Peruvian lifestyle

It was a hot smoggy afternoon in LA. We drove to the airport hotel that my parents were staying in that night and I got prepared. We had dinner, took a shower, went through my whole suitcase again to make sure I was good, and then just relaxed.

At that time Rick text me "Michael, what time will you be arriving at the airport?" I replied "I'll be there around 10." Then we had a few more text about where to meet him. I was 2 hours out and couldn't contain my excitement. In 12 hours, I was going to be in Peru. At 9:30 PM we raced down with my stuff and headed to the airport.

Even at 9:45 at night, LAX is bumbling with cars and the traffic is bumper to bumper, I was nervous we weren't going to make it even though we had 3 hours. However, we finally pulled up to Tom Bradley International Airport at LAX. My parents were with me as I text Rick to see where he was to greet me. At that time, I see a bright, happy, smiling young adult in a lime green shirt coming my way. "Are you in Fiji or Peru?" he asked. "Peru," I replied. He was super excited by that response and I realized it was Rick.

Anyway, so he checked me in and then Solomon (Utah) and Hayden (Temecula) arrived followed by Lucas (Utah) and then Maya and Sabina (Virginia) arrived finishing with Hannah (California). After we had checked in and I said goodbye to my parents, the 7 of us decided to go to security. Rick had to wait for the final guy. We made it through security and met the rest of the group. Cassidy, Payton, Maycie, Kyra, Isabel, Ashley, Ryan, Diana, Jessica, Kallee, and then the parent coaches Krista and Gregg. Rick arrived with David around 11:15 and we got to know each other before our flight.

Now I will switch out of detailed story mode and quickly get through the days.

Thursday: Our flight left LAX and we had an 8 1/2 hour flight to Lima, Peru. After we had gone through customs and everything, we met McKinlee, our other trip leader. We had put our main luggage into a car to take to our hotel. Then we went back into the airport to make our flight to Cusco. One hour flight. Then we had a 2 hour bus ride to the train station followed by a 2 hour train ride to Aguas Calientes (the base of Machu Picchu).

Friday: We awoke at 5:15 to wait in line for the bus up to Machu Picchu. We hiked a steep incline up Huayana Picchu to a beautiful view. Then we toured Machu Picchu. From there, we went down to town and ate dinner then left for Cusco. We arrived in Cusco around 11.

Saturday: At this point, Eliza, who missed her flight to LAX and had to take a later one, finally arrived with us in Cusco. We walked to an old Incan Temple and toured it then walked to the market and bought souvenirs. After we had finished our souvenir shopping, we ate lunch and then left for the airport. We landed pretty late and then took two big vans to our hotel.

Sunday: This was a really humbling day and a really nice day. We had walked to church where we met the wonderful Peruvian members and how kind they were. From there, we traveled to the work site and first went to the top of one of the hills to overlook the valley that they lived in to see how much poverty they live in. Then we went down to the work site which was also a school to see a ceremony get put on for us. They spent two hours glorifying us and celebrating our presence. They gave a 5 minute prayer just thanking God for sending us. It was really neat. That night, we had a fireside with the youth of the ward.

Monday: I won't describe every work day because it would just be repetitive. Every workday consisted of shoveling, cement mixing, moving bricks, pulling nails out of wood, and moving wood. Monday night was Family Home Evening.

Tuesday: That night we had sports night. It was super fun and we had a blast.

Wednesday: This was a late work day. We had to race to the hotel to quickly shower and get ready. We left and went to Bembos which is a fast food place. Then we left for the fountains. The fountains were really pretty and super fun. That was a late night for us all and we pretty much went straight to bed.

Thursday: That night we had mutual and just played some games.

Friday: We had a stake dance. It was so much fun. I love the Peruvian music, its so cool. The dance was so much fun.

Saturday: We walked to the MTC, about a 15 minute walk, and had an amazing tour. We had to race back to get ready for sandboarding. It took about an hour to get to the place and then another 30 minutes to get to the actual dunes. Sandboarding was a blast. I wiped out a few times and Gregg took a few sick pictures. That night we went grocery shopping for some good Peruvian snacks.

Sunday: Church, scripture study, and walking through the streets of the outskirts of Lima with one other American and a 13 year old and a 15 year old Peruvian. That was cool. Then a fireside. That night we did stuff as a group at the hotel. We had a very spiritual night which involved all of us being really open about our personal lives.

