Oh what a week it has been!It has only been 5 days, but we have been hiking all
day everyday. Good thing that we bought me those timberland shoes! Ill try to
make them last, but we shall see, since we are walking all day. The ward here
is fabolous, all of the members are very humble and friendly. Whenever you walk
into a room with people you have to shake everyones hands or you insult them.
So in insence you shake a couple hundred hands a day. It is great, because they
are all intreguied with a whitey like me. They have had other white elders
here, but i am the tallest so far, and the best looking haha. Everyone always
asks where im from and are amazed at the response of Chicago, but if i tell them
Illinois, they say ¨Como, donde esta es?¨ and i just laugh a little and then
say chicago. But its still a great time.
As for the work, it was hard the first few days, not knowing where things are
and what not, but it all turned around saturday. I finally started to recognize
everything as we walked everyday, and now its all normal to me. The town is called ViÑa and is a branch
of Lima. The city is layed out the same way chicago is with all the suburb
cities and what not. The only difference is paved roads haha. The city is
great though, all of the people are friendly and you say ¨Como esta" a thousand
times a day. Another funny thing is how everyone just stares at me as my
companion and i walk by. They are just befuddled by seeing a big white kid in a
white shirt in the middle of Peru!
Tracting is a blast. After the first day my legs were shot because of all the
hills we walk. We literally spend no time in the city, rather, all of our time
in the foothills. Which are about 1000 feet or higher most of the time. And
mind you those are hills, not mountains. The mountains get up to 15000 feet.
Up in the hills though are the humblest people in the world. Roofs are tin,
walls are sheets or cardboard. The houses are all one big room, most everyone
shares a big bed, and they all couldnt be happier. That is the one thing that i love about here is the constant joy and smile
that everyone has. It sure does beat being an afluent city with no work, and
everyone is mean.
My companion elder Estrada is from peru, and has been 17 months out on his
mission. He loves the work and is a great teacher. We go through a different
principle everyday and practice teaching it. He points out the main topics of
each priniciple, a question, and then a commitment. It helps so much, because
he helps with my spanish as well. Everytime we teach he just complements me on
my spanish even though i know that it sounded pretty bad haha. We teach at
least 4 lessons a day, and always dont get home until 9. Working all day
everyday is great, and the time just seems to disappear. Hopefully not too
fast! But fast enough to the point i know the language and dont have a problem
communicating with people. Other than the language i have no problems here.
The food is great, our pensionista is a return missionary and cooks some great food. We have tons of rice, chicken, and fish. With lots of fruit at
every meal. Breakfast is usually a milk that has some kind of flavor and is
hot, plus bread. Dont worry mom, your cooking is still vastly superior and cant
wait to have lots of it when i get back!
Well family and friends, that has been my week so far. I have loved everymoment
of my time here so far, and am looking forward to my challenges in other places.
Ill try to get pictures up again, but that all depends on the internet. I love
you all and am very grateful for your prayers.

Love
Elder Washburn