Life In The Fast Lane

         HOOOOOOLLLLAAAA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!

 Hows life treatin ya! Its been awhile since I haven’t written, I’m sure mom´s patience and faith were put to the test (Spencer knows me very well, 3 extra days of waiting to hear from him seemed like it was a year!!), but somehow we have all survived (I barely survived!!) And the good news is that I will be writing you in just a few days come Monday!!!

         

So it’s true, I just went to the Temple for the first time in 9 months!!! And it was AMAZING!  And now Saturday and Sunday are General Conference and then its p-day on Monday and then on Tuesday I have the meeting with all the other zone leaders in the mission and the Mission President and then ......... I get to go to the Temple again!!! HOOORAY!!! Life is pretty awesome right now!!!

Sooo, its been awhile and I’m not really sure where to start with my letter!!! But, I guess I’ll start off by saying that my ”imagine” of how it was going to be to be a zone leader was WAY OFF!!!! It’s a lot harder and crazier than I thought! Haha but I’m enjoying it, it really has been crazy, for the first time in my life I can’t just be all fun and games, I actually have to correct missionaries when they aren’t doing what is right.  I have always been aware of what I’m doing or saying but now I have had to actually take some missionaries aside and have a little ¨chat¨ and  it really isn’t easy or very fun.  It’s not like I want to be the bad guy, but as, my old pal Jordy Brown and I used to say… “A man´s gotta do what a man´s gotta do!!!”  Haha good times, Jord will get a laugh out of that one, but yeah that’s the way the cookie crumbles I guess!!!

So I have had to do splits with other missionaries a lot more, and my first one, I  got to be with a new Gringo, Elder Udall, who is only in his second transfer and struggling with Spanish!!! Let’s face it, I had a pretty tough time during the first months in the field, it was hard and frustrating!!!!  So it was great to be able to help him out, tell him what I have done to learn Spanish and how I got through it all! It really was so nuts, cause it was just like yesterday that I was in his shoes and boom I am going to have 11 months in the mission come Monday!!!  Now if that isn’t crazy I don’t know what is! (I am totally celebrating on Nov. 3^rd, when we hit the one yr mark!! I know the 2nd yr is going to go by fast but it is sort of a fast/slow type of thing?????? Missions are a very interesting and different type of experience that I know I would never have comprehended before I lived through it........ I don’t mean it in a bad way, it is a...............good/hard/wonderful/ frustrating/amazing /soul stretching rollercoaster of an experience that changes constantly.........???  =)!!!!!)

 My Spanish has really, really improved a lot.  I actually receive compliments, here and there!!! And the biggest news of all is I CAN ROLL MY TONGUE!!! HOOORRAY!!!  Remember when I was at home, trying to learn how to roll my “r’s”????  Well I was also trying for about 9 months here in Peru and then one night, I was in a planning session with Elder Contreras and I said, “parece que vamos a visitar la hermana Rosa a las tres…. And when I said, “Rosa” my tongue rolled and I trilled my R… .... I stopped, looked up and I did it again and again and then I did it for like 3 seconds and I just about lost my mind!!! Haha   I started running around like I’d won the World Series, shouting, “I CAN ROLL MY TONGUE, I CAN ROLL MY TONGUE!!!!” Haha  It was a Christmas Miracle in August!!!  So with my new ability (finally) I can actually speak some pretty good Spanish!!!  I remember dreaming of the day when I could freely speak Spanish and understand what everyone was saying, and while I was on splits with Elder Udall, the other gringo, I realized ......... that day had finally come!! Haha!! So, after a lot of practice and frustration, I can really speak Spanish!!! YAY!!! I also realized it again, when I understood the temple session in Spanish!  I remember when I was in the Peru MTC and we went to the temple, I had no idea what they were saying and now I get it all! Can anyone say the “Gift of Tongues”? 

But I won’t lie, I have no idea how to speak English!!!  The doctors for our area are from England and I was in the mission office Monday for interviews with President Ardila, (By the way my President is just AWESOME!  I mean, really, he is the MAN!)  and they asked me to translate what they were saying to a Latin missionary, since they don’t speak Spanish yet.  So, after translating for them, they started speaking to me in English and it took me a couple seconds to understand and respond!  I was really embarrassed! And then I couldn’t remember how to say “de donde es?”(where are you from?, that is what Marty said it means) in English…  I sat there for 3 seconds looking at the ground trying to remember…  I mean I’m guessing that in other missions that don’t have the rule of not ever, ever speaking English, they forget somewhat but we can’t speak in English at all and I really am forgetting it… AY CARAMBA!!!!!  But yeah I guess I’ll wait and worry about practicing English when I get ready to come home

So I love yall and I will be writing again on Monday... haha !!!
(I really deserve an email that soon, I think I totally earned it by waiting so impatiently for this email =)!!!!

Love ya and CHUA CHAU!!!

Elder Spencer Marty McGhie

Oh and I will tell you, for mom,  my room is behind a gate and on the 2nd floor, a family of members lives below and we eat breakfast with them every morning but lunch and dinner we have with another pensionista.  Both my pensionista are awesome!!!  My pensionista of lunch and dinner has 3 kids and they are 4, 9 and 11, and they sit at the computer all day, on facebook and they are constantly singing, high school musical (which reminds me of someone in particular, haha)!! The kids added me on facebook, so mom be sure to accept their friend requests please!!  So life is good in Santa Anita, and its actually really safe, I haven’t seen anything dangerous and it’s a nicer part of Lima!!! (I told him that I couldn’t sleep at night imagining this awful place in downtown Lima that he was living in and so I needed him to tell me about the place he lives so I could start sleeping again, my imagination is always much worse than reality!!)(I also told him I needed to know about his pensionista because once I feel good about where he is living and eating, then I dont worry anymore, well I always have to worry but it becomes a very small amount of worry =)!!!!



Spencer and his companion Elder Winterton
outside the Lima Peru Temple



I have no idea what he is pointing at???




Spencers new Zone in Lima