I feel like everytime I write you guys it`s the same things over and over again, haha the experiences on the mission. But I feel like everyday on the mission is different and I learn something new. But sorry if my letters are boring haha.
So sounds like Dad is staying busy with things at work, Bryce is learning to drive (not with the CRV right?) haha, and the kids are staying busy too with school and everything. It`s good to hear grandma Bonnie is doing good, but it`s a bummer to hear that Grandma Terri has the flu I hope she gets feeling better it`s always tough to stay healthy during the winter.
So this week we had changes and I am with Elder Velarde (I sent some pictures of him I think). He`s a pretty cool guy, really easy going and we get along good. He`s 20 and from Arequipa in south Perù. I`m still in the same ward here, Zona: Cajamarca Barrio: Cajamarca. I love it here in the ward the members are awesome. I don`t ever want to leave haha, I think I`ll probably be here for another change after this 5 weeks. So another three months i`m hoping, we`ll see though haha. I think every day how lucky and blessed I am with a pension, a member that does our laundry, and a super nice apartment. All we have to do is work and everything else is taking care of for us ha.
So we had another baptism this week Hermana Elohisa (I sent a picture of her with her son and us four elders). Her son Paul is a recent convert, he was baptized three weeks ago. And yesterday baptized his mom! So awesome, he`s super cool and it`s been cool to see the change and progress of everyone of our converts. It was funny the hermana told us that we need to have hot water for her baptism or she wouldn`t be able to be baptized because she`s sick right now. So we told her yeah of course we`ll take care of it. In our chapel the heater for the baptismal font doesn`t work haha, so the bishop told us he`s get it fixed for her baptism. On saturday he told us that ya it`s fixed don`t worry about it haha. And yesterday we filled up the baptismal font and tried to heat it and it didn`t work of course. So we had to fill up the font halfway with cold water and we went to Los Baños del Inca to get hot water, and brought tanks and buckets to fill up with hot water. We left after sacrament and came back after church had just got over. And filled the font with the hot water, but it didn`t really help at all. Haha, but nonetheless the hermana was baptized along with two other hermanas of the other elders in our ward. It was sweet that she was baptized and her son baptized her!
Also today we went Llacanora for P-Day (I also sent some pictures of that as well). It was soooo freaking cool, the waterfalls and everything. It felt so much like Utah it was so pretty. It`s so awesome to be in the mission, but on top of that to be able to visit and be in such an awesome city makes it so much better haha. There were two pretty good sized waterfalls that we got to visit. We also played soccer this morning with the members from our ward and converts it was fun.
Also this week is La Carnaval in Cajamarca 18-20 of February, when everybody is our drinking and doing all sorts of stuff. Waterfights and throwing waterballoons a lot of times. I was walking in the street the other day and got pegged by a waterballoon by a couple of little kids haha. It`s pretty crazy apparentally during the 18th-20th. On the 18th the craziest day of the three the ward is leaving cajamarca to go to a little town apart from Cajamarca where it`s more relaxed and not so crazy. We can`t leave our apartment to proselyte during those three days, so we got permission from the mission president to leave with the ward on that little trip for the day. I guess were just going to hang out in this little town and play soccer I don`t really know. It should be pretty sweet!
Thanks for the package, I got the stuff you guys sent me. It was a cool late christmas present haha. Thanks for the letters and everything, I wrote some letters with more detailed stuff of what is going on here. LOVE YOU GUYS!
-Christopher
Monday, February 20, 2012
Los Cambios Jan 2, 2012
Family,
So the 12 weeks I have had with my trainer Elder Pacori, we`ll be over by tomorrow. It`s crazy to think how fast time is flying I feel like I just got here in Cajamarca with him. My new comp Elder Velarde is cool he`s from the ward Puerto Libre, the area Puerto Libre is right next to our area in the ward Cajamarca. Elder Velarde we´ll be coming here and Elder Pacori we`ll be in Puerto Libre we pretty much just did a swap. Elder Nicaragua the zone leader told me that it`s possible that in three weeks there could be changes again, but it`s not for sure. I`m pretty stoked with my new comp and everything, I`m still with Elder Pacori until tomorrow in the afternoon. That`s pretty much the big news for now.
As far as the work goes, we had two baptizms planned for Saturday last week but they fell through. We are getting referencias de oro from the ward it`s awesome. A couple of them (Wilcer and Roger) have problems with alcohol and are afraid of getting baptized and then later on having problems again. Elder Pacori has a lot of faith in this program that the church does in the United States for people that have problems with addicions but it`s focused mainly on the problem of alcoholism. Those two Wilcer and Roger have this desire to be baptized but our just nervous about the temptacions that they have with their amigos and such.
Real quick funny story on Sunday we were passing by some of our investigadores houses to pick them up for church. We had to pass by Wilcer and Roger (His brother Paul is a recent convert and is awesome) to remind them about church and head to the chaple with them. So Sunday morning we came by the house of Roger to bring him to church with us and he answered the door super tired and he seemed to be a little tipsy. His eyes were blood shot and seemed to be dead tired ha. We told him to get dressed and try and get ready to come to church with us. We waited about ten minutes and then went to pick up Wilcer who is also his friend. Wilcer lives about a 20 second walk from the house of Roger, so we went to grab Roger and we turned the corner and saw him drinking with a bunch of his buddies haha. Wilcer tried to leave us and go with Roger and all of them that were drinking on the corner. We took Roger back to his house and told him to rest and not to leave to go continue drinking with Wilcer. Roger watched us as we turned the corner and we waited a second after we turned the corner and looked up the street and saw Roger headed over to go drink with Wilcer and his buddies haha.
