"Well, today for p-day we took a trip as a zone to this place like an hour from Cajamarca called La Granja Porcon, which has a zoo in it, so, that was kinda fun. I was way weirded out because the whole drive there looked so much like Oregon, it was ridiculous. Except the trees were shorter... Psh, everything's shorter in Peru."

Home.

I feel like I had a whole ton of random things that I wanted to tell you this week, but, I probably should have written them down in a list or something, because, I don't remember them. Soo.... I'll be lookin' through my journal to see what kinds of stuff I can tell you about this past week...

Ooh, first of all, I actually got mail this week! A batch from April 28th (that is so long ago!!), and another batch from May 12th. So, that's weird, because there's a missing week. But, I guess it’s okay. There aren't that many weeks left that we have to deal with this (I freaked myself out the other day when I realized how few weeks I have left of my mission...).

Well, today for p-day we took a trip as a zone to this place like an hour from Cajamarca called La Granja Porcon, which has a zoo in it, so, that was kinda fun. I was way weirded out because the whole drive there looked so much like Oregon, it was ridiculous. Except the trees were shorter... Psh, everything's shorter in Peru. Anyway, it was a whole lotta fun. Not so much for the animals, but just bein' with the other missionaries. One thing that I don't know if it’s good or not (but I enjoy it) is that in this zone there are a ton of North Americans, and so we talk a whole lotta English on p-days. Probably good practice for a few months down the road. I got pretty burnt on my neck. Possibly it will hurt pretty bad tomorrow. Maybe.

AT THE ZOO

"This was the most American thing I could think of doing with this llama...offering it Mountain Dew."

Today Hermana Celia made us tacos too. YUM YUM YUM! They were very Peruvian though. Not exactly what I was expecting. But, I still have a few packets left of Taco Bell hot sauce that you sent me for Christmas, and I put some of that on there, and it tasted sooooooooooooooo Taco Bell. PS, yesterday Elder Martin and I were talking about how much we miss Mexican food. I MISS MEXICAN FOOD MORE THAN BASICALLY ANY FOOD (except my fave burgers). You know, Crunchwrap Supremes, Cinnamon Twists, Mountain Dew Baja Blast. That is some quality Mexican food right there. Also Elder Greene made me jealous the other day because he said that before he came to the mission Taco Bell released Doritos Tacos. I WANT THEM.

This week was rough (do I say that every week?). We are just not having any luck getting into houses these days! Not even with people who we set appointments with! This week started out good. Tuesday we rocked it with a solid four lessons. That's maybe not super impressive depending on where you are, but for us, that was a big deal. Plus, it was only a half day of work because the entire morning we were in our zone meeting. So, that was a good way to start off the week. After that the week sorta went downhill. It was still one of our better weeks, but it should have been so much better! Saturday and Sunday killed us, we taught basically nothing on those days. One fun thing about this week was that we had a work visit with the ZLs. Elder Thomson came to my area with me and Elder Trochez went off to who-knows-where with Elder Martin. That was a fun day. It was a fairly good day work-wise too. Though we only had two lessons with investigators. Had some good visits with members too who offered to go out and visit people with us one o' these days. Rad. Man, I would really love to have a gringo comp. I want that to happen.

I have not been sleeping well again. I don't know what's up. Everyone says it’s probably stress, but I'm not stressed. In Picsi I was stressed. Not here! So, I dunno what's up. I have been very tired all week because of it.

We went to visit our ex-mission leader the other day (we just got a new mission leader). It was an lol visit because he just started talking about music and how his favorite music is hardcore and metal. Haha. Gotta admit, I do like talking about that stuff, but, probably not the most productive visit we've had. It was just a few minutes though because it was late and his little boy was sick, so we didn't really get to talk about anything important.

Ooh! When Elder Thomson came to work with me for the day, we pulled out our ward list (which is super unorganized and super out of date) and started looking for members that we don't know to go visit. Well, best thing ever, we found a member who's name is Adolfo Hitler, and we were like "we have to go to this guy's house." So, we knocked his door, but, nobody was home. Sad time. What kind of parents names their kid Adolf Hitler?! (Actually, didn't that happen no that long ago in the US? I totally remember hearing about that.) I hope to find him one of these days.

This week I went to go interview a kid named Cristhian for baptism. Interviewing kids is the funnest, and easiest. Passed. Got baptized on Saturday. Really funny kid. He's now a member of our ward.

Here's a nice slice of journal entries from the week:

06/05/13

Its mega late... Bleh. I'm super tired.

06/07/13

My body is exhausted, and I don't know why. My bed has never felt so comfortable.

06/08/13

I'm dying of tired. I have to go to sleep right now.

06/09/13

And thus ends one of the most tiring weeks of my life... And not because I worked especially hard. Just because I am not sleeping well.

Lololol my journal.

Ooh dewd one day Limhi made us BANANA BREAD. He makes us all kinds of things that don't normally exist in Peru, because he's a chef. One day he's gonna make chocolate chip cookies. I haven't had one single chocolate chip cookie in all my time in Peru. I'm pretty sure that's an unforgivable sin or something.

Speaking of sins, in Peru, we totally do not keep the Word of Wisdom. What about that whole "eat meat sparingly" part? We eat meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, desert, snack time, second breakfast, etc. here. It's stupid. And I love meat. But it's stupid.

Had another sw33t lesson with that guy I told you about before, Herbert. We taught s'more about the Plan of Salvation, and he just always loves everything we teach him. He's reading a whole lot of his Libro de Mormón. He's so rad. Came to church with us again this Sunday, and came to Cristhian's baptism on Saturday. During the lesson we invited him to get baptized on June 22nd. He said he wasn't sure, but that he'd think about it and pray about it. I dun' even care bro, if he doesn't get baptized on the 22nd. Because if it's not that day, it'll be some other day. He's for sure gonna get baptized. He's awesome.

