en verdad no quiero escribir una titilo, entonces voy a escribir en un otro Idioma

Hello Family and Everyone.

                                       So yeah my Birthday is tomorrow, and thanks for all of your Birthday wishes and things. I have not gotten anything yet but that just because the mail is really slow here but when they come I will let you all know.

                                      They sing the happy birthday song in English here, and really the only different thing that they do here is crack eggs on your head for your birthday, but I dont think that is going to happen to me.

                                     Life is going good here in South america, we are teaching this 78 year old man named Victor. This man sits on a pile of rocks all day and reads the Bible, that all he does all day, just sits on a pile of rocks and reads the bible. Well I know that this gospel changes lives, because now this man sits on a pile of rocks and reads the Book of Mormon. About a day after we game him the Libro de Mormon, during a lesson he started to cry and he began to tell us that his brother and alot of other people had come by and told him that this book was evil, because the other churches didnt read this book, and he looked up from his dirty humble throne of stones and broken cement, and with tears in his eyes and a tremble in his voice he said " how can it not be the word of god? It talks about the savior...it talks about the savior" and then he continued to weep. In the first lesson with Vicor we taught him how to pray, and we asked him to say the closing prayer and he looked at us and said, "I dont know how to pray, I never practiced" and we then explained that god just wanted to hear what he had on his heart and on his mind, and after he prayed I asked him how he felt, and he just smiled and started to cry.

                                  I know that this gospel is true and God loves his children so he has sent this gospel to bless our lives, thank you for all those people who helped me get here on my mission and follow the path of happiness. I love you all and I will talk to you next week love Elder Roos.

Blanco

Amado Familia Mio,

                           So the highlight of my week is we had another baptism this week, and the funny thing is, she chose me to preform the baptism. I have only been here for a week and I have had my first baptsm. Another funny fact I thought of this week, is all of the converts that I have had a part in baptizing have been women, I think its something about the men down here, they are kind of raised to be prideful so I just think the women folk are more prepared for the message.

                          The other part of the title is white skin, just because I feel white, its going to be weird to go back to a place where they don't shout HELLO at you every time you pass them on the streets. Another fun part of this week is the banned bicycles in the whole mission, which kind of stinks because I have been waiting for a biking mission forever, and we finally get one and...we cant use them. So I'm going to have some killer leg muscles when I get done with this area.

                       Over all things are going well, we working with some new people and always trying to find new ones. My companion is trying to learn English and I think he is learning English faster than I am learning spanish, but things in that aspect are going well ,I  am still trying to master the skill of reading in spanish, mostly because it is really hard to focus when reading in a different language.

                        Hope things are going well for all of you talk to you next week. Love Elder Roos. 

Peru', pero al sur

Hola hermano famila mio,

                                   So I think the reason why no one wrote me this week, is because my companion forgot to hit send on my email last week, after my time ran out.

                                   Entonces, My letter last week was about the fact that people have Halloween here, but not really. They know what it is and you might find of kids and dressed up knocking door to door but not really. Also the baptism with Maribel went well.

                                    This week I have a lot to talk about, because alot has happened. I got transferred! The Lima south mission has two parts, The Lima part (where I was) with bad air, alot of dogs, and ALOT of houses. Part two is called "the south" it is not Lima, it covers a large area of the southern half of perú, I am in a Town called Chincha. I can not see the Ocean but I am told we are like 5 minutes away, and we go there almost every P-day.

                                     My Companion is Elder Yucra, he has one less transfer than I do and in fact, I had to teach the last two lessons of his training, so these past few days have been one learning experience after another. He looks to me as a leader during the lessons, which is kind of hard, because i my head I am thinking, "hey was in your spot yesterday." However that is something that has helped alot, because I can take what I learned from my last comp. and use them on Elder Yucra, in fact I find myself saying some of the same exact things as Elder Mendoza. I am going to learn a lot here, and after I left the city I felt the stress melt away from my body. I love it here, I saw the stars for the first time in almost half a year, I see fields of tropical fruit every day, I hear the birds singing out my window in the morning instead of dogs, angry people, and cars. We have had 2 people comit to a baptism date, and I am finally confident in my spanish. I love you all so very much! Love Elder Roos.

