Wow this week went by fast. The last zone meeting the personal secretary , Elder Brunis, and one of the assistants came. Elder Brunis forgot something in the office so I went with him to get it. Elder Brunis is in my group and I have always fallen good with him. It was funny because he is learning English so he would talk to me in English and I would speak in Spanglish. I seriously love talking with Latinos in English because their manner to say things is so funny.
Speaking of that, this week I we started our classes of English. It was a lot of fun and we had a good mix of members and investigators there. I teach with Elder Riddle which is fun because he is super animated about everything. We are hoping to have even more people in the next class.
I love this ward. We are always working with the youth here and trying get them excited for missions. This week we have plans to leave with 6 of the young men in the ward. We always joke with them and try and get everyone to know that the gospel is about joy; it is THE path to happiness.
So I read the thing Aunt Jeanie put about teaching how to make pie. That is a great idea. I miss pie, but it reminds me of a cultural thing here. No one here uses ovens to cook. I have seen it done once. What is more common is that if someone happens to have an oven they will just use the stove top and use the oven for storage. It is actually really smart because the inside of an oven is the best place to store things if you will never use it.
In my first area we almost always contacted. We went from farm to farm and it was always an adventure. Now we are working closely with members and always have something on the list. I love the diversity of missionary work. We are really here to serve. One day we can be digging holes or painting houses and in the afternoon be talking to the alcalde (like mayor) about church events and how the gospel of Christ will better the community. Albaron, an youth in our ward, pointed out that Christ would use a variety of methods to meet and teach, and as representatives of His church, we must do the same.
Love,
Elder Perryman
PS Mom I am sorry that there are no photos in this one, I will make it up to you with more next week.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Happy President's Day!¿!
So I forgot that it was president day. The only holidays that are really big here are new years and all the random Peruvian holidays which I don't exactly understand yet. I also forgot all about the Olympics until I saw my pension watching it on here TV. I seriously feel like I'm in a different world sometimes, but I like that.
So this week we had lunch at Hna Yasmin's house. She is not a member, but she is the nicest lady ever. She made us lunch and we talked with her for a good time. She even offered to take letters back home for me. Then we talked about religion with her and her sister. Both are Catholics culturally, but have a couple of different beliefs, but both have a grand testimony of God. Her sister said something that was super interesting to me, she said "always teach that Our Heavenly Father is Loving, no matter what". I love this because the first principal of the first lesson is that we have a loving Heavenly Father. Sometimes we think that He has forgotten about us or even people say that he has rejected them, but that is never true, like the story of the Prodigal son the Father is always waiting with open arms.
Thursday was such a great day. First we made tacos with Lugi and his family, so far Luigi is the only member of his family, so we wanted a way to gain confidence with everyone in their family. And there is no better way to make friends than through food and the gospel of Christ. What a combo! Anyway after that we worked with the missionaries from Tarapcá and we went on splits with two of the young men in the ward. It was such a great experience. The young men are now excited to go out and teach with us and we have someone coming out with us everyday next week.
Today we decided to go to Chili's to eat lunch. Yes I know I can hear dad asking "Chili's?!? Why Chili's when you are in Peru." But this has to do with the things can be backwards here. In Chiclayo Chili's isn't where you take you 4 screaming kids, it is a fancy place to take a date. Also we were all missing food from the states.
This week we worked so hard, but we never touched a single door. We just went out and talked to people who seemed interested, or talked with people on the street. There are all people in the street. But my favorite lesson that I taught was to three teenagers this week. So every Friday we have sports night in the church and we always go to set appointments and bond with the ward. We started playing a bit and then realized that there were a couple youth who we didn't know so we decided to teach them. We taught them about the reason the gospel is important in our lives, especially as youth. How if we truly want to accomplish things in life, we must do it through The Great Mediator of all things. Through Christ we can accomplish everything, but we must trust him first.
Love,
Elder Perryman
So this week we had lunch at Hna Yasmin's house. She is not a member, but she is the nicest lady ever. She made us lunch and we talked with her for a good time. She even offered to take letters back home for me. Then we talked about religion with her and her sister. Both are Catholics culturally, but have a couple of different beliefs, but both have a grand testimony of God. Her sister said something that was super interesting to me, she said "always teach that Our Heavenly Father is Loving, no matter what". I love this because the first principal of the first lesson is that we have a loving Heavenly Father. Sometimes we think that He has forgotten about us or even people say that he has rejected them, but that is never true, like the story of the Prodigal son the Father is always waiting with open arms.
