Hey Everybody!
Things have been going by so fast lately. To think that exactly 7 days from now
i will be out in the country of Peru not understanding anyone haha. I do feel
that i could add my thoughts and comments to the lessons, but very far from
actually giving a lesson or a talk in spanish. Hopefully they dont do that to me
when i get there, it would be very embarrassing for me! By the way, Elder
Christopherson is here! And i have already had the chance to meet him once! He
is giving a talk to us tonight, so i am pumped to get a talk from an apostle!
All the missionaries that are in the city are coming as well, so there will be a
ton of missionaries there. As well as all the mission presidents, hopefully i
can meet mine and get to know him a little before next week. Now to my week.
Wednesday: Classes are great, but we tend to review the same principles over and
over again. But if i was perfect at teaching then i would complain, and since
im not i am grateful to get these main teaching principles down. One really funny thing did happen. We were in the lab doing TALL, working
on commands, when Elder Wengren thought it would be funny to turn off my TALL in
the middle of a lesson. So i in turn logged off his computer. So he uped me
one more time and turned off my computer. I waited patiently to strike and went
for his side with a pinch. He tried to evade from me and ended up falling
straight backwards over his chair! It was the whole arms flailing, wide eyes,
slow motion fall. We couldnt stop laughing for at least 20 mins. Oh gosh was
it funny. Another great thing happned that morning, the sun was out! I know it
sounds dumb but we hardly see the sun, and it was even more of a miracle to see
it all day!
Thursday: very normal beggining, except when we were about to have companionship
study Pres. Groberg wanted to have a big meeting about companionship study and
how to have it. I thought it was a waste of time because my companion and i had
3 situations to teach that day and we werent prepared for any of them. After the meeting we had our first lesson, and it turned out to
be our best lesson yet. Before we stuck to our strict plan, but this time we
just said what the spirit wanted and just murdered the lesson. The other three
turned out the same way too. So that was a blessing in disguise.
Friday: a very long day of classes. Not to mention i started to have some bowel
troubles so that added onto the trouble of the day. I was able to finish my
lesson plans for lesson 3 which left me with only lesson 4 to do, so i was happy
with that. But once again, another long friday.
Saturday: I woke up hoping to be able to go proselyting today, but my bowel
problems prevented my from doing so. I had to stay at the capilla all day with
Elder Powell. We had fun playing the piano and studying all day. We did get to
go out for a little bit proselyte and we had two people say that they were going
to church! In other words, my day wasnt really foiled. I was able to finish all
my lesson plans, and bring two people to church even though i had my bathroom problem.
Sunday: I gave my first talk in total spanish! It actually went a lot better
than i had planned it to be. I stunned myself once again with all the spanish
that i actually knew. I asked my companion how the spanish was, and he said
that i didnt make any grammatical errors! That was a big pump up for me because
i have been working hard on my grammer. Sunday was just a relax day after that.
Monday: Elder Christopherson showed up today and i was able to meet him! That
was my highlight. Class class class, and lots and lots of spanish to learn.
Not to mention how to teach haha
Tuesday: Usually they are our Preparation day, but since we are getting the
fireside with Elder Christopherson wednesday, they pushed it back a day. I
finally have been able to run and play a little soccer. I sprained my ankle
really bad about a week and a half ago, and its finally coming around again. I
cant treat it here because they dont know what ice is, so that was a big problem. But it did keep me from getting too roudy in the games so its a
blessing. The best part about tuesday was the desert that night. We had a game
going a while ago where we tried to guess what day we would get certain
desserts, and the winner got some of everyone elses. Well no one guessed last
nights right, but it was the best dessert that they give us here. CHURROS!!! OH
MY are they delicious. I was able to get two full ones, which is a feat within
itself. Afterwards i was a little sick from all the sugar, but it was a good
sick because it was from a churro.
Well gang, one more week and my letters will become more interesting. No more
will my days be classes, but bringing people into the Church and saving souls.
Hey mom, im not sure about the packages, if you send them direct i think they
cost a little more, but some people say that it isnt that bad. If you send them
to where i have to pick them up at customs then its cheaper, but they go through
it. Im not sure that i will need anything yet, but i will talk to other elders when im out in the field to find out
anything. I think money in my account will be the easiest and safest way to do
things. I love you all and pray for you continually.

Love,
Elder Washburn