No hay luz di?

 Last monday our electricity went out. Well it actually went out for the whole town. We just figured it would be back. No fans at night is absolutely brutal. But we also can't open the windows because the street behind our house has turned into a muddy river and is full of mosquitos. We opened the window for like 10 minutes and a ton of mosquitos got in. So we were up all night sweating buckets and getting eaten alive by bugs. Sleeping at night is a battle. Makes for some funny stories though. I am absolutely covered in mosquito bites. Just waiting for dengue or yellow fever. I heavily have taken for granted lights and water. We didnt have power for 4 days. It was really hard to sleep. 

Last night at 4 am I woke up to my companion screaming bloody murder. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH. Obviously I was scared but I have had a ton of native comps supposedly see stuff in the night so I've gotten kinda used to it. I figured he was just sleep talking or something but I sat up and he jumped up like he was about to throw hands and ran away down the hall. I looked at our bedroom door and there was someone standing there. Holy cow it scared me to death. I jumped up ready to throw hands too. It turns out that it was our landlord and he came in to wake us up. He says, "It's an emergency". Our house had flooded during the night. It was honestly nothing crazy just an inch or two of water. Throughout the house. We filled buckets and got it mostly out. Nothing got ruined sorprisingly. Crazy experience though. I was laughing pretty hard the whole time. Waking up to a weird old peruvian in your bedroom is a weird experience. 

We also haven't had water to drink in our apartment for about a month now so we have to buy 20 liter drums to carry back. Pretty fun. 

We saw some dogs get into a crazy fight this week. I find those pretty intertaining. 

I have been exhausted this week. We haven't had a ton going on in the afternoon so have often found ourselves knocking doors for a while right after lunch. Fresh off a mountain of rice in the burning heat and dust. Character builder. It seems like we always see miracles though. Usually from 2-6 pm is pretty slow, but from 6-9 there are more people around. 

Had an exchange this week with Elder Talavera. Super cool guy from Puno. He was telling me about the traditiones of Puno. I had a companion a while ago named Elder Cutipa who is from the same place so hearing about all the superstitions and crazy rituals made a lot of stuff make sense. 

I don't know if it is a peruvian thing or a latino thing but people think that once they get sunburned or tan their skin will never go back. They don't believe in race or anything they just geniunely believe that some people are darker because they got burnt by the sun. They always say out of pocket stuff like, "wow, the sun must be strong in africa"... they always warn me to that I am going to turn brown and never turn back white. 

The family that came to church last week came again this week! Familia Cabrejos Pacherrez🙏🏼

"The Savior’s Atonement made it possible for us to overcome all evil—including contention. Make no mistake about it: contention is evil! Jesus Christ declared that those who have “the spirit of contention” are not of Him but are “of the devil, who is the father of contention, and [the devil] stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.” Those who foster contention are taking a page out of Satan’s playbook, whether they realize it or not. “No man can serve two masters.” We cannot support Satan with our verbal assaults and then think that we can still serve God. My dear brothers and sisters, how we treat each other really matters! How we speak to and about others at home, at church, at work, and online really matters. Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way. Please listen carefully. “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy” that we can say about another person—whether to his face or behind her back—that should be our standard of communication." -Presidente Nelson 

We are blessed to have modern prophets to guide us and help us. 

Have a good week everyone. 

Elder Pohlman