Elder Scott Learning, Living and Sharing the Gospel in Perú: Week One is Complete.

Elder Scott at the Centro De Capacitacion Misional De Lima

Great news! Elder Scott loves the idea of a blog so he's given me the green light to continue with the postings (happy dance time) :

A little background information. Missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sacrifice quite a bit. Did you know they don't get paid to do this, in fact they pay for all of their own expenses for the 2 years they are serving? Not only that, they put their careers and education on hold and give up most of their worldly possessions including their phones, computers, music and television, and instead strive to devote their time and energy to their mission, the people they are serving, and doing the Lord's work, often times in a land foreign to them with people they've never met and with very limited communication with loved ones back home. They stay very busy and the time they have to communicate with friends and family at home can be quite limited. It might seem odd to some, giving up so much at such a young age, but missionaries will undoubtedly tell you they feel it a privilege to be able to serve and they'll come home from their mission enthusiastically saying it was the best 2 years of their life!

But of course that doesn't mean they don't want to hear from us and vice versa so once a week missionaries have a preparation day (P-day for short) where they do their laundry, shopping for the week, possibly play some sports and the ever important task of writing letters home to loved ones. For the remaining 5 weeks that Elder Scott is in the CCM (This stands for the Missionary Training Center in the Spanish speaking missions, the actual translation is Centro de Capacitacion Misional) his P-day will be on Wednesday's. Can I just say I am SO grateful Wednesday finally rolled around!!

Today he had about an hour of time where he could access the internet and respond to the emails he had received. First of all, THANK YOU to all who wrote him. He was so happy and surprised to see there were 21 different e-mails waiting in his inbox. He felt the love guys, please keep it up. As much as the missionaries want to stay focused on their work, knowing they have support back home gives them added strength and the determination they need especially when times get tough, they're feeling a bit lonely, or just want a glimpse of what's happening back home. Those weekly letters keep a missionary focused on what's most important and reassures them that even though they're gone physically, they're far from being forgotten.

I have been so anxious to hear from Elder Scott these past few days that I literally jumped for joy when I saw I had an email from him this afternoon. Queue the leaky eyes,I couldn't help myself because his words gave me such comfort and strength knowing he is exactly where he needs to be doing what he needs to be doing. His testimony has already grown leaps and bounds in 8 short days. As a mother, there's nothing I desire more than knowing my children have a personal and deep love for our Saviour and our Heavenly Father.

I'm going to attach a copy of the longest letter he sent today so those of you who haven't seen it can get some insight into his life happenings for the past 8 days. Thanks again for all the love and support you're showing Elder Scott and the other 75,000 missionaries serving throughout the world. If you see a missionary be sure to give them a wave, say hello, and thank them for their service. It will make their day.

A great group of missionaries heading to the Lima CCM

Elder Scott already has his Inca Kola in hand

Sometimes being a missionary can be exhausting lol

Alright, I guess I should start this out by letting you all know that I'm alright. Peru has been amazing! I do need to apologize for the spelling and weirdness though, Peru uses spanish keyboards and spanish autocorrect lol, just bare with me. I want you to all know that I love and miss you dearly. Our P-day is on Wednesdays so that is when I get to check my email. That all being said here is all that's happened so far that I specifically remember.

The flight went really well. I was the only one from Orlando to Atlanta but once I got to the gate in Atlanta I found 13 other missionaries that were on the same flight. Most are from Utah and Idaho. The flight down I also sat by a very nice man who lives in the US. We talked a little. There was basically non stop food on the plane. The meal was amazing. I even tried two shrimp