Mi casa

 So our room/Apartment has 3 room, starting with the room were we sleep and do everything, second the kitchen, and then the tiny bathroom, and in the last picture you see the top of the bathroom door, and the sun shining through the gaping gap in h (?)

Ropas blanco!!

Hola familia mía (y los amigos), So I have good news that I finally got to try on my white clothes! Saturday the 19th of October Alajandrina Alba was baptized  it was kind of a close call because she was almost an hour late to her Baptism, and the Bishop or another priesthood member didn't show up...well really the only one who showed up was Hermana Alajandrina. we just found some members that were doing a craft activity in the building to participate in the Baptism. However it was really good I didn't mess up at all on the spanish and she went down perfectly in the water. When she came back up I asked her how she felt and her answer was so simple at first I thought it was a joke, but really it was her simple yet powerful testimony of what the spirit had testified to her, she just said "fresh" that's it that's all she said. Afterward in her testimony all she said was " Well I felt like I was going to drown, but I felt fresh in the water....thats all." it was a very simple testimony, but right after she had the undeniable light of the gospel in her eyes. It never stops to amaze me, the literal light that comes in to the face of those who are baptized. What is more is you know that they can feel the change.

                                       The Bad news is the screen on my camera broke....it still works, but taking a picture on a Digital camera without a screen is like driving a car without a steering wheel, there isn't alot of point to it. You can turn it on and step on the gas, but where are you going to go? You have no ideah. So really I don't know what to do because 

                                     We are going to the Central of Lima again, so that's cool, I have my broken Camera, and my memory card, so I'll try to send pictures. The Weather is getting warmer, and the mountains are starting to turn green, not with grass, but with more f an moss sort of thing. Also During the winter there is always a thick depressing fog around lima, but the sun is starting to come out, and boy it is incredible! Lima is literally bul in the mountains, not around them. Every wichway you look you just see more and more of the hunched backs of the mountains that ar safely guarding the sea of brick and cement houses that cover the stretching mountain covered land as fare as the eye can see. 

                                   As the weather gets warmer people start to sell different brands of Icecream, that really don't hold up to American Icecream, that's not USA pride it's just the truth, low quality icecream is low quality icecream no important what country you are in. Also I am in a one of the largest cities in south america, but just about everyone has chickens or ducks, or some other farm animal in their house. Hope all is going well back home. Love Elder Roos.

La conferencia general

9/30/13
     All is going well down here is Perú, something I forgot to add in other letters is I can now say I am of Preú because I have eaten Alpaka, I haven't eaten Llama yet but Alpaka is good enough for me. Not many people eat it here so I've only had the chance once, but I liked it. Hope Everyone is doing well Love Elder Roos.
Here's some pictures!

10/7/13

 I hope you all watched Conference, because it was mind blowing. I will not lie, I have always tried very hard to have meaningful Conference experiences  but this was possibly the 2nd or 3rd Conference that I was able to stay awake for the whole thing, but it really was incredible  and it's was good to feel in myself and in many of the Lords investigators to know that there is a prophet on the earth today. Most of you are wondering where did I watch Conference, and what language did I watch it in. Simply we just watched it in the stake center, which also happens to be where our ward meats, so it really wasn't a change for me, but we had some luck, and all the Gringos were able to sit together in a small room and whats it in English! Fun fact, alot of the jokes don't go through through the translation, so it was nice to watch it in my native Idioma.

              Preú is slowly getting warmer... and I mean slowly, but slow and steady. Elder Mendosa rocks, and we have alot in common, he was studying graphic art, before his mission so the guy can really draw. Also he was something of an actor too before his mission, so that's nice. well all is going well down here and I hope you don't take snow for granted, because in about a month I'm going to fry like a potato....Love you all. Elder Roos 

Friends, Friends are good! Really I enjoy to hear about the little things in life back home like work and the weather (not sarcasm)

P.S. Donald would like to sell all of his comic book stuff, so I'll post pictures on Facebook for things that you can buy. (The missionary bug has bit him, and he doesn't care about the world anymore.)

