Monday May 2, 2011

hola Familia

it has been a week of firsts for me obviously :) but it has been a week of great work too. we got to peru about 11:45 tuesday night and went straight to bed at the mission office. president Dorius met us at the airport. we stepped out side and the first words out of our mouths were ´´it smells like fish.´´ and when i say smells i mean stunk like fish.

we drove to the mission office and we were just kind of taking in the city. we saw some appartments and we were talking about how run down they look. and pres. Dorius said ´´oh these are some of the better ones´´ and he was so right. i got to my area around 5 wednesday and all i can say is wow.

my area concists of two massive hills one called lampa de oro and the other is called nuevo amanezer. president dorius was telling us that on these two hills alone there is half the population of utah. CRAZY!!!

and there really is dogs everywhere, not just alive ones eather. dogs will die of rabies or get hit by a car and they just leave them there to let nature do its job on them. E. Guerrero and i walk around with our ties on our noses because it stinks so bad. i didn´t get luggage stolen it was almost stolen. a man grabbed it at baggage claim and started to walk out with it but i caught it and he tried to play it off but i´m pretty sure it wasn´t a accident. it is really humid but it is usually mid 70´s so not too bad yet. i actually can understand alot of spanish and that is mostly what i speak. E. Guerrero is from costa rica but he knows a little english but it is deffinatly easier to comunicate in spanish. there are a couple roads here that you need to avoid especially if you are white. i acutally got to meet that missionary that was stabbed back in november. he is working in the office. but i just try to look as brown as i can and avoid the people that have that practically carry a sign that says stay away or i will mug you.

i have already had some crazy experiences here. and i wish i could tell them all to you but unfortunatly i dont have time so i´ll just narrow it down to one for now. we were out tracting on the 29th (e. guerreros birthday) and we saw our ward mission leader (hermano bendayan most humble man i have ever met) he knew that it was his birthday so he invited us to come up to his house and eat with him and his daughter. he lives at the very top of nuevo amanezer so it was quite the climb but we finally made it. we go in to his house, probably the size of my room, and he brings out two massive plates of food (probably enought for 4 days for him and his daughter) and we can´t refuse him or he will get really offended. so we bless it and begin to eat and i noticed that the meat (which i thought was chicken) was really tough and had a funny after taste. but again i didn´t want to offend him so i ate it all. (come to find out it was dog woot woot my first perro.) we finish and he wants to go work with us so we leave and e. guerrero remembers that we promised to help a member clean the stake center (it is in the middle of peru probably 15-20 miles away) hno bendayan says he would love to go with us. so we jump on a combi (basically a miny van that they cram 25 people on :)) and we ride in to Lima. we get there clean and are on our way home, when we see a homeless man. he askes us for money so he can get some food. we can´t give money but we offer to buy some food for him. he accepts so we go to a street vender and by him some chifa (chinese food) and as we are leaving hno bendayan gives him 5 soles (which is a lot of money for someone as poor as he is) and we drive back to our flat in Lapa de oro. HNO bendayan begins to walk to his house in Nuevo amanezer. and we think it is because he gave all his money to this homeless man. we were brought to our knees by this mans humility and charity. so we call him back and try to give him money so he can by a ride back home. he refuses us and refuses us so E. Guerrero and i both throw 10 soles at him and begin to run to our door. we get there and Hno bendayan is right behind us. but to our suprise he is in tears. he begins to explain how he felt terrible that he didn´t give that man more money. he had more money he could have given but he didn´t want too because he needed it to get home. he used the word egoisto which means selfish which obviously he isn´t. he said that the only way he would feel better would be if he walked home. we watched him walk away and all i could think was wow.

i am amazed everyday by these people and how beautiful they really are. most of them don´t have teeth, or a sence of hygene. but they are by far the most christlike people i know. they are willing to give at the sacrifice of there own well being. HNO bendayan has changed my life and i´m sure i´m not the first one.

i love you all have a great week i´ll talk to you soon

Elder Landon R. Welch