SOMOS MOLLENDO!!
Awesome week for us!

Wednesday was a crazy day, but a really productive one. We met with our director and figured out our schedule for the rest of the semester. We don't have much time left!!  Sad. With the way that our schedule is worked out, we will be traveling EVERY weekend to teach the self-employment workshops. So excited for that. That means that we won't get to know the people in our ward very well, but it does give us a chance to meet DOZENS of new members throughout Southern Peru as we travel. I'm planning a research project in which I ask members about education, their goals for the future, things like that. I'M STOKED!!!

Before we headed out to teach in Mollendo early Thursday morning with the jovenes in a camp out, we took advantage of the fact that THE MARC ANTHONY was performing at the nearest University's stadium. So, aprovechamos, and went with our friend Gary, who taught us salsa. The guests were the local group Somos Mollendo, which I thought was pretty ironic since we taught in Mollendo, and Eva Ayllon, a native of Peru.

The next morning, we headed out on the beach with the teenagers of the stake and spent the whole day at the Punta de Bombon, where we did homework, body boarded,  and danced the night away with our friend Pablo.  Peruvians are gente pilas. ENERGY!!!

We were so rudely awakened by super loud megaphone with a ear-splitting alarm by one of leaders while we were in our tent. 6 in the MORNING. They sounded it RIGHT IN OUR EARS FOR A WHOLE THREE MINUTES. Jenny and I just sat there and didn't move. We probably looked like lazy young men, or we had died in our sleep, because we didn't do ANYTHING. Jenny and I couldn't stop laughing about it the rest of the day.

Our third workshop was in Mollendo, and we were on our own this time. The leaders in these branches of the church were worried that people weren't going to show up, so they made an announcement OVER THE RADIO that we were going to be there. So, that automatically meant a whole eclectic mix of people that showed up. Awesome.

Currently, we are back in our apartment in Arequipa, taking advantage of the time we have to do homework. Today, we found out that our workshop for this week is cancelled, so that makes for more time here!

Jenny and I both realized this week how lucky we are to do SO MUCH of Peru while we are here. We travel A TON.

We Rock! With humility of course.

So, started the day with a graduation of three wonderful students. I think they are ready to take on the world. Well, at least Mexico. Ok, Mexico City. Anyway, that is two workshops down. But our day did not end there. Straight from the Employment Center we traveled to the city of Cuautitlán. It was about an hour drive. And I know I said that we were going to have 150 students, but no surprise, we had less. We only had about 140. No biggie. So, Diego took the chapel and I took the cultural hall. Yes, the whole cultural hall. A few students showed up late, but we each ended up with about 70. And you know what? It was great! Sure, we were pressed for time, but the groups were very excited and there was a great energy. Doing the wave with that many people is amazing! We can't wait to go back tomorrow. I just hope the students all feel the same. Random question. Do you guys ever use the workshop lingo in your daily lives? I've been starting to do it. All of a sudden I find myself comparing things to a lemonade stand. Life is great.

Until next time,

Steven y Diego

Ciudad de México

Feliz Día de San Valentín

No purpose other than to make all you rule-abiders jealous: I had a hot date last night.



Did I get flowers? Ya, ya I did.
Did we eat delicious Italian food?  Yes, yes we did.
Did we feel bad you guys were all stuck with your comps?  Yes, we kinda did.

No, just kidding guys, we love you guys and hope you had a G-RREAT (enter Tony the Tiger) Valentines Day!

150!!!

So, just found out tonight that one of the workshops we will be teaching this week is supposed to have 150 people. Oh... my... goodness. So, we need your advise. We already have a number of ideas in mind, but for all of you that have worked with larger groups, what have you found that works? Realistically I don't think all 150 will show, but regardless, we will have a large group and only three hours a day to teach them. This is going to be one interesting week.

