First Proselyting Trip

Hola Famlilia!!


I am glad to see that all of you decided to write me this week! I was very excited to read what you all had to say and you all had...nothing! What is up with that? I get one day a week and you give me nada? Ok now that the chastisement is over, how are you all doing??!! I miss you all very much!!


It is good here in Peru still nice and hot siempre. [siempre: always; all the time] Hoy [hoy: today] I went to the Interpol service place thing, and had to get all my fingerprints taken and my teeth looked at. I have to have residency to stay here and those are some of the requirements.


Well like I have said before, here they just get right into the swing of things. On Saturday we went proselyting to the city of Cinineguilla and boy what a culture shock. The people here live in nothing. It is all dirt and there are gross stray dogs running everywhere and garbage. It was very strange. Most of the houses were just thatched together with woven lattice type stuff and some plywood. They are not really protected from the environments at all either. They don’t really have roofs and no windows; it is all just open. Our first family we taught had been inactive for 7 years. She and her husband work all the time and have three kids; the youngest is three. She was very unresponsive to our teachings and did not have much to say. However it was very interesting still because it was just an awkward situation. Even more interesting was during the lesson at least three separate times she whipped out her breasts and started feeding her youngest. Wow talk about awkward and strange... so we made it through that crisis and started talking with people trying to find our next house. We talked to a woman who had never heard of the church before. We committed her to reading the Book of Mormon and to going to church!! It was cool. Our last contact of the day was the most touching experience I have ever had. His name is José and he lives in a dirt floor shack in the back of someone’s house. He has one tiny light and a camp stove. This place is like a camp site with a roof. This man is about 4 ft tall and is 95 yrs old. He lives there all alone and he has no teeth. He is nearly blind and deaf. We offered him a blessing and he accepted. He told us a little about his life there. He cannot go to church because he cannot make it all the way down to the church, it is about 20 min walk, and he is physically unable. He cannot work; he had no money and no food or water. I gave him my water bottle and we talked with him some more. It was very hard to understand him because he is so old and he has no teeth. He is a very nice old man and continued to tell us that he cannot eat anything and all he gets is soup form the lady everyday; maybe twice a day if he is lucky. All the clothes he has are on his back, and no one in the pueblo is able to help. My heart cried for this man. Never in my life had I seen anything like it. He thanked us many times, and as we went to leave he thanked us again and began to cry. We were the only visitors he has had in two years. I felt sad and sick... it was an amazing experience and I loved it but every day since I have thought about José and how alone he is and just his situation. The conditions are awful.


Anyways everything else is great!! Please write!! I love you all so so so so so so much!!! Please forward to everyone!! Make sure Grandma Blackwell is in the loop.


I Love you all!! I hope your birthday was a good one Hannah!! I love you.


Elder JETT Hudson