Castilla
Saturday, November 10, 2012
October 2012
Estoy por el mar
October 1, 2012 Estoy muy feliz! I´ve been sent to Paita, a cool city on the
coast - just a straight shot west of Piura about an hours drive. My companion
is Elder Peralta from Bolivia. He speaks quite a bit of English so that makes
things interesting and has just about 8 months in the mission. His last
companion was Elder Sims (who I lived with in Lopez Albujar for 3 months) so we
hit it off great from the start. The work here is going really well. There are
several investigators progressing and that are interested in getting baptized.
As far as being district leader goes, all is well. There are 4 elders and 4
sisters in the district (the only sisters in the zone) and we all go to church
in the same building - 4 missionaries in each branch. Oh, that{s another thing.
Paita hasn´t been organized into a stake yet. It’s almost there, but not quite
ready. So there are only branches here. Paita has 3 churches in total and 20
missionaries, more or less. My area is called Pescador 1 (Fisherman). The
branch is awesome though and very willing to help out - go with us on visits,
introduce us to neighbors, etc. There is a family of 4 that has been listening
to missionaries for 4 months now and our main goal is to get them baptized.
It was tough to say goodbye to Ramon Castilla but I feel
like the mission has started up again. I´m back in the same zone as a bunch of
people that were in the MTC with me and we were together when we got trained so
it´s great. Also a bunch of other people that were in Castilla are here. There
is a great energy here between friendships and the desire to get to work. Today
we went down to what is known as Bajo Paita where downtown is. It´s like the
Peru version of Hollywood... the beach, a cool little city, surrounded by hills
that have houses on them... just a lot poorer and a lot more of reality.
My soccer skills have
improved quite a bit, or should i say, fulbito skills (soccer but on a little
court).
Oct. 8, 2012
What a great weekend. General conference was a great
experience I and loved the talks on Saturday. In 40 years I´ll tell my grandkids
about where i was when the historic age change was announced. ´´ Gather round
kids.... gather round... Now, when President Monson announced the new age
limits, I was in the mission field in a city called Paita. The two district
counselors that were in charge of setting up the satellite went to Piura for
the day and abandoned their responsibility, so at the last minute we had to
call some others and they got it set up just in time to hear the announcement,
but they forgot to tell us it was up and running until AFTER it was announced
and about 10 of us were sitting in another room twiddling our thumbs when they
came in and told us the news. I
thought it was a big lie and didn’t believe it until Elder nelson mentioned it
again in his talk.´´ Haha. I would have liked to hear it live – I’m sure we all
would have gone nuts - but it was still big news. So what does this mean for
BYU schools now? It´ll be
interesting to see the impact this will have on the studies of many LDS kids.
Anywho.... We watched all the sessions on Saturday. My
favorite was by Elder Uchtdorf in the morning and made me realize how much I
love the mission and how I need to enjoy every moment of it. We went to the
pensionista and all she had to fry up was calimary. Mmmmmm. I think that’s
squid right? Anyways, it wasnt bad. Just very rubbery. In other news, last Monday we went down
to Bajo Paita again to take advantage of a festival that was going on. Dozens
of venders from Cusco came up to sell their beanies, gloves and cool traditional
jackets with the soft fuzzy fabric. I bought a cool jacket and a hat.
October 15, 2012
This was a very successful week. We were able to find many people this week and
had several lessons. We are improving a lot and really focusing on the purpose
of missionary work which is to BAPTIZE CONVERTS. Sometimes as missioneries we
lose sight of that and get too caught up in other numbers and make other
numbers the main priority. But we are sure to teach simply and directly to the
people that we meet that the church is true and they should be a part of it. We should be having a baptism this coming Sunday
of a 17 year old kid who is super prepared and has been progressing great. There is a special feeling about this
area and this transfer. Maybe it is the new assignment, the time and experience
I now have, or the people around me but I am very happy to be here.
