Elder McGhie's experiences as a missionary in Peru.

January 31, 2011

And now its time for some more Gringo Moments with you favorite elder!

Well its that glorious time again family! How we doing!!! So mom i am
going to just start with my main email and then at the end answer your
questions from last email and all that Jazz!
we go! So i will start by saying this week i had some
problems with my companion but dont worry all is well or better now! I
will start with last Saturday Night a week and 2 days ago.  My
companion forgot to pay the phone bill thing so our little phone ran
out of minutes, it isnt a cell phone some crazy phone thing haha but
yeah so he muttered he would just have to pay for it tomorrow, i sort
of laughed becasue i thought he was joking! WRONG! After breakfast
sunday morning while walking back he like stopped by a store, i
thought o my gosh no way is he about to go in that store and shatter
the sababth day! So i asked him what he was doing he just looked away
and a grabbed him and was like wowow no! What are you doing! But he
went in and bought the next phone bill on sudnday! O man i about blew
a gasket! He came out and i started giving it to him, but something
stopped me, i looked at him and i could honestly tell he felt really
bad.  He has only been a member for 4 years and i think it was a he
fears man more than god moment becasue its his first time being
district leader and he had to call in numbers but yeah it was unreal!
SO i calmly told him we can never do that again we are missonaries and
how are we supposed to teach the sabbath day to investigators when we
arent keeping it! So after awhile i just kinda tried to move on! But
after sacrament meeting we had an investigator who works in the market
at church but she left after sacrament meeting so he wanted to go talk
to her... or thats what he said so she works in a little sewing shop
and the zipper on his book of mormon cover was broken and we really
went there so she could fix the zipper! So as we are standing there in
the middle of the market while we are supposed to be in church, he is
having an investigator break the sabath day and fix his zipper.  wow I
just about blew up.  I told the lady and the workers in the shop to
exuse us for a second, i went out of the shop and i had to just unload
on him.  It was ridiculous.  I told him i dont think he understands
the mission or the sabbath day.  He told me since i was new I had a
lot to learn about the mission and i didnt know what i was talking
about!!! O wow talk about pushin my buttons! i then told him sure i
was new and had things to learn fo rthe mission, but one thing i do
understand 100 percent are the commandments of The Church and we are
missionaries!!! We have to be the example to everyone! It was
ridiculous.  So after that i had to stop and apologize becasue you
have to have the spirit or you cant teach.  SO that was extremely
difficult for my to do, apologize for yelling at my comp when he
deserved all of it and more.  But i ate the humble pie! So besides
that my comp was having trouble getting up in the morning, being
obedient and all that! AHH i was just trying my best to be the
example.  But the lord blessed me, the zone leaders came on divisoins
with us for a half day.  And i got to be with Elder Hill a North
American in my area.  He could sort of tell something was up.  So i
just told him everything the  whole 9 yards.  He just smiled, turns
out his first companion was the ¨distric leader¨to and turns out that
doesnt mean crap! His comp was similar to mine, a good missionary who
has just gotten lazyand in a rotine.  He said every trainer is a
trainer for a reason.  Either the trainer is great and is there to
kick the new guy in the but or the other way, the trainer needs the
but kicking! So he gave me some tips on what to do. Haha so the next
day for comp study i told him i wanted to do a little reading in Prech
my Gospel.  So together we read the sections in PMG on accoutability
and obedience!!! O HECK YEAH! Pretty much he got the picture and since
then things have beeen a lot better! He actually gets up on time and
we work! Its great! So i thought dad would enjoy that story and im
sure he can relate perfectly! Alright time for my Gringo moment of the
weeek.  SO we didnt have any of our investigators ready or willing for
baptism this week.  But the sister missionaries in our district did,
so they asked me to do that baptism! IT was sweet! Would have been a
lot cooler if it had been our investigator but hey ill take it, and no
im not counting it as a baptism! But so it was a 13 year old boy and
of course his name was GIANT! His name is Andrey Piero Usuriaga
Miraval... woof! So here i am in the font ready and i start saying the
prayer.  My comp stops me becasue he said i was saying his first name
Andrey wrong.  He said no no its not Andrey its AndrEy or something so
i tried again... and again... 3 times he stopped me! By this time i
wanted to jump out of that font and give him a good old Four Arm
Shiver to the FACE! haha so the other witness was a gringo to, he
leaned in and was like what the heck is going on?  MY comp said, he is
saying Andrey not AndrEY haha i have no idea i honestly couldnt tell
the difference! Neither could the other Gringo elder, so finally my
companion got off the crack cocain and i did the baptism! Haha AHH! MY
life! Im such a gringo its unreal! BUt i am loving the mission! O and
i had a Spanish break through!  A memebr asked us to help the Stake
mission prep class and of course we forgot to plan something, so i was
supposed to get up there and talk about the importance of have the
holy ghost alwasys(how appropriate haha) of course in all spanish. So
i found the Preach my Gospel cover verse in d and c 50 and i honstly
was just speaking spanish! HAHA for like 10 minutes! When i finished i
just sat down and i was like... what the heck just happened!!! I was
speaking spanish!! HAHA YEAH! So after words i asked my comp how it
was and he said that my spanish was money! I was so happy! THat is one
of the great things about me companion is he is awsome at teaching me
spanish! And he is pretty funny so dont worry mom all is well!
Love all yall! HOpe you enjoyed!
Elder McGhie


