Hi! From a Mountain Top: #8 Remember that one time I was kissed by a drunk man?

Oh boy this week was a doozy. Lets start of with the important stuff yeah? I was kissed by a drunk man first of all. Only cheek action but still. I was just going my merry way and saying buenas noches to anyone that would listen because it´s all I can say really and this man passed so I buenas noched him and all the sudden he flips around, gets this huge smile on his face and proceeds to get right into my face. Stll learning the customs here, I thought this might be normal and gave him a big smile but then Hermana Gonzalez leaned to me and said "Borracho!" meaning drunk. But by that time I was stuck. He wanted to come with us to wherever we were going, but Hna G kindly informed him that I was in dire need of a bathroom and we had to be going. But this did not appease him so we gave him a pass-along card (without our number of course) after which he started crying of gratitude and had to be consoled by Hna. G. She then received a very chivalrous kiss on the hand, and then the borracho advanced towards me. I held out my hand to say goodbye, but instead found his arms around me. Somehow I knew a kiss was coming, and he was a short little fella, so I stepped up on my tippy toes to distance my face as much as possible. But he wouldn´t have any of that and used his hands to lower my face and planted one on me. Needless to say, I´m not generous with my Buenas Noches any more.

So last week I reported that we would be having a baptism. Well.... unfortunately that is not true. The baptism was supposed to be yesterday, and we went to Rafa´s house on Saturday to teach him the last couple principals he lacked. But his mother informed us that he was really sick, like coughing up blood and that she didn't want him to be baptized the next day for his health. Well we were like yeah if he´s that sick he should probably wait. Well that night we had this huge festival of dances for the church (more about this to come) and who showed up? Rafa. Looking totally fine health wise, but a little sad. So Gonzalez and I were like ok what´s up? Later that night we talked to his father and asked him what he thought about the baptism and he said that Rafa could not be baptized the following day because they were going on an unexpected trip. And now we´re just totally confused because all of Rafa´s brothers and sisters were in church yesterday. So we did not have the baptism yesterday. And I´m bummed. And we think Rafa is bummed as well. It´s no bueno. And our other baptism we had planned kinda fell through as well because he has missed our last 3 appointments and now we don´t have time to teach him everything before his fecha. So we had to post pone his as well because he went on a trip to Arequipa. Another bummer. But we´re still working with them and we think both will be baptized, we just don´t know when.

Also this week we had our first zone conference and multizone conference. The multizone conference was with Presidente and Hermana Harbertson and the conference was held outside on the shores of Lake TitiKaka! Hna Harbertson calls it their zone conference in the wild. It was suuuuper good and I just love my mission Presidente with all my heart. He quoted Sid from Ice Age in his address. And mimicked his voice. Like how much cooler could a mission president be? The only problem is that our group was like stalked by dogs and it was freezing. But beside that I learned a lot. We talked mostly about finding people and wow has it changed the way I look at contacting.

Yesterday, I gave my first talk as a missionary!!! And it kicked trash. Well the talk itself did. My delivery... maybe not so much. I was so nervous because the stake president was there and I just really wanted to do a good job. I read the whole thing, which I'm not proud of, but I got through it and only pronounced half the words wrong. Little victories.

Well I´m trying to remember other things but I think that´s about all I´ve got. Oh this week we are being visited by Elder Uceda of the Seventy and he is having interviews with 7 missionaries. I don´t know if I want to have this opportunity or not. I´m kinda scared to death and excited at the same time that it´s going to be me. But there will be like 100 missionaries at this conference so I may be in the clear.. But yeah that's exciting. I was supposed to do a special musical number with some other missionaries for it, but that fell through for some reason.

And now, funny things about Puno

1. People have clocks on their walls, but they never, ever work.

2. I don´t understand why Arroz con Leche is a thing

3. Every time I pass a little kid, they turn to their moms and say "Mama! Gringa!"

4. We ride in the bus like van things sometimes call combies. I hit my head every single time getting in and out of them.

5. There's this guy sitting next to me and he is amazed that I use all ten of my fingers to type. I told him it´s easy. He said he couldn't. I told him to practice. Now he´s practicing. Ha!

6. The time of day I dread most is lunch. Not because the food is gross or anything, but because our pensionista serves us so much and we HAVE to eat all of it. And I think my body is finally realizing how much rice it´s taking in because every time I swallow, it literally triggers my gag reflex and I have to choke it down. I´m becoming really good at it. Sorry that´s really gross. Mom feel free to leave that part out of my blog.

7. Dogs. Everywhere.

Oh I forgot about the festival of dances! It was this huge event put on by the stake where all the youth from each ward prepared a dance complete with costumes and everything! They were all traditional Peru dances and it was so fun! And the whole event was this huge reference thing for the missionaries. The tickets were blank questionnaires that you wrote your name, dirrecion, and number on. So all the members brought their nonmember friends and now we have all their information to contact them!! And it´s not creepy because they gave it to us! The whole night was a huge success and a ton of fun. And at the end of the night, we handed out books of Mormons and Family Proclamations. Yeah it was a big deal.

Well My time is about up! But before I log off I want to share a scripture I read this morning that brought me great comfort.

¨"But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen."

And thus it is. It´s as simple as that! Trust that he has all power and thus it is.

Love you all and thanks for prayers, support, etc!

Love always,

your borracho kissed Hermana Rust