Thursday was such a great day. First we made tacos with Lugi and his family, so far Luigi is the only member of his family, so we wanted a way to gain confidence with everyone in their family. And there is no better way to make friends than through food and the gospel of Christ. What a combo! Anyway after that we worked with the missionaries from Tarapcá and we went on splits with two of the young men in the ward. It was such a great experience. The young men are now excited to go out and teach with us and we have someone coming out with us everyday next week.
Today we decided to go to Chili's to eat lunch. Yes I know I can hear dad asking "Chili's?!? Why Chili's when you are in Peru." But this has to do with the things can be backwards here. In Chiclayo Chili's isn't where you take you 4 screaming kids, it is a fancy place to take a date. Also we were all missing food from the states.
This week we worked so hard, but we never touched a single door. We just went out and talked to people who seemed interested, or talked with people on the street. There are all people in the street. But my favorite lesson that I taught was to three teenagers this week. So every Friday we have sports night in the church and we always go to set appointments and bond with the ward. We started playing a bit and then realized that there were a couple youth who we didn't know so we decided to teach them. We taught them about the reason the gospel is important in our lives, especially as youth. How if we truly want to accomplish things in life, we must do it through The Great Mediator of all things. Through Christ we can accomplish everything, but we must trust him first.
Love,
Elder Perryman
Monday, February 10, 2014
Happy Valentine’s Day
This week has been fantastic. I am starting to get along super well with my companion and it just makes everyday feel like fun. The other day we were walking down the street and a kid started yelling "HELLO" to me. It is common for gringos to have everyone want to test their English out with them. I told my companion that the next person who attempts to speak English to me I will contact (I enjoy speaking with everyone), teach, and invite to baptism. Literally one block later an lady yelled "Hello" and I went to speak English to her. I was shocked when she replied back (with a thick accent). It turns out that she is from Ferreñafe, but married someone from Idaho (Idaho Falls to be exact) and she is just down here for a couple of weeks. We kept talking for a little bit, in Spanish, and we are going to her house Tuesday to eat dinner.
I have see so many great things on my mission. This week one of our less active members called us in the morning Saturday inviting us to his grill out (yes I know I am getting fat). We went over, ate, taught a small lesson, and he told us that he knows he needs to come back to church. He told us of how his pride stopped him form progressing and now he will try and change everything. This was a complete change of heart for him, a mini miracle. Really its the best miracle, because it is the change of heart.
On the topic of food this week was the first time I have had "causa" or "causa ferreñafana." It is a smorgasbord of everything you can find in a Peruvian dish except for rice. To be precise it had banana, sweet potato, yucca (the potato of South America), corn, fish, potato, and other questionable substances. It was strange, but so delicious.
Sacrament meeting this week was incredible. Fasting=miracles. There were a couple funny things like my companion had the last talk and the bishop never told him until the last minute or one of the many dogs in this country came into the chapel. But what was incredible was that we had 11 or 12 investigators in the chapel. I was worried at first because certain investigators weren't there and then we started to sing "Called to Serve" and about three or four investigators entered the chapel. I love that song.
Love,
Elder Perryman
I have see so many great things on my mission. This week one of our less active members called us in the morning Saturday inviting us to his grill out (yes I know I am getting fat). We went over, ate, taught a small lesson, and he told us that he knows he needs to come back to church. He told us of how his pride stopped him form progressing and now he will try and change everything. This was a complete change of heart for him, a mini miracle. Really its the best miracle, because it is the change of heart.
On the topic of food this week was the first time I have had "causa" or "causa ferreñafana." It is a smorgasbord of everything you can find in a Peruvian dish except for rice. To be precise it had banana, sweet potato, yucca (the potato of South America), corn, fish, potato, and other questionable substances. It was strange, but so delicious.
Sacrament meeting this week was incredible. Fasting=miracles. There were a couple funny things like my companion had the last talk and the bishop never told him until the last minute or one of the many dogs in this country came into the chapel. But what was incredible was that we had 11 or 12 investigators in the chapel. I was worried at first because certain investigators weren't there and then we started to sing "Called to Serve" and about three or four investigators entered the chapel. I love that song.
