Week 4 - A Tour of Lima

One month down! It has gone fast (at least for us). It looks like Ethan was able to go on a tour of Lima this past week. He sent us back some pictures. He's been busy learning Spanish and is really ready to get to Chiclayo.

"Hi I hope that everything is going alright back at home. These weeks are pretty similar so I don't have a whole lot of new things to write about. Spanish is alright it is coming along pretty good. I was able to do a one of our practice lessons last week with no notes. I am ready to get out into the field in chiclayo and I hope that time will pass quicker, because two years seems so long to be away. The new missionaries are pretty nice, and they all still have a lot of learning to do. One of the new missionaries was from our stake, Elder Brightman. He went to mission prep and I sort of remember him. On Saturday we get to go out in Lima and do proselyting for a couple of hours, so I have a lot of Spanish to practice over the next couple of days.

   

 The other day I saw a star for the first time, which was pretty crazy. I hope that Chiclayo is not so polluted. There was also a little earthquake tremor that I thought was pretty cool, even though it was only about 30 seconds. Today the temple is still closed for cleaning so we went on a tour of Lima which was pretty cool, and I got a lot of pictures. The rest of today is pretty empty which will be nice to have a break. Hopefully everyone is doing alright at home. Thanks for all of the emails, it is fun to get them.

Lots of the people here are pretty short and small. The workers are all like 4 foot 6. It's crazy.

I forgot I have never said anything about our district. there is me and my companion, Elder Miller.   Elder Rose from St. George and Elder Stevens from pleasant grove. Elder Norman and Elder Roney are both from Ventura area which was pretty cool. Elder Price from St George with Elder Navarro from the Philipines. And Elder Jardine from New York and Elder Harbertson from Arizona."

Ethan by the ocean in Lima.

Ethan's district at the CCM.

Ethan touring the city of Lima.

Houses on a hill I suppose.

More of the city.

Week 3- Halfway there...

Ethan's been at the MTC (or CCM in Spanish!) for three weeks now. That's halfway! He's got three weeks left to go before he heads out to Chiclayo. We got a treat this week, we got to hear from him one day early! There is a new group of missionaries coming to the MTC tomorrow, so they switched his pday to Tuesday this week. Yay! I'm glad I was home so that I could send the letter I had started. We even got to email back and forth for about 10 minutes. He sounds much happier and less homesick this week. It was so good to hear from him. Man, I miss this kid!

"Hey hows it going at home? It is alright here, there are still a lot of times I really miss home and all of you but it is getting better. This week was the last week for the older group, and we get new people tomorrow. It is pretty weird since it is only our group left. all of the older group and the latinos left last night. I cant believe that the CCM is already halfway done, and I am glad because it is pretty hard in here. We have a lot of classes and a full schedule from when we wake up at 6:30 till lights out at 10:30. Today the temple is still closed and I don't think that we will be able to go again, I hope that we can go when I'm in Chiclayo. Instead we went to a chapel a little ways away and we got to clean all of the dust out of it. A lot of the parts of Lima make downtown Phoenix look nice. 

The food is alright but I think that I am still getting used to it. My new favorite this week was called papa rellena, it was a potatoe stuffed with meat and spices and then fried. Also I thought it was funny that we eat those pic nic stick things all the time. They put them in sandwiches and as a side, Dad will probably think it is funny that people actually eat them. 

We got to have a devotional this week with the First counselor in the General Relief society presidency and I think it was also the President of the young womens as well. It was pretty good. One of the other Elders that left yesterday told me that his sister went to Chiclayo so he was telling me about it and I'm pretty excited to get out there and get going. Spanish is going alright but it is pretty hard. The people here speak so fast and they told me that in Chiclayo they speak twice as fast, so I'm going to need to do a lot of praying.

  

 My District and the people here are pretty good. My companion is alright but I am learning a lot of patience. He is from Nevada and is one of those people that always has to one up others stories or stuff like that, but if I can keep him focused we can get quite a bit done. It isn't perfect and I think Clay would have hit him already but its alright. Only 3 more weeks. One of the cool things that we get to do is practice lesson inside of little houses. We had a cool experience last week when something we were teaching about the plan of salvation, and The teacher and me and my companion all kind of teared up and the spirit was really strong. I'm not exactly sure what we said since it was in Spanish but I know it was the right thing to say. We also pray a lot here, which is good because I definitely need it with all that we are trying to learn and since it has been so hard being away from all of you. I'm pretty sure these first couple weeks are always rough, plus I'm already 1/32 done with my mission which seems like a lot and not a lot at the same time.

It is very dusty here in Lima. I don't think it ever rains, it is just always foggy. It's about 60 to 70 degrees all the time.

  

Hopefully everything is going good at home. You will have to congratulate Ryan for me. I hope everyone is safe as well, that would be a bummer to get hurt before wrestling. Tell Dad that his pin is pretty cool too."

A view of the city. Ethan says it's really dusty in Lima.

A nearby church building that they helped clean for service.

I'm glad he sent one of himself! I miss that face!

Another view of the city.

Ethan said it's always cloudy and foggy, but never seems to rain. 

