Mission President and wife when chocolate is involved!

So I was trying to come up with things to write about the culture, and it's such a city, there really isn't too much difference. Just the language. But what I did come up with:

People don't all avoid eye contact. People actually say hi to each other. But not everyone...

Little shops are the thing here. You buy everything at a little store on the road instead of a supermarket. It's cute. But it always makes me want food. One of my favorite things is Lucuma. It's a fruit made into a popsicle. And it kinda tastes like bread dough. And I think it's sooo delicious!

Everyone is Catholic. Like ever. Or Jehovah's witness, or MMM, which I'm still trying to figure out what it is...

The driving is insane. And traffic cops stand at intersections trying to make the traffic go FASTER sometimes. Yeah, that's new.

I'm so gringa here. Everyone just stares at us.

AND, there's this cart of grapes that these guys push around in the street. And they always say something along the lines of "Uvas. Que Ricas. Que deliciosos. Uvas. Uvas." It's pretty funny.

So little kids are the best. Sometimes we knock doors, and kids answer. We had this little girl who was so excited to see us, and she ran to get her mom saying They speak English they speak english!!!

Then this other day, a boy about 7 or 8, Ricardo, answered the door and said his parents weren't home and then proceeded to shower us with questions for like 15minutes, from why are you so tall? (to my comp), to why do you speak funny? to Is that a Bible? Can I see it? It was just funny. It brightened my day a ton!

We're also helping with the music for the primary program because nobody here sings or leads music (almost). So that's funny. Kids have such angelic voices. I love it!

There's this one girl in our ward who's about 20, named Jenny, who speaks a little bit of English. So she's a good friend for me to have. We took her along to a lesson, and I taught a principle or two, and afterwards she was so shocked I spoke so good, because we've met with her a few times, but I'm just shy about my Spanish. So then we had a whole conversation walking down the street. But she speaks SO fast when she speaks Spanish (like how I speak English), so we can't understand each other in our native tongues. So she spoke English and I spoke Spanish, and then it worked just fine. :) I'll get a picture with her one of these days.

I forgot my camera! So pictures next week. :)

Oh, and Jenny also fed us (members feed us on weekends),and it was SOOO good. My comp is trying to lose weight, so our pensionista doesn't feed us rice. Jenny gave us both a mountain of rice! Yum!!!

Oh yeah, so I gave that See's candies* to Hermana Williams when I first got here. (I think I forgot to write about this). And she was SO happy. She was amazed I made it six weeks without eating it all! She kept asking if I wanted any, but I said no,because I'd be back in California before she would be.So then she went and told President Williams, and they bickered about it. President was jealous and asked if she had to share. I said it was sent specifically to her, and it's hers so she can decide. So Hermana Williams told Presidente that she must have left a better first impression with me at the Provo MTC and told my mom so. :P They're cute. I love when older couples still interact that way.

So I was talking with my pensionista this week, and she said a Quechua phrase, and I didn't understand. So then she asked why I don't speak they're language. I told her it all made sense. That in fact, my Spanish is already perfect, but the language they speak is Quechua. I was just confused, and it's really not my fault they had me learn Spanish and not quechua.

And that was the conversation where my personality was finally born in Spanish. :D Hurray! I'm human!

We committed a girl of 13 years to baptism this week, but in the mission we can't baptize them without they're parents if they're younger than 18. So we just need to commit their mom. :) She's almost there.

We tried sugar cane this week! You chew it and then spit it out. It's really weird. Definitely a one time thing. But that was pretty fun!

Okay, that's about all this week. Uh, contacting is hard. Teaching is hard. Spanish is hard. But it's coming. And I've only been here two weeks. :)

Love you all!

Hermana Brogan

* Sister Williams mentions in her mission blog that she missed having chocolate, especially See's candy, in Peru so Haley took some down to her in her suitcase.