Week 20 "woah-ha-ha-ha-hooo" - January 18 - January 24 - (Cajamarca)

Just a quick update from Jonah.  Sounds like he working hard.  Hoping his emails get a little longer but he did send a lot of pictures this week! 

Buenas Tardes, todo vosotros, faz de la tierra :) So we had a pretty killer week this past week of January in the year 2016. Some real fun stuff went down. WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! :) (fotos to come) One of our investigators, Hermano Hugo Vasquez, has been investigating the church for the past 8 months (pretty dang long). And just this last Saturday, I had the opportunity to baptism him! It was such a way good experience :) So the baptismal service this past Saturday was super awesome! Usually, we only get like 25ish people to come to the baptisms here in Baños del Inca, but this past week, we got 45ish people to come! It was truly a blessing, and we all knew exactly why. Because Hermano Hugo is the BOMB!! Literally everyone in the ward knows him already because he has been going to church with his family for the past 7 months, every single Sunday. It was just super cool to see all of this culminate in this past Saturday, but the work is not done jaja. We are still working really hard with Hermana Melisa but the timing is just a little off (one way to say it jaja). She's 8 and a half months pregnant so she's not sure if this is the best time to get baptized (by immersion lol). Well...not really a lot else happened this week, we've just been working super hard with this family, and now we're preparing them to get prepped for the temple. That's the best thing about the mission in these days. I think beforehand, the focus was baptism, but now the focus is the temple. We continue to work with the converts of the church until they make it to the temple doors. And we get to go through the temple with them, which is by far the coolest part! So if they're all ready to go before I head out, I get to go to the temple with them, no matter where I'm at in the mish :) I'll be anxiously waiting for that day :)

Wellllll...I love you all so much! Keep on keeping on! Also the church is true :) ¡Viva Perù!

These cool Incan window thingies :)

Me and the hijo

Me, Elder Logan, and our hijos :)

It got rainy

It's still rainy jaja

Cool bridge thing

HORSIESSS

THERE's MORE :=)

Bugs lol

Way cool Spider

BAPTISM!!!!

I'm pumped, Are You?

Us and the Fam :)

Us and the part of the people that attended but not actually all of them and the Fam :)

So cute :)

Us again.

Elder Rios. U da best

On a very sad note.. our Bishop left to go work in Chiclayo.. this is a picture of his last day here with us (yesterday). He is seriously such a great guy. Hope we can get a new bishop that's just as fly :)

Week 19 "Asumacha" - January 11 - January 17 - (Cajamarca)

Training week! Jonah has a new Companion Elder Rios, he is from Lima and is 25 years old and a recent new convert to the Church.  Jonah expressed some nervous excitement about training a new missionary.  He and Elder Rios are going to work hard and have success.  He also shared a few photos of chicken feet.  These particular chicken feet happen to not be attached to a chicken and are on his plate and in his mouth.

So this past week has been pretty intense. Pretty crazy. Lots of stuff going down. And it's all FANTASTIC!!! :) This week has truly been lo máximo. And here's why..

So the first part was kinda sad jaja, but that's okay. Elder Salinas se fue, and he was seriously just such a great companion. It was so great to get to know him super well, and I know that this isn't gonna be the end of our friendship. We're already planning on coming back to Cajamarca together jaja :)

But on Tuesday, I traveled to Trujillo to pick up my hijito :) I went with Elder Logan, he has one more cambio than me, and he's is such a cool guy! But yeah, we kinda had the same feelings of insufficiency before just because there's a lot we need to learn with our Spanish. But yeah, the 8 hour trip was as good as any other 8 hour bus ride through the winding mountains of Peru at 13,000 feet elevation jaja. But we got to Trujillo that night, and we had a 1 hour training with the President, his wife, and the AP's. Jaja, 1 hour of training and nothin more. Then, Elder Logan and I got to sleep in the casita behind the mission home..which is way killer fancy. It's where all of the General Authorties always sleep when they stay in Trujillo jaja. And we also got to have an hour long convo with the President and Sister Marler, just the four of us, about stuff not related to the mission. It was super cool, and they just get cooler every time we talk with them :)

ANYWAYYY... the next day in the morning we had the opportunity to get to know our kids! And my hijito is Elder Rios!!! He is seriously the bomb.com. And I have no idea why there's not a picture of us on the blog, but yeah that's all good. He's like 5 foot 1 lol, and a straight power house. The crazy thing is this.. He's 25 years old, and he's only been a member of the church for about a year and 5 months. Which is so crazy that he's already out here serving a mission! He is seriously so cool, and has one of the best testimonies that I've heard in my life.

