Gone for 2... MONTHS! (not years)

I'm not on a mission, I'm not on a mission, I'm not.... IT'S A MISSION!!!

ARRIVAL--Wednesday

Okay, I know its not a mission. But it really feels like it. If anyone's reading this completely lost let me clarify. i'm. in. Peru. It is so cool! I've had an amazing day so I just thought I'd blog about it. (beats writing in a mission journal). PS, get ready for mission comparisons cuz there are quite a few...

So I say goodbye to everyone then I get on a plane in Phoenix and head to LA. As I get to LA I'm told that my flight is delayed about 3 hours. Fun fun fun fun... one woman in line asks me where I learned spanish. "In Chile." "Doing what?" she asks. Answer [insert missionary experience here]. I give myself no credit. Believe me. These conversations were gifts from God. As we wait for our plane to arrive I made really good friends with these two old ladies going back to Peru. We talked about Chile/Peru/the mission/church. A talkative older lady came and sat down who turned out to be LDS. She got the conversation going even more and we ended up with 8-10 people participating or listening. To show how not good of a missionary I am, she had to ask me to take her email address and stay in contact. We laughed a lot and had a great time.

Finally on the plane.

Getting off, two sisters in the ward come pick me up and we take a taxi back. They treated me so well. (just like the members treat a missionary.) I go to their house, eat there food, and we talk for like an hour about family, church, work. The whole time I felt like I was sinning without my companion.

So I'm staying in this HUGE house. (this is by latin standards. It is still rather small compared to what we're used to). And well protected. (it reminds me of chile more than prison..)

Did I mention I'm living in the daughter's room? I think it's quite homey...

And I'm all alone for this week. So what do I do? Go waste time with the members! haha that should remind me of the mission but in some ways it does. They're bringing me food again right now. SWEET!

CHURCH--Sunday

I wanted to show some of the people before I published this blog. Here they are!

"Jota" (Hota)

Isabel

She's the one I knew in the mission that found me this place.

Daniel

Got confirmed today

Chapel

You can see what it looks like here

Well as I do more and more fun things, I'll post them up here so you know. Today after church I walked up the hill by my house to look around. I got spooked by a group of guys up there looking at me weird and ran (not literally) down. haha but i love it here. It's been "raining" all day. its just been misty and wet. I wake up every morning sweating from the humidity. A good change from dry heat all my life.

Alright time to... do something else! haha peace!

PS. so far the best monetary investment has been the $7.50 i spent on peanut butter! it just keeps on giving. (A big mac comes in at a close second).

Goodbye Provo!

So is it weird I'm sad to leave Provo?

The answer is yes. Definitely unexpected. Perhaps it is evidenced by the lack of posts, but I have had quite a busy/eventful/good semester! It was the fastest of my life thus far and quite entertaining. Since I don't feel like writing an novel about every detail right now, I'm just gonna give an overview of the best parts.

December:

Met a girl. Hit it off. Started dating quite immediately. Went home for Christmas and all that. Way fun!

January, February, and March have no other major highlights except that we continued dating... She made a few trips to Jewtah, I made a few home to AZ. Good times. Oh yes... snowboarding.

(ps the iPhone changed my life.)

We went to General Conference

And she had her first J-dawgs (best food in Utah)

I know, we're pretty good (looking) together.

Other highlights include school (I feel like I actually learned a lot and pulled decent grades. Had a fun NPO internship, got into the business school and now I feel a little bit more like I know where school is taking me), work was a blast at the MTC, Finals got over yesterday FINALLY, and I actually know who people are in my ward. Good things.

But alas... Mesa desert HERE I COME! time to end the LDR (Long distance... guess.) for--almost--ever!

Too bad Mesa doesn't have mountains like these...

(I love the SNOW!)

...that we can hike up at 2 in the morning during finals week...

...but it's got other things.

So now that I'm free from nearly all my life commitments I will have plenty of time to blog. If anyone's even reading this. Now it's home for an internship in Mesa then off to LIMA PERU in June. Can't wait. LDR again you say? yeah I'm an idiot. Oh well should be fun. I've got a 10 hour drive tomorrow that I'm actually excited for. Any good book-on-tape ideas? Well my last words:

PEACE OUT PROVO!

See ya in 4 months........

No one catches a unicorn

Awesome weekend.

Jimmy concert was amazing! best place I could have spent Halloween. I enjoyed watching my friends almost fight annoying little girls...

Haunted houses are worth the money.

Harry Potter 6 is by far the best of the movies.

I love my friends and I love AZ. Provo is very cold; I can't remember what part of it I missed.

It's funny how things work out, usually not what you'd expect. But I feel like things are finally right.

Test week. Kill me now.

3 weeks arizona...

The haze clears from your eyes... on a sunday

It's been the best sunday ever.

We woke up late and only went to sacrament (reverse order church is very forgiving). We're apparently friends with the yellow house girls again so people actually know who we are in church.

Came home and ben told us to preheat the oven and he was coming over. Everyone shows up, parks on the lawn and ben bakes, of all things, a big chocolate cake. oh and our elders quorum president came over to call us to repentance and tell us to go to church. told you they know us.

Now we're all watching a movie and blogging at the same time. is that gay?

There's one girl over at least so dont worry.

Tyler made tacos; i finally did my dishes. Plus i have a sweet new text buddy.

Oh and Brooke straight up brought a box of cereal for us. that is the best way to make friends.

Life is good.

Let me be honest. I set up a blog account a month ago and have truly desired to write herein. Thoughts are transitioned to written form so that I can blog later, though I still have not. The reason it took me so long and the reason I'm being so honest now is the same reason I've been staring blankly at my computer for the last 10 minutes and the reason I am actually slightly disappointed in myself: I can't choose a name.

Originality cannot be considered part of me. Thats disappointing but I'm over it. I settle on the fact that I can put a name down now and change it later. I probably will a dozen times. I'll get a repeat of "No way you were in a band? What was it called?" "....which time?" But thats okay.

So I'm back in college, got the job I always wanted, live with two of my best friends, and finally feel like I know what I'm going to do in life. I have this newfound confidence with girls which I still dont know how to use, and I haven't had a good nights sleep in weeks. I love it up here. Tonight I watched Nacho Libre with some work friends and I realized I love that movie more than I ever knew. I am content with life in Provo, Utah (who woulda thought) and hope things stay this good. The only thing lacking is, in fact, a girlfriend. That will arrive someday.

Well this isn't much of a first post but thats fine-I'll keep things simple. Maybe next time I'll remember those "thoughts made for writing" and come up with something clever. Ha I haven't even decided if I'll tell anyone I have a Blog. Maybe later on...