December 26, 2015

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

December 19, 2015

Hey everybody!

Sorry I haven't written in forever. Truth is, my life is just not exciting at all. Well, it wasn't exciting. This past week though has been quite the adventure.

Last sunday we were out with Elder Herrera when I suddenly get a phone call. I answered and it was Elder Yorgeson, one of the office elders. He told me "Elder, you've got a new assignment. You're now the Executive Secretary of the Peru Cusco Mission." I could not believe it. I had just gotten to Calca, I didn't want to leave.

So Monday night I started my new job as executive secretary. That basically means that I have to make sure everyone's here in the country legally, set up appointments and such for President Harbertson, pick up new missionaries, drop off the ones who are ending, etc. I'm also in charge of Machu Picchu trips which is cool. It's different from what I'm used to, but it's not too bad. I'm learning a lot. That's also why I'm writing you guys today instead of monday. My pdays will be saturdays for the next 6 months or so until I leave because mondays are always busy days for us.

So that's been my week. I'm just here learning how to do my job. We haven't been able to proselyte this week because there were transfers and we had to help a lot with that, but next week we'll start so I'll be able to tell you guys about the ward and all that.

Oh, and I forgot! I'm now in a trio with Elder Yorgeson and Elder Tsosie. We'll be together for this transfer while Elder Yorgeson trains me, and then he's leaving and I'll be with Tsosie.

Love you guys! 6 days until Christmas!

Elder Thacker

December 14, 2015

No group email again. Here is some of what Jeremy sent to me and his mom.

Yesterday I received an interesting call, letting me know that I was going to have a change. I'm headed to the office in Cusco, I'll be replacing Elder Yorgenson as President's personal secretary. And at first I couldn't believe it. Truth be told I still can't believe it. I was wondering why I had to leave, I just got to Calca and I love it here. I don't want to go. But that last sentence got to me: "The Lord knows who you are, and you are right where he wants you to be." I know that's true. I'm leaving Calca because I guess I did my part already and the Lord needs me in the office now. That, together with the testimonies of Elder Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund have helped me to accept this new assignment.

This week has been a difficult one. The school year in Peru goes from March to December so school just got out and everyone's going on vacation. There hasn't been a lot of people here in Calca because seriously everybody is going on vacation. Our ward mission leader just went to Chile and he won't be back until February. That's been difficult. Then on Friday we were talking with the landlord and he told us that his brother's coming from Lima and he wants to give him our apartment. They're kicking us out. So we've been looking for apartments too, which is difficult finding one that meets all of the mission requirements. Friday we also went to lunch and our pensionista was balling. We asked her what was wrong and she just told us to look into the living room. Her son was in there with most of the local alcoholics and they were completely wasted. We talked with her all during lunch and before we left I gave her a blessing. But with all of this happening it's definitely been an interesting week.

You know, I hadn't realized that I had seen the gospel strengthen families so much until I read that. It's very true, the gospel produces miracles. I have to tell you about Freddy though. Because in the end, he did leave. The week after I wrote that email we went to their house and their son came to the door. I asked if his dad was home and he told me "No, yesterday he hit my mom and then they were yelling for a long time and then he left with all of his things." That killed me. Up until now that's still been the hardest trial I've had on my mission, knowing that I could've helped this family but in the end we failed. I cried that night, and I still pray for them. I left right after so I don't know what's going on anymore. The last thing I saw was Freddy leaving his wife and kids.

But that's the past. No use crying over spilled milk. Got to focus on the here and now, especially since I have a lot to learn these coming weeks.

December 7, 2015

Another week of no group email from Jeremy. Here's some of what he wrote to me and his mom.

My district is baptizing a lot though! Honestly when I found out I was DL of a bunch of sisters I was not excited at all. The sisters in my district are amazing though, they work so hard. The other day I had to go over to give a baptismal interview, and the hermana who's getting baptized was beyond ready. She's going to be baptized this week :) After the interview I came out and my comp and the hermanas were all teaching a lesson together. I couldn't leave without my companion and he was right in the middle of the lesson, so I just joined in. We ended up with 4 missionaries teaching the plan of salvation there. It was actually kind of cool, I like seeing how the hermanas teach. They definitely have different insights than us elders do.

