Week 24 -- Headed to new area

Wow,  today is exchanges!!! So we find out who is leaving and who is staying.......and drum roll please.....I AM LEAVING! I am being transferred to Urcos 1, which is in the Inti Raymi zone...which isn't that far from Sicuani. We pass by it when we go to Cusco but yeah only like 1 1/2 hours away. Which is super close for the areas here haha. But yeah, my new companion is a Latino and he is Elder Quispe...don't know him yet but we will get to know each other tomorrow when we leave for our areas. So it is pretty exciting to see my first change to a new area. Sicuani was great and I cant wait to see what is next for me in the mission.

Well this week was packed with cool things going on....many activities to help the missionaries and fortify the ward. First we had a mini CCM activity to give the youth and the young adults the opportunity to see what missionary life is like. So we had many classes, trainings, proselyting, and also just a bunch of activities to mirror mission life. It was a success and we had like 20 youth from our ward attend....so we had a blast hanging out with them all weekend. Also the other companionship had a wedding for investigators, baptism, and a reception for the wedding....packed full of stuff to do and seeing them enter in the waters of baptism. But it was so fun.....food, hanging out with the members, and seeing them accept such a big step in their lives. These people are so faithful and want to do everything possible to follow Christ and it is wonderful. They have so much faith in doing all these things and it was just great to see them get to bond with the ward and do all this stuff. We were so excited for them and seeing more people accept the responsibility to come unto Christ.

Also, again, our numbers weren't that great but we had a lot of other things to do. Sunday we finally found some more people to teach and it was great.....finally more people that can progress in the Gospel. But we will see how that goes soon. But yeah a little bit of a tough week again, but I talked to my district leader and he gave me some great advice to help me. For companionships in the mission it is essential to work together in unity and it was hard for some things with Elder Stradling....but we are good now. Just being open with people will make the difference. Look up Amos 3:3 if you want, that helped me a lot this week. Well that is about it, hope all is well and I will talk to you guys next week.

No-bake cookies. Palomares wrote his name in them.

Elders Palomares and Ticeran (in the middle) have finished the mission and are going home.

Week 23 -- Machu Picchu

Wow yet another week down in the mission and the same old same old here. Really trying to get more people to teach in our area and work hard but it is getting hard at times. No one seems to want to like to listen to our message. So it is making it difficult to work all day and not just be rejected at every corner we have.

But this week had some really awesome events as you guys probably know that I went to Machu Picchu yesterday. It was the most beautiful site I have every seen before and I cant believe I had the chance to go and see this particular World Wonder. To get to the mountain where it is at is tricky.....first we had to travel our 2 1/2 hours to Cusco from Sicuani. Then we had to wake up at 2 am to get a bus from Cusco to the train station an hour away that leaves to Machu Picchu at 5 am. The train ride was about 2 hours and it weaved in and out of the mountains and travelled along side some huge mountain sides along the way. Such a beautiful view. Then we finally got to the area or little town that was below Machu Picchu....which is basically a giant tourist area. Finally to get up we took a 25 minute bus ride all the way up the mountain to finally get to the entrance of Machu Picchu. We entered and it was AMAZING!!! The view looked unreal and I couldnt believe that I was looking at this on the top of a mountain.....a freaking mountain they built this city. I really hope that you guys enjoy the pictures....they sometimes look unreal and not a picture. But seriously it was amazing just being there but actually getting to observe all the ruins....which the rocks are like perfectly set in place. The history of the place is super interesting....was only discovered in 1910. We saw plenty of buildings and also a temple of sun....rocks that are a condor, and many more things. Seriously was the most beautiful site of my life and I wish everyone could see it for themselves one day. We had a great day of visiting it but it only lasted for the day and we had to return to Sicuani. Lots of travelling too, which is the least fun of all of it. But some great pictures with a few missionaries that I knew. But now back to work in the city.

Like I said, not much in the work this week. No one is progressing how we would like and many people are just so hard to find. We have plenty of contacts but it is just so hard to find some people with the address system here. It doesnt make sense. But glad to hear that you guys have had a good week and that all is well, cant wait to see  how things are going in the week to go.