TREBOL!!!

That´s my first area and its the bomb. I mean yes it does kind of look like one went off here, but I think that adds to the overall charm of the place haha-

Well, what I week, I don't even really know where to start. My comp is great!! Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she is from Argentina. She is 22 and has been a member of the church for two years which is pretty cool. She is so awesome! She speaks about zero english though which makes for some very interesting days and nights. But its good. I´m learning spanish slowly but surely. This week was seriously so awesome! I am so pumped to be out in the field! Hna. Rodriguez and I are really lucky and we live right next to the chapel. Also our apartment or more accurately our room has really nice wood floors and electricty- and if we plug in our shower for longer than 30 minutes there is hot water! Not very much but its something. We are very lucky!! I am learning so much here and am trying to work really hard. This week a lot of things definitely went way over my head. Ha I never know anything. But I´m excited for this week with a little bit more experience under my belt and a better idea of everything. Right now I kinda feel like a lost puppy dog and I just follow Hna Rodriguez around. The people here though are so awesome! I love it!

Dad, you´ll love this but for our meals we eat at Hna. Lucy´s house- She is our 'mom' here and makes all our meals. She is the best! She also has three adorable kids. But Hna. Rodriguez and I eat all our meals there with two other elders and it is a party! I understand very little of all the jokes and funny things said but it is still probably my favorite time of the day! Hands down- During lunch on my second day here I was just thinking that this is the way to live in any country. There was some spanish music on in the background and we were eating ceviche (which is delicious by the way) and I was just loving my life. And then we went to work, don´t worry- That part is good too! We taught a few lessons this week that went really well. (I think) And did a lot of street contacting which is where my true talent is. Everyone is totally up to listen to me beause I am from the US, obvi. So that's nice.

So Yeah, I am doing great. Everyday I understand more and more. Which is nice, although one night we were teaching in a house and in the other room their kids were listening to the soundtrack of Teen Beach Movie. So that was fun. I was singing those lyrics all night. Also the food. The food here is soooo good!!! really love it.

One really funny thing heppened. I was showing a picture of our family to a little boy here, Diego, and he asked why Abby and I were the only white ones. So yeah that was pretty funny- sorry Abs

Con todo mi corazon,

Hermana degn

It's the Final Countdown!!

Hi family thanks for all the notes this week! Well here it is my last week at the CCM. And just a heads up next week I leave on my pday so I won't be able to write. obvi. But I think the mission secretary sends you an email so you can know if I am alive or not. Ha, chiste chiste. Okay well since this is my last email from the CCm I thought I would just sum up the highlights so without further ado...

 

My top ten: ( it`s like sports center no?)

1. FUTBOL! Nuff said. I love soccer now. Who knew?

2. Asking for sin instead of sin for dinner. They`re basically the same word (pescado y pecado) but my whole district was dying as well as the poor cafeteria lady. But hey I still ended up with fish, so todo bien.

3. Tea & toast. My favorite part of the day, twice a day. After dinner and before breakfast. We also talk in British accents to up our classiness

4. Temple Tuesdays.

5. Churros! (but don`t worry grandpa, I don't eat them anymore! Not because I think they made anyone sick but because they made it a rule after the plague broke out)

6. Being forgotten. So cool story. This one time (last tuesday) we were supposed to watch the devo broadcasted from the provo mtc.... well everyone leaves for their missions every other tuesday so there were about 50 of us here. Which first off how awesome is that!?! And second everyone forgot about us. So we went to watch it in the chapel and literally NO ONE else was here to turn it on for us. We ended up having an impromtu testimony meeting that was so good! And it turned into one of my favorite nights.

7.District volleyball. Let's just say I've still got game.

8. My district. Who knew I could love them this much at the beginning?

9. Proselyting. That was definitely the best day so far. Just sooo good.

10. Elder Cook. Need I say more?

Basically its been one roller coaster of a month and I am so pumped to go in the field.

also just because.....

The Five things I miss most about America! (like my not top ten) eh?