Monday: Family home evening. Lunch we had a traditional Peruvian meal at Robert's house.

Tuesday: More mutual activities.

Wednesday: We had the talent show and we said our final goodbyes to the ward. It was a sad night.

Thursday: This was another sad day. We said farewell to Rick that morning as he went off to meet his next group. It was also our last workday. That night we had testimony meeting. Very funny moment. So a few kids were ordering pizza and I got in on it but not everyone was supposed to know. McKinlee found out but didn't mind. While we're in our spiritual moment, Krista starts singing "I Need Thee Every Hour", she didn't even finish the first line when there's a knock at the door. The front desk lady opens "The pizza man is downstairs." Everyone is laughing and it was hilarious. We had a fun night eating pizza.

Friday: We went to the work site where a few of the teachers made us chicken, rice, and potatoes. In addition, they gave us these cool picture frames, sang to us, and gave us candy. Then we all headed up to the preschool where they put on a small celebration. We took a picture on the wood roof that we had started and then left. It was about an hour bus ride to the catacombs at an old Incan/Spanish church. That was a fun tour. We walked around the equivalent of the White House to Peru then headed to the hotel. We had around three hours until we were leaving for the airport so we watched Harry Potter in the one remaining room cramming all of us in there. However, it was playing in Spanish, so Lucas gave us a hilarious translation in a Mexican accent. The bus ride over there was fun as we were all singing. We checked in and quickly got through security and customs then waited at our gate. Around 1:00 we said goodbye to McKinlee because she was heading off to Argentina. We boarded our plane which was a really nice Boeing 787 Dreamliner and we headed home.

Saturday morning we got to LAX, went through customs, met together outside, and said our final goodbyes.

Being in Peru taught me so many wonderful things. First off, that first Sunday really humbled me. I saw that they didn't have much but were still smiling at every moment. They were grateful for what they had. They may not have a floor but that doesn't stop them from living happily. Second, don't take things for granted. Here, whenever there is an addition to our schools, we think whatever and don't mind much. But there, they were so grateful that we were giving them two additional classrooms that were much needed. Third, the happiness of a child is the most precious thing in the world. Working with those preschool children twice a week, showed their happiness and love they had towards us and in general. It was so nice to see them and work with them. Lastly, the gospel is strong no matter where you go. The members there had such strong testimonies of Christ and the gospel. It was neat seeing them and how much they loved the gospel. The church has truly spread across the world and it is stronger than ever. Service can really strengthen yourself and your testimony. "When ye are in the service of your fellow being, ye are only in the service of your God." - Mosiah 2:17.

If you ever have the opportunity to do HEFY, DO IT. I wasn't going to do it because of price but decided that it didn't matter and I was just going to do it and I'm so grateful that I did. It will create lasting friendships and will transform you into a new person.

Another mission and life update

This is a little late but here is another update. I am writing another one right now.



So I figured I'd make an update about life and my mission papers. So let's start from a few weeks ago.

So a few weeks ago, I finished my papers and interviewed with my bishop waiting for a few medical papers to finish. I then went to get an interview with my stake president however he said I had to get an assessment done because of my Aspergers and ADD. So I left for vacation and when I came back had an interview right away. Fast forward to today (June 26th, 2016) I meet with my stake president but still need one more medical thing and Salt Lake still needs to review my assessment. While I am frustrated and want to finally get my papers in, I know that Lord is doing this on purpose, teaching me patience and to have all my work done. So, I hope to have that all done by Wednesday.



Onto life.



Well, life is going great. I graduated from Great Oak earlier this month. I finished my job in Old Town and most excitedly, I leave Wednesday for a humanitarian aid trip in Peru. That's the reason I need everything to be completed by Wednesday, if not I'll be waiting a couple months. So that Peru trip - I'll be gone for 2 1/2 weeks and will be building school classrooms outside of Lima, Peru. In addition, I'll be hiking Machu Picchu the first weekend. I'm so grateful to be able to serve the people of Lima, Peru. From there, I leave for BYU Idaho's summer session for 7 weeks. That will be very exciting. Other than that, life has just been filled with relaxation with a little bit of stress due to my messy bedroom that I haven't cleaned yet, and hanging out with family. Packing for a foreign country is way harder than it seems and does put stress on you but it's worth it.



Once again, keep your head up everyone and don't let people tear you down. Thank you all for reading my blog, even if it's short, it means a lot. Love you all. I'll make sure to post about Peru when I get home.
Michael Skaggs