Jason's Christmas call

By Jason's mom:

Early on Christmas morning, the phone rang and on the other side of the phone was that wonderful voice that we missed so much: Jason!

Everybody else in the house was still in bed but, as soon as they heard the phone, quickly came to the master bedroom to talk to Jason. That call wasn't long, just a short time to let us know that he was going to call later when everybody was in the house.

When his next call came, Pam, Meli and their families were there, everybody talking to Jason at the same time from different phones. It was crazy but this is what we learned from his call:

• Jason's spanish is pretty good, he even has a Peruvian accent.
• he has not been mugged (at least he says he hasn't)
• he ate horse and guinea pig - Jason says they Don't taste like chicken. But so far that's the worse he has eaten but he knows one area of his mission where they feed the missionaries cats.
• jason still buys star wars toys if he finds them and can afford them
• he doesn't play as much soccer since his knee is still swollen and hurts. But he does play.
• he misses ice cream the most since it's very expensive and not widely available.

Otherwise, he is doing great, he loves the work and Peru. He loves being a trainer.

Jason is not sure if he will stay in Peru or will go to Bolivia - they expect the relationship between the US and Bolivia will get better once we have the new president in office.

He sounded great and happy. But somehow his voice was most animated when he was talking to Amanda...I wonder why. He said he could not watch the Star Wars movies without her or fall asleep during General Conference without her (but I think that last part is a good thing)

Next phone call: 5 months away, on Mothers Day

We were illegal in Peru for 2 months

ok so we have a ton to go through today since it's been a while since I've written. not my fault by the way, i had to go to Chile and ya.

so what happened, two weeks ago utia had a cambio to lima tambo. he's there in a trio and seems to be more or less happy with it. with him gone i got a new comp. elder chafloque who's pretty chill. we've had some problems these first two weeks but things seem to be getting better. he came with a warning though it was kinda funny. when the pres announced the change two of the elders in his old zone came up to me and said you need to have a lot of patience with him and just don't yell too much. but he's not as bad as they made him seem. I've never been one to judge anyways. i just work and he does too so i don't mind. o but i became comp mayor. or senior comp in English. kinda cool but not something that i really care about. it just means that i get more money and have to be in charge of the area. so ya, that's the cambio.

so then this last week all the missionaries from my group, from the ccm the 17 whose mission was Bolivia all were illegal for about two months or something like that. so to get us all legal we had to leave and come back in. to do that they took us Sunday night flew us to tacna, which is the sur of Peru and we stayed there the night. did some shopping in the morning and went to Chile in the afternoon. stayed there for a couple of hours and just enjoyed our pday. but that Monday night we flew back to the mission. got the the mission home at about 1 in the morning and stayed there and at 8 and consilio. and then back to work.

this week our numbers in surco were very good. like numbers nobody here has had in a very long time. some are good and others not quite but we're progressing a little bit. it helps that i have such a long time here in surco and i know what works. so i do that and nothing else. the problem is that we still don't have ward missionaries which means we don't have a lot of people to get our investigators every Sunday and so we have few in the church.

and now since this week is Christmas just soes everyone knows. Peru does celebrate Christmas and does it like us. so ya. this Christmas we're gonna visit some members and call home. they say we have 45 min to call. lets see if i obey that rule. but ya i'll probably call in the morning and or in the afternoon. depends on when my comp will but guaranteed in the morning a little bit and then maybe in the afternoon. so around ten i'll call. ten in the morning. in the night we will visits members and so i can't call then. and that's that

Christmas ¡this year has a very special meaning to me. it fulfills 6 months in the mission. kinda cool. one fourth of the way done, but they say the first six months are the hardest and i believe it bc i can already see the hardest is behind me. i'll still have problems and challenges but i know how to handle them. so it helps . I'm a lot less stressed and just happy to be doing the work. for all the future missionaries there just get through the first six and you'll be as happy as one of these Peruvian dogs who has skin diseases when they die. kinda a bad example i think but it's true. the first six are hard then it is easier.

o and i did see the doctor and we'll see. didn't help much but basically gave me permission to act for myself so i will and i'll get it better.

o and more importantly my packets came. yay me. i was so happy . after three months. one had a ton of ties and coloring books and stickers, thanks for all that i was so happy. and the other was one from the church i forgot what it's called. so ya thanks guys. i don't know y i like stickers so much but i do .

so ya that my time. thanks everyone and have a very happy and merry and feliz Christmas. or navidad. thanks for everything.

Don't mind eating fish anymore

ok hi everybody.

so this week was really cool. we got two people with fecha for the 29th of this month so that's really cool excited for that. ill baptize one and utia the other, so well have some good pics too. I'm trying to send some pics and take some more than i had before. i figure some people may really want to see this amazingly good looking face more. just kidding.

i got a lot of questions to ask and for once enough time to answer them all, i think.

i still haven't seen the doc but i don't mind too much. things are getting better with my knee and foot and I'm just taking some ibuprofen to help out if it ever gets to bad. they say with the holidays its really hard to visit the doc, so ill wait till after, if the pain and whatever is still there.

also i still haven't gotten the package, they say if it weighs more than 5 lbs it'll take 6 to 8 weeks so if anyone wants to send one, probably be best to keep it light. the address is
Av. Jorge Basadre 592 - Piso 6 OF 604 A, Casilla 14-0293, San Isidro, Lima Peru
or
Ave Jorge Basadre 592, Oficina 604-A, Edificio Torre Azul, San Isidro, Lima, Peru
either one of those two or so they tell me. id check online and see if it says.

on pdays we gather as a zone and just chill mostly. play soccer, eat and go to internet. sometimes we try to play other sports today were gonna do some acting or something like that. jsut have some fun as a zone and then break off and do our shopping or sleeping depending on how hard the week was. but in any case it is a very fun day.

there are 10 or 12 missionaries in my zone, i forget how many and don't wanna stop to think, and yes we have hermanas. yes i love the people and the food. they both are pretty sweet. at first it was hard to adjust but now that I'm getting the hang of it, i hate to say it but i don't mind eating vegetables or fish too much at all anymore. who says miracles don't exist. but ya. our ward is chill but in a casa capilla, so kinda small. however they're constructing a new building for the ward that will be done in like 5 months and everyone is really excited for that.

my spanish is getting better like always. i have become like a perfectionist and wish i wouldn't make mistakes but i still do . i get really mad sometimes but i think about that in five months somebody cant learn a new language and for only five months I'm doing pretty good, well above some of the other guys from my group anyways. i read and basically live in spanish, except wen I'm with the other missionaries from my zone. me and my dl have developed a good friendship but we mostly talk in english. hes leaving in less than 50 days tho so im kinda sad. hes from az too so that's cool. our zone actually has 3 americans from az. and one from idaho.

my comp doesn't speak any english. and he doesn't wanna learn but that's actually good for me bc i still need to practice spanish so i don't wanna speak english anyways.

o ya, about Christmas. the mission does some cool stuff and gives us a cd with all the elders in it so thatll be something I'm looking forward to. i think my pic will be the one with me kissing that little girl. who is the sister of one of our con fechas by the way. they are a really cool family, who always feeds us. the mom and dad are both chefs but both work all day with sea food. so ya i think that's y i don't mind it to much. ill get the details about calls and whatever later.

and i think that's about it. thanks everyone for all the help and support, letters and love. and ill talk to u next week. bye