Alrighty mom, it gets dark around 7 but every street is lit well so
dont worry, i got a bunch of dear elders! So thanks so much i loved
em! I got em from you  and granma spencer and bubba! I got some more
last week from dad and liney the week before and Ainsley I got 2
letters from Ashley Anderson and one from Shawnie so tell em i
will write emback next week and a card from the fugates2 weeks ago so
thank them! THe latinos loved trevors argentine spanish ahah.  SO in
my package i need some pens, the blue one that are Bic with the little
blue swirly hanle on it, they are cheap and in a 12 pack i took some
fromthe begingin but im running low so sent those a black sharpie,
some mechanincal pencils and of course tjhere is a new rule any ipod
with movie capabilities had to be sent to the office, so send me and
old nano without movie capapbilities or a shuffle, and with only
Mormom TAb! Pretty please!!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH ! I
pray for you every night and every morning, i gotta go! pray for those
same investigators especially INes, her boyfriend is back... woof! ANd
add Javier, a 13 year oldboy, he is very excited to be baptised!
LOVE YA!!!!

January 24, 2011

Gringo Moments, the life story of Elder McGhie!

Well hey hey hey! So i am writing this email first then reading them
and printing them later so i can make sure and get you guys a good
email!
So im going to start of with a brief summary of what i call Gringo
Moments... Lessons learned the hard way in the first 3 weeks of the
mission! First i will start off with one of my first day... SO in
Spanish if you call someone Elderzito, it means beloved Elder.  Haha
me being a newb had no idea what that meant.  So for the whole first
couple days my pensionista was refering to me with that title and i
just thought she didnt know my name or something.  So when i tried to
explain to her that wasnt my name, she just laughed haha because she
has been a pensionita for like 12 years and has had plenty of new
gringos to deal with.  To say the least i felt like a moron.  Haha
another fun experience having to do with food here, they have this
stuff called Eccho, it is exactly like coffee but not against the word
of wisdom? haha i dont ask, the mission president approves of it it
must be alright! But so my first day i thought it was like Nesquick or
something... so here i am spooning like  5 giant scoops into my little
mug, i took one gulp and almost threw up! UGh it was the worst, my
comp laughed and traded me mugs and he thought he could handle it, he
took one gulp and almost upchucked and he is Peruano! Haha so i took
it back and i just held my breath and chugged that bad boy like it was
one of those nasty protien shakes! Haha except i didnt plug my nose i
just put a giant smile on my face and acted like it was the best thing
in the world.  After breakfast we were walking back to our room and
this guy was driving one of those litle moto taxis, he  leaned out the
window and yelled ¨Hey Gringo! HIGH HITLER¨ and did the hitler salute
thing... haha i just shook my head and said yeah buenos dias to you to
mate.  Haha another great learning experience was we had family night
with this active great family, and they had a bunch of food for
afterwords, but we didnt have time to eat cause it was 9 and time to
go back to the room, but here in peru they wont let anyone leave
hungry! So they filled up this like Vase of Rice pudding and gave us
rolls.  I of course was more than happy to eat my share back in the
room, but my comp didnt.  So the next day he asked me to empty out the
leftover so me being a newb gringo just dumped it down the sink... i
