February 8, 2016

Ahhhh! Internet is so slow this week! Sorry!

This week was insane as usual andddd TODAY I have FIVE MONTHS on the mission. That is absolutely crazy times ten and I do not feel like I have that long, but such it is.

This week in food:

We had delicious empanadas again but this time the casing was completely fried yucca with mixed veggies and chicken inside. It was so yummy and I actually really like yucca. We have it in basically everything - as a side with chicken, in soups (yes they eat soup here, we actually have soup quite a bit, you just sit there sweating eating your soup and drinking your tea. It´s an odd experience to say the least), and straight up little fried yucca balls that are like salted grapefruit cereal. We also had dinner with a member and they served us the basics - a pile of rice, regional chicken, and potatoes, and an egg. But this egg was different because it was an egg that had not yet been ejected by the chicken so it cooked within the chicken. My comp got an egg that was basically fully formed and she had to break the skin seal around it that had not yet become the shell. Mine, on the other hand, seemed like it was just a yolk, but it was the early stages of the egg. Very strange. 10/10 Would not repeat. We had the whole life cycle on our plates!

This Sunday was also Carnaval! It was insane as to be expected. So insane, in fact, we were not allowed to leave our houses. We went to church and then straight home, where we stayed until Monday morning. It was the first day I have actually not proselyted. It was so odd. We went home after church and slept and studied and just chilled basically. I took a three hour nap without waking and slept the full hours during the night. It was the first time I´ve actually caught up on my sleep!

We watched the Carnaval festivities from the balcony and we had a front row seat because our street had a lot of craziness. People just had full barrels of water and threw buckets on the motos that passed by, poured buckets on each other, danced, threw water balloons, and colored everyone with colored clay that they put on their faces and hands and colored the water to throw on people. It was a very wet and colorful display. Also, Saturday they set up umshas, which are huge palm trees that they cut down and put up in front of their houses. They braid the leaves and make a little structure up top and hang all sorts of things - mostly plastic bins and containers and buckets of all sorts, fabrics, toys, fruits, etc. They erect the tree in front of their house and then Sunday in the late afternoon they all dance around the tree hacking it with an ax every once in a while until the tree collapses. Then, everyone rushes the fallen tree and collects whatever treasure they can and takes it for themselves. It was absolute madness. I could not believe it. I felt like I was living in a movie, it was crazy. It was kind of like an amazonian piñata.

That was pretty much our week. We also have heard about Zika momma.They have the fumigation every three months so they should be coming around again soon. Apparently we are on alert in Perú, they thought someone brought it in from Venezuela but it was a false alarm. Who knows. It´s hard to be in the loop when you can´t watch the news or read the newspaper. They had an announcement in our zone meeting that was like ya it´s really scary, and you are going to think you have dengue but it is really going to cause scary birth defects for your future children. Solution? None offered, we were just reminded of the rule of putting on repellent everyday, which I do anyways. I have already gone through four bottles. Whoo!

As for my testimony, it has definitely changed. I feel so much more confident in my beliefs now and I have seen how this gospel changes lives. I will be forever grateful for this experience. I think not having the priesthood hasn´t really been an issue for me here. There are frustrating times, when you can´t find someone to give a blessing, you can´t be a witness and no one else showed up, coordinating so that priesthood will be present. And there are kind of awkward times when you ask them who they want to baptize them and they say you--. But, mostly I have seen the power of the priesthood and I am grateful for it. Mostly the mission has made me reflect on how great it was to have the priesthood in our home and how I miss getting blessings from Dad or having a Bishop who I could rely on.

Also this week it finally rained! So much! For three days. It was so nice because it has been sumamente recontra hot!

Love you all so much!

¡Hasta el siguiente!

Hermana Fitz