Q & A with Elder Talon: First Letter from Peru

Querido Elder Hicken,

Pretty cool that we can write and hear from each other so far away so quickly. Ill keep the lengthier topics for paper still. I sent you a DearElder the day you flew, I think it was. Well see how long it takes to get to you through the pouch. We have been listening to Conference yesterday and today. Lots of good stuff. We got your package yesterday. Any special instructions with the contents?

Some questions:

1. How was your trip? Tan bien! The plane ride was long, and Elder Bradley and I had a row of 4 seats all to ourselves, so we didn’t have anyone to talk to about the gospel, but it was good! Flight attendants from Peru are way cooler than American ones. And they all know we are missionaries, and so they kept telling us we needed to practice our spanish, and kept asking us if we wanted any coffe or tea, and then laughing like we just found out why the chicken crossed the road. But it was great.
2. Did you get to listen to conference there? (We didnt get to hear it at all on our missions. It was a normal church Sunday, and we waited for the Ensign to come to hear what they said. One year my Dad made tapes of all the sessions and sent it to me, that was neat.) Sierra wants to know if it was in Spanish or English. I did! It was wonderful. It was in spanish, but there was a room downstairs where the English missionaries watched in English. I watched the Priesthood session and the middle of the last session in English, and the rest in spanish. It was great! Incredibly hard to understand, but the spirit speaks all languages, so I was edified either way. In fact, listening in spanish I think helped me listen more to the spirit, and less to the words.
3. What was it like having Conference there? Did you recognize anyone in the BYU choir? It was....regular. Hot though. Not really anything different except everyone spoke spanish. I recognized a lot of people in the choir, but the only one that I knew by name that I saw was Patrick, my teacher last semester.
4. Who is your companion and data about him. Orlando Hernandez. He’s the líder de zona. He’s from Santiago Chile and a convert. He was the seminary teacher and a sunday school teacher in his ward before he came. I don’t know a whole lot else to be honest. Its been a packed 3 days. Were going to get along really well though.
5. What do they call new missionaries there? Greenies? Verdes like in Dads mission? Oros like in my mission? Are you still one? I don’t really know, I’ve been saying “soy un nuevo” but I dont know if anyone else has a name for us.
6. What is the place you live like? Really small, but enough. we have the tiniest desks. There’s two bunk beds, and three mattresses. One bathroom with a tiny sink and an electronic shower that doesn’t work, which means showers are cooold. But its all good.
7. Tell us about your area. It is really big, but really small. Small area with lots of people. Little time and lots to do. Not very far from one side to the other, but it takes forever to get there. I’ll try and get more pictures for you soon.
8. Sierra asks who some of your investigators are. (though we explained you probably havent had a working day there yet) We haven’t had a real working day, but we have taught a few lessons. Two of our investigators are in the 10-15 range- Clarita y Betsabe. We’ve taught both of them, and we also taught a less active family last night that we are going to try and fellowship and bring to the Temple. Speaking of which, we are going to the Temple on Wednesday, which is where I’ll take that picture you wanted.
9. Sierra: Can you understand the people? No. Can you read alphabet soup? Jaja, just kidding, but really. They talk like we mumble, and they don’t use the beginning or end of any words. Just the middle. magifatowealkd. Did you get that? I said, “imagine if that’s how we talked”. Its hard, huh.
10. Sierra: have you eaten guinea pig? Nope! But I’ll let you know when! I’ve had a lot of stuff just like that Peruvian resturaunt we went to. Huancaina is popular, and I’ve had it a few times. They really only eat a real meal for lunch, and the rest is all just snacks. Though I had this bone-in soup at Yolanda and Hectors house a few weeks ago that was interesting...the strangest thing I’ve eaten so far.
11. Where are you writing this? Will you print out letters and we might as well email them, or should we send them some other way? Maybe its better to send them another way because you can get them on days other than p-days. Or maybe its better to get all your letters on p-day? Maybe your opinion will change as time goes byjust let us know and were glad to send them the way that is best for you.In an “Internet” which is basically an internet cafe. There’s tons of them all over the place. Its 40 cents a page. Which is really expensive. That’s like enough to buy breakfast. Or maybe half a breakfast. We have a while to email though. Mail takes about a month to get from the American posts handoff in Lima through the local service to the office, and then to the missionaries via zone leaders. But I don’t know about pouch. And it sounds like there is a family here that sends a suitcase full of letters or packages from the states and back every week or so, and its a ton cheaper and more reliable. We’ll see what I can figure out.

Con Amor, Elder Hicken

Love,

Mom