Austin: 8/1/2013

Austin's first letter.  If you do not want to receive these emails for the next 2 years please reply and I will remove you form the list (No Offense taken I promise)

Hello from Peru!

I think I can safely say that yesterday was the longest day of my life. Our flight from Salt Lake left at 7:00 and then we had a 6 hour layover in LA. I would be lying if I said it was enjoyable. It could´ve been a lot worse though. We didn´t die and we made it to Peru so that´s all that really matters right? We got to the MTC at about 2:30. That was fun. It probably wouldn´t have mattered when we got in though. I didn´t sleep much anyways. Another bus came in at 3:30 and I was still wide awake to welcome them into my room. And by welcome I mean lay in bed and wish I was asleep and not say anything. Except for one elder saw I was awake and asked which bed he should take and I told him it really doesn´t matter for now and just to hop in bed. That´s what I did. And I found out in the morning that I was in the totally wrong bed. But no harm done so it doesn´t matter!

I like Peru! The weather feel AWESOME!!! I have no idea what the temperature is, but it feels perfect. It´s pretty humid, but since it´s not overly hot or cold it actually feels good. I would live in this weather for the rest of forever if I could! And after one meal, I can safely say the coco puffs are good, the yogurt is fantastic, and the papay juice is absolutely revolting. I don´t have a companion yet. The paper they gave me told me the name of a kid, but he´s not in my room and so for now I have no comp. I was on my way to the auditorium when some supervisor lady made me eat breakfast and write you all. I´m pretty sure I´m not supposed to be alone, but since she told me to, I´m doing what she says.

So I was in my room this morning, looking through my suitcases and I looked up at a noise and saw Elder Baker in my room. I wasn´t expecting seeing him so soon. Apparently he was hunting me down all morning. It´s a good thing he´s not dumb because I gave him the bag of stuff he forgot and the m&ms, and I knew there was something else but I could not remember it. After a minute he remembered it was the debit card so he´s got everything Brenda sent with me to give him.

Well, the church is true. I´m so grateful for the opportunity I have to be one of the Lord´s missionaries. I wouldn´t trade being a missionary for anything, and I have been one for less than two days. I am so grateful to be here in Peru to share the love I have for the gospel with the people here so they can feel of the joy of the gospel as well.

Love you all,

Elder Schouten

ps. the supervisor lady is Latino and she would switch back and forth between spanish and english to see if we could catch anything and I caught most of it. I was pretty happy. Apparently I did learn a little in 3 years of junior high spanish. Though I understood nothing on the plane. Even the announcements in english were confusing because they were quiet and SUPER fast. That was fun.