WEEK 24 - Changes & Miracles - New Companion this week!!

FROM MOM/LISA:

So I will start the email today saying how grateful I am for the last week of miracles!!

First of all, Connor is safe from the Earthquake in Peru. All the missionaries are - <3 The Earthquake was near Arequipa and he is in Puno. Looking a the map you can see that it is indeed close but they felt nothing. See my notes below for a little more of Connor's comments about it (it's not much!)

Second, we are deeply grateful for Elder Clobes  - he has taught Connor so much in the time they served together!! They have had a lot of adventures together and we wish him well as he heads off to Cusco to open a whole new area of the mission. 

P.S. I told Connor now that Elder C was leaving, it was IMPERATIVE that he write more detail in his weekly letters. At least in the last few months I could read Elder CLobes' letters to get the extra details that Connor did not share!! Like the concrete from the rooftops - or the cat story...yep I NEEDED IT!!!! Our families and other readers need it. You will see he certainly took my request to heart. THANK GOODNESS!!!

Anyway.... Third item of gratitude for this week:

A few months back I was on a FB page for Missionary Moms. I just happened to see the post of a Mom who I did not know. The post said something to the effect of, "My son just got a mission call to Cusco, Peru. Is there anyone that can tell me anything about the mission?" Her name was Sunny. Connor had just gone to the CCM in Peru so while I did know "something" about the mission, I surely did not know much. What I did know I shared and then connected Sunny to our little Cusco FB page. From there a little friendship grew. A few messages here and there -  as I would learn something new to share I'd pass it on. Other times I'd see Sunny's posts about her son getting ready to leave for the mission; Temple trip, farewell - and then the day he left for Peru. WOW - her son was just behind Connor in mission time and it was fun to see the cycle of missionary work roll forth.

Fast forward to last week when we learned that Connor would be training a new missionary - fun stuff!! I also happened to see Sunny's post that her son was heading to Cusco to enter the mission from the CCM that same week so that meant that there was a POSSIBILITY that Connor could be assigned to train Elder Duron. Sunny and I wrote back and forth and I found out that there were 4 new elders headed to the mission that week. That made it a 25% chance that Elder D and Elder C would be put together for training. (I also found out that Elder Thatcher would be training as well. His story of how we met is another whole tender mercy!!)  It was all so much fun!! We had to wait and see what would happen and guess what??? 

Look below! THEY ARE COMPANIONS!!! 

Yes, a fun connection on FB turned into a blessing for both these young men AND our families!!

Just think about it - these two grew up across the country from one another - One from the East and one from the West! They are both recent HS grads - both HS athletes (Elder Duron's a volleyball player and his HS team in AZ won the state championship this past year!) Here they are - in a whole other country - blessing the people of Peru - speaking Spanish - sacrificing a lot - and ya know what? THEY ARE LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT TOO!!!!! Gratitude for the blessing of this opportunity and prayers that they work hard and grow together as valiant missionaries !!

Elder Duron (from AZ) and Elder Clancy (from SC) - Brand new companionship
It's Elder Duron's first week in the mission though he did attend the CCM/MTC for 6 weeks in Lima
(as did Connor when he started his mission) It's also Connor's first time training a new missionary so it's fun and new for both of them!!

FROM CONNOR:

Hey everyone! My mom has asked me to be more specific in my emails so here we go! 

I know it'll be a lot to read so no pressure if ya don't want to:) Love ya guys! Hope to hear from ya! 

LUNES

So after we emailed with you guys we went to our laundry pension and to say goodbye to Elder Clobes she made us pizza! Super nice of her.

Then we went to a cita and our new investigator Gustavo played some music for us on the guitar! He was singing in English too!! Super cool! 

Went home and Elder Clobes packed for the next day's ride to Cusco! 

MARTES

We woke up ate breakfast and headed for the bus station! Found out as I got there that Hermana Williams was going to be training as well!! We talked a lot of the bus ride about Elder Irons - who served in the Beaufort Ward. They are high school friends! Super fun stuff! She's super cool! 

When we got to Cusco Elder Clobes and I went with his new Zone Leaders to their house to wait for further instructions (that never came..) and saw Elder Thatcher! Found out that he was going to Abancay to train as a District Leader! Cool stuff! 

This pic just makes me so happy!!
Elder Thatcher and Elder Clancy

At night I stayed with the office guys and some elders that were training as well! Super cool time! Stayed up super late talking. It was really fun! Elder Bledsoe from California and Elder Larsen from Utah is who I got the closest with! 

As Connor said, "The Office boys"
I see Elder Larsen 2nd from the left.

MIERCOLES

We woke up and got ready for interviews with President Herrera. Super cool guy! My interviews with him are kinda like my emails with you guys....really short and broad hahaha. He told me about some new goals and asked for my opinions. He also told me that this calling (as a trainer) is more important than anything else in the mission. He said he wishes he could say it was him that asked me to train, but it was the Lord.  

Then we had some training with him and it was time for us to meet our new companions! It was a super fun experience. There were 6 Elders training and only one Latino in the group coming so pretty much everyone thought they would have a gringo. I met Elder Duron and we were both pretty excited! Its gonna be a fun two changes! 

Afterwards, we had a TON more training and it was really boring. I assured Elder Duron that the mission was more fun haha. We went back to the office and relaxed for like 30 minutes and then it was time to go contacting in the Plaza. 

