July 15 and July 22 2013

July 15th - The last transfer...    I received a phone call from the president last night, and then the assistants told us who were getting transferred.  I was one of them, but then they told me not to travel to Piura. I had to have my bags ready, but I won’t be leaving Tumbes.  In a few hours they`re going to call me again and let me know where to go tomorrow, and who my new companion/area is going to be. That makes goodbyes a lot easier knowing that I can come back the last weekend of my mission to see them one last time.

On Wednesday I signed my Peruvian visa release declaring that I’m leaving the country on August 27th. That was a trunky moment.  On Friday we had a ward mission night with Karaoke.  Me and my comp sang a popular song here and everyone had a laugh. We then said our goodbyes to Sister Cruz who was ending her mission.  She`s from El Salvador and has been in the same zone as me for 9 transfers in the mission.

Today for p-day the two of us went up to the border. It is a pretty popular place here because Peru and Ecuador have a peace agreement.  I really just wanted to go for the picture of Ecuador (don’t worry we didn’t go across).

July 22



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I got transferred to the other zone here in Tumbes (Zone Tumbes instead of Zone Puyango).  My area is called Buenos Aires and is going to be a great place to end my mission with lots of work to do.  My companion is named Elder Caño from Guatemala.  He´s got just 7 months out on the mission. He is a great missionary though and he and his last companion had a lot of success.

They just happened to find a handful of people that want to get baptized so when I got here they already had 3 investigators with a baptismal date.  There are four elders in the ward and we all live together. It´s actually one of the only rooms in the mission that allows four elders to live together.  We live in a 3 story fun house with the kitchen on the first level, two elders on the second floor, and we´re on the third floor. The house belongs to the bishop but he rents it out to the missionaries and chooses to live in a tin roofed house with his family just around the corner. His two sons live on the fourth level. 

Today we went to Puerto Pizarro. It was my third time being there but this time we went with the whole zone.  Elder Smith, a good friend of my from Lopez Albujar who also studied at BYU Idaho, just got up here this transfer and is the new zone leader in the Zone Tumbes. It´s going to be a very fun transfer.

I’m excited to get back but excited for the last project that God has given me here in the mission.  I am so certain that the church is true. It is impossible for this to not be Christ´s gospel that he wants all of us to enjoy. Without a doubt. It is all amazing.

July 2013

July 1
On Friday we had a work visit with the district leader from Zarumilla and his companion.  I went out to visit the DL and Elder Smith stayed in our area with his comp.  It was a great experience. There is great member support in that area and are teaching a lot of great families.  It is a very large ward that has potential to get split into two in the future   Zarumilla is a town 20 minutes north of my area and is just 5 minutes away from the border with Ecuador.  On the outskirts of Zarumilla there are a ton of little towns that were started by farmers and have like 50-100 habitants . Every Saturday the Elders go out and preach to the ¨pueblos¨ and visit the investigators that they have.  

On Saturday morning a member drove us out and did some visits with us.  It was one of the most unique experiences of my mission. When any premissionary imagines a South American mission, they picture the kind of houses and towns that we went to.  Very poor and simple living.  The walls are literally made out of big sticks placed close together and filled in with mud, complete with a tin roof and stray pigs.  Every 2 or 5 minutes you pass by a new town.  They have funny names too.  Maybe you can look them up on google. The first one we went to was called Cuchareta, then ones called El Olivo, La Palma, Uña de Gato, etc.

Today for P-day we went out to a port called Puerto Pizarro.  It’s a cool little town where they fish shrimp and do crocodile tours and island tours.  At 5 pm we’ll be on a bus going to Piura for what might be my last zone leader council.   Until next week, which will probably feel like tomorrow,  Elder Farmer

 

 

July 7     Puerto Pizarro

Hola familila,      Things have been going well here in Puyango.   Like I had commented last week, we went to Piura on Monday afternoon for another mission leader’s council on Tuesday.  We got there faster than usual and were able to stay up a bit, talking with missionaries from the office that I worked with before in the mission.  It is always a great break to the routine of being a missionary and gets me relaxed and ready to go once again for another month.  It always feels good being in the mission home and having an intimate meeting with President and Sister Rowley. They are some awesome people. Great examples of true dedication.

It has been a very good transfer.  Next week we´ll see if I am staying or going. It´s practically a done deal that I am getting moved out.  With so many zone leaders going home in the next 2 transfers, President needs to move some other younger missionaries up so they can get the hang of it.  In the next 2 transfers more than 60 missionaries are going home and only 40 or so are coming.  Today we went back to Puerto Pizarro to buy more stuff.  Love ya´ll, Have a good week,  Elder Ryan

 

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