Family!
Oh my word! It sounds like you guys have had such a crazy week! KENZIE WENT ON A DATE #what?!?! ahh that’s awesome! Was it for the school or what? What’s the boy’s name? How did it go? Tell dad to let her kiss some boys.. she needs to start soon if she’s going catch up to us 3 :)
We don’t celebrate Halloween here. It’s not a big deal and I never was that into it anyways. I totally forgot this week was Brayden Matheson’s wedding! How did it go? And Maddi’s? Tell them I’m sorry I missed it, but I was a little busy. Also I’ve already met Tanner at Tyler’s wedding. Definitely a good guy. That’s awesome I’m super happy for them!
Dang.. I miss yard work. I just wish I could come back for one day just so I could help. Ahh I miss our yard.
Well.. I left the CCM this week and our last soccer game on the nice turf field. It was definitely bittersweet and I made sure to end my last goal with a bicycle kick. Elder Beidlman and I made sure to kiss the field good-bye as we left. It was tough saying good-bye to all the people especially our teachers. Our last time seeing them they just told us how much they loved us ect. They really meant a lot to me considering how much they helped me and how much time we spent together. Our last night at the CCM we had our tie trade and I got some sick new ones. It was tough saying good-bye to the Elders going to the other missions but hey.. 2 years. Beidleman, Haws, Ayala and I all gave each other blessings in the bathroom on the last night. It was super cool.
We got up at 3:30 like I told you that morning and headed to Piura. We saw this lady hiding in the bed of a truck in a potato bag. It was funny. Then I got to talk to you and we were off. I slept most of the plane ride. This place is a desert and it’s hot. The president and some missionaries were there to pick us up. The mission home is absolutely beautiful. I also got to proselyte with one of the leader missionaries. Elder Melo from Ecuador. We went to San Pedro in Piura. It’s pretty run down. We taught this lessen to these 2 Hermana’s and they didn’t have a ceiling and only dirt floors. Thye had absolutely nothing. They gave us some food and it was in this glass jar and it had like the consistency of boogers - with chunks. It was horrible but we ate all of it though, and we were grateful.
We then went to a meeting and got our new areas. I’m in Talara! It’s BEAUTIFUL. I’m right on the beach – it’s literally a 2 minute walk from my apartment and it’s amazing. They have a ton of crabs everywhere and we found a dead seal last week on the shoreline. A month ago, a member found a dead shark and he pulled out all the teeth and wears them around his neck. haha pretty sick. Talara is the most west city in South America. Pretty awesome. I don’t actually live in the city though... I live about 20 minutes away but we have to come to the city for everything. And where we live.. well... yeah it’s not much.
My new companion is Elder Martinez from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He’s super cool. Like you said he’s pretty tall - about 6’ 4”. He speaks a little English - but not much. He’s a straight clown, and I think he has memory loss because when we pray together... we usually switch off but he goes ummmmmmm I think it’s you. EVERY TIME. I just smile and do it :) His accent his really thick and hard to understand but we communicate well. He’s a super hard worker and just a good guy.
Our room is.... wonderful :) It’s not much. We have a tin roof and concrete floor. We don’t even have a mirror. Ahh man.. you guys have got to see our shower! It’s a barrel with a PVC pipe that trickles water out. It’s hilarious. Oh by the way, ITS FREEZING. Ice cold. It’s miserable every morning. Our toilet is literally right under the shower so you gotta wipe off the toilet too. It’s dope. Sometimes we just use a rag to clean ourselves just because it’s easier.
It’s really hard being here. This first week has been the hardest week yet. It’s super frustrating because it’s straight Spanish all the time. No English. I don’t understand much when they talk 300 miles per hour. As far as the food ... oh man it’s hilarious. It’s just bread all day. For breakfast, bread or sometimes we just don’t have any food so we just say whatever. We have a huge lunch though every day. Like huge. It’s soup and rice. Oh yeah this is the best part - PLANTS. We eat plants. Like what? Like cactus. I’m telling you guys it’s the weirdest thing. No wonder I’ve had diarriah for the past week. Dinner is usually noodles or bread. haha
The people here are amazing though .. for real. I already love all the members. We got to give a blessing to our Relief Society President a couple days ago. In Spanish! Boom! She’s got the cutest little kid - Nathan. Seriously everyone here has a little kid and they are ADORABLE. I would adopt one if I could, not kidding. The members always give us food too but usually it’s just horrible. We always have to gulp it down with our drink but were grateful :) There’s this guy named Polly. He’s hilarious. He’s 80 years old and soo animated. We also we went to a birthday party of one of the members. Her name is Pierina and she’s 10. Ahh it was great. Evaline is awesome and were teaching the Peña family right now. They have a son that always comes with us. He’s 19 and a great guy. Ahh man I could just go on and on about the members.
The girls here love us. I’ll just straight up say it. We call them snakes! hahaha. All the girls here give us dead fish handshakes. Pretty funny. Also everyone always asks me to pray. They love hearing me speak in Spanish because they think it’s hilarious to make fun of me. haha We had our first Sunday here and there were probably 10 people there at start time. Then around 9:45 about 20 more people rolled in. There’s about 30 in our ward and they asked me to bear my testimony in Spanish. It went pretty good.
Our Penchenista is great. She’s super old and her name is Hermana Veto. All my shirts are already yellow btw.
This area isn’t bad though. For real. You can tell how bad an area is by the roads and this place has some rock roads. You can also tell by the houses. There’s all sorts in this area. The best houses have concrete everything. The second best have brick houses with tin roofs and then the worst have dirt floors, wood houses, and a tin for the ceiling or no ceiling at all. We see it all here.
So funny story, we hiked over this sand mountain to get to this house and when we got there, E Martinez informed me that she was crazy. Anyways when we got there we heard this lady screaming a prayer. It freaked me out and her kids were crazy too. They were throwing rocks at us. IDK - it was weird. They live right next to this cemetery ...
It’s super humbling to be here and see what these people have. I seriously feel guilty having all this crap. It’s hard to adjust to the culture. I definitely have some culture shock. I go to bed absolutely filthy every night just because there’s no other option. It really is hard to live amongst these people but I really am doing great. My Spanish is getting a lot better since I have to speak it all the time. I’m even picking up an Argentinian accent so maybe I’ll be able to understand Cody when he gets home. All the other elders make fun of me because I talk with it occasionally.
I hope you guys are doing great. I’ve been thinking about you guys a lot this week. I miss you! I’ll talk to you next week
Love you!
-Elder Harris IV
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