It was a flowing river of mud

Week # 31
4-28-14

Hey Everyone!!

Well this week has been a pretty good one! 

On tuesday we did a work visit with the other elders in our district. So i went to Elder Zavalas area and Elder Henry came to mine with my companion. We usually do that every tuesday and it lasts until wednesday right before lunch. Anyways tuesday night when i was with Elder Zavala he got a phone call that he was going to have an emergency change! Every 6 weeks there are changes and every three weeks there are emergency changes for special ocasions. So Elder Zavala had an emergency change because The president is going home next change so they changed one of the assistants to the president and called a new one and the new one was a zone leader and then they had a to call a new zone leader and so Elder Zavala got changed to be a zone leader. Anyways he left on thursday and that day Elder Henry stayed with us until his new comp came at 9 that night. In the morning we didnt have any appointments and thank goodness because it poured!!!! When it was time to go to lunch it was still pouring and had been pouring for like an hour and so i decided to roll up my pants and just go in my sandals to eat lunch and it turns out it was a good idea! When we got to the street right before the pensions house it had turned into a river again! It was a flowing river of mud... Luckily right when we got the the house her husband did too and he came and picked us up and took us across in his moto taxi! It was actually a pretty fun experience! If it happens again ill try to get some pictures of it without getting my camera all wet. By the time we had finished lunch the street didnt have very much water at all. After it rains here it always gets really hot afterwards so thats kind of a bummer! 

Doris and Alberto are going to get married this Saturday and we were still missing both of the birth certificates and so we asked permission from president if we could go to a town called Pucara to get one of the birth certificates and he said yes! So in the afternoon we went to the bus stop and got into a van like the size of a Volkswagen van and we got like 18 people in there!! I was sitting in the back row on a stool that wasn't even a seat of the car squished in between 3 people.. and the whole ride they were falling asleep and bobbing their heads all over the place and it was a windy road too so every time they bobbed their heads they almost wacked me with them! Lets just say it wasn't very comfortable but soon people started to get off and then it got a lot more comfortable and it was really beautiful too! There were a ton of rice and corn fields and their is a river that runs through the valley and all along the way are these little towns!! Anyways we got to Pucara and didn't have any problems getting the birth certificate and then we went back on another combi and lets just say it was equally uncomfortable. This old man was trying to tell me that there was going to be war on Monday and then i would say something and he wouldn't respond and he just kept talking to me and it was so awkward! There was also this lady that got in and didn't have a seat so the sat on the floor and one time when the car braked she starting praying and saying oh no what happened and nothing was happening. Sometimes you meet some weird people! Anyways we got the paper and got back safely so all is well! 

We were still worried about how we were going to get the other birth certificate which is even farther away! Every Saturday and Sunday we eat lunch with the members and i usually don't like doing that but on Sunday after when we were eating lunch with a member we got an answer to our prayers! While she was talking to us about her work she said that she has a client that brings her chickens to sell all the time from Cumba! My comp was zoning out and i was waiting for him to realize that that's where we needed to go but he didn't say anything so i jumped at the opportunity and long story short she talked to her friend and her friend is going to bring us the birth certificate so we don't have to go there!! That's was pretty cool!! 

Other than that there wasn't anything particularly cool that happened. If all goes well this week we should have 3 baptisms on Saturday and another one the next Saturday! Hopefully all goes well! That's it for now! Hope you have a fantastic week this week! Do a good turn daily!

Love,

Elder Jarman

And thats when it all happened...

Week #30 4-21-14

Hey Everyone!

It has been another good week that went by really fast like all of the other ones!

