First Week In The Mission Field! Sicuani Week #7 Sept. 24, 2018

This is the night Jake arrived in Cusco!  A sweet lady from Dallas sent me this text.  They were in the square that night, as all the new missionaries and their companions were contacting people.  Made this mom's heart really happy!!

Father Gracias por the advice!!! Man Im sorry its been awhile since I have Emailed. I have been traveling alot and leaving the CCM wasnt bad, The people i miss the most are the latinos that were in my room serving in La Paz Bolivia. But we said our goodbyes and exchanged emails so we could keep in touch. 

Haha I bet I can One up you with the general authority visiting. Who was it by the way? On saturday before we left for cusco, Elder Renlund was in the Country and Decided to pay a fvisit to the CCM! We got to meet Elder Renlund, all the missionaries were in aw and it was SO FLIPING COOL!! 

I got to cusco and yep, its beautiful here, very different from the US but lots of cool stuff. I got my comp the next day, his name is elder Ochoa from Huanuco Peru or something close to that. We went tracting in the main plaza in Cusco and it was beautiful. We ran into a Lds group of people and they said they would send mom a picture of that. But man, the first couple days here were rough. I felt like i knew no spanish. But now Since ive been in a sector all by myself with my companion i feel like im starting to kindo pick it alll up. But man its still hard. Alll i do really is try to listen to the people and what they are saying. but its crazy!! 

Elder Clawson with his new companion Elder Ochoa!!  

Meeting new companions!  I love that hug!

The peple here are all so kind and so humble. I cant believe how some of these people live, a metal door, and once you go inside, its just dirt or broken concrete as floor and a kitchen and some beds. But everyone here has to have a TV. Thats a necessity here. 

The zone that Im serving in is Called Vallecito, in a town or city called Sicuani. My sector is the biggest one here and its just my comp and me here. We have a pueblo we go to on saturdays. A pueblo is a small village in the mountains. This pueblo is called pitumarca. Its a pretty big tourist spot cause its the closest town to the mountain of seven colors. 

Pitumarca is about 1 hour bus ride from Sicuani. But man it is so worth it! It was so pretty, but just like everywhere else here, really dirty. We passed by the church here and man, it was the smallest building. Turns out it is like a barn that the president of the church owns. We met the president and his wife. They were probably 80 years old or more. But it wass awesome. We stayed and chatted with them for about an hour, they need more priesthood holders in their ward so we went out to talk to some non active members and members with the president. 

The first couple houses were duds, no one was home and they always put like a heavy duty lock if they leave their house. Then presidente Pio took us to a members house. But this one was different and man, very humbling. President just walked in and we followed. Inside their was this lady named Domingo Leon Roja. She was sitting on the ground and everything was a mess. She was probably 90 something years old. The thing that shocked me the most was her legs. they were so skinny! 

President was talking to her and me and elder ochoa tried to listen. But man we couldnt understand anything she was saying, and we also couldnt understand presidente pio!! Turns out this lady could ionly speak Quechua, which is the language theh incans spoke. He turned to us and said, ella no camina, which translates to, she cant walk. She then saw us and asked us if we could give her a blessiong. Im still new to givingh blessings. but man the spirit was strong. I sealed the anointment, and my companion gave the blessing. I did it in english cause i cant quite do it in spanish yet, but wow, it was by far the best thing that happened that day. Then we visited lots of personas or investigators. It was a good day in a goood place. Then we did alot of visiting member. 

church was crazy, i couldnt understyandd a thing and i gave my testimony in very broken spanish. Man it was hard at church. Then we did lots of visiting and stuff, we taught 2 people, brayon 19 years old and his sister fiorla15 years old. Then we went looking for another person to teach namd saida who is 14 years old. But this super drunk guy answered the door, his eyes were totally bloodshot, and all the veins in his hands were bulging. He could barely speak so we ust said we would come back onother time. Today we played futbol or soccer with the 12 elders in our district. It was lots of fun. 

Dad i love you tons amnd miss you guys!! I love it here so far. And i cant wait to tell youy more about Sicuani

Tell everyone i love them lots!!!

Contacting on the Square in Cusco

All the new missionaries with their new companions.

Elder Clawson and Elder Boyle arriving in Cusco!!!  Wahoo!

MOM i live you and it sounds like you are gonna do awesopm, at you r new job. Lo siento my english is kinda fading, abnd thgekeyboardds here are screwed up. But man I love you and i am always thiking about the things you have told me and the family. Especiall the one, be smart in peru, street smart. Ive rally needed that here. Even with a new companion that knows this place really well, I still need to keep an eye out cause i am a red head american in the middle of a sad poor town in peru. Lots of little kids see me and want to touch my hair, and they also say im beautful as im walking by. its hilarious.

I loe}v you mom and miss you all tyons!!!

Tell seth and jane tha I love them tons!!

Elder Clawson