These two Wilcer and Roger sincerely want to quit drinking and seguir adelante but they just can`t do it on their own. But this program that Elder Pacori knows a lot about can help them overcome this addicion. So we got it set up with four members from the ward two of which our recent converts and the other two have been members for a while now. The four that our going to be in charge of the program will be teaching every week Tuesday to Friday and all we have to do is bring our investigatores there so that they can learn about this addicion. It`s sad to see people that really want to change their lives but can`t because they`re caught up in a addicion like alcohol.
We didn`t have any baptisms this last week like we had hoped but, the mom of Roger is super sweet and has been to church a couple different times before. I can see how this problem with her son Roger affects her as well as with her other family members. Roger has a brother Paul who was baptized in our ward two weeks ago he`s super awesome and doing really well. As well as Juan Carlos who also had problems with alcohol but was baptized two weeks ago.
The thing is that, right after someone is baptized there is a hand off between the missionaries and the members. The members have to befriend all the new converts and strengthen them. The life inside the church is a completely new world for them. Were trying to improve with the members in this. They have been really good so far except for the Israel and Dilma two new recent converts as well, they got baptized and married four weeks ago I think. But they still don`t have that friendship with the members, and they aren`t going to want to come to church without that. It`s super important.
I feel like these two changes with Elder Pacori have been a success we had a total of 10 baptisms. I have learned so much from him. Sometimes it`s tough when your with the same person for 12 weeks straight haha, but luckily he`s been super cool. And if you ever end up with a companion that you don`t like you have to search for the good in them and only focus on that, and never in the bad.
Sorry if you guys don`t understand what the heck is going on, I`m not super organized in my story writing haha.
Sounds like you guys are having a good time and it`s a bummer to hear that we aren`t getting hardly any snow in Utah whats up with that? Sorry if this email is crappy haha! Love you guys, and sorry I wasn`t able to ask more about what`s going on with you guys. I wanted to feel you guys in on what`s going on here! LOVE YOU GUYS!!
-Christopher
So the 12 weeks I have had with my trainer Elder Pacori, we`ll be over by tomorrow. It`s crazy to think how fast time is flying I feel like I just got here in Cajamarca with him. My new comp Elder Velarde is cool he`s from the ward Puerto Libre, the area Puerto Libre is right next to our area in the ward Cajamarca. Elder Velarde we´ll be coming here and Elder Pacori we`ll be in Puerto Libre we pretty much just did a swap. Elder Nicaragua the zone leader told me that it`s possible that in three weeks there could be changes again, but it`s not for sure. I`m pretty stoked with my new comp and everything, I`m still with Elder Pacori until tomorrow in the afternoon. That`s pretty much the big news for now.
As far as the work goes, we had two baptizms planned for Saturday last week but they fell through. We are getting referencias de oro from the ward it`s awesome. A couple of them (Wilcer and Roger) have problems with alcohol and are afraid of getting baptized and then later on having problems again. Elder Pacori has a lot of faith in this program that the church does in the United States for people that have problems with addicions but it`s focused mainly on the problem of alcoholism. Those two Wilcer and Roger have this desire to be baptized but our just nervous about the temptacions that they have with their amigos and such.
Real quick funny story on Sunday we were passing by some of our investigadores houses to pick them up for church. We had to pass by Wilcer and Roger (His brother Paul is a recent convert and is awesome) to remind them about church and head to the chaple with them. So Sunday morning we came by the house of Roger to bring him to church with us and he answered the door super tired and he seemed to be a little tipsy. His eyes were blood shot and seemed to be dead tired ha. We told him to get dressed and try and get ready to come to church with us. We waited about ten minutes and then went to pick up Wilcer who is also his friend. Wilcer lives about a 20 second walk from the house of Roger, so we went to grab Roger and we turned the corner and saw him drinking with a bunch of his buddies haha. Wilcer tried to leave us and go with Roger and all of them that were drinking on the corner. We took Roger back to his house and told him to rest and not to leave to go continue drinking with Wilcer. Roger watched us as we turned the corner and we waited a second after we turned the corner and looked up the street and saw Roger headed over to go drink with Wilcer and his buddies haha.
These two Wilcer and Roger sincerely want to quit drinking and seguir adelante but they just can`t do it on their own. But this program that Elder Pacori knows a lot about can help them overcome this addicion. So we got it set up with four members from the ward two of which our recent converts and the other two have been members for a while now. The four that our going to be in charge of the program will be teaching every week Tuesday to Friday and all we have to do is bring our investigatores there so that they can learn about this addicion. It`s sad to see people that really want to change their lives but can`t because they`re caught up in a addicion like alcohol.
We didn`t have any baptisms this last week like we had hoped but, the mom of Roger is super sweet and has been to church a couple different times before. I can see how this problem with her son Roger affects her as well as with her other family members. Roger has a brother Paul who was baptized in our ward two weeks ago he`s super awesome and doing really well. As well as Juan Carlos who also had problems with alcohol but was baptized two weeks ago.
