Friday, March 29, 2013

2013-03-28 First day in Peru MTC


email from Elder Howlett

Yep, I got your email. And I made it to the MTC. I don’t have any pictures for you this week because I don’t have my camera cord with me but I’ve only taken a couple pictures anyway. Looks like I only have 30 mins to write you too, because there is a clock on the screen counting down.

There were 13 of us at the gate at Salt Lake, all going to the Peru MTC and almost half to Cochabamba. The plane from SLC to LAX was awful--super small and almost completely full. At LAX we got lost looking for our flight to Lima, accidentally left the airport. We think the tram driver told us the wrong stop to get off at. We made it to our flight anyway. The plane to Lima was awesome. It was huge and the seats were comfy and it was half empty. Me and a couple other missionaries got moved to the front row where there was so much leg room I couldn’t even touch the wall in front of me. It had awesome touch screen TVs except we can’t use them. Bummer. Diego the flight attendant was nice and came back and offered me m&ms and ginger ale often. We were also served two meals, chicken with green beans and potatoes and then a breakfast sandwich with turkey, tomato, and cream cheese. We got crackers with brie, cake, and a salad too. The food was all surprisingly good, especially the sandwich. Also, Diego is a pilot that flies private planes in Chile. If we ever go there, he gave me his email to have us fly with him. He helped us fill out our customs and immigration papers which was nice.

Also while we were on the flight, a lady from first class came wandering back to where me and the other 2 missionaries were. She started asking us questions and pointing at our name tags. None of us could really understand her but I spoke the best Spanish so she sat down next to me and we talked for 15 minutes. Turns out that my Spanish has really gone downhill. Bummer. It took almost 5 minutes to figure out she wanted to know if we were los Mormones. We are. After that we talked about her (mute?) son who lives somewhere she doesn’t get to see him. I think that she and her son are both Catholic. She asked me what the difference between Mormons and Catholics is. It was like a practice question from mission prep. Unfortunately we don’t practice in Spanish so I told her we believe families can be together after this life because that is all I could say in Spanish. She was nice and patient with my terrible Spanish and eventually I asked if she wanted the missionaries in Chile to visit her. She said yes and I took down her name and phone number. She took the pass along card too. Pretty good for a first day, huh?
bus that picked up missionaries at Lima airport

We didn’t leave the Lima airport until 2am and I didn’t get to the MTC until almost 3:00. We were given companions and room assignments and finally got to bed around 3:30. We got up at 9 and had breakfast. Good croissant, good thick mandrina juice. warm milk on cereal, not so good. Also mandarin fruit with green peel but looks like orange on inside and lacks taste, picture to follow. My comp is Elder Laidlow from Cali. He is who I rode to Lima with. Out of time and hard to type, keyboard is different.

love y’all,

Elder Howlett

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

2013-03-27 Reporting to the Lima, Peru Missionary Training Center




 

So, today was the big day.  We left for the airport at about 7:30 am.  Steven's flight left at 10:20 am and connected through LAX to Peru.  It's 9:00 pm as I'm writing this and he's STILL on a plane (in a middle seat!). 

Yesterday, as we were frantically finishing up last minute preparations, Steven's friend, Jenny, came up from Provo to show him a slideshow of photos she had taken of him and his "Provo friends" the last time they were all together.  Another friend, Miranda also came up to say "goodbye" and Sam C. was here, too. 

This morning before we left, Jarrett, Sam, and Connor and Serena and Angelica came over to say "goodbye" too.  They had tried to get Steven breakfast from Kneaders, but had to settle for McDonald's since it was the only thing open that early.

John dropped Steven and me off to check in.  I collected lots of hugs (but not enough to last 2 years!) and stayed to watch Steven through security.