July 25, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Sounds like it's been pretty hot in logan! Most days are like 60 here but it's the winter so I'm a little scared for the summers. This week was kind of a slow week. Lots of classes and things getting ready to leave the CCM because we only have 4 days left here!! I'm SO excited but also really nervous. I'm really happy we don't have to fly to our mission because I don't want to worry about how much my bags weigh but we do have to take about a 6 hour bus ride to our mission home. We leave really early tuesdaymorning so if you don't get an email from me for awhile it's because our P-days switched. Also here's the address to my mission home so send any letters there for the next few weeks.

Hermana Kelsey Benson

Misión Perú Lima Norte

Av. Carlos Izaguirre 124

Centro de Estaca de Tahuantinsuyo

Independencia, Lima 28, Perú

When I'm in the CCM I feel like my spanish is pretty good. But when we go outside I honestly have no idea what they are talking about half the time. They talk so fast and most the people are missing a lot of their teeth and so their words are kind of slurred which makes it so much harder. They are all so friendly though and willing to repeat things multiple times and act things out until we understand. The funniest thing is when we go out and everyone is speaking spanish and then all the sudden someone says something to us in english we usually just stand there and stare at them for a second like we have no idea what they just said because it doesn't register that it was in english. The people also like to show us they know some english so it's funny when they will say something short to us in english and when we reply you can tell they have no idea what we said.

Well this is a pretty boring letter but I'm sure my next one will be a lot more exciting and I'll be able to tell you about my actual mission. Hope everything is going well! Love you guys!

Love,

Hermana Benson

Here's my whole district. Hermana Brito, Hermana Hawks, Hermana Moe, Me, Our teacher Hermano Flores, Hermana Vargas, Herman Leavitt, Hermana Jacobsen and Hermana Skelton. And then on the bottom starting at the left Elder Gray, Elder Rutter, Elder Perryman, and Elder Coones (I think thats how it goes anyway)

July 18, 2013

¡Hola!

Can you believe I've been out for a month! So crazy! And I only have 12 days left in the MTC. But I officially love Peru! The people are awesome and I have a neat experiences everyday! This week my favorite experience was proselyting! Usually they split companionships up so there is a latino sister in each companionship but we have so many North Americans that we just had to go alone. The spanish was kind of a struggle but it was such a neat experience. The people here are so kind and loving. And they are almost always willing to listen to us for a minute which I'm sure isn't true in other missions. In all me and my companion talked to ten people and eight of them agreed to let the missionaries back. We also were able to give out all 4 copies of the Book of Mormon they gave us and about 12 pamphlets. One thing that was kind of crazy is we went proselyting right under the hill that's on my cover photo on facebook. The first person we talked to was one of my favorites. His name was Ignacio and at first he was very quiet and gave us one word answers but by the end he was laughing and joking with us. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon for probably 30 minutes. And he was actually the one who asked us where he could learn more so I guess you could say it was a very good first experience. We also taught a lady named Beatrize who at first told us she was busy. We asked if we could give her a pamphlet though and she agreed. When I gave it to her I asked if she believed in eternal families and she said no. My heart broke for her but we were both able to bear our testimonies to her and she ended up letting us in to teach her! It was really cool and we were able to make a time for the missionaries to teach her. It was really humbling because the floor in her house looked about like the sidewalk. A sheet seperated her front room from the rest of her house and there was no furniture. The people here are just so humble and loving!

 

Another place I love talking to people is the temple. The ladies who work there are so cute! Most of them are about 5 feet tall and they are so good to us. Whenever we go they have to bring out multiple dresses trying to find one tall enough for us and then after we put one on and come out the usually make us change because they´re to short. They always just say "mas alto, mas alto" whenever they see us. We also have to where the mens slippers because they don't have enough of the womens sizes for us because their feet are so small.