Well, that's a lot of scattered thoughts I just had about how this week was. Fairly normal. We have some good people we're teaching, but they all have some problem that prevents them from going to church or getting baptized or doing anything.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I got for this week. This e-mail is kinda all over the place, but whatever. I sure hope I get more mail this week! Though I've grown accustomed to not getting any. We shall see tomorrow I suppose. Thanks for still remembering that I exist! Even if it takes over 9000 years for your mail to get to me!

I miss you guys a lot! I will see you soon! See ya!

-Elder Victor Paul Hemsley

Here's some more pictures Victor sent this week (you can see the rest by clicking on the slideshow at the top of this blog):

"This flag is super authentic.  Peru is king of quality."

"Legit play structure at the zoo."

"Goin' down this sick slide with Elder Lattin. Somehow I turned into a midget."

"One day it started raining on us. Like, raining. Like, Eugene style rain. I was out there strollin' down the street in my short sleeves like a boss because I'm from Eugene and we don't use umbrellas or nuthin'. But, Peruvians are terrified of the cold, and especially cold water, and so everyone we visited was horrified..."

Hey guys!

It's been a good ol' week for me. We're not having the greatest of luck investigators-wise. Basically, we've had multiple days where all of our plans, and all of our backup plans, and all of our backup, backup plans, have fallen through. Kinda lame. But... it's all good.

Anyway, first of all, I made a really important discovery this week. Remember how I told you a long time ago that I really love Coca-Cola now even though I never used to like it at home? Well, I knew there had to be a reason for that. I was sure that the Coca-Cola here is different than the Coca-Cola there. But, I've never found American Coke so I've never actually been able to prove my theory. Well, on Tuesday, I found cans of Coca-Cola imported from the United States, and I bought one, and I bought a Coke from here to do a taste test. Well, sadly, I was right, and Coca-Cola from Peru tastes way better than Coke from the US. I don't even know if I'm going to keep drinking Coke when I get home! But, for now, I'll keep drinking the delish Peruvian blend.

If you want to see a good summary of my day in picture form, and a follow-up to the Coca-Cola story, just look at the picture I attached. It’s p-day today and we stopped by the mall to withdraw our money for the month, and then went to the grocery store. Mostly to see if they had root beer for sale or something. Well, to my surprise, they had tons of soda imported from the States (that never happens!!) and, I couldn't really resist, and I went crazy. Plus the Pringles and Snickers. I already blew half of my monthly personal fund the mission lets us withdraw on pure soda and snacks from the United States!! And it's only June 3rd! I'm stupid. But, I'm going to replace it with money from home. Sorry, sometimes I just need American things to keep me happy. Blew like 50 soles on this stuff (which is more than it should cost...). None of this soda exists here, except for the Sprite and 7up (and Coca-Cola), which I bought to do more taste testing to see which country has better soda. I'll let you know the results next week. Apart from that, we played soccer today. Woohoo...

Also, the other day we were jus' walkin' down the street, and I ran into a member from my old ward in Chiclayo! One of the counselors in the bishopric. So, that was pretty random, considering Cajamarca is six hours away from Chiclayo. Pretty fun though. On Sunday, I ran into another member from that ward at church! Juan Goicochea. His mom is that lady that died while I was there... Anyway, he's gonna be working in Cajamarca for the next six months or so, and he said his dad is coming up to work here too. So, I'm just running into all kinds of people I know! Also, I ran into Tyler Balkman the other day...

Just kidding.

Oh yeah, and I ran into this cool drunk guy who told us that we just go around and lie to people to make money. Okay. When will these people realize that Mountain Dew tastes way better than alcohol??... Never. Because they don't sell Mountain Dew here. EXCEPT THEY TOTALLY DO SOMETIMES BECAUSE I BOUGHT SOME TODAY!!!

Okay lets get on to the other more important more spirtualish stuff. We had one really awesome lesson this week (well, we had more than one, but I don't feel like talking about all of them) with a 23 year old guy named Herbert. He's been an investigator for a long ol' time, and our main problem is that we can never find him at home to teach him. We ran into him last week and invited him to church, and last Sunday he totally came to church! He got there before we did actually. Well, on Tuesday we went to go visit him, and luckily we found him at home. He said he had a few minutes to talk to us, but that he had a ton of people at his house and asked if we could visit somewhere else. So, we took him to our pensionista's house (well, I guess it's our house too. But only one room of it is our house.) and had a short lesson with him there. We asked him how he liked church, and he told us that he liked it a lot!! He told us that even though he was really tired that day, he really enjoyed the talks and the classes, and he received answers to a lot of questions that he had. He told us that when he showed up at church, and we weren't there yet, he walked in, and tons of people came up to him and greeted him and treated him as if they had been good friends for years, and he told us that he really liked that. He said that after church he felt really good. He described it as feeling like he had a heavy backpack taken off of him. He said that he felt super good after church, and he recognized that it was the Spirit, and because of the way he felt, he decided to pick up the Book of Mormon that was sitting in his house and start reading it. And he read like 30 pages!! Basically, that's one of the coolest experiences any investigator has ever told me about. We were visiting him at like 6:00, and we had a mission activity in the church at 7:00. We asked him if he'd like to come with us, and he came! He had a great time there too. And, my ward is freaking awesome because all the YSA that were about his age came up to him to greet him and talk with him and they were all being really awesome, which for me is pretty much a first in the mission, because none of the members hardly ever even acknowledge the investigators who come to church. It was rad. He told us he would do everything possible to make it to church again on Sunday. Well, for some reason, he didn't show up, and we haven't been able to talk to him to find out why yet. But, I have high hopes for this guy.