The thing is that, right after someone is baptized there is a hand off between the missionaries and the members. The members have to befriend all the new converts and strengthen them. The life inside the church is a completely new world for them. Were trying to improve with the members in this. They have been really good so far except for the Israel and Dilma two new recent converts as well, they got baptized and married four weeks ago I think. But they still don`t have that friendship with the members, and they aren`t going to want to come to church without that. It`s super important.
I feel like these two changes with Elder Pacori have been a success we had a total of 10 baptisms. I have learned so much from him. Sometimes it`s tough when your with the same person for 12 weeks straight haha, but luckily he`s been super cool. And if you ever end up with a companion that you don`t like you have to search for the good in them and only focus on that, and never in the bad.
Sorry if you guys don`t understand what the heck is going on, I`m not super organized in my story writing haha.
Sounds like you guys are having a good time and it`s a bummer to hear that we aren`t getting hardly any snow in Utah whats up with that? Sorry if this email is crappy haha! Love you guys, and sorry I wasn`t able to ask more about what`s going on with you guys. I wanted to feel you guys in on what`s going on here! LOVE YOU GUYS!!
-Christopher
What's Up! Jan 30, 2012
-Family!
I had an awesome week! And we had a ton of success in our area and with the ward and everything.
Hahah Joel is making plans for when I come home? He´s gonna have to wait another 19 months until I come home, that´s weird to think about how much time that is. For me right now though the time is absolutely flying, I can´t believe it. ´
The bugs aren´t biting me as bad as they were but I definitely need to do something about it, I have never seen bed bugs in my life so it´s been new haha. Awesome news about the Wrights that will be awesome for them, they are awesome I got a letter from David I still need to write him back! Don´t worry about anything other than the pants, I was just thinking how I wish I would have brought them with me!
Bryce got to go boarding huh? And wrecked? He was probably faking it hahah. I miss the snow and snowboarding so much! Any time we see some kids in the street skateboarding or something I always think about skateboarding out in front of our house hah. As far as thrills go...it´s been pretty thrilling walking around in our area hah random stuff happens all the time. For example, the other the day we were hiking the endless stairs up to an investidigator and a dog start chasing me up the stair and biting my ankles haha. There is a million dogs here just roaming the streets haha.
The stories about the drunk people you told me make me think of the people that live here. For these people drinking is a serious addiction and people can be drinking for weeks straight, there is a couple of drunk people we always see and they´re always drinking it´s sad. And there are people that sincerely want to quit drinking but they can´t do it for themselves, I talked a lot about this with Elder Pacori he knows a lot with the Alcohol program and such.
That´s cool to here about the bishop visiting connor dehlin, how is the bishop doing these days? Wow cool to hear about your friend Giavanna that knows someone from Cajamarca maybe you could shoot me her address or name or a way to contact her. Is she a member???
So as far as this week goes, we are continuing to work really hard with the members and strengthen the ward unity. We had three baptisms; Juan Carlos (26), Mercedes (42), and Obdulio (72). They are all so awesome and were completely prepared to be baptized. Juan Carlos is a refrence of a member of the ward and the second visit with him we invited him to be baptized and set a date for 28th and he accepted without doubting it at all. It was so sweet, and he has friends in the ward which is important. There is a hand off after we teach and baptize someone the members need to step in and be friendly and inviting to the recent converts. Hermana Mercedes is also a refrence in the ward, and she also was ready to be baptized we did the same with her as we did with Juan Carlos invited her to be baptized and she accepted for the 28th. She did have a doubt though, we were prepping her for her baptismal interview and teaching her the commandments. We taught about Tithing and she had a lot of doubts about it, we returned a day later and she was still doubtful about it. We talked for about 45 minutes shared every scripture we could think of so that she´s understand. And in the middle of the lesson she asked if we would wait for five minutes. It was kinda of random and a little weird. She came back and didn´t have any doubts and said "that yeah im going to baptized". It was kind of random, but later we found out when she was sharing her testimony in church that during that five minutes she left to go pray and ask Heavenly Father if she should be baptized she said in her testimony that she felt something that she couldnt explain but that was a peace and calm feeling. It was so awesome to hear her testimony. With Hermano Obdulio it was tough to teach him because he doesnt understand very well he is pretty old. But we taught super simple and he also had the desire to follow christ in his life he also is a refrence. It was funny I was able to baptize him and Juan Carlos. And when I baptized Obdulio I was explaining to him how the baptism will be, and we got into the baptismal font and I put my hand up at the square and he tried to dunk himself in the water haha. He didnt understand that I had to say the baptismal prayer before haha, it was funny. The water was freezing cold too luckily no one had problems. We baptized in the stake center with all the missionaries and their investigators it was sweet i´ll send a picture. We also had a activity in the ward that same night and acted for all the investigatores and a bunch of members as well. It turned out super funny but also really disorganized but it made it funny.
I am enjoying myself and learning so much I can´t believe all the experiences I am having and how the mission is going to influence my life after. I´ll send pictures next week! Love you guys!!
-Christopher
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the in
I had an awesome week! And we had a ton of success in our area and with the ward and everything.
Hahah Joel is making plans for when I come home? He´s gonna have to wait another 19 months until I come home, that´s weird to think about how much time that is. For me right now though the time is absolutely flying, I can´t believe it. ´
The bugs aren´t biting me as bad as they were but I definitely need to do something about it, I have never seen bed bugs in my life so it´s been new haha. Awesome news about the Wrights that will be awesome for them, they are awesome I got a letter from David I still need to write him back! Don´t worry about anything other than the pants, I was just thinking how I wish I would have brought them with me!
