Hey everyone! The Enter key isn’t working again, but I might be able to find some way to actually add new lines this time! Last week I asked for some questions I could answer, but I haven’t really been sent any yet other than Mom’s continual questions about my companions. I figure this might be one of the more interesting things to discuss, but if you’d like to know something specific shoot me an email and I’ll try to answer your question in a week. So, without further ado, I present…

LOS MIEMBROS DEL DISTRITO 109 (I think I spelled that right)

(The names have been changed to protect the innocent) (Psyche! No one in the district is innocent!):

Elder Parker: Elder Parker is mi compañero and he’s a really good guy. It’s a good thing he’s my companion because he is very strict to the rules and helps me keep them (because some of them are really annoying). I constantly poke fun at him for being from Idaho because he doesn’t get a lot of pop culture references and I blame his growing up in Idaho for that (His favorite show is MASH, his favorite songs are either church music or from the ’80s, and he doesn’t know who Slenderman is!). I know it’s not because he’s from Idaho, but stereotypical Idaho is about 10 years behind according to all of us in the district, but somehow he still hasn’t learned to be quiet about not knowing some pop culture references! I hope he doesn’t ever think I’m not joking because he played football and outweighs me by more than 50 pounds, so I’m hosed if I tick him off… which is not that difficult, apparently. He has some minor anger issues and certain things will tick him off very quickly (He drop-kicked a chair once! (It wasn’t because of me though!)). When he’s not angry he’s really cool and, again, I’m glad he’s my companion.

Elder Littlefield: Elder Campo Pequeño (Little Field in Spanish) is by far the most studious person here. Our District is usually chaos whenever we aren’t in class and when it is you can almost always find him in the corner reading his scriptures or language book (I don’t know how he can concentrate at all because I would like to study but I never can!). I figure a lot of the reason he’s so focused is because he has the least Spanish experience and it’s really hard for him to understand what’s going on sometimes. I’m really glad he is one of the three Elders I share a room with because he helps keep things quiet.

Elder Alder: Elder Littlefield’s companion and our roommate, Elder Alder is the oldest Elder here at the age of 20. He’s a really great guy because he is one of those people who is hilarious and talkative but can also settle down and focus when he needs to (unlike Elder Bischoff). Elder Alder’s incredible at fùtbol (he might be able to play professionally after he finishes college) and is also a convert. Part of the reason he’s so funny is because he looks REALLY guilty whenever he does something against the rules or social norms, like check out the Hermanas.

Elder Bischoff: Elder Bischoff is a clown – no other word describes him so well. Just to give you an idea of why:

– He almost NEVER stops making jokes (no exaggeration)
– While some Hermanas were cleaning the window as a service project he danced for them
– Almost no one is good at Spanish, but he has managed to hit on Hermana Luna and admitted to having two kids and have chastity problems while he parties with his sisters*

Elder Bischoff may not be the most spiritual, but he sure makes our district interesting!

* Here’s the stories about how these crazy confessions happened. While Elder Bischoff was practicing making small talk with Hermana Luna, he had some word mix-ups, and what he attempted to say was, “What’s your family like?” and “I have two siblings”. Instead, however, he used the word “parecido” (a different kind of “like”), changing “What’s your family like” to “What’s your family, good-looking?” As for having two children, that happened when he told her he had “dos hijos” (“two children”) instead of “dos hermanos” (“two siblings”)! As for chastity problems with his sisters, he was practicing being an investigator while Hermano Flores taught him about why we need to be chaste. There, he meant to say “I have lots of parties with girls” but instead of using “chicas” (“girls”) he used “hermanas” (“sisters”)! There are many dangers to Spanish that no one tells you about!

Elder Peterson: Elder Peterson is both very weird and very talented (I think the two kind of go hand in hand). For example, one time he got really bored while living on one of his relatives’ farms and so just sat outside and watched and mimicked the cows’ moos, and now he can do an incredible cow sound. As far as I can tell, he can mimic Gollum/Smeagol very well (The first time he demonstrated it he scared everyone because he did it at 9:00 at night while the lights were off and the blinds were closed!) and can also de a very good Joker, Mickey Mouse, cat, dog, and a few others, such as a black person (You know what I’m talking about, right?!). Apparently all he has to do is study something for a while and if his voice is capable of mimicking it he can! He’s also an amazing dancer – his Robot is unbelieveable! – and he can beat-box and beat-box dubstep as well as sing! He’s truly a man of many talents, but he’s so quiet that you might not know until you get to know him.

