Granny

Today was a day I will never forget. Today was the first day I ever did yard work.  Today was the first day that I wished I could do anything else than have to go to the hospital to see my grandpa in pain.  Today was the first day I got to see T Scott after 2 years.

Today I got the phone call that Granny got called back to live with our Heavenly Father.  I don't feel as though my writing could do her any justice-she was sweet, loving, kind, and an example to all those around her.  I know she is in a better place.  I know she is where she is supposed to be now, but it does not make it any easier to know that she will not be here with us.  I feel blessed to have had the 2 1/2 years that I got to know her.  I feel blessed to know that she will be in heaven as a guardian angel to the rest of us still here.  I wish I would have gone and visited her a little bit more.  I wish I would have gone to see her once I got home from Peru.  I wish I would have given her those slippers that I bought her.  I wish so many things  but I know that when it comes down to it the most important thing that I hope she knows is how much I love her.  Gran, you will always be thought of.  You will always be remembered.  Thank you for caring for me as if I were one of your own.  I love you.

Love,

Morgan Alexis

ramblings of morgan alexis..

sometimes i just have a knot in my stomach and the only way it goes away is if i write my feelings down. since i have come back from peru i have truly felt like a different person. i like who i am now and i am going to work so hard to not go back to the snappy, mean morgan that lived in arizona before going to peru. i have felt so much more at ease with myself and have felt feelings that i didn't realize existed in my body-sometimes i just don't know what to do with myself. often i enjoy just bottling up my emotions and getting angry and upset and crying weeks down the road but i realized that it's just not very healthy for me. this post is really going to just be a jumble of things because as fast as an idea flies into my head another one follows it. tonight i am going swimming with a bunch of girls (hopefully) and i am having a small anxiety attack. i love who i am inside but it's time to change what is going on outside of me cause when i look in the mirror that's not who i want to be or how i feel. i have come to realize how sensitive of a person i really am and it's hard to push those feelings away or hide them somewhere else in my body. i let people hurt my feelings sometimes and i just don't say anything about it because i don't want to hurt others feelings by pointing it out. is that a good thing? i am not so sure but i do just feel sad sometimes when it happens. usually i would channel all of the sadness into anger but i don't have the energy or desire to do that anymore. i want to stay me and be happy and have confidence that people love me for who i am.

Peru Pictures on OVERLOAD

View at the table in Spanish class

Sheep crossing in Puno

Table setting at restaurant at Lake Titicaca

Cristo Blanco with Rachel

Really cool, fluffy, giant al paca hat 

Little boy dressed in costume at festival in Plaza de Armas

View in Plaza de Armas

Me & Rach sitting in Plaza de Armas on our last day

View from the plane from Cusco to Lima

Me, Rach, Nichelle, Heather, Sarah, and Marisee at Qorikancha in front of the flag of Cusco

Me & Rach at Maras Salt mines

Me & Rach at Moray

Me, Rach, & Mamita at our fiesta!

La hija de la guia de Lago Titicaca

Sunset over Lake Titicaca at the top of a mountain in Amantani

Emma, Raf, Me, Rach, Heather, Rachel, Sarah, & Nichelle on top of boat on Lake Titicaca

Me & Rach in Tequile

Me & one of the girls at the orphanage

More boys dressed in costume at a festival in Plaza de Armas

Me & Walter walking down the street on our 2nd to last day of class

Me & Vicentina

Me with some girls at the orphanage

Me & Yina

Us with Walter and our diplomas hahahahaha

Us with Joao aka el diablo

The floors by our Spanish class (I LOVE THEM)

Holding a lamb and paying only 1 sol instead of 10 soles hahaha

Walt loved his present we got him! So precious.

Me in front of the fountain in Plaza de Armas

LLAMA!

Pretending to ride a llama

Incas!