1. Cheese!!!! ah what I wouldn`t do for some cheese! Even string cheese! I miss cheese!!!!

2. Hot water. Yep, needless to say I have no problem with the five minute shower rule.

3. Never seeing the back of my hair. Its actually probably a blessing.

4. the Sun. Yeah winter is just ending here but it is always overcast-

5. Music. who knew I listened to music so much!

and of course you! I love you all so much! Have an awesome few weeks!

love,

hermana degn

Hola!

How is everyone? Today we went on a fieldtrip proselyting! It was about 10x as awesome as P-day. Also, needless to say I am still going to have culture shock for a while. I honestly wish I could adequately put into words how poor the people are here. We drove about an hour away from the CCM and it was incredibly humbling to drive through so many shanty towns and then to walk through them. It was similar to swimming through dirt but also one of the best experiences! We switched up companionships so my comp for the day was Hermana Thiel- she is so awesome! Both of us struggle with Spanish but I had such an amazing time talking with the people. It was really awesome and humbling to talk with them! Even though our Spanish was bad they were so patient and willing to listen. In fact at the first door we knocked on I asked it we could share a message about Jesus Christ. Well she said yes and then I was so completely shocked I had no idea what to say next, I just totally forgot what our message was. Haha thats the best thing about having a companion. Hna. Thiel and I made a great team! My favorite person that we talked to was named Johnny. He was so awesome. We probably talked to him for 45ish minutes and it was just amazing. He had a lot of questions for us that we really struggled to answer because he would talk so fast. Then say sí or no, and Hna Thiel and I would look at each other and shrug. haha, He could see that our Spanish was bad and helped us out a bit. He started talking slower and we bore testimony a lot and tried to answer his questions the best we could. In the end we gave him a Book of Mormon and got his name and address so the missionaries could go back. I loved talking to him because he would just laugh with us when we would mess up on words or didn´t know how to say anything. What a day. I would pray every time that I opedned my mouth that Heavenly Father would fill it with what I needed to say. The whole day I kept repeating D&C6:36 (i think?) in my mind. "look unto me in every thought, doubt not fear not." While talking every time was still a struggle and I could never really express what I wanted to I know that Heavenly father was still able to work through Hna. Thiel and I. Even if we were just planting really small seeds. It was an awesome day! although definitely so exhausting, both spiritually and physically.

And sidenote there are so many dogs here! It is unreal. I thought everyone was exagerating. well they weren´t. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! It´s a bit nuts. Other highlights this week included being seranded by some of the Latino Elders. The ones here this week were very out going which was really fun except for the fact that they do not quite understand the Elder/Hermana relationship. for example one told me that he thought I was beautiful and then sang Bruno Mars to me (because they all love Bruno Mars for some reason). Basically I found my future husband! Ha, Chiste, obvi. It was pretty hilar though.

The rest of the week was really awesome too! Yesterday was sad because my favorite district left! (but now we are the oldest eeek) There is a picture attatched of my district and that district. (the hermanas) they are for real the greatest! And they are going to be stellar missionaries!

Now back to my highlights of the week:

District volleyball. Lets just say I still have game and my district is pretty rad. We have an awesome time together. Which is good since we literally spend SO much time together. But I love them all!

Also our ride home from the temple today was crazy. The bus was so jampacked but we just got on anyways. Also you can just stand on the side of the road anywhere and busses stop to pick you up. It´s a bit nerve wracking. Especially when there are other cars honking and going crazy because the bus is just stopped- Everytime I get on I think of the Knight bus from Harry Potter. (I swear one bus even had shrieking heads). That is a pretty accurate description though-only here the busses are crazier. And the driving is about the same level of recklessness and speed only they are not wizards and nothing moves for them. We also j-walk a lot. Eveyone does ( ah the thrill of it all) but that is like real like frogger. Pedestrians never have right of way here so good thing I have so much practice with both frogger and J-walking. (I´ve done it with golf clubs before which I think is pretty impressive)

Well my time is winding down. So here is a special shout out to Rosemary and Penelope! Thanks for reading my blog! I sure love and miss you cute girls! Also have an extra piece of devils food this week for me! I will have to tell Hna Blotter a story about Stuart and maybe we will have chocolate cookies to celebrate his life.