Alsooooooo... We've had a ton of success in these past 4 days together. Hugo Vasquez is going to get baptized this Saturday!!! After investigating the church for about 8 months! And maybe the rest of his family too! And I get to baptize him!!! It's gonna be a great couple of cambios with Elder Rios. Seriously, we're gonna get work done :) 

Yeah, so that's kind of a short version of all of the craziness this week, but I don't have a ton of time. I love you all so much!!! Chauskis!!! ¡Viva Perú!

Another day, another chicken foot. Or two :) 

Umm..yeah :)

The niño. (Nicolas and his cousin)  These two kids are stud muffins :)

 

Week 18 "WTHeck" January 4 - January 10 - (Cajamarca)

It has been a great 12 weeks and the training is over.  There are some mixed emotions as Jonah and Elder Salinas will be parting ways.  Elder Salinas has been assigned to a new area and Jonah will now be training a new missionary.  He told us that he had a "feeling" that this might happen.  He will be traveling to Trujillo this week to pick up the new missionary (n00b) from the mission office.  He is sad to lose a good friend but also excited to start something new.

Hey guys. So this past week was pretty big. So as you may remember, we had cambios. And some stuff went down jaja. I'll just get right down to the nitty-gritty. So I got a phone call Saturday night at about 8:00 at night, from the Asistentes. And that can literally only mean like 4 things on the night of cambios. So I answered it and talked with Elder Marshall (the single greatest missionary to walk to earth jaja) and he gave me an assignment! I'll be training this next cambio!!!!! WHAAATTTTT??? I KNOW!!! So yeah, that was just nuts. I'm gonna be going to Trujillo tomorrow morning, to pick up my little n00b (I don't know who he is yet), and then I'll be training him for the next 2 cambios (3 months). I feel so stinkin nervous right now, but so stinkin excited at the same time. But yeah..when I got my call, it could only mean one other thing. Elder Salinas had to leave. He just left this morning back to his old zone Esperanza! And for those of you who don't know the mish life, that never happens jaja. He was just there in Esperanza and now he's heading back, so he kinda had mixed feelings about it. But he's gonna be companions with one of his best buds, so he was pretty excited about that. Big changes :) (pun intended lol)

Oh yeah, also some other stuff happened this last week. So Carnival is like a big thing in South America. Especially in Brazil aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddd... Cajamarca!! So apparently it's like way bigger here than even in Lima, which just blows my mind. Basically what happens, is everyone just throws water balloons at whoever they freakin want in the middle of the street. And also buckets of water. It's super crazy jaja. So we're always walking down the street all nervous-like, with all these crazy people with water. And right now is summer break for everyone so there's niños everywhere in the streets. It's pretty dangerous here right now jajaja.

Well, that's about it actually. I'll send pictures of more Carnival stuff later this cambio (it doesn't actually start until February but people are already celebrating a little early jaja). I love you guys! Keep emailing me! ¡Viva Perú!

A crazy rubik's cube 

Solved!

At Church with recent converts

Beautiful Banos del Inca

Almost a Llama

A family of the Banos del Inca Ward

The Bishop's Family

Vasquez Family

Recent Convert - Hermana Delicia

Another cute Family

Cute Kids

Pensionista Placida and  Family

That is literally the whole taxi

Tough Goodbyes

Week 17 "Almost done with training wut-wut :)" December 28 - January 3, 2016 (Cajamarca)

It's 2016 and apparently the Peruvians know how to ring in the new year.  Jonah said that the Peruvians like to have a lot of fun on New Years Eve (or so he hears, the missionaries need to be in their apartments by 9:00pm)  He said the fireworks woke them up at midnight and went on for 30 minutes non-stop.  President and Sister Marler came to visit the missionaries last week in Cajamarca and there were some great teaching moments and he also enjoyed a good old American burger.  It looks like he may be saying goodbye to Elder Salinas as his training will be coming to a close soon.  He has been a great companion and friend for Jonah, he will be missed.

Hey everybody! This past week was super way cool! We had the way awesome experience of having Presidente, su esposa, y los Asistentes in Cajamarca with us! They are just so fantastic :) Oh yeah, also apparently it was New Years or something, jaja we had to be in our rooms at 9 o´clock so yeah pretty much normal :) But yeah it was a great week.