Me & Ilona

Saying our last goodbyes to our mamita ;(

Last day of Class, July 15th

Obviously I didn’t write about the last two/three ish days of my trip yet so I now need to back track about my amazing experience. I think a lot of the reason I didn’t write was because it was a very emotional experience and I couldn’t help but be sad when writing these last few entries.  We went to class and of course gave our big present to Walter. He was quite emotional when teaching us and all three of us knew there was a big elephant in the room.  It wasn’t until Walter gave an example in Spanish that said something along the lines of having to go back to the United States and I just saw the tears well up in his eyes.  Of course I am an emotional bawl baby and couldn’t hold back the tears so I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to get my act together.  Once I recovered we learned more Spanish then took our tea break and hung out. Rachel has an app on her iPhone where you can record someone then speed up or slow down his/her voice so we had Walter say something and then changed his voice. Oh boy did he get a kick out of that! He sang the cutest little song and we loved it. It was such a great last day of class. After taking lots of pictures, we finally went back inside our classroom where we had Walt open his present. He was so SWEET and loved everything we got him (or so it looked). Haha. It was about 11:30 {1 hour before class ended} and Walter decided to end class because he said he was just going to cry for the last hour. He was SO sweet. I love him so much and I feel so blessed to have met Walt.  After class we just got to walk around town and hang out since we had already finished our last day at the orphanage. It was fun being able to hang out and not having anything to worry about for the rest of the day. We eventually came home and watched movies, talked on skype, and stayed up til the early hours of the morning til we finally went to sleep. 

thinkin..

i am missing my bry today. with each passing day it seems as though i love him more. i can't believe he has been gone for 6 weeks already-it seems like it has gone by so slow yet so fast. i love him more than words can express. i feel blessed to have someone so great in my life. B, thanks for being the best friend i could ever ask for! miss you more than you will ever understand.

Emotional Roller Coaster, July 14th

Today was a great day-both happy and emotional.  We woke up and went to class and hung out with Walter.  He decided we should go on a field trip today to experience Cusco and talk Spanish.  We first walked to the Plaza de Armas where we happened to find the cutest little parade/celebration going on.  The whole plaza was filled with little kids from about ages 3-6 or so dressed in costumes from different parts of Peru.  It was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen.  If I was not baby hungry before, I definitely wanted to take a few of them home with me after seeing this!! We walked around the plaza and watched the little kids dance and model their costumes and of course we took pictures.  After a bit we decided to walk uphill to this other plaza close to the main square called San blass? Who knows if I spelled it correctly, but it was so beautiful.  Walter says it’s the plaza/neighborhood for artists-I guess this is where they come to get their inspiration.  I can totally see why though-it’s gorgeous.  We stayed there and talked and sat on a bench for a while til we decided to head back to class.  We talked in Spanish for a little bit more until our time was up and as we walked downstairs with Walter to part our separate ways the cutest thing happened-I hugged Walter and then he hugged Rachel and his eyes filled up with tears and he mumbled in Spanish something along the lines that we were going to make him cry.  I just about died-Rach and I walked the opposite way and the tears soon followed. Why hello, we are just two gringas walking down the street crying, no biggie.  It was seriously the sweetest thing ever.  After this we made it home to eat lunch and one of our roommates decided to make homemade quiche-it was delish. Since it was Rach & I’s last day at the orphanage we decided to have a party.  We bought lots of Inca Kola & Fanta plus 3 cakes and some candy. It was great-the girls wanted us to bring our cameras and of course they put them to good use.  By the end of the night both mine and Rachel’s camera’s batteries were DEAD. They seriously made us take pictures of their every movement. It was hilarious but also somewhat annoying since all of the girls freak out like you’ve forgotten that they all want you to take pictures of every move they make, including breathing.  I shed a some tears as we left-I got some of their emails and we are planning on sending pictures down here for them so it should be awesome to keep in touch.  It was just so heart wrenching for us to say goodbye.  I couldn’t help it when the girls kept hugging us and wouldn’t let us go.  We finally left and of course we got home to our mamita who can instantly read my mood and came to hug us and kiss us-this is where Rachel broke down and I shed a few more tears.  I didn’t realize how attached I had become to everyone here-my life has truly been changed. We were supposed to go out for a Salsa lesson but of course we were emotionally drained so we took a taxi to the store, got some Coca Cola, and watched Emperor’s New Groove (it’s a must when you’re in Cusco!).  We laughed hard and just hung out. We also bought some things for Walter for our last day of class tomorrow.  We bought his favorite tea, pinguinos (basically ding dongs BUT in peru-we talk about them at almost every class), some coupons for 10% off Machu Pizza, Tres Leches cake, and we got him a Book of Mormon in Spanish.  Rach and I wrote a message to him on the inside basically telling him that we want him to be able to understand how important the church is to us and how much we love him. It was nice to not feel so much pressure-our relationship with Walter is great because he KNOWS how we feel about the church.  He KNOWS about temples because of our other conversations.  I hope he receives everything with an open heart because he truly changed mine and Rachel’s lives.  We love Walter (as if I haven’t said that before…)! Well, we have to get up bright and early to get ready for our last day of class and last day with Walter-Goodnight Peru, 3 more nights here and then we are back in America….