Unfortunately, this is all I have time for this week. I’ll send a couple pictures of my district and I’ll finish describing them next week – unless I get a lot of questions! ¡Hasta luego!

Hopefully these pictures work. If they don’t, let me know so I can try again next time!

Elder Schroeder

From left to right: Elders Parker, Peterson, Littlefield, Willard, Alder, Herget, Bischoff, Pierce, Bly, and Schroeder

Some pictures of the Lima Temple:

Is anyone interested in getting a llama tie for Christmas? You won`t get it for two years, but they have them in lots of colors!

A record of a momentous occasion: WE ACTUALLY SAW THE MOON! Usually the sky is this nasty brown color because it`s so cloudy here!

The night of matress jousting…

Hola, everyone! A few weeks ago I couldn’t find some of the grammar keys (I still can’t! I’ve been using the accent mark for an apostraphy (However you spell that. My English has been getting worse as I’ve gotten more used to Spanish)) and this week I can’t use the Enter key! It’s just one problem after another, so I’ll try to make it easy to tell where the next paragraphs should be!

Mom and Dad, you mentioned that some other people want to get my emails, so I’ll start off by telling you that you can send it to whomever you want. If they want to hear about my mission, I’ve got no problem with it. SO, for those of you who are not part of my family and are going to get this, I apologize for the dumb stuff I write and talk about. I figure my family is more likely to forgive me for that stuff than you are, so… yeah.

I figure this week I’ll give you my schedule for the general days (and a description for each activity) so I don’t have to explain anymore and no one has to wonder. It’s not the most thrilling, but then you’ll understand what living here is like. Next week I plan to do a Q&A thing, so if you have any requests please shoot me an email and I’ll try to provide some short answers (or long ones, if there’s more to discuss). And I know you have already sent me some questions already, and I plan to answer those if I have time, but if not I’ll get to them next week.

So, without further ado, my schedule for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday (Wednesday is Preparation-Day), Friday, and Saturay is as follows:

6:30 AM – Arise and Prepare: This usually happens closer to 6:35 because it’s hard to get decent sleep around here. Even if the sky is brown (for some reason) and cloudy all night, it’s really bright. Luckily, I swiped a sleep mask from the plane and have been using that lately. One of these days I’m going to wake up with it on and think I’ve gone blind!

7:15 AM – Breakfast: I would go into more detail about this, but we actually don’t eat strange foods for breakfast (Just the other day we had pancakes!).  Don’t get me wrong, everything we eat has a… unique Peruvian taste (we’ll go with that), but it’s not inherently strange. Usually involves eggs, soup (For the adventureous! There’s always some unidentified chunks! Mmmmm!), yogurt, LOTS of toast (It’s the best-tasting thing we usually eat for breakfast), cereal with milk (I usually don’t have it), and juice. By far the best part of breakfast is the juice. Usually they have orange juice and milk, but they always have juice for lunch and dinner too, and they’re all really good (And possibly freshly-squeezed — you can get seeds sometimes!). So far I’ve had orange, lemon, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, lime, and cranberry juice!

8:00 AM – Personal Study: We’re supposed to spend this hour reading scriptures or Preach My Gospel or learning Spanish, but unfortunately we usually spend it all talking because our group is the test district. I’ll explain: Usually, every District (group of 4-6 companionships) has at least 2 Hermanas. Ours does not. The other Districts have 3+ teachers. We have 2. Most Districts have someone who does nothing but mess around. We have 3 very disruptive Elders (I’ll describe all the Elders in my District in another email). In short, we’re certain we’re in some sort of test to see if we’ll actually learn Spanish (probably a test created by Heavenly Father), and right now the 3 disruptive Elders are able to get everyone off track consistently, so I’m pretty sure we’re failing. It would help a lot if we had a teacher in the room or if we could go somewhere else, but…

9:00 AM – Class with Hermano Flores: This is an OK class. It would be really great except it’s 3.5 hours of sitting there listening to Spanglish, meaning we go through from ready to antsy to subdued to tired and have trouble paying attention for the entire time (Especially Elder Parker, my companion! He falls asleep at least once in every class! (Again, more about him later)). Don’t get me wrong, I’ve learned a lot in the class, but some days it’s a struggle. As for Hermano Flores, he’s great and interesting, but his English isn’t the best and sometimes we get confused because we can’t understand some of the words he uses and he can’t understand some of ours, so I’ll just say I’m glad they gave us all Spanish-English Dictionaries. To describe him, he’s about 22 or 23 and likes to make jokes (Or, since he has an accent, yokes (A phrase the District has adopted because the first time he said it we all died laughing! (That first day was a very long day…))).

