Week in Review Oct 14, 2014 - Oct 20, 2014

[Holy Cow! You can't imagine how bad Andrew's typo's have increased since he has been in Peru. I know part of that is a foreign keyboard and the other is his language is becoming Spanish more and more each day. But that is why I am here, to clean it up before you read it. lol Andrew will mention in some spots of the blog about going to the blog. This was originally written for a mass emailing to friends and family. But it is getting difficult to do that, so when the email is sent to his family, mom will edit and post in the blog with pictures. Enjoy!]

First off, All photos form now on will be sent to family only because of limited bandwidth,

and because I want to be able to send more than the computers in the Peru with Internet will allow.  They will be inserted into my blog within about 1 or 2 days, Check my blog with photos and links to some of the things I reference!  Thanks for keeping interested in my crazy travels and accordances here in Peru!  Hope all is well in the states.  It was funny, I had someone ask me what was the 1 thing that California is known for making... I stopped.  I couldn't think.  we make so much!  Tech, Agriculture, Gas, Energy, Watersports, etc... we have it all!  So for a moment, forget all the taxes, politics, agendas, and enjoy the state that literally has it all!  And so with that, this is what I did in the last week here in Huanuco Peru!

www.andrewintheandes.blogspot.com

Tuesday

So, today was P-day!  Computers here are fast but the Internet is painfully slow.  Just so you know, we have 1 hour of Internet that includes entering our data on LDS.org and emailing President Henderson [His Mission President] first, then everything else.

Today our P-Day was jam packed.  We went on a sightseeing trip of Huanuco and took a bunch of photos.  All have GPS Coordinates built in, so you can street view them.  I took one photo with me and other missionaries in our District at the Huanuco Sign.  I would like this to be my new cover photo for Facebook please! [Done] And the one of just Huanuco sign... For the blog... [Done again] This keyboard really stinks... Sorry..... [As you will notice, I am trying to make the experience a bit better by cleaning it up and now it is readable.]

Anyways. we visited a museum which we actually got to see a bunch of

Peruvian Artifacts which I took some photos of before we were told not to.  Nice History tour of the people and the Area!  Also worthy of mention was a visit to BanaFria which is a subgroup of Nestle [Andrew is a huge Nestle Quik Chocolate Milk fan].  It is like a Baskin Robbins with less flavors.  But I love Ice Cream, and we all sat and enjoyed our little piece of heaven.

Wednesday

District Meeting Today.  My companion is the district leader and likes to sometimes do things that involve me without telling me until the last minute.  So with that in mind, I taught a lesson with Elder Whitaker for Spanish to English Learning Class which today included praying and building sentences using the words.  It went pretty well, but I think the fun part was teaching the pronunciation of the words.  I'm sure they laugh at our pronunciation just as much though, so I really don't feel bad. 

Thursday

Service is a big part of being a missionary, and I feel it has a higher significance for individuals here in south America.  We helped out a member who lives way up on the mountain side of where our area is.  I think we moved around 50 mud block type bricks from the front below of the house, to the back above side of the house.  I love these kind of projects for two reasons.  Being able to see the faces of those you serve afterwards, and the 2nd is it helps us as missionaries exemplify our calling as missionaries and serve by the power of the name on our plaque we always wear.  Jesus Cristo.

Friday

Spanish is coming along, but not as quickly or effectively as I would like, but it is coming.  One sign of this is I was able to teach half a lesson (Ping pong with my companion) and I committed an Investigator to baptism!  Woo hoo!  We could all just feel the spirit of happiness in the room, and I could really tell she was excited that she was asked to follow the same example of Jesus Christ instituted when he was on the Earth, and become baptized by someone holding the power and authority of God.  Now it is time to learn more Spanish so I can teach more!  Oh, and the people are still always calling me Gringo.  I need some sun.  

Later in the evening, I had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with some youth while my companion was talking with someone else.  It is so much easier to talk with little children, and so much more fun!  Adults will scare me with their Spanish sometimes, especially when the have the following combinations. Speaking fast, is old, has no teeth, and their lips don't move, and they are practically deaf.  This is when I just look at my companion and have him talk all of the lesson.  

I also took some panoramic photos of the city from up where we did some service.  It is a great view of the city.  It also has GPS but there is NO WAY for street view at this house. 
 
Saturday

I just miss my bathroom from home.  I miss putting toilet paper, you know.. In the toilet.  Keep this in mom.  [He knows me too well, I actually thought TMI, Too Much Information. lol] Past tense speaking here.  I was sick for 1 day.  It has been gone for a bit, basically all the gringos get this.... But the most uncomfortable part was probably having to be nice to the toilets and the bote [A trash can for the toilet paper as it doesn't go into the sewer system.] can where my t-p goes.  I'm just glad we have toilet seats, because that would have made me sad.

Anyways, today was [LDS] General Conference, Saturday Session (Because Last week was steak Conference and the week before was voting) Ya, I'm glad I saw these in English because my Spanish isn't great enough to understand this yet.  So out came my notes.  I would have to say on Saturday, my favorite talk was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, [Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth] and our abilities to understand anything when we have the right tools.  He used the comparisons of trying to explain the microwave to someone 100 years ago!  This is real, we know it, but nonetheless people will still try to tell us that it is impossible. And others might even reject it.  This is because they don't have the proper tools to understand it yet.  The same is with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I would highly suggest all to watch it.  The video will be on my blog in a bout 1 or 2 days. But it really helps for all of us to put things into perspective.  I love having the opportunities to listen to modern day prophets and apostles and just like in times of old in the Bible.  All in all, things are great here n Peru!

Sunday

Day 2 of [LDS] General Conference.  As always, Conference is Great, and I loved the discourse from Apostle David A Bednar [Come and See] regarding why Mormons go all over the world telling others about the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ and out of the goodness of their hearts no matter the pain.  As a companionship, we committed 2 more to baptism!  Woo hoo!  I have just counted. I have 23 bug bites between my calves, and hands.  Yea, It is awesome. 

Elder Holmes 
Huanuco, Peru

Museum in Huanuco, Peru

The cover of his Book of Mormon they give him at the CCM (MTC)

This photo has a lot of meaning for our little family and especially Jennifer. I got this idea that we purchase two little Lego guys that look like missionaries. Andrew has one and Jennifer has one. And then Andrew will take pictures of his Lego guy throughout Peru to share in the travels. Here is our first picture of the 'Lego Guy' holding onto Andrew's missionary tag.

Elder's Chapeton and Holmes

Huanuco San Sebastian Church