From Belen

Hey,

I have another address that you can send to as well,

Mision Peru Arequipa
Casilla de Correo 1884
Arequipa Peru


I was sick with a fever of 104 for a day. I was fine the next day.


I hope bub makes it on the team that´d be way tight.

We found 17 new investigators these week, which is quite incredible. 3 or 4 of which seem pretty golden right now. One family just lost a daughter/sister like 2 weeks ago and we were able to help cheer them up with the plan oif salvation lessson and helping them understand that their sister7daughter is in the spirit world waiting for the rest of the family to get baptized so they can be a forever family.

We also had 5 people come to church as well, a family of 3 and a family of 2, it was so nest to see how much they enjoyed church and the members are great here in fellowshipping.

I taught an english class, well sort of a class, to 2 boys who were excited to learn but they kept on wanting to know the meaning of brand names like converse or honda and stuff like that.

So yeah thats all, I´m gonna send some pictures your way now

Elder Patrik Connole

PS you know whats really tasty that you could try, is fat french fries in stir fry, its really good!

...and some excerpts from snail mail (words in italics are mine)...

Hey Mom,

How are you feeling? I know it's gotta be kind rough...with all the things going on...that's a lot on one's plate! But the Lord blesses us and carries us through our mightiest struggles.

Honestly I love it here but it is a little rough at times because it is so diferent. Some things are similar and what I expectd but a lot is very different. But I'm sure it won't take too long to figure it out.

At the airport (I am assuming on the way to Arequipa) there was a married couple who were heading to Arequipa to pick up their son. So it was fun to talk to them about their view of ARequipa and they were pretty cool.

We spent our 1st night at the mission home, the meals were excellent the tratining was long but necessary and informational. The gringos all spent the night together enjoying one last night of being able to talk in English.

The next morning we ahd our interviews with the President and it was off on a bus for 4 hours to meet my new companion and trainer.

After unpacking we went to dinner which was fine. And then since my comp is a DL, he and I went to do a baptismal interview in Samegua which is about 20 min away by taxi.

The man getting his interview was the only non-member in his family so the Hermanas (wh were teaching this guy) and I talked with his family about random stuff. There was a 10 year old boy who had tons of questions about the States so it was fun to talk to him.

Let's see so the next day the Zone Leaders came over to meet me and to go over a new zone plan with my companion. Then we went on splits, but me and the ZL with me didn't find anyone...

We have some members that stop by almost every night to say hi and see if they can help in any way. Its really nice to have them around and willing to help because having a memeber with us just adds another testimony to what we are teaching.

Sunday after church we had a lot of appointments made but mine all fell through. We went on a split with the members once again. I went with a slightly handicapped physically and possibly an little mentally member. So when we did contacting I had to talk basically the whole time. But I managed to set up 3 appointments so I guess I did ok!

In the Field!

Yep out in the field in a little town called Belen, in the district of Maquegua. Obviously my pday has changed to monday and usually this email will go out a little earlier if my comp ever figures out how to be on time. His name is Elder Cedron from Trujillo Peru has a couple younger siblings and is 27. Yep 27. He´s also the district leader here so he has a lot of work to do.

As far as the the people go they are pretty great and are excited to have a gringo here to teach them english, which i´lll do starting every wednesday night. The ward and branch we work with are small (like 30 people in the branch and 80 in the ward). And we have a tough time getting people to come to church. but we´ll be patient and just keep trying.

The food has been pretty good, different but good. The weather here is a lot like AZ, just hot but its been a lot windier. Im gonna take some pictures for next time but this time you´ll have to do with out because i didn´t grab my camera. The scenery is similiar to AZ, but more green and more hills. But the mountains are just like AZ.

I didn´t grab my journal either so I don´t remember what all I was gonna say...sorry!Lets see Oh yes I got Dearelders from Dad, S, E Nichols and Aunt K. I got a physical letter from R Merril and Sister O. Its tough to get and send a lot of emails since my time is limited. So regular mail works better.
If you want to send it through pouch here´s the addres:
PERU AREQUIPAPO
Box 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150

I´m not sure what all the rules are with that (see side bar for info on pouch)
Or you can send it through the peru mail system which is slower but I know you can only send packages that way,
Elder Patrik Connole
PERU AREQUIPA
Edificio el Peru
Avenida el Ejercito 710, Oficina 7031
CAYMA AREQUIPA PERU

I think there are some other addresses that work as well

Lets see my Spanish to English dictionary got jacked and I doubt I´ll find one here so if you could get me one that would be awesome! also any food you send to me I will be extremely grateful for. Hint hint ;).

And bub is leaving tomorrow??? Good luck my brother!

Sounds like W is growing up far to quickly! And M too! I miss those little squirts!But anyways yeah I´m here safe, loving it and hoping to get some baptisms going here pretty quick!

More Last Week at CCM

From a snail mail letter:

So today is my last p-day in the CCM. It's pretty crazy to think about that. Hopefully I'll be able to get letters a alot easier out in the field. That'd be way nice...

So yeah, I just got mya haircut real short so I feel normal once a gain, the first time today when thtey cut it an older man cut it, and you know how hard it is to cut my hair. it took him forever and once he was done I took a look in the mirror and my hair literally looked like this: (here he drew a hand drawn photo where it kind of looks like there is a jagged crown for hair on his head) yeah, not good, so I laughed, went back in and had the lady cut it for me instead and now it looks fine.

