June 2013



June 3

Big news this week.  On Thursday my companion got a call from the president saying that he needed to go to Piura on Friday.  He got bumped up to AP.  Five other missionaries are leaving the zone and we´ll have new missionaries coming in tomorrow including my new companion.  Elder Muralles couldn’t tell me his name but he did tell me that I’m going to be content.   I am praying for my first gringo companion of 8 latin companions. But, we´ll see. 

STORYTIME --- About a month ago, an elder in Piura was in stake conference when a group of Americans came in and sat in the back. He went to greet them and one of them starting asking if he knew some kid named Ryan farmer. It took a while for him to realize he was referring to Elder Farmer, but he said yes. Turns out, it is a guy that lives in Utah and knows Brandon. He came down here working with some foundation called ‘International  Help’ and Brandon  told him that I am here serving a mission.   So, when he got the opportunity he asked if I was here.  He has been calling the assistants because he wanted to meet up with me. They were a little hesitant but finally asked President Rowley for permission and he said it would be fine as long as it was brief.  Last week they  came up to Tumbes and he got a hold of me. I told him what church I go to and what time sacrament meeting starts and to my surprise, he and a friend showed up.  It was a cool experience.  They shared their testimonies and then afterwards we talked for a bit.  What a unique experience and it was great being able to talk to some fellow US citizens for a change.  Awesome.

Today we went to another beach for a zone activity. This time we went to a beach called La Cruz. It belongs to the other zone here in Tumbes and there are two sister missionaries working there. It is a super cool little town on the coast and a very peaceful beach. We played soccer in the sand for a bit and then just chilled in the sand and hit some waves.  (I wish) but it was still fun. 

June 10, 2013  Un gringo!

God answers prayers.  Yep. It is official.  I got my first American companion!  Which is good because we´re working out all of our English mistakes before getting home to facing the embarrassment t of saying things that don’t make sense . His name is Elder Smith from Layton, Utah. He´s got just one transfer less than I do and we´re already super great friends. It’s actually really different being with a companion that has actually seen the same tv shows or youtube videos as you, or listened to the same music, etc. We also went through the same area earlier on in the mission. I replaced him when I entered Ramon Castilla last year in April. 

Last Monday I was able to send off 7 missionaries at 7 o´clock when the strike finally ended. Then on Tuesday we traveled to Piura for a zone leader council so Elder Smith just stayed in Piura and waited for me there. On Wednesday we had the council and Elder Waddell from the seventy showed up as a surprise guest and talked to us for about 2 hours.  Pure revelation.

We found a young couple on Saturday night that are just 22 and 20 years old with a kid and are still trying to start their lives together. They attended church on Sunday and seemed to enjoy it. They could possibly progress.   But yes, I do feel good. I miss home but I am grateful for the time I have left and hope to see a few more miracles.   All is well.

 

In other other news, we had a baptism! The two girls from the Inga family finally got baptized.  Genesis, Francia, and Estrella.  The funny thing is that they were Catholics before, and the tradition at catholic baptisms is CELEBRATE. So, they made a very big deal out of it and each came in a special dress.  They took pictures at every instant and served cake at the end that had frosting that said ¨Mi Bautizo¨.  Haha. (Justin and Brandon will understand). The only thing that we didn’t have was a visit from the Pope and a case of beer.   But, it was still a very special moment seeing an entire family in the gospel. The dad baptized the youngest, 8, and two young men baptized the girls, 17 and 13. There were about 12 attempts in all. A foot would leave the water, they´d forget a word or add something to the prayer, or simply not go back all the way, but after 20 minutes all were able to receive a legitimate baptism.  I was one of the witnesses but felt more like a coach on the sidelines. haha  I sent two good friends home on Saturday and Sunday.   It really feels like all is coming to an end.  But I feel good and old and experienced.  Off to work some more.

June 17

First off all, those baptisms were not mine. Those are the sisters´ baptisms.  I  just had the honor of dunking them.  But they are great guys.  The 3 are cousins that are all 20 years old and have great faith in the gospel.  I baptized two of them and my pensionistas’  husband baptized the other. 