Week 2 - A little melancholy

I felt like this week's letter seemed a little sad and a little more homesick. He still seems in good spirits and happy, but definitely missing home. We were expecting it though, how could he not? He's never been away from home other than camps, so I am sure it's a big adjustment. He still looks good and hopefully this coming week will be easier for him.

"Hi hows it going at home? It is alright here, but I'm not going to lie it kind of sucks. We are stuck in these walls here and I have been really missing you guys. There is not really a whole lot going on since we have to stay in here all day, but I wrote down some things that I thought I could share.

   We eat a lot of rice, probably every meal. My favorite food has probably been the Arroz tapado, which they make in a bowl. they put a scoop of rice and then a scoop of meat, and then another scoop of rice, and then they dump it out onto a plate like a sand castle. Also every once in a while we have soft serve ice cream from a machine, and it is very good. Also for some strange reason the corn kernels down here are huge, like the size of a quarter. I got some of the inka corn from a vending machine, which is like corn nuts, and they are huge, I will send a picture in a separate email so that the letter will send.

    On Sunday it was fast Sunday, and I felt really home sick that day, but all of the classes were pretty good. I got called out of the crowd to come up and lead music, which let me tell you is really really hard, especially since we have to sing in Spanish. Everyday goes by super fast, but it seems like I've been in the CCM for years already. Spanish is alright, but it is also pretty hard since it seems that all of the words blend together, and a lot of the people here speak super fast. It is pretty fun we have an hour of exercise time each day, and then I have been doing 200 push ups every night while I am studying in our rooms.

    I was also pretty sad because we did not get to go to the temple today since it is closed for cleaning for the next couple of weeks. I do think we get to go the last week though. I also just got that letter that you sent today, and I hope that i can take the names to the temple the next time that we get to go.

   I've been pretty anxious to get out of here too. I kind of just want to get to chiclayo, but i know that I still have a lot of stuff to learn. The older group leaves the CCM next Tuesday which means that we are already almost halfway done. Thank you for all of the emails. I am going to take pictures so that I can read them later. I am sorry that it went weird letters also all of the sudden, I am still getting used to these weird keyboards and cant figure out how to turn it back yet since we barely have any time to write back. I love you guys so much and hope these next 2 years fly by. Love Elder Lamb"

Ethan's giant corn nuts or "Inka Corn"

Ethan and Elder Navarro, a friend in his district who is from the Philippines.

Buildings at the CCM. Ethan said it's always cloudy there.

Ethan playing around at a school across the street where they were working on a service project.

Hi Ethan! Miss you!

Week 1 - First week at the CCM

Wednesday is finally here! I was waiting by the computer ALL day to hear from Ethan. His email finally came around 1:00. It was so good to hear from him and see his smiling face! He sounds amazing. Here is his letter home this week:

"Hey how is it going? It was fun reading all of the emails. I'm also sorry if words are misspelled or grammar is weird because the keyboards have are a little different and have extra letters and symbols, and learning Spanish is kind of making me forget some English.The CCM is wonderful. The food here is pretty good, it is a lot of rice and potatoes, usually with some kind of meat and sauce or gravy. I tried some Inca Kola and it is actually pretty good it tastes like bubble gum.

 Spanish is hard but probably not as bad as Japanese. It is a little bummer because almost everyone has had Spanish classes in school before they got here, and that German class I took doesn't really help. All of the teachers and workers and leaders speak only in Spanish, with only small amounts of English.I am doing better though, I can say a prayer and start a conversation with people. Everyone here is super nice, all of the workers and native missionaries love the gringos. There are a lot of Latinos here too, but they are all from South America or Central America, none from mexico. they are all super friendly and help us to learn Spanish, and we have taught them some English words too. last Friday we had to do a first practice lesson with an investigator in Spanish, and I had no clue what was going on. We did another on Monday and then we have one tonight the should go better.

General Conference was in English and it was great. I payed much more attention to it than i ever had before. we took lots of notes and it is great that I can go back to read them again. We also have devotionals every once in a while that are broadcasted from the provo mtc. Last night we watched one from Elder Cook. Did you know that he was companions with Elder Holland on his mission? We also got to go to the temple this morning, and it was amazing. It is very pretty and a little small. Then I went to the distribution center and got another mesh top because it is very nice to have down here.

My companion is Elder Miller, from Boulder city, Nevada. He is pretty nice and is learning Spanish the same as me. You can probably see him in the picture that we took at the Temple this morning.

 Lima,Perú is very nice. It stays about 65 all the time and is always foggy. It is very dusty and old though. We went to a government building to get paperwork done for our visas on Monday, and the inside and outside reminded me of a filibertos or carolinas. Good thing we dont have to do tile down here as well, because it is everywhere. Every room and building on the outside and inside has tile. Sorry if the email is a little rushed, we dont have too much time and there is a lot to say."

I am so happy he doing well! It made me laugh that he thinks the government building reminded him of Filibertos! Ha ha! We are definitely spoiled here with nice buildings. I miss him and am already excited for next week. 

Love his name tag!

Ethan and his companion Elder Miller.

Ahh...I love this sweet face!

He's been dying to try Inca Kola for months. Now all the rest of the kids want to try it! I'll have to see if I can find it around town somewhere. Ethan said it tastes like bubble gum!