Bryce got to go boarding huh? And wrecked? He was probably faking it hahah. I miss the snow and snowboarding so much! Any time we see some kids in the street skateboarding or something I always think about skateboarding out in front of our house hah. As far as thrills go...it´s been pretty thrilling walking around in our area hah random stuff happens all the time. For example, the other the day we were hiking the endless stairs up to an investidigator and a dog start chasing me up the stair and biting my ankles haha. There is a million dogs here just roaming the streets haha.
The stories about the drunk people you told me make me think of the people that live here. For these people drinking is a serious addiction and people can be drinking for weeks straight, there is a couple of drunk people we always see and they´re always drinking it´s sad. And there are people that sincerely want to quit drinking but they can´t do it for themselves, I talked a lot about this with Elder Pacori he knows a lot with the Alcohol program and such.
That´s cool to here about the bishop visiting connor dehlin, how is the bishop doing these days? Wow cool to hear about your friend Giavanna that knows someone from Cajamarca maybe you could shoot me her address or name or a way to contact her. Is she a member???
So as far as this week goes, we are continuing to work really hard with the members and strengthen the ward unity. We had three baptisms; Juan Carlos (26), Mercedes (42), and Obdulio (72). They are all so awesome and were completely prepared to be baptized. Juan Carlos is a refrence of a member of the ward and the second visit with him we invited him to be baptized and set a date for 28th and he accepted without doubting it at all. It was so sweet, and he has friends in the ward which is important. There is a hand off after we teach and baptize someone the members need to step in and be friendly and inviting to the recent converts. Hermana Mercedes is also a refrence in the ward, and she also was ready to be baptized we did the same with her as we did with Juan Carlos invited her to be baptized and she accepted for the 28th. She did have a doubt though, we were prepping her for her baptismal interview and teaching her the commandments. We taught about Tithing and she had a lot of doubts about it, we returned a day later and she was still doubtful about it. We talked for about 45 minutes shared every scripture we could think of so that she´s understand. And in the middle of the lesson she asked if we would wait for five minutes. It was kinda of random and a little weird. She came back and didn´t have any doubts and said "that yeah im going to baptized". It was kind of random, but later we found out when she was sharing her testimony in church that during that five minutes she left to go pray and ask Heavenly Father if she should be baptized she said in her testimony that she felt something that she couldnt explain but that was a peace and calm feeling. It was so awesome to hear her testimony. With Hermano Obdulio it was tough to teach him because he doesnt understand very well he is pretty old. But we taught super simple and he also had the desire to follow christ in his life he also is a refrence. It was funny I was able to baptize him and Juan Carlos. And when I baptized Obdulio I was explaining to him how the baptism will be, and we got into the baptismal font and I put my hand up at the square and he tried to dunk himself in the water haha. He didnt understand that I had to say the baptismal prayer before haha, it was funny. The water was freezing cold too luckily no one had problems. We baptized in the stake center with all the missionaries and their investigators it was sweet i´ll send a picture. We also had a activity in the ward that same night and acted for all the investigatores and a bunch of members as well. It turned out super funny but also really disorganized but it made it funny.
I am enjoying myself and learning so much I can´t believe all the experiences I am having and how the mission is going to influence my life after. I´ll send pictures next week! Love you guys!!
-Christopher
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the in
Hey! Jan 23, 2012
Sweet pictures that you guys sent me! Lone peak looks so awesome with the all the snow. I don`t have a ton of time to write about ten minutes. How are you guys doing?? Enjoying the winter time in Utah? It`s been raining a ton here, it`s supposed to be like this for another three months. But I am enjoying the rain it keeps the weather really cool.
As far as this week has gone we`ve had a lot of success and are continuing to stay super busy. We had a baptism yesterday of Hermano Anghelo he`s ten years old and his mom has been inactive for ten years. Last sunday we found them when we were calling our investigators to come to church. They had their phone and little store in their house so we were using their pay phone. Last sunday they were able to come to church and two days ago her son was baptized. The mom of Anghelo has cancer and I think that it wasn`t by chance that we found them who knows! I think I may have told you guys this. We also had another baptism of Hermano Obudlio he`s 70 years old but sadly he didn`t pass is baptismal interview. We have to prepare him a little bit more, he has a hard time understanding what we teach him. We found him looking through some old teaching records and talking with the ward mission leader. The missionary work has been awesome working with the members we have three baptism this saturday all of which our refrences, hermana mercedes, hermano juan carlos and hermano obdulio. It`s been super awesome having the support of the members in our ward. We had an activity in the ward yesterday to get more new investigatores, we had splits with a lot of the members and everyone went out contacting about 20 members helped out. We got a ton of refrences and people that we can teach. The ward Cajarmarca is super strong right now and supportive of the work. We also have three other baptisms that the other two missionaries have so 6 baptisms for this saturday.
As far as what i have been learning and trying to be better at is Listening in the lessons. Sometimes I get super anxious and usually the people that you teach just want you to give them your attencion and listen. I am trying to be better at that, it helps with how your going to respond and how to resolve their doubts. My teaching abilities are getting better day by day along with my spanish I am trying to just talk with everyone and get more experience with spanish. I am talking it everyday and am forced to do it, but it is taking a lot of patience to learn it haha.