July 13th

Today was a pretty low key day. We went to class, came home and ate lunch, and then pretty much laid in bed til work.  We talked and cried about a lot of different emotions we are feeling here.  We then decided to watch some episodes of Friends and laughed and laughed.  We have a good mix of crying and laughing here-it’s the best.  We finally went to work and hung out with the girls. I have grown to love them a lot.  We came home and met up with a friend that we met in Houston when we had our flight delay.  Rach and I just really wanted McDonald’s ice cream but when we showed up to meet him he had planned this huge get together with a bunch of people to go out and party and dance.  We decided to be lame and just get ice cream and go back home-the ice cream was bomb, p.s. It was hilarious at McD’s though cause I of course picked the crappy line and was standing behind 3 chinese girls who did not speak a word of Spanish. They were taking forever and I finally could hear what was going on so I just started shouting things in Spanish behind them so they could just get out of line already.  Then, of course, they had the most complicated/picky orders ever so one of them asked me if I could tell them she didn’t want any breast meat of the chicken, only drumsticks….WHO THE HECK JUST KNOWS THE WORD FOR CHEST IN SPANISH?! Apparently I do because Walter talks about swimming breaststroke in class and taught us that “pecho” is chest.  Thanks for being the BEST teacher ever WALTER!

July 12th

Rach and I went to class today and then decided to take a little field trip to the Cristo Blanco on the top of the hill.  We grabbed a taxi who agreed to be our private driver while we were up there-it was awesome. We took a bunch of pictures and then went back to the al paca store where they fixed my sweater that I had bought there earlier. What kind people they are! We hung out and finally went back down the hill back to our house.  We pretty much just hung out until we had to go to the orphanage that night. It was a great day. 

July 11th

Today was such a chill day-we didn’t make it home from Puno until 4:15 am or so and once we got into our beds we didn’t get back out forever. Rachel apparently woke up in the morning and ate a snack then went back to sleep and then I woke up at 1 pm and waited til 3 pm for Rach to wake back up. We then popped some popcorn and watched a movie til we showered and went to work. It was nice to have a day to regroup! Can’t believe we only have a week left!

Most beautiful place ever! July 10th

We woke up at 6:30 am to have some breakfast and then were back on the boat for the next island.  It took about an hour to get there and then we hiked up the mountain to the other side where we hung out and had lunch at an awesome restaurant.  Mom-you’d be so proud of what I ate here…I would tell you what I ate BUT I will leave something to your imagination until I get home-I need to see how proud you are of me in person.  We hung out at the island for a few hours and then got back on the boat for 3 hours to get back to Puno.  We got back there at 4 pm and had til 9 pm to get to the bus station.  We pretty much went shopping and ate and hung out until we had to leave.  

Short & Sweet, July 9th

Today at 4:33 am we arrived to Puno from our overnight bus trip. We then hung around in the bus station til 7:30 to meet our tour guide. He took us to a little boat where we traveled to the Reed Islands. IT WAS THE COOLEST PLACE EVER!!!! We could not believe these people lived on Reeds for their home. It was seriously so magical. I still can’t even believe the only thing that separated us from the water was reeds. It was so perfect. We then hopped back onto the boat to travel to the next island where we stayed for the night. Once we got there we ate some food and then went on a hike-aka the hardest hike ever-BUT we got up there just in time for the sunset and it was BEAUTIFUL. We then went back to our hostal for the night where we ate dinner and went to bed. 

