Week 50 - "Helloooo!!!" Aug 15 - Aug 21 (Trujillo)

Four months in the Central Zone.  Lots of training to do.  Leslie and I had the opportunity to visit with Jonah's previous Mission President and wife in Utah last week.  It was great to hear about all of the great things Jonah how they found him to be such a great missionary and piano player.  We were also able to meet with some other missionaries that know him and one of his companions Elder Marshall.  Here is the latest from Elder Babbel:

Hey everybody!! So just last night, we received all the cambios for the zone!!! And it's gonna be soooo WILD!! First off, Elder Reyes and I are staying the same as zone leaders! We've got another transfer together to work hard and help a ton of people. Other than that....everything else has completely changed! We were literally the only companionship without a single change, so there will be a whole slew of different and new missionaries here in the zone. In this change, 5 missionaries will be training!! That's so many!! Last transfer there weren't any...and one transfer before there was 1, so having 5 new missionaries will be crazy awesome. It's always so much fun working with the new missionaries and helping them to get acostumbrado to the mish lyfe. In our zone as well, they took two sisters out of an area and will be putting in 2 elders so that should be interesting. Also, they closed the other area here in Central so it will just be the two of us, Elder Reyes and I, in the ward and in the room. That'll take some getting used to just because I've lived with 3 other missionaries for the past 4 months now jaja. But yeah, we're super excited for all of the new changes and for the new challenges that we will be able to face. Elder Reyes and I are going to have a blast this change!!

So in terms of the work......we found a family. And they are soooo dang great!!! We got a reference from other missionaries in the mission that had talked with the mom of the family, Denís. So we received the reference and went to go visit them and they are just so ready and great. Denis and her husband Pablo and their 3 kids, Pablo, Paulo, and María. They're a family that has been going to several different churches, participating in everything, and then coming home feeling empty. They have been looking for something more fulfilling for a while now. The night before we came, they had prayed as a family to be able to find spiritual guidance and support. The next day, by ''chance'' we showed up at their door. They are now receiving the lessons and came to church just yesterday and LOVED it. We invited them all to be baptized and are still working on a date. This family is sooo great we just love them so much!! I will be keeping you all updated with everything in these next weeks, maybe with pictures/videos of the family. Wuju!!

This last week has been amazing! Just a great week full of excitement and success. We are doing great here and are just loving every single millisecond of it. I love you all so much!! Hope you have a wonderful week!! Say your prayers, read your scriptures, and do your own stinkin laundry come on man. Love you all!!

Nathaly mi amigasa!!

Aidee!! She gave me a hand carved and painted bird from Iquitos!! Elder Green!! (Jonah looks freakishly huge)

Elder Maddocks and I found Lightning Mcqueen!!!!

Jaja this guy is so great, his name is Walter.

Elder Reyes caught drinking again ah dang it

Elder Turner and I eating tacos!!!

Ward activity!! Argentina!!! Jaja, my shirt is a club from Argentina called Boca Junior (I stick out so bad lol)

Elder Linares and I on his last day here in Central (today playing soccer in the morning)

Week 49 - "Hello!!" Aug 8 - Aug 14 (Trujillo)

Papel Higienico.  If you have ever spent some time traveling in South America this is a word you are likely familiar with.  Jonah went through the more than usual quantity this last week, but he assures us that he is recovering nicely.  He has a feeling that he may be wrapping up his time in the Central Zone so we will see what happens next week!

Hello everybody!! We've had an excellent week! Everything is sailing really smoothly and we're all really excited here. This past week has been pretty wild. We had some bigger things happen and a lot of changes announced in the mission. We had a zone conference the other day and it was really great. We talked a lot about Preach My Gospel and being missionaries of Preach My Gospel. We're having a new focus in this so that we can really follow all the words of the Profet and the Apostles. President Marble and Sister Marble are the best! They are super duper focused in the work and are doing everything they can to help us to be focused as well. It's working really well though, because I don't even miss the Olympics! And for those of you that really know me....that's kinda insane. Los Juegos Olímpicos era mi vida jaja.

Right now in the work, things have slowed down a little bit as far as teaching, but we are trying to find some new investigators to teach, and we've been working more with the ward and references. It's been super great getting to know a bunch of new people and really focusing in on the members. We're really excited to keep working here and finding new people to teach.

This next week, we have cambios so that should be super interesting. It appears that we will be having several different missionaries coming into the zone, and it's even possible that I head out. That would be pretty wild, but we'll just have to wait and see. By next week, I will be writing about the cambios that will happen here.

Alright!! I love you all so much! Hope you all have an incredible week! GO USA!!!

Week 48 - "Hello Dudes!" Aug 1 - Aug 7 (Trujillo)

This week we have drawn some conclusions by carefully studying the photos that Jonah has been sending.  It is highly unlikely that Peru will be participating in the Olympics in basketball and Volleyball.  We love the pictures he sends of the Peruvian people and are still waiting for that picture of a Peruvian that is taller than Jonah! 