I was going to ask you guys if you send me another package in the next little while could you possibly put the brown slacks that I have in a package. Just the next time you send a package if you guys could! Dont worry about a ipod charge im going to buy one here I think. Sorry I dont have a ton of time! Love you guys!!
-Christopher
As far as this week has gone we`ve had a lot of success and are continuing to stay super busy. We had a baptism yesterday of Hermano Anghelo he`s ten years old and his mom has been inactive for ten years. Last sunday we found them when we were calling our investigators to come to church. They had their phone and little store in their house so we were using their pay phone. Last sunday they were able to come to church and two days ago her son was baptized. The mom of Anghelo has cancer and I think that it wasn`t by chance that we found them who knows! I think I may have told you guys this. We also had another baptism of Hermano Obudlio he`s 70 years old but sadly he didn`t pass is baptismal interview. We have to prepare him a little bit more, he has a hard time understanding what we teach him. We found him looking through some old teaching records and talking with the ward mission leader. The missionary work has been awesome working with the members we have three baptism this saturday all of which our refrences, hermana mercedes, hermano juan carlos and hermano obdulio. It`s been super awesome having the support of the members in our ward. We had an activity in the ward yesterday to get more new investigatores, we had splits with a lot of the members and everyone went out contacting about 20 members helped out. We got a ton of refrences and people that we can teach. The ward Cajarmarca is super strong right now and supportive of the work. We also have three other baptisms that the other two missionaries have so 6 baptisms for this saturday.
As far as what i have been learning and trying to be better at is Listening in the lessons. Sometimes I get super anxious and usually the people that you teach just want you to give them your attencion and listen. I am trying to be better at that, it helps with how your going to respond and how to resolve their doubts. My teaching abilities are getting better day by day along with my spanish I am trying to just talk with everyone and get more experience with spanish. I am talking it everyday and am forced to do it, but it is taking a lot of patience to learn it haha.
I was going to ask you guys if you send me another package in the next little while could you possibly put the brown slacks that I have in a package. Just the next time you send a package if you guys could! Dont worry about a ipod charge im going to buy one here I think. Sorry I dont have a ton of time! Love you guys!!
-Christopher
4 Meses Jan 16, 2012
Wow it´s been 4 months, it´s not really any time at all when you think about it. But it does feel like I left yesterday...The time is flying, and the days are starting to mix together haha. Sweet pictures by the way, Ava´s teeth are really starting to come in! Did you guys like the pictures I sent? I hope so!
Jeremy Bitner moved to that house huh? That´s sweet! I´m sure they´ll be happy there it´s a nice area. Good to hear Jessie had a good time in Hawaii, I´m sure that was fun for him I need his address or a way to write him. Nick Coffey is off to Paris?! Wow that´s awesome, he´s gonna be an awesome missionary thats so sweet! What has Konnor been up to? I haven´t heard from him since I was in the Provo MTC, I want to shoot him a letter but don´t know where he´s livin.
So this past couple weeks have been so tiring hah. Ever since the marriage that we had two weeks ago. Hermana Manuela isn´t going to be baptized most likely, she was at all interested in becoming a member of the church. We think it has to do with her family, she has a LOT of family problems. But it is kind of a bummer because you have to make a judgement call on some investigators if you think they are going to progress or not. Because you could spend a lot of time and have nothing happen with an investigator. But hermana Graciela has a baptizm date for this Saturday it isn´t completely sure but were going to try and work with her and see. We found an old investigator from missionaries before us in our area, he´s about 70 and has a lot of interest and desire to follow Christ in his life. His name is Julio.
Yesterday we were calling some of our investigators and less active members to remind them about church. And in a lot of the houses in the street the people have phones that you call from to call people with cellphones. Because the phone in our room can only call land lines. The lady who owned the store was helping us and we got talking and found out she is a member, but hasn´t been to church in 10 years. We got her to church that same day her and her son who isn´t a member. We found out later that she has cancer, I´m not sure how bad it is but maybe the church can help her. Her son wants to be baptized as well. I don´t believe that it was just chance that we were calling from her store and started talking to her. I definitely believe that people are being prepared by our Heavenly Father. We have also been doing a better job of working with the members of our ward and they´re giving us a lot of refrences, it´s awesome. We can have a lot more success through the members, were only two people but we can have 5-6 baptisms every month if we work with the members. We also have been visiting a couple of less active members to get them to church. I feel blessed that the members of our ward are active in helping the missionary work it´s super helpful.
Me and Pacori have another 3 weeks together it´s crazy it feels like I just got here in Cajamarca. You definitely need to enjoy the mission as much as you can, and work hard. I´m trying to learn as much as I can from him, I have said this a lot but I feel blessed to have him as a companion. I have so much to learn as far as the Doctrine goes and such as well as being familiar with the scriptures. We did companionship exchanges this week on friday with the zone leaders and elder nicaragua, one of the zone leaders had so much knowledge of the scriptures I want to be like that hah. As well as being able to teach really clearly and simply so that the people we teach understand. As far as my spanish, it´s coming little by little and I try not to get to frustrated with myself.
It was cool we were up the other day high on the mountain side with one of the members of our ward visiting some refrences and you could see all of Cajamarca. It´s an area of Cajamarca that´s super pretty and it felt like Utah there´s tons of trees and it´s super green. There´s also cactus it´s super awesome. I don´t care too much where I am at but it is nice to be in the area I´m in :D haha.