A New Day, July 8th

Happy birthday to my T Scott! I can’t believe you are going to be home in jut 20 days! Where did the time go? Well…back to life in Peru. The party went well-the awkward part got over with at the beginning since that’s when the toast was made with the alcohol. Me and Rach enjoyed our Pepsi and I finally tried Inca Kola. There was lots of snacks and drinking and dancing. Oh my goodness, our mamita is a party animal/dance machine. No joke. She danced for so long and then she would pull us into the circle to dance. Good thing I feel oober confident when I try to dance here…HA! Not. Joao came to the party (aka the devil) and had a great time! What a womanizer he is! He definitely was in heaven-14 girls to 2 boys at this party. Too funny. Anyways he was definitely hitting on everyone but for some reason he tried hitting on me a lot. I got a picture with him-don’t you even worry about that. He definitely threw the following lines at me: “You’re the cutest girl here.” and “The more you hate me, the more I think I like you.” He also asked me to dance to which I replied “no” since he commented that it was a “sensual song.” Um, yeah, no thanks-count me out! I won’t lie-it felt good to be hit on by a boy after being called fat a few hours before. It was definitely a different experience-it makes me miss Bry but that’s life, right? Anyways, today has been a good one too. We went to class and hung out with Walter. Joao continued to hit on me when we said “See you on Tuesday!” He replied with, “Why not Monday?” We reminded him that we are leaving for Lake Titicaca tonight (Chailyn, feel free to laugh now), and won’t be back til early Monday morning. He decided it would be a good thing to say, “It’s cold there! Stay warm! Take care of that body for me!.” Um…wow. He is full of comments, seriously. Today’s class was great. Since the airport Walter has tried talking in a lot more Spanish with us. He was making us tell stories in the Indefinite and Imperfect tense to practice so Rachel started with a story in the Imperfect where she talked about hanging out with one of her really good friends when she lived in Utah and what they would do. Walter then assigned me to make up a story in the indefinite which is more like one event that has happened and is over with. Rach got this idea for me to talk about the day Bryant left on his mission so I did. I went up to our little white board and proceeded to write about when Bryant left and how I cried a lot. I said my family tried to make me happy by taking me to my favorite restaurant and eating a lot. I said I tried to forget about that day since it was the worst day of my life-so funny how when you don’t know any vocabulary in a language everything seems much more dramatic. It really wasn’t the worst day of my life but it definitely was hard saying goodbye. BUT, Bry I have to thank you for going on a mission so I could have opportunities to talk about missionary work here. I was able to try to explain to Walter in Spanish that we have churches and temples and how temples are very sacred places that not anyone can enter. He asked about the differences between the two so we explained that when we attend the temple we wear white to represent purity and when we go to church we wear our best clothes. Walter said the cutest thing to this statement. He said, “I think it is the best that we wear our best clothes when we go to church because it helps us remember what we’re learning there and doing at church. Sometimes when we wear our other clothes we walk out of the church and forget about all of the important things we’d learned that day.” I started to get a little emotional. I am so grateful for these experiences Rachel and I have had here. This is our mission-seriously. We feel such a love for Cusco, it’s so unexplainable. I can only think that when we have a prayer in our heart to do good the Lord provides the way. 

One of those days, July 7th

Today was a lot of fun-Maria Elena planned a party for tonight at our house where all of the A Broader View volunteers are coming for snacks, drinks, and dancing. Rach and I went to class as usual and had a bawl with Walter. The funniest thing happened today-we were learning a new tense and I asked a question about why it didn’t follow the guidelines he had given for the previous examples to which he replied, “Oh just forget about those rules right now.” And what choice words came out of my mouth? “Well that’s crappy.” Walter ended up hearing me mutter these words and said, “Crappy? What is crappy?” Rach and I could not stop laughing. It was hilarious. We tried to explain that it basically just meant “bad” and all of the sudden it was like a light switch went on and he said, “OH CRAPPY! That’s like seeing poops on the street! Dog poops!” I have never laughed so hard! It just makes me love Walter that much more! After class we went to Mega to buy some non-alcoholic drinks for the party tonight. It’s going to be an interesting night-I am so proud that Rach and I can be examples here. I feel proud to be different here. I had such a good day today until I went to the orphanage. We went early so we could be back for the party in time. We pretty much cracked a few eggs then went and walked around to hang out with some of the girls. After that we sat in the eating room while they all ate dinner. It was okay until one of the girls was just being way more obnoxious than usual. She was all over me and saying things to me that weren’t very nice. She decided it’d be funny to pinch my fat and then proceeded to call me “gorda” to which I replied, “thanks.” I guess I just felt like I was getting a new chance here. Like people wouldn’t look at me and call me fat. I guess it just hurt my heart. I told Rachel and shed a few tears but I need to bounce back for this party I guess. Things like this make me thankful for having Rachel here but miss Bryant too. For little girls who have nothing you’d think they’d be a lot less judgmental but I guess the world is just a sad place. A place where no one feels secure enough to be who they are so they have to make sure everyone else feels as inadequate as they do. Sometimes it’s hard to have such a big heart-I take everything so personally. I wish it were different at times but I know that when I have my own children I will never make them feel this way. I will never make them feel inadequate on purpose. Sometimes I wish people were different, but all I can do is continue to look for the good in people.