On monday my companion went to Lima to do some of his visa paperwork and i stayed with someone else in my area so i was leading my area for the first couple of days this week. I dont really like to lead my area very much but its okay because it went pretty well! On tuesday we had a super awesome lesson with Doris and Alberto! The bishop came with us and he talked almost the whole time but he really connected with the investigators. At the end of the lesson Alberto, the dad, said that everytime we talk to him about baptism that he has this feeling or burning in his chest! He also said that he wanted to get baptized for sure! That was really cool to hear as a missionary! Weve had a couple more lessons with them and they both have accepted to get married and then to get baptized so now all we have to do is to work on the papers which shouldnt be too dificult since weve done this a couple times before! 

This week we were also looking for less actives to teach and new investigators to teach too! So we were doing some contacts. My comp did one and nothing came of it and then i knocked a door and nobody answered and so i knocked another door and before i could even say anything the man said come in come in come in!! So we went in a it turns out that he's a less active and hasn't attended in 28 years! He's a really cool guy though! He's a clown so he's always really happy and likes to talk really fast! Anyways were going to start teaching him! Then my comp did another contact and nothing came of it and then i did another one and we got into the house and found some more investigators to teach! When we got out of the house my comp said to me why do your contacts always work but mine dont and it was pretty funny because we dont usually get into that many houses but that day we did have some luck! 

On Saturday we taught some lessons and then at 6 we had a lesson with Doris and Alberto and in that lesson he told us that he was already married.... We thought that that just ruined everything but after talking for a little while longer and looking at his ID it said that he was single so were going to go ahead with the papers and well see how it turns out but by the looks of it it seems that his first marriage was nullified or something like that. Anyways after the lesson we went to a baptism of the sisters and when we got there they asked me to give the talk like 5 minutes before i had to give it but it actually turned out pretty well! After that the pensions husband, our ward mission leader, Antonio, took me to the pizza place and told me to get whatever pizza i wanted for my birthday! After we got the pizza we went back to their house and they has prepared carne seca for dinner so we all sat at the table and ate dinner and it was really good! The sisters came to dinner too. After we had dinner we took a couple pictures and that's when it all happened... I knew it was coming all along and i was ready for it but while they were taking the pictures they all got behind with their eggs that they were hiding and then they smashed like 4 eggs on my head and then they poured flour on me too!! I'm not gonna lie it kind of stunk but it was pretty funny! After that we went back to the room and while we were walking there everyone was looking at me funny! It kind of stunk to wash my clothes after that too but it was a pretty fun birthday all in all!. Sunday was pretty normal and we didnt do that much today but everything went well this past week! 

Hope everyone has a good week this week! Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Jarman

I would encourage you all to read The Book of Mormon

Week #29 4-14-14

Hey Everyone!!

Wow this week has flown by just like my time here in Jaen and to be honest my whole mission has flown by! Im really enjoying it though! Nothing really interesting happened this week but im going to talk about some of the investigators we have.

Right now we are teaching a man named Amadeo and his daughter is a member of the church and he had a baptismal date in december but then he traveled to Lima before his date so the date fell through but now hes is back and we are teaching him again. We set a baptismal date for the 19th this saturday. The only problem is that he has an addiction to cigarettes, which is actually very rare here because the people generally dont have anough money to buy them. Anyways he has an addiction to them and he says that he really wants to stop and he has cut down on how much he smokes so we are trying to help him with his addiction so that he can get baptized this saturday!

The next investigators that we have that are progressing really well were a reference from a member! References are the best for the missionaries! Give them references! Anyways they are Doris and Alberto and they have three kids and shes pregnant right now! They really want to get baptized and to get married too but they are saying that they want to wait until their baby is born to get married and baptized and the baby is due the end of July almost August. We are trying to help them see the blessings of getting baptized now instead of waiting but in the end of they decide that they arent ready for the 26th of April which we suggested then there isnt anything we can do but support them in their decision and help them to keep attending church and put a date for them in August. We are going to meet with them tomorrow and watch a couple mormon messages and the bishop is going to come with us to help give his testimony of how marriage has blessed his life. Hopefully they have been praying to recieve their answer.