Hey everybody!!! I'm super excited to be able to write you all this week, and I hope that your week was espectacular!! This past week has been wonderful! We've been learning a lot of great things here in the area and we've had several huge changes to the mission that are really going to help us a lot. With the new mission president and new things that the Quorum of the Twelve wants, we are changing just a couple of things in the mission, and we're super excited to be able to do it! In this past week, we've learned a lot about faith in our church leaders, and the excitement of modern revelation. It's been super cool to see it happen first hand, and just being a part of it has been excelente. Also, as I mentioned in the last week, Luz got baptized and confirmed!! Such a cool experience. I'll send pictures and maybe a video this week too, entonces ¡prepárense!

In our room the other day, we had a super special experience. We were all talking (the 4 of us) and we shared all of our conversion stories! Elder Cogollo is 27 years old and is from Colombia. He left right before he turned 26, the oldest age possible. He's a convert to the church and has an incredible history that is actually pretty miraculous. Wonderful missionary. Elder Reyes is 23 years old, from Lima Peru, and also a convert to the church. He has sacrificed a million thousand things to be here in Trujillo on a mission. Wonderful missionary. Elder Linares is 19 years old and is from Cochabamba, Bolivia. He has 3 older sisters that are all return missionaries and has a super cool story. Wonderful missionary. Out of the 4 of us, I'm the only one that has parents that are members of the church. Elder Reyes and Elder Cogollo are the only members in their whole families. It makes me think a lot about sacrifice and what it really means. It would be extrememly difficult to leave a family behind that doesn't fully understand why their child is ''wasting 2 years of their life''. They could be studying or working, but they chose to spend all of their saved money and not study anything that will help them in their careers, right?

The mission is the best thing that will ever happen to me. I've changed and grown in these past 11 months, more than in any other time in my life. I feel prepared to live in this world, have a family, work, study, and I'm not even worried. I feel excited and calm at the same time. It's thanks to the time that I've had here in Peru, y me falta mucho todavía!! I have a testimony of the mission that it prepares sons and daughters of God to have an eternal family, more than any other thing on the face of the earth. I love my time here and testify that I have been called by God to be here.

I love this work so much! I'm loving every minute of it. I love you all so much, and hope that your week is llena de maravillas. I love you all so much!! Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and get ready to serve a mission. Love you all!

The sisters

Us and the crew. Luz and her two sisters Ericka and Irene

We have matching watches....I thought I was special pucha

Me and Elder Reyes

The Obispo baptized her!

Yeah wat up

Us and Luz!!

Free Pizza!

Me crying for the sheer joy of free Pizza

  

Week 47 - "Hello" July 25 - July 31 (Trujillo)

Jonah is meeting lots of amazing people.  We are so happy for everything he has accomplished.  In the last post one picture showed that his shoes not only looked enormous but also very dusty and worn.  He said that her polishes his shoes every day but they do a lot of walking and the roads are dirty.  As far as the Abuelita goes.  I'm not sure that bringing home a Pervuvian grandma or two is advisable. 

Wowzers....so this last week has been wild! Super fun, super full, super duper. We've been teaching a lot of people, but also a lot of missionaries. We're always kept on our toes here in Central. Plus we met some way crazy cool people! Someone from San Antonio Texas and someone from Victoria British Colombia!! That was a cool coincidence. They're both here with their spouses in Peru. One speaks Spanish and English basically perfectly (from Canada) and the other doesn't speak a lick of Spanish (from Texas). But it was super weird to talk to them in just English and hear someone speak without an accent! But yeah, my week was great.

So we have been continually teaching an hermanita que se llama Luz! She's the best! She's 58 years old and is basically like my extra grandma. She's hilarious!! I love old Peruvian ladies. I will probably take at least one Peruvian grandma back home jaja! Luz has been investigating the church for about 2 months now, and she is just eating it all up. It was sooooo funny! So in the church, we don't drink coffee and Luz almost threw a fit when she heard that! She loves coffee! She said she was going to keep drinking coffee until the day of her baptism, which is this Saturday!! She said she wants to drink one last nice cup the morning of jajajaja, but we're going to talk to her. Hopefully we can convince her to dejarlo a little befor jajaja. I will be sending plenty of pictures of her this next week.

Alright, I love you all so much! Sorry the time is a little more brief this time o my goodness my english is atrocious (point proven jaja). Alrighty! I love you all! I will write you all next week about the baptism and other cool stuff that happens! Say your prayers and read the scriptures! If you want to be happy, do it. Love you guys! xoxoxo

Soccer

Central Zone

Burgers

studying on an interchange

Transporting mattresses in a really small Taxi

pizza hut (milagroso)

pizza hut (milagroso)

Soccer

More Soccer

my new best 5 year old friend Nathaly!!