12:30 PM – Lunch: Lunch is my least favorite meal because it has the worst-tasting food (it’s not bad, but it’s not great). Lunch and dinner are the meals when we eat white rice (Without flavoring or anything! It’s so bland!) and some sort of chicken EVERY TIME. I never thought I would dislike chicken and rice so much! For dessert, they have gelatin or Peruvian pudding (basically a clear jelly with chunks of fruit in it) and sometimes ice cream bars from the freezer (No one even told us about the ice cream until Day 4!).

1:15 PM – TALL (Technology-Assisted Language Learning): Basically the part of the day where we go to the computer lab and attempt to learn new words without working audio and while attempting to avoid falling asleep or zoning out (It’s a struggle not many usually win).

2:15 PM – Additional Study: Basically Personal Study without 15 extra minutes of uselessness in the District room.

3:00 PM – Physical Activity: The one time we are allowed to wear something other than a button-up white shirt, slacks, and a tie and return to our rooms during the day. Then we go outside and do something to tire ourselves out, like playing soccer, volleyball, or using playground workout equipment (I say “Playground Workout Equipment” because they look exactly like things you’d find on a playground — same metal poles, same plastic, same colors — but are designed to provide an arm, leg, or core workout. It’s actually really cool.) I usually use the workout equipment; you get surprisingly tired from it! By the end of my mission I’m going to be ripped!

4:05 PM – Prepare for Class: Exactly what it sounds like.

4:45 PM – Class with Hermana Luna: A lot like the class with Flores, except our teacher is Hermana Luna and the class is divided by dinner, which happens in at 6:15 PM. This class and I have a love/hate relationship, because we have to teach an “investigator” (Hermana Luna acting as an investigator — complete with a little house to go to and teach in!) entirely in Spanish. It’s really hard, but it also is an excellent way for us to learn how to teach and speak Spanish. Of course, Hermana Luna can understand us — her English is better than Hermano Flores’s because she served a mission in Arizona — but she pretends not to, making it even more frustrating. Apparently Elder Parker and I are doing a really good job because she complemented us on our teaching the other day. We were teaching about the Book or Mormon and she said the “investigator” felt the Spirit strongly! I’m finally doing something right, and obviously Elder Parker is too!

6:15 PM – Dinner: Like lunch, but with better, warmer food and without ice cream. Usually the best meal of the day.

7:00 PM – Class with Hermana Luna (again): Usually the time we teach the “investigator” and study/goof off (I really need to find a way to focus when I’m surrounded by chaos).

9:00 PM – Daily Planning: The time we use to prepare our lessons for the next day we teach an investigator. It’s a lot like Personal Study.

9:30 PM – Prepare for Bed: When we get ready for bed in 5 minutes and talk
for 25.

10:00 PM – Quiet Time: I’m beginning to think it’s not misspelled on our horario (schedule) as “Quite Time” because it’s usually quite loud.

10:30 PM – Lights Off: Bedtime! I’ll admit I’m not usually in bed at 10:30 because THIS IS THE ONLY TIME IT’S QUIET and I use it to write in my journal!

So, there’s my schedule. If you want to spread the boredom, go for it. I’ll try to talk about my District and answer any questions I you send next week!

Adios!
Elder Schroeder

Hey everyone!

I don’t really remember what I put in my last letter because I had only about 5 minutes to write it. They didn’t tell us that before I got on, so I had to suddenly cut it short. I read all of the emails I got, but I don’t think I have time to respond to them all. Anyway, I’ll give you a simple summary of the past week.

The flights were OK. I think I told you a little about the first one and how the woman I sat next to send me a Facebook friend request, and I guess she did that because she is a strong believer that things happen for a reason, like her flight plan being changed so she flew next to me. I don’t really think the reason was particularly great — probably to help me feel more comfortable flying alone for the first time — but she must have thought there was some bigger reason! Why else would you try to find a random stranger on Facebook that you knew for barely 3 hours?… I mean, if you’re not a 12-year-old teenage girl! Anyway, the second flight I sat next to another Elder — Elder Pierce — and we talked a little bit, but later in the flight we were trying to sleep and things like that. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get much sleep because they kept the lights on almost the whole flight (They turned it off for a short time, but there was a slight medical emergency with an elderly passenger — I couldn’t see, I only know because they asked for a doctor over the intercom — and they needed the lights and kept them on after that. The lights also made it impossible to take pictures out of the window as we flew into Peru, so unfortunately I don’t have any of the city) and I couldn’t recline my seat because I was way in the back, right úp against the wall of the restroom (That created a whole other problem that I won’t go into detail about!).