We also have an investigator that we are teaching that lives in an old person home but really is super old. His name is Eduardo. We always visit where he lives and we end up giving the lesson to a bunch of older people. We tried to put a baptismal date on him for the 19th but he said that he wants to attend church the 4 Sundays in April and then get baptized in the begining of May. So we are just helping him stay excited for his baptism. There are also two members in the old person home and they are helping him too! Its also pretty funny because everytime we go to visit them we walk up and all of them have the pamphlets that we hand out or an ensign or the book of mormon and they are always reading our church material! 

Other than theose people we are working with some others who are progressing a little slower and who possibly get baptized in May. Speaking of may we have less than 1 month until mothers day and then we get to Skype! 

My companion today went to Lima to do some paperwork for his Visa and so im leading my area for the next 2 days until he gets back. Hope everything goes well! Saturday for my birthday i am waiting for the pension to break eggs and maybe flour on my head but im thinking about bringing some eggs of my own to use, but who knows what will happen. Should be fun!

In other news im not sure if they anounced the book of mormon challenge worldwide or just in South America but now there is another challenge to read it in the family and to read it personally before the end of the year! They are really putting a lot of emphasis on the book of mormon and i think that is really cool! I would encourage you all to read the Book of Mormom in Family home evenings! I have really learned a lot from it in the mission!

Thats all for now! Love you guys and thanks for your love and support!

Love,

Elder Jarman

Music to our ears!

Week #28 4-7-14
Hey Everyone! 

It has been a pretty good week! 

We finally got a fan in our room! Thats makes the heat a little more bearable! Other than that we worked pretty hard this week getting Lizbeth ready for baptism. On Friday we had her baptism and all went well with her baptism! 

On Saturday morning we went to the stake center for the first session of general conference and when we got there, there were like 10 people there in total to watch it. All the other North American people and I went and got this extra TV that the stake has and we plugged it in to the cable and it worked so yes we did get to see the conference in english!!! That was probably the highlight of the week for me! After the first session of conference we went to eat lunch with the members and they fed us guinea pig and lets just say that it was not very good at all. They also said that its like the most common plate here in Jaen so lets hope that i dont see that very many times while im here. Then we came back and watched conference and after the second session we stayed in the church and played monopoly while we waited for the priesthood session to start! After the preisthood session we all went out to eat as a zone just like we do in California! We went to a place called Sabor y Miel and its actually a pretty good restaurant. I got a hamburger and one of the other elders had bbq sauce and that was pretty good and i also had this frozen lemonade which was pretty good too! Then we came back to the room and went to bed. Then we got up and went to conference and after that we ate lunch with another member and it was chicken potatoes and a mountain of rice or in mission terms, Machu Pichu de arroz. I dont even get how they eat that much food!! After we ate we ended up playing jacks with the sister and she was really good at jacks and creamed us every time! It was pretty fun though! After that we went to conference and after that we basically got to chill in our room for a while! All in all i would say that i enjoyed and learned a lot from conference and it really helped that it was in English!

Other than that we had changes in the zone but nothing big happened. One of the sister in our district went to Chiclayo and a new one is coming tomorrow night and shes going to be straight from the MTC. Ill be with Elder Flores for another 6 weeks. It might be a test of my patience but im sure that that's something i will learn in the mission! Other than that everything's going well and were hoping to have some baptisms coming up soon here!

We actually met some investigators a couple of weeks ago and we had a lesson with them this week. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and after we explained what we were here to do on the earth and that baptism was something essential. The dad of the family stopped us and asked us if they had to get married to get baptized and so we explained that they did and why they did and the mom of the family said that she wanted to get married and join a church at the same time and it was like music to our ears! We are going to work with them in the near future and hopefully helped them to get married and baptized as well! That would be very cool!

Anyways that all for this week! Hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Jarman  

Lizabeth's baptism!

I think its a giant ant...careful to look at it from the right angle. Also if you look real close you can see a small black ant to the right of this giant insect.