Elder Mason Shoaf: Week 49

Well hey yall! Thought I would throw in a little bit of hick talk there, haha But first week of work in Juliaca and it is sooo different than Urcos. And frankly, I miss Urcos a lot and many of the members and the people there, Juliaca is still great, dont get me wrong.

But let me just run down how Juliaca is different or how it is here. It is actually a big city, bigger than Cusco, just not as pretty or organized yet. It is very cold here and very windy, it is the Chicago of Peru, the Windy City. There arent mountains, just in the distance, so the wind just sweeps across the flat part into the city, and that is why it is cold too. 12,500 feet above sea level too, so it is pretty cold up here at night and in the morning, but it is warming up. We have a ward here, Pedagogico Ward, and it is not too bad with 80-100 attendance each week, we are just trying to help the ward function better here with the missionaries. So Juliaca reminds me a lot of Indiana in early December and sometimes in January, but it gets cold here, I am used to it from home though. Enjoy all the hot weather there in the states!!

Well my companion Elder Cacoango is AWESOME! He is super chill, and very dedicated in the work, he is such a great companion with wanting to work, learn with me, learn English, and do all the things necessary in the mission. He is from Ecuador, in a city called Otavalo, which is a place where the males have long hair, he just decided to cut it before the mission. So he is normal, but they have permission to have long hair in the mission because it is a local custom.

I left Urcos on Wednesday morning to go to Juliaca, but I had a lot of goodbyes to say. We went to Huaraypata with Pedro, also Olga, Jenny and Carlos, Maria and Veronica, and many other members to thank them for the wonderful 6 months I had in Urcos. I am not going to lie, I cried a bit in a few goodbyes it is because the people there are basically my family, to live there for 6 months. I will miss my pensionista Mamicha! She has done so much for me and I will miss everyone there, but I have to continue to work and be in the mission. The Lord needs me in Juliaca and I hope to make the best of it. Well I had to travel nearly 7 hours to get to Juliaca on a bus, and it wasnt as bad as I thought, we had the bottom floor seats and they are super comfy to be in. But now I am here and ready to work in Pedagogico.

Well to another part of the mission and more adventures to come here in my new area of the great Peru Cusco Mission!! Well until next week!