All my love,

Hermana Degn

 

 

Thanks for the package!  Thanks Tyler Thompson!

Me and Elder Christensen!  So glad to have a familiar face in the MTC!

Literally we are halfway through our MTC time. (WHAAAT?!) and yes also literally we are living on a prayer. I have definitely never prayed this much in my whole life. Seriously though, if we added up all the prayers I´ve ever said I think I have said more in the past three weeks- I mean at the very least we pray 15 times a day. Also I have random songs get stuck in my head all the time! and we can´t listen to music here, sooooo its sometimes rough to get them out. For instance yesterday in our language class we were doing a por y para practice scenario and it used the word gasolina.... Well I have had the gasolina song by daddy yankee stuck in my head ever since. Most def not mission appropiate but my spanish teacher was way impressed that I had heard it before. So that´s cool.

It´s basically like the walking dead here at the CCM- people are just dropping like flies. Actually not really anymore but we were all sick this past week. It was basically an infirmary. with Quarantines and everything. You would see people at breakfast and then two days later you would see them again. Ha good news is its all behind us! And everyone (myself included) is healthy again.

Let´s see unfortunately they have now banned churros due to the walking dead status which is a real bummer. Basically I would eat a churro a day and probably go home 400 lbs, and be proud of it. Then I would dedicate the rest of my life to bringing them to America. That is how good the churros are. Today was rough not being able to get one. But we went to some cool shops. There was a crazy meet market with just hunks of meet hanging and plucked chickens hanging. So that was interesting. Speaking of food, thanks so much for the treats! and the dried mangos! They were the best! Even though I eat about three pounds of rice a day I feel like I´m never full. It´s a real problem. And yet they have killer flan and soft serve ice cream so obviously I´m over that problem.

This week we played futbol a bunch and it is seriously soooo fun! I love futbol now! I am pretty terrible but did take out an elder earlier this week. I just had all this energy that had to go somewhere.

Also reading.... well I finished the Book of Mormon on Sunday! I was pretty pumped! 18 days what what. Sunday was awesome. We listened to a talk from Elder Bednar that was so good. I loved it! It is really cool to be able to learn so much about the gospel here. Also spanish is coming fine. It´s very rough around the edges but I am anxious to get out in the field and really learn it. I can give the restoration lesson pretty well but can´t really carry out a normal conversation. Unless they want me to teach them how to pray.

Also I am so happy here! don´t worry about that! The CCM is relatively small so you get to know everyone really well!! I love P-days and time has really starting to fly by. (seriously I feel like we had p-day yesterday) This past week was so good. Hna Blotter really stepped it up in our lessons and talked a lot more. And we just have a ball hanging with the other hermanas here- I miss you guys a lot but really look forward to emailing you every week! thank you guys so much for all the awesome notes! I loved them! Plus I loved the cards you know me too well mom. I thought of you on Sunday during our lunch. We eat before the elders and somehow we always end up talking about movies- well last week it was the great gatsby (Ihave never wanted to see it until that moment and this week it was You´ve got mail) well needless to say it was a pretty enjoyable hour. Also You´ve got mail really are the best three words. obvi. I´m obsessed. Thank your for all emails as well. We have also had the parent trap meal as well. It was the best. (Can someone hand me my Evian bottle? I pull that one all the time)

Anyways I´m going to end this so I can send more pictures!!! LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH!!!!

XXoXOOooxXXoX,

Hermana Degn

 

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

 

 

Not so bad, Could be worse...

Not so bad, Could be worse...

