Sechura 1

Elder Bradley, Elder Inocente, and Me

(Elder Bradley was Elder Inocente's previous companion)

Hola Familia!

I am in Area Sechura 1. Zone Castilla. My companion is Elder Inocente. And, this is it! I am in the field!! Holy smokes....

Ok, well, Spanish is killer. I mean, I understand a lot, and Elder Inocente says I am really well compared to other North Americans. I am convinced there is a switch in my brain that randomly turns on or off, and sometimes I can understand almost everything, and other times it's nothing at all. But I only have 6 days out here, I shouldn't get frustrated. But I will admit, I really break down sometimes.

Elder Inocente is a jokester. I would love that if I understood what he was always saying. But he is great! He can be so loving for me, and all the members seem to love him, he is very personable, and loves children. He is going to start really working with me with Spanish which I am so grateful for. I am working to be better, I fasted to have the gift of tongues, and I think an answer I got is quit worrying about yourself and go to work, and serve your companion. So I am going to start being better for him. haha

As for the work, if all goes well, we have a baptism next Sunday! Diana, is 11, and they challenged her to baptism before I was here. If I understood Elder Inocente correctly, there are 2 places to do baptisms: the river, or the ocean. The ocean is a 30 minute moto ride.

Here, we don't even use referrals really, all of our work mostly consists of menos activos y conversos reciente (less active and recent converts). And then we are also searching for new investigators through the branch directory.

It is a branch here for all of Sechura, with 80 members, but I think maybe 50 of us attend at most. It is really small. There are 4 misionaries for Sechura and we all go to that branch. I also teach English lessons there on Saturday nights at 7, but last time nobody came because I don't think anyone knew...

One thing that happened this week that was kinda a sweet thing, We were teaching a family with a youth member and an old investigator, and one of the other daughters looked JUST like Ensley to me! A Peruvian Ensley! Her name is Flor, and I don't know, maybe I just miss home and my eyes are playing tricks, or she looked a lot like her! But either way, I thought that was really something! haha

Oh, Uncle Bryan, where in Guatemala did you serve? My companion is from the northwest of Guatemala!

Our apartment is nice, it's just me and my comp there, and it has concrete floor. When we kneel to pray, we kneel on the chairs or beds because the floor is just always dusty. Everything here is! And the bathroom is nice, every morning I have a wonderful shower with one temperature, Cold. haha It wakes me up though, and that is really good!

Today we went to Catacoas for a zone get together, which is right outside Piura. We played some smaller games, and it was fun! and the best part was probably seeing ELDER MILLER there, and see how he was doing! I miss all my old comps and friends from the CCM, I took the CCM way too much for granted... haha!

But yeah, my companion is 18 months into his mission!

The food here is great! I have actually grown to LOVE rice!! The next thing to learn to love... Potatoes. haha But the food our Pensionista cooks is delicious! It's one of my favorite parts of the day, she makes great food! It also typically includes three scoops of rice with it. hahaha!

I am always The Gringo out here. Kids love to point me out. People take pictures too. Once even during a lesson!! haha it's fun.

It depends on who I'm talking to, but sometimes I can understand Spanish really well! The District Leader, a Latino from Lima speaks in a way to really easily understand. 

The president of the mission is AWESOME! I love him, he is a great man. I hope I can get to know him better as the mission goes along.

We have had only one meal at a member's house other than with Hermana Mara, and that was with our laundry lady, also a member. She served us rice and potatoes and carrots with some meat, and it was very tasty!! I was looking forward to a great story to tell, but it wasn't anything terribly wacky! haha Mostly just a ton of rice here!

Bueno, my time is up! Rats!! Well, I love you all SO SO SO much!! I will talk to you again next Monday!!

Oh! With letters and packages, send it to the mission home, but also put the mission president's name above mine! It will get to me with or without it though. :)

I love you all! In 1 Nephi when Lehi's family was commanded to travel into the desert, that's ME right now!! I will send pics next week! I love you all!! have a FANTASTIC week!!

Con mucho mucho amor,

Elder Russell

When Collin sent me these pictures of his apartment he said, 

"Don't flip out, it's different from home. haha!" 

The bedroom

The bathroom

The kitchen 

 The study area