forgot 2 things, 1 it was like rice pudding, and 2nd im not in the USA
haha so i got to finger rice pudding out of a nasty drain and then
chuck it in the toilet! I amaze even myself sometimes with my Gringo
powers! So haha one of my better moments so far on the mission ahs to
have come on about my 4th day in the field.  IT was around 7 in the
evening and this old guy came running over to us shouting HALELUJA!
and hugging us, he said he had been waiting for us and wanted to be
baptized,  i was pumped right! SO im over there bearing my testimony,
giving him every pamphlet i got and my comp wasnt very enthused! I was
like whats his promblem? We have found the Golden Investigator! So
after all this we got his name address and an appointment and in my
head im like, There it is baby! BAptism number 1 haha after we walked
away i asked my comp what was up with him,and turns out the guy was
just totally wasted and we havent seen him since haha... One more
Gringo moment for yall, so its SAturday night, and i am jsut exausted,
but lucky for me as i tried to go to bed that night one house over was
honestly having a rock concert on their roof... haha i tried
everything i shoved toilet paper in my ears and nothing was working,
it was like i was litterelly in the middle of a rock concert it was so
loud haha, the people singing was some old dude and some little girl
and a bunch of people just jammin out till 3 im the morning! Haha good
times, good times! SO i hope that made up for my lame email last week!
SO family i sent a package home with a double sided casset with 2
recordings and some sovenirs for ya home today! I put like 10 stickers
of saint mary on there so that should arrive in about 2 and a half
weeks, i sent it through serpost here  the other elders said it worked
for them every time, but if it doesnt make it in 3 weeks ill record
another and sent it with that lady! Ill send all my stuff through her
now i got here info! But i think itll get there! IHOPE! SO my
investigators this week, we have Rocemberg who is married and has one
little baby boy, mateus, his wife is a member and we ahve a baptismal
date for him this week! We have Clissman, a 15 year old boy, he wants
to be baptized, but is scared to ask his dad for permission so pray
for him! Also a 14 year old named Erika, she knows its true, she just
isnt very urgent to get in the font! Also we have Ines, a 27 year old
with a baby and a guys she was living with.  We were teaching them
both and they had a wedding date, but the guy left and ran away to
LIma! So she has a baptismal date for 1 month and she wants to do it
single and not living with that guy who just left his soon to be legit
wife and baby boy of age 2 named Joshua! Sad stuff so please pray for
them!
Here is one more rule for you to embrace mom.... you cant log on to myldsmail
account anymore! becasue the mission president has a time log and if
you log on it adds tomy time and it shows when you log on! I talked to
a zone leader to warn him so the president doesnt think i have been
randomly logging on to my account so all is well just dont log on
anymore! SOrry! I only give you permission if one monday its 3 ocklock
in utah timeand you havent gotten an email from me, that means it
didnt send through the internet! You can log on and quickly snag it!
But only if its like 3 ocklock in utah! Sorry mom its a rule! But love
ya! Hope all is well, this computer is wack and says i have to install
something on my camera to send pics so im not risking it! But next
week ill make sure i can send em! I have a lot to send! LOVE YOU GUYS
SO MUCH! Thanks for the prayers! Well until next week! TTFN... ta ta
for now!
Elder Spencer Marty McGhie!!!