Love,
Elder Perryman
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Las montañas
This week was wonderful. So here in Peru it is a whole different world. And some times the patriotic American side of me misses something good and American. This week I was exploring Chiclayo with my companion and I found a place that sells Oreo milkshakes. This to me was a tender mercy. I love speaking about the food of Peru, but they don't sell drinks with ice here, let alone milkshakes. We are constantly warned here that drinking cold drinks will give us a cold, is that even remotely true?
I love my job. It really isn't a job, more of a privilege and gift. I get to use my day visiting families and serving ward members. But my favorite part is teaching kids. It doesn't really matter to me if they are 2 or 12 years old, but they are always more willing to accept Christ into there life. Luigi, our recent convert who is only 12, walked to church by himself last Sunday and passed the sacrament. It amazes me when younger people love coming unto Christ.
Speaking of youth, this week was EFY (or FSY) for all the youth in our mission. This Sunday every youth that went bore there testimonies together. Afterwards all of their parents went up a spoke about the changes in their children. That word, CHANGE, is the reason why we are here, or more specifically "everlasting change through the atonement of Jesus Christ."
So this week was "festival de la calendaría" which basically (to me) is just another excuse for us Peruvians to have another huge party. Whenever there are holidays here, people just celebrate in the middle of the street. I will send some pictures of this in the next weeks email. But there were a few traditions that were strange to me. One of which is the "Vaca Loca" which is when people parade around and a few where these cardboard cow costumes. Another (which is super strange for me) is that they burn huge painted tree trunks in the middle of the street. Though I imagine that Peruvians would think that super bowl Sunday traditions are strange too.
Anyway the photos I put up are from a hike we took as a zone. The reason I am in my missionary attire is because I had to go to Chiclayo directly afterward (and a mission rule is that we need to ware missionary clothes). But at this point all my pants are dusty or dirty because there aren't paved roads everywhere.
Con bastante amor
Elder Perryman
I love my job. It really isn't a job, more of a privilege and gift. I get to use my day visiting families and serving ward members. But my favorite part is teaching kids. It doesn't really matter to me if they are 2 or 12 years old, but they are always more willing to accept Christ into there life. Luigi, our recent convert who is only 12, walked to church by himself last Sunday and passed the sacrament. It amazes me when younger people love coming unto Christ.
Speaking of youth, this week was EFY (or FSY) for all the youth in our mission. This Sunday every youth that went bore there testimonies together. Afterwards all of their parents went up a spoke about the changes in their children. That word, CHANGE, is the reason why we are here, or more specifically "everlasting change through the atonement of Jesus Christ."
So this week was "festival de la calendaría" which basically (to me) is just another excuse for us Peruvians to have another huge party. Whenever there are holidays here, people just celebrate in the middle of the street. I will send some pictures of this in the next weeks email. But there were a few traditions that were strange to me. One of which is the "Vaca Loca" which is when people parade around and a few where these cardboard cow costumes. Another (which is super strange for me) is that they burn huge painted tree trunks in the middle of the street. Though I imagine that Peruvians would think that super bowl Sunday traditions are strange too.
Anyway the photos I put up are from a hike we took as a zone. The reason I am in my missionary attire is because I had to go to Chiclayo directly afterward (and a mission rule is that we need to ware missionary clothes). But at this point all my pants are dusty or dirty because there aren't paved roads everywhere.
Con bastante amor
Elder Perryman
Monday, January 27, 2014
La tierra de doble fe
Mom I am sorry, I do not have many photos this week. So
my town is called "the land of double faith" because it is well know
to have many people here who practice witchcraft. My new companion is
funny, but is superstitious about many things here.
Yesterday we went to the bishops house to eat lunch.
Our bishop is the best, I council with him so much about what we must do
for the ward. But when we were eating at his house I found a caterpillar
in the middle of my spoon. I knew that I have been in Peru for a while
because I just pushed it to the side and kept eating. I can't imagine what
mom would have done.
I have yet to get my birthday package, but it is all good.