Mexico City

Steven and Nathan

One More Down

So we just finished one more workshop yesterday. I know some of you have had pretty big groups, but this was our first really big group. The first day, there were 38 people there. Not all of them finished, but there were still quite a few at the end. Since the high council room wasn't that big, we ended up having to split the group in two. Garrison taught the whole workshop to one group, and I taught it to the other. It was really fun and this was a really fun group of people. They were all really good to participate and were fun to be around. Garrison got pretty sick this week, but now he is alive again...so that's good. Peace out.

The Best! More photos than anything!

This week has been Spectacular! (I'm actually going to talk about last week and Monday of this week) We finished our first two workshops and we graduated 35 in total. They were a great group! They had tons of ideas and we laughed together and they made us treats! One group made us BROWNIES!! OH BABY! But they also made us these...super weird corn bread, that included tomatoes, carrots, and corn flakes. I will just say that it wasn't anywhere near to how good the brownies were.

News Flash: Look at ESPN's story on Jimmer. Look up Eamon Brennan. SO FUNNY!!

On Sunday we went to church and were interviewed for callings. We should be getting those soon, they have also asked us to work in the temple which is going to BE AWESOME!! We can't wait!

Monday, we went to the Beach! We went with some of our good friends, a missionary couple here! Here are some pictures para uds.!!

I have to go but I'm going to blog mas ya mismo!

Somos Brasileiros Já

So time flies when you're having fun, right? I seriously can't believe that it has already been three and a half weeks! I am sad. I don't want to go home. With every day that passes, we're one day closer to being back in Provo. But, life goes on.

So me and Garrison taught our first workshop together last week in a town called Pelotas that is south of here. It was pretty fun. I was a little sad though because they weren't quite as excited about the workshop as the last group I taught. They were really shy and kind of didn't pay much attention. But whatever, each group is sure to be different than the other. Maybe they didn't like Garrison...hehe

This week, we are teaching a workshop in a town very close to here, so we will just go teach and come home each night. Out of the 10 workshops that we will teach here, 7 are far away. The trips have been really fun. It is so fun to see the beautiful landscapes. I was so used to the Amazon Rainforest, that it almost seems weird to see fields and crops and farms and trees and lakes. It is very cool in southern Brazil. But I think I still like the Amazon better...

Me and Garrison have quite a few friends down here that have been good to include us and take us places. Garrison went to the beach with some of his friends. I have played in some volleyball tournaments down here, and I even went to a Brazilian movie theater for the first time. That was actually really fun. We saw Season of the Witch with Nicolas Cage which was really stupid but the theater was sweet. I had a good time. College students here get in to movies for half price if they have a college ID card. My friend was like, "show them your BYU card." I figured they wouldn't let it slide, but after looking at it for a few moments, he was like, "I guess this works." So I got in for half price...about 4 bucks for a Friday night movie. I will definitely be doing that more often.

We sure like hearing updates from everyone. Our internet isn't that great, but if you guys ever want to skype us, we would love to chat. Oh and my older sister just called me yesterday to tell me that she is pregnant with twins! So that is pretty sweet. Alright, see you later.

So here are some actions of us teaching
This is our assistant manager and his family and some of their friends. They invited us over for dinner the other night.

Vaughn and Garrison

galletas casino

 This week, my temptation of the week is Casino crackers. Creamy mint center in between crunchy chocolate cookies. Menthe goodness.

Crazy week.. and it's just going to get crazier.

Hermana Llanos, Jenny's companion from their mission in Ecuador came to visit us in Arequipa and is staying until Friday. She is AWESOME. We've totally taken advantage of the fact that we have a native with us, going to the market ANTIPLANO and buying stuff to make a caldo typico, or typical Peruvian soup. Jenny and I nos enfermamos, got a little sick, when we passed by the open meat markets. I'm not used to seeing hanging pig heads on the side of the street every day.....

 So much work buying things, but so worth it in the end.

We got some sweet pirated reggaeton, salsa and 80's hit music on the street ;). No tengo la culpa.

I'm learning SO much every day. I love it.

I got scammed for the first time in Sudamerica. Someone gave me a fake 20 sole bill. That's about 7 bucks. 