January 17, 2011

Hey… its this guy again

HHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAA FAMILIA and My friends!
Once again reporting live from some ghetto internet hub in peru! Pretty much the computer i am using has to be from the Dinosaur age! So i have to print all the emails out today because i have been spending all my time trying to actually get on the internet! WOOF! So i got a bunch of Dear Elders today, from a couple weeks ago! So Liney i finally got your Dear Elders today! I havent read em all, but im proud of you and your facebook update after the cougz defeat! THats my
little sister! Way to be! O and i finally listened to the tape you
guys sent me from Christmas! IT was awesome to hear from everyone! So i was inspired and recorded one of my own! I will send it today or i will have to send it next week, i dont know cause its a Zone Pday today so i might not have time I will try my best! So apparently we have some new additions to the family coming through the Shelly line? Tell Melissa and Kyle congrats and Nick and Heather as well!

So now i will start the story telling…This week has been fairly nuts… as any former missionary who was learning a new language can tell you! So right now my Spanish has picked up alot! I can understand most things Gospel related, but other
than that it is very difficult haha! I think last thrusday was the
first time i actually taught in a lesson. It was AWSOME! I cant teach very much but each time it gets better! Haha sometimes i teach a whole principle and the investigator just gives me this blank stare, and then my comp has to re explain everything again! But hey thats the mission. So i have had a couple
moments where i have wanted to chuck my companion out the window haha. So he is a champion, we get along great, its just probably impossible to know how frustrating it is to
be in a brand new country trying to learn the language and preach the gospel at the same time, unless you have actually done it! But hey its all good! I am always a little uptight about getting to appointments on time and all that and he is the opposite! But then i have to remember i am in Peru and no one really cares if we are 10, 15, 25, minutes late. But still it bothers me, cause there have been a couple times where the people have left because we werent there on time! Haha so we found a new room!!! Thank goodness! A member of the ward hooked us up,
i think we will change rooms on wednesday! It is such a relief,
because the house we live in now its this older couple and their son there. THey are nice, the problem is she has like 6 of those little rat dogs! O MY GOOODNESS! All they do all night long is sit there and bark, and bark, and bark! I want to chuck them out the window! But im a missionary, so that probably wouldnt be good! So my time is already up! CRAP! Sorry i will try and do better next week! I have some pictures, our investigaters are Hermano Nilo, Hermano Rocenberg and erika with baptismal dates for 2 weeks! Pray for them! Sorry i will do better next week! No time to send pictues or anything! SO Sorry! Crap i have to go! Danget! LOVE ALL OF YOU SORRY it was such a
lame email! Adios! Elder McGhie, ALL IS WELL!



January 10, 2011

REPORTING LIVE FROM HUANUCO !!!