Escribir a poco

9/16/13
 It's starting to get hotter and hotter, I can't stand to wear a sweater now, but everyone looks at me like I am running around in my underwear. Every thing is going well, I'm a little nevous about my companion going home and have to take over the area, but god know's what he is doing. I'm gad to hear that you are all doing good, and keep you all in my prayers. I know it's lame to say I don't have alot to say, but.. I'll have a better letter next week

Todo Esta bien

This week was interesting, alot of ups and downs but all good. Alot of you are asking about the Duck Lady, and truth be told I have no ideah, there are 4 missionaries in this area, and so it is split in half, and the church is on the other set of missionaries' side. So when we contacted her we were on their side, so it was only a contact for us. However if I hear anything I'll let you know.

it is winter down here, and I did have to buy a sweater, it is like fall in Blackfoot, but they theese people talk it's the end of the world. One day I was hot and I put my sweater in my backpack, one of the mebers we were with told me that if I didn't put my sweater on right now I would get sick and die, but it was a Sister in the ward, and haveing a mother who feels the same way about cold weather, I put my sweater on, and didn't mention the fact that I have shovled snow in shorts...mostly because I don't know how to say snow in spanish...or shovel...or shorts.

We have two weeks untill the next transfer, and Elder Padilla feels like he has two weeks to live. Elder Padilla and I are as diferent as night and day, this last month has gone smoothly, he has tought me alot, and the fact that my spanish is getting better everyday helps.

Grino Palo'n y los patos

8/14/13
I am going bald in two diferent languages, it is enough that I am a white guy here in peru, but I'm going bald too, so I hear Gringo Palón alot wich means " Bald white guy". but no worries, because it's okay to be racist here, if I pulled the kind of stuff in the U.S. that people say to me here, I would get shanked, and you hear the word Nigger more here than in a Snoop Dog song. Everything is going well, I survived my first transfer, and I guess that I didn't learn what I was supose to from Elder [P], because I get to be his last Compañaro. I love the people we are teaching, we have one lady with a baptism date, and several new investigatores.

Spanish, I can understand more than I can speak, but it is coming, I bet by month number three I will be able to understand just about everything said to me. It's funny to see the look on peoples faces when they say something loud and slow in spanish, and then I give them an answer in a full sentence or two. Or when they ask my companion a question about me and I answer. Everything is going swell, and the work is porgressing well.

 8/19/13

 I am still in Villa Maria, and Elder [P] finaly started acting like a trainer, that would have been nice a moth ago, but what can you do. The thing is, is he only has a moth left and he wants to go out with a bang. Today we went to the Hospital because for the last month elder padilla has had stomach problems, after 2 hours of sitting and waiting, and after talking with a dr. they handed Elder P a poop sample cup. Elder P looked at it thanked the lady, and we headed for the Elivador (elevator?), in the Elivader we encountered a famous actor in peru... I don't know who he is but Elder P and the other poeple in the room did. After the famous guy, we walked out of the building and Elder P called the mission office and told them he was going to live with the pain for one more month, and then he bought a sandwich. yeah.

Raining ducks.... so the other day we were walking to the church and out of nowhere right next to me a duckling hits the ground, 1 second lader Boom Boom 2 more. My brain for a moment didn't know what to think. First off I've never seen a duck in peru and here they were falling from the sky. I looked up and saw a concered lady looking down from an unfinished 2ned story of a 3 story building. after colecting the ducks and giveing them back to the lady, we got her name and number and set a date for a visit. in case you are wondering what hapened, The lady bought the ducks to one day eat, and some how they ran off the second story...that's all I know.

It sounds like you are all doing well. In other News it's still cold down here, and it won't warm up till about october

Rosa

Antonces... I had this long beautiful letter about the baptizm and rosa (the person we baptized) But then the computer crashed and I'm running out of time. This week was very good, mostly because of Rosa entering into the church but for many other reasons. The Baptizm was fantastic, Elder Padilla did the acual ordanance, but I am just happy to be one of the missionaries to teach rosa, at the end Rosa bor her testimony, and talked about the true conviction of her Missionaries, and that made me feel like I am doing my job right. Rosa is now the 2nd member of the church in her family, the first being the wife of the ward mission leader, and now latter today we are teaching a lage portion of the family. Rosa is truely wonderful and she was veru acepting and easy to teach. Sorry for the sort letter Love you all, have a good week. Con Amor Elder Roos

No hablo, no escribir

Here is another post to update on Elder Roos! some of these e-mails are a little old:
7/03
 
a spanish mission is like learnung to breath with a burlap sack over your head, but I really am loveing it,in a not sleeping because of barking stray dongs sort of way.

