Week 33 - "No sleep jaja" April 18 - April 24 (Trujillo)

So as we expected Jonah has been transferred to the Central Zone.  He is now a Zone Leader with Elder Price and he loves it!  The central zone is right in the heart of Trujillo.  He is near the mission office and also near the Trujillo temple.   There are 10 Elder missionaries and 14 Sister missionaries in the zone that they are responsible for.  He says that he has a lot of meetings for planning and teaching the other missionaries in his area and that he is getting less sleep.  He did say that one advantage is that they have lots of great Italian, Chinese, Peruvian and American restaurants in his area - great food!

Sooooooo....I'm in Zona Central!!!!!! Jaja, I literally went from the smallest city in the whole mission to the busiest and craziest area of the whole mission! The zone leaders live in the center of the center of Trujillo, with like the plaza de armas and it's just so cool! So yeah, I'm here in Trujillo with a whole ton of traffic, not a lot of green, no more cows, and a ton of people. Also, where I'm at, is just super rich with history. Seriously, there's so much cool stuff that happened here! And it's still probably one of the prettiest areas in the whole mission, just because there's TONS of these 15th century Catholic churches that are just incredible! It's seriously so awesome here. But yeah! I'm with Elder Price! He's incredible..and I already knew him! We were in the same zone in Cajamarca for 2 cambios so we were already friends :) But yeah, he's only got this cambio left in his mission, so he's just about to head home. It's actually super sad, just because we'll only have 1 cambio juntos, and he's already like my best friend jaja. He's got a ton of experience in the mission, so he really knows what he's doing. Thank goodness....cuz I haven't got a clue jaja. But yeah, it's so awesome being a zone leader. Like super awesome. We get to work with the Asistentes all the time and also President. They're always calling and checking up on us. Also, we have monthly meetings with them which makes it super awesome. President Marler is absolutely incredible, so just being able to work with him a lot is such a privilege. Well......the only down side to being a zone leader is that you get practically no sleep. I'm getting to bed pretty late every night, and we're waking up early almost every day too. There is like no time to rest. But I haven't been too tired, which I know has been a blessing from God. I LOVE THIS WORK SO MUCHHHH!!!!!

Oh yeah, so we had a baptism last week too which was pretty cool.....but I didn't really even do anything to have it jaja. Free baptism! But yeah, it was super spiritual and super fantastic. Holy Cow!! I'm just so happy all the time now. Never coming back jajaja. Alrighty...I love you all so much!!! Chuaskis!!

Eating cereal at a preschool table :)

The baptism! Sandra. She's incredible. Her brother baptized her. She's already read the whole book of mormon....just sayin jaja

Week 32 - "wait what.." April 13 - April 17 (Cajamarca)

"Cambios" - Translated that word means exchanges.  That is the time when missionaries leave their previous companion and are assigned to a new area.  Jonah has been in Cajamarca since he left the training center so he was pretty excited to get the news of a cambio.  We did find out that he will be with an Elder Price in the center of Trujillo close to the mission office.  Working as a Zone Leader.  He knew Elder Price previously when he first arrived in Cajamarca several months ago so he will be excited to work as a Zone Leader with someone that he knows.  Jonah says that he is the youngest zone leader called to that position in his mission.

Heyyylooo everybody!! So this last week has literally been the craziest thing of my life. All just because of one phone call. One flippin phone call dang it man.. So on Saturday night, we were waiting for like an hour to get the cambios, just dying of anticipation, and the call never came. So we had a tough time sleeping that night, thinking a lot about what the flip was gonna go down with me and my hijo. So then on Sunday morning, we got a phone call at about 7:30. And it just rocked my world jaja. It was President Marler, and he called me to be a ZONE LEADER!!!! Dude it's so crazzyzyzyzyzy!!! I don't know what the heck I'm even gonna do jaja. So basically, there's 2 companions and one is a senior companion. Then there's 4 companionships per district with one district leader. And then there's like 3 or 4 districts per zone, with 2 zone leaders....and I'm gonna be one of them. It's like a pretty huge assignment....I have a lot less time to proselyte and I'm not gonna have any time to sleep or anything now jaja. And for those of you who are wondering where I'm going....I still don't know jaja. They don't tell the zone leaders where  they're going until we're all in Trujillo. I AM leaving on a bus to Trujillo in about an hour, and I guess I'll email you guys NEXT week where I'm actually going to be, and all that good stuff and the nitty-gritty. Welp...that was basically all that happened. Everything else I've forgotten jaja.

Oh yeah, so I guess just yesterday I had to say goodbye to everyone. Luckily, Elder Rios is staying here in Baños for at least one more transfer, so he knows exactly who to visit, and knows the area really well and everything. But yeah...it was pretty tough. There were a lot of teary-eyed despedidas, and a lot of promises that I'm gonna come back to Baños to visit them all. Really hoping I'll have that chance, it would seriously make my life to these people again. The last was the hardest, with Hugo and Melissa Vasquez......but I'm gonna see them again during the mission!!!! Because I'll get to go the temple with them when the get sealed in Trujillo in 10 months!!!!! It's gonna be the bomb diggity. Okeydokey!!!! That's about it! Wish me luck in the blazing flipping hot heat! I love you all so much! Say your prayers!! Chauskis!!!

