So little to do and so much time. Stop. Scratch that. Reverse it. On we go! (I hope someone gets that reference)

Everyone wants to know what we did for General Conference. The answer is: nothing. There were elections in all of Peru yesterday, and it’s illegal or something to have public meetings on election day, so we couldn’t meet together to watch Conference. We will be watching it as a Stake next weekend, though.

There are supposedly a bunch of earthquakes here in Peru, but I haven’t felt one yet. I want one to happen sometime because I think they’re fun, but I hope it doesn’t like destroy a building or anything.

My birthday was great! The package was fine. Everything was intact. Based on the date stamps that were on it, it looks like it got here in only about a week, just for future reference. The balloons rubbed off a little, but I could read them. The traditions here are different… I got my head smashed into 3 different cakes and had eggs and flour squished into my head… I have some pictures of it below. One of the Sisters in the ward made delicious chicken wings for us. The man in the last picture is the husband of our pensionista. He works in a funeral home and was telling us a bunch of scary stories last night about working there. Hearing footsteps upstairs when there is nobody there, children giggling in the next room, seeing things, etc. Crazy.

Last week there weren’t many pictures because the resolution was too high on my camera, and I can only email so many, but now the resolution is lower, so I can send more. Please send me photo requests, because I have no idea what to take pictures of.

As far as life in Peru goes, it’s great. The weather is about 70-75 all day everyday, which is great. It is a little bit warm sometimes because we walk around so much, but sitting in the shade of a member’s/investigator’s tin roof is enough to cool us down. The “cambis” are a lot of fun. They are basically taxis that are vans. I am always suprised by how many people we can fit in them. I always laugh at myself when we get on them. They aren’t very tall, because Peruvians aren’t very tall, so I get on and am standing with my head bent and shoulders touching the roof. Then we get to a stop and all the seats are full, there are a few people standing in the space available, and then like 6 or 7 more people get on. And somehow they always fit! Yes, you are being squished between 2 or 3 different people, but we all fit. And then someone from the back of the cambi needs to get off, so everyone squishes even tighter to make room for them to leave. It’s always an adventure. I’d take a picture one time, but I don’t have enough space to move my arms to take a good picture.

And the following is a miracle we had this week. We had an appointment with an investigator that lives a ways away. We wanted to take a taxi, but there were elections going on yesterday, so the streets were crazy. We could’ve walked, but we would’ve had to leave right when we got there because we had another appointment to go to. We had faith that we’d be able to find a car to take, and as soon as we turned the corner, lo and behold, our investigator and his wife are walking up the street towards us. What are the odds of that? Apparently 1/1! That was really neat. We were able to talk to them, and they were on their way somewhere else, but it saved us a long trip all the way over to their house, saved us worrying about how we were going to get there, and we made another appointment with them. I know that this is the Lord’s work, and He is watching over us and blessing us every day.

Thanks for all your wishes and prayers!

-Elder Kehoe

Hello!

I am alive in Arequipa and all is well! I got my package right when I arrived, and it’s sitting in my room waiting to be opened on the 3rd. I read all of your questions, but don’t remember all of them, so I’m just going to talk.

Leaving the MTC was fine. I was able to pack my bags up alright. I borrowed a vaccum from the cleaning closet and shrunk my blanket. We left for the airport at 4:45 Tuesday morning. We got there, checked our bags, and flew for an hour to Arequipa. President Zobrist was at the airport waiting for us. We got on a bus and drove around the city a little bit. Then we went to the Arequipa Temple site. They just finished purchasing the 7 parcels of land from 28 owners, so the ground breaking will be soon. If we’re here in Arequpia, I’m pretty sure we’ll get to go. The temple will take like 3 years to construct, though. Then we went to a stake center, had a presentation, ate lunch, got our new companions, and split off to our areas. There are 7 zones in Arequipa and 8 zones outside of Arequipa. I am in Arequipa, Zone Hunter! It’s fun, and a little weird, to see my name all over town on signs and stuff.

My companion is Elder Mananita. He is 22 and from Iquitos, Peru. He has 16 months in the mission and doesn’t know English. It’s weird always talking in Spanish and never being able to use English like I could in the MTC. I am able to understand most of what people say, but there are some times that I don’t understand. I can talk better than I can understand, though, so I do alright when teaching lessons and stuff.

Cool story about a lesson we taught yesterday. We went into this lady’s house and started talking with her. We asked if her husband was home, and she said he was, but that he didn’t want to come out and listen. She said that many missionaries had come by and he never wanted to listen. My companion tried to encourage her to call him out, but she wouldn’t, so he asked what his name was and yelled to him himself. Surprisingly, he came out and agreed to listen to a lesson. We talked for a bit and got to know him, then we taught the Plan of Salvation. He was engaged and paying attention during the lesson. We gave him the folleto (pamphlet) to read and even joked about having “homework to do,” so he seemed happy to learn more. My companion invited him to pray with his family to ask if the church is true, and he agreed to that. Then I was prompted to invite him to be baptized. I asked him if when he recieved the answer that the church is true, if he’d follow the example of Jesus Christ (Jesucristo) and be baptized, and he nodded his head yes! It was awesome! We have another appointment with him tomorrow.