We are teaching a few good people that in the future could really progress.  We get along quite well, maybe too well sometimes, but we do our best to not get too distracted.  The mission has such a different feel being with a fellow American. It´s great.

We have decided to strive to help our investigators learn to recognize the spirit more. Sometimes we teach and teach and teach and the investigators have spiritual experiences, but they don’t even realize that they are having and they don’t understand the role of the Holy Ghost. We have also simplified our teaching a lot to basic principles. 2 Nephi 31:2-3.  It is fun teaching with Elder Smith and we push each other to talk with people in the street and knock on doors. Oh, and we´ve been going through epic Spanglish battles.  We now translate what we want to say from Spanish to English so sometimes we make some pretty comical errors.   And since we switch back and forth so often sometimes I mix it up without even noticing.  Yesterday I said to a sister, ¨Mañana es gunnabe un dia especial.¨ (Tomorrow is gunnabe a special day)  without noticing.  haha. Im trying my best to enjoy the time out here and not lose the faith. Some days I do better than others.

June 24   22 Months

 

Hey family, Do you know what today is?  It’s my 22 month mark.    It is very surreal and time is going by fast. This last week went by particularly fast.

We are finding a few good candidates for baptism but there aren’t any that are really progressing besides Alfredo Inga who we now have 2 months teaching.  We´re hoping to be able to teach both Alfredo and his wife this week, and help her recognize the spirit.  This week we had interviews with the President on Wednesday.  He is a very inspired person and it is always very motivating to hear his advice and counsel.  On Thursday we worked with the assistants.   I went out with Elder Lindsay, an Elder in my group who was actually my district leader in Sechura .  He is a complete machine when it comes to missionary work and loves to work hard.

On Sunday afternoon we watched the special conference.  It was incredible.  I felt the spirit very strongly and felt very privileged to be a missionary, but I couldn’t help but think about the huge choir that was just about to go into the field.   It was a wake up call on how important missionary work really is and what members  and  ward leaders can do to make the work go forth. It doesn’t all just depend on the missionaries, we´re just here to HELP.      Elder Pequeño Rey Escot Granjero

 

May 2013

May 6     Esta semana que pasó fue bien agitada. Casi no tuvimos tiempo para proselitar debido a unas inconveniencias pero aun la obra marcha bien.
(This week that passed was quite rough. We had almost no time to proselyte due to some inconvenience but still the work is going well.)

On Monday we were supposed to travel to Piura, but along one of the only roads that goes from north to south, a little town called Zorritos and La Cruz decided to do what they call here a ¨stop.   It’s the same thing that happened in Sechura last year for example... they stop a main road to protest something.  This time it was completely valid.  Those poor towns haven’t had water in 11 days.  It simply is not running through the pipes and many do not have the money to buy water from other resources. So, mothers and other citizens stood in the street and didn’t let traffic pass by.  We sat in the bus station until 2 in the morning  for an opening but nothing.  The next day we were in the bus station from 1:45 until 8:30 when a bus finally came and we were able to pass by. 

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We worked in our area on Thursday and then on Friday our landlord told us he wanted to paint and that we needed to move out.  So we had to settle on a little room that we had found and move all of our stuff out in the afternoon.  It was a bit stressful but change is good. The room is tiny but it´s alright.

My official release date is august 26th. My group is so big that they have to get all the travel information way ahead of time.
PS:  Nick looks good.  I can see that he is still the same old Nick.   PS: Man that is one cute nephew.

May 13     It was nice seeing you guys yesterday.  I´d say it was the most normal conversation of the four calls home that I’ve had.  Feels like I’m already home but Justin made a great point, 3 months is still a lot.  So, back to work! We´ve got two young girls with a baptismal date for the 25th. We´ll see how it goes. We played in the coliseum again with the other zone today.   Now we are off to the closest thing to a grocery store before leaving at 6 to do some visits.   Elder Farmboy

PS We had a fruit activity last week . Every person had to bring some sort of fruit and we made a giant fruit salad.  While they diced up the fruit, we talked about the fruit of the tree of life: eternal life.  It was a great activity.

