REPORTING LIVE FROM PERU!!!

Reporting Live from Peru!!!

Holy smokes I'm on a different continent, what the heck! haha When we touched down in Lima we were all so excited!!!  Its so weird to think that it is Thanksgiving in Utah... cause its hot here! after we landed we had a rather adventurous drive to the Peru MTC or CCM, haha we had 2 giant buses loaded with elders and can anyone say CULTURE SHOCK! Wow, crazy stuff, i was relieved to find out that that part of Peru is in the Lima Central Mission and not mine! Its ultra sketchy for sure! Then we took a wrong turn our bus was like stuck down this small dark alley with houses on both sides haha we had to back up all the way through the alley, it was so ghetto and there was like 2 feet of space on each side of the bus as we were backing up! It would have been a priceless photo a bunch of gringos just sittin there jaws dropped thinking what have i gotten myself into! Haha we arrived to the CCM around 2:30am to a bunch of elders in crazy Peru hats and ponchos cheering, haha it was great, they buzzed my head this morning so thats pretty weird.  My companion is Elder Sanchez straight outa Nicaragua! He speaks zero English... haha its pretty rough, but Elder Madsen, moms friends son, is in my room! So thats cool!  But yeah so if any of you could see me trying to communicate with my companion you would probably die of laughter!  He looks like he is 16 haha but he is 24! I was like well alrighty then, he is really nice, and the other native elder is from Guatemala and gratefully he speaks a little English.  So this is a pretty interesting experience.......... The quote from D&C  122:7, and All these things shall give thee experience... haha yeah pretty much a very interesting experience. I had my first lunch, it was alright, some rice, potatoes that were cold some random slab of meet and egg soup haha yeah the egg soup wasnt too good, but we have to eat everything we get so i just guzzeled it down.  I cant believe I'm on a different continent, so weird to think about!  There are about 20 new Americans and a bunch of natives, and they dont speak English!!! My Spanish will be improving very quickly to say the least, because i have no other option of communicating! The Peru CCM is really nice, way more relaxed than Provo MTC.  And next Saturday they put everyone on a bus and you and your companion go out and do legit proselyting!!! We visit investigators and less actives so I hope my companion knows whats going on teaching wise cause all I know how to do is bear testimony! so yes pretty much I'm in Peru, i got all my luggage, we already had an elder hurling his guts out when we got out of the airport, he was just pukin all over the road, but thats ok cause pretty much you can do whatever you want on the street and no one cares...  there are no traffic rules, especially when your in a huge bus, our drive I dont think stopped at one traffic light and everyone just honks.  Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful thanksgiving my p day is next Wednesday I'm going to try and send some pictures home but today is the only day we have a short time for emails so i dont know if i can get em off, if not ill send a buch next week!  Love ya! Its was great to talk to you yesterday!!! I miss ya and dont worry all is well in Peru, even if I cant talk to my companion!

LOVE YA!
Elder mAAgie... my new name for 2 years haha



Elder Sanchez straight outa Nicaragua





Spencer somewhere in Lima



Spencer and Elder Sanchez at the Peru CCM





Elder Sanchez on a real soccer field in Peru in
his real soccer Jersey, He is loving it!!



Spencer and all of the guys in the
 district that he is in, at the Peru CCM

Spencer and his district.  The non-Latinos
are: Elder Ty Barnett, Elder Jordan Campbell,
 Elder Dane Madsen and Elder Weiss 



Spencer pointing at his favorite
 soccer player who isnt Peruvian but
from Guatumala

SPENCERS 2ND EMAIL FROM THE PROVO MTC !!!