Tell everyone I'm doing great and just loving pretty much every minute here. I can't wait to get out in the field and work with real people, real problems and just everything... Heck, by the time you get this I will be in the field! Holy cats right!

I am a little apprehensive of getting into the field thought mainly because my Spanish can still us a lot of work, and it's going to be a lot of responsibility out there tot teach God's children. It's gonna be scary but so rewarding.

Bub & Nan, I'm so proud of you two getting into colleg. like seriously. it's so amazing. you'll both haave such a great time. Don't have so much fun that you forget to do school work though! Oh yes and don't forget to just get involved fully in the activities and the many things you can do on campus. There are so many cool things, don't be afraid to try!

Oh one other, don't forget to check out financial stuff right away.

S & D keep doing good in school and Scouts so that you can also get into BYU or wherever yu want to go. Enjoy yourselves right now and keep expanding your comfort zone.

M--don't grow up too fast! I mean jeez when I get back you will be 9 1/2 holy cow! I love you and the picutres you sent me!

W--You are an awesome, smart little bugger. :)

Mom and Dad, thanks for everything you've sacrificed for my benefit. I realize now more than ever how much you've done for me throughout my life. So once again thank you.

I love you all and I can't wait to see you all again, Keep emailing for now and youa re all individually in my prayers.

Elder Patrik Connole

p.s. Did I mention that I ate Octopus Chowder?

Last Week at CCM

I was under the impression that you were moving sooner than that still, thanks for the housing update!

Yay for Nana! thats awesome! She´ll have a lot of fun with that! and I´ll definitely keep Grandma Bessie in my prayers, hopefully everything goes well with that.

Tell Bub and Sticky good luck on their Eagle Projects! Thats way awesome that they got them under way.

And I had no idea the Heywoods were even adopting a second Russian daughter, I only thought there was one!

So um yeah, basically my email next week will be out in the field! crazy huh? I leave on tuesday! Its seriously come up far to fast!

So lets see whats been happening, we´ve had a psycho crazy military sergeant for a gym teacher, and since he was so aggressive a lot of elders (myself included) got really really hyped up for the soccer game afterwards and it left a bad taste in our mouths afterwards because it tourned into all about winning rather than having a good time. So the ZLs talked to the president and this last time out it was much better.

I got tto throw the disc around a bit with some of the other Americans, it was nice to just throw it around a bit.

As far as spanish goes I have been translating every sacrament, devotional and fireside for the last couple weeks and its gone really well, just a few words here and there that I had no idea on so I couldn´t get what the speaker was talking about. fortunately I usually have someone beside me to look up words and help me out. When I went to the Temple today I was able to understand most all of the session so that also felt good.

The past week I´ve been looking up characteristics of Captain Moroni, and I found something very interesting. Right after the verse that says "if all men were like unto Moroni..." it mentions a few people that were also like unto Moroni, such as Ammon, Alma the Younger, Helaman and some others. It was quite interesting to see that and then I looked up about 60+ chararcteristics of these men so that I could try to emulate them.

Saturday as usual was crazy. We went to our Proselitismo with the inactive members, and my darn companion wouldn´t let me get a word in edge wise. So we had a talk about that after we were done. This time around we went to a much richer area of Lima. No dirt floors, paved streets, it was much better, and yet still way worse than most of America.

Yesterday during futbol I scored an unassisted goal! woot! I couldn´t hardly believe it! there were a bunch of people crowded around the ball trying to ´clear´it and got a ahold of it , and kicked it right past the goalie´s left shoulder, and that was to tie the game up! It was so sweet!

Sounds like sports are going good too, thanks for the olympics updates and the pro team updates as well. Sounds like the Cards are gonna have an interesting year coming up.
Love you all!
Elder Patrik Connole

Temple Trip

Ok so they finally got a timer on the computers so for how long you can be on and I can´t send pictures once again so it´ll have to wait until I´m in the field

We didn´t get to go proselyting this week because of that earthquake in Chile so all the the coastal area where we usually go to was preparing for an aftershock tidal wave. Nothing really happened though so everyone here in Peru is fine.

Sundays are so much more so nicer now that I´m not a DL or ZL so I don´t have to go to a bajillion meetings. well its only two but I can now use that time to sleep! woot!

I´ve turned into the official translator for all meetings, like translating on the fly. Its really tough at times, but its a lot of fun and it helps me really learn the spanish. But yeah its just me and I can do fairly well until they start sharing personal stories that I don´t have the vocabulary for. Then I just kinda say what I think is going on because usually I can some of it. The gift is tongues is such a real thing that I´m experiencing right now. Like I would not be making so much progress if the Spirit wasn´t so strong here.

I really like my new teachers, they are very powerful and really know what is helpful out in the field. I´m learning a lot from them.

Today we finally got to go to the temple, it was entirely in spanish so I got a headset, I listened with one ear in english and one ear in spanish. I understood most of the spanish though, just a few things here and there that I didn´t know.

I can´t believe the olympics are over already. like time has been flying by so fast, oh man and in 2 weeks I will be out in the field. Holy cow. How crazy is that?

Love you all!
Elder Patrik Connole