One day it started raining on us. Like, raining. Like, Eugene style rain. I was out there strollin' down the street in my short sleeves like a boss because I'm from Eugene and we don't use umbrellas or nuthin'. But, Peruvians are terrified of the cold, and especially cold water, and so everyone we visited was horrified and was like "ELDER!! Aren't you freezing?!!? Do you want to borrow my husband's jacket?!" Uhh... No thanks. Don't be such cold babies.

Uhh, I read a lot of las escrituras this week. Well, not a ton. I'm reading the OT these days, even though I specifically wrote you guys once saying that reading the OT wasn't going to help me that much as a missionary and that it would be better to read it at home instead. Well... I didn't want to read the BoM or NT again (well, I do, but not yet.) so I picked up the OT. Pretty kewl too. Although, yes, it is true that it is not very useful information for me as a missionary. I'm up to 2 Samuel, and I'm studying it along with a Spanish Old Testament study guide from the church that I found in our room. Pretty fun. But seriously, Leviticus through Deuteronomy was the most boring thing I've ever read in my entire life. That took some serious endurance to get through...

Something really scary happened this week too. On Friday, we were eating lunch with Hermana Celia and Limhi. Limhi made us orange chicken that day (it was soo good!!). When we sat down to eat and were talking about I don't even remember what, suddenly I look up and Limhi is choking on his food. We all jump out of our seats to help him. Celia pulls him off his chair and lays him down on his side on the floor in a panic. Then I realize he wasn't just choking; Limhi was having a seizure, which was why he was choking. So, Limhi was having a seizure with food in his mouth and in his throat, unable to breathe. We all had no idea what to do. Elder Trochez and Celia try to stabilize him. Celia is panicking and crying because he's having a seizure with food in his mouth and in his throat and could choke to death. We're all shocked, and in all the confusion, I did the only thing that I knew to do to help; Without thinking I laid my hands on Limhi's head while his mom and my companion were trying to stabilize him. I ask Celia what his full name is and immediately give Limhi a blessing while he's convulsing and choking at the same time. It was a short blessing. I was in a rush and was super freaked out, realizing that I was possibly watching one of my friends die right in front of me. Celia was in a panic. I blessed him that he would be okay and that he would recover very soon. I finished the blessing, and as soon as I said "amen", Limhi coughed up the food and started breathing. We helped him up unto the couch to rest. He was okay, but extremely weak, and he could hardly talk. He wasn't conscious about what was happening. But he managed to slur to his mother "I'm dying... I'm dying...". "You're not dying," she told him. "You're okay now." He was totally out of it. We brought him to his room and helped him into his bed to rest. Hermana Celia told us that that has happened before. He has had seizures throughout his life, but he hasn't had one for over three years, and he's never had one with food in his throat. She thought he was going to die because of the food. She cried as she told us this. But she told us that when he wakes up he would be fine. I went to go take a shower, and apparently when I was in the shower Limhi woke up and asked for a blessing. He was okay. That night he was totally normal, and even went to the church for a meeting he had. That night Hermana Celia told me that when I gave Limhi the blessing, right as I said "amen" he coughed up his food, and at that moment she knew he was going to be okay. That whole day I was thinking about how grateful I am for the priesthood. I was thinking all day about how grateful I am to be a priesthood holder, and what an honor and what a sacred responsibility that is. I feel like what happened that day was a miracle. It was the first time ever that I've used the priesthood like that. I've given blessings before, but always after being asked, and never in such dire circumstances. This time I wasn't asked, I just acted. It was the only thing that I knew to do. I gave him a blessing, and then I prayed, a lot. Putting all my trust in God, knowing that there was nothing else that I could do. And Limhi is okay. Later that night, at like 6:00 (we weren't there), Limhi's dog had a seizure, and died... I don't even know what to think of that, after what happened earlier in the day. A coincidence? I don't know. It just made me so thankful that Limhi was spared. God is still a God of miracles. His power is active in the world today. And that is a huge comfort to me. I'm so thankful to be able to be a tool in God's hands through which He uses His power to bless, or even save someone's life. That experience skyrocketed my appreciation for, and testimony of the priesthood. In my journal I wrote: "My Heavenly Father loves His children. He is a God of miracles, a God of love, and a God of blessings. I love Him so much. And I am so thankful for what He has given me, and for what He did for Limhi today."

Well, that's pretty much my week in a nutshell. Pretty good one. Believe it or not, I still haven't received one single piece of mail from you guys since I got here. I'm really hoping that I get some tomorrow in our zone meeting. If not, I have to wait another week. Kinda ridiculous. But, whatever. Just know that I'm doin' good, and I'm getting excited to drink the best water in the entire planet again in not that long. Imagine drinking water straight from the tap... That seems so... awesome to me...

Alright, I like you guys. Talk to you next week! Buh-bye!

-Elder Hemz

"I'm so willing to try any weird food here at least once. Because now for the rest of my life I can tell people that I've eaten bunny, and guinea pig, and bull intestines, and chicken feet."

"Eatin' guinea pig... Yes, that is a foot."

FAMIRRRRRRRRRYYYYY

Well, here I am in Cajamarca. It is chilly. The weather is weird here. I think this is the only place I've ever been that can be both too hot and too cold at the same time. I don't even know how that makes sense, but that's how I feel here a lot. Earlier today we were downtown and I had taken off my sweatshirt because it gets pretty warm (hot sometimes) in the afternoons here. I realized that it was really warm out, and I was getting hot, but then I realized that my feet were freezing. I don't get it. I almost always wear my sweater vest when we go out, but lots of times it gets too hot to wear it, even though it’s not hot outside? This place is messing with me.