Hola Familia and Friends!!!
Well here we are again, email number 2!  Hows everything going? Thanks so much to everyone for the dear elders, letters, and packages!!!  Its the best when i get any of the 3 so keep sending em please! I wrote all yall back that sent me dear elders and letters this week so be checkin your mailboxes!  Before i get started i would just like to give myself some credit, i predicted BYU would run teh table the rest of the season and UTah would get whooped by TCU and lose at Notre Dame... so far so good! HAHA iTs probably good ill be on a different continent when the game goes down in 2 weeks or I would probably lose my mind! But i'm not really supposed to be thinkin of that stuff but come on i need at least some sanity! I already saw Elder Tyson Green and his crazy name tag that is in Mandrian! I was like holy crap, good luck! He was way excited and happy so that was awesome! BUt i didn't have my camera to take a picture! But we will get one before i leave! As i was layin in my bed last night it hit me that in under a week i will be in Peru!!! And the best part is it is summer! That is the weirdest thing to think about, than in less than a week i will be sweatin my guts out in Peru, but so exciting! I'm glad to hear they have Dear Elder in the Peru MTC that'll be nice.  Well i walked out of class last night around 9:30 and I could see all this traffic outside, and i thought well thats weird i wonder whats going on? And then it hit me... BYU vs Utah St! I was like well thats a bummer. hahah I gotta get outa PROVO! I love it to much and i forget i'm in Provo and get lost in my studies and then that blasted bell tower goes off every hour and i remember i'm in Provo and That Ainsley is probably hearing that same bell go off and a bunch of my friends, now that is weird to think about! All signs are ago fro me to leave for Peru on Wednesday, but it isn't 100 percent sure till Monday, so pray for my Visa! So this week has been pretty interesting, my companion got sick so we walked down to the Provo health clinic, it was way scary to be in the actual real world! And then I saw some girl running towards us, and she was blonde so i thought it might be Ainsley, turns out it wasn't and then i got way scared because she was a real girl and not a sister missionary, and I was like O CRAP ITS A GIRL!!! And then me and my companion got really scared and started walking very quickly away! So to say the least my fear of girls has increased 10 fold! Haha but I do enjoy reciving letters and dear elders from them... so keep sending them haha.  On Tuesday we had a member of the 1st Quorum of the 70 come and Speak to us, Elder KEvin W. Pearson i didn't think to much because we had Elder Bednar last week. Boy was i wrong!!! It was easily top 3 best talks i have ever hear! He even quoted Yoda haha and said Do or do not, there is no try! But its so true! He discussed how a lot of missionaries are afraid to become clones and don't want to lose our personalities.  Funny story because i just had that talk with my district right before the fireside, how we didn't want to become clones.  So he was saying we don't become clones when we serve missions with all our heart might mind and strength, we actually find out who we really are! And our eternal potential! He talked to us about if we could only know how much of an impact our mission is having on us, our families, and even my own personal family in the future (now thats a scary thought) but it was so true! Pretty much the talk was just awesome!!! Haha i can see i am starting to get lost in the work, because on monday, we had some spare time before dinner so for entertainment we looked at all pictures of the Quorum of the 12 and first presidency and discussed who had the best tie, and who had the best knot for their ties, we discussed the double windsor knot for like 10 minutes haha! To say the least i'm going to be a little weird when i come home in 2 years but i'm  pumped to that weird person!  My goal is when i walk off that plane I see you guys and i can honestly say I did EVERYTHING i could possibly do in my power for the people of Peru.  I realized that 2 years really isn't that long and i have to go all out so I can come home and say there was nothing more I could have done, and I know by doing that I will be greatly blessed as well as you guys back at 925 Diana Hills Way! I know this church is true with every fiber of my being! Thanks so much for the support!
With much Love, Elder McGhie



Elder Spencer McGhie and his companion Elder Ben Smith




  

Elder McGhie and Elder Smith



 







Elder McGhie and Elder Smith and their district at the Provo MTC



WE FINALLY GOT OUR FIRST MISSIONARY EMAIL!!!

Hola Familia!!!

