Elder Sam Jensen

  To start this one off I'll mention some things I should've put in the last email but didn't have time to write them. First off we had a little bit of a bug problem on Thursday with tons of flys absolutely everywhere in out apartment. I bought some bug spray from our pensionista and "...did carry on the work of death among the [flys]," (Alma 43:38). Probably the best 10 soles I've ever spent. For pday last week we went to a place called Conache as a zona, which is just a place with large fields for sports, a pond, and some other activities, including kid trampolines you have to pay extra to use. For some treason the deeper you got into the park you had to pay more money, so certain fields ended up costing more? It seemed like a scam to me. We played volleyball, ate a little bit of chicken for lunch, talked with family, and then did a little bit of sand boarding! We rented some boards and climbed up the sand dune. It didn't work at all until we used wax an...

  Buenas tardes amigos! I hope you're all doing well. Here's what I did this week: On Wednesday we met with our friend Dayiro. (Maybe it's Yadiro I don't know they pronounce a lot of letters the same). He's been coming to church since his grandma got back from an extended vacation to Chile. We asked him to be baptized and he accepted, but the only problem is his parents are in Chile so we weren't able to ask them for approval. We also shared a message with his grandpa who also isn't a member. We're going to have to wait till next Wednesday before we can possibly make a call to his parents. On Thursday we had interviews with Presidente. I helped Presidente Hiatt give a blessing of health to Elder Kennedy who hurt his shoulder. After the interview I was able to talk with Hermana Hiatt for a bit about Christmas, Spanish, and their new granddaughter that was just born. I also had to translate for her and the other Peruano elders. On Friday I went on exchange...

  On Tuesday we went to the offices for a little bit. It just happened to be the same time when all the ZLs were receiving new supplies, so I got to talk to some of them, including the two gringos who are currently serving in Cajamarca. They were stuck there until the night waiting for their bus, so I got to get to know them a little better. I also spent some time talking with the APs and secretaries. It was pretty fun and a chance to bond with other elders. I'm still suffering from the effects of my mistake two weeks ago when I forgot to wear sunscreen. Some skin on my arm has been peeling all week, so I've been called "snake" more times than I would've liked. But maybe I deserve it for my stupidity. I kind of love how intrigued some people are that I'm here. Last week there was this march of young students near our house (I don't know what for). As we walked past I could see a large group of girls whispering and pointing at me. I cleared my throat and ut...

  Our district completed our goal of having at least 2 baptisms for each area this month, so we got our incentive of Buffalo. Buffalo is a barbeque restaurant here so all the missionaries refer to any kind of barbeque as a buffalo. But this time we actually went to the restaurant for a final district activity at 8 at night. We ordered "La Gran Buffalo" which was almost 200 soles, probably about 50 dollars. It consisted of soda, a bunch of fries, and a mountain of meat. We ate so much sausage, chicken, beef, and those little chicken gizzard things that are really chewy but common down here. It was definitely a worthy reward and a farewell party as we received transfer calls during the night. Elder Compara went home, Elder Barlow went to a different area, and Elder Gerber became a ZL in a different zone. Elder Macedo and I are staying in Pueblo Libre. I'll now be the only American in the district, which is actually quite lonely now that I think about it. But I'm glad to...