Goodbyes to a future missionary

More Goodbyes!

Week 31 - "Whoops.." April 4 - April 12 (Cajamarca)

Well it looks like this will be the final full week in Cajamarca.  Jonah is expecting a transfer on Monday and may be headed to Trujillo.  He has been in Cajamarca for 24 weeks!  This week he had a migraine and was unable to email on Monday but he is feeling great now.  He did send numerous pictures of llamas and some spiders.  The poverty in Peru is heartbreaking.  Some of the people he visits really have almost nothing, a dirt floor and no running water.

Hello everybody!! So I'm writing today! Had some mixups with some stuff and I couldn't get on until today, so sorry about that jaja. So these last 10 days ish have been super duper crazy! There were elections this last week, and the elections here are insane. Basically what happens is the whole country votes in one day in between 8am and 4pm. And literally everyone has to vote. Everyone. It's a law here, which makes things super hectic and ridiculous. But it was kinda fun to walk around in the streets with thousands of 5 foot 4 Peruvians, when I'm 6 foot and gringo. I stick out like a sore thumb jaja. We don't know who one yet, because it was too close in between 2 candidates, so they're going to have a second vote in June (I think). But yeah that day was insane. Then, the last P day that we had (2 days ago) President and Sister Marler came up to Cajamarca and we had P day with them. It was so hilarious and fun and fantastic. But then something really sad happened....President told me that I'm gonna be heading out this transfer which is the end of this week. It's gonna be super tough to leave Baños and head out to Trujillo where it's super crazy hot, and you basically swim around in your sweat the whole day. But It should be decent....what worries me is if I'm going to have an assignment out there or not. We'll see what ends up happening, but it's possible that I'm called as some kind of a leader.

OHhhHHHHH YEAHHHHhh!!! So a week ago, during or Pday, I found llamas!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHH!!!! And I got pictures with them!! But they are so stinking terrifying holy smokes. They spit at you, and they have the most butt ugly mouth that you can even imagine. I thought that they would be super friendly, but they're super aggressive and nasty looking. But yeah, you'll just have to check out all of the pictures.

Welp...I think that was about it for this last week, hope that it's sufficient. I love you all so much! The next time I write (should be Lunes) I'll know where I'm heading out to. So I'll let you guys know then! Chauskis!

Llamas

Llamas spit on you!

Llamas chase you too.

Creepy statues!

The place they visited with the llamas

Llama hat and Star Wars Bandana

I am a cow.

Cumpleaños of our convert! Jose Sanchez. He turned 86! He's such a great person. He has basically nothing temporally, but has everything spiritually. A lot richer than most of us :)

More cumpleanos pictures.

Week 30 - "Helloooo" Mar 28 - April 3 (Cajamarca)

Jonah was quite excited to listen to General Conference last week.  He said they were able to watch it in English at the church or they could listen to it in Spanish.  He said he can understand about 98% of everything spoken to him.  Previously he mentioned that he enjoyed a hot shower in Trujillo when he was there last week.  We asked him what a normal shower is like, his response "our shower isn't terrible cold..I would say lukewarm. But I'm used to it...I just had forgotten the blessings of a hot shower jaja"

Hey everybody!!! So this last week was super stinking fantastic!!! Because it was CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!! Dude conference is so sick. It seriously keeps getting better every 6 months. Seriously, this last conference was my favorite that I've ever seen. It's been a whole lot more applicable ever since I got out here on the mission, and I hope that I can continue to make it more applicable even after my mission. I feel like this last conference had one focus more than anything, and it was the family. There were literally so many talks about the family, which was super cool. It also made me feel a little tronky jaja, not sure if that's an English or a Spanish word. But yeah anyway, I recommend for ALLLL of you to go and watch conference. If you've already seen it, watch it again. Cuz dude, those are profets. Anyway, if I had a recomendación especifico I would tell all of you to go and watch the two talks by President Deiter F. Uchtdorf, Jeffery R. Holland, David A. Bednar, and Dale G. Runland. Those were my favorites from this year, and they are just so doctrinally sweet and spiritually invigorating.

Also, this last Saturday, o sea 2 days ago, Elder Garside and Elder Hunt had a baptism! It was super cool, and super spiritual. His name is Pablo Coronado, and he is just a baller. We had the baptism in our ward in Baños del Inca, and then we watched conference right afterward in the building, but us three gringos went into the Secrataries Office to watch it in English. It was a party. We also ate American cereal with whole milk, and I about cried tears of joy. I also spilled a ton of milk on my pants..but there's no use crying over it...jajajaja wow hilarious. Welp. That was about the whole week! I will let you know anything else out of the ordinary next week! I love you guys so much! Keep saying your prayers! And also watch Conference! Chauskis!! 

Me doing something...I don't really know

Read the Scriptures Rocks!!

Baptism of Pablo Coronado and Elder Garside and Elder Hunt

Baptism of Pablo Coronado

Gringos watching conference in English!!!

Our pet for 2 minutes

Killed by the hand of mi hijo

My glasses holder!  This thing is so sweet, just look at it