Anyway, first things first. Wanna know what I did today that I haven't done in like infinity months?! I went out and bought guitar strings and picks and re-stringed a guitar and have been playing it a bunch all day. WOOHOO! THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!! I guess I haven't really told you about my pension yet. Well, my "pensionista" is named Celia. You saw her (or at least a vague outline of her) when we talked on Skype. She's really awesome, and she gives me Froot Loops, so I'm happy (actually I've switched from Froot Loops to this other cereal from here that I really like and I eat it with yogurt instead of milk. Peru). She gives us our three meals a day, and we live on the second floor of her house! So, that's convenient. Her husband's name is Francisco, and he's an RM, and they have two kids who are both older than me. The whole family is active in the church and awesome. They have a 26 year old son named Limhi (for realz, 'cept in Spanish it's like "Limmy") and a 23 year old daughter named Sandra, and the whole family is really fun. Limhi is basically one of the funniest people I know. And, also a bunch of other people live in this same house because they rent the rooms in the upper two floors out. Anywayz, one of the first things I noticed when I got here was that Limhi has a guitar that's always sitting out here that I've been messing around with for the past three weeks during free moments while waiting for meals to be served or something. You already saw a picture I think. Limhi even makes me homesick and plays songs I know 'n stuff (one of his favorite songs is "Best of Me" by The Starting Line. TRUNKY). Anyway, the strings were all real old, and the other day one of them snapped. I couldn't handle having a guitar around that I couldn't play because of a lack of strings, so, today Elder Trochez and I went out to an instrument store and I bought new strings and picks (because he doesn't have picks and I've been playing with my fingers for the past three weeks), and I re-stringed his guitar (which is WAY harder to re-string than my guitar is!!! Plus I don't have my fancy tools 'n stuff to do it easier) and I've been having a lot of fun finally being able to play guitar (with a pick) for the first time in basically my entire mission!! Limhi doesn't even know I re-stringed his guitar yet. He's out working or studying or somethin'. He'll find out someday. So, that has been a whole lot of fun.

This has been a pretty good week. Kinda busy! Busy as in we had a lot of stuff to do this week that wasn't proselyting. Though, we did some of that too. Here's some of the non-proselyting stuff we did. First, we did two service projects this week (you know what both of them were? Scraping paint off of walls. I hate doing that!!). I like service, and I'm glad I'm getting opportunities to do it here. Never got to in Picsi (though we sure offered to help a lot). On Thursday I had a baptismal interview with a 19 year old girl named Milagros. She's the sister missionaries’ investigator. Good interview. No probs. Has a ton of faith. Nobody else in her family is a member. But now her little brother also wants to get baptized! So, that's awesome. On Saturday we went to her baptism because she was baptized in our ward. First, Elder Trochez and I went to the church to set everything up. Had to clean the baptismal font, and then wait forever for it to fill up. We spent a very large chunk of our day doing that (like almost four hours I think...). Though, at one point we got bored of waiting for the water to fill up and we went out in search of cold soda in one of the nearby shops. Remember how hard it was for me to find cold soda in Chiclayo?... Well, it's actually worse here. It's way hard to find cold soda here! EVERY SINGLE SHOP SELLS SODA AND NONE OF THEM SELL IT COLD. We searched like four shops, that were all selling soda, and they even all had refrigerators, and not a single one of them had refrigerated soda!! So, we gave up and went to the mall instead. The mall sells cold soda. But that wasn't even the worst day. On Friday we had a special activity in the Baños del Inca (The Inca's Bathrooms??) area because a new chapel was just built there and the whole zone (or most of it) went to go invite everyone to the open house that was Saturday night. After we finished we were very thirsty, and I needed an Inca Kola, so we went to go buy some. We checked eight stores, and not a single one of them sold refrigerated soda. What's wrong with these people?! Do they not realize that soda tastes significantly worse when it's not cold?!?! Apparently not. Drinking anything cold here makes you sick. According to superstition. Psh. Anyway, back to the baptism. The baptism was at 4:00, and at 3:00 we were finally ready. But, we hadn't eaten lunch yet (which we usually eat at 1:00), so we headed home to eat lunch as fast as possible to get back in time for the baptism. We ended up getting to the baptism at like 4:30. Oops! But, it's Peru, and the baptism had just barely started. Thank goodness. This baptism was something else. You've heard all my complaints about the baptisms here. How they're never spiritual, and how they're never organized, and how the people in charge never do their part, and how there are always a ton of problems and lots of irreverence. Well, I think a miracle happened on Saturday (I mean, the girl who got baptized is named "Miracles" in English), because it was actually a really good baptism. Seriously, it was awesome. The ward was super ready and willing to help out and do their parts (actually, the missionaries didn't have to do anything). Great talks, great testimonies, even a rad special musical number. The Spirit was super strong in that baptism. Something I haven't been able to feel very strongly in most of the baptisms I've been to in Peru. In my farewell talk I talked about how one of the first times I can ever remember feeling the Spirit in my life was when Jacqueline got baptized. I felt the Spirit so strong that day it was almost overwhelming. I've been wishing I could feel that way again in another baptism, and I think this past Saturday it finally happened. It was just too cool. Props to my ward! I love my new ward!! I've been wanting to be able to say that my entire mission, and now I finally can!!

My ward is really, really awesome. It's a big ward. Good church attendance. Active members. Functioning organizations. The missionaries aren't in charge of everything. Our leaders are awesome, and they are super willing to help with the missionary work. It's basically a dream come true for me. The Aeropuerto Ward is the awesomest. I didn't know the church could even get this good in Peru! Like, almost United States level of good.

