So I Was Heating Up Some Water with an Iron…

Hey everyone!

JK mom, don't worry I'm not heating up any water with an iron....who would do that? [haha, he’s so funny (insert sarcastic tone).  Most stressful week for me was when his older brother was on his mission and he proudly reported how he had solved his broken water heater problem.  See HERE and HERE for the gory details.]

So we left the MTC on Tuesday morning, went to the mission home, met Pres. Bluck and his wife and got an introduction type thing that morning.  Then we got assigned to our areas and our trainers.  My companion is Elder Duran.  He's from El Salvador and has about a year in the mission.  Like most Latinos he's a little bit shorter than me but who didn't expect that? 

We are in the city of Iquitos and the Zone Iquitos.  There are like 4 zones here and we're in the center of the city so there is actually a lot of cement here and it's pretty developed.  Honestly it's pretty much just a city and a lot of times it doesn't feel too much different other that a few more dirt roads and part of our area is on a river.  That area feels way different.  As expected, it's very hot and humid here and it has rained everyday so far.  Some days it rains harder than others, but it always rains.  So I'm either wet with rain or with sweat all the time.

 

There are also a lot of bugs...I sleep with a mosquito net and still wake up with bites.  I got one on the bottom of my foot...not too much fun and there are not many places that are more inconvenient for that.  But luckily I don't think I'm allergic to them because I haven't swollen up too much.  [Tyler has a history of swelling with insect bites…note this picture from 7th grade when he got a bug bite that closed one eye and popped one ear out perpendicular to his head.  Kind of like Will Smith in “Hitch” when he had an allergic reaction.  Jeff:  “You are NOT sending that kid to junior high looking like THAT”, so he got to stay home a couple of days…I’m sure Tyler will appreciate me posting this picture]

The other thing that is everywhere: Motokars.  They're basically a motorcycle with the back cut off and they put a bench back there.  It's the main mode of transportation and they are literally everywhere.  That's how we get around if we have to go somewhere far or have to get there quickly, so no buses or bikes here.

We live in a pretty nice place, relatively large and we always have running water.  It is always cold water but always running.  We have 2 wards in our area which can be tough to keep track of because there's 2 of everything and more people to try to keep track of.  We came in with only a couple of investigators from the last companionship that was here.  One is a family that lives on the river that are basically golden except for the fact that they're not married yet.   Apparently nobody gets married here so basically anytime a family wants to get baptized they have to get married first.  But they're getting married in a week so that's all good.  But they really just accept pretty much everything that we teach and they are really excited about everything.  That's way different from a lot of other people.  Everybody here is nice and polite and usually always listen to what you have to say but a lot of times they're either not interested or don't want to actually do anything other than listen.  Sometimes it's easy to tell the difference and other times it's a little bit tougher.  But basically everyone listens and everyone is very nice here.

I love being here and the Spanish is definitely coming.  Still kinda trying to figure everything out but it's great.  I love you guys and I'm not sure how well the postal service works and I'm not sure that I'll get anything while I'm here but we'll see.  I will have email though so that's definitely the most efficient.

Love,

Elder Peacock