Cajamarca!!

I am going to Cajamarca!!  I am not 100% sure yet, but word on the street is that I will be in Urrabamba, and I will be in a grupo familiar (family group) which means that it will be smaller than a branch.  Woohoo! I am excited because that means that we will be working a lot with members,

Elder Palacios is going home tomorrow.  It is weird to think so much time has gone by since my first change. I keep seeing so many great missionaries finishing there missions and I feel like I just got here.

I do not have a whole lot of time because I am visiting like a million people to say goodbye today.  I will miss the families of this ward so much.  Sunday I gave a talk and so did Luis, who is a new member.  Luis and his twin Jesus were baptized right as I came in to the area, and it has been a privilege to watch them grow in the gospel.  And to see how it has effected their family.  Their father used to not give them permission to go to church, but in time he wanted his other son, Rodolfo, to be baptized as well.  I hope that I can visit Ferreñafe again after my trip to Cajamarca.

What else...there was an earthquake this week so that was pretty cool.

This week Joan, a new member, called us asking for a blessing.  He told us that he felt terrible and he didn't know what to do but as he walked outside he saw to doves in his door and decided to call the missionaries.  My testimony of blessings has grown so much in the mission.

I am excited to see what this next chapter of my mission will be like.  I am excited to serve in the Mountains and to eat more cuy (I'm joking mom).  I know that the Lord is preparing his children there for the gospel

Love,
Elder Perryman

Loco!

So Skyping the family was fun.  I wish I could have spoken more with Sam, but it was super nice to be able to see his face.  Also I realize how much a loving family is a blessing in my life.

So since we already talked this week I will just share a story.

This week as we were taking a car from Chiclayo to Ferreñafe I started talking with the driver, Felix, and he was a super nice guy.  He began speaking about his life and the strange jobs that he had in Lima.  Actually in Callao, which is the dangerous part of Lima.  He had a job selling coke from tienda to tienda (store to store) and he had an extremely dangerous area.  On his first day working a group of guys saw his uniform and mugged him.  He said that they told him that the next time he would have to bring more money or they would do something worse.  He didn't want to lose his job, so he prayed for what to do.  He told me that later in the day he had the idea to work dressed as a homeless man.  So he went to work the next day with one sandal, ripped jeans, and a dirty shirt.  The same guys who mugged him just yelled "Oye Loco!" at him, but left him alone.  He was able to go from store to store selling in his area without anyone bothering him and he ended up having some of the best sales in the City.

It makes me think of how sometimes, we have challenges so big it looks like the only option is to quit.  But when we are backed up against a wall, that is when we must exercise faith.  Through prayer, we can ask, receive, and give thanks, for all the blessings we will ever need.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Feliz Dia de La Madre!

Family!

I am so excited to Skype this week, but I am sad to hear that I can't Skype Sam too.

So this week flew by and we had a lot of great/interesting experiences as usual.  We leave and teach with the youth who are preparing for missions a lot which is a huge blessing.  This week we visited Jose, a new investigator, and as we were talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ he had no fear to speak about his need to be baptized.  I love when people don't know exactly why, but have a humble desire to follow Christ into the waters of Baptism.

Also this same day we walked by the house of an old Spanish lady who we had taught before.  We talked for a little bit and i gave her "The Family: La proclamación del Mundo" and she kissed my hand.  It was weird for me because I feel like hand kissing is super old timey.  I am sorry Becca, if you are reading this, that a lady kissed me (just on the hand) on my mission.

My favorite part of this week was when we cleaned the chapel with the Bishop.  There was un Monton de dust in our library and our bishop kept saying "Que lastima" which made me giggle inside.  But what I really enjoyed is after we mopped the floors (we have tile, not carpet) we sat outside waiting for everything to dry.  While relaxing a little bit our bishop talked to us about just about everything, the mission, his life, what it is like to be a bishop.  It really gave me an appreciation for everything that bishops do throughout the world.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Pie de Manzana!

So this week has been loads of fun.  I am going to start off by talking about food so I can focus on more spiritual matters latter.  This week the pensionista of Tarapca, Hna Irma, wanted to know how to make apple pie so we made apple pie with her one day this week.  It was fantastic.  But it was fun to help Hna Irma because she helps the missionaries in Ferreñafe so much.