Well Elder Cook came and spoke to us here! It was great! We had a question and answer session which was really awesome. One of the things he was asked was how do we stay happy. He talked about the Russian translation of the song Come come yea saints. Insead of all is well, the literal translation is Not so bad, Could be worse. Well seeing as all of us here are completely starved for entertainment we were cracking up over that one and its been quite the joke here at the CCM. and its pretty aplicable. A bunch of missionaries left yesterday which was pretty sad, but now we are done being the sevies here!! #holla. (thats for you maf, #hashtag) We have our own lunch table and are no longer the newbies. Its a pretty big deal. Now we're the eighth graders here which has been pretty sweet so far. We are trying to claim the best table right now while its up for grabs. (it´s right next to the microwave which is just PRIME condition) We are also district 12 so we make hunger game jokes all the time and are challenging district 11 for it. *Spoiler alert in the book we win!!*

Anyways the week and weekend were good. Time definitely started moving faster which was nice and I feel like I am really picking up Spanish. We´ve been teaching our investigators- and it´s been going well. Except Peruvians talk so softly and don´t look at you so not only can you not understand but you can´t even hear them! Rough! Unfortunaely the only question I did understand was why did Jose smith have so many wives? Yeah not excited about that one. I stumbled through an answer and if she could decipher my spanish I actually think it was pretty accurate. Needless to say I have now thoroughly researched that topic. I am still trying to finish the Book of Mormon this week but am definitely behind. I am in Alma right now, but I love reading. There are SO many stories about missionary work that I haven´t really paid attention to before. So it´s neat to read it from this perspective.

On P-days we take the bus into the city and go to the temple which is awesome! In the session it is always funny because its majority missionaries (There are only 25 seats anyways) Also the peruvian women are so short and tiny! I just love talking to them in the Chapel while we wait but that also means that my dress is always SOOO short. And my feet are so big they don´t even have slippers in that size so I have to wear the men´s shoes which incidentaly are a pain to take on and off. Today was neat though my mission president and his wife were the witness couple. SO COOL! I got to talk to them in the Celestial room for a bit and I am just so excited to get out into the field. They also say that Hna. Morgan is tearing it up, and they told me about a few other sisters that I cannot wait to meet! After the temple our district has about two hours to shop and look around. (guess what garments here are about 37 cents!) Score! It´s awesome. Also THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE AND LETTER! I am so excited to read them! I saw Tyler and met his wife today at the Temple. He is soo nice, bless him! But Elder Christensen just gave me my package so I haven´t opened it yet. But thanks is advance I am WAY excited! Also Elder Christensen says thanks as well! You guys are seriously the best I love and miss you all! Thanks for the email! And you guys looked so good in all your color run gear. I am glad you had such a fun time! It really is a party huh? Yeah that was a blast. How did I get so lucky? You guys looked aweosme though! You should print out some pics and mail them to me! I was thinking about you guys that day and had two desserts since I new you all would be working them off for me!

Speaking of the food, Zach get ready for the nuncas and the siempres. It is a little rough, but eventually evens out(i think) just balance rice with juice and you should be fine.And lets just say that I will definitely be gaining weight because all i eat is bread, rice, more rice, and more bread. Seriously one meal they tried to do american past. (it was ravoli, I regret that one time i didn´t like it because this was worse) and the served it with a seperate plate which was just a side of rice! and then I ate that and rolls because the rolls taste good. yeah, the meals are definitely a roller coaster here. But when Pres. Cook came we saw some serious improvements. Hello soft serve ice cream. Also with how much rice they serve you would think it would be endless and thats the one thing you can count on but no! Last week we were late and they ran out of rice! Ayyame! It was rough. At least I can alwasy count on my tea.

The coolest thing was definitely Pres. Cook. He gave us an apostalic blessing which was so powerful and awesome, and we got to shake his hand. Yeah life is good. I can´t wait to be in the field! I sure love you and miss you!