Shopping, July 6th

Today Rach felt better so we both went to class. We had a really chill day. Our love for Walter grew more, as usual. I got really frustrated learning the new tenses-sometimes it’s hard to express why you are confused when there is a language barrier. We then went to Mega (the supermarket) to buy a ton of junk food-it’s awful how much crap we eat here but we walk so much so it’s been good. You should have seen the look of the people’s faces as we walked through the store carrying all of our food. I am sure they were thinking that we are spoiled Americans who can afford so much. As sad as that sounds, it’s true. Rach and I can go buy snacks for like 8 dollars. This includes Chips ahoy cookies, 2 bags of these chocolate bar things, Cokes, a huge 2.5 liter bottle of water, and I am sure there was more.  After the store we just came home to hang out but then we decided to go out with Maria Elena and Ilona. We went to a couple of stores and whatnot. It was so fun. We seriously just love this city. It ended too soon though and we had to go to work. Work was alright-it is sometimes hard to be there because I feel like I am more of a burden than a help. Also, some girls ask for help with homework and then pretty much try to make me do it. It’s hard to handle sometimes. Overall it was a good day-and there was SUN outside! FINALLY. Hallelujah! 

Sick day, July 5th

Today was different than any other day we’ve been here-it was mine and Rachel’s first day of separation. It was so sad :( She woke up feeling pretty nauseous and needed to stay home and get some rest. Since I was well I was obligated to go hang out with Walter and learn…(okay it really wasn’t as boring as it sounds since we love Walter here and all).  I showed up to class and he told me that he had a field trip planned aka his other job interfered with our class schedule! About half way through class we hopped in a taxi and went to the airport to pick up a family who would be arriving from California. They were supposed to fly in at 10:35 am but when they didn’t show up for a long time Walter made me go to the information counter and ask if the flight had arrived in Spanish for my “exam.” I passed, and of course the flight had landed. Walter’s friend, Marco, who helps run the hotel Walter sometimes lives at was there and was a stress case trying to find the people. He finally found out they had missed their flight and wouldn’t be in til about 11:45 so Walter and I walked upstairs and talked in Spanish and he quizzed me on the capitals of different countries around the world. It was great but I did miss having Rachel there to tag team Walter with me. The family finally arrived and I got assigned to help take them to the hotel where we helped get their rooms and settle them in. I met a nice English boy who the family tried switching rooms with so they could be right next to their kid’s room. It was fun. I got home and Rachel was up and showered and feeling much better so that was good. We then were really lazy the rest of the day and watched 2 movies and relaxed the rest of the day. It was nice to just hang out since it feels like we are always constantly going. We love it here so much. 

Dia de Independencia, July 4th

It’s strange being away from the U.S. on the 4^th of July. There weren’t any fireworks, no barbeques, no swimming, no nothing. We went about our day as if it were any other day here in Cusco. We definitely woke up late and were 30 minutes late to Spanish class, but luckily Walter saw we were tired so he took it a little easy on us…okay not really, but I wish. We then took a taxi home because neither of us felt well, what a day! We came home and Rach took a nap and I just hung out-I didn’t want us to miss lunch bahaha, we are starved children here. Lunch was great-Maria Elena made a very traditional Peruvian dish and I liked it. I don’t quite remember the name besides “gallina.” That means chicken/hen. It was a spicy (not really that spicy, but to them-spicy) sauce with chicken over one of their 3,000 types of potatoes. Seriously-3,000 types. We got some more new roommates for the week-Rachel and Summers. Another Rachel, funny how that works out. They are a boyfriend and girlfriend combo from Colorado here for 4 weeks. They are super nice and funny. He is totally into geology, which makes me and Rachel happy so we can think about Matt all the time haha, and Rachel just got into medical school so her and the other girls have loads to talk about! We went to work early so that we could get off and go celebrate the 4^th with all of our American friends here. Rach and I liked going early because the girls wanted to play basketball and volleyball and it feels like they want to interact with us more. They made us eat dinner with them, which was hilarious since we thought we were supposed to help cook and serve (of course, they were already done cooking and whatnot). They made this purple goo that you eat out of a bowl. Apparently it had cooked apples in it-it’s name was something like Arina maiz morada-that’s probably not how it’s spelt but those little girls talk so fast and mumble it’s hard to remember anything. Rach and I think it smelt like something from back home but we couldn’t put our finger on what it was. After dinner we came home and “got ready” aka I stayed in my sweatpants and sweatshirt while everyone else was in cute jeans and sweaters, etc. Mom, I bet that doesn’t surprise you huh? Typical ASU attire! Haha. We went to this restaurant called Jack’s. It’s a popular place down here for all of the foreigners. We got these mean Big Juicy Cheeseburgers to celebrate. Let me tell you, they were huge. Like a double double but with an extra bun in the middle. The others decided to go out for drinks so me and Rachel came home-we were tired and needed to wake up early. It’s nice having friends here.  We really like Nichelle, Heather, and Sarah.