What is up my beloved family and friends! 
Im sitting in this internet cafe in the town square of the beautiful city of Huanuco! (wanuco)  Haha yeah so this has maybe been the craziest week of my entire life! Before i begin the epic story telling i must explain my email rule.  We get 50 minutes on the computer so that is definitely nice! But i can only send and receive emails to one email address.  We had to pick one and get it approved by the Mission President.... the lucky winner is MOM! HAHA YEAH! I figure that could keep her busy for a while! So mom here is the deal. I need you to tell the mortons to have keaton send the emails to your address i already told ryan and elder smith, so i figure that will keep you busy or at least a little! So dad Ainsley and Liney can all send me emails, they just need to come from moms email! I know, kinda weird right? My mission President is awsome, but is very strict, which is good! So my companion is elder Rojo from Lima, he is a CHAMPION! I thank the lord every day for blessing me with him! He is our district leader, it is his first time being the district leader so he is a little stressed and he has me... haha! So i thought i knew spanish pretty well when i left the CCM, yeah couldnt have been more wrong! AHHH SO frustrating! But i know it will come, my motto is poco mas poco mejor, cada dia, ( a little more, a little better everyday! ) Please pray for my spanish! Yesterday i kinda had a mini meltdown during my prayer... i prayed for about 20 min, about 7 minutes was me balling my eyes out! But hey, every good missionary needs a solid cry here and there! I was just frustrated, because you guys know me, my favorite thing to do is talk with everyone, be friends with everyone, i have so many ideas during the lessons we teach but i cant say em because i dont know how to communicate them correctly! AHHH! So yeah, but it will just get better every day! Oh,  so my area is call Paucarbamba, its the name of the ward. O and i have a suprise for all ya! You are now hearing from the ward piano player!!! haha yep thats right, i havent touched a piano for 3 months and sunday i tried to crank out some hymns. The first one was We thank thee o God for a Prophet, i dont know what it is called in spanish, it went pretty well, then i tried to play Called to Serve for the special hymn number... i gave up after the 2nd verse haha yeah it was rough, then the last hymn was secret prayer and i cranked it out like a soldier! But yeah i figured you would get a kick outa that! So yeah i left the ccm on tuesday and that night at 10 oclock i boarded a bus with 2 other elders and 2 hermanas and we drove all through the night! It was a really nice bus, but not much leg room! SO i arrived here at like 9 in the morning.  We arent supposed to travel in the night, but right now in Huanuco there is this constant festival so they couldnt get other bus tickets.  It is the Festivel of the "Los Negritos" pretty much a bunch of drunk peruanos dress up in these crazy outfits with black masks on and they walk up and down the street with a band and dance ALL DAY LONG! Haha there are like three of them that dress up like Gringos and every time they see me they run up and are all shaking my hand and in my face saying YOU ES MY HERMANO or sometimes they manage Brother to come out haha i just laugh and say Gringo or something and then they go on their merry way dancing and all that.  I have seen a lot of weird things you would never see in the US haha the culture shock wore off in about half a day of arriving here. Now i just shake my head, chuckle and think to myself T.I.P. meaning, This is Peru haha Dan taught me that when we went to that Peruano Resturaunt.  So since we are opening a new area,  they had to find us a room very quickly (Emergency Room), we have this month to find another, because this one breaks about every rule about rooms... but its not bad, we have a possibility of a new room, like and apartment, we might go look at it today, we shall see! I hope so cause my goal is to be 100 percent obedient! And our room isnt, the zone leaders claim the President knows it and said its ok, which is bull crap so i keep pressin my comp to get another one! He doesnt seem in too much in a hurry, which frustrates me a little.  HE is great though! But he is a very intense planner of like lessons, but i need to plan out every little part because i have to prepare for the lessons and practice my spanish, i told him straight up we need to plan more, its going better.  So yeah, my pensionista is awesome! She makes really good food! So mom ill give you my schedule everyday so you can look at the clock and maybe know what im doing! We eat breakfast everyday at 7:30, then personal study from 8-9, then comp study from 9-10, language study form 10-11, we then have lessons or contacts till 1 then we eat for an hour then from 2-5 contacts and lessons, 5-6 is dinner and then we work till 9 or 930 if we have appointments, we are 2 hours ahead of you so just be comforted! LOVE YOU FAMILY! I took a few photos so i will send em now! Life is great! I just am learning more lessons and patience everyday! haha i just want to speak spanish!!!!!! Patience... patience... ahh!  Write me in the next email or send a dear elder and tell me what is up! I hope all is well! I have my little mike wazouski on my dresser! I kiss it good luck everyday! Thanks everyone! I love ya!  Elder Spencer Marty McGhie       
PS tell my friends to write me, they can just write me using,  dearelder.com (its free)  or just write an email and send it to my  mom and she will email it to me!!

Elder Spencer McGhie with President and Sister Levya


Their group leaving the CCM for their first areas



CCM Group meeting with the Mission President



Their group at the Mission Presidents home


HELLO HUANUCO, ELDER MCGHIE IS HERE :)!



Spencers first companion and his trainer, Elder Rojo




ELDER MCGHIE IN HUANUCO