Today we played soccer with the zone on a synthetic field with fake grass, it was sweet. I´ve come to like soccer more I defintely didn´t like it all but everyone in Perú plays it haha. I also sent out a envelope to you guys with letters to you guys and letters for my friends I just need you guys to put them in the maildrop off. I also found out I have another package from you guys haha, I get a lot of crap from my zone with the packages that I have gotten but it´s sweet to get the candy and stuff you´ve sent me! As far as medicine goes I have a pharmacy in my suitcase so I think i´m okay on that, but there are bugs in my bed that bite me at night. So were gonna spray for the bugs, it shouldn´t be a big deal.
Love you guys! Thanks for the package and everything. I´ll talk to you guys next week BYE!
-Christopher
Jeremy Bitner moved to that house huh? That´s sweet! I´m sure they´ll be happy there it´s a nice area. Good to hear Jessie had a good time in Hawaii, I´m sure that was fun for him I need his address or a way to write him. Nick Coffey is off to Paris?! Wow that´s awesome, he´s gonna be an awesome missionary thats so sweet! What has Konnor been up to? I haven´t heard from him since I was in the Provo MTC, I want to shoot him a letter but don´t know where he´s livin.
So this past couple weeks have been so tiring hah. Ever since the marriage that we had two weeks ago. Hermana Manuela isn´t going to be baptized most likely, she was at all interested in becoming a member of the church. We think it has to do with her family, she has a LOT of family problems. But it is kind of a bummer because you have to make a judgement call on some investigators if you think they are going to progress or not. Because you could spend a lot of time and have nothing happen with an investigator. But hermana Graciela has a baptizm date for this Saturday it isn´t completely sure but were going to try and work with her and see. We found an old investigator from missionaries before us in our area, he´s about 70 and has a lot of interest and desire to follow Christ in his life. His name is Julio.
Yesterday we were calling some of our investigators and less active members to remind them about church. And in a lot of the houses in the street the people have phones that you call from to call people with cellphones. Because the phone in our room can only call land lines. The lady who owned the store was helping us and we got talking and found out she is a member, but hasn´t been to church in 10 years. We got her to church that same day her and her son who isn´t a member. We found out later that she has cancer, I´m not sure how bad it is but maybe the church can help her. Her son wants to be baptized as well. I don´t believe that it was just chance that we were calling from her store and started talking to her. I definitely believe that people are being prepared by our Heavenly Father. We have also been doing a better job of working with the members of our ward and they´re giving us a lot of refrences, it´s awesome. We can have a lot more success through the members, were only two people but we can have 5-6 baptisms every month if we work with the members. We also have been visiting a couple of less active members to get them to church. I feel blessed that the members of our ward are active in helping the missionary work it´s super helpful.
Me and Pacori have another 3 weeks together it´s crazy it feels like I just got here in Cajamarca. You definitely need to enjoy the mission as much as you can, and work hard. I´m trying to learn as much as I can from him, I have said this a lot but I feel blessed to have him as a companion. I have so much to learn as far as the Doctrine goes and such as well as being familiar with the scriptures. We did companionship exchanges this week on friday with the zone leaders and elder nicaragua, one of the zone leaders had so much knowledge of the scriptures I want to be like that hah. As well as being able to teach really clearly and simply so that the people we teach understand. As far as my spanish, it´s coming little by little and I try not to get to frustrated with myself.
It was cool we were up the other day high on the mountain side with one of the members of our ward visiting some refrences and you could see all of Cajamarca. It´s an area of Cajamarca that´s super pretty and it felt like Utah there´s tons of trees and it´s super green. There´s also cactus it´s super awesome. I don´t care too much where I am at but it is nice to be in the area I´m in :D haha.
Today we played soccer with the zone on a synthetic field with fake grass, it was sweet. I´ve come to like soccer more I defintely didn´t like it all but everyone in Perú plays it haha. I also sent out a envelope to you guys with letters to you guys and letters for my friends I just need you guys to put them in the maildrop off. I also found out I have another package from you guys haha, I get a lot of crap from my zone with the packages that I have gotten but it´s sweet to get the candy and stuff you´ve sent me! As far as medicine goes I have a pharmacy in my suitcase so I think i´m okay on that, but there are bugs in my bed that bite me at night. So were gonna spray for the bugs, it shouldn´t be a big deal.
Love you guys! Thanks for the package and everything. I´ll talk to you guys next week BYE!
-Christopher
It's Christopher! Jan 9, 1012
Hey whats up? So another week has come and gone, I can´t believe how fast the time is going. It´s crazy. So what´d you guys do this week?? Sounds like the weather in Utah is getting to be more like winter no? It hailed today, haha reminded me of Salt Lake. That was nice of Lauren and Lindsey to come of visit you Mom, tell them I say hi! And the report on Jessie is awesome, it´s good to hear that he´s doing better and got to go to Hawaii. I need to write him but don´t have his address. Tell Vicki thanks a bunch for the package of candy, that was way nice of her. I want to send out letters but haven´t been able to, we don´t have time usually to write it´s hard to find time for it. But I think I am going to send a small envelope with a bunch of letters that you can just put in the mailbox mom and send them for me.
Today for P-Day we went to Granja Porcòn it was so sweet, and really reminded me a ton of the mountains in Utah. It´s so green and there was a ton of trees, I sent some pictures of it. They had a lot of animals like Lions, Bears, Monkeys, and birds. The drive was about an hour out of Cajamarca and it also reminded me of the fourwheeling trip with Dad.