Love,

Hermana Degn

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

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On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 7:47 AM, Hannah Degn <hannah.degn@myldsmail.net> wrote:

AHHH!! HI!! How is everyone doing!?! Well tuesday will be my p-day for the rest of my stay here at the ccm. esta bien. Every week my time will be different though because it depends on your temple schedule-- we are doing to the temple after this and I am so excited!! Also lo cien but no pictures yet because we can only take them on p-days and today is my first one obvi. Anyways this past week has been insane!! I feel like I´´ve already been here for 18 months. The CCM is like its own world, sometimes i forget I´´m in peru.... but then we have lunch or dinner and I remember. RICE on rice on rice. Its actually pretty good food. Execpt there are tons of bones in the chicken noodle soup which I still get a lot, and I´´m pretty sure i´´ve already eaten guinea pig. nbd. My favorite thing is the tea. I drink tea at least twice a day. Its pretty good. Not that i totally love it but its warm and fills me up..... Well basically every day we get up at 6:30 and head down to desayuno at 7:15. Then we study at 8 until class that starts around ten. we have class until lunch then more studying, phys ed, and class again at night until and also after dinner. We have schedules that have every minute of our life planned out and then at 9.30 we head up to our rooms. Hna. Blotter and I share our rooom with hna Phillipy and hna Romney. I love them! They are both super awesome. Hna Blotter is so great too. She is super funny.

Zach make sure that you decide what kind of a missionary you want to be before you leave. There is so much here that is figure it out for yourself and you will only get what you put into it. Make sure you are always working hard and staying focused when you are on your own to study. There are a lot of times when its easy to do something else but stay strong and focused because that is what is most important. Know what kind of missionary you will be before you get to Buenas Aires-! Also bring hangers, turns out they don´´t provide them so I am still living out of a suitcase becuase I have one shelf and one drawer- But we are going to the market to day so hopefully I can buy some there. Also they give you spanish scriptures and pme so just make sure you bring your own english ones. Also I brought my little english pme which turned out to be the best decision because the spanish one is big so its nice to have the little one to help translate.

Zach just know that the ccm is hard. I feel like I´´ve been here for a year. Time moves different but its still the best. Just be prepared to work hard and know that your first week/few days isn´´t going to be that awesome. Also you should try to read the BoM while you are in the MTC! If you read 28 pages a day you will finish in three weeks and then you can read the NT or something. Right now I am in Mosiah and am loving it. I can´´t wait until I can read it in Spanish. Also don´´t stress about the language and all that. It will come. and when you get into the field you will have a latin companion who won´´t know a lick of english and they can help take care of you as well.

Well this past week really has been great. I love my district. There are six hnas and six elderes. There are two hnas in our district that I especially love and they live on our floor which is awesome. We have a lot of fun together. Anyways I´´ve been praying that Heavenly Father will help me feel more love towards those around me and its definitely helped with my district. There are also a lot of other awesome hnas here that I love. Some of my friends are here from BYU. Hna Bunker!! She is great so its been fun to see a familiar face and hna Lyon leaves next week for Boliva but we have a pretty good Bingham representation here.

Well Bells I heard you lost a tooth, congrats! That´´s pretty cool! You should send me a picture. Also if you can you should try to send me american stamps. (z make sure you take some) because we send mail through the pouch here. You guys have to send it without envelopes so be creative? because you are also not allowed to send packages while in the MTC. but my pouch address is

Hermana Hannah Degn

Peru LIma West Mission

Peru MTC

Centro de Capacitalion Missional

AV Melgarejo 159 Urb Campo

Verde, La Molina, Lima 12 Peru

Also you can do dear elder if you select the Peru mtc. Anyways this week should be awesome. The CCM is kinda like middle school and we are the seventh graders. Literally you have no idea how true that is. But now we are not quite the newbies and President Cook is coming this weekend!! YAY!

Anyways I need to go love you all so so so so much!! Thanks for all the emails that totally made my day. Seriously P-day is like Christmas and it comes every week!! #winning. I cannot wait to take a nap this afternoon. Also Zach this quote has helped me so much this week: "The lord calls us in our weakness, but qualifies us for his work"- Jose Smith. Good luck with everything this week!!! Getting Set apart was the best feeling in the world! I can´´t wait to hear all about your ccm and mission stories! just write mom first hahahaha

I love and miss you guys sooooooo much!!!

con mucho amor,

Hermana Degn

P.S. Short hair is also the best because it doesn´´ cover up my nametag. Even though i miss my buns. Now they are just lame and tiny.