A Christmas Day Highlight

Elders Layton and Little. Elder Little was a Zone Leader in Puente Piedra.

On Christmas day, missionaries all over the world are busy calling their families. We got to speak with Elder Layton for nearly one hour, although we were disconnected three times...but we got to have a good chat anyway. We asked a lot of questions. I don't remember who asked which questions, so I just show most of them as "family". Here are some of the highlights...

Elder Layton; "It's hard to talk English (He kept slipping back into Spanish throughout the call. He didn't have much of an accent though.). I don't think I've ever been happier. We have a ton of really good families to visit. It's hard because so many people aren't married - it's different from Lima. Most people don't have the papers they need to get married. We have to wait on papers from other areas. Right now we are waiting on papers for a guy who's from Iquitos. So we have to contact the other missionaries and wait.

The mission is probably the hardest thing I've ever done but it's so much fun. I think I'll be in Pucallpa for a long time. My companion's already been here for 4 months - everyone says they will just leave us here for a while. If I'm here in February and March, I'll be here for the rainy season. Everything floods. All the homes are built up on stilts. Every house has a boat and people just use their boats to get around. The missionaries have to use the bridges.

Our apartment is really nice. It's one of the nicest buildings in Pucallpa." Above is a picture of Avenida Saenz Pena, very close to where the Elder's apartment is.

Don: "What's been the hardest part of your mission so far?"

Elder Layton: "Finding the right people to teach. Lots of people will listen, but only a few will follow through with commitments. They'll listen, but they won't always come to Church or read. Also, I miss my family."

Don: "What's been the best part of your mission?"

Elder Layton: "That's hard, but the best part is when we're able to teach someone from the very start and watching them grow, keep commitments and gain testimonies...like Rosalina Pizarro, Liliana and Ibis Alessandra Moron Troncos. Liliana was the best investigator so far."

Elders Zepeda and Layton with Hermana Angelica & Friends While in Puente Piedra

Don: "What are your favorite parts of the culture?"

Elder Layton: "I don't know - everyone has parties all the time...they have lots of fireworks every weekend, like way more than the fourth of July. The parties go really late sometimes. Last weekend they had one from about 11:00 until 2:00. Our apartment has openings for windows with curtains on it...it keeps us up sometimes. Dancing...everyone's really good at dancing."

Don: "Do you ever run into people who don't speak Spanish - who only speak Quechua or Aymara?"

Elder Layton: "Yeah, no one really understands them, they're usually really old people. Lots of times their own families don't even understand them. It's hard to learn - it's not a written language."

Curtis: "That's so cool about your monkey".

Elder Layton: "Yeah, the monkey lives with the pension. He's still a baby. He's so cute. There's a girl - a daughter of the pension - about 23. She makes it clothes and it has it's own little hammock to sleep in. I always play with it when we come to eat. As soon as I get there, it knows me and comes and sits on my arm when I eat. It knows me. The girl reminds me of how Briana would treat the monkey."

Curtis: "Are you going to take it with you when you leave?"

Elder Layton: "No, it will stay here - it will bring joy for some other missionaries."

Family: "Do you think your mission will make their goal of 500 baptisms in December?"

Elder Layton: "No, I don't think we're going to make it. President kind of wrote us a letter - kind of called us to repentance."

Brenda: "Do you like your Mission President? What's he like?"

Elder Layton: "Our Mission President is the best, he's a great guy - the "best ever". He even lets us watch a movie once in a while. The last movie we saw was "Night At the Museum". They show it in Spanish, sometimes with English subtitles."

Briana: "Is the Church the same in Peru as it is here?"

Elder Layton: "Yes. It's the same. Our buildings are a little different, but really nice."

Family: "What's the strangest thing you've seen so far?"

Elder Layton: "Every day there are naked people (Curtis at this point said, "okay, I do NOT want to go to Peru on my mission!!" Briana said, "Gross"). I saw a guy kill like 20 chickens. He held them upside down by the feet and just kind of pulled on their necks until they popped. There are all kinds of weird bugs, parrots all over in the trees, all kinds of weird noises. The people wear a lot of the same clothes we do, but sometimes they just wear loin cloths". A loin cloth is at least better than going completely naked."

Family: "What do you normally do on your p-days?"

Elder Layton: "We plan weird things. We have to be with the zone until about 1:00 or 2:00. We play soccer all the time. Our pension does the laundry. We eat breakfasts and dinners with the pension. We have lunch with members and we get referrals."

Family: "What's your favorite food so far and what's the weirdest things you've eaten?

Elder Layton: "I love a lot of the food but in Ventanilla and Puente Piedra we ate a lot of Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice). We had it all the time but there's some really good food. We have all kinds of fresh fruit and drinks made from fruit. There's a lady in our ward who let's us get fresh coconuts whenever we want.

We were supposed to have turtle day-before-yesterday, but she wasn't there and so we had fish instead. We've eaten a lot of alligator - it tastes kind of like chicken. We eat a lot of venison - there are a lot of deer in the jungle. The weirdest was pig stomach. It's so gross. Oh, and they always put chicken feet in soup. They're mostly cartilage - nasty."

Don: "What advice would you give Eric, Curtis and maybe Briana as they prepare for their missions?"

Elder Layton: "Study the scriptures."

Don: "That sounds good - anything else?"

Elder Layton: "Yeah, study the scriptures - memorize scriptures. Have good experiences you can share with other people - become good teachers."

Brenda: "Do you play the piano for your ward?"

