December 1, 2013

Hard to believe that Thanksgiving is over.  It is not the same trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving.  We had dinner at the Douglas's with five other missionaries.  It was a great dinner but we missed having dinner with family.  It was great to be able to talk to them all via FaceTime and Skype but our internet wasn't working the best.  It is fixed now but wasn't then.  We had a good week.  Got to find out how the medical system works in Peru.  Went to the clinic and the chiropractic clinic.  Carolyn had an MRI and we spent a lot of time waiting in line for everything.  Most of the people did not speak english luckily the doctor did.  We go to get the results of the MRI on Thursday.  We also found the Quiromedic a chiropractic clinic.  Fortunately the Dr. there was trained in the USA although he is originally from Ethiopia.  Good Doctor.  Seemed to help Carolyn quite a bit.  However, difficult when most of the help we could not understand.  Xray equipment a little old.  She is feeling better however.  We had to put off our plans to go with the other office missionaries to some place interesting on our preparation day.  Hope we can do it next Saturday. Elder Diaz will be leaving at the next transfer in two weeks and Elder Bing will be going home.  Elder Bing is from Santaquin.  He has been a big help to President Douglas as one of his assistants for months.  We didn't have church last week because the churches were closed because it was election day in Lima.  People in Peru are required to vote.  If they don't they can be penalized.  Same in Australia.  Outside of Lima regular meetings were held and Elders Nelson and Rasban were able to travel to Chincha and Pisco to speak.  At both places they had more people than they had ever had at a stake conference.  Elder Nelson spoke in Spanish again and blessed the people in Spanish.  It is my understanding that he hasn't spoken Spanish for 50 years and had it in school.  According to his translator he spoke flawless Spanish.  Wish we could do it.  Still working hard on the language but it is coming slowly.  It is starting to worm up and is in the 70s every day.  Look forward to more sunshine.  So far we have had only two mornings when we saw the sun rise.  Oh well better than in the cold in Utah.  We enjoy the work and enjoy the young missionaries with the enthusiasm in smiles.  I have a few pictures to upload this week.  They should be up by Monday.  It is good to be in Peru the people have a special warmth about them.  Love you all Elder Alkema