Welcome to the Jungle..... For Real!!!

Pucallpa, the transfer and a new companion!

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Glynis here: Well, it happened, Jacob is no longer working in the office. As a mom, this saddens me. I enjoyed knowing that he was safe and sound in the office. However, reading this letter, and knowing that he is happy, makes me happy, too! I'm relying on prayers to help keep my boy safe, so keep those prayers coming!!! Unfortunately, for me, his p-day is now on Monday, so I'm not able to speak to him as often anymore. Alan was able to talk to him for a few minutes, and he reports that Jacob is over the moon excited about this transfer! Hopefully, I'll get to talk to him next Monday to see how he is doing.

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Ok everyone,

This week was absolutely nuts! But I am having such a good time here in... that's right, you guessed it, PUCALLPA! Woo hoo! That's right, I left the office and I am now in a city called Pucallpa in the middle of the jungle. It's so awesome!!!

So, on Tuesday I met my new companion, he is brand new and I am training him. His name is Elder Veach, from Millcreek, Utah. What I love about him is that we are so similar. He did band in high school, and he also already knew Spanish before the mission, so he was in the CCM de Lima for just 3 weeks, como yo!(Just like me). We are opening an area right now, it's an area that had been closed for a long time and we are now opening it back up, and it is so cool.

So '{ll give you guys a quick little perspective on my new area, it's called Bolognesi, and basically, how Pucallpa works is, there is a highway that goes through the jungle all the way towards Lima, and along that highway every kilometer or so there is  a small town, or sometimes another road that just goes into the jungle and you don't know where it leads. Our area is from Kilometer 9 outside of the city to Kilometer 17, so basically it's massive. It just is pure jungle and every so often we come across a little town out of nowhere. I love it so much! It's such an adventure. I wish I could describe it better, because words cannot do it justice.

To better explain I'll give you guys a story. So, our second counselor is named Juan, and we wanted to go visit him to get to know him and offer our service. In order to get to his house, first we had to take a motocar from our house to the highway, from there we had to go on a bus on the highway for about 30 minutes, and from there get off at kilometer 13 and walk about 3 kilometers into the jungle through mud, bushes, mosquitos, and water to find his wooden house, just chilling out there in the middle of nowhere. He has no neighbors for at least half a kilometer. It's quite an adventure, and Elder Veach and I are giving it everything we've got.

Today we are going to buy some boots, because it started raining the other day and it didn't stop pouring until the next day, so you can imagine that we were up to our knees in mud! I'll try to get my camera out there at some point to try to take some pictures for you guys, because it would blow your mind. 

But I am doing so good, Elder Veach and I work well together as a team, I am trying to help him have more self confidence because he is really awesome. 

Quick story to finish. So, out in 13 there are no lights and since the sun goes down at 6 it was pitch black we were out with our flashlights. Elder Veach and I were out contacting when we decided to call a number we found in our area book. A woman answered and said she was in her house and that we could come and teach her. She gave us her address (as good as addresses get out here), and it was sort of just like, "turn left at 2 water tanks and my house is a few blocks up and then to the right until you reach a pond and it's in front of a few palm trees," or something like that. We looked for her house for a solid hour, and then we finally found the house. We were with a member and we went in and turns out the missionaries were visiting her a while ago, and they had stopped because she wasn't coming to church. We taught her the restoration and how it blesses families and the spirit was so strong. She said she wants us to keep coming so we have another appointment for tomorrow.

I love you guys a lot, keep being awesome!

Sincerely,

- Elder Neves