Welcome to the Jungle!!
- Glynis Neves
- Sep 3, 2018
- 6 min read
Leaving Lima. Experiencing jungle heat. New companion. Observations and experiences.
Glynis here. It was a tough time for us, here at home. Not hearing from Jacob was hard. We were so thrilled to get this letter from him, and to have it be longer than 2 paragraphs was AMAZING!!! He is so grateful for all of you who email him. If you want to write him, but don't have his email, it's jacob.neves@myldsmail.net. And now, on to "Elder Neves Takes On The Amazon Jungle!"
Hey, everyone!!! So, it's been a crazy 2 weeks, and I'm so sorry I didn't get to write to you all last week. The timing was horrible because I arrived in Iquitos on Tuesday, but P-day is on Monday. ALAS!!! However, I am finally able to write you guys and I have SO MUCH to say. I guess I'll just start from where I left off.
So, we said goodbye to everyone at the CCM and it was really sad. All of the Latinos and I sang "Recuerdame" from Coco, and it was a tender but also hilarious moment. Then everyone got on a bus to go to the airport except for me, because I was the only one that was going to Iquitos since I was leaving 3 weeks early. So, I said goodbye to Elder Sedano and all the Latinos, then a guy from a local ward picked me up in a car and drove me to the airport. Once we got there, I was on my own. I had to get through baggage claim and security and then find my gate all by myself, and everything was in Spanish. Needless to say, many prayers were said! I finally made it, and while I was waiting for my flight, some more Elders showed up from the CCM. They had missed their flight, so I helped them call the mission office. They had to get new tickets, so that was sort of funny... well, for me, anyway. I'm sure they were scared out of their minds! But it all turned out well for them. Anyway, I got on my plane and flew out here to the jungle. Flying over the Andes Mountains and then the Amazon Jungle and River was so amazing! Seriously, I was stunned! I managed to talk to the guy sitting next to me, because I was looking at my pictures of my family and he was curious so we talked and I gave him a pamphlet about the Restoration.
When I stepped off the plane, I got hit with... well, I suppose with the jungle. The smell, the heat, the humidity and the overall atmosphere hit me all at once. It was so nuts! I started sweating right away and I have not stopped this whole week! Anyway,. I got to the airport in Iquitos and it was seriously so small; like, it was the size of a home. I got my luggage, and usually the mission president is there at the airport to pick up the missionaries, but he was gone in a different part of the mission, because I was 3 weeks early, so his 2 assistants picked me up. Elder Smith from Canada, and Elder Ruiz from Colombia. They both spoke Spanish fluently, but it was easier to talk to them because they weren't native speakers and their accents were much easier to understand. They took me to the mission office and gave me an introduction to all of the mission rules and all sorts of things.
Next, I met my companion, Elder Sindayen from the Philippines. He speaks Tagolog, natively, and also Chinese. When he got his mission call he learned English so he could then learn Spanish, because you can't learn Spanish from Tagolog, or something like that. That's pretty neat, huh? He's been great and has been training me well. He took me over to our house... well... "house" because it's really a cement brick with a metal roof with holes in it. Needless to say, it wasn't the warmest of welcomes into a new area because the house is seriously so gross! It's covered in spiders! And when I say covered, I mean COVERED! I was so scared to touch the walls! My companion assured me that they don't bite, but I have some red marks on my arms, so I'm not so sure. Our house gets so hot because there is ZERO air conditioning in the whole city! Not even the churches have it. They have ceiling fans, but that's about it. We have a fan in our house, but it's broken. We ended up putting the fridge on top of our desks to act as air conditioning. So, when we are studying, we open it to have fresh, cold air. Next, we went and got lunch with the Pensionista (lady who cooks and does the laundry for them) so I could meet her. She's super nice! She has a big family and a 5 year old that punches me in the leg every time we go over. Ha-ha! He's really cute, and it's so funny! I showed him pictures of Timmy, because I think they'd get along quite nicely. After that, we went and visited with the bishop of the ward, and guess what?! HE HAS A MONKEY AND 2 PARROTS!!!!! I help a monkey and had a parrot on my shoulder at the same time! Ha-ha! It was so incredible! The culture here is so different, but it's so cool!
Ok, a little about the city life of Iquitos. There are practically no cars, just little 3-wheeled motorcycles that function as taxi services all around the city. They are so fun to ride in; not gonna lie! Also, before you ride you have to barter with them for the price, based on the distance. They always try to charge me WAYYYYYYYYY more because I'm white, so that's funny! I don't let them, though. I always say the price that's fair and then, "no
!" because they don't think I can speak Spanish. Another thing, the streets are full of wild dogs. They more like wolves, and it's so weird! They really don't like the missionaries! They always bark at us, but they don't actually do anything. I did see one eat a live rat, so that was scary! I haven't seen a single dog that was actually a pet, though, so that's kind of weird.
On Wednesday, we taught an investigator named Jose, and he is really curious about Jose Smith. We taught him the first lesson in the chapel, because he doesn't have a home. He sleeps at his work. While were teaching him in the chapel, a baptism was going on, so we invited him to watch. He said he felt the Spirit very much. We are going to continue to teach him, but he had a busy schedule this week, so the next one it is!
Thursday was Maja's birthday (happy birthday, Maja!), and it was also the birthday of my companion's mom, so we celebrated with candles in our food that night, and it was awesome! We put on Santa hats, because it was the most festive thing we had, so that was fun.
Friday was awesome! We had 7 appointments with different investigators. It's so cool how the Lord is preparing the people down here! The field is white and ready to harvest! The biggest problem that I've seen down here relating to getting people ready for baptism, is marriage. They are all living with their partner, and their family, but no one is married, nor wants to be. So, that's probably the biggest challenge we are having; trying to get people to get married so that they can be baptized. Also, there are so many drunks in the streets! They usually sing to my companion and me, and it takes all I have not to bust up laughing!
Yesterday was Fast Sunday, and it was a STRUGGLE because we couldn't drink water, and I seriously thought I was going to die! But it's ok. I felt the blessings of the Fast, and it was a good ole' time. So, it was sort of a HUGE week and I'm sure there'll be many adventures here in the future here in Iquitos, so I shall keep you all posted. I love you guys!!!
Oh, and ps., Please send pictures of your lives, because it gets lonely down here, ha-ha. Thanks!! Until next week!
Elder Neves
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