Elder Adam's report on Iquitos Peru

Dear Family,

 

It sounds like any Christmas packages that are going to Adam need to be sent fairly soon. I am planning on getting his Christmas package off to him by November 10th. Hopefully that will give it plenty of time to get to him. Those of you who have been on missions to South America, if you don't think this is enough time let me know. I'm also sending a package right away for Thanksgiving. Hopefully he will get that in time, probably iffy. 

 

If anyone would like to include something in with any of these packages let me know.

 

Also, on Halloween we are drawing names for Christmas, and I will post them on the blog. I can't believe that time is speeding by so fast. It has been 1 year since Geoffrey and Alice were born! And Malia is right behind! Where does all the time go!

 

We love you all so very much!

Mom

(Oma) 

 

Hello, everyone!

First off, let me apologize for the fact that there are no pictures. I forgot to bring my camera cable to the internet cafe where I'm writing this. I PROMISE that there will be pictures next time!

Anyhoo, this past week has been pretty big! Huge, in fact! For those who haven't heard, I'm out in the field now, serving in the city of Iquitos (I'm not in the deep jungle quite yet. Looking forward to that), and it's super moist down here. Sweating has become a normal thing for everyone here, especially indoors. On Saturday, however, it rained a ton! My companion said it was still hot and a recent convert (who had lived in India before) said it was super cold. Honestly, though, the rain made it feel just right. I must be the baby bear of Iquitos or something.

The people down here in Iquitos are super nice! They're the kind of people you can just say "Good morning" to on the streets and they'll return the salutation with a smile. They're also super humble down here too, so getting new investigators is easy. The hardest part about teaching investigators (aside from the language) is that the appointments fall through more than they work out. There is literally never a dull moment here, so the people are always out and about doing something. Even as I type this, there's a huge fiesta right outside the building. If we get an appointment to work out, it's either because the investigator is super interested or because we're lucky. The weekends, however, are the toughest because those days are what we call the "Dias de Fiestas" (The Party Days). EVERYONE is out having parties, and catching them in their homes is tough. When we do get the opportunity to teach them, they're always really good about listening and doing their commitments. We have yet to have someone say "no" to a commitment or a future appointment, but I suppose that'll eventually come.

I've been assigned to be a companion to a latino named Elder Uribe, who knows pretty much minimal English. It's been hard to communicate with him for the first few days (because it seems that the MTC didn't teach me the right language), but he's really good at explaining some of the grammar stuffs of Spanish. I've learned more Spanish in two days with him than I have in one week at the MTC. My biggest problem with the language now is understanding what people are saying because they talk so darn fast!

As for the animals, since I'm in the city, I actually haven't seen many jungle animals (but I did see a parrot making rooster sounds!). The majority of animals here are stray dogs and cats, and the occasional chicken. They're pretty much everywhere. Some are adorable and some...well, not so much. They're pretty good about minding their own business as long as we mind ours. I can't help but wonder if the animals here own their own Mafia or something. To answer Heather's question, no, I don't have a pet monkey, unfortunately, but there is a small white/orange cat that hangs out with us everyday at dinner. It's pretty cute. I'll send a picture of it next week.

The food here is pretty good too! The people down here LOVE their rice, potatoes (usually in french fry form), and chicken, so it's weird to get a meal without one of those three things in there. We get a maid that cooks for us, and she's a pretty good cook (not as good as Mom, of course). We usually walk a mile every morning to get to her house to eat, so chances are, I'm gonna get ripped. 

Also, I might have mentioned this before, but the majority of vehicles down here are motorcyles and rickshaws (I think that's what they're called. Down here, they're called Motocarros). Seeing a car or van down here is just as common as seeing a motorcycle up in Utah, so it's somewhat uncommon.

Anyways, how is everyone up there? Mom, that story about the onion truck is the funniest thing ever! How many onions did you get? I also heard you weren't feeling well. I hope you get better soon! I'll be praying for you! How is Katie? And Dad? I wish you the best! I know that through faith in Christ and the power of God, you can all be healed and/or comforted.

Oh, and here's the address of the mission home for letters and packages:

Misión Perú Iquitos

Napo *hashtag* 478

Iquitos, Maynas

Loreto, Perú

Sorry about that hashtag thing. I don't know how to type that on a Spanish keyboard. Anyhoo, letters and packages take about 3-5 weeks to get here...I think. I'm actually not sure. Guess I'll find out!

Anyways, I'll be thinking about you! All of you will be in my prayers! 

Love,

Elder Dixon