which as you may know is a big thing for me, haha. It was nice that they gave us a blanket and pillow too. A bit after taking off they gave everyone hot towels, earbuds, (They currently sit unopened in the back of my closet, lol) an eye mask, and ear plugs<side note; missionaries don't use headphones or earbuds which is why his are tucked away for future use> . I was very impressed. Sleeping a lot of the flight made it go really quick. I also have been trying to keep a really good journal of all of my experiences so I did a lot of that on the plane. We finally landed at about 10:30 and it was about midnight before we left. The CCM (International MTC´s are called CCM, at least here.) is about an hour away and after being assigned to companions and up to bed it was 2 am. My companion is Elder Weller from a small town in Utah outside of Park City I believe. He's a super nice persona. I'm really enjoying getting to know him. Our room has 6 elders in it total and we decided to unpack for a while before finally going to bed at 3am. Luckily we were able to sleep in until 7:30. Normally we have to be up by 6:30 lol. The other Elders in my room are Elder Holt, Elder Bird, Me, Elder Weller, Elder Alvia, and Elder Gibbons. We have really started to bond and grow quite fond of one another. That day was a lot of basic welcome type of stuff and paperwork and haircuts.

Elder Scott and his companion Elder Weller

We did get to meet our CCM president and his wife for the first time that day, they are both such amazing and kind people. Presidente y Hermana Moore have been serving the church in different callings for the past 12 years but they have a house in Bountiful, UT so that's where they say they're from. Hermana Moore is honestly one of the kindest people I have ever met in my life. The food here has been good so far. It's a ton of rice, potatoes, chicken, and eggs. Specifically rice and potatoes, that being said basically our entire district has been struggling to switch over to digesting the food, but its gotten a lot better thankfully, I'm pretty sure there's a competition going on with who goes the most, hahaha. <side note: TMI Elder, TMI lol)

I love my name tags, it truly shows that I am a representative of the Lord in all that I do and say.

All my favorite things on one simple desk

I was assigned to the Manti Branch and the Eter district. We were able to go and meet our branch presidency on the first full night here, they had only ben called the week before. Two are heart surgeons and one is a psychologist so they're pretty amazing people. We got to meet with a member of the presidency individually and had a bit of a get to know you. I was told to stay back with my companion afterwards along with three other members of the Presipiantes (That's the group of new 6-week program people, the group of 6 week that have already been here for 3 weeks are called Avancadoes.) They asked me to serve as district leader for my district, that took me by surprise. I know that I've done a lot of leadership in the past but I couldn't believe that my Heavenly Father thought I would be the best one for the job. There were other Elders in our group of 12 (two are hermanas) that were more prepared than me, knew the scriptures more than me, or knew the language better. It took me until a few days later to really feel comfortable about it all, I read my patriarchal blessing again for the first time in a long time and it specifically says that I have the power to relate to people whether I realize it or not <side note: a patriarchal blessing is a very personal, individual blessing given to members of our church by a priesthood holder called a patriarch and includes inspired direction from the Lord> This brought comfort to my soul. My Heavenly Father choose me to serve his fellow missionaries to grow and strengthen them and lead our district, this is such a blessing.

The spanish is coming along fairly well, I'm picking up a lot more than I should be so I know that the gift of tongues is true. The teachers are so great, we're suppose to be speaking our language as much as we can all the time which is difficult since we know only the basic but it's getting easier and easier. I know that it will be good for us in the long run. We had a devotional from Elder Rasband that was absolutely amazing. It had such a strong spirit with it, by far the most I have ever felt in my life. The district meeting afterwards was also a life changing experience. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me dearly, I try to pray with him as often as I am able. I deeply regret not doing it more before I left. The natives are absolutely awesome. Its great to hear the language from them and have them help us out. They want to learn English just as much as we want Spanish basically, haha. So we help each other out.

In 5 more weeks Elder Scott
will be serving in the
orange section.

I really love the CCM. I play soccer everyday. It's been great, I love the smallness of this CCM and being able to truly get to know everyone. I'm out of time but I want you all to know that I deeply love you all. I miss you all dearly but I know I am where I am suppose to be. I wish you all the best of luck and remember to always keep a prayer in your heart. I promise I will write more next week, I just am out of time today. I love and miss you all so much. I wish you all the best of luck. I promise I'll write more about my first few days next week. So much happened that it feels like I've already been here for a month honestly, but I'm loving it.

I love you all.
-Elder Scott