                                                       

Haz lo Justo, July 3

Today we pulled our achy, cold bodies out of bed after a freezing cold weekend. {As I type this now I have my really cute cut off gloves on to try to warm up my fingers a little.} As our alarm clocks went off it was so tempting to press the snooze until church was over. We finally got up to take nice, cold showers and threw on some make up and clothes for church. We ate a quick breakfast and were out the door around 9:56-4 minutes til church started. We got there a few minutes late and to our benefit, church hadn’t started yet. THANK YOU PERUVIAN STANDARD TIME! We were the only white people in the chapel besides one elder serving from Utah, Elder Huntsman.  The meeting started and although most of the time I had no idea what was being said, I tried my best to listen and comprehend.  It started off amazing-with a confirmation of a young girl probably about 15 or so. As I watched the men confirm her I could not help but hold back the tears. The spirit was so strong. I can honestly say that as I sat in the meeting I could feel God’s love for these people. He loves them SO much! The meeting continued on with the blessing of the sacrament. The prayer for the bread went so smoothly but once the water blessing came, the man struggled. He probably had to start over 6 times. BUT I feel as though it was another example of the love the Savior has for each of us-I couldn’t help but open my eyes and watch the Bishop as he mouthed the words and got a smile on his face when he started saying the right words, and then also to finally watch the Bishop get up and stand behind the man and whisper a few prompts so that he could finish it on his own. THESE PEOPLE ARE SO LOVING. Rach and I discussed how happy the people are here, but once we walked into the Church we could FEEL the happiness of the people. There is a distinct different of the love and kindness of the members down here in Peru. It was testimony meeting today, which made my love grow for these people even more. It was a little different than a testimony meeting in the U.S. Right after the bishopric member bore his testimony; the Bishop got up and bore his. He was followed by at least 8 people who immediately went and sat in the stands to wait their turn.  Mostly women bore their testimonies but there were 2 young boys probably around the ages of 9 and 12 that decided to bear their testimonies and I became a bawl baby. Those testimonies of those young boys changed my life. They changed my heart and mind and I cannot tell you how grateful I am that they decided to get up to share their sweet testimonies. After the huge crowd sitting in the stands and died down a few more people got up and my legs started to uncontrollably shake. My heart was so full and I felt the need to go up. I went up there and waited for a woman to finish her testimony followed by a man and then it was my turn. I got up and said,”Buenas dias, me llamo Morgan y soy de los Estados Unidos. Espanol es muy dificil para mi pero quiero compartir me testimonio simple. Yo se que Dios vive. El conoce todos sus hijos. La iglesia el la verdadera. Tengo un testimonio de El Libro de Mormon. Tengo muchas gracias porque el espiritu aqui es maravilloso. Quiero vivir en Cusco porque el espiritu tiene mas fuerza. Muchas gracias para compartir esta Iglesia con yo y mi amiga. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.” I knew I had conjugated things wrong and not said correct words but in the end it didn’t matter. I felt the spirit and I knew I had a testimony. As I looked through the crowd and I got emotional to see the smiles the members and Rach’s face. I came and sat down in my seat next to Rachel and could not have felt more happy. I was overwhelmed with joy. I sat and cried and Rach gave me some rough toilet paper to wipe my tears. After a minute or so a sweet, little woman passed up a tissue for us. I am grateful for the sweetness of these people. We were meant to come here; I just know it.  After I bore my testimony there was another woman and 3 other younger girls who went. Rachel then got up and walked to the stand. She was the most perfect and sweetest testimony to end on. She got up and said, “Me llamo Rachel. No hablo mucho espanol. Tengo un testimonio y yo se que Dios vive. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.” It was beautiful. It was so simple, yet it was all that was needed to be said. I am so proud of her. Never in a million years would I have been so brave to get up there after just a few days of Spanish classes. I am proud, I feel blessed, and I am grateful that I came here with Rach. It never ceases to amaze me how intricate God’s plan is. Rach was sent into my life for a reason and I feel such a great love for her. I feel so close with her and I couldn’t have asked for a better friend, or sister.  Everything makes sense down here. I feel God’s love more than I ever have in my life and I feel so grateful because I KNOW this is what I needed more than anything-to get out of rut I was stuck in for months. I love this gospel-I love missionaries who are so selfless and willing to serve-This is the truth and part of God’s plan. I am grateful for missionaries who see a need and deliver. It can be as difficult as baptism or as easy as offering a libro de himnos to two American girls in a foreign place. I am grateful for the girl who gave the closing prayer who expressed thanks for those who bore their testimonies including the girls from the United States. Never forget that the Church is true-through it, we can find happiness and peace. 