Can you believe this! I'm actually a missionary haha... crazy stuff! First off all thanks for all the letters from friends and family! They made me feel so loved! The dear elders work out great! i get em that same day so please keep sending them! Everyone in my districts rags on me cause i have been getting so many letters and know a bunch of kids in the MTC here, its pretty funny though! My companion is Elder Smith from Las Vegas, he is 21! He is a great guy! We get along great! He loves the TV show Pshyc and so we talk about it all the time! Haha we were pretending to be investigators with these sister missionaries and they asked us who we were, My companion said He was Shawn Spencer and this is my companion Gee Buttersnaps haha they just looked at us like we were idiots! Well those first few days were pretty rough! Thrusday night it finally hit me how long 2 years was and i wont see any of you till then! I cried like a small child haha, but that seems normal here, I study, laugh, study, laugh, study, laugh, and then i cried hahaha yeah i know i'm a baby but i'm all good Now! Saturday was a pretty rough day because i  could hear the roar of the crowd at the BYU game and it was eating me alive!!! Then we had gym that night and we walked out of gym, it must have just been a reflex from all those basketball practices, because i just assumed i was going to go home! Then i was like o my gosh i'm not going home for 2 years! So that wasn't too much fun, but i talked to Elder Morton and he said the same thing happnens to him every time he goes to gym he walks out depresed! Its all good now though! Ballin it up in Gym is sweet! I part my hair now and look like the biggest nerd ever hahaha so no one expects me to be good at ball cause they judge me by my hair part, then I go out and Ball em up haha its a good time to say the least! So rule number 1, don't judge the nerdy lookin kid with his hair parted on the bball court! O and while im talking about my parted hair, Mom, you have to promise me when i get home from my mission you won't let me part my hair! No matter how much i think i look good haha hopefully i'm not that uptight by the time i get home! Well Sunday was pretty much the best day of my life! It was fast sunday and i felt the spirit so strong! I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting and it was great, then we had a 2 hour conference sorta thing which was great! But the best part was sunday night we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie, i Haven't watched it in like 3 years so i didn't think to much of it, during that movie i don't know if i have ever felt the spirit stronger! It was AMAMZING! Our whole distric just cried the entrie movie! At the end of the movie i was so PUmped up to be a missionary! I leaned to my companion and said Get me the Gift of Tongues so i can speak Spanish and Get me the HECK TO PERU!!! I felt so honored to be a missionary for this Church and so pumped to get out there and preach the gospel for the Lord and for Joseph Smith as well! Then on Tuesday we heard there was someone coming from the quorum of the 12 to speak to us! So we lined up like 45 min early! Who woulda thought i would be lining up 45 minutes early for devotionals! And we walked in and it was Elder Bednar!!! I never felt the spirit stronger when he came in the room! His talk was so intense! He talked to us how the answers are always in the Doctrine.  His whole talk was on Doctrine, then Principles, and Applications.  He said we too often focus fixing the Apllication, but really we just need to truly understand the Doctrine and we will change!!! It was amazing! I have never taken more notes in my life! We sang called to serve and i was so pumped up! Haha every morning i wake up and how i get pumped up is by parting my hair all nice and slicked over, then i tie my tie look myself in the mirrior and say today is going to be a great day, and 100 pecent obedience is the key to that! Mom i need youy to send me my Peru Soccer Jersey, I also need a tie rack, and some dryer sheets! I could also use a bouncy ball for entertainment... Haha seriously though i need one, after sitting in a classroom for about 9 hours a day and studying i'm desperate haha.  We started out with 12 Elders in our district, one movedup cause he is already like fluent in Spanish and another had to take care of some  personal matters.  IT was hard but we all told him we love him and repspect him for his decision!  The MTC is pretty good, its crazy, i get tired and then hyper out of my mind! Pray for my Visa to come through and my companions and Keatons! We need to get outa Provo and to Peru! O and mom i totally wrecked my mickey mouse shirt, we were playing soccer and we were losing 7-0 haha we don't have the most athletic distric ever... but all we wanted was to score 1 goal, and i scored right at the buzzer, we jumped around like we had won the world cup, and i did a belly slide as a celebration and got a huge grass stain down the front... sorry? haha i need to send it home and have you get the stains out. As you can tell i'm still teh same fun kid i've just learned so much about myself! The Gospel is so True and i'm so pumped to get out and serve! And to everyone who wrote me i replied to all of you so look for a letter in the mail! Keep writing me please! It really makes my day! Thanks you so much! I miss all of YOU SO MUCH! i don't have time to send pictures but i printed some out int the book store and will send em home next week! I'll mail my Memory card out today though so you can have some pictures! Love you so much! Thanks you for your prayers! Till next week!

Love Elder McGhie,

ps my companion says hi and thanks for the raisinets!

OUR FIRST SNAILMAIL LETTER !!!

Dear Family!

Thanks so much for the letters! 

I got them my first night and I felt so cool!!!! 

Alex Killpack was my guide!!! 

Ive seen like 7 kids from Alta!!!!  It is awesome!! 

 Thanks so much!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!

Love,

Elder McGhie

p.s. My p-day is Thursday!

Taking Spencer to the Provo MTC

Today we took Spencer to the MTC to start his mission.  I have dreaded this day since he was born, I know I shouldnt feel that way but I am just being honest!!  Spencer on the other hand was SO, SO EXCITED, HE COULDNT WAIT TO GET HIS NAME BADGE :)!! 

WOW, I cant write this right now cause I am going to start crying, so I will have to come back and write it at a later time, sorry!!!!!