Bautizo (como dicen los catolicos)
October 22
This week was very slow but ended well, with a baptism! Woo.
After a month and a half we got another one. Edgar was a reference from a young
man in the ward and we started teaching him right when i got here. He had a few
challenges but quickly found an answer to his prayers and progressed very fast.
No one knew that he was an investigator because he went to church in a white
shirt and tie already. He was already to go and on Wednesday we went to his
house to get him ready for his interview. He told us that he had an argument
with his Dad when he told him he was going to get baptized and preferred to
just wait until he turned 18 to not cause problems. His mom was okay with it
but his dad no. After about 10 minutes, his Dad got home from work early and we
asked him if we could talk. We just asked him to sit down to be able to explain
and were able to clear up his doubts to the point where he was actually willing
to pray and ask if it was true. It was a great experience to see how God
provided the way for us to be instruments in his hands and when we were
talking, I wasn´t even mad or annoyed, but tried to see the love that this man
has for his son and how he only wanted to protect him. We spoke directly but
with the spirit and all went well. We asked him if he would support his son in
this decision and he said yes it was fine. It was just like Alma 22, just
without swords.
Espero que todo vaya bien con todos.
October 31, 2012 Happy Halloween
This week went alright. We still haven’t been able to find
Edgar´s dad for a second time, but Edgar was confirmed and ordained a priest
yesterday. We have plans to talk to his younger sister when we go by on
Wednesday and so we´ll see if we can get another family member to accept the
gospel. I’m sure the opportunity will come soon enough. The other investigators
are progressing but all with require time. Time. Time. Which is not always the
easiest thing to give as a missionary because we just want them to convert and
be baptized before we leave the area, but that´s not what it´s about anymore.
This is the last week of the transfer and we´ll see what can happen in November
and December. Time is going by fast.
We had a district service project on Wednesday and had to
strip all the paint off of 4 walls and then paint it. As you can probably tell by
now, practically every service project has to do with painting a house.
Life out here is rough. They don’t have running water but
instead have to fill buckets of water and carry them a block or two to their
house. They only receive 28 20-liter buckets per week and we always see 8
months pregnant women carrying two buckets of water and just dying.
Oh and on Friday I officially completed one year in the
mission field.
Monday, October 15, 2012
September 2012
We
had Alejandra and Hunberto ready to go for their baptisms on Sunday. Both had
passed their interviews and were very excited to take this leap of faith. The
ward was also very ready to support us. We had Stake conference in the morning,
and then at 4 the baptism. The majority came at 4:30 and Hunberto never came.
We still aren’t sure what happened but I called him on Saturday night and he
said he was ready to go and would see us at conference. So we´re not sure, but
we did have the baptism for Alejandra. Clara Torres has been keeping her
participation in the church a secret from her husband and was planning on just
getting baptized without him knowing, but that is not allowed. She is a bit
nervous to tell him about her desire to get baptized but that is the only thing
keeping her back. We now only have 3
weeks left. Time here in Ramon Castilla has flown by and I have gotten to know
all of the members very well. These next 3 weeks will be enjoyable as we look
for more investigators and Elder Pereyra´s future converts.
Neither Humberto or Clara were baptized this week. We met up with Humberto on Friday. He started out by thanking us for all that we had done in helping out with his faith and for the patience that we had, but he feels that he should stay in the catholic religion for now. He´s going to keep reading The Book of Mormon cause he knows it’s true, and knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he did a lot of praying and he just doesn´t feel right getting baptized. He claims he can’t get baptized because he fears that he would ONLY be doing it for the blessings that are promised and that that is not the right attitude to have. Which is true, but we know he would also be doing it for the testimony he has. We could only bare our testimony and invite him to read and pray. This kid is so prepared to live the gospel but there is always something that holds him back from taking that important step.
The family of Alejandra, Fernando, and Brandon is progressing wonderfully. They are now all confirmed members and Alejandras boyfriend Miguel is also preparing to be baptized on October 2nd. I´ll likely be out of the area by then.