Something annoying that happened this week is that I haven't been sleeping well. I feel like I have minor insomnia or something. One night I was so tired but I just laid in bed wide awake for hours. The last time I remember checking the clock that night, it was 3:00am. The next night was just as bad. Now, I'm sleeping a little bit better. I think it's getting a little better every night. I dunno what caused it. But it sure made waking up absolute torture.

Oh duuuuuuuude. You know what else makes Hermana Celia so awesome (PS, you know what confuses the heck out of me? In Peru, in the Church, we call people Brother and Sister, like in the States, but here, sometimes they use the person's last name, and sometimes they use the person's first name, and it's just totally random!! For example, Hermana Rosa, my pensionista in Olmos, is named Rosa. That's her first name. But Hermana Yataco, my pensionista in Chiclayo, goes by her last name! I DON'T GET IT. It should always be the last name. But here it's mostly the first name)? The other night, she made us pizza for dinner. PIZZA. So good! Well, it was pretty Peruvian, but still, it was good (I've had some other Peruvian pizzas here that are just gross). This week I also ate guinea pig again. Mmmm. Seriously, it's way tasty. This time I got a leg, and its feet and claws were still there. I'm not sure why they think that looks appetizing, but whatever. Oh yeah, and I don't think I ever told you that the other week I ate bull intestines. Sound yummy? Well, it was... alright. I ate it, but it wasn't my fave. But I'm so willing to try any weird food here at least once. Because now for the rest of my life I can tell people that I've eaten bunny, and guinea pig, and bull intestines, and chicken feet. But seriously, I'm bummed that they don't eat cats here. I want one. (It doesn't even gross me out. The way I see it, is that almost all meat is delicious (except duck...), and so I don't care if it’s a cat or a dog or a horse or whatever, I bet it tastes good.)

Don't got much time left, but this week we met some good people too. One of my favorites is this guy named Pablo. We met him in the street outside his house and he let us right in to his home. He immediately gave us bananas and bread. Tasty (except banana bread would have been tastier). Super nice guy. Super humble. He is the leader of some Bible group or something from the Pentecostal church. But, he loves learning about the gospel and was excited to be able to talk to us. He told us that he hoped we would be able to help him understand the Bible better and that we would be a blessing for him and his family. Well, my favorite part was the way he acted. He just kept saying "Glory to God!" over and over again. I read a scripture, and when I finished he said "glory to God." We said goodbye, and he said "glory to God!" Haha. When we asked him to read a verse of the Bible he started by saying "The word of God; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost..." and then he read it. Lolol. Funny Christian traditions.

Know what's fun? Still haven't gotten any mail from you guys since I've been here (okay, that's not really fun, but whatever). Expecting some this week. Who knows. Maybe the next time I hear from you will be in the Eugene Airport in person.

Well, I'm having a good time here in Cajamarca. This is by far the coolest place I've been in my entire mission. And it's by far my best ward I've been in. So, great combo. I like it here. We're a little low on investigators, but everything else makes up for that. I miss you guys a lot. It’s really weird for me to think that I don't have to wait two years anymore to see you guys again. I just have one really important question....for Jacqueline: What kind of cake are you going to have for your birthday?? Just wonderin'.

Alright, I gotta go. Gosh dang it you know what? There is a place (or multiple places) that sells Mountain Dew here in Cajamarca, and I don't know where it is! I heard they sell it in Baños del Inca, which is a little ways away. Way outside of my area. I had better drink some Dew sometime soon. But, at least I have root beer now. And it is the most delicious thing ever. And Limhi loves root beer too (which is weird because most latinos either don't like it, or hate it), and Elder Davis (who used to be in this area) sent Limhi some root beer concentrate, and so we've been making our own root beer these past few days. SO GOOD.

You know what else is weird? I think my favorite flavor of Pringles has switched from Sour Cream and Onion to Jalapeño flavor. I swear Jalapeño Pringles are one of the most delicious foods I've ever eaten in my entire life...

Alright, I'm leaving for real now. Miss you guys!

-Elder Hemz

Here's the other pictures that Victor sent this week:

"YEAH GRAFFITI."

"Look at my lol guitar picks I bought."

"I have officially been on the mish for twenty months! TWENTY. How?!?! That is so weird."

Hello!

Week two in Cajamarca. Still pretty cool. Still pretty cold too! The other day I went out and bought a new pair of socks because, one, all my socks were dirty and the lady who does our laundry was out of town, and two, my socks aren't warm enough. Well, the socks I bought are even less warm and are made for someone with really big legs because they kept falling down! Buy fail. I'll try to buy socks again some other day...

Hmm, well, it's been a tough week. For one, both my companion and I got sick, on two different days. Killed two days of working. Plus, all the days that we did work, we couldn't find anyone to teach! We made this huge list of people we were gonna try to find during our last weekly planning session (mostly of old investigators) and so we spent a lot of the week trying to find those people, and we couldn't find anyone! Our one ray of hope was the set appointments that we had with people, but, surprise-surprise, almost all of those fell through too! Not the best of luck this week, but we did have some really good lessons, even if we didn't have very many lessons in total.

