Week 53 - "Hello everybody!!!" Sep 5 - Sep 11 (Trujillo)

So we are back on track for a full email from Jonah.  I'm not sure what Vagaso means but we are glad that Jonah is no longer one.  He was very happy to go to Chile's restaurant last week.  Apparently every meal in Peru is rice and "something", so a burger or sandwich and fries was amazing.  For those of you who wonder if he is still running, his advice is to look at a picture of his companion and you should be able to tell if he is running or not.  He also assured us that he still loves to run and will be doing more of that when he gets home.  Right now his heart is set on working hard and being the most obedient missionary possible.

Heyyyy....how have you all been?? Sorry, I haven't written a big email in 2 weeks, I was just being a vagaso.  But hey! I'm back! I love you all so much! 

So just today, something kinda funny but really special happened. So Elder Reyes and I are always taking taxis everywhere. Like EVERYWHERE. We have to go drop stuff off, pick stuff up, and we're the closest Elders to the Mission Office in the whole mission, so we're always running over there to do stuff for the office elders and stuff. Anyway. We were chapping a taxi heading over to the office and I always like to talk to the taxi driver so I always jump into the passanger seat. I started talking with this guy, Eduardo, and he was super great! We were just talking normally, and then he asked me where I was from (like everybody does because I'm super gringo), so I asked him what he thought. He told me...''I don't know...maybe a different planet''. So I laughed and asked him why and he just asked. ''Why are you so happy?'' I told him sometimes I don't really know why I'm so happy but I know that's it's because I follow Christ and that I belong to His Church. He said that it was almost weird how happy I was, but I thought that was weird because I felt pretty normal. I kind of realized in that very moment, that we are just so blessed and sometimes we kind of forget. There are sooooo many reasons for the world to be sad and grumpy and serious, but there are sooooo many MORE reasons for us to be happy if we have Christ in our lives. We're sending the missionaries to Eduardo's house, and hopefully he can feel and experience his own happiness. Missionary work is so great. It's just a happy work.

So in these past few weeks, things have been going great! We found a few more people that are progressing towards baptismal dates for this 24th of September so that's great! Daniel is 24 years old and is from Colombia but lives here in Trujillo. He wants to be baptized, has come to church twice, and might even be thinking about serving a mission. He's wonderful. Also, there's Alfonso, he's 62, has come to church like 30 times, and was being taught by the other missionaries. We went there the other day and found out the reason why he hasn't been baptized yet.......he's worried about getting sick for being in the water for too long. We had to explain to him that you're in the water for literally less than a minute and the water is lukewarm and isn't even cold. He got all big in the eyes and said ''I can get baptized then!''. It was pretty funny!! But yeah, he will be baptized this 24th of September as well.

I love you all so much! I'm doing and feeling great here in Trujillo, just loving every minute of it. Be happy! Follow Christ! Read the testaments of Him and say your prayers every day. It's the best way to be happy! Love you!!!!

We went to Chilesssssss!!!!

Deliciosness

Elder Turner and I

Elder Reyes getting his hair cut

He's really enjoying it jajajaja

Elder Meissner from Georgia! He's a new missionary and we had an interchange.

He's lighting his hand on fire with handsanitizer. It was a great interchange

Elder Turner and Elder Meissner had a baptism!!

Hermanita Rosita!!! She gives us breakfast and is the most converted lady to the gospel I've ever met!!! I love her so much!!!!

Peru Problems..... I can never see my face in the mirror dangit

Week 52 - "1 year" Aug 29 - Sep 4 (Trujillo)

This week's letter from Jonah was extracted from an email to Leslie.  I added in the questions that he was responding to to help clarify.  A few other interesting stories.  Jonah met a man who works with 

Did someone teach you how to speak Quechua? it just is pronounced how it is written which makes it easier. I don't know what it says haha. Yeah the time is longer, it's just we are usually so busy that we have to go early anyways...kind of a bummer. The week was great!! We had a lot of work to do.. We had the concilio for the whole mission on Tuesday which was great! We learned a whole bunch about using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. It was super helpful, and we've been applying it a lot in the area. The investigators are understanding a lot better the Restoration. Then we had our Zone Conference (the one where Elder Reyes and I teach everyone) on Wednesday.  On Thursday we went looking (door to door contacts) It's been a crazy week jaja. What do you do on P day? Pdays are write the family, eat a cool lunch, and then do stuff for the zone haha. That's usually how it goes, but it's super fun! Have you visited any ruins or interesting places in Trujillo? No...there's not any ruins here...it's just the city. But that's okay. I realize now that Cajamarca is just the best place ever for P-Day. We saw some pictures of Pacasmayo do you think you will go there? Pacasmayo is super great! Super pretty, but soooo stinking hot. The new missionaries are doing great! From your last pictures it looks like you bought a selfie-stick?  Yeah..haha it was only 7 soles...which is like 2 bucks. Everything is so cheap here jaja. We heard that you have to watch out for girls looking for cute Americans (referred to as snakes)? Yeah if you're not careful the Peruvian non-members mostly are creepy. Especially for gringos. Yep jajaja snakes. I know why I'm here, I won't have any problem with anyone don't worry.  I love you so much!!! 

Elder Babbel

So here is the small world story (Que, pequeno es el mundo, No?)

So you are not going to believe this. But I'm here in Trujillo, and there's this guy named Alexis who is in charge of all the water and repairments of apartments for the whole entire mission. We happened to see each other in the baptism of his old companion's daughter. They served in the Lima mission that includes Cuzco, so I said, hey! There's a guy in my ward that served in Cuzco and he told me everything about Peru and how great it is here. His name is Tom Blaisdell. Alexis, kinda stood there..thinking. And he said....''I know him!!! He lived in my room!! He lent me his suit coat when I was a Zone Leader heading to the Concilio!!!'' Do you remember an Elder Valdiviezo??? He says he totally remembers you!! He said you were a brand new missionary and was just starting to learn the language. He says you were hilarious when you got frustrated with Spanish hahaha!!

Alexis is doing great! He just got married in the temple last month (haha took him a while)

Jonah and Alexis Vadiviezo

Buscando cuarto!!

Ward Baptism!

Ward Baptism!

Tomy!! My favorite dog.

On the Internet - email

Week 51 - "?" Aug 22 - Aug 28 (Trujillo)

In this installment Jonah attached a video of himself reading the scriptures in Quechua.  What he neglected to attach was email about his week!  Leslie was able to get a bit of information from him in a short email that he sent to her.  Part of that will be posted below:

For right now, there's just two of us in the room. Mostly, it's about the ward. The ward has less members here so there's less work to do, so there's only two missionaries. We are most likely staying in the room because during cambios, a whole bunch of missionaries from other zones usually stay the night with us so we need to keep a bigger room for those cases. It's going a lot better with Elder Reyes. We are working hard and learning a lot. Dennis and Pablo are doing great....Dennis felt the spirit sooo strongly in our last lesson. We talked about eternal families and she cried like a baby watching a video of the Trujillo temple. They said that they want to have an eternal family really bad and that they will work hard to have one. WOW. They are incredible. Great that you can get that better insight!

Yeah, but I'm still at 11 months for right now jaja love you. Great to hear about Seth!! He beat me dang it.... that's okay, he can beat me for Freshman year. But for Sophomore...that's not okay jaja. (Seth raced in his first high school XC meet and beat Jonah's time from his freshman year - Seth has bragging rights now)

Playing soccer with Elder Reyes, Elder Carmen and Elder Turner.

Familia Ochoa!! Leaving to go proselyting together!

In the dirty room jaja

Quechua!! Pronunciation Guide not included jaja

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!!