Sept. 17, 2012 Cartita de Elder Farmer
Today we went to a
members house in the Catecaus ward. They live tucked into the green pastures of
rice and sugar fields on the outskirts of Catecaus. They cooked us all lunch in
the typical Peruvian coast method - digging a hole, putting a huge ceramic pot
inside and then coals, then placing chicken and other stuff inside, covering it
and letting it sit for 3 hours. While it cooked, we walked through the fields
to go to a little touristy museum that had some old ruins and information about
the ancient people that once lived there and their culture. 
On Saturday the zone
leaders called me and told me that I had to call President Rowley on Sunday
evening at 7:15. So after reporting our weekly numbers I called him and he told
me that I would be receiving a new assignment as District Leader. He couldn´t
tell me where, of course, but gave me the heads up of my new responsibility.
Today I complete 13 months in the mission and definitely feel ready for this
new phase of the mission that was bound to come sooner or later. It´ll be a
challenging experience and I’m sure to learn a great deal, but I think I’m
ready for it. It´ll be interesting to see who is in my district though, and
where, especially considering I have only ever been in Piura and Castilla - two
zones ridiculously close to one another. I could be sent to Paita or Talara,
two areas by the ocean, or way up north to Tumbes where the mosquitos are huge
and it’s even hotter, or a few other places. It feels like I’m receiving
another mission call because I´ve been in this area for so long it seems like
home.
Saying good-bye!
The big highlight of
the week was on Friday when we had a multi zone conference with Elder Waddell
from the seventy. He spoke in a general conference recently and I recognized
him right away. He is a super charismatic guy (as are all general authorities)
and knows so much about the scriptures and teaches super well. One point he made is that sometimes we like
the gift more than we love he who gives us the gift. Are we serving missions to receive blessings,
or are we serving because we love God and then as an extra we receive
blessings. You can apply that to every other aspect of our lives.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
August 2012
August 6
“Una semana muy normal” – A very normal week
This week was incredibly normal. The only interesting thing
that happened was on Thursday when we had training in the mission home for
trainers and trainees. There were about 12 companionships there and it was an
opportunity to see how things are going for senior companions and the new
missionaries. We then ate lunch and were given something similar to the roast
mom makes on Sundays at home, and then ice cream. Food that you´ll only find in
the mission home because the meat that they give us at members houses is barely
even chewable.
Spanish is going great and I am now 95 percent fluent. I
stumble every once in a while on how to ask a certain question or phrase a few
things, but now I am starting to get a little worried about my English. I hope
to really increase the amount of verbs I know in this last year and perfect it
even more. We are now on the last week of the transfer.
Life is going well. The families here are wonderful and
really make us feel at home. I’m working hard, but could be working harder. Story
of our lives, right? There are always things we could be doing better. Thanks
for the love and support family. Hope all is well. Elder
Farmer
Transfers! I´m staying in Ramon Castilla for my
fourth transfer. Two missionaries from the district are heading out,
Elder Arestizabel, from Chile, who has been the DL here for four transfers, and
Elder Manayay from Chicalayo who has been here for four transfers and just
finished up training. Elder Arestizabel is a super good friend out here on the
mission and in these last 3 changes being in the same district we´ve had a lot
of good times. It’s tough seeing people leave because it´s likely we´ll only
see each other at Christmas conferences from here on out. Good times but
changes are always necessary.
Today for p- day we ate lunch as the same house that we ate
at last week. This time, however, we ate the famous dish of Piura, Ceviche.
(Se-vee-chay). It´s a super odd looking meal but I´m sure Dad and the brothers
would love it. It´s raw fish, but not really. You cut the fish into little tiny
peices and then put it in a bowl with red onion, peppers, and another type of
seafood called pota - im things its some sort of muscle. You´ll have to look it
up. As a final step you throw in a ton of lemon juice which is so acidic that
it turns the fish white as if it were cooked. Put in some tomatoes and wha-la.