So this week has been a lot less stressful now that we don´t have to worry about a marriage. You have to do a lot of stuff to get a marriage prepped, or maybe it was just that they didn´t have their papers organized. It was sweet to have Irael and his wife get married and baptized, to have some reward for the work we did. This week we didn´t have the baptism like we had planned and hoped for. Hermana Manuela is her name, she´s about 50 and sells fish. She said that she wanted another week to prepare herself. She feels that she is going to get baptized and fall right back into the way she used to live her life, she has a lot of doubts. Her family life is pretty bad her husband drinks a lot and she cares a lot for her kids and only wants the best for them. She needs to make the step and be baptized and live her life in the Gospel. A lot of people are afraid to be baptized and participate in the church because of their past life. The only REAL happiness that a person can find is when they center their life around Jesus Christ and follow his example. We also have been doing a lot to work with the members of the ward, and we had a meeting with the bishopric and some members that help with the missionary work. I think the key to the missionary work is working through the members of the ward your in. They have all the references and can help you a ton, a lesson with a member is so much more helpful. The investigadors can have someone to actually relate to. I think it helps haha.
So I have a minute left, but thanks for the letters I always get a letter from you guys every week. It´s really nice. Sorry I haven´t been able to send any letters out to you guys! I also was told there is a package waiting for me in the mission home I just need to get my paper signed by the notaria and I can get it. Love you guys! I am going to send out some letters today I hope! Haha. Talk to you next week :D byee!!
-Christopher
Today for P-Day we went to Granja Porcòn it was so sweet, and really reminded me a ton of the mountains in Utah. It´s so green and there was a ton of trees, I sent some pictures of it. They had a lot of animals like Lions, Bears, Monkeys, and birds. The drive was about an hour out of Cajamarca and it also reminded me of the fourwheeling trip with Dad.
So this week has been a lot less stressful now that we don´t have to worry about a marriage. You have to do a lot of stuff to get a marriage prepped, or maybe it was just that they didn´t have their papers organized. It was sweet to have Irael and his wife get married and baptized, to have some reward for the work we did. This week we didn´t have the baptism like we had planned and hoped for. Hermana Manuela is her name, she´s about 50 and sells fish. She said that she wanted another week to prepare herself. She feels that she is going to get baptized and fall right back into the way she used to live her life, she has a lot of doubts. Her family life is pretty bad her husband drinks a lot and she cares a lot for her kids and only wants the best for them. She needs to make the step and be baptized and live her life in the Gospel. A lot of people are afraid to be baptized and participate in the church because of their past life. The only REAL happiness that a person can find is when they center their life around Jesus Christ and follow his example. We also have been doing a lot to work with the members of the ward, and we had a meeting with the bishopric and some members that help with the missionary work. I think the key to the missionary work is working through the members of the ward your in. They have all the references and can help you a ton, a lesson with a member is so much more helpful. The investigadors can have someone to actually relate to. I think it helps haha.
So I have a minute left, but thanks for the letters I always get a letter from you guys every week. It´s really nice. Sorry I haven´t been able to send any letters out to you guys! I also was told there is a package waiting for me in the mission home I just need to get my paper signed by the notaria and I can get it. Love you guys! I am going to send out some letters today I hope! Haha. Talk to you next week :D byee!!
-Christopher
Feliz Ano Nuevo! Jan 2, 2012
-Family
Happy new years! Sounds like you guys had a pretty fun new years party with the Goodmans. The pictures looked sweet. Go figure that Joel would fall asleep before midnight haha.
Here in Cajamarca the people celebrate it by drinking a lot of alcohol haha, just about everywhere else in the world. Here it´s pretty bad though the people here are very heavy drinkers. We had to be in our apartment by 7:30pm instead of 9:30pm. There has been two other elders living in our apartment since Friday, we have two more Elders in our ward now. We played Uno for a while and just hung out in the apartment. The new Elders are really cool, Elder Canales de Lima and Elder Santana de Argentina. Were excited to have two more elders in the ward, are area is huge and there is definitely a ton of work to be done so two elders more is going to be very helpful. But yeah new years was pretty fun, we went and got pizza from Pizza Hut and a bucket of chicken from KFC in The Quinde in Cajamarca. It´s the only place here to get real fast food, we brought the food back to our apartment and played uno and ate haha. The streets were full of people all night, new years is just one big party for them it´s crazy.
So as far as the work goes, the couple Hno Irael and Hma Dilma were married on Saturday and baptized immediately after their marriage. It was so awesome, we have been working really hard with them! So it was nice to see the fruits of your work. I am really excited for them and the changes that they are making in their lives to make the first steps torward following Christ. They have two kids and I know that through The Gospel their family is going to be strengthened. It was definitely hard to get them all squared away for their marriage though haha, we had to send a member from the ward to different small towns to get their birthcertificates. We sent this member to two different towns out of Cajamarca a total of about 12 hours of travel time between all the traveling. We were very grateful for the sacrifices she made, so that we could get all the paper work for their marriage! Irael has a lot of faith and I know will be a faithful member of the church and follower of Christ, his wife also knows that the Gospel is going to strengthen their family. I am sure that Heavenly Father is preparing people to hear the Gospel, and I saw that through them. It´s funny how sometimes I will be really bummed out or tired, and other times your on high and so happy. It´s so awesome though. We have a couple of kids that want to be baptized but we are yet to talk with their parents to get permision, we hope there are no problems there. I will send some pictures this next week of the marriage and the baptism and all of it!
