More pics of Peru!!!

The CCM Courtyard

Roommates

Me in front of the LIMA Temple!! (Sorry its kind of dark!)

The Temple

More pictures

In a taxi on the way home from the Tottus store (Wal-Mart similar)

Picture taken out of the window in the taxi

My roommate! Elder Hiraldo. He plays Pro Division 2 Fútbol in
Colombia! He´s A-Mazing. He has taught me some SWEET tricks with the
soccer ball. :)

More from the taxi

Hey There

¡Buenas dias familia!

¿Whats goin on!? Im doing so well. This week has been really awesome
so far! Yesterday we went to Interpol, which was cool. It was nice to
get out of the CCM for a few hours. We got fingerprinted and all that
good stuff. Jaja. So yeah! But we are DEFINITELY sheltered here in the
CCM. For sure. I got all of your emails, and I saw Eric's pictures..
Make sure to send him the pics as well.. I can email whoever I want.
What is his email? But Dear Elders take about a week or less to get
here. Its the same pretty much as regular mail. They tell us to tell
our parents and people not to send packages because it is a lot of
money to get them out of the mail. Or something. But yeah we went to
the Temple this morning! It was sooo  fantastic. Everyone takes a bus
to get there. You should have seen this bus. Its really small, with 2
seats on the left side and only 1 on the right side. All the seats
were taken up so all of like 14 elders had to just stand and hold on
for dear life. It was this old rickety thing that lurched back and
forth and such, jaja. It was so fun though.

I literally am loving the experience. Even though its super poor and
stuff, it just makes me that much more grateful for everything that I
have at home. You guys.. we are SO incredibly blessed. I can´t even
express to you how good we have it. I have already had my eyes opened
so much here. And I haven´t even seen the worst of it. Its so hectic
and crazy in the city. Its like the Tokyo of South America. The taxis
are nuts and everyone honks and there is trash in the streets, and
wild dogs run around and such. But there are places that are really
nice as well. Like, really nice. It has a lot of the best and the
worst here in Lima. From what I´ve seen at least. BUT I absolutely
love it. Its the best and I wouldn't trade this experience for
anything.

We are allowed to shop and stuff after the Temple for an hour and a
half or more. Just depends on your situation. So we went to a store
called Tottus, its basically a Wal-Mart. Its really really nice. They
sell electronics, home furnishings, and there's a restaurant in the
front. It is really clean, and is up to date with technology and such.
I was surprised! So I bought a six pack of Gatorade, they use glass
bottles here more than plastic for recycling i think. And Inca Cola, a
coke, and some juice. Then I bought some really good local Dulce
(candy). Along with some chips, and gummies! Jaja. So we have enough
to last a week or longer. Its is so nice to be able to have today to
just chill and relax.

Tell Grama and Graps thank you so much! That is really nice of them. :)

I hope that moms elbow is doing okay! How are you holding up mom? I
hope your hormones aren´t getting the best of you!

Bridge! That's so legit that Line is replacing your skis. You NEED to
send me pictures when the season starts and you learn to cork :) I
hope that school is going great! I bet you´re loving the jeep. Mom
told me that you have friends over and you just sit in it and crank
the subs, that's fun! I´m glad you put my subs to good use. I wish i
could hear them! :(

Ethan! Dude! Way to do work with the football! Keep it up stud! I love
hearing about your games. How are things? Friends, school, the ladies?
Jaja jk..... but seriously. How are they. Haha.

Tan man! How are you doing buddy! I hope that you are liking piano!
Keep it up, you will love it when you´re older. Are you liking school?
I know its hard, but keep doing your best okay? I sure love you man!

Dad, my watch is working, but the light isn´t. I don´t know what the
deal is. I also don't know how to set the alarm... So yeah. But all is
well. I´ll figure it out. Don't worry about sending another. I think
that for my birthday and Christmas or whenever it would be best if you
just put money in my account and I can buy stuff here. I mean,
packages are good too, (send them please, jaja) but, the things you
can buy here are only here! Ya know?

