1-13-08 received 1-24-08

1-13-08 received 1-24-08
Dear Mom Dad and Fam,
It was wonderful talking to all of you on the phone as I flew out. I am in flippin Peru! It is nuts down here. I have so much going through my head. First off when we landed in Peru it was wild. We got off the plane and immediately started to sweat. The air is so bad….it’s almost better not to breath. It smells terrible. We all packed on the bus after customs and drove about 2 hours through 2 solid hours of the city. I could see shacks as far as I could see. It is like Tijuana but worse.
The houses we saw were ridicules. They had no doors, no windows, no roofs, and clotheslines everywhere. We saw lots of rebarb wire and bricks and whatever else. It was so unreal driving through the city. I was sweating so bad on this bus jammed with Elders. It was stop and go traffic and a terrible wild ride. The traffic was city busses with like 100 people on a 20-man bus, mopeds, 3 wheeled cars and bikes. We drove past the temple but it was a lot smaller than it looks.
When we got to the MTC we got new companions. My companion is Elder Millett from Murray. He is really quite, but good. So the CCM is pretty cool. We have full soccer field. I’ve already played twice with the Latinos (That is what they call them). They are so good. They call us the North Americans. It is fun to play. I scored once and then I ran around the field-screaming Goal!!! We have Gym Actividad Fisico everyday. It is fun to play with the Latinos. The CCM is really small but nice, but it is like a prison. It has a 15-foot fence all around. We are on the outskirts of Lima so at night we hear sirens, people yelling and everything. It is kind of crazy! There is no one here in the CCM except the North American’s and the Pres. that speaks English.
It is really different down here. All of the maestros ( teachers) speak Spanish and teach us and ask us questions in Espanol and we just look at each other when he asks us questions. He will stare right at you and read off a paragraph in Espanol. So I just stare right back. It is so awkward and just something else. Can you imagine trying to teach a class about Peru when not one person understands the language? That is how it is all day everyday! Everything is in Spanish. They have an overhead system in the building, but no one goes to the office because no one understands. The teachers and Latinos call me Elder (Row-hairs) or (Rod-hers) hehe. It is awesome. When we play b-ball…. Elder Row-hairs.
There are 97 people total in the entire CCM and about 60+ are Latino’s. They are from Panama, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, and Brazil. I have 6 people in my room 2 are native. We teach them Ingles y ellos ensenamos Espanol, comprende? The Latino are tiny about the size of Kylee girl. Really they are about 5 ft.
The food here is way heavy and lots of meats, chicken, eggs, rice…..heavy stuff!!! Tons of potatoes. I have got to be careful. I feel like I’m pluggin up! They typical meal is rice with potatoes and chicken or beef. It is not what you think the chicken would be on top. They always have soup on the side. It is really different. I can eat it, but I don’t always like it. I never know exactly what it is …fish, lamb, dog, or Alpaca. I just don’t ask what it is. Some of the meats don’t leave a fun filling in your stomach. Lots of the Elders are sick with diarrhea, the newcomer’s bug. They have cereal, but milk is out of the box and it is made with ‘formaldehyde’ …the same stuff they use to preserve bodies---yikes! I remember Kylee girl used to have the smell on her hands after working at the lab. That is what milk smells like here—yuck!
The first day I couldn’t handle eating cow heart so I had cereal. To my pleasant surprise the milk was warm and tasted so gag! It takes some getting used to.
There is no AC in the CCM so I sleep with nothing but G’s and a pillow and just chill. We leave the windows open everywhere. I like it because you can hear the cool birds and tropical things. We are right next to a big jungly mountain. I love to hear the sounds of horns, and animals at night; it makes me dream about finally getting out of here. It is going to be nuts out there, I know!! I’ve seen it.
There are 9 and ½ million people in Lima that is 5 times the pop of Utah. It is like nothing you have ever seen. We saw this neighborhood and it looked like Aladdin houses. They were all crooked and things everywhere. There were people climbing on boards, kids in the dirt and just people everywhere, There will be plenty of people to teach….I’ll tell you what. I can’t understand Latinos. They speak so fast and crazy. It is not always Spanish either sometimes it is Ketchua. Yep it is true. I might be learning Dos idiomas. The Incan language spread from Cusco and all over Lima. Half of the Latinos speak it here!
All I do is sweat the weather is like Mexico. I take a shower then I sweat, sweat all the way back to the room.
President Craige is way strict but cool. He called me in the second day and said he wanted to talk to me. I went into his office and all he said was hey…. I’m calling you to be district leader. Where are you from? Tell me about your family. I said, “St. George’ and my family is the best and my Dad is the Stake President and I’m excited to be here. He said good…. A Stake President’s kid will know exactly what to do, and what I want. I was like what…. And he shook my hand and left. He is always in a hurry and way blunt. He cuts straight to the point! He reminds me of Kelly Smith so much!!! But he is awesome and I’ll do my best. He knows my name and calls me Rogers like a coach. Your tall get over here, even if what he needs isn’t anything to do with height. I gave a talk in church today on knowledge.
It went good! With only 100 people in the CCM, we all know everybody and President Craige knows all of us. I’m not special in any means and don’t want to be I just want to be a regular old hardworking missionary. He always says if you guys think you wanna go home, I’ll kick your but!! He is way scary sometimes. We had a health/orientation the other night and he was saying don’t pull the bad back/knee crap on me. I tell you to suck it up. You get to talk to me if you think your going home first and I bet you won’t want to go when I get done talking with you or something like that . He is cool though J
We also had health orientation, and they were telling us all about the joys of Peru Mission. Absolutely no eating or drinking anywhere but at your pensionistas ( mission mom’s) He told us how to cure ingrown toenails and how to clean fruit with water and Clorox. It all sounds pretty crazy all the stuff they were telling us. I pray everyday for health and safety.
The President is leaving on Sunday and Russell M. Nelson will be here Friday-Sunday to make the change that will be cool. I am excited to see how it all works. We get to go through the Temple on Thursday but I think it is closed in Feb…dang it. We get to go track in Lima on Saturdays from now on. I am so nervous but it should be really interesting. I am getting my Spanish down. Ok…. I can understand tons, I just can’t put together sentences very well yet. I am doing good down here . I am just trying to be humble and always have a prayer in my heart for comfort, peace, safety and the spirit. Mail comes everyday, but only leaves on Monday. Monday is my P-day. I sent out 2 letters today and I get to e-mail you.
The direct mail is faster use this address
Elder Rogers Centro de Capacitacion Missional
Lima, Peru
Av. Melgarejo 159
La Molina, Lima, Peru

I can e-mail every Monday so I look forward to that. I am excited for mail. I have not gotten any mail yet, but I am excited.
I love you Mom and Dad and I can’t wait to hear from you. I am doing good and trying hard to do what I need to do to stay healthy and up to the task. Thanks for everything. Tell everyone I love them and share this letter J I know this is where I need to be.
Love you all!!! Love your Son! Elder Rogers