December 15, 2014

Ok, I've got to explain the subject line before I say anything about the rest of my week. The lady that we live with, Mamita, has like 5 dogs but one of them (Kenji) died on saturday. It was hit by a car, then an hour later Mamita had to come speak in stake conference and she was on the verge of tears during her whole talk which was super sad. So this whole weekend we've been mourning Kenji and just trying to comfort La Mamita. It's ok though, because families are forever and we know that she'll see Kenji again. I was especially sad on saturday because I had let Kenji out that morning, so I thought it was my fault that he died... Turns out it happened several hours later though, and it wasn't my fault at all so I do feel a little better.

Aside from that it feels like we've just spent the whole week in meetings. On friday President came and we had a multi-zone Christmas program, which was super fun. I got to see a lot of missionaries I had met in the CCM, which was really cool being able to talk to them and see how they're doing. We also had a white elephant. We were told to get a gift worth about 10 soles, so last P-Day we went to find presents. I brought colored pencils but Elder Thompson was looking for the weirdest thing possible and ended up buying pet diapers. When we got there everyone ended up getting fairly nice presents like hats or candy or whatever, except for one elder from one of the other zones who ended up with dog diapers. He was a good sport about it though, and took it really well. After the white elephant we all sat down and sang Christmas carols and the zone leaders were able to share their testimonies. It was really spiritual, and probably the highlight of my mission so far.

On Saturday we had interviews with President from 8 AM until 1. While we were waiting for our interviews the assistants talked to us about companionship inventory, how to conduct a baptismal interview, and tips on contacting families. The best part though was right at the end when Hermana Harbertson gave a little english class. Most of our zone is American, so we all just chatted while the latinos were working with her. After that we had stake conference from 4-6, then another session from 7-9. Sunday morning we were able to bring Grover and Rosa to the session, and they seemed really impressed.

Well, that was my week. Hope you're all doing well.