Usted?

I don´t have much to say this week other that life here is difficult, and there is a TON of Spanish, but it is great.

We went out into the real world on Saturday to teach less-active members.  I went with my Latino companion and an actual missionary in the field, so I definitely relied on them a LOT.  I only understood about 25% of what was said and only spoke about 10% of the time.  I can understand the Spanish-speakers here pretty well, but Spanish with an old-person accent is basically impossible to understand. People kept rambling off large amounts of Spanish and then out of nowhere just turn to me and say, "Usted?" which means "you?"  Then I would struggle through Spanish trying to answer the question that they may or may not have actually been asking, and the Latinos would resume speaking at a million miles an hour.

Despite all of this, my Latino companion says that I am the best Spanish speaker out of the Americans at the MTC, which was really nice to hear.  I will miss him when he goes out into the field in a week.

I wish I time to say more than that, but I don't, so bye.

-Elder Casdorph

Picture Updates

The four headed to Santa Cruz: at the Provo MTC, then showing off alpaca ties purchased in Lima for $5.72

(Recounted by Andrea)  When Jack called home during his layover on the way to Peru, he told me they'd invented a version of basketball that they would play in their room.  After discovering that a hole in the top of the drawer unit led conveniently to the top drawer, they used a few tennis balls someone had found to create an in-room game.

(Left to Right): with Elder Merrill - Provo MTC Companion; with Elder Casperson - wearing surprisingly similar ties; with  Elder Chronister - the recipient of about 100 fat jokes in the MTC, 70% of which were delivered by Jack