Scrumptious. Technically, we are not supposed to eat this meal as missionaries
because the poor gringos get sick from the raw fish a lot, but.... just
consider this my confession. So far my stomache feels fine and it was for a
good causë: a goodbye lunch for elder Arestizabal.
Hope all is well out there family. Thanks for the emails!
Even a short short hello is worth all the effort.
Love, Elder Ryan
August 20
Hump Week
It was a pretty low week but we worked hard. We hope to be
able to baptize Clara Torres (who I met my second week here and has been
progressing little by little), Alexandra (Fernando and Brandon’s mom), Hunberto
(a 22 year old who was found by the missionaries in December), and Raul (a 19
year old whose brother is member and grandpa is a Piurano pioneer).
On Sunday we gave talks again. It was my fifth one here in
the ward. I talked about a topic that was on my mind all week. On those days
that we couldn’t find our investigators, we were at least finding 2 or 3 less
actives to teach and it got me thinking about our faith. I recently realized
that the first principle of the gospel goes way further than just having faith,
but constantly cultivating it and making it grow. I don’t think that a single
less active had plans to go inactive one day...it just kind of happens. So,
how do we strengthen our faith and cultivate it even more? Simple. Keep the
commandments. And hey, did you know that it’s a COMMANDMENT that we read the
scriptures every day? Alma 36:8 (or something like that) says that
for small and simple things God works BIG miracles amongst the children of man.
So, Im pretty sure that every less active would still be active in the church
had they been reading their scriptures every day and therefore receiving the
blessings of God to have more faith. But yeah, that was my message to the ward.
I hope you all can think about that too. Where is your faith, and what can you
do to make it even stronger?
This Friday I compete one year. It didn´t go by all that slow to be honest.
Only one more year until I see you all again, but just like mom told me, one
year to help even more people change their lives and have the blessings that
OUR family has!
The family downstairs has a daughter that lives in LA and recently got her
green card so she was able to come and visit after 6 years. On Tuesday she made
us hamburgers. Real, American burgers. I could tell she paid a good price to
get that quality of beef because frankly, I didn’t think it existed here. It
was delicious.
Then today we went to Catecaus with the zone and I saw a
sweet leather hat that I juts couldn’t pass up. It’s actually quite awesome and
only cost 7 bucks. Woop.
As far as the ceviche that I ate last week.... I woke up
on Tuesday with some serious stomache problems – live and learn Love you
all! Have a good week. Elder Farmer
August 27
Falta uno - Missing One
My hump day was... uneventful. The tradition amongst
missionaries is burn a tie at 6 months and a shirt at 12 but i didn´t do it
because I´m supposedly I´m just too practical for that. I’m not going to waste
a shirt! Maybe I´ll burn a shirt right before heading home and then tell my
kids that I burned it when I completed one year just for a good story, ha.
We focused a lot this week on the people that have baptismal
dates. If all goes well, we will have 3 this coming Sunday. Clara Torres,
Alexandra Valle, and Hunberto Anastacio, who I mentioned last Monday. Your
prayers would be appreciated because even though they have progressed a lot and
all have a sincere desire to get baptized. Time is going by quite
fast here in Ramon Castilla. It is weird to think that I got here way back in
April. It does not seem like very long ago at all but here we are almost in
September already. This coming Sunday is stake conference.
Me and my companion are getting along great and are trying
to get better. Being in the mission for a year, I have developed a fear of the
world. The temptations and challenges that we face are just too difficult. It
is the most interesting thing to see someone 15-20 years older than us open up
and tell us about all the things they have gone through and I can’t help but
think what we would be or where we would be without the gospel? Fewf.