Elder Layton: "I play all the hymns now. I played in Puente Piedra and Ventanilla, but they don't have a piano here. They have a keyboard, but it's broken. Two nights ago, we went to the Plaza and sang with the choir. It's funny...all the Churches had time to sing or whatever. The Catholic Church took about an hour right before us and just banged and whistled. We sang hymns. Everyone loved it. Most of the Churches just blasted rock music and rap. Christmas is different here. Everyone works."

Brenda: "Is it hot there?"

Elder Layton: "Yeah, it's hot every day. We take cold showers - we don't have hot water. It's really, really cold water."

Don: "What are some of the best things you've learned so far?"

Elder Layton: "Before I didn't really know how to learn. I learn a lot here."

Family: "Is there anything you need?"

Elder Layton: "Not really - I had to leave one of my suitcases in Lima when I came to the jungle - they only allow one suitcase on the plane. I'm going to have to leave a couple of things here when I leave. My suitcase is already overweight.

People send me letters and I really feel bad. I can't write back. It's really expensive here to send letters. We only get about 90 soles per month (Peru currency) and it costs about 10 soles just to send out one letter. Tell everyone that I love them. We have to take mototaxis to church - it's pretty far away. That costs money too."

Brenda: "Grandma and Grandpa told me to tell you that they love you."

Elder Layton: "I love them too. I love all of my family and friends."

Family: We love you, we miss you, we pray for you all the time and are very proud of you.

Elder Layton: "I miss you guys too.

Nothing Makes You Happier Than Living the Gospel

This week has been great. We didn't have any baptisms this Saturday but we've set up several more for the month of December! Also we have a golden family that's just waiting to get married. So basically we're waiting for a matrimonio and the dad, Alberto, needs his papers, so we've been communicating with other missionaries to get his papers from Iquitos. The missionary work is so amazing. Really there´s nothing that makes you happier than living the Gospel, being obedient, and serving the Lord.

Pucallpa rocks. I'm glad Curtis thinks it's cool there are monkeys here. Because it IS cool. We have a big river in part of our area and there are a bunch of little boats and canoes all over the place. Also I learned that in February and march everything floods and that´s why all the houses are raised up. A ton of our area will be under water so we have to use bridges, and the people use canoes.

The people here are so tight. Everyone's always like GRINGO!!! So it´s a good conversation starter to begin sharing the gospel. Yeah I did English lessons on Saturday. It was great, cause we had two investigators there, and I hear we might have more this Saturday. It´s perfect because they come with members and then we can set up times to meet with them.

I don´t know how much I told you about Gustavo, but he´s a gringo that lives right above us. He teaches English lessons here in Pucallpa. We've only met with him once because of his tight schedule but after the first lesson he was really set. He wants to prepare for baptism, and he knows he needs to change a lot of things in his life. He told us all about his past life, and decisions that have led him to where he is now. Really though, I know when he accepts the gospel in his life his life will only get better.

Here's some info I found on wikipedia about Pucallpa. It provides a technical snapshot on where Elder Layton is serving.

Pucallpa (Quechua: puka hallpa, "red earth") is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Ucayali region, the Coronel Portillo Province and the Calleria District.

Pucallpa was founded in the 1840s by Franciscan missionaries who settled several families of the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group. For several decades it remained a small settlement as it was isolated from the rest of the country by the Amazon Rainforest and the Andes mountain range. From the 1880s through the 1920s a railway project to connect Pucallpa with the rest of the country via the Ferrocarril Central Andino was started and dropped several time until it was finally abandoned. Pucallpa's isolation finally ended in 1945 with the completion of a highway to Lima through Tingo Maria. The highway allowed the commercialization of regional products to the rest of the country, thus improving the economic outlook of the region and its capital, Pucallpa. However, the heavy rainfalls of the Amazon Rainforest remain a problem as they erode the highway and can even cut it by causing flash floods.

Pucallpa is served by air through the Captain Rolden International Airport and by river through its port Pucallpillo near the center of the city. During the high water season, the floating ports of La Hoyada and Puerto Italia are used for riverine communications. Pucallpa is connected by road to Lima via the cities Huánuco and Cerro de Pasco.

Hungry Anyone???

Things are going well here in the Provo MTC. The travel office told us a couple days ago that everything had been resolved and that the visa's were on their way. (Note: We have information more recent than Elder Layton did...he is still on hold)

I'm eager to go to Peru of course so that was exciting to hear. Elder Ridge and I have been doing awesome. We're learning how to teach to the needs of investigators and not just teach lessons. Tonight we give the first lesson in Spanish for the second or third time. We're prepared I think.

Other than that, no crazy stories about monkey's yet. (Since we are still holding our collective breath for the crazy monkey stories, I thought I'd include a couple of pictures of a Peruvian Guinea Pig dish that we understand is served about everywhere down there.) Anyway, back to the letter.

I love the gospel. I want to get out so bad and just tell everyone I see about it, but honestly the Spanish could use a little brushing up on... The temple was really good today, except that I've been sick for the past 2 weeks and it was kind've hard to get through since my voice was almost completely gone. Everyone in my district has been sick I think. That's what happens I guess when Elder's and Sister's from all over the world come into one place. I want to hear from everyone about everything. The transition of not being able to really talk with anybody from home and school has been the toughest thing for me so far... along with other things. I miss you and love you all.

As far as the crazy monkeys are concerned, since the visa is still in limbo status, I suppose we're going to have to wait just a little bit longer to see anything like that.

When he does get his visa, I just hope we don't see the monkeys on the dinner platter anytime soon.

Okay, I admit it. The blog is starting to take a serious downturn while we're waiting for Elder Layton's visa to come in. My apologies.