I also got asked some questions this week that I always imagined having to answer a ton on my mission but I've actually never been asked them until recently. These are the fun kind of questions. Actually, not so much. But still. First, one lady told us that she had a gay friend and that she read in her Bible that people like that won't enter into the kingdom of God. So, she was concerned about that, and asked us what we thought. Not exactly my favorite types of questions to answer. But, we started by telling her that each and every one of us here on this earth is a son or daughter of God, and God loves all of us perfectly. We then clarified, telling her that just "being gay" is not a sin, but acting on the feelings and urges that cause them to break the law of chastity is where it becomes a sin. The other fun question (this one was even better) was when one of our investigators told us that she saw a documentary about Mormons, and it had this part about these Mormons in Colorado (I think...) who live in this community where they practice polygamy and their "prophet" punishes people for disobedience by taking away people's wives (and mothers...) and assigns them to other families. Haha, whoa! Actually, I've heard of that church before, and that "prophet" was on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list and is currently in prison. The FLDS church, I think? Anyway, that was a fun one, because, all of that stuff is true. Except... it has nothing to do with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We explained that that was a different church, and also made it clear that in our church "We believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" and that what goes on in that other church is completely illegal and against what our church teaches. But, that was a first for me. Nobody in Peru has ever asked me about those other apostate LDS splinter groups before. Something you hear a lot more about in the States...

Y´know what else? TI have officially been on the mish for twenty months! TWENTY. How?!?! That is so weird. Time is flying so stupidly fast.

But, honestly, like I said, we had two sick days this week and not much success finding people to teach, so I really don't have that much stuff to tell you about this time! Or much time to tell it (we have an appointment in a few minutes...)! We really gotta get ready to go teach a family right now. Sorry we decided to get on the internet so late! I'll try to tell you more cool stuff next week! I'm doing good though. Don't worry ´bout me. I enjoy it here.

I miss you a lot!!

-Elder Hemsley

"I am now in Cajamarca, Peru! Woo! A.K.A. the place that everyone wants to go in the mission. I am no longer in a hot desert. I'm in the mountains, and it's chilly. It is about 20 gajillion times prettier than any of my other areas."

Hey guys!

Well, this is weird. I just talked to you guys last night. Even though I couldn't see your faces! I am sorry that I have never once found fast internet in Peru. It is not my fault. Some people tell me it exists, but I'm not so sure.

Anyway, for the rest of the world who I didn't talk to, I am now in Cajamarca, Peru! Woo! A.K.A. the place that everyone wants to go in the mission. I am no longer in a hot desert. I'm in the mountains, and it's chilly. It is about 20 gajillion times prettier than any of my other areas. There are actually plants here! It's actually green!! Not gonna lie, it’s making me think of home a lot more than I wish I would. But, it’s rad. Cajamarca reminds me of Park City, UT. Except, like a not as nice, Peruvian version of Park City. Hehehe. And it’s missing ski slopes. But, this area is awesome! Compared to my other areas at least. It’s a heck of a lot more Statesy than Chiclayo is. Some examples.... My first full day here, I wake up, and go eat breakfast. Peruvian breakfast is like the lamest excuse for a meal I've ever seen. I have never enjoyed breakfasts here. Well, I go to eat breakfast, and my pensionista gives me a bowl of Froot Loops. FROOT LOOPS. I can't even remember the last time I had American cereal!! Soo good. There's an actual mall here too. Like, a real shopping mall. I went there today. And I bought A CAN OF ROOT BEER!!!! OH MY GOSH ROOT BEER I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT I HAVEN'T TASTED ROOT BEER IN TWENTY MONTHS!!!!! So, that was a happy moment.

You know what's not United Statesy? The amount of porn there is all over the place. And not just here in Cajamarca, but in Peru in general. Usually it’s not flat-out pornography (but sometimes it is) but on basically every sign of every business there's an almost naked girl. Some random store? Girl in a bikini on the sign. A construction company? Girl in a bikini wearing a construction hat. Place to eat? Girl in her underwear eating chicken. Haha. Okay. On every newspaper the entire back page is just one huge photo of an almost-naked girl or a girl taking off her clothes or a girl sticking her butt in your face. In tons of stores (and in tons of people’s houses) there are just these huge posters of girls in bikinis, girls in their underwear, girls in mega-short skirts (and no shirt) or flat out porn posters. The absolute worst I ever saw, and the one that made me maddest, was in Pacasmayo when Elder Choc and I went to this one store to buy a map of the city, and the walls are just covered in posters of naked ladies, and then right in the middle is a giant painting of Jesus Christ. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! When we have to travel by bus, they always put a movie on. Sometimes it’s an okay movie (okay, the best time was when I was going to Pacasmayo from Chiclayo and they put on Gladiator), but, usually, the movies are full of nude and sex scenes and it’s bad because there are little kids on the bus! Not to mention missionaries!! Yeah Peru, I won't miss your porn.

Okay, sorry if that's not the kind of stuff you wanted to hear. But it's been something that's bothered me ever since November 2011.

Anyways... Let's see if I can talk about something a little... more appropriate...

Well, it is cold here. And not just "not hot", but it is legitimately cold. At least in the mornings and at night. During the day I still go around in short sleeves. But, it’s a nice change. I haven't felt cold since... like February 2011!!! So, I do enjoy it. Except, I need to buy new socks. My ventilation socks seemed like a good idea, but, they're just making things worse here. Haha. And they really sucked in Picsi because it made it so much easier for the zancudos to bite my ankles!!!

I am now in the Aeropuerto Ward. I AM IN A WARD AGAIN!  I'm finally in a BIG, strong ward!!! I am so excited! I am serving in the Aeropuerto 2 area. There are three areas in my ward. The ZLs are in the first, we're in the second, and two sisters are in the third. Going to church was like going to heaven after living in hell for the past four months. You have no idea how nice it was to go to church in an actual church building, show up, sit down on the bench, and just listen. I wasn't in charge of anything! Not in charge of leading the meeting, or picking the hymns, or assigning the talks, or taking care of problems in the primary, or teaching the Sunday School lesson. I was just a normal church attendee, and it was the most awesomest thing ever. Another fun thing about my ward: one of my teachers from the Lima MTC recently moved to Cajamarca and is now living in my ward. Hermano Casanova. He's so awesome! And yesterday he was set apart as our elder's quorum prez. Too rad.

