Hermana Brittany Lowe : A Curveball... I'M IN PERU ALREADY

Hello friends and fam!

Last week after emailing I was told I was going to Peru on Monday! Which is 8 days earlier than I had planned. I did not know if I was going straight into the field or the Peru CCM. Lets just say that night was one of the worst because Hermana Petersen and I were the only ones in our district that we knew were leaving earlier than everyone else. And we figured we were going straight into the field and we do not know Spanish haha.

On Thursday more clarification came and we figured out we were going to the Lima Peru CCM for our last week of training. We were leaving Monday morning early, and had to pack and weigh our bags by Friday afternoon. Super stressful.

The reason that 11 of us were picked from the Mexico CCM to go to the Peru CCM is for Visa Immigrations stuff. Peru will only process 50 at a time, and there were 60 scheduled to leave on Sept 18th from Mexico to Peru. So if 11 of us go this week, the rest could come next week. In my opinion it should've been planned out better so we could have more time to prepare, and maybe so an entire district could go together, but it is what it is. We are split up from 3 different districts.

Sunday night was so sad saying goodbye to everyone, taking pictures, getting emails, and crying. Missions are hard! And I'm not even in the field yet. You make so many friends going all over the world and have to say goodbye! Goodbyes are the worst.

Speaking of goodbyes, once we were at the airport in Mexico to catch a 6-hour flight to Lima, I called my family on a payphone and got to talk to them for a few minutes. I was mostly crying the whole time because I could finally hear their voices, but it was good. I felt bad for waking them up so early, but also not at the same time because I had to wake up at 3am that morning haha. Yesterday was like day one all over again.. saying goodbye to my family, taking a plane ride to a foreign country, and trying to settle in to a new place.

The Lima CCM is TINY. There are only 3 buildings total.. whereas Mexico had about 50 or 60. There are 100 or so missionaries here, 761 over in Mexico. It's crazy different. Building A is administration, B is the comedor and computer labs and an auditorium, and C is our classrooms and bedrooms. So tiny.... I think I would go crazy if I was here for 6 weeks straight. But it's really nice, especially compared to its surroundings in the city. It's also a lot quieter than Mexico City was so that's good.

Today was such a long day. We woke up at 515 to leave the CCM at 6 to go to Interpol and get our Visas started. We did a bunch of fancy paperwork with fingerprints and signatures and other super divertido things. This place wasn't very efficient.. it took us until about 1130 to get us 11 done. Picture a DMV as in terms of efficiency, Long lines and a lot of unhappy people. Super divertido. That's my new phrase. I just kept smiling at everyone, especially the cute little kids.

After having so much fun there, we went to the Immigrations office, which is literally in a parking garage. It was cold and we had to wait in a lot of lines there too, but eventually, by 3, we were done and our leader took us to McDonalds! Best food I've had in awhile. Now we are back at the CCM but didn't get to go to the temple because of how much time we spent at Interpol and Immigration. We tried to talk to a guy sitting in front of us but he's from Chile and his Spanish was SO fast. I'm a little nervous about that and I hope Peruvians talk slower. We also got preached to by a few different very opinionated people. That was interesante, haha.

Well my time is up! I'm already experiencing so much here and it's my second day. I know this gospel is true! or I would not be here in Peru doing hard things! I love you all!

Hermana Lowe

Spanish phrases for the week- Super divertido! and Que en el mundo??

Email Conversation:

Deb: Are you exhausted or did you get some good sleep yesterday?

Brittany: It's super cold here and I love it. I am exhausted but also got good sleep yesterday on the plane and in my comfy bed. The bed is way better in Peru, haha. It's also quieter here so that is so nice

Deb: What is considered super cold? Do you think your winter coat (that doesn't really have an extra liner for warmth) will be warm enough?

Brittany: I don't know, my coat is warm enough though. Just today I only brought a cardigan and we were standing outside most of the time, so kinda cold. Wish I was an elder so I could wear a suit, haha

Deb: How did your singing go as a district in the CCM? (where your comp played the piano and you sang with the elders)....was it just beautiful and amazing like I can imagine it was?

Brittany: Singing was AMAZING. I bawled. It sounded so good and people in the congregation were crying too. Wish I could have recorded it, I loved it so much.

Deb: How come you aren't out there playing ultimate frisbee with the elders?

Brittany: yeah! we aren't allowed to play any contact sports with them and there are barely any hermanas, so we just like to watch and laugh.

Braden: Heyyyyy, Mom just left and gave me the computer. School is trash jkjk. Its alright, mrs _______ is awesome and super excited about everything. I talked to you about her and she was like ohhh yeah the blonde mormon one right and I was like yeah I'm her brother and she said that's super cool you better do good then, haha

Brittany: hahah that's funny. She loved me so you're all good! you're welcome. Time is up so I gotta go! they are stricter here. Love you bud!