Well, where to begin. I've been so busy that I've kind of
lost track of the days. I left for the MTC October 25th, my family took me to
the airport to say goodbye.....but I missed my flight cuz I took a long time
saying goodbye to Dutch (my dog). I was able to get on a later flight, which
actually turned out to be a blessing though because I got more time to say
goodbye, and I got to meet Elder Rompain. He's a super funny guy from Canada. I
was waiting for my flight to Lima when I saw the only other white dude in a
suit, so I figured he was a missionary too. Elder Rompain didn't know any
Spanish so I had to use my two years of high school Spanish to get us to the
MTC. The traffic here is INSANE. It puts Seattle to shame, there is literally
an inch of space between cars most of the time. No one follows speed limits,
stop signs, lanes or anything, its just go go go go. No fear otherwise you
aren't going anywhere and you'll probably get in a wreck. Anyway when we
finally got to the MTC everyone else that made it on time was still asleep. At
the end of the first day in Lima, I hadn't slept for almost 70 hours because I
was up the night before I left packing and saying goodbyes, and I can't sleep
on planes. Needless to say I crashed haha
Crazy how fast my Spanish is coming along. I have a good
teacher, but I really think that I have been using the Gift of Tongues. I can
understand like everything, just have trouble replying sometimes because I
don't know a word or two. Wish I had paid more attention in high school hahaha
I love the people here. My companion is Elder Beck. He's a
great guy, we get along really well. We've been rocking our lessons with our
mock investigators. The Spirit is so strong here, I wish I had more time to
share some experiences. One time, when I was praying in Spanish, I said how
grateful I was for my mission call, and I just felt this hot feeling in my gut.
No doubt that it was the Holy Ghost, no doubt that I'm supposed to be here.
Doesn't mean that its easy though. They keep us busy here,
we get up at 6:30 and go to bed at 10:30. I'm so FLIPPING TIRED all the time.
I've played a ton of soccer, got a gnarly turf burn. I work out everyday but
I'm losing weight, I don't know for sure because I don't have a scale but I'm
guessing I weigh about 175ish. Must be because my body senses that wrestling
season is almost here....
Every Wednesday is Prep day, so we get to do laundry, email,
and go to the temple. Last Wednesday was my first time going to the temple in
Peru, what a wonderful experience. And guess who I saw there?? Brother and
Sister Merrill! It was great to see them.
My favorite ties so far are the one that Elder Lund made me,
the fish tie that Ben gave me, and this BYU one that I bought outside the
temple! Gotten a lot of compliments on those
I was talking with Elder Reeder (he's also going to Bolivia
Santa Cruz North) about how I was worried that I had a lot to improve on as a
missionary. I loved his reply, he said "It's not about being the greatest
missionary, but about sharing the greatest message."
Thank you so much to everyone thats been emailing me. Sorry
if the the replies take awhile or if they're kinda short, I only get one hour
every Wednesday and I suck at typing haha. Love and miss you all!
Con amor,
Elder McClune
Elder and Sister Merrill!