Training time
Elder Thatcher on the far left
with his hand in the air.
He is the SCAD student we met
before the mission and is about
6 weeks ahead of Connor.

Elder Duron, Elder Clancy and Elder Clobes
As they say in the mission - It's 3 generations
Elder Duron is the kid - Connor is his Dad and
Elder Clobes is Connor's "Dad" or Grandpa to Elder Duron.
Get it? ha ha

We went contacting in the Plaza and had a lot of fun! We just walked around a talked with people and have information for people from all over Peru and Venezuela too! We saw Elder Clobes and got a ´´generational´´ picture of the three of us! It was fun! 

Elder Duron is not afraid to talk to anyone even if he doesn't know what to say -  its awesome. He definitely knows more than I did when I came so he's gonna do awesome! 

Elder Evangelista
 Connor said we have mutual friends?
I am not sure who that could be!!

Then we went to a Chifa restaurant! It's like Peruvian chinese food! dope stuff! I really like Chaufa...you should look up how to make it and eat it one night! There's some fun pictures of us all there. 

We went back to the office guys house for bed and crashed but had a super fun time talking some more beforehand! 

JUEVES

Today was a long bus ride with Elder Duron, Hermana Williams and her new companion, and Elder Duron's companion from the CCM Elder Settles and his new companion. We got to watch the new Pirates of the Carribean in English which was cool. 

When we got back to Puno the Zone Leaders and Elder Jensen with his new companion greeted us! It was super cool for Elder Duron to meet them. 

Our room

The Zone Leaders came back to our house with us and helped us get settled a little bit and then they burnt our house owner about trying to charge us double our water bill from last month! 

We went and ate with Momma Shrylay and then went back home and unpacked some more. 

We went down for a cita (lesson) at the chapel but, he ended up cancelling on us. It was sad but Elder Duron forgot his name tag (plaque) so that was a little crack up for us like, "Welcome to the mission!" haha. In Elder Durons words ´´The nube moment´´  

Then we get a call and its Elder Cromwell (now in our zone, my first companion from the CCM) and he asks to stay the night with us for their interviews the next morning so Elder Duron's first night was a sleepover with Elder Cromwell and Elder Saad! It was super fun! We played some gnarly Uno haha. 

VIERNES

The next morning we got up and played basketball on the field outside our house with Elder Cromwell, Elder Saad, Elder Fincher, and his new comp Elder Lozano. We played some horse and just chilled. Then we popped down for brekafast. 

After breakfast we went back to the room and Elder Cromwell and Elder Saad went to their interviews. We went to our Laundry pension and dropped off clothes so Elder Duron could meet her. Then we came back and studied and started the fun - 12 weeks training! Woop Woop. 

We studied for a few hours and then went to Lunch with Elder Cromwell and Elder Saad at Bembos as a nice welcome for Elder Duron! Good stuff! 

We then went directly back to Hermana Shyrlays to eat again hahahahaha   

We then around 5ish went to the chapel. We were planning on dropping our stuff for sports night and going to contact but instead one of our investigators Gustavo was there and said he could not come to sports night, but he could hang with us for a little while and play ping pong. So we had a ping pong cita (lesson) about repentance and faith.

Then we had another cita with a guy named Frank who wasn't progressing fast but he showed up and asked for a BOM and a cita. We asked him why he wanted one and he said, "Like I need to be baptized  - what do I have to do?" Super cool! 

Then we played sports with the homiez! 

SABADO

We had our district meetings in the morning. Elder Jensen is our new DL and is doing a good job! 

We went and contacted for a LONG time with very little success but right at the end we went to turn down a corner. It was a dead end and so we went to the next street and I called it. I was like that was the spirit watch this. We went down this street and a man contacted us who I had met before and he really wanted ´´un biblia mormona´´ so we gave him a Book of Mormon and once again I asked why he wanted it and he said that he wants to investigate the church! Super cool! 

DOMINGO

We got two good references in the Morning at church and have a cita with them! Super exciting! 

Then we had classes. In our priesthood class they were talking about marriage and I was super bored so I said to Elder Duron, "Hey watch this." I stood up and started to talk about marriage -  it was fun and everyone thought it was funny.

We contacted a lot of the day again and it was cool!  Then Elder Cromwell spent the night again for Pday which means a lot o Uno! 

LUNES (P-DAY)

Woke up and Hermana Shyrlay made us all Pancakes in the morning. We played volleyball and basketball and ping pong! Super fun stuff! 

Now I'm writing yall! 

Bye :) Elder Clancy

ONE LAST POST FROM MOM/LISA

So as you can see no mention of the Earthquake

This was part of our conversation today: 

ME: So you knew nothing of the EARTHQUAKE?

CONNOR: Nope nothing. We didn't even know anything about until Hermana Shyrlay told us that Mom was worried...literally no clue what happened. 

ME: Tell me more about Elder Duron: 

CONNOR: Elder Duron is super cool! He's a stud; Really is super excited to be out here like me. He understands what's important! We are working super hard and having some great results! Super exciting! We played volleyball today it was super fun! Yeah, this will be a super fun 2 changes!! We both enjoy working out in the morning and teaching and learning so were gonna be really successful.