Elder Preece Finally Made it to Peru!

July 27, 2013

Dear Brother & Sister, Preece

We are so happy to have Elder Preece serving in the Peru Piura Mission!  He arrived eager to go to work and we are impressed with his enthusiasm and desire to serve our Heavenly Father as a missionary.  After meeting him at the airport we had a luncheon at the Mission Home followed by a devotional and an interview.  The following day was a morning of training and the assigning of his trainer/companion.  Trainers are chosen for their obedience, patience, dedication and the guidance of the Holy Ghost.   We know that as these two missionaries study, pray and work together they will be blessed and guided in their service and find joy in teaching and sharing the gospel message. We are attaching a photo of your missionary with his new companion and us.  We are grateful to you for sharing your son with us.  We know that through hard work, obedience and prayer Elder Preece will find joy in serving the Lord and the beautiful people of Peru.  Please encourage him to share his experiences with you and your family.  Write to him weekly and express your love, support and confidence in him.  You will witness miraculous changes in him as he learns to serve and love those with whom he works. We know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy and peace to all who will follow Him.  We are grateful to be a part of this great work and to serve with the wonderful young Elders and Sisters of our mission

Sincerely,

President & Sister Rowley

Peru Piura Mission

HIYA MOMMY

Oh boy there isn't much time so I going to have to type super fast

first of reagents is it done?

Second of hows your geneology work going?

third I love your thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much. (I ran out of room its longer)

I honestly am kind of sad to leave

I have sent as many pictures as I could but this is one of my favorites. These are the cows we preach to. they are nice but I don't think they are interested in the gospel too much.

 

I have had a blast, and It feels like i have been here for a transfer or two but I haven't. it's super crazy.

the other picture I sent earlier are my companions. yeah I have been in a threesome if you didn't know. although we didn't share a bed that my friends is against the rules, which is fine with me because I hardly like sharing toilet paper with them.

This week was super fun. I got a couple references by myself. ate some tacos and tacos mexico the taco bus owned by brother sotelo. it's fantastic. a super burrito con porko y picante salsa. super good and spicy on the way in and super painful on the way out. if you know what I mean.

We totally need to go to visit Idaho falls when I get back. plus its only a couple of hours from salt lake.

I think the best part about Idaho has been our great members and brother friedman our branch missionary leader. he is great. he's a nuclear engineer with the knack, but he is from texas. so just try to imagine that. haha.

Elder miller the shorter companion in the other picture is a basketball fanatic and is signed to play with Utah when he gets home. oh and Cailie he's single. ;) also he is one of the hardest working missionary i have ever seen. He is going to be great. in Agentina when he gets his visa. Which is super cool. He graduated from high school early to get out here. he actually is still 18. super cool has terrible allergies poor guy.

and Elder Scullion he is a hard worker from Oakland Cali. and everybody always goes ahhhhh that's nice when he tells them. apparently oaklands scary. hmm who knew. He is 25 and wants to be a physical therapist sort of he's not sure anymore. he is a convert with a super strong testimony and lacks the ability to say his erre s which results in a L--ish sound. so it goes something like tie lllll a instead if tierra. or bu llllll ito instead of burrito. he tried to say burrito to hermano sotelo but hermano sotelo could not understand him.

some good storys for the week

were we were on splits and elder eldridge and english elder said soy elder eldridge. and the hispano said repite mas despacio hahahahahahaha which means repeat slower

it was great cause elder eldridge had no Idea what he said. haha

the other story was

we knocked on the door of familia juarez and the conversation went like this  you'll have to get somebody to translate it for you cause I have 3 minutes left

 

us hola como esta (hi how are you?)

him bien mal (good bad)

us por que (why)

him mi esposa es en el carcel (my wife is in the jail)

at this point he is running around like mad

and elder miller says

 

esta bien podemos ensenar usted ahorita (while we can teach you this right now)

hahaha he had no clue what he was talking about.

any ways I send my love. and I have to get back to work

 

May the Force be with ya.

Elder Preece

pictures

Letter for this week & how to write CalDon

Some quick things before I start to pour my soul out. 

