Week 22 "hello erbody" - February 1 - February 7 - (Cajamarca)

This past week I sent Jonah some Spanish tongue twisters so he could practice some pronunciation and have fun with kids.  Here are a couple to try: ¿Cuántos cuentos cuentas cuando cuentas cuentos?  and Yo no compro coco, porque como poco coco como, poco coco compro.  So have fun with that.  Jonah has been experiencing Carnavales and as he says in his letter Cajamarca is the designated Peruvian capital of Carnival.  I think he will be glad that this is finally over.  Here is the latest update:

Helloooo!! So this past week that we had was pretty great! ¡¡¡¡¡We had an Alma Rescatada!!!!! And in our mission, they're equal to baptisms, which means pretty good stuff. Her name is Katherine and she's just great. She was baptized 4 years ago, but then went inactive after 2 years, but now is progressing rapidly in the church. She just received a calling as a Primary teacher (Valiant 9) and is gonna kill it :) One of my favorite things to do is to teach less actives. It's just so great. They always have this super sweet spirit, and have already felt and known the truth..they just need to re-recognize it :) So this past week, we actually have had two P-Days, just because of the delay with emailing. We went to Baños first, which was pretty cool, but a little too touristy for me jaja. But just yesterday, we went to this way cool place with 2 waterfalls! And they were just so stinkin pretty :) I've got a lot of pictures to send this week, so don't worry Mom jaja. Also, as some of you may know, a thing called ´´Carnaval´´ exists here in South America. And Cajamarca, is the capital of Carnaval jaja (at least in Peru). AND IT WAS INSANE!!! Basically what happens, is there is a massive, free-for-all water battle for about 2 weeks, every afternoon. And when I say free-for-all, I really mean it. It's crazy locaso. You just get pelted by waterballoons from the rooftops, and people riding in the back of trucks dump buckets of water on you. But this last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.....they switch the water out for paint jaja. So basically what happened, is we had to stay inside our rooms, because we're either in white shirt and ties, or our suits jaja. Also, half the people are drunk and stumbling around in the streets, which can get a little sketchy jaja. But yeah, we had to stay in our rooms basically the whole day on Saturday, got to go to church on Sunday, and then we were oustide of Cajamarca on Monday (the waterfalls). I was hoping to pintar y mojar un pocito, pero no lo sucedió lol. So that was basically what happened this last week..staying in rooms, getting pelted with waterballoons, and an Alma Rescatada! Wuju :) Oh yeah, one other cosita, my brain has been going kinda wack these past couple of weeks, because sometimes I try to talk in English, and Spanish comes out. Or if I'm explaining soemthing in English to other gringos, I say words in Spanish a lot jaja. It's really cool, but it hurts your brain at the same time. It'll be so cool to be completely fluent in the future (de cual estoy esperando puedo lorgrar jaja). ALrighty-righty, love you all bunches!! Keep on keep onning ) ¡Viva Perú!

Ok - so lot's of photos here.  Some were taken at Banos del Inca.   The other pictures are at a nearby waterfall.

Week 21 "police police police police police police police" - January 25 - January 31 - (Cajamarca)

Sounds like another amazing week for Jonah.  It sounds like he doesn't even have time to eat, which I doubt.  He was asking for a recipe for pancakes.  We are going to try and make a Peruvian dish - Papa a la Huancaina. 

Jaja, if you're wondering why the title is just police 7 times, it's because this is an actual coherent sentence in English. And that's why every Latino in the mission hates English so much jaja. So this week has been just jammed packed with a ton of teaching. We have been working super dang hard, and I haven't had any time to take many pictures (sorry mama). But we've been working way killer hard to teach as many people as possible. Basically we don't even have time to eat lol. But it's been really great, and I've been sleeping super well, despite my rock-hard bed jaja. We had some really cool experiences this past week, where a lot of people have just completely opened up to us. Sometimes basically random strangers. But we've been really successful with finding the needs of every person and really doing everything that we can possible to help them with the gospel. That's been something that I've learned..the gospel is literally the answer to everything that we do in this life. Not just for missionaries, but for every person on the planet. We were talking with this one lady, someone that we had literally just met, and she told us every problem that she had in the whole world. She's had it super duper rough, and it was tough to just listen to all of it. But she was like crying and sobbing, and told us that she never cries in front of anybody. We basically tried to comfort her the best we could, but not just with our words, but with the scriptures too. And it really helped! This last Sunday, she came to church, and we're hoping that she can make friends in the church, and eventually be baptized in the future.

Also, this week we got attacked by a freakin huge bear thing. Pretty sure it was actually a dog, but it was the size of a small bear lol. It was 8:30 at night, and this big thing jumped out of the bushes and started chasing us. It was absolutely flippin terrifying. We were just sprinting down the road, trying not to poop ourselves, and then Elder Rios (5 foot 1ish), turned around, yelled, and chased it back into the bushes where it came from. It was stinkin hilarious! X) Glad he's my comp, or else I would have died lol.

Well that was basically our week, just straight work and bear hunting. I love you all so much! Stay beautiful..in the words of Elder Hunt (in our district). Chau Chau! ¡Viva Perú!

So this is some kind of fruit thingy. Idk. I just picked it and ate it. It was super good though!

Also, it's pretty gross how you have to eat it lol

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