We finally landed in Peru around 11:30 PM (we being the 18 Elders and 5 Hermanas that were on the same flight. Surprisingly, my suitcases were by far the lightest out of almost all the Elders. Most of theirs were over 50 pounds AND they had carry-on bags! But even though mine were lighter I really hated that they don’t have a pull-up handle (at least they have wheels!) because they were hard to carry around. My other option was to walk all hunched over and drag the suitcases as I walked, but I chose to carry them and my shoulders hurt for the next 2 days! The drive to the MTC would have been better if I had been able to get more pictures, but it was had out of a moving vehicle. We finally got to the CCM, got to our rooms, and went to bed around 3:30 AM… and they expected us to be up at 7:00. Yay!

The second day was the longest. Sleeping for 3.5 hours is not great, and the entire day was mostly getting a tour of the CCM, learning the rules and having mini devotionals, and eating food. It was really boring — even the food! I’m not really sure what I expected to eat, but it wasn’t rice and chicken every lunch and dinner! It’s always white rice, but at least there’s some variety in the chicken: chicken with bones still in the pieces, chicken cooked in orange sauce, chicken cooked with paprika, etc. Breakfast seems to be toast with a side of whatever the main course is supposed to be — as in everyone eats 3 or 4 slices of toast and a little bit of fruit and meat. That’s just how it is around here (the breakfasts aren’t great, but the lunches and dinners are quite delicious (usually)) (And for those who know I’m picky, you wouldn’t believe I was if you saw me here! I’m determined to at least try everything, and I’ve kept true to that!).

At the end of the second day, a group of the older Elders came to our rooms to welcome us and share some advice. I say “older” because somehow they all seem way older than us, probably because they act more confident and we kind of get the freshmen-meets-senior feeling when we see them. They told us that sometimes Elders who stayed in the room before us leave presents for us in the ceiling tiles (they can be lifted up) and some people received cookies, an alarm clock that went off at 4:30 AM, and a Pringles can full of poop (Luckily that wasn’t us; those were the elders across the hall. We got a note that gave some advice the older Elders told us in person). The older elders also warned us about the “siempres” and the “nuncas” (the “always” and the “nevers”): either you always have to poop, or you never can poop. (I don’t know why there’s so much about poop around here) (It’s great anyway)

Day 3 we met our teachers, and Days 3, 4, and 5 were pretty much the same. We practice Spanish, eat food, and study and relax when we can. We aren’t great at focusing in our district (the group of 5 companionships that share room 109), but we are getting better at speaking Spanish. We have to be, because we teach an “investigator” (our teacher role-playing one, anyway) almost every day. It’s really had to share something I’ve been taugh all my life when I can’t think of the word to use! It’s frustrating, but it IS only week 1.

Well, I’ll write about the rest of this week when I have more time. I’m actually (kind of) keeping a journal (I’m a little behind), so I’ll make sure to remember everything I need to. I’ll also be able to send some pictures (I’m only allowed to take them on P-Day, so I don’t have many). I love you all and don’t worry about me — I’ll live (even if I can’t poop)

Elder Schroeder

Hey everyone!

I have made it to Peru and am in the CCM. I am going to have to write without using contractions because I have no clue how to type the single quote on this keyboard. Other than that, it is not too different from an English one, but it will take a little getting used to because all the punctuation marks are in different places!

Travel was OK. We got here around 3:00 AM (this time), but it took a good 30 minutes to be assigned a room and get ready for bed. I tried to take some pictures of Lima from the bus we rode in (There are about 20 missionaries who came with me!), but it was kind of hard so we will have to see how they turned out. The plane rides were not very comfortable, but they were not awful. On the flight to Atlanta, I sat next to a woman who was on my flight because of a reschedule and who is also LDS. She is apparently a strong believer that things happen for a reason, so I think she sent me a friend request on Facebook. I do not know what that is about, but it made the flight more interesting! The other interesting thing that happened was on the flight to Lima a woman had a medical emergency of some sort on the plane and they had to help her and there was a moderate amount of commotion. She was fine, but it was weird when I had no clue what was going on! I will have to tell you more next week!

Elder Schroeder