7 Cathedrals of Cajamarca

So Cajamarca is known for its 7 cathedrals so today we decided to take a tour of some of them.  I love the architecture, but it doesn't feel the same as the chapels.  I understand more and more when people say that they feel something different inside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This week I met an old friend that I met in Ferreñafe.  His name is Harry and I found out that he lives in my area.  We are starting to teach him, but it is sad because his daughter recently passed away, so he finds a lot of comfort in the doctrine of the church.  This week he also came to an activity that we had and we gave him a tour of the chapel.  He said that his favorite painting was of Moroni, because of the strength him must have had.

We are starting to leave as a ward every Saturday at 7 in the morning to visit less actives and it is fantastic.  Even though we have to wake up a bit more early to leave it is a great experience because it helps strengthen the ward.

Also I am starting to forget certain things in English.  Because I always say my prayers in Spanish (including personal prayers) it is tough for me to not speak Spanish automatically.  For example a Sister in my ward asked for a blessing in English and I was struggling to not speak Spanish.  I feel like when I come home I will need to take English classes.

I feel so blessed to be able to have the Bishop and his wife as my pension.  The Bishop here is super loving and helps us so much.  He is a convert of about the same time as dad and I can see a lot of similarities in there testimonies.

Love,
Elder Perryman

President Williams is the best!

President Williams is the best!  I got on today to write him and I saw that he responded in English.  Now I don't know if I should write him in Spanish or English, because English is easier to write, but Spanish is easier to spell.  The meeting with President Williams was great.  He is super funny, but extremely organized.  Also it is interesting because his wife doesn't speak Spanish, so he helps translate a lot of things for her.  But it made me remember my first weeks, when I new about nothing.  But President Williams speaks with a lot of confidence, and it is obvious that this will be a great year.

My companion is also doing well.  He is one of my favorite companions so far.  And probably the hardest working.  Everyone in the zone asks if we just party everyday because we are both very extroverted.  We don't party (of course we are missionaries) but we love working together, and I think we do a good job too.

Today we left to explore Cajamarca.  We went to a town that makes guitars here in Peru and we went to a couple cool rock faces.  Also we went to a part of my area (which I was unaware of) which has a cave and a bunch of ancient paintings.  In the next week we are I am thinking about going to La Colpa, which is a field that has the "named cows" with Elder Lalli (the tall guy in one of the photos) and his district.  They say it has  "named cows" because every cow responds to its name and acts like a dog almost.

This area is great, but right now one of my favorite investigators is Danny.  He is thirteen and comes to church by himself, he also lives far away.  He parents are less active, but has such a strong testimony.  He even bore his testimony Sunday and he wants to everything possible to be baptized and help strengthen his family.  Sometimes its is the smallest children who teach the parents.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Magdalena

Family!

Another week in paradise.  And I am forgetting how to spell in English...

We have a new [Mission] President and he is coming up to Cajamarca this week, so I am super excited to meet him.  But from what I have heard he is a great guy.

One of my zone leaders hurt his foot playing soccer so I have been helping in their area because they are part of my district.  Also my companion went to Lima this week finalize his visa.  It was fun working in Cajamarca, but Baños is the best area in the mission so I missed it in my time away.  I also went to Magdalena to retrieve birth certificates for a marriage.  Getting married is a whole mess of paper work here so most people just don't get married.  Anyway Magdalena is about 2 hours away from Cajamarca and the trip to get there is beautiful (I attached a picture).  But the town is super tiny and it is in the middle of the nowhere.  But I enjoy traveling to new places so it was fun.

Also this week we went to El Inca to visit member and we saw an old lady with a tank of gas.  We offered to take it to her house for her and when we asked her where she lived she told us "just around the corner", which I later found out is code here for 2 miles away up hill.  We turned the corner and found no houses, after asking for a bit more directions she told us that her house was on top of a huge hill.  When we finally got to the top (half an hour later) we taught her about the restoration.  It was a unique moment to teach about how there is a prophet on the earth while you are overlooking a whole city.  Also Elder Gomez is the best because he always teaches with a surety, even though he only has 3 years as a members.

Also I talked about Brother PPC last week so I attached a picture with him.  He has an OSU hat, which makes me happy.

Love,
Elder Perryman

One more thing...A youth in my last ward wrote me this and it made my day :)

Elder Perryman. Such as this. Well I guess ....
Well I am writing to inform you that I am very well, the young people you taught are active.  Now I am no longer the YM Secretary  and I was relieved with the whole presidency.  And my call now occupies my best friend Gerson, and the twins are the 1st and 2nd counselors and MARCO President.  I am now authorized representative of YSA with Sister Estefhanya.  I also want to thank you for being my friend, thanks for your help, thank you for giving me the opportunity to go out with you teaching.  I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father to get to know you in these days.  Ahh well I Saturday 28 there will be a Mini MTC in the stake and I will be there with, Brother Luis Antonio, Brother Jesus Alberto, Brother Yimy, Sister Estefhanya, Brother Miguel Chavesta . Good ... I bid you  farewell Elder Perryman, we love you and I miss you personally . I will be writing and also tell you where I have to serve, as soon as I reach my calling ... I love this photo:)  (it is the photo of the baptism of Gerson)

Elder Gomez!!!!

So my new companion is from Chile and has been going crazy over the world cup this week.  But he is the best.  He has 4 months in the mission and is super ready to work.  We work super well together and I am extremely excited for this change.  He also has the funniest alarm clock so we have dance parties when it goes off in the morning.  In this area we work a lot with less actives.  Usually we have about 90/400 members in church here, so there is much work to be done.  We always talk about making Baños a stake because the area is so large and this change we have goals to open work in certain areas.