So there's a recent convert in the branch named Frederick. We've been visiting him and his little brother Bruno who's an investigator, but we wanted to talk with their mom to ask for permission to continue teaching Bruno. He's only 12 so we've gotta be careful there. We were talking with her and she actually started crying during the lesson. She told us how she felt like she wasn't there for her kids that much since she has to work a lot and she was just so worried about them. She then thanked us for coming over, because since her sons started learning the gospel their whole family dynamic has changed and their family has come closer. We're planning on asking the zone leaders for permission to baptize Bruno and next Saturday we're going to go start the lessons with their mom. I'm so happy for them though, and the way the gospel has strengthened their family. It was a devout catholic woman who had never met with the missionaries who confessed that change thanks to the church, and now that she's open to meet with us I feel like they're going to see even more blessings. That's going to be cool :)

November 30, 2015

No group email again. Here is what he sent to me and his mom:

I'm glad to hear you guys had a good thanksgiving! There's a gringa in our branch named Elizabeth who lives in Pisac and she actually invited us over for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. She made turkey, pumpkin pie, the works. Unfortunately we couldn't go, we already had appointments for Thursday. Yesterday in church she started hassling us a bit, "You guys missed out, I made extra just for you and it was delicious" It was pretty funny. Afterwards a member named Roger started listening and he goes "Hermana you made turkey? And pie? I want pie too, when can we go cook together?" He also told me to find a brownie recipe to go along with it. So it's very possible that we end up making our own thanksgiving dinner one of these Mondays.

I miss decorating the tree with you guys. Last year Elder Thompson and I bought a lot of Christmas lights for our room, and when we took them down I ended up keeping them all. They've been packed away in my suitcase all year but later today I'm going to hang them up. That's gonna be fun, we've been listening to Christmas music all week and with the lights set up it'll really help usher in the holiday season.

So this week we had something really scary. My comp is epileptic, but he's been taking this preventative medication that works fairly well, so that's never been a problem before. Last monday however, he didn't take his pills when he should have and Tuesday morning he had two seizures during our studies. That really scared me, I had no idea what to do or how to help him. The thing is there isn't really anything I can do to help him, I just need to make sure he doesn't fall over. But it scared the crap out of me, I really hope it doesn't happen again.

I love you Mom. Only 26 days until we see each other! It's weird to think that next Thanksgiving I'll be home and I'll be able to eat the turkey and go to the pie party and black Friday shopping and all that jazz. Time flies!

 

Dad,

Happy thanksgiving! I was reading your letter and the first thing I thought of was "I like to eat turkey, cuz it's good. I like turkey like a good boy should" Sounds like you guys had a good time. It's so weird for me to think that next Thanksgiving I'll be there with you. Time flies. Bryce wrote me and just told me how cute Elsie is. He says that she's walking everywhere. I'm excited to see her and Emmett. I only saw Elsie once before I left and Emmett was born the day after so I feel like I'm missing out on a lot. They're going to be so big though!

I was so frustrated that day, when I couldn't speak English. Sometimes I feel like I don't speak English or Spanish now and I just hope and pray that people understand all the stupid things I say. Really it's sad how bad it's gotten. The other day we met some tourists in Cusco and they were talking about some ruins that they went to and I didn't understand anything for a good minute or so. That's when I realized they weren't speaking in Spanish and had to try and adjust to English again. Just promise you don't make fun of me when I get home because it's going to be a hard adjustment.

We're going to try to have a baptism in the morning :)

 

November 23, 2015

No group email this week. Some things Jeremy mentioned to me and his mom.

Things are going alright here. My interview with President did help me a lot. I don't know, I kinda felt like I was just here so that we could punish another elder or something but one of the first things President told me was that my change caught him by surprise but it's what the Lord wanted. That simple sentence helped a lot. I did have an interesting experience though, two of the Hermanas in my district are brand new and are still learning Spanish. One of them was fairly sick on Saturday and took advantage of the fact that we were in Urubamba asking us to give her a blessing. That's fine, but she asked me to do it in English. That was super hard for me, I'd never given a blessing in English before and I was seriously just translating what I would've said in Spanish. It was Spanish grammar and everything, it was pretty embarrassing. She got better though, which is good :)

We had an alright week this week. It was a little hard, our investigator with a baptismal date fell through, we haven't seen him in a couple of weeks now. We're finding new people though and I'm excited to see their progress. At the beginning of the year President put a goal of 1200 baptisms in all the mission for the year of 2015. As of Oct 1 we were only at 406. That means that every companionship needs to have 8 baptisms by the end of the year. I really hope we can do it. I don't know how, but President promised us it was possible and I felt the spirit when he made that promise. I know it's possible, we just need to work our butts off.

In 32 days we're going to Skype! Hooray!

November 16, 2015

No group email from Jeremy today. Here are the emails he wrote to me and his mom.

Mom,

To be honest the thing that excites me the most from what you wrote this week is that I can see Kaitlyn's plays when I get back. It's funny how much that excites me too, I didn't realize I missed that stuff so much. All I know is that first thing I go do with Kaitlyn, we're going to go see a musical.

I realized this morning that Thanksgiving was coming up. I was looking at the calendar in our pensionista's house and it just hit me all of a sudden "We're in November! Thanksgiving's next week!" My comp just looks at me and says "Oh yeah. Cool" Peruvians just don't understand the magic of a day full of food. I'm more excited for Christmas though. I started counting down the days, and the other day I told my pension "There's only 44 days until Christmas!" She turns and says "43 elder. I'm counting down too" She's the funniest little lady. My pension's like your stereotypical grandma, she's just always happy, she does little crafts, she even made cookies the other day.