On PDay we got to go the mall, which strangely resembles the Boise Mall jaja. Everything is American Brands, and it's way cleaner than everything else, and they have American Restaurants. The most important part :) So we went to Longhorns as a District. And I got the ''Americana''....it was beautiful. I'm actually quite surprised that I didn't cry jaja. It was a huge burger with lettuce, tomato, fries, bacon, pepperjack cheese, and good ol' american grease. And I had a rootbeer with it :) That was a great day jaja.

On New Years Day, we had our zone training with the whole zone, Presidente and Sister Marler, and the Assistants. We learned about rocks in our shoes, what is keeping us from really running. We can all kind of think about this in our own lives, what is holding us back from really living happily or progressing (spiritually or temporally). It can be anything, from exercising or going on a diet, or learning to forgive someone that has done you wrong. We literally put rocks in our shoes during the training though to kind of put it into literal terms. But yeah the training was like 4 hours so it got pretty uncomfortable by the end of the time (my rocks were stinkin huge lol), but when we took them out of our shoes, it was literally the best feeling of relief and comfort in my life jaaj. But we can feel something equal or maybe even better with our literal rocks in our shoes. So this is my challenge for all of you this new year: to feel around in your shoes, realize that we all really do have some rocks in there, and then do something to take them out. Whatever that might be for you, just try it. Don't let some dumb rocks in your shoes hold you back from your potential. Let's all run without rocks this year :)

I love you all so much!! Well next, week is cambios, so I'm not sure who my companion is going to be as of right now. It's pretty exciting, especially since I'll be done with my training yeahhhhh :) So until next week I guess! Chau-chau! Viva Perù!

Some Peruvian homes and big clouds

Christmas in Peru

His favorite Picture!

Even though he hasn't seen Star Wars - he still has the force.

Week 16 "Wh-wh-wh-whaaaaatt???" December 21 - December 27 - (Cajamarca)

It was a wonderful Christmas for Elder Babbel and the Babbel family.  What fun it was to have a Skype conversation with him.  He told us about eating cuy (Guinea Pig - a Peruvian delicacy).  If you follow the link you will see what you have been missing.  He said it tastes like very soft chicken but just looks really gross. We were able to see a little bit of the neighborhood he lives in.  We were also able to visit with his companion Elder Salinas.  It was great to see how excited he is and also how happy he is.  It was very hard to end that Skype session and there were a few tears... but we did get an email a few days later and here it is

Hey everybody! :) So this past week was super great! I got to see my mama :) And we also had the opportunity to teach a less-active family to the point that they aren't less-active anymore! Super awesome! They are all coming to church on their own now (apart from the father in the family), and they are just so fantastic :)

Soooo..as you may know.. Christmas happened. ¡Wut wut! And it was just an awesome time to experience it here in Cajamarca. Seriously, it was just crazy. So I don't know how it works with everyone back there in the states, but here, everyone stays up till like 5 in the morning on Christmas Eve into Christmas. It's locaso jaja. But yeah, they all eat dinner at 12am and then party it up afterwards....but being missionaries we had to be in our rooms by 9:30 jaja. But we had a big party with just the missionaries in our zone, and it was way cool :) We ate turkey and salad and mashed potatoes and it felt like home. Then we had a secret santa, and I got this way sweet tie! One tag says it's from Italy and the other says China. I'm going with Italy :) Oh yeah! I also tried cuy for the first time and it was way good! Look that up if you don't know what it is jaja. Super fun Christmas Eve. Then I got to skype the fam which was probably the most bitter sweet moment of my life.. Super hard to hang up after only an hour. But yeah, back to work :)

Also, more about the family. So this is the family that we promised the mother that if she came to church, she would find work, and then a week after she came to church, she found work :) They (everyone except the father) have come to church 5 weeks in a row now, and so now they're active members again! We are still working with the father, and he is so cool. He's seriously such a stellar guy, and wants to come back to church, but is just having some problems right now, but are definitely not losing hope. The thing that everything needs to do to be truly converted to Christ, is recognize the Spirit. Recognize that you're feeling something pure and heaven-sent, and then act on it. The gospel is so simple, and that's why it's so great. So that's my challenge..learn how to recognize the Spirit and then figure out what you need to do to feel it again. (Here's a helfpul hint Galatians 5:22-23 :)

I love you all! ¡Feliz Navidad! And a Happy New Year (Prospero Año en Felizidad jaja)

Elder Salinas, Elder Garside, Elder Babbel and Elder Hunt

Christmas Turkey not Cuy

Christmas morning with Elder Salinas

Celebrating Elder Salinas' Birthday