February 2, 2015

This has been the craziest week! So up until thursday we were working hard, same old mission life, just trying our best to help the people in Puno. Then Thursday night right as we were getting ready for bed we got a call from the zone leaders. "Elder Thacker, you have a change. You're going to Quillabamba tomorrow morning. Your new companion will be Elder Santillan." I couldn't believe it, I was so shocked. Most elders stay in an area for 4 or 5 changes, but I had only been in Puno for a little more than 2. So thursday night I stayed up until about midnight packing, Friday morning I went and said goodbye to a couple members, and then I left. I spent all day Friday on a bus to Cusco, then the office elders were supposed to pick me up at the terminal. Well, I get to the terminal and there's nobody there. I actually ended up meeting some members who lived in Cusco, and they called the missionaries from their ward so that somebody would come. We waited about fifteen minutes, then the office elders showed up and took me to the office. I spent the night there with them, then Saturday morning got in a car for Quillabamba. When I got here my new comp and two other elders came and picked me up, and since then I've just been trying to adjust to everything. I'm now in a branch called Santa Ana. There's 4 elders working there, and we all live together which is really fun. Quillabama's beautiful too, it's just getting into the jungle so there's a lot of plant life and more animals. It's also very hot, which is the exact opposite of Puno. My new companion, Elder Santillan, is from Ecuador. It's been a little weird trying to adjust to things with him, but I feel like we're going to get along fairly well. He's also going to help me a lot with my spanish. The other two elders here are named Elder Ard and Elder Cortijo. Elder Ard is from my group, and he and I have become fairly good friends. Elder Cortijo's pretty cool too, but he's kind of reserved so I haven't got to know him very well yet. I've only been here a couple of days though, so I'm sure things will pick up. So that's where I'm at now, just trying to adjust to a new sector, new companion. It's crazy, but I do think I'm going to like it here.