I am extremely excited for this new part of my mission, especially because we will have our new president come in next week.  I love this area, I could stay here for half my mission.  We eat with the bishop, who is the most loving guy, and our mission leader is super organized.

So we have been teaching the Vargas family for a while, who live on top of a hill.  So visiting them is fun because we are always out of breath when we make it to there house.  But they came to church this week!  I was so happy a member was able to give them a ride (he has a 4x4) because the father can't walk well and one of the daughters is pregnant.  Also in the third hour we lost the father, later we found that he went outside because he was cold.  So my companion and I read 3 Nephi 11 with him outside in the sun.  I enjoyed it because even as a missionary I have a hard time sitting still in class.

This Saturday we had an activity at 7 in the morning to visit families and it was fantastic.  I left with Brother PPC, a recent convert, to "El Inca".  El Inca is a small part of our area that is above a hill.  It was fun going with PPC and he really has a love for the gospel.  He such a loving and humble guy and he helps us a lot here.  Also he has a combi (minivan) so he gives us rides sometimes.  I know that it is not important if you know a lot about the gospel, Brother PPC is still in the learning process.  What is important is if you love Christ and are willing to follow Him.

Also something that I learned about giving references for the missionaries this week (this is for you mom).  We do not think of names first when we want to give the missionaries a reference.  We must think of a date (a goal) and then pray and when we do this the Lord will put someone in our path that needs the gospel.

Love
Elder Perryman

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!

I am so sorry I am forgetting about holidays and birthdays.  Time is passing by and every holiday here seems the same.  The commercialism in the states hasn't arrived here yet so I don't have stores to remind me what holiday is next.

The weeks here are flying by.  I am now waiting for my next companion.  I will receive him Tuesday night and we will go right to work.  Right now I am with Elder Saldaña, who is from my group.  He is great, he works hard and is just a nice guy.  He even helped me clean my room today for the new arrival.

The Miranda family is the family of the youth who just got baptized.  I feel so blessed to be able to visit this family and see them reactivate in the church.  They have the best kids.  One of there children is hyperactive (reminds me of someone) and in church he was asking me to show him magic tricks in the middle of sacrament meeting.  But I gave him my daily planner and a pen so that he could draw.  But Max, the father, is fantastic, he has such a strong testimony and all he wants is to see his three boys go on missions.

So seeing another companion finish his mission is bitter sweet, I am starting to feel old now.  But I am excited for the changes to come.  Also this new change means a new mission president.  I am happy because my area has so much potential.  It is one of the wealthier areas so many missionaries say it is hard, but I think the members here are willing and ready to work.

And I just want to take some time to wish my Father a happy Fathers Day.  I owe so much to my dad.  He is an example of humility and strength, of love and intelligence.  I really hope that I can return one day and know that I made him proud.  He never had the opportunity to serve a mission as a youth, so in many ways he is serving through me.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Cajamarca Zoo

So I have good news and bad news.  The good news is I have a ton of fantastic photos.  The bad news is I can't send them right now because the formatting is bad on my SD card.

So this week has been exhausting, but great.  Our family in Puylcana got married!  So we are one step closer to baptism with them.  I want to help open a family group in Puylucana while I am here.  I found out that there is a family group in Pacanga where I opened teaching with Elder Flores.

Today for P-day we went to the zoo.  It was the best.  Cajamarca is so beautiful and green.  We saw Emus, peacocks, lions, and bears.  It was super cool because the zoo was so open.  Also the only thing to separate us from pumas and bears was a chain link fence.

Christian Miranda was baptized this week.  We faced so many problems getting ready for the baptism.  Max, Christians' dad, is a great guy who we are reactivating.  He baptized his son, but we looked everywhere for a shirt for him.  Then Christian didn't have a button in his pants.  The water was cold.  People showed up late.  But none of that mattered, because after the baptism Christian and Max gave outstanding testimonies.  Max spoke of how he is going to do all that he can from here on out to send his 3 sons on missions.  I was so happy to here their testimonies.

I do not have much time to write because we are going to a baptism today for our bishops daughter, but I promise I will send plenty of photos next week.

Love,
Elder Perryman

Baños de Coringo

This week was great, but it has been a lot of work.  We share the ward with the sister missionaries and there was some confusion over who is teaching who and our area book was a mess.  So this week we took a lot of time organizing the area books and getting lists of members and quorums.  Though I do not like to organize a lot, I have learned that it is vital in the mission.

Also this week a less active family invited us over to eat.  Fernardo, the dad, asked me if I knew how to make american burgers and of course I said yes.  So I had the opportunity to grill for the first time in forever which was fantastic because I miss a good hamburger (sorry mom).  But the best news is that they came to church this week, so we will continue to visit them.

Also in this area our mission leader is super organized.  In my last two areas my mission leaders didn't do much, but here he helps us a lot.  I have learned that members really are the motor for missionary work in their ward or branch.  Without the help of members we are just touching doors all day.

Today President Risso came to say goodbye to Cajamarca.  I had a good interview with him and I am excited to meet the next president, President Williams.  Also because the whole zone got together, Elder Flores came down from Chota, which is about 4 hours away.  So he is staying the night with us, which is fantastic because he was my second companion in the mission and one of my favorites.

Love,
Elder Perryman