Mom and Dad,
I have arrived safely in Lima, and it has been an adventure already! Dad was right when he kept telling me ``Just wait until you land in Lima.`` It was definitely an eye opener. The Airport was in Callao, and was pretty ghetto. Tons of dogs, homeless people, abandoned buildings, etc. It was about 3 in the morning though when we finally left the airport. Here is my journal entry from this morning:
Today is day 1 in the Lima MTC! I flew in yesterday from Atlanta. We went through the new international airport there and it looked like Disney World. Mom took a few pictures on her phone. I checked in and paid too much for luggage, but there was nothing I could do. It was 75 dollars! As soon as I got to the terminal I saw about 5 other Elders waiting already. All of us had the jitters. I sat and talked with E. Olsen there. He is also going to Cochabamba! He is from arizona I think. On the plane I ended up sitting next to E. Day. He has already been to the Provo MTC for the past 2 weeks and told me the horror stories of the place, with it being overcrowded and all. It was such a strange feeling knowing I was leaving US soil for such a long time. Elder Day and I sat and talked about everything from soccer to girls, school, friends, injuries, etc. It was a 6.5 hour flight so we definitely had time. When we landed in Lima, it felt surreal. It wasn,t really how I pictured it but it was so cool! After making it through customs, we waited for about 4 hours in the airport for other missionaries that were arriving. One of the last flights to land had someone I knew! Joe Joe! Or uh, Elder Pugliano! It has been probably 5 years or more since I last saw him. We did some catching up and then boarded this very ghetto bus to get to the MTC. There were about 40 elders or so on there. As we went through Callao I saw tons of dogs, trash, homeless people, and these crazy looking motor cycles that had a truck bed on the front! The traffic was so crazy too. This guy passed the bus on the wrong side and came within inches of a head on collision with the other car. The MTC is very nice though. Its surrounded on all sides by a big wall. I think the name of the city is Molagro?
Anyways, I just had breakfast which was cereal and a strance looking orange. The called it a ``mandarino`` but it was bright green on the outside. It ended up being just a madrin orange. I also had this papaya jugo, but tried not to have too much. It is already making me feel weird...
Reply back, and I think P day is on Mondays!
Love you all,
Elder Potts