My companion and I are starting to click now. He loves music and
he wants to learn English. So we talk about music a lot and he tries to
sing songs in English and it is the funniest thing. He loves to read and
he has also talked about learning Italian.
I don't have many funny stories this week, its just been
really hot here and there is a huge carnival in town.
Love,
Elder Perryman
Monday, January 20, 2014
Levántate Elder Lazaro
Wow! This week has been crazy. There has been so much to do. For my birthday I went to the pension of the other missionaries. Their pension, Hermana Irma, is the best! She bought me a cake and everything. I got egged on the head which is a tradition here in Peru. I also got my face smashed in the cake which is another tradition here. But I have gotten to the point where all the days basically feel the same because I just want to get out and teach. Our ward has so much potential and I feel like I need to do all I can to help them.
My new companion is good. His name is Elder Lazaro which is the English equivalent of Lazarus, so everyone jokes about his name. He is super funny, but childish. This is his third change in the mission and he had an emergency change with his trainer so he needs to review a lot of Preach my Gospel. But it is nice still being with a Latino. I feel more accustomed speaking in Spanish now.
I love my ward and I would love to stay here for another 3 changes, but I will go wherever the Lord needs me. We found so many new people who can progress in the gospel. This Sunday we had 7 investigators in the chapel. It is amazing how much the members can help. I really never feel like I am working. I am just reading things that I enjoy (I love scripture study now), visiting families who want to learn of Christ, and helping the Bishop with whatever he needs to get done while doing a bit of service when needed.
I love this work. I know it is true and I will keep pressing on until He says it is finished. I am meant to be in Peru. Everyday I feel blessed to be serving here.
Love,
Elder Perryman
My new companion is good. His name is Elder Lazaro which is the English equivalent of Lazarus, so everyone jokes about his name. He is super funny, but childish. This is his third change in the mission and he had an emergency change with his trainer so he needs to review a lot of Preach my Gospel. But it is nice still being with a Latino. I feel more accustomed speaking in Spanish now.
I love my ward and I would love to stay here for another 3 changes, but I will go wherever the Lord needs me. We found so many new people who can progress in the gospel. This Sunday we had 7 investigators in the chapel. It is amazing how much the members can help. I really never feel like I am working. I am just reading things that I enjoy (I love scripture study now), visiting families who want to learn of Christ, and helping the Bishop with whatever he needs to get done while doing a bit of service when needed.
I love this work. I know it is true and I will keep pressing on until He says it is finished. I am meant to be in Peru. Everyday I feel blessed to be serving here.
Love,
Elder Perryman
Monday, January 13, 2014
Adiós Carranza!
So this was the fastest change on my mission. I feel
like I just started in my new area and Elder Carranza is already leaving.
I am so blessed with all the companions I have had so far, I hope that
the Lord will continue to bless me. Elder Carranza finished his mission
strong; we worked hard and we played hard. He had such a real love for
the people; it inspired me. I honestly didn't feel like we worked this week
(don't worry we worked), but it felt like we just had fun everyday. I don't
know how to explain it, but I love serving the people in this area.
I had a lot of crazy experiences this week too. I know
my work is real; I can feel it in every lesson. During a work visit I
taught a family with Elder Riddle. The spirit was so strong that when he
started to say the closing prayer we both started crying. I love being
able to help families out and feel the spirit. Though sometimes it is
difficult to teach families because in many many cases they are single mother
homes. It is sad to see, but emphasizes the importance of teaching the
importance of families.
Luigi was baptized this week!!! He is my favorite. I have
seen such a change in their family. His mom, Helen, is so great, but has
a lot of difficulties. Yesterday in Sunday school we were talking about
reasons to fast and she said "I want to fast for my husband, so that one
day he will accept this gospel." Elder Carranza and I were just
sitting in the back of the class with our hands in the air when she said that.
I hope that all of her family will be able to make it to the temple one
day.
Sadly this week wasn't perfect. During the baptism of
Luigi, Elder Carranza left all of his stuff in the bathroom to change.
When he came back his wallet was not there. He was mad, but said
that he was more upset that someone stole it while in the church. But he was
cool and was glad we focused more on the work than anything else.
I am really just loving life right now. I feel so
blessed to be here in Peru. I love seeing the change the restored gospel
can have in families, especially my own.
Love,
Elder Perryman
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)