I hope all is well. Dont forget to pray. Thanks Elder
Farmer
July 16 - July 30, 2012
July 16
One of the oddest experiences happened this week. On
Saturday morning, we left to knock on doors and find new people to teach. We
knocked the fifth door and a young girl, 15, with brown hair and dark skin
opened the door. My companion started the conversation ¨hey we´re missionaries
from the church of Jesus Christ, and we´d like to share a message with you if
you have some time¨. She responded (in Spanish), ¨sorry I don’t speak Spanish
very well because I’m from the United States¨. In that moment I thought she was
being very sarcastic and that she was kidding. I thought she was just saying
that because I was obviously gringo so I said (In Spanish), ¨oh well... maybe
there is someone else in the house that could talk with us.¨ She called her
brother and he come to the door and said ¨lo siento, no entendo muy bien. somos
de estados unidos.¨ And it was in the moment that I realized she wasn’t kidding
and they were in fact from the US. We then proceeded to have a 10 minute
conversation. They were from California (brown hair and tan skin. They look
like they could be from Peru) and come down every 2 years to visit their dad.
It was one of the hardest things I’ve done to try and preach the gospel in
English. I couldn’t think or say anything. I felt ridiculous. I know
Justin can relate after having a similar experience in Mexico. On Sunday I was
able to tell the ward about the experience in my talk and got some big
laughs. I never thought I’d find to young Americans in the middle of
Piura knocking doors.
Our numbers are getting better every week and we are
improving as a companionship. Always being in the lead really gives you the
opportunity to learn a lot about the work and about yourself. Yesterday in
church we had 2 people come for the first 2 hours of church, then at the last
moment just before the sacrament meeting 9 others showed up. I´ve never had 11
people in one sacrament meeting! It was a great thing to see and a big
number.
Finally, two random things. I can now whistle very loud.
It’s pretty helpful when trying to flag down a moto-taxi. Also, Elder Pereyra
taught me how to solve a Rubix cube. It’s pretty mind boggling.
Hope all is well, Love, Ryan
¨Loco mata 12 en colorado¨ (madman kills 12 in Colorado)
On Saturday night we went and visited Wilder and Aracely and
when we sat down Wilder said, ¨Wow Elder Farmer, you people from Colorado are
crazy, huh?¨ It must have noticed that I was a little confused because he then
said, ¨What you haven’t heard? Some crazy killed 12 people in a movie theater¨.
They brought me the newspaper and showed me the article describing what
happened in Denver, Colorado. I can’t tell you all how weird that was to see my
hometown in the newspaper here in Peru. I’ve talked with a bunch of different
people about the incident and everyone is pretty concerned at heartbroken at
the world we live in.
It really is difficult to see how much some of the people
out here struggle to provide for their families and put bread on the table
because they live in such poverty and by bread I really do mean just
bread. I got a letter from the Culquicondor Family last week (I baptized
Luis and Kiara and then their brother got baptized when I left Lopez albujar).
The parents got married last Saturday and the baptism for them is going on as I
write this letter. I sure do miss all of you but the mission
can be really fun.
Hope all is well! Elder Farmer
July 30
Eramos cinco vestido en ropa blanca
(We were five dressed in white clothing)
What a great week. On Friday we were able to have the
baptism of three young men: Fernando, his brother Brandon, and Boris. Fernando
and Brandon are two kids that are very excited to be in the gospel and have
found the true church. The other guy that baptized, Boris, has been coming to
church for the last 3 months but we never baptized him because he really
doesn’t live here. He lives in an area without missionaries near the
mountains and has a lot of friends in our ward so President Rowley gave us
permission to baptize him. It was an exciting experience to have 5 of us
dressed in white and I know it helped Elder Pereyra a lot as well. It was his
first baptism of the mish.
I completed 11 months last Tuesday, on Friday we had the
baptism and then I picked up my new suit (it turned out great. I just need some
more formal shoes but it still looks nice), then today we played soccer with
the young men and I sported the green wig that mom and dad sent me for Saint
Patrick’s day.
Hope life is swell for ya´ll. The mission is great and I I’m
happy to be here!