Sunday we were walking home from a members house and a member, Jessica, passed by and told us to visit her son Fabricio in the hospital.  We went over and visited her son and bumped into the Bishop from the other ward (Ferreñafe).  As we left I thought of the impression it might have left on the people to see how the members of this church look out for one another.  It dawned on me that even visiting the sick can have an impact for missionary work.

This week we visited a lot of members with Omar, who recently got back from his mission in Guatemala.  When we visited the teachers quorum President, Jose, we had such a great lesson.  We explained to him the importance of his calling, and that out of every person in the ward only four members have the keys to minister and delegate in their quorum.  It was great to see him think of how much good a young teacher can do.

We had a multi-zone conference this week, and it was great.  President Risso gave a fantastic talk about why the church is true, based on the doctrine, the restoration, and the ordinances.  He focused a lot on temples.  That when people see temples they know that they are houses of God, and that we have a duty to explain why they are sacred.  Also it was great to see a couple of great missionaries from my group and talk about how the mission is going.

Love
Elder Perryman

PS: one of the photos is of me with my gemelos (twins) they help so much with the work here, and I can not wait to see them go on their missions one day.

Brothers!

This week a missionary returned from his mission.  His name is Omar Cordova and he is amazing.  We are teaching many people in his family because they are not all baptized yet.  He is super nice and when he came home he told every member of his family the importance of going to church and reading the Book of Mormon.  He has such a rock solid testimony.

This has been a strange week.  I am not a huge fan of holidays in Peru because it usually means that people start drinking in the street.  It makes me sad because so many people are missing the point of religious holidays.  They are always there to help us remember, reflect, and better the world.

This week our P-day is split up.  This morning we had our zone meeting and tomorrow we are going to a museum because it isn't open on Monday.  I am excited because Pedro, one of our members will be our tour guide, and he will combine the history with the Book of Mormon.

So today we went to my favorite restaurant in Chiclayo.  It is called Brother’s and it is like a little slice of the USA.  The owner loves the missionaries and it was fun to go as a zone.  His restaurant is tiny so it was funny to see so many people crammed together eating.  The owner (Mike) took a bunch of pictures with us and is a super nice guy.

This month our area has the challenge to read the Book of Mormon.  It has been such a blessing to talk with all of our members about the Book of Mormon.  I have really learned that we can learn the history of Christ through the Bible, but if we want to grow Close to Him we must read the Book of Mormon.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Feliz Pascua!

Happy Easter

So this months Liahona was amazing!  I love when there are so many things focused on our Savior.  Please watch this video about the impact Christ has on the lives of everyone. http://easter.mormon.org/

This week went by fast.  I am happy I am still here because I love my ward.  Willy, the Young Men's President is moving to Lima for work so we went to his house to eat on Saturday.  We had a scrumptious Peruvian plate, but had PB&J's for "desert."  I gave Willy one of my boxes of peanut butter because it is [his] favorite thing on earth.

Also this week I helped Pedro with his homework one day in the morning.  He is doing the BYU-I online classes and his English is really good.  It was a lot of fun because it reminded me a lot of school.

Today I went exploring with my companion and we found a small museum in the municipalidad.  I remember being young and loathing museums and now I just want to find museums every P-day.  Though Chiclayo lacks art museums it has a lot of cool historical museums.

I feel so blessed around this Easter season.  We are blessed by modern day prophets testifying of Christ in these days.  I have seen the Priesthood work miracles and I know that the power of God is on the earth.  It is important to remember in this Easter Season that the heavens are not closed, nor will they ever close.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Conference!!!

So to start off, no I do not have a change.  I will probably stay here until May.  But I am really happy because I love this area and I want to help the young men here progress toward there own missions.  I will also be going on my third change with my companion which is a decent amount of time together.

And conference was AMAZING! Especially the first session, last session, priesthood session.  Basically it was all amazing.  My favorite parts were when Holland spoke about defending the faith and about how Richard G. Scott spoke about being faithful examples in the lives of others.  I have been so blessed by so many examples in my life.  I was able to watch all of conference in English this time.  Every gringo in my zone got together in the stake office and watched conference on TV.  It was fantastic.

I love conference.  I always feel like the messages are meant for me.  There was so much about obedience and love for our savior it was inspired.  But one thing which I thought was crucial was when M. Russell Ballard spoke about how every member should have and read Preach My Gospel.  I would like to challenge everyone reading this to read PMG this month, it has simple and perfect doctrine that can guide and direct your life.  It is a tool for life, not just missionary life.

Love,
Elder Perryman