PERU!!

Hola familia!

Well I am here in Peru! I made it safely! This is kind of loco. I've met some of the other elders here and pretty much no one besides the elders I flew in with speak English. I'm a little nervous because of it, but I'm way excited! The Peru MTC is soo nice! It's way better than the Provo MTC. Everything here just looks nicer and feels nicer, even though it's all in Spanish. It is also a ton smaller though. There are like 3 buildings here and a nice court yard and the sports area, but that's it. It's so cool to be in Peru! This is my first time out of the country that I can remember and it's pretty sweet. I understand a lot more than I thought I was going to. And I think our district in Provo progressed very quickly in learning Spanish compared to other districts because I seem to know more than the other guys here. I really hope I don't have to drive in Ecuador though. If it's anything like here I'd probably die. No one seems to obey traffic rules and I'm surprised I didn't see any accidents cause it was pretty crazy. The weather here is so nice. It's a little humid, but it's nice and cool and it's been overcast since we got here. We also got to drive past the temple on our way here and that was cool to see. It's a way nice temple and I'm excited to get a chance to go through it! I haven't met my companion yet, but I'm like 99% positive I'm getting paired up with a native speaker. That will make communicating with him a little tough, but I think I'll learn a lot faster that way.

Oh also on the plane ride from Miami to Peru I sat next to a lady who was a Jehovah's Witness. We didn't really talk until the last hour of the flight, but then we started talking a little about the Bible. I got to explain to her kind of what us LDS members believe and she explained to me a little of what she believed. It was a little difficult becuase we kept going back and forth between Spanish and English, but we were able to talk for a while. It made me realize how little I do know of the Bible and how much more I need to learn about it. She could just bust out a random scripture from the Old Testament and ask me to read it. It wasn't like a "Bible-bash" sesh or anything, but it made me realize I have a lot to learn about the scriptures. It was a cool experience though and I got to share with here a bit about what us LDS members believe.

I want you to know I love you soo much! Thank you for everything you've done for me! The package you sent was perfect and I was so so grateful for all the letters! It was great to hear from the siblings and cousins and it sounds like everyone is doing well. Make sure and tell all the kids I love them and miss them a ton! But I know I'm doing the right thing and I'm having a ton of fun too!

Thanks to all my friends and family for the packages and letters too! It has been awesome to hear from everyone and see how they are doing!

We got a paper that says please don't send packages to the MTC here in Peru because it costs a lot or something. You can send letters though, but I'm not sure if it's the way where you just fold the piece of paper or use an envelope. Either way if you could I'd still love to get letters!

Well I'm sure I forgot something, but just know I am doing well and way excited to be here! My P-day is on Wednesdays so I will email you in another week more about what I've been doing here and anything I forgot. I love you all soo much and miss you all! I'm in Peru!!

Con amor,

Elder Joshua Lee