I didn't hear anything about Paris. What's happened? Sometimes it shocks me how disconnected I am to the rest of the world.

So today for Pday we got together with a bunch of elders from Cusco and the hermanas from Urubamba and went to some ruins that are about an hour and a half from Calca. We got up there, took a lot of photos, then Elder Ard says that there was more higher up on the mountain. So basically we all started bushwacking up this mountain, and it was ridiculous. There were cacti everywhere and there was literally no path we were just climbing straight up. We got to this one part where Hermana David cut herself pretty good on a rock and started bleeding. She was a bit ahead of me, but I still saw it happen and soon enough I could feel my blood pressure dropping. I tried just telling myself that I wasn't sick, sometimes I can talk myself out of it like that, but it was no use. Elder Salazar saw me and he says "Thacker you're sick. Sit down right now." I laid down on a rock right off the path (still on the side of the mountain), actually ended up puking, and then I was fine. It was pretty embarrassing though. I really hate that I do that, I wish it didn't happen.

When I was with Ard we just talked about Quillabamba the whole time. He was there when I first got there and we lived together for about 3 months. I miss those times. It also made me miss Mama Chana. I love that even here in another country, far away from all you guys, I have family here in the members. I'm so grateful for those guys and everything they do for us.

I love you Mom. In about 6 weeks we'll be talking! Can't wait :)

Jeremy

 

Dad,

It is in the Sacred Valley. It's weird to see that name in English, it's always been Valle Sagrado. I'm actually DL over all of the Valle so in the little amount of time that I'm here I've gotten to know most of it already. It's gorgeous here, if I ever get the chance to take you guys to Peru we're visiting Valle Sagrado and Quillabamba for sure, they're two of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

To get to Machu Picchu you usually get on a bus in a town called Pisac, which is also part of my area. I actually remember a Spanish assignment I had where we had to plan a trip to Machu Picchu and I talked about Calca and Pisac. Now I'm living there which is weird to think about. I'm not going anytime soon though. We're planning a trip in August with all of the elders from my group and I want to go then with those guys. If we actually get to do it then it's gonna be sweet, there's nobody else I'd rather go with.

I actually feel a little troubled with my change. I don't know if I'm here so much because it's where the Lord needed me or if I'm here simply because they had to send a wicked elder to Choquehuanca. Because that's how the assisstants made it sound. Elder Martin was supposed to come here and be dl but they found out he had a couple problems and sent him to Choquehuanca. To me that makes it seem like Choquehuanca's a punishment, and I'm just here to fill in a gap. We actually have interviews with President tomorrow and I'm hoping to talk with him about all of that. Maybe he can help clarify the situation.

My week here was really boring too. Pday today was fun, I wrote Mom about everything that we did. If you haven't read her email yet you should. That's easier than explaining it again. I'm just hoping to work really hard this week, honestly our numbers from this last week were downright embarrassing. I've gotta make up for that.

Love you dad. A little less than 6 weeks until Christmas!

 

November 9, 2015

Well, this has been a crazy week. Something that I didn't tell you guys last week was that it was transfers! I didn't mention anything because both Elder Aguilar and I were staying in Choquehuanca. So we got back to Choquehuanca Monday night, Tuesday was a normal day, then Wednesday during the studies the zone leaders call us. Our conversation went something like this:

Elder Heslop: "Hey Elder Thacker, how are you doing?"

Me: "I'm doing great, how are you?"

Heslop: "Just fine. And how has your morning been? Enjoying the studies?"

Me: "My morning has been just peachy."

Heslop: "That's good, I'm glad you've had a good morning. And speaking of, your morning's about to get a lot more exciting!"

Me: "Um ok. Why? What's going on?"

Heslop: "You're having a change! We don't know where you're headed or why you're leaving but President just called and said that you should pack your bags and he wants to talk to you tonight in Cusco."

So with that, I hurried and packed my bags and then left. We got to Cusco fairly late that night, around 9 and went straight to the office since they told me I had to talk with President. Well, President wasn't there but the assistants were and they explained everything to me. I was going to have a change to Calca, this little town in Valle Sagrado about an hour from Cusco. My new comp is Elder Herrera and I needed to leave the next day.

I've been in Calca for 3 or 4 days now and I'm loving it! It's so beautiful and we have a lot of people to teach. Most of my time here was just spent meeting people so I don't have any cool spiritual experiences to share with you guys, but that's been the most exciting thing this week.

Sorry there's no cool stories! I'll be better next week. Hope to hear from you guys!

Elder Thacker

P.S. I now hold a mission record. Most of the gringos who go to Choquehuanca stay there for 5 changes (about 7 months). Elder Van Uitert, who I replaced, was the gringo who had been there the shortest amount of time. He stayed only 3 changes (a little more than 4 months). But not anymore. I am now the missionary (counting both gringos and Latinos) who's been the shortest amount of time there, with 2 changes and 1 day. (3 months) Nobody could believe it, not even me!