May 20    Just a few days before I got here, Elder Muralles and his last companion baptized a couple, and their daughters  who are 17 and 13 got cold feet and backed out at the last minute. We have been working with them little by little and they are the ones that will be getting baptized on the 26th.  This family has had many problems but the gospel arrived in their lives just in time. God saved a marriage. This week we also have a zone conference and another work visit with the assistants.

 

May 27       21 Months    We are once again entering the last week of another transfer.

 On Friday we had a multi zone conference and learned a lot. The Book of Mormon is amazing.  It contains a huge power for converting us to Christ and his gospel. I love what Mosiah 3 can teach us about what we need to do to be saved. Not many people realize the doctrine that is taught in that chapter.

Today we had a super fun zone activity. We met up with everyone in Zarumilla, the northernmost area/ward in all of Peru where there are 6 missionaries. From there we took a van 20 minutes to a beach called El Bendito.  It’s a very simple but unpopulated beach.  We played soccer, limbo; buried two elders that are going home next week, and had a good time. 

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April 22 - 29

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER FARMER - April 16th

April 22, 2013
This week went really well. It was a little hectic with lots of baptismal interviews and travels, etc. which didn`t leave too much time for tracting, but it was fun. On Tuesday it was my birthday. We didn’t have anything special planned, just a few appointments. When we were visiting Henry I told him it was my birthday and he immediately starting giving us all sorts of stuff. Chicha morada (a drink here) and popcorn, then soda and a big bowl of masamora morada (a weird but delicious dessert here.  Then we went to an appointment that we had with Jany in our pensionista´s house. She had set up a mini surprise party and had invited a few members that we know. When I walked in they just threw flour at me, no eggs this year, but I avoided most of it. She made me a super delicious chocolate cake. They sang me Happy Birthday and then started chanting ¨take a bite, take a bite¨ so that they could push my face into the cake. – it’s another one of their traditional tricks on birthdays.  So I took a bite and boom, five different hands pushed my face into the cake.  Pretty hilarious because I tried faking them out and doing it fast but they got me. It was a great birthday and I felt as if I were amongst my own family.

 

 

 

 

In other news, the zone baptized like crazy this week. We had SEVEN, which is a really high number for what we are used to seeing here in Puyango.  A few investigators got baptized earlier than expected and a few that didn`t get baptized last week got baptized this week, so we beat our original goal of just 3. When I reported to president Rowley and the assistants last night they couldn’t believe it, haha. It was great to see.

Our ward baptized two. We had one and the sisters had another and their investigator asked me to baptize him. We baptized Jany, a 17 year old from the Jungle of Peru, a place called Terrapoto.  She is all by herself out here and converted quickly with the help of my pensionista and her daughter. So, it was a good week. The transfer ended and me and elder Muralles are staying another 6 weeks here together.  I’m really looking forward to see all the progress in our investigators and finding even more.

April 29, 2013

 

Can you believe how time is flying? Honestly, I still feel like I have a ton of time left until I go home, but at the same time 4 months is nothing.  It is weird to think that this point in the mission has arrived. I feel like I`ve been in Peru forever!  But at the same time, it has all gone by too fast.   am getting excited for my last call home in two weeks for Mother`s day.

This week went well. We had a super awesome lesson with Henry and his wife. The lesson that I love teaching the most is the plan of salvation.  It all makes so much sense and I love seeing their eyes open when we explain that Adam and Eve fell because it was part of Gods plan and therefore helping them understand why we are here in this fallen state.  In other news, our landlord told us last Tuesday that he needed our room by the end of the month because his son was moving to town and needs a place to stay.  So, we have been frantically looking for rooms and still don’t have a sure place to live. In an hour we will be traveling to Piura for another zone leader council. 5.5 hours in a cramped bus after not sleeping very much last night. Woooo! But a lot of friends from my group recently got subed and it`ll be fun seeing them.  I love you all. Thanks for the support.

Transfer Day - Saying goodbye to great friends: 

Elder Perero - from Guayaquil.   He was a zone Leader in Lopez Albujaar

Elder Stephenson

Elder Trowbridge

 

On Saturday I decided to make an American classic. Stake and eggs with hashbrowns. It turned out great.