My pensionista is great. We live with her and she is a member of the Church. I have a photo of my room that I will try to send. We have bread and something to drink in the mornings, sometimes eggs. Then for lunch we have rice and something. Usually chicken. Then for dinner we have the same thing as lunch. The food has been good for the most part. None of it has been bad, but some of it wasn’t great.

Thank you for the birthday package! During the welcome presentation, they said that USPS is the best way to send packages here. They said don’t use FedEx or UPS because it is a hassle and usually doesn’t make it here. I probably won’t be sending packages home because it’s usually 100 Soles. And individual letters are about 9 Soles, so we’ll see if those happen or not. Probably not.

Here are some photos. I didn’t take a lot because I usually didn’t have my camera, but I will try to take some more.

The first few are from Lima [It was actually only one he sent]. Then my room and my companero and me.

[Hunter finished the MTC this week. We did not receive an email from him, because of the timing of his MTC preparation day, and his preparation day in the field. We anticipate receiving the next email on Monday, September 29th. Below is the email we received from his Mission President.]

September 24, 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Kehoe

We are pleased to inform you that your son, Elder Kehoe, has arrived safely here in the mission. The enclosed picture was taken at the mission home the day he arrived.

Please accept our appreciation for raising such a fine son with good qualities and talents that will bless the people of Peru. My wife and I feel he will be a dedicated and hard working missionary. We are committed to his health and well-being, and consider it an honor and privilege to serve with him here in Peru.

As president of the mission, I am happy to answer your question at any time. . . To help maintain the spiritually and focus of the missionaries, we ask you not to call your son directly except for Christmas and Mothers Day. Your son will indicate how to make these calls. To send regular mail and packages please use the following address:

Elder, Kehoe Hunter Muir
Peru Arequipa, Mission
Casilla 1884
Arequipa, Perú

We hope that you will write to your son as often as possible, only the positive things of the family so he does not lose sight of the purpose of this mission. He should write home once a week and we hope you will reply to his letters.

We appreciate your dedication in preparing your son for his mission. We pray that you will continue to enjoy the Lords choicest blessings.

Sincerely,

Richard Zobrist
President
Peru Arequipa Mission

My final week here in the MTC has come. It has gone by really quick. It’s weird to think that I have already completed 1/24 months of my mission.

Things have gone pretty well here. Learning lots of Spanish still. Eating lots of rice still. Giving priesthood blessings still… My companion sprained his ankle this week playing volleyball. He went up to spike it and landed on the tire that the pole is supported by. It was really swollen and purple after a day and a half, so they took him to the hospital to get x-rays. It isn’t broken, but they put a cast on it to heal it quicker. After he got back from the hospital, he asked me, his companion, for a priesthood blessing. It was another great experience to be able to use the power of God to help someone I love and care about.
We are going proselyting again this week, but sadly my companion can’t come because of his cast. I am going to be the “senior” companion this week with a 2 week “principiante” Elder as my companion. Hopefully it all goes well. I’m excited to go out and teach people again, but I’m a little concerned about my Spanish ability. I’m sure it will go alright, though.

The Church is true, everyone. It is simple, too.
Have faith in Christ,
Repent alright,
And be baptized like him.
The Holy Ghost will come to you,
And always be your friend.
Then as you endure to the end,
You’ll get to live with your Father again.

(If that makes sense as a rhymn, then it’s a rhymn. If not, then it’s a paragraph with really bad grammer)
Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Kehoe

Not much has happened this week. We are still as busy as ever learning Spanish.

We went out proselyting this week was a good experience. I didn’t have many opportunities to talk to people, but those that we did talk to seemed to like our message. We didn’t get into any houses again and only talked to a few people on the streets, but it was good. The area we went to this time wasn’t as poor as the other area, so it was nice to see another section of the city. I was paired with a native speaker this time, so it was harder to communicate and plan what we were going to say and teach, but the conversations we had with people went well.

I like playing soccer now! We have an hour of gym time everyday and I’ve been playing soccer with my district during that time.

I know that this gospel can bless lives. It has changed mine, and it can change everyone’s for not only this life, but for the eternities.

Also, this week I was able to see the power of the priesthood in my life.
I am the district leader in my district, and one of the Hermanas (Sister Missionaries) in our group hurt her leg while playing soccer. We were going out proselyting and were going to be walking around a lot, so she asked for a blessing that it wouldn’t hurt while she was proselyting. Since I’m the district leader, I’m in charge of giving blessings to the Hermanas. I did, and I blessed her that she would be okay and that her leg wouldn’t affect her proselyting. We left and came back, and I never heard anything from her. But then I heard from some of the Hermana leaders that she said her leg didn’t hurt at all while she was teaching and only started to hurt again when we got back to the CCM (MTC). So that was cool. It was a neat experience to see the immediate results of a priesthood blessing.

I’d love to hear from everyone! Thank you for your prayers!

-Elder Kehoe