Well this was a crazy week. Last monday I tested positive for Covid along with 3 other Elders and 26 Latinos. I didn't experience any symptoms throughout the whole week, though. I was in quarantine with Elder Lopez, (who's from Colorado and isn't a native), Elder Brough, and Elder Figueroa, who's from Pocatello, which is really cool. He finally got his visa this week after being stuck in the MTC for almost 18 weeks. All our meals were served via paper bags. We would usually get our meals at least 45 minutes before our scheduled meal time because the Latinos have a different schedule than us and we all got them at the same time. We weren't allowed to eat during classes, so our meals were usually cold. Besides that, the food is really good. We are served quite a lot of eggs, chicken, beef, and potatoes. Every meal has at least one of those. One of our meals was just a pile of french fries with a fried egg on top! I need to remember to save my extra ketchup. But above all, we get A LOT of rice. Probably 2-3 cups of rice per meal. Everything is served on top of rice. I'm not complaining, it's usually pretty good, but they just give me so much I can never eat it all. We also get a dessert for both lunch and dinner. I'm trying some things I've never had before, like rice pudding with a blueberry compote on top. I've also had the most moist tres leches I've ever eaten. It was delicious, but extremely wet. The rolls are also delicious, and they get served quite a bit too.
The classes this week were tough. Everyone had to do it through zoom, but the internet in the quarantine district was so bad that it would cut out pretty often. It was hard to hear all of the instruction, especially because they gave half of it in Spanish, which is already a little hard for me understand. In some classes we have to speak using only Spanish, which is a challenge. Elder Brough knows quite a bit already, so we let him do most of the talking. I tried to pitch in sometimes, but often got really sweaty because I had to pause a lot and it made me super nervous. Nonetheless, I am learning. It's a bit slow, but I can say some simple prayers in Spanish and do very basic communication with the Latino Elders. Hopefully once I'm able to have in person classes again tomorrow it'll be better. I can share good messages and am doing well with sharing my findings from my scripture study in English, but it's just a little daunting knowing that I'll have to do it all in Spanish. We had to exercise in our rooms as well, so we all did a lot of push ups. We also did some exercises utilizing the bunk beds to get a full workout in. I guess it's good to do those types of workouts because I'll need to do this once I'm in the field. We were also allowed to go outside for 20 minutes a day, so I've been outside for only about 100 minutes in the past week. We weren't allowed to touch anything, so all we could do was watch the ants climb up the trees and occasionally mess up their pheromone trails to watch them struggle to find it again. Time well spent I must say. My old district didn't completely forget about me, though. They threw some chocolate milk up to Elder Lopez and I in our room since we weren't getting any in our breakfast. Only one of them exploded, and it happened to be the only one we actually caught. President Jackson, the MTC President, whipped out his accordion and played some songs outside the building for us one night. He's really good at it and I definitely didn't expect it. The Latino Elders here are some of the nicest people I've ever met. They can talk and talk and talk and talk and talk, even past our bedtime. We were up to 11:30 two nights this week because we were talking with them. I'm pretty sure it's against the rules, but they love listening to "Hallelujah," so it's constantly playing in the hall. I guess us Americanos aren't too clean either, since we often blasted to "Time to Say Goodbye." But my family listened to that song on Sundays anyway, so maybe it's okay. On Sunday I participated in a priesthood blessing we gave to Elder Maraza, who was feeling sick. Elder Lopez administered the consecrated oil and Elder Ramos gave the blessing. I'm glad to have participated in my first blessing as a missionary! It was also fun taking pictures with all of the Latinos. Us Americano Elders are like celebrities down here. When I checked Facebook later I saw that most of them have posted the selfies we took to their pages, since Facebook down here is what Instagram is in the states. The Latinos are just the kindest people and I'll definitely miss them when they go out in the field next week, even though I had some difficulty communicating with them. They didn't care, though, and I had so much fun being around them.
I know it's only the second week, but it's hard not to feel stressed out and discouraged about learning the language. I feel like I'm not getting it, even though I'm sure all of the other missionaries feel the same. However, learning Spanish isn't my main focus right now. I've realized that my top priority right now should be focusing on coming to know Jesus Christ. I've started reading "Jesus the Christ" on the gospel library app and I think it's going to help me. In the Book of Mormon, Ether 12:41 really stuck out to me. It reads, "And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen." I always interpreted this verse as simply learning about Christ and his works. Now I realize that it actually means to form your own personal relationship with Christ. To truly "find" him, we must come to know Him, not just know of Him. The talk "Our Personal Savior" by Elder Michael John U. Teh of the Seventy from the April 2021 conference really helped me to understand this. Jesus Christ should be, and is, our best friend. He didn't just die for the sins of mankind, but for me. He still would have died on the cross if he was doing it all just for me. I'm coming to love Jesus the way I should, and I encourage everyone who's doing the same to keep at it because it will make you so much happier and closer to God. I shouldn't abandon practicing Spanish, but know the Lord will help me if I focus on Him and His sacrifice for me.
So it was a somewhat eventful week for the most part, despite the fact that I was trapped in the same room all week. Quarantine ended today and as long as we don't show any symptoms, we're free to go. So hopefully this week I'll get to enjoy in person classes and warm meals. Seeing the sun and breathing in fresh air will be nice too. I hope you stay safe and have a great day!
Elder Jensen
1. Me holding Elder Lopez's flag
2. Distrito Covid
3. The Lima MTC at night
4. One dessert we had this week. It was some sort of donut with a sweet filling
5. The blessing group
6. Muy fuerte--Me with Elder Maraza
7. Elder Brough, Elder Ramirez, Elder Jensen, y Elder Lopez
8. The quarantine trio
9. LEGO Gandalf at the Lima MTC
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