It's the first day on in the feild, the president let us have our p-day today insted of monday,so that's fun. My trainer is (Elder P). Honestly he looks alot like me, but he is not going bald and he has more of a belly than I do, but if I were a lattain American, he is what I would look like. Peruvian pizza tastes like okay ameican pizza, but for the next 2 years I am going to be eating rice, chicken, and poatoes. I don't speek spanish yet, infact I really have a long way to go. I know that the gift of toungs is real, but that it takes faith, faith takes action and that means that I just have to keep going untill I come home. =D but no Most people say you are usually okay by moth 3. I hope to understand much more by next week, I really did jump in feet first, but I am not worried because God and my trainer know what they are doing.

My trainer tells me alot that I am very happy, I hope to keep that up. We are opening up a new area, and because I not only not speak shanish, I also am a brand spankin new missionary. So I think he might feel a little over welmed but he is a champ.

on a diferent note 90% of m words on this screen have the red" incorect" line underneth them, and so I don't know if I am just very bad at spelling or I am writein english words on a spanish computer. My English spelling has gotten worse, I feel like I don't speak any language any more. I really am doing fantastic, and I can't wait to get into the swing of things. I love you so very much, have an amazing week. Love Elder Roos

 

7/08

 

Peru is a dirty, smoggy, beautiful place, spanish is putting up a fight but it is coming. I know that god handpicked my companion because he drives me nuts! haha, anyway he use to be a Zone LEader and now I think he is stuggleing to be a trainer. but I am getting the swing of things. I do have internet, we go to a internet café with the weirdest keyboards. so sorry this message is ruff, we went shopping oday , and it is funny how much conterfit stuff they have here, they have kindof taken everything they like about the USA and massproduced it.

 

 It feels like I have been here for a very long time, but I really have only been out for 3 weeks. My area is called Villa Maria, and it's kind of the New Jersy to the New York that is Lima. Everything is bilt around and on top of the many mountains that stickout of the ground, o there are alot of hills. The pople here are kind, but at the same time kindof closed off. We have a total of 11 investigators and gain more everyday. The hardest part is finding the people at home. they don't really keep comitments, but something tells me that's the mission. We have one invesigator named Rosa, she is the sister inlaw to the ward mission president, so she is ready, she is going to be baptized on the 4th of August, and she is atending church. Her faith is so strong, and I'm glad I had the opurtinity to beone of her missionaries. The ward is amazing, and really is the reason why we are here, the ward was doing so well, they needed to open a new area..and here we are! I really don't know what we would do without the members, they are so willing and ready to work, they help so much during lessions. When you have a gringo who doesn't really speek spanish and some guy from Bolivia,it helps to have someone from perú there to help. The food here is fantasic, The 3 basic food groups are Chicken, rice, and potatoes, but what theese people can do with those 3 things is incredible! I love my Companion, it is hard some times because we are diferent is oh so many ways, but I'm geting the hang of this mission thing. =)

 

7/22

This week went by very quickly, we are not haveing as much sucess as we would like, but the work is going well. I learn so much every day. Spanish is comeing, I got to be companions with another gringo Elder Aaron for one day, and it was fantastic, he put all my worries to rest, and game me some tips and advice that has helped alot. It turns out that not undertanding your trainer is a regulan thing, and it sounds like i9t has been alot worse for diferrent people. Don't get me wrong, I love my Copanion, and I know he is trying, so all is well.

So in other news, I'm going to answer a few questions now, and I hope you enjoy them. First off I get around by mostly walking, our area is in a big clump of hills so everyone is clumped together, in fact it is verry common for more than one family to live in one big house, so we walk but a big thing are theese tiny little moto taxie things, they are motercycles that have been tricked out so they can carry up to 3 people, and everyone has one, they help from getting to place to place, but they don't move fast enough to be street worthy, so they are only used to get around on area.

they are very inexpencive, but we only use them when we are in a hurry.

