The Work is hard with the World Cup

Week #40
6-30-14

Hey everyone! Hope everyones doing great! This week has been pretty normal and nothing too interesting happened!

One thing that i have noticed in these past couple of weeks is that its really pretty hard to do missionary work down here when the World Cup is going on!!! Haha almost all the houses we walk by have the world cup going on and its pretty rude to tell them to turn off something that only happens every 4 years! So that has made the work a little more difficult in the past couple of weeks but luckily it will be over soon! 

My new companion and I are getting along great so far! He pretty fun and hes a funny guy! He has some magic tricks and things he does to the kids to gain their trust. I also have some magic tricks that we do sometimes and its a really good way that we can get the trust of the people so thats something pretty cool! Hes got a different way of teaching from Elder Flores but we just have to get used to the way that each other teaches and thats something the mission teaches you really well!! How to change and adapt to new situations! As of 2 days ago President Risso went home and President Williams got here! Today was the first day that we wrote to him and im pretty sure that on saturday hes going to come to Jaen to present himself to everyone! Should be a neat experience to have 2 presidents and to learn from each one!

This week we have been visiting Gregori and he finally told us a little bit more about his doubts! He has Catholic friends that are feeding information to him at the same time as we are so i think hes getting a little confused. So we talked to him and hopefully this week we can talk with his friends too and maybe help them out too! Hes also been researching a lot about the Book of Mormon and things like that and he knows a lit ow and he has a lot of questions that really aren't super important! We told him that if he really wants to know that the church is true he needs to read the Book of Mormon first and analyze whats in it! Hopefully he can clear some doubts by reading the Book of Mormon! Hes really got a desire to know though which is really good! He didnt come to church this Sunday though so well have to see what happened when we visit him tomorrow! We also went to visit Eduardo who is another investigator who was ready for baptism but then he got bronchitis and the doctor said he cant get wet. He's getting better slowly so he should be able to get baptized soon! Other than that we have just recieved some references from some members and some of them seem really cool! We just have to do some following up this week and see how theyre doing! Other than them we dont really have anybody thats ready to be baptized here really soon. So it looks like we got our work cut out for us! 

Other than that we havent really had anything too big happen lately! Hope everyone has a great week! I know His church is true!! I have seen the blessings in other peoples lives and the changes they have made and how they have come to know that this church is true! God wants to hear all of you talk to him through prayer too! He wants to bless all of you! Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Jarman

Favorite P-day in the mission!!

Week #39
6/23/14

Hey Everyone!! I hope everything's going well with everyone!! This week has been pretty good and we had a really fun time today!! 

First of all my new companion is Elder Aves and hes from Mar de Plata, Argentina! Hes the oldest of 3! He has a sister thats 17 and a brother thats 14! Hes pretty cool! Hes a little different from my other companions but hes pretty cool! He likes to juggle and to draw and to crochet and things like that! Hes more of an art guy than a sports guy but so far hes pretty cool! Im sure that there is something that i will learn from him to make me a better missionary!! This week we didint really have that many lessons and its going to be hard in these weeks because everyone here watches the world cup and it interferes with everything!! After that we should be able to work more! 

We have some investigators that could be baptized but that just have to get over some little problems. Gregori just has to resolve a doubt that he has but he doesnt want to tell us what his doubt is so we gave him the website for the church and hes going to look for himself and thats probably better for him and will lead to a better conversion! Were just hoping he finds what hes looking for on lds.org! We also have an investigtor named Eduardo whos has read the whole Book of Mormon in 2 months and was ready to be baptized but he came down with bronchitis and the doctor said that he couldnt get wet so he couldnt get baptized. Were going to visit him this week to see how hes doing to see if hes gotten better! Other than that we have a couple friends of Norbil that we still have to follow up on but they could progress pretty well! So looks like we got some work to do this week!!

Today was a good P-day! We met up in the morning and we made a lunch called Milanesa de Pollo con Papas Fritas! Its just breaded chicken with french fries and it was really good!! We helped make the Chicken and our pension made the french fries and then we all got together and ate with our pension!! After we ate we went to a place called Las Naranjas with is up in the mountains! I had been there before and i thought it was going to be really boring because i didnt think there was anything to do! When we got there after like a 20 minute drive in car we went exploring around the town and we ended up finding a trail that we thought just led to a house but we ended up walking the trail for a long time and we ended up aht this river in a valley and it was really cool and wee took a bunch of really cool pictures but youre going to have to forgive me because we were running late and right when we got back we went to internet and i didnt have the camera chord to upload the pictures so ill have to upload them next monday! Sorry!! Then on the way back instead of taking a car we walked back down the mountain and i didnt think it was going to take very long but it ended up taking like 2 hours to walk back down but we took some more cool pics and our feet were killing us when we got down but it was definately worth it! This was one of my favorite P-days in the mission!! 

