our house who try and get people to eat there. It was actually kind of funny. We went to the store, and then turned around and came back and slipped in. Sarah had Pastel de Choclo, which looked so good and I kinda wish I had ordered, and I just had this really good juicy chicken dish with veggies and mashed potatoes. While there, we watched the Universidad Catolica get creamed by O´Higgins Institute in soccer. It felt like a real latin American experience. Our waiter wanted to speak in english, so we did a mix with him, but he called Sarah´s corn casarole a corn pie. When I said that casarole was a more appropriate word, he got a little offended. :)

We left the restraunt and were headed home when this one garzon from one of the restraunts (his name is Christian) stopped us and asked us how the food was. We felt kind of bad. ha ha we totally got caught. But oh well, I guess it serves us right for eating so close to home!

WAKE UP!

Today´s new group was absolutely asleep all day. I even had them all stand up and jump on one foot as long as they could so that they would be awake, but to no avail. How do you wake students up? I have no clue. They are a good group though and this week is met with the challenge of teaching one of my friends that I actually knew in the mission which is kind of interesting for me. I am grateful that in real life I will never have to teach a friend of mine, maybe their kids, but never anyone that I have hung out with before. The group is a lot younger, and most are here for the Perpetual Education Fund, with the exception of one man who is a plumber and without work. He seems to have little education, so we had to focus a lot on him. Today while playing ´Jefe Jefe´they really got into it which was fun to see. I lost my Jefe seat because I am an idiot and said someone else´s name as my own. Yeah...Sad.

I finished the last book for one of my classes, so now I just have three papers to write for that class and it is over and I am done with it. I am just pluggin right along with school work which is quite shocking. After work today I stayed back and talked with my bosses about the economy and politics here in Chile for an assignement I have to do. It is really interesting the way that the senate has been set up here. It is quite corrupt and the constitution (which was radified under the dictator Pinochet in 1980) has made it absolutely hard to change things. There are also some senators who were appointed as ´Senator for life´under Pinochet that are STILL in power. That is crazy to me. Learning about their government made me grateful for ours. Even if I am not always happy with what is going on, at least we have a system of checks and balances that can right any wrong that is done. Pinochet had so much power and there was no way to stop him. I´M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! ha ha!

As promised...(a.k.a. Angie here you go!)

I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from the last week or so. I didn't do anything to terribly exciting this weekend, so I have a ton of pictures I took at the temple. I love my camera, and I have had a lot of fun playing around with it. When I get back to Utah my friend Scott promised to show me how to use all the settings, so I am excited!

This is our workshop from last week. Back row: Eugenio, David, Eric, Me
Front Row: Sarah, Tailyn, Jacqueline, Patricia, Marisol

Me and Juanjo at the dance the other weekend.

Juanjo taking funny pictures of me with my camera.

The sun setting in Valparaiso.

So everyone was taking pictures with this guy, but nobody dared to touch him, so I put my arm around him. I though about kissing him on the cheek, but then thought better of it. :)

This is the building where the head hanchos of the chilean navy meet. It was such a cool lookin building!

Valparaiso from the window of Pablo Neruda.

Pretty sure this is Blue Steel...But you never know. I have no clue why I took this picture nor why I look so serious. America's Next Top Model?

This is where the temple pictures begin. I had a lot of fun with these.

Juanjo took this picture. He said it made it look like the sun was coming out of my head.

Juanjo and I at the temple. I swear I never ask people to take pictures, I just do it myself...ridiculous!

The front spire. I really like how the sky goes from white down at the bottom to blue at the top in this picture.

I LOVE this picture. I am going to frame it.

The fountain.