For Breakfast, we fend for our self, in our make-shift kitchen, but for the other two meals we pay a member to cook for us. The food here is amazing! all they eat is chicken, rice, and potatos, but what they can do with theese things is amazing!

We can nolonger play soccer or basketball because tomany missionaries have been sent home. So instead we play Ultamate Frisbie.. a game that perúvians can not play, because they don't know how to throw or catch, all their sports skill is in there feet.

P-day is nomal, but today we get to go to the central of Lima...I don't know what that means but every one is super pumped..so bring it on!

 

7/29

 

So really quick, The sentral of Lima is... think of Down Town D.C. with less cool monuments, less interesting history, and a lot of Peruvian flags. Basicly it is a tourist trap. We went to a museum about how the cathloics use to brutily torcher torture..i don't know, inflicked a lot of pain, for people to repent of their sins, another exsample of why Cathoics are crazy, and the church is true. Other than that we just bought stuff. I didn't buy much.

I am geting use to the "I'm Cathoic and I'm going to listen to you but not really" look. Most of the mebers here are ither converts or no more that 2 to max 3 generations, and the mix is diferent everywhere. But everything is fine and dandy, We have a baptism on saturday, so that's awsome! Love you all stay with god. Elder Roos.

 

Los Perros, Un El Libro de Mormon, y Las Granadillas

Hey everyone, sorry this one is a bit delayed!

Hola! Me Familia Y Amegos!

                            So I am on week 5 of my 6 weeks I'm not where I would like to be with spanish, but something tells me getting out into the fild is the best way I'm going to get where I need to be. So for the last two week I will be the district leader, but I am also kind of a third member of the Zone leaders too, so that's fun, mybe we should just be "the Leaders". The time came to go out again (Prostilitizing-sp) The place I went this time was verry similar to the first place I went, very very humble houses creeping up a mountain, but this place had less garbage and less stray dogs. Don't get me wrong there are millions of stray dogs in Preú, but this place wan't infested like the othere one was. I gave a Libro De Mormon to a Lady Paster, and got to teach a old man how to pray. I love the pople down here, they are so Kind and humble.

                     So on anoth note Fruit! The only fruit I get to eat is what they have in the little wire bowl in the food line, but there is a new kind of fruit that I LOVE!!! It is called a Granadilla, it is from the same family as the pomagranate. it is a small round orangeish yellow in color fruit, it has a thin shell that you peal or crack open and inside are hundres of little almost slimmey seed things. it is the best! The oranges are really good, we tends to stay away from the apples, and the banna's they feed us are ither hit and miss. The fruit choices out sime are much grater and I cant't wait to tell you all about them.

           I hope you are all haveing an awesome week, have fun Elder Roos.

 

Also, there are some missionaries down there that took a picture of his district

 

The heat of...winter; and very odd food.

Hey everyone!

So I'm just keep'n on keep'n on here in the good ol' CCM. It's a little hard trying to find things to write about, because I do just about the same thing everyday. I wake up at 6:15 and go to the showers, the showers have two temps. scolding HOT and bone Chilling cold. But if you keep turing off the hot water you have about a 5 second window to gwt in the water. anfter that I brush my teath, put my white shirt and tie on compleet the my Elder Roos name plaque.7:00 Go down to beakfest wich never changes much. You scan your card grab your tray, and choose between undercooked scrambled eggs and overcooked overeasy eggs, your choice of some kind of cold cut lunch meat or cheese, grab the suare bowl of liquid yogurt wich despite it's consistancy is not that bad (people down here usually eat this kind of yogurt and pread every moring) wich brings me to the next idem on the menue bread! wich I and the smater Elders use to make a sandwich (I am proud to be an American where you can eat anything if you only put it between two slices of bread). then you can drink boxed milk of some kind of juice from conitraite, or water. 8-12 Then learn the gosple and spanish, most of the time alltogether. 12:00 go to lunch and avoid the soup they make because it gives you the runs. grab one of the tow dishes that almost always have chicken and rice (don't read this incorectly I love the food here.) some sort of egg sid dish with some kind of wird dressing, grab one of the 3 kinds of dessierts, wich most often include wierd jello, some mushy kind of Flaun stuff, and if you are really lucky they pull out the soft seave icecream. 1:00 personal study. 2-3 Phyisical activity, I ussually play volly ball, I have kind of become a favoite team member because I am really bad but I can usually turn this in to a steady stream of jokes. 3-6 spannish/gospel. 6:00 dinner wich is alot like lunch. 7-9 study and teach a teacher pretending to be an investigator. 9:00 plan for the next day 9:20 check the mail box which is always empty ( they say they carry ship the mail on a donkey and that's why it takes so long) 9:25 go to fruit (where you eat a piece of frut) 9:30-10:30 get ready for bead. So that is what I do every day (details very)

