Aaron

Hey everyone!  I hope you are all doing well wherever you all may be!  This past week was awesome!  There was a ton of work to do and there is still a ton of work to be done here in Julicaca.

So this past week we put a baptismal date on a girl that we are teaching for this Saturday and she is going to be baptized this Saturday!  She also told us that it´s something that she has been wanting to do so it´s pretty cool that she has decided to take this step.

Yesterday at church we had a lot of progress!!  There was more attendance in the ward and a lot of people brought investigators to church!  I don´t know what impelled them to do that but it was awesome!  Now there is a full week here in Universidad!

Well, apart from all that, today are changes and it looks like I´m going back to Sicuani!  Deja vu!  I don´t know how that happend but it will be cool!  I´m really glad I was able to work here in Juliaca.  I love the people here.  A lot of the members are awesome here and I am happy to have been able to work here!

Well, these next months will be interesting but awesome!  I hope you all have a great week!  I love you all!

Happy week!  I hope you all had a good week and that it was full of meaningful things!  This past week there wasn´t a whole lot due to ingrown toenail problems.  I had to take out my whole toenail so I have been resting the whole week basically.  

Other than that we were able to visit an investigator called Merida.  She is super cool.  She has a lot of desires to know more about the church and she accepted a baptismal date for May 28th.  

Today are changes and I have a change to Juliaca!  It´s about an hour away from where I´m at right now so it won´t be a super long trip!  It will be cool!  My new companion is Elder Chang from Lima.  I´ve met him before.  He was in my zone in Puno.

That´s about all that happened this week!  Sorry for the little that there is but it´s just that not a lot happened this past week!  Toe problems!  Well, I love you all!  Thanks for everything and the support you all give!

Hey everyone.  Today is Monday and today are changes!  I have been here in Sicuani for a good 6 months but now it´s time for me to go.  I have been changed to Puno.  Even higher and even colder.  But it´s pretty cool.

This week was pretty interesting.  First off, everybody was making bread.  Someone even asked us to help her make bread.  I was wondering why all the bread.  Second, there was a bunch of people selling things to put on grave sites.  I still didn´t get it until Friday.  I finally realized that we were close to El Día de los Muertos (day of the dead).  Basically it´s a day where everyone goes and visits those who have passed on and leave on the graves things that they liked in their mortal lives.  I knew Spanish class would come in handy.

As for teaching, we just got a lot of falling through and rejection this week...  It was interesting.  Some people even thought we were salesmen.  I don´t get it sometime.

That´s really about it.  Nothing too special except making bread.  Love you all and thanks for all the support.  See you in Puno.

Hey everyone.  Hope you are having the best of times.  As for me, I am freezing my butt off.  Going from the Jungle to over 11,000 ft. is a little dramatic.  And it´s only going to get colder here.  June and July are the coldest months here so yay me!  

Sicuani is pretty cool.  It´s completely different than the jungle.  Most of the houses here are made of adobe and all the doors are super small.  I actually feel kind of tall here.  I think I´m the tallest person in my district which is a change.

We haven´t had a lot of work to do here.  It seems like nobody wants to hear us.  Even the members sometimes.  I also saw the list of recent converts and the last baptism this sector had was 6 months ago.  Hopefully we can change that.

Maybe this guy will listen to us

My new companion is from Lima.  He is pretty cool.  His name is Elder Sosa.  He is a convert and got baptized at 24 or something like that.  So right now he is 26.  He is the only member of his family that is a member of the church.  But he is cool!

My new pension is pretty cool.  She owns a restaurant so we get to eat what we want and how much we want.  So that means no chuño or rice!  I´m pretty excited about that.  We also had a birthday party thing for her son this past week.  He turned 25 I think.   He is pretty cool as well.  His name is Elisvan and he helps us out sometimes.

So now that I´m in the mountain, I don´t only hear Spanish anymore.  Almost all the old people here speak Quechua.  I only know very few frases like Where are you from and I am.... and What´s your name.  It´s an interesting language.  They say it´s more like English than Spanish.  Also when people don´t understand Quechua or English, they think Quechua is English sometimes.

That´s about it this week besides the 13 hour bus ride from Puerto to Cusco.  Not much there because I just slept.  Have a good week everyone.  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hey everyone!  It`s good to hear from you all and thanks for all the birthday wishes.  For me, I managed to get through the whole day without one egg being smashed on my head!  It probably helped that we were on divisions and I went to the zone leaders sector.

So today we have changes!  I`m going to Sicuani!  I don`t know how to feel about that because it`s a little higher elevation than Cusco!  It will be cool though!  But I`m also sad to leave Puerto for several reasons..  First, the people here are awesome and I`ve just gotten used to this sector.  Second, we have a baptism!

So on Friday we went on divisions and I was with one of the zone leaders so I didn`t really know any of the people we visited.  But when we got to dinner, my companion told me that Gloria finally decided to get baptized!  They chose the date for the 30th of May.  I won`t be there but it`s awesome that she is finally getting baptized!  Her daughter is also going to get baptized with her.

We also heard the news from some of these less actives we have been teaching that they have the goal to get married the 10th of June!  Lots of things are going to happen!

So everyday I keep hearing of more and more people that have birthdays in May.  I think the whole world was born in May.