My comp's name is Elder Trochez, and he's from Honduras. He's way cool! One thing I love about him is that he actually wants to work which really helps me out a ton because when I have a lazy companion it starts making me want to be lazy too. Not no more! He's 24, and he's been out here for nine months. I was in the office when he got here! I still remember that!  I found out pretty quickly that he's cool because the first day he told me that he liked ska music and then I later found out that he likes a ton of the same music that I like. He even listens to Zelda music. Zelda music. Yes, that is awesome. My favorite thing about Elder Trochez is the way we teach together. We teach super well together! We have had some of the best lessons of my entire mission together. Something about our teaching style just clicks so nicely and really invites the Spirit into our visits. That is awesome. We don't have a lot of investigators here, but we're gonna try to help the few that we do have, and go look for some more! I'm super stoked because there are actually active members here!! I can't even believe it!! Haha. So, that's also gonna be a huge help for us.

Our area also includes a tiny "pueblo" called Otuzco. Went there once already. Kinda neat. When we went I just got this really cool feeling that I'm this missionary serving out in the middle of nowhere in this beautiful part of Peru. It was pretty rad. Didn't take pics, but it’s on my to-do list.

We've done three service projects this week. I haven't done service in so long! We went with our district to go clean out this unreasonably dirty upstairs room of someone's house that was full of gigantic spiders and lots of other icky things. Found some interesting things hidden in there. The grossest (apart from the spiders...) was a pig's foot. We actually found a pig's foot underneath all the junk we were clearing out. One funny thing was that Elder Martin lifted up this tarp and this cat jumped out and scared the crap out of us!!! The cat darted out of the room at light speed, and took a suicide jump off the roof of the building, while screaming. Hahahaha. It was so funny to watch! PS, it wasn't really suicide, because it didn't die. Calm down. After that we headed to another member's house to go scrape paint off the walls of one of their rooms. I don't know why, but that's the third time I've had to do this in Peru. Scraping paint of off a wall. But this time the paint was super hard to scrape off! My entire district came, and we barely made a dent. The third service project was really just a continuation of the second, because Elder Trochez and I went back to scrape more paint off the wall. Still barely made progress.

Oh yeah, I'm still district leader. I've been busy too! There are four companionships in my district. Three of them are in my same ward, which is cool. But I've had to do so much phone calling this week it’s been ridiculous. I don't have time to do anything at night! Reporting, checking up on the missionaries, checking up on the sisters who are opening a brand new area and one of them is just starting her mission, talking with the sister missionary whose wallet was stolen in Chiclayo in the church during our transfer meeting that had her ID inside, her temple recommend, a debit card, and 200 dollars in cash inside. Ohh boy. Yeah, it hasn't shown up. And, lotsa other stuff. But, it’s good. Although, not gonna lie, I would love to not be district leader anymore. I just wanna be normal!

Well... I think I gotta get going, Life is good out here in Cajamarca! Pretty sure this will be my last area before I go home. Good place to finish! Gonna work hard and do my very best. I don't have that much longer to do this!!

I had lots of fun talking to you guys yesterday! Even if I talk weird and I don't remember how to say things and I get confused when you try and make me speak two languages. Next time I talk to you it will be IN PERSON! How nuts is that?!?! Okay well I gotta write Prez and ask him when I'm going home. Talk to you next week! I have no idea when the next time I'll get mail is. It will definitely be a longer delay here in Cajamarca.

Alright, see ya! Talk to you next week!

-Elder Hemsley

Victor sent a bunch of pictures this week. Here are some of our favorites (you can see all the rest by clicking on the slideshow at the top of this blog):

"Look at this place!!"

"Cajamarca."

"Scraping paint with my comp!"

 "Traveling in Peru sucks."

 "Comp and I."

"I'm in Peru."

 "ROOT BEER!!!!"

"I'm getting transferred! TODAY!"

Whoa!

Interesting weekend we had. Saturday night we got a surprise phone call from the ZLs. I'm getting transferred! TODAY. I'm mega rushed and trying to pack and get everything ready because in a few hours I gotta be outta here! So, we'll see if I can organize my thoughts well enough to write a decent e-mail.

Well, this week we had a meeting with the bishopric to talk about everything that’s going on here in Picsi. The meeting was really helpful. Now the bishopric knows how things are and what things they can do to help. One change: The regular Sunday school class is now being changed to Gospel Principles, for everyone. So the members can learn the basics and gain a better understanding and a testimony. I like it. Also, they're gonna try to get the young women we have here involved with the young women’s program in the Lopez Albujar ward. There is no YW organization here, or any other organization. Also like it. They might assign members from Chiclayo to speak occasionally in sacrament meetings in Picsi. Another good idea. And the bishopric is now going to meet with us regularly to see how we can help this struggling group. Sounds good to me! Good ideas. Also, when we went to the meeting we got there first and accidentally set the alarm off in the church which was a super loud siren that went off for like 15 minutes before we were finally able to borrow someone's cell phone and call our ZLs to ask them how to shut the alarm off. Haha. Oops. After that a drunk guy got mad at us for making so much noise.

This week I also finished reading the New Testament! Yesterday actually. Pretty sw33t I think. Understood a ton more this time. I suppose that's why its good to read the scriptures often...

Uhh... what else... Oh yeah! Didja know that now in the mish there are Sister leaders? Basically they get to do some of the stuff that district leaders do, like go on splits with the other missionaries and see how they're doin' and stuff, but with the sister missionaries. Pretty neat.