Elder Farmer
Elder Farmer
Fun Pictures
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Mothers Day - May 2012
Elder Farmer Skypes with Family in Colorado
New Mission President Chad Rowley
Monday, July 9, 2012
July 2 and July 9
July 2
Elder Pereyra, President & Sister Chipman, Elder Farmer
Training is
awesome so far. Really. The mission is so enjoyable when you
have a companion that really wants to work and you can make the calls. My
companion is Elder Pereyra from Huankayo, Peru. He’s 20 years old and super
short. At the transfers meeting, President took advantage and invited
practically the whole mission to make it his farewell. He and his wife shared a
lot testimonies and gave some good advice and then said bye, one by one.
President Chipman flew home on Saturday at 9 in the morning and the new
President took control. We still haven’t heard anything from him but we’re pretty
sure he’s in the mission home getting to work.
Its fun
being a trainer and its really forcing me to dedicate myself more to the work.
I now have more desire than ever to teach and have good numbers. We are waking
up on time, having our companionship studies, leaving at the right time in the
afternoon, and really concentrating on teaching with the spirit. We also
baptized Edu yesterday! (The 18
year old that we found a month and a half ago that really has great desires to
change his life.) And, many other
investigators are making great strides. I have so much desire to help these
people become members of the church and have a really a great relationship with
all of them. Aracely and Wilder should finally be getting married on the 14th
because the relief society did a fundraiser and we finally have money. Clara
Torres is another that is progressing great and has such a big heart. Really,
family, the mission is the greatest when you can just focus on the people and ¨lose
yourself¨.
President
Chipman and Sister Chipman are going to have a meeting for all the family
members of missionaries here in Piura and RM´s that they got to know here. It’s going to be in Utah in a church
building in Salt Lake City on July 15th. I don’t have the address right now but
I’ll send it soon. Brandon and Jaclyn and maybe even Scott should definitely try
and go! I told President Chipman that he will recognize my brother right away
because he looks just like me, only taller. Hope all is well family. Enjoy the
heat!
July 9 (Trip to Catecaus)
Things have
been going well here training. Me and Elder Pereyra get along really well and
he is very enthusiastic and willing to learn. I’m learning a lot personally too
and we are doing a lot of great things. This week we found a family of 3 very
prepared to accept the gospel. Alejandra, 34, and her two sons Fernando, 15,
and Brando, 12. They have been struggling as a family to stay unified and we
were able to enter their lives at just the right moment. The only difficulty is
that they are looking for another house because the renter asked them to move
and we are hoping they find one inside our area. Pray on their behalf, please!
We are also finalizing the last details of the wedding of Wilder and Aracely.
The relief society did a fundraiser a week and a half ago but still don’t have
any of the money that people owe them. But, once we get it, we’ll be able to
marry them in no time. They are also a couple very willing to change their
lives and I have grown to love them quite a bit. We have other young kids that
are also progressing and just about to be baptized. Every change I’ve had here
has started out with HUGE potential. I’m hoping that this one can actually end
well with all of the baptisms that we have possible.
On Thursday
we met the new president and his wife. President Rowley still remembers quite a bit of Spanish from
when he served in Argentina, but Sister Rowley has forgotten the majority after
serving in Columbia many moons ago. They are a couple from Nephi, Utah.
Elder Farmer shopping in Catecaus
Today we
went to Catecaus and I went a little crazy buying stuff for the parents. One
thing that I bought was an original painting by a very cool guy that has a
gallery there. I’ve entered 3 or 4 times before but never left when anything. I
would just go and talk to the guy and observe his amazing art. But this time I walked
away with one. I’m including a picture and the one that he is holding is the
one I bought. There was another one that I wanted but decided to go for one a
little more basic (the one of the Peruvian Indian). I also got measured up to get a suit made. A brother from
another ward makes suits at a great price and I figured I’d take advantage of it
and get myself a fitted suit.
But, life is
good out here family. Love you all!
Elder Farmer
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