The address to send stuff to me is 

1246 Yellow stone Ave Ste-F3 

Pocatello, ID 83201

If you send it there it will get to me. Anyways on with the letter

So as you might of guessed I made it to Idaho safe and sound. um we actually took a bus. apparently I don't read well but that's all good. um there were about 20 of us and about a third of the missionaries coming to pocatello were visa waiters like me. My first impression of idaho was the baked potatoes and chili which was great. I ate some much I almost cried it was amazing. actually I have been putting on the pounds up here in Idaho. I think I weight 168 or 9 which is like a net gain of 4 pounds haha actually I haven't weight my self since a year before my mission, so I really don't know. What I do know is that we eat too much. we eat at members houses every night but monday which makes me feel a little bit like we are asking the members to do too much for us. but They cook great food so I get over it. 

other things of note worthiness... we are to have a baptism for one of our investigators this saturday. patricia. she is great and I can't understand half the words she says. Oh yeah I forgot to mention we only teach like 2 people who speak english. its nuts. I thought that I there weren't any Hispanics out here. my bad. but really I speak spanish all the time. like there are so many families out here that their children speak english but their parents only speak spanish. its nuts. but its great. but Patricia is a great woman and will be a great member. it is so cool to hear that she just feels something different about our church. AMAZING oh and also when we showed her the font she though she would have to swim and she freaked out. haahahahah it was so funny.

This week I have taught so many lessons that it is hard to know which stories to tell. We are teaching a less active member named juan. he is a great kid. thinks really deeply about everything, but  we took him to the temple visitors center and that was amazing. we watched finding faith in christ and then we had a discussion after where he expressed his concerns about the church. turns out the idea of miracles is a hard one to understand. let alone explain. he really didn't like the way that the movie showed miracles as random chance. we explained all about how christ has power to perform miracles and Elder miller totally flicked juan as an object lesson about how things can happen and we don't know what but we know they happen super great. he just lead over towards him and bamm pretty good.

We stay in a little town house. its cozy and has tons of ants. but we cleaned it up super good today, so hopefully it will be better this week. We really spend no time there because we only study and then we are gone. it only has one and one half bathrooms, so its really interesting trying to get everybody ready in the morning. speaking of mornings it is the largest battle to stay awake during study times and during church. whew its rough, but I learned that eating sunflower seeds is a great way to stay awake during study times. unfortunately i can't do that during church, so I'm still working on a strategy to stay awake. oh and our branch only has like 30 people in it, so we go into this super tiny 1/10 of  a chapel super suave. but yeah its been a blast up here I have had some pretty legit mexican tacos from some strangers and then one of our investigators made us tacos with cactus. apparently you can boil it or grill it. I learned a little bit how to cook them, but they sure are tasty. 

Oh and one more thing and probably the last we have to go get Elder Millers hair cut. lame. but So i was feeling super good with being in Idaho. It actually doesn't bother me that I am here I think its a blast. it is weird to think that i won't be staying. and in that way it is hard to focus on the work. but I'm good with it. I think that I will stay at least six weeks here. and then who knows what will happen after that. but The reason I bring this up is because as I have been feeling so awesome I read my email today only to find a letter say the following

Dear Elder Preece:

Visa Status

By now you are aware that your visa to Peru has not yet been approved. While this is undoubtedly a 

disappointment, please know that we are doing everything possible to secure your visa. We will notify 

you immediately when it is received. We ask that you and your family members not do anything, such as 

call or e-mail the consulate, to try to secure your visa more quickly. Such actions may actually slow 

down the visa process already in place.

While you are waiting, your mission experience in the United States will prove to be a great blessing in 

your preparation to serve in Peru. We encourage you to work hard, remain focused, and be involved in 

all aspects of missionary work. As you serve the people in the Idaho Pocatello Mission, your testimony 

and ability to teach will increase, you will set the pattern of study and hard work for the rest of your 

mission, and you will come to love the people.

May the Lord continue to bless you and your family as you dedicate yourself to preaching the gospel to 

those who are seeking and ready to accept your invitation to come unto Christ.

Sincerely,

I actually still haven't read it. It makes me sad mostly because I get the feeling that I should be disappointed and I really am not because It's all the lords work. and I came on a mission to help others come to know christ. Not to go to peru (which will be awesome and will happen.) and definitely not to force the gospel onto anyone. I love the example of the Savior always concerned about others always turning outwards and always Inviting others to become better. He truly is the Great Shepherd He will lead us where we need to go and will never let us down.

It is so good to here that the wedding go off okay and that every one is having a blast. I will try to send some pictures tomorrow, but it is really crazy right now. and I forgot My camera. oh and today is P-Day btw's

I love you TONSOFLOTSOFTONS. 

Tu amigo, hermano y hijo Elder Preece.

Missionary Arrival...Idaho

Elder CalDon Preece has arrived safely in the Idaho Pocatello Mission.  Upon arrival, we had a personal interview to get further acquainted.

We are hopeful you will write or email letters of encouragement to your missionary weekly so he will continue to feel your love and support as he loses himself in the work.  We encourage your missionary to do the same, focusing on the positive aspects of the mission.

May God bless you as you sacrifice to support this great work.

Faithfully yours,

Marvin T. Brinkerhoff

Mission President

Reassigned to Pocatello Idaho

Elder Preece will be leaving to serve in Pocatello, Idaho on Tuesday. He is still waiting for a Visa to get him to Peru.