Last night the members threw together a makeshift goodbye party type deal real quick for me. Most of the members and even some investigators came to say goodbye to me. It was really sad! I hate goodbyes! What was especially sad for me was that Alfredo and Carolina were there (The family that the members are coming together to help have a better life and get a real house.). Alfredo thanked me so much and so sincerely for everything we've done for him. He said, "because of you, we're here" and that he and his family would stay strong and faithful. That hit me pretty hard. Carolina was crying, a lot. I didn't realize just how much of an affect we were having on these people. As much as the people in Picsi drove me crazy, I'm gonna miss them!

Anyway, I did get a big ol' pile of mail this week. That made me happy! Wondering how Bryn's prom went. Still think it's nuts that prom was in April this year.

Oh! Sunday is Mother's Day!! I get to talk to you guys sooon!! Except, because I'm getting transferred, I can't make plans to talk to you yet, because I don't even know where I'm going to be! But, somehow it'll all work out. I hope you have most of Sunday free, because I dunno when I'll be able to call! Possibly I will be able to call on Saturday for just a couple minutes just to set a time and tell you if I'll be able to call with Skype or not (depending on where I go, the internet might not be able to handle skype!! But we're kinda lucky, because if I stayed in Picsi the internet for sure would have been too slow...)

So, I'm excited to talk to you soon! I gotta go get ready to move out of Picsi! I hate packing! My bags are SO full it’s stupid! And they weigh like 800 jillion pounds! I hope you're cool with paying extra for my overweight luggage when I come home. Haha. Sorry! But I'll throw some stuff out before I come home!

Alright, see ya! Miss ya! And I also miss Star Wars!

-Elder Hems

"Ugh, I'm kinda frustrated right now..."

Hello!

Ugh, I'm kinda frustrated right now because this computer has shut down on me twice now and twice I've lost everything I had typed to tell you guys. I really don't have a lot of time left so this is probably gonna be a really short e-mail. I'm sorry!!

Today we had a delicious p-day activity... McDonald's! Woo!! Man, that was tasty. First time in a long time that I've actually been excited to eat my meal. But, it probably wasn't the best idea in the world considering yesterday I was really sick and today I'm still recovering. But, McD's trips are so rare that I can't pass up the opportunity!! And McFlurrys are by far the best ice cream that I've ever had in Peru. I mean, they're good in the States too, but there are better options at home. But here, it's the best there is. SOOO GOOD.

Anyway, yeah, I got sick, again. Yesterday I felt absolutely awful. Today I feel mostly better. But still, I don't know why I'm suddenly getting sick so often. It worries me.

Well, let's see what things happened this week. Really quick!!

Hmm. Well, all of our investigators and everyone in Picsi has been being taught bad things about the Mormons in their churches. Seriously everyone we teach tells us that their pastor has taught them bad things about us! This week we went to visit Felix again. The first time we visited him he told us that he learned a lot of stuff about us at his church years ago. Like, that we worship Joseph Smith, and that we have our own Bible, and we don't believe in the Bible. Psh. This week we went to visit him and another preacher was there visiting with him in his home. But... we taught anyway. The other preacher didn't say anything, he just glared. After we left I assume he taught more bad stuff about us because the next time we visited Felix he had a lot more doubts and wasn't quite as receptive as normal. Ugh. And we went to visit Anita again this week, and she told us that she went to some other church with her parents and the pastor said in his talk that The Book of Mormon is evil and that anyone who has  copy in their house has to get rid of it, and that you shouldn't let the Mormons into your house or talk to them because they're liars and their church is false. Seriously, every church talks so much nonsense about us here!! I think they all feel threatened by us or something. I don't know why, because in Picsi, the Mormon Church is basically one of the smallest churches here. It's only been in Picsi for one year! It’s kinda sad though.

Gah I have like no time to write! And this computer is causing a ton of problems.

Uh, what else...

Well, I interviewed two people for baptism in Chiclayo this week! A man named Wilmer and his eight year old daughter Angie. Both way awesome! Got baptized on Saturday. Wanted to be there, but had to do stuff in Picsi!

Honestly, it hasn't been the most exicting of weeks, so, you're not missing much with my short and rushed e-mail. You know what I realized this week? I was thinking the other day, wow, I haven't used that iPod Mom sent me in a really long time... So, I went to look for it, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I emptied all my bags, every drawer, and looked everywhere, and I don't have it. It's gone. And I'm pretty sure it never even made it with me to Picsi, considering I've never used it or even seen it since I got here. I think it got lost in Chiclayo. But, sadly, I think it got stolen. And, even sadder, I think it got stolen by a missionary, because I never once took that thing out of my room. I couldn't have lost it anywhere else. But yeah, I don't have that iPod anymore. Kinda bummed.

Also the other day I was talking with Elder Charlesworth and we realized that a few years back we went to the same Warped Tour in Salt Lake and we were in all the same crowds and everything. Ha, random.

Had a real fun church activity in Chiclayo too with the members there! Went on a scavenger hunt in the church and all the hints were scriptures. Can't explain much more because there's no time, but, it was one of the better activities I've been to since I've been in Peru! So, that was one of the highlights of the week. Pretty fun.

Sigh, no time left. Not much to tell anyway. Anyway, I gotta go! Sorry about this e-mail. Next week we're gonna try a different internet cafe because every week this one gives us a hard time. The computers always freeze and randomly shut down and go real slow ´n stuff. I didn't get mail this week either so I don't know what's goin' on back in the States, but I should be getting some in the next few days! I miss you guys! Thanks for bein' cool!

See ya!