Homeless Hobos, July 2

Our alarms went off at 3:30 am. Time to get up. We snoozed them until around 3:50 and finally got up and brushed our teeth and packed our bags. We made it to the bus station at 4:15 or so and waited in a huge line full of people trying to get to Machupicchu bright and early. The buses didn’t leave until 5:30 am so we sat and waited in the cold (and still not dried hair) until we finally left. We arrived to Machupicchu at 6 and it was stressful-there were people everywhere and no one was being clear about where we needed to go. We had planned the day before to get to Machupicchu, take pictures, come out of the park to meet our tour guide for 7:45 am and then we needed to get in line for a 10 am hike to Waynapicchu. Well, of course things did not go as planned. We got there and the only available time to go on the hike was at 7 am so we got our papers stamped {there are only 400 people allowed up to Waynapicchu a day}, and were on our way. We finally figured out our way there with these two Spanish men and waited for an hour until it was 7 or so. Rach and I finally got in at 7:45 and were on our way to hiking a 2750 m. mountain! I pretty much almost died 70 times but luckily Rachel was very patient with me. There were so many stairs I couldn’t count-it was beautiful! After an hour or so we finally made it to the top with our 15 pound backpacks on our back. It was raining off and on the whole time. I had two pairs of socks and pants on plus rain boots plus 3 shirts and two jackets and gloves and a beanie. It was so cold. About halfway up though I got really hot and had to take some shirts off. The view from the top was gorgeous. We were in the middle of clouds! It was seriously such an amazing experience. We were able to hike and look around up there and take more pictures. Finally we came back down-let me tell you-IT WAS SCARY. It was wet and slippery and the steps are all different shapes and sizes. We were lucky we didn’t die haha. Apparently they are closing this hike down in the future and it is going to be a more private hike. Anyways, we got down from the mountain where our legs felt like jelly and I think I pulled my hip flexor. We both have been sick too so it was not very good for our health. After the hike we had to hike through Machupicchu to get back out in front to meet our tour guide. It took forever and I honestly don’t think I could climb anymore stairs. Rach felt the same way and actually felt like she was going to throw up-conveniently they charge 1 sol to use the bathroom so she was unable to throw up haha. We decided that between the two of us we had enough pictures of Machupicchu so we found our tour guide and let her know we wouldn’t be coming. She was okay with that so we waited in line for the buses and got back to town around 12. Conveniently we were homeless since check out time was 9 am for our hostal so we went back to that restaurant where the fire and good food was and paid for another tasty meal. We seriously tried to sit in there for as long as we could-we couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that we were hobos. We finally left the restaurant around 2:15 or so and went and sat in the center of town on a park bench. We sat there for 3 hours or so just people watching and playing games. Surprisingly, being homeless was kind of fun. We even had a random little Peruvian girl walk up to us and take a picture of us like we are famous. Rach and I are considering charging money like the little old Peruvian women with llamas do. Apparently we also missed seeing Jim Carrey by like an hour the day before. He went to Toto’s restaurant for some coffee around 10:30 and we got there right around noon. Some kid that is in a band that plays at the restaurant came and talked to us out on our bench for a while. He said Shakira is coming to Machupicchu on the 7^th. Crazy huh? We were at the same place at the same time as a celebrity haha. Anyways, after being homeless for a few hours we got back on our train and headed back to Ollantaytambo. We then got in these little vans and drove back to Cusco. Luckily I was sleeping most the time because I woke up to a girl puking out the window, which in return made me carsick. It was awesome. We were so glad to be back home in our warm beds for the night! 

hair that never dries, July 1st

Today we woke up SUPER SONIC early (aka 5:15 to shower and get ready) for Machupicchu. We rushed out the door with wet hair to make when Francisco rang the doorbell to say he was here. We ran to his car and drove to the bus station where he went over our plans and gave us our tickets. It was a cold, wet, and rainy morning and the wet hair didn’t help one bit. We got onto the bus where I fell asleep pretty quickly. All the sudden I awoke to a lot of noise from the people on the bus-IT WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE. This was not normal one bit-we weren’t even high up in the mountains. I woke Rach up to show her the snow and then eventually we both fell asleep again. We arrived to the train station in Ollantaytambo where we got on the train for another few hours. We finally arrived in Aguas Calientes {the town outside of Cusco}. We found our hostal-it was a small little place but luckily we at least had our own bathrooms and beds and could lock our door when we left. We took a short nap then went to lunch at Toto’s restaurant-it was a buffet and it was not only delicious but a fire was going inside so we loved it there. We ate well and went shopping in town-it was a lot of fun there yet still cold. We sat in the center of town for a bit and watched a dog chase birds and we laughed and laughed. We finally went back to our hostal and hung out more then left and found our tour guide at a local restaurant-he went over our options for Machupicchu and then we left back to our hostal to get some rest and talk of course. We talked and laughed and listened to music until we finally fell asleep around 8:45/9 because we had an early morning ahead of us.

