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
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