Staying In Pisco

"Well, today are changes and we thought Elder Gil or I would for sure get a change because the president almost never leaves two missionaries together in the same area for more than 4 and a half months. But no. We are staying together another change. Should be good. ..... I guess we have more to accomplish here together. Still doing the zone leader thing. About half of the missionaries here in Pisco got changed and we are getting the new ones all throughout the day aka I don't get to do much but wait for buses to come. Oh well."

"I just read mom's email about going back to Bolivia. I am in shock. I hope it's true. This is exciting. Haha, I just yelled in the internet cafe and announced to everyone that I am going back in Spanish and English. Wow, don't really know what to say though. It'll be weird though because now I'm used to Peru and this mission, but that's okayyy. Looks like I'm going anorexic again. Oh welll."

"I haven't heard anythingggg about it but I go to Lima Thursday for the zone leader conference and maybe they will mention something there!" We were a little surprised Justin hadn't heard a thing about it yet. Maybe they don't want to tell the missionaries about it until they get closer to the time they will be sent back. Another missionary mom I spoke with last Friday told me she called Salt Lake City and was told the Church has not made an official announcement yet, but the missionaries that have more than 6 months left on their missions will go back to Bolivia. They also told her they would send them back in groups of 20 or so at a time. At this time in Bolivia, they are experiencing an epidemic with Dengue fever. Eighteen people have died so far and 3,000 people are sick. It is spread through mosquito bites. Another worry, but we have faith that Justin will be watched over. I need to make sure he still has insect repellent though.

On their last pday he said they played soccer and had lunch at one of the missionaries home in Pisco. He said he played "carnival" or water fight. They ended up eating a "segregated" lunch because some were not happy about getting soaked. "It was hilarious though." Well, Carnival is officially over Justin with March officially here. I'm sure much to Justin's disappointment. I wonder if Bolivia has carnival????

About Justin's birthday that is on March 10th, he wrote, "My birthday is coming up. All the members are fighting over who gets to give me lunch and dinner and make cakes. (Mom loved hearing this!) It should be good haha. Hopefully I don''t get too many eggs on my head. We will see." A Peruvian birthday tradition is to crack raw eggs on top of the birthday person. Pretty gross. He probably deserves it after his "fun" with "carnival."

"Well, I can't really think anymore. I am excited to go back! It will be weird leaving Peru. I think I had just kind of accepted that I was going to finish my mission here. But I guess I will see what comesss."