Today was our first day in our new ward. We will attend church here every Sunday that we're not traveling. I LOVE the members. So much FAITH and so loving, welcoming, and understanding. For some reason, whenever I hear a Latin bear their testimony or their conversion story about how they found the gospel of Jesus Christ, I appreciate it so much more. I cry almost every testimony meeting. Pathetic, but true.

Me encanta latinoamerica.

I attempted to communicate some thoughts during a testimony meeting today, but ended up being super emotional, spewing fountains of tears, and not sure that I exactly got my point across. What I was thinking was... "I love your culture, I am so happy we all believe in God and share the same beliefs, and I secretly wish I were Latin."

So, that concludes the week. This week we have a busy week to look forward to, we teaching the workshop, have some lunch appointments set up, and I need to start looking for a coat :).

A little update from Laur and Jeff:

This past week we started four new workshops, in four different stakes. We typically teach four times a week in the evening to groups ranging from 15 to 40 people.  So far the people have been so fun and friendly and really receptive to the workshops. 

Puebla is a beautiful city! We've loved exploring and getting to know our way around the last few weeks.  Last Saturday we spent the day in the city center browsing the street vendors and trying different foods.






This week we learned how to make true, homemade Mexican tamales!
Avelina Flores is the secretary at the Employment Center and we have become good friends. She found out that I (Laur) love to cook and that I especially wanted to learn how to make tamales, so she had us over for a "tamalada" or a Tamale making party. Her mother, who is 83 years old, is the true expert at tamale making and she taught me all her tricks!

We made 4 different kinds of tamales; mole, salsa verde, salsa rojo, and dulce. We made everything completely from scratch, including the dough, using dried corn kearnals. It was so awesome!
We made about 300 tamales which we cooked in steamers like this one:

That's all for now! We are loving life in Mexico; we're working hard, playing hard, and having a great experience!

Keep blogging everyone! We love reading what everyone is doing!

GO PACKERS! :)  (Just for you Kirsten)

...

lets go steelers!

Last Thursday Kirsten and I finished teaching our first Self Employment Workshop. The following picture is us with all of our students. From left to right we have Christian, Sledge, Kirsten, Owusu, Jonathan, Godfred, Nawal, Richard, Ali, Rancy, Lizzy, and Rufus. Don't they have the coolest names? Sledge and Godfred are still working on how to be seen in a picture but at least you get the idea, right??

It was so wonderful to get to know each of these people. As we taught them you could see that they began to have hope that their dreams and aspirations really can come true by through planning and applying sound business principles. Robert is here this week and he was asking us about how our first week of teaching went. He asked us if it seemed that the lightbulb really went on for them and the conclusion we came to is that the lightbulb is beginning to flicker. At first they were quite shy but over time most of them opened up and were willing to share with the class. I am excited to start teaching more people next week!

This week the manager told us that we would be consulting with our students individually to help them further develop their business plans. We told our students this and gave them our "office hours" when they could come in and get help from us. We set here all day Wednesday and Thursday without a single visit. It's been nice to have lots of internet browsing time but that isn't what we came here for. We want some work! Yesterday we were sitting here all bored when Nawal (pictured above, wearing the pink shirt) walked in to show us the advertisement that she has created for her business. She is currently preparing to go and visit some potential customers for her grocery delivery service. It was such a wonderful end to a long day! I am so happy that she is excited and moving forward with her business.

I'm not going to lie.

I just about cried when we finished up our first workshop. I love these people.

Sweetness!

Today we finished our first workshop. 10 of our 12 made it. They were seriously the best group. The time went by so fast and everyone was quick to get involved. Being the fourth day of the workshop, we had a lot of time to recap and present. We also gave our students about 10 minutes to write a review: things they learned and advise they had for us in the future. It was some great feedback. These people are just amazing.

To finish things on a good note, we presented our personal business plans, had our manager talk about the resources in the employment center, and had a small lunch. But before we left, the class broke out into "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." We are all going to become Facebook friends and try to keep in touch. We really couldn't have asked for a better group. I know you are all jealous.

Reporting from Mexico City,

Steven and Nathan