 

Love Elder Roos oh yeah and it's winter here and it's still hot!

The CCM

So, this is the medium that I will be using to share Elder Roos' updates with you, so I don't need to post in a million different places. Here's part of the e-mail that we got last week:

the CCM (Peru's MTC) is fantastic the language is hard but I'm not giveing up.  I wish you could see how beautiful Peru' is. there are flowers and birds that I have never seen before, the city is crazy with little building repair, and it is super scetchy at night (I know that from my ride from the airport, but besides that we are just now going to the temple so I'll get to see more then. the food is very diferent, but really good. Fresh weird friut and people. haha Well if you could send me some email adresses and tell, like tyler, and logan and stuff to email I would love you even more. Love you so verry much and I might wright a mass message later.

Love Elder Roos.

Then here's the one he sent this week (If you were wondering about the title it comes from this e-mail.)

Peru is going i to the winter months, so that just means that it isn't going to be hot, no extra rain or anything. The food is a lot, and I really do mean ALOTTTT!!!!!!!! of chicken, rice, potatos, and alot of odd spices. Some times they try to create USA food, but it never turns out quite right. They tried to make a toco one and it was a tortilla, with a slab of some kind of beef and mashed... something inside. You would think that evry one's stomaches would get use to the food but everyone is still haveing long and frequent visits to the restroom, including me. They don't really use any hot sause wich is sad, but there is this hot salad dressing stuff that I put on everything. I miss Milk, all they have here, and I mean peru not just the CCM (MTC) is powdered or canned. My classes are all in Español even the mission prep classes, which makes it kind of hard to understand. I feel like I have falling behind everyone else, but I am one of the only ones with on highschool spanish, or latin perents. The latin Elders, only stay here for two weeks so it was sad to see them go. I have two Companions, Elder Gorman and Elder Morison. all the gringos room with latain Elers, but gringos are comps with grengos

and another one

I had just alittle bit more time so, I will start with my Compramróes. Elder Gorman is a bigger blond Texan, he is also the DL wich we all agree he likes alittle too much. It was alittle hard to get along with him at first, but he is growing on me. Elder Morrison, the Elder that I was stuck in L.A. with is my other comp. (oh yeah Dean if you didn't know I arived to the CCM 3 days late, long story.) He is a black haired, 5'8" workout junky from Utah, he is a computer guy, wich is an undertatement. He created an Android phone App that has broken 40,000 downloads.

I have only had the chance to go prostleysing, it was in a very poor place where the people had next to nothing. Thay all lived in theese depresingly colorfull houses, that would be more corectly called shacks, with dusty roads covered in garbage, and stray dogs. we go out once every two weeks so I will have 2 more chances to go. when you go out, oyu are paired with a latin companion, so this means he talked and I boar my testimony a few times. It really is a diferent world, so around here you have the upper middle class, who live alot like most of the people in the USA do, the middle class who live in grungy aprtments, and the poverty level people who live in the humble shacks I was talking about. They are so poor, you whould not think theese places would be inhabitable, the doors are no mor than two bords stuck together, most houses don't have full roofs, and the are verry lucky if the have a concreet inside. I love Aerica!

The latain Elders stay in the CCM only for two weeks, but it is so easy to love them. we said goodby to them yesterday, and most of them told me that was the worlds single hapies person, and one elder condmed me with sucsess (his words). Well now I really do have to go so I love you all good bye!

Elder Roos

Hope you enjoyed it, if I have time in the incoming weeks, I'll correct spelling.