 Elder Muralles from Guatamala

April 1-15, 2013

April 1, 2013
All continues to go well. The ward is super excited because after going through a very sad streak of poor attendance, it finally bumped up to 110 people this Sunday .  They only had about 50 to 60 people going before.  In  these past 3 weeks we´ve really seen the fruits of having 4 missionaries in one ward, two of which being the hardest working sister missionaries in the entire mission. It really is inspiring to see how dedicated sister missionaries can be to the work.  Chambeadoras.

For the first time in my mission, or at least for the first time in a while, we our actually teaching families. We´ve found several wonderful couples that have a lot of potential and Maria Felicita has proven to be even more of a gift from God because her son, Henry  turned out to be a member.  He got baptized in 1994 and has been inactive for 15 years. He now has a wife and son who is 6. He´s got every desire to go back to the church and is understanding the message clearer than before.  The 4 of them went to church on Sunday. Also, we are teaching another young girl, 19, that has a baptismal date for the 21 of April. We hope to see progress in the couples that we have found, though. Pray a lot for them. 

On Tuesday the assistants came out to do a work visit with us.  It was cool having Elder Iribar in the room for two nights and we talked about all the memories we had in Lopez Albujar when we were just starting the mission.  On Wednesday we had interviews with the President and in the afternoon he went tracting with us.   When we were teaching Henry it started raining and he just so happens to live in a hilly area without paved roads.  When we left his house it was raining cats and dogs and we had to hop around the mud downhill and try not to fall. The president is still quite agile, but Elder Muralles took a funny spill and was covered in mud.  We got back to the room drenched.  I’d say it was quite the memory with President Rowley.   We will be taking a bus out to Piura for a monthly zone leader council in the mission home.  I’m not looking forward to 6 hours in a cramped bus.  Anyways, life is going well. I enjoy every update that you give me and your words of counsel are very appreciated. Hope all is well at home. Enjoy the snow.    

April 8, 2013

We had a made a nice trip to Piura last Monday.   It was a long 5.5 hour drive in a cramped bus but arrived at the mission office and had a great time talking with a few of the elders that are working there. One was  Elder Pereyra, my son, and one was Elder Peralta, my ex comp. We had the zone leaders council on Tuesday and ate Pizza Hut for lunch (sooooo good) and then traveled back up to Tumbes.   The other zone leaders are cool and we see them a lot. One of them is from the states and is a good friend.  You´ll see pictures of us frolicking through an open field after dropping some missionaries off at the small Tumbes airport yesterday. 

 

 

General Conference was amazing. We went to all the sessions in the stake center. The only session that filled up was on Sunday morning.  The two big themes were definitely preaching the gospel and families.   

Today we played soccer in a coliseum with the other zone.  I have never sweated so much in my life as I do here.  Even though we were out of the sun for a change it was still super hot.  Love you family. Thanks for the updates on your lives.  Hope all is well.

April 15, 2013    21

Wow, can you believe it?  I’m turning 21. What a shock. But to be honest, I don’t even feel it. Maybe it´s because I’m in the mission and I can’t really celebrate, or I am just getting old and birthdays are less exciting now, but it´ll be like any other day.  I’m sure my pensionista and her daughter are going to smash eggs over my head.   We´ll just wait and see. But thanks to everyone for writing and wishing me a happy birthday!

This week went well and I’ve got some news to report... Maria got baptized yesterday! That viejita (oldy) is so awesome. She has such a warm spirit and funny personality. I was able to baptize her. When I entered the font I realized that the drains on the walls were clogged. The water was about 1 inch from the top and still filling. There was no time to turn off the water or open the drain because we were already in the water! So we went on with it.... 10 gallons of water went pouring out of the font, soaking the two witnesses. haha. But it was a pretty service and she bore a powerful testimony on Christ afterwards.  She is my second oldest convert (78) with the oldest being Eva, 82. There is another girl, Jany, that we have been teaching that will get baptized this Saturday.

 



Today we went downtown and took pictures near the river on a big walkway that they built in 2003, then in a park called ¨Kiss park¨, and then by a cool art piece in the central plaza of Tumbes. It is a pretty beautiful city with lots of stuff to see... considering what I’m used to in other areas.

Love ya´ll      Elder Farmchico