Well i hope that youre all doing really well! Hope you have a great week! Just want to let all of you guys know that i know this church is true and that it really has blessed my life and the life of my family!! Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Jarman

 

 

Goodbye Elder Flores

Week #38
6-16-14

Hey Everyone!

Hope youre all doing really well!! Thia week has been pretty awesome and a little sad too!

On Saturday we had the baptism of Jhadira who is the sister of Jhair who is the friend that Nobril brought to church! Elder Flores and I have become such good friends with this group of teenagers!They are super awesome and they are always bringing their friends for us to teach and they are always bringing them to church and to the activities! Anyways it went really well and we did the baptism together with two other elders that had a baptism at the same time. She asked me if i would baptize her so i got to do the ordinance which was cool! Usually we like to ask if other people who are in the ward who have never baptized before if they would like to do it but we as missionaries usually end up doing it all the time! Its such a cool feeling and its awesome to hear their testimonies after their baptisms! Its always a joy as a missionary to know that you were able to help someone change their life and get on the right track! 

This weekend we found out the changes and we found out that Elder Flores had changes. It was pretty sad! He left today at 12 and im hanging out with Elder Seeley until my companion comes tomorrow night! So these last couple of days we have been going around and saying goodbye to families and some invited us to dinner! On Friday we had dinner with a sister thats called Sister Udelmini and she took us to eat carne seca and banana chips and it was super good but she bought two plates, ate almost nothing, and told us to keep eating and eating and we both got super full! It was really good though and shes super nice and awesome! Then on Saturday after the baptism we had Pollo a la Brasa with the pension and with the Sister Missionaries and it was super good! We were all making jokes and laughing around and it was really fun! They are like our second family because were at their house three times a day, everyday for 4 to 6 months! Its really hard to say goodbye! Like today when we went to say goodbye to Elder Flores and the pension, Hma. Deydi came and she was totally crying the whole time! Its sad and pretty hard to leave sometimes!! On Sunday one sister, Hma. Agustina invited us to eat dinner at her house and it was pretty good too! I like that family a lot too! This ward is a really fun ward and the members are the best!

Other than that nothing else interesting happened. Right now im just anxiously waiting for my new companion! I want to know who he is already! Haha! Everything is going well right now! Im happy to be working in the Lords work! I know that this is His true Church here on the earth and that families can find happiness and joy in the teachings of Jesus Christ! Love you guys! Hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Jarman

President Risso came to Jaen for the last time.

Week #37
6/9/14

Hey Everyone!!

This week has been pretty awesome!!

On tuesday night we had visits with less actives in the Elders quorum and it was Elder Flores and I and Luis Benites the president of the quorum and Gregory our investigator! I went with Luis and my companion went with Gregory to visit some people and it went alright. When we got to dinner afterwards my companion told me that during the visits Gregory, whos and investigator was like another missionary and was actually teaching the less active members of the church!? I think thats super awesome the only thing is that Gregory doesnt want to accept a baptismal date! He has given us more references than monst of the members but doesnt want to accept it yet for himself! We actually went and hung out with him today and hes become really good friends with us but he just wont accept a date... He also went visiting with us on wednesday also and hes coming to all the activities and bringing his friends and everything so were hoping that something will touch him pretty soon! Hes basically a member who hasnt been baptized yet!? 

On thursday Presidente Risso came to Jaen for the last time before he goes home and he talked to us for a little while and its was pretty sad and its a bummer thats hes going home but it will be a good experience to have 2 mission presidents! After he talked to us for a while he took us out to eat lunch and it was really good! After that we took some last pictures and then he was gone for the last time. Im going to miss him! Then at the end of the conference the zone leaders talked about new beginnings and things and how we need to start off right for the new president whos coming so its time to work hard! 