Missing. June 30th

Today’s weather has been extremely different-it’s been rainy and freezing cold out where normally it is sunny and you can atleast feel warm while the breeze is going. It’s so different to experience this weather here. We are so high up that you can visibly see the clouds moving and breaking apart. It’s seriously so beautiful. I miss my family today. It’s kinda ironic because it seems as though me and Rachel are usually opposite of each other. Some days she is starving and I am content. Other days I seem to be starving and she is not-today is one of those days. It’s been 11 days since I have seen my family, which seems like a long time when you don’t have a phone to be able to text or call them whenever you like. Instead, we have to plan  Skype/Facebook dates and hope the awesome internet connection here doesn’t fail us. I have a very strong personality, and sometimes it’s a blessing while other times it’s a curse. You know those days where you just feel kinda off? Unsure of what is right in front of you yet you just have to go for it. At the beginning of this journey Rachel talked to her family a lot or about how much she misses them-She still does, I know but at the beginning of this trip I think I was just so excited to be here that I didn’t think twice about what I was leaving behind. That sounds horrible but in a sense it’s somewhat true. My mom didn’t want me to be nervous or sad so every time Peru came up it was like she was my #1 cheerleader. Now, here I am missing my family a lot-not that I admitted that to my dad on the phone today. It’s just one of those days where I miss familiarity. Don’t get me wrong-I love it here. Today is NOT a bad day. It just is one of those days where my mind keeps taking me back home. Maybe this is what it feels like when serving a mission. I would hope I was experiencing the same thing of such a righteous event. Homesickness. What a drag. Missing my Bryant a lot today too. 19 days since I have seen him. It’s gone by so slow yet so fast. I love where I am right now and wouldn't change that for the world. 

Mas Ruinas! June 29th

Today was a good day. Rach and I went on another tour to see more ruins and what not. It was actually really cool.  We went back to Chinchero where were learned the process of taking Alpaca wool to thread and then dying it. It is amazing how useful these people are. For example, the Peruvian women use leaves for green colors, different types of flowers for yellow, purple, and blue, and for red they use insects that live in cacti. It was really neat because we were able to see a demonstration of the insect being squished, producing dark red blood. Then through the use of lime juice the insect blood could turn bright red or with the use of a quartz stone the dark red blood turns sort of a maroon color. Anyways, it was awesome to re visit the place. Not to mention they some how sucker me into buying something from them every time I go {2 times..}. After this we went to Maras, which is a HUGE salt mine. It is beautiful. Seriously, this place never ceases to amaze me when it comes to its natural beauty and architecture. After Maras we drove to Moray-this is 3 different ampitheatre-like structures that the Incans built. We had to hike all the way down to see it and then hike all the way back up. One thing I have learned in Peru—Morgan + hiking +altitude= do NOT mix well. LITERALLY. After 5 ½ hours we finally made it back to town and Rach and I decided to go to McDonald’s. IT WAS SO GOOD. Haha, we just needed a little break from all of this foreign food-a little taste from home! Seriously though, the portion sizes here are like perfect—We both ordered meals and the drinks and fries were the same size as America’s kid’s meal. On another note, they call a happy meal here a “cajita de feliz” {a little box of happiness!}. We made it back home and just hung out til the Orphanage. It was a chill night for me with the girls. The “mamita” as all the girls call her (they actually call every older lady worker “mamita”), dropped her phone in the sink and I tried to explain to her in Spanish that she needed to put it in rice. She looked at me like I was crazy so I just finally spit out—that’s what we do in the United States! Plus, there is obviously no shortage of white rice here since they seem to be able to fit it into every meal! After that a girl accidently knocked over a glass jar of flowers for this shrine of like Virgin Mary or something- I am not quite sure who it is, obviously I need to ask. Between these two small tragedies the girls practiced a magic trick I taught them yesterday OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER….for reals. Overall I had a good day-On Friday morning we head to Machupicchu! Rach and I are pretty excited about it, although I am hoping I don’t slow her down too much! Love Peru. <3.