I really hope that Eric is doing alright. I miss that kid! Ask around
about my other buddies, and try to get their emails for me. That would
be awesome.

I NEED AMERICAN STAMPS. Please send me some in a letter. Make sure
they are inside the folded paper though. I also am going to buy a
converter here, just so you know, I´ll probably use the money on my
card for that.

Anyway! I miss and love you all so much. Keep writing me on here for
the time I am in the CCM. Use dear elder as well. I haven´t received
any mail so far, but its okay! No big deal. I'm focused on the work so
I hardly notice. I forgot about mail actually for like 4 days, and
remembered, hey, I haven´t had a letter! Kinda funny and sad at the
same time, lol. So I better run! I have like 6 minutes left. I miss
you mom and dad! I am so happy I was able to talk to you on the phone
3 different times!! I will try to write Eric, but I'm not sure how the
mail works. So get me his email for sure.

MUCH LOVE!!!

Your son and big best bro,

Elder Jordan Van Christensen

Pictures in Peru!

Mission boundaries!

PERU BABY!

Como esta mi familia?!

I'm here in Peru and all is well! You should see it here. It is such an
eye opener. We have it so good in America. We are so incredibly
blessed. Just being here in the CCM makes you really grateful. There
are some really ghetto places, but there are also some really wealthy
places also... I haven't seen any of the rich areas yet. We got here at
like 1am last night (the CCM) which is MTC in español. Yeah, these
keyboards have a ñ button. Anyway... it was a long long trip but we
made it and its so awesome here! Actually being here in Peru is pretty
surreal. When our flight finally reached South America, it felt weird!
I am 4,000 miles away right now! The time is only 1 hour ahead. So no
jet lag. I was so happy to talk to all of you on the phone! Even
though the boys were basically asleep. I doubt they even remember
talking to me! But yeah I was up for almost a full 24 hours yesterday,
and after we settled into our rooms a little bit, we finally got to
sleep at around 1:30. My new companion is Elder Rodriguez and he is
from Guatemala. He is 25! Pretty crazy, but they're all really nice.
Today we woke up at 5:45. Our comps were up and ready to go. They got
here yesterday at around 10pm. So I couldn't get back to sleep, and
figured Id just wake up and take a shower. We went to breakfast. This
is what we had. Some scrambled eggs w/sliced hot dogs. Two rolls. A
WEIRD warm fruit drink, and some cereal with a runny yogurt over the
top of it. Yummm. Its also a big rule here to finish everything on
your plate. If not, you get in trouble. Anyway, after that we had
interviews with the CCM Presidente, President Whetten. He knows John
Ford, and he is from Layton. So tell John that he says hello! Haha.
Apparently John is his dentist. So yeah! Pretty weird how many
connections i´ve been making since being on my mission. I love it. I
already know that i´ve made friendships that will last much longer
than these two years! Today has been a pretty relaxed day. We hot our
heads buzzed. That is a requirement for every missionary. Straight
buzzed head. #2 haha. So we all look like were in the army or
something. After lunch we changed and played soccer!! They have the
sweetest soccer field here. Its a turf field!! And it has nets like
30+ feet high to catch the ball when it goes up. We played for like an
hour an a half and worked up a much needed sweat!! So much fun. The
native elders are so ridiculously good. I can´t wait to get home and
play for college. I really want to. My ankle is feeling really good as
well. Thank heavens. The doctor at the MTC gave me a brace before I
left which was nice. So i´m doing really so good here in Peru. :) I
love it so much! We get to go to the temple next Wednesday and shop
for an hour and a half. All of the elders that have been here for a
while all have the sweet hats that you wanted mom! They have sweet
ties and bags as well. So, if I heard correctly, I will get to buy
some fun Peruvian swag! Haha. I have figured out how to attach
pictures! Mannny more to come, I hope you enjoy them! I will be
sending another email with more pictures in just a second!! So enjoy!
I love you all and you are all in my prayers. :) Have an awesome week
and I will talk to you again very soon!

MUCH LOVEEE,

Elder Jordan Van Christensen