My companion and I are becoming a lot closer, and I understand a little bit better the personality of Pacori. It helps me a lot to put my self in his shoes and see how it would be for him. One thing really important is the unity between your companion and yourself, without it you can´t teach or do anything. Your companion is your best friend and your with them 24/7 so whatever it is that makes your companionship work you should do. One thing that my teacher in the Provo MTC told me that I thought was important, was that with your companions you have to look for the best qualities of each companion and never look at the things that you don´t like. There will always be something that you maybe don´t like about someone, but it´s best to look past it and see what´s makes them a good person. If that makes any sense! Haha.
I feel really bad I didn´t send a package for Christmas and I hope that I can send something in the following month. I hope that I get to stay here in Cajamarca for another change at least or three at most. I love it here and don´t want to leave haha. I am going to send a small envelope with like 5 letters in it and hopefully you guys could send them out to my friends. I can only send two letters a month through the mission for free. Any others I want to send are 7 solace a letter!! It´s not worth it. On a side note, something funny that made me think of Dad was I was walking in the street and we walked by a house that was playing music. They always have music going I feel like anywhere you go. They were playing Milli Vanilli "Girl you know its true", it made me crack up. Sorry again about the pictures I will for sure send a picture this next week. As far as a iPod charger goes it would be nice to have one if you could send one maybe, I can buy one here though it doesn´t matter. I figured that you guys would want to hear a summary of the week rather than emailing back and forth let me know what you guys think is better! Love you!!
-Christopher
Happy new years! Sounds like you guys had a pretty fun new years party with the Goodmans. The pictures looked sweet. Go figure that Joel would fall asleep before midnight haha.
Here in Cajamarca the people celebrate it by drinking a lot of alcohol haha, just about everywhere else in the world. Here it´s pretty bad though the people here are very heavy drinkers. We had to be in our apartment by 7:30pm instead of 9:30pm. There has been two other elders living in our apartment since Friday, we have two more Elders in our ward now. We played Uno for a while and just hung out in the apartment. The new Elders are really cool, Elder Canales de Lima and Elder Santana de Argentina. Were excited to have two more elders in the ward, are area is huge and there is definitely a ton of work to be done so two elders more is going to be very helpful. But yeah new years was pretty fun, we went and got pizza from Pizza Hut and a bucket of chicken from KFC in The Quinde in Cajamarca. It´s the only place here to get real fast food, we brought the food back to our apartment and played uno and ate haha. The streets were full of people all night, new years is just one big party for them it´s crazy.
So as far as the work goes, the couple Hno Irael and Hma Dilma were married on Saturday and baptized immediately after their marriage. It was so awesome, we have been working really hard with them! So it was nice to see the fruits of your work. I am really excited for them and the changes that they are making in their lives to make the first steps torward following Christ. They have two kids and I know that through The Gospel their family is going to be strengthened. It was definitely hard to get them all squared away for their marriage though haha, we had to send a member from the ward to different small towns to get their birthcertificates. We sent this member to two different towns out of Cajamarca a total of about 12 hours of travel time between all the traveling. We were very grateful for the sacrifices she made, so that we could get all the paper work for their marriage! Irael has a lot of faith and I know will be a faithful member of the church and follower of Christ, his wife also knows that the Gospel is going to strengthen their family. I am sure that Heavenly Father is preparing people to hear the Gospel, and I saw that through them. It´s funny how sometimes I will be really bummed out or tired, and other times your on high and so happy. It´s so awesome though. We have a couple of kids that want to be baptized but we are yet to talk with their parents to get permision, we hope there are no problems there. I will send some pictures this next week of the marriage and the baptism and all of it!
My companion and I are becoming a lot closer, and I understand a little bit better the personality of Pacori. It helps me a lot to put my self in his shoes and see how it would be for him. One thing really important is the unity between your companion and yourself, without it you can´t teach or do anything. Your companion is your best friend and your with them 24/7 so whatever it is that makes your companionship work you should do. One thing that my teacher in the Provo MTC told me that I thought was important, was that with your companions you have to look for the best qualities of each companion and never look at the things that you don´t like. There will always be something that you maybe don´t like about someone, but it´s best to look past it and see what´s makes them a good person. If that makes any sense! Haha.
I feel really bad I didn´t send a package for Christmas and I hope that I can send something in the following month. I hope that I get to stay here in Cajamarca for another change at least or three at most. I love it here and don´t want to leave haha. I am going to send a small envelope with like 5 letters in it and hopefully you guys could send them out to my friends. I can only send two letters a month through the mission for free. Any others I want to send are 7 solace a letter!! It´s not worth it. On a side note, something funny that made me think of Dad was I was walking in the street and we walked by a house that was playing music. They always have music going I feel like anywhere you go. They were playing Milli Vanilli "Girl you know its true", it made me crack up. Sorry again about the pictures I will for sure send a picture this next week. As far as a iPod charger goes it would be nice to have one if you could send one maybe, I can buy one here though it doesn´t matter. I figured that you guys would want to hear a summary of the week rather than emailing back and forth let me know what you guys think is better! Love you!!
-Christopher
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