Well, other than that not much is going on.  I`m going to be leaving Puerto tomorrow morning for  Cusco, and the next morning I will leave for Sicuani.

Thanks everyone for all that you guys do for me!  Hope this week is a good one!  Love you all!

Elder Augat

Hello everyone!  I am finally in my assigned area!  Puerto Maldonado!  I´m not sure exactly where it is but it´s in the middle of a jungle!  If you thought Portland had a lot of trees, this is insane!  But it´s always hot here!  80 degrees is considered cool.  It´s also really humid from all the rain.  It feels like Florida in the middle of summer just after a rainstorm, except all the time!  But I like it here.

I was able to fly in because I was by myself and they didn´t want to send me on a 12 hour bus ride by myself.  i was able to see more trees!  And when we got closer there was also a river but it looks disgusting.  It´s sad to see all the garbage they put in the river and make it a dump.

So before I left to Puerto,  I was able to have a couple of lessons with the office elders that I was with.  There were a few lessons that I can still remember really well.  My first lesson that i was a part of there was a family of 4 and the dad is a member and served a mission.  But now he lives with his girlfriend and has 2 kids.  when i got there, we found out that they had a marriage date set and the elders challenged her to be baptized.  What a first lesson to have!  she said she would pick a date after the marriage.

The next lesson was also in cusco.  We visited this guy and he almost had nothing.  He lived and a room that was just a little smaller than my family room at my house.  It was all cement, with 2 windows, and a wooden door.  He had an umbrella, a backpack, 2 chairs, a mattress type thing, a small box tv, and some water.  That was all that was in there.  It really shocked me at how little he had and he was still just getting by.

The next lesson was in Puerto.  We have a recent convert named Meyer.  He is way cool and he loves the church!  He has an uncle and an aunt that are deaf.  Their names are Mario and Lucia.  We had Meyer help us out with the lesson and we taught them the importance of the sacrament.  We also found out that they are both members and have actually been through the temple.  but they stopped coming to church because they don´t know what anyone is saying.  However, we got him to come to church and the brach president was nice enough to welcome him by holding up a paper that said, ``Bienvenido Hno. Mario``   I thought that was super cool.  And Meyer was able to write down some things for him.

Church was interesting.  We got there right at 8 when church is supposed to start and there were maybe 10 people there.  People were just showing up like crazy after it had started.  Even 45 minutes into sacrament meeting people are still just showing up!  But church was good.  We had testimony meeting.

Thats about all i can remember from this week.  Thanks for the emails and all the support!  Love you Guys!

-Elder Augat

P.S.  Also if you have not seen it yet, I challenge you to watch He is the Gift from the church.  It´s a small 2 minute video about Christmas. 

So its been a while but I'm in Cusco!  i cant even remember the rest of the CCM so im not going to talk about that.  Cusco has been a little interesting so far.

First day we got to Cusco we went up to this place called the white Christ.  Its like the statue in Brazil but white and way smaller.  Then we went to the mission home for orientation stuff.  we had lunch and watched some videos then we went to a hotel to sleep.

The next day we came to the church building where pretty much everything in the mission is run through.  We just call it the office.  We got our companions and areas.  I was assigned to Puerto which is the jungle but im still in cusco right now!

So that night i felt pretty sick and i was trying to make myself throw up to see if that would make me feel better afterward.  I threw up but i felt the same.  Pretty sure i threw up everything in me.  President told me to go to where i was going to sleep for the night and to rest but that really didnt help at all.  I kept coughing up some type of liquid not sure what it was.  so then they decided to take me to the hospital.

I wasnt sure what was really going on in the hospital but from what i was told is that my blood oxygen level was super low and being on oxygen wasnt helping.  i was also breathing twice as fast as normal.  turns out there was some liquid building up in my lungs from the altitude change from Lima to Cusco and it wasnt going away.

They hooked me up to a ton of wires, an IV, and gave me a ton of shots, and after about 4 days i felt better.  There is a doctor here that is also a stake president that we were waiting for to clear me because he was in Argentina at the time so i was in the hospital probably longer than needed.

The time we had in the hospital as well there were some canadians that had a similar problem, not as severe, that my companion helped translate for, so that was good.

now im out of the hospital just kind of following the office elders around.  Mostly just sitting in the office but i was able to get out a little today.  I'm pretty sure they will be sending me to Puerto still probably tomorrow or Thursday Everything is good!

Thanks for the emails! thats about it for this week.  Next week ill be in the jungle! Hopefully!

From Racquel:

We got a call from our Stake Pres Sun eve about Aaron's sickness.  He said we could call the Mission pres if we wanted.  Well, OF COURSE WE DO!  So, after acquiring an International Calling Card and figuring out how to use it, we got to talk to Pres Harbertson.  (Nice guy!)  We were told he had to undergo hyperbaric chamber treatments to help him with his oxygen.  They didn't tell us he was in the hospital. He said he was really impressed with Aaron's tenacity and eagerness to get out in the field and get going.  He said Aaron was sick from day one, so he was really looking forward to meeting the real Aaron-when he felt better.   So glad he is in good hands and please pray for him to continue to recover and stay healthy!

Pres. Harbertson: "He can only go up from here."  Gordon:  "Or, physically, he can go down to Puerto."  Pres Harbertson giggled.

All wired up

Hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I'll do whatever it takes to watch a soccer game.