Then on thursday night we had a missionary night and we had organized a mini championship in the ward with soccer and volleyball! There were actually a ton of people who showed up and a lot of members brought investigators so it was rather succesful too! We ended up playing with the high priest agains the bishop and his counselors and a couple other people and they were talking so much trash before the game saying that we were going to lose our legs and everything like that and then we ended up working them!!! It was really funny and fun! Everyone was all suprised that i could actually play soccer and that was pretty funny!

On Saturday, Norbil one of our recent converts took us out to Shumba to meet his family and have lunh with his family! It was a really cool experince! They live really far away from town and its pretty much in the middle of a bunch of rice fields! The live in a pretty cool place though! When we first got there we went and laid in some hammocks and ate some oranges from his orange tree and they were super good! Then he took us to some park that was pretty cool! After that we had lunch with his family and then we went to this thing called Cachimbo which is this tradition here when the people who are graduating high school give a welcome to the new people who are coming in! The welcome isnt very nice though! As they are walking in the tradition is to hit them with like cardboard sticks wrapped in tape and then later their godmother or their godfather cuts their hair in a random spot and the people who are graduating pour water and flour on the new students head!! It was really pretty funny! Then while we were walking back it was really dark and there aren't any lights but when you looked off to the side to the rice fields there were thousands of fire flies and there were a bunch of blinking little lights! It was a super cool day! Norbil is the best too! It so cool when the people share the gospel with their friends and their families and you can see the blessings they receive in their lives!

Tharts about all for now! Im really enjoying serving a mission and i know that this church is true and that it can help everybody! I have seen people completely change their lives around and have seen the blessings they have recieved!! Anyone can recieve the same blessings! Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Jarman

Doris and Alberto found a house

Week #36
6/2/14

Hey Everyone!!

This week has been pretty good although nothing too big happened.

Doris and Alberto did find a house but its in an area thats got a little fame for being dangerous so hopefully nothing bad happens to them! They moved to an area called Pakistan. On saturday we went after lunch to help them move into their new house. We loaded up a little pick up truck twice and that was sufficient to move all their stuff to the other house! On the second trip i went riding on top of a mattress on top of a tower of thing in the back of the truck and it was pretty fun and everyone was looking at me like i was crazy as usual! When we were unloading the second load we looked off in the distance and you could see that it was raining and that it was coming towards us so we started running around like crazy trying to unpack all the stuff and get it into the house before it starting raining. We almost made it but it started to rain when we were just about finished unloading. When everything was in the house it started pouring and i think it was the hardest that its rained while ive been here and the thing that was kind of a bummer is that there were a bunch of holes in the roof and the windows dont have glass in them so there was a lot of water getting into the house!! After like 20 mintues the rain basically stopped and they got some stuff situated so we went back to our room and it was already pretty late so thats all we ended up doing that day. They moved to the areas of a different ward so we might not see them very much anymore unless they decide to keep attending our ward.

Last monday we played with soccer with the young men and lets just say its been a while since ive played soccer or really exercised for that matter so i was really sore for the next couple of days. Luckily that on tuesday a member came with us for the afternoon and he has a mototaxi so he just drove us a round for a couple of hours while we visited some people! 

On thusday we went to Gregorys house, hes one of our investigators and his mom is a decorator for her profession, and the University of Chiclayo asked her to make a model of the University and so we went to help them paint it more than anything but it was pretty cool! Then she invited us to go to her kids b-day party the next day and we decided we would go for a little bit and when we got there it looked like a quincaños party which are the big b-day parties here and the little girl was completing 3 or 4 im not sure but it was a huge party!! I guess it probably didnt cost that much though because the mom, Angelica, is a decorator and so she probably did all that with the stuff she already had and her dad, Jose is a clown for his profession so he had his hook-ups to get some clowns for the party! It was pretty crazy! We only stayed for a little bit and while we were leaving Angelica gave us those little gift bags they always hand out at parties but it was this big mickey mouse club house cone filled with candy and goodies and it was really awesome!! Shes really awesome the only thing thats a bummer is that she cant come to church because she always has to work on sundays. Bummer! Maybe someday she can make it to church! 

Other than that thing are going pretty well here in Morro Solar! I think we might have a baptism coming up not this saturdayt but next saturday! Hope all goes well! Hope you all have a wonderful week! I know this church is true and i have been so blessed by it! I know the book of mormon is true too and that it can bless anyones life who will take the time to read it!!

Love,

Elder Jarman