 

We also went to migration this week. I'm officially legal now. Migration was about an hour away which was cool because we got to see more of Peru. We went into the major part of the city and got to see the Palace and the Palace of Justice. Both buildings are so pretty and look like they're straight from Europe. The traffic was even crazier there though then it is in La Molina. And people literally walk down the middle of the streets when the cars are stopped selling drinks and candy. We also passed their soccer stadium which is huge!! The actual migration part was pretty boring though, it was pretty much like a really busy DMV in spanish.

 

Apparently there was an earthquake this week but we were out playing volleyball and didn't even feel it so that was to bad. I also got a pretty good black eye playing volleyball. I dove for a ball and another Hermana went for it as well so my eye hit her knee. We told the President the ball hit me so he didn't think we were getting to competitive though. Haha sshhh it's a secret.

 

I hope things are going well for everyone at home and that you're enjoying the sunshine!

 

Love,

Hermana Benson

July 11, 2013

Hola!

Not much happened this week. It was pretty average filled with class and studying. We get to go to the temple and shopping later today though.We also get to go proselyting out in some of the cities surrounding Lima. I'm really excited but nervous because we still don't know that much spanish.

The spanish is coming but we know a lot more gospel words than anything else. We are really good at praying, bearing testiomonies, and teaching gospel lessons but our everday conversations still leave a little to be desired. I'm starting to feel a little pressure as far as spanish goes because today we are over half way done at the MTC!

We still play soccer a lot but we've also picked up playing sand volleyball. Some of the sisters in our district are really good. They've even taught me how to jump serve. We did have a lesson on diving though and that didn't go as well. They kind of explained it but she didn't think I would full out dive so they might have skipped a few steps. Needless to say I dove way farther and higher than you're supposed to and the sand isn't quite like landing on grass. It was really funny though and gave us something to laugh about.

I still love my district. One of the pictures I'm sending you is of all the people in our district except for two I think. They kind of become your family in the MTC because you're with them all day. We even eat together and play sports together during physical activity. One of the Elders in our district is really into lifting and working out. He's super nice and his name is Elder Gray. So he has starting Elder Gray's gym at the MTC. It's really funny because he just works out our whole district for like 20 minutes everyday and some of the Elders from other districts have joined as well.

I hope everything is going well for everyone at home. I feel like the time is just flying by! Be safe!

Love,

Hermana Benson

July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July everyone!!

Hope you guys are all having fun and being safe! I'm really starting to love Peru!! The people here are so kind. Today we were walking out of a grocery store and a guy ran all the way down the stairs to shake our hand and thank us for coming there to share the gospel. And whenever a members sees us they always stop and talk to us! Even a lot of non members like to talk to us. The people here think we are all really pretty just because we have light skin. When we pass moms with their children they often say things like que bonita, which means ¨they're pretty¨. This last week Peru celebrated their 100th stake. Todd Christofferson came and spoke to the people as well as at the MTC and we all got to shake his hand and chat with him briefly. They had a big celebration with dances and everything which was neat!

So remember how I said they had hot water . . well i lied . . kind of. They do have hot water but it changes about every ten seconds literally. It goes from scorching hot to freezing cold. So you just have to keep stepping in and out. In better news, I do like a lot of the food. They have these rolls called caramandukas which kind of remind me of texas roadhouse because they're sweet and I absolutely love them. They also have amazing churros here. They aren´t really like our churros though, they have caramel in them. And my favorite think here are these fruit chew things called frugelés! They´re kind of like peach rings but better!

The spanish is coming a long alright. I always pray in spanish and I´m pretty comfortable bearing my testimony and teaching gospel lessons, everyday conversations are a little harder though. All of our lessons throughout the day are taught in spanish now which can be pretty exhausting because you pretty much have to translate in your mind all day. Hope everythings going good for you guys!

If you want to write me the best way is through the pouch.

Hermana Kelsey Benson

Lima Perú MTC

P.O. Box 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130

Love,

Hermana Benson