Week in Review - Mar 9, 2015 - Mar 15, 2015

Truthfully, I have absolutely no clue what to write this week.  I don't know what I am just so brain dead right now, nothing bad has happened I am just so blank!

If you want, you can spice up the answers I sent to you for my email, but the following below will just be bullet points, I'm seriously not quite sure on what to write this week, I didn't get a chance to pre-write.... [We asked him some questions in a separate email and I will add them at the end. He has some great answers.]

Love the Lego Guy

The search for the perfect wedding cake ends this week as we are finishing wedding planning and also planning for the subsequent baptism.  We are all just giggles down here....

Just like the monkey in the 1st Indiana Jones movie

Today for the P-day we went to the local hill and climbed it... Pretty fun, we packed a lunch and took it there.

My bug bites are going down... I only have like 30 now... only the ones on my feet itch me right now.....

English Class is growing, this last week we had over 20, and I ran out of copies... Maybe its time for me to make a how to English Book.... Hahaha....

Spanish is coming better for me.  From the words and conjugations that I know I am able to speak those pretty well and fast... From what I am still learning that takes time....I will admit, I cannot wait to talk with a few of my friends from work and school in Spanish when I get back.... 

Received a package from my Grandparents and I love it.  Pure Easter candy.. And  A letter of course..... Candy candy candy!  Peanut M&M's, I can tell you we were happy missionaries in Ward council on Sunday...... hahahaha!

We are still collecting rain water to shower, poop, and everything.... Its just lovely... You can know that one of us is showering because there will be a sharp scream of OHHHHH  Cold water!!!!   hahhahahaha.... [This whole time I totally forgot that they can't heat the water. Wow!]

All is well here in the Jungle, I do miss my family, my work, and my friends... but for the things I am doing, and Experiencing, I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Love you all!

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru

[Questions and Answers. I sent him an email with some of these questions and he answered them. Enjoy!!]

Note: He just got his haircut this morning and was talking about how itchy he was. I asked if he missed getting his haircut from his mom! He answered, Yes, yes I do!

1. What kind of phone do you guys have, smart or dumb phone?
We all have dumb phones. Nokia something.... It's super dumb, but we do have phone credit and a part of our number has a # which means that anyone else who has that in front of their phone number we can call each other for free.... without using our phone credit! Woo!!

The Elders were playing with that large spider and making
spider shadow puppets. This is the large one mentioned.

2. We see a lot of bright colored birds and butterflies when we do searches, have you seen any of the birds or crazy insects? Like jungle bugs, like you called them.
There is a bunch of cool birds, butterflies, and other weird things that fly into my room at night.  Flying Cockroaches are one, spiders that are bigger than the palm of my hand are another.....

3.How often do you have zone and/or district meetings?
District Meetings are every week, Zone are every month after the Zone leaders get their training they train us...

4. How far do you think you walk everyday? He didn't answer this one. We will try again.

5. Do they still call you gringo?
Every once and a while I am called Gringo here... but there are 4 others here in Satipo, so not much anymore...

6. Do you do splits in your ward?
Splits every once and a while... But remember that we are all trying to do that sometimes, and so that makes it difficult for us to find enough for each sets of the companion.  So, no, not really...

7. Do you get harassed by local government or police?
We don't get harassed by government or police, in fact  from what I have seen and talked with, they are fine with us, no big deal...

8. how has your health been so far
Good... I'm not eating a whole bunch, but other then dumb little things I'm totally fine....

9. What is your favorite topic to study in the scriptures?
Favorite topic in the scriptures, I don't have one yet.... I kinda just go all over the place and am studying for the different topics we are teaching...

10. What do they serve for breakfast? What is typical?

Breakfast here in the jungle is usually their version of toast or bread with bologna inside of it. 

I will admit, I am eating SO MUCH LESS than I was before this area... SO MUCH LESS.  I am only having juice for dinner, and my breakfasts are small too!"    Its weird... Maybe my metabolism is slowing down!!!

I guess you are losing the weight that you gained in your first area??

Nope.  I'm the same.. That's the weird part... Did I mention that a few weeks ago, I ate cow stomach as part of the meat for my plate!  Yup... I was visiting another pensionista [cook] here......

How does cow stomach taste? 

I swallowed it whole... I almost gagged.... Well I actually did, but I didn't let the person see it.....  Never again.....  UGHGHGHGHG

Note: Here at home, last week, we had some trouble with our main sewer line (roots growing in the main line) so for 24 hours we had to 'practice' some the techniques the missionaries need to use in Peru. We shared our sympathies with him and this was his reply:

Yuck!   It totally reminds me of the plumbing here!  There is so many times where the plumbing just goes into the street, you pass it and smell.. Then you are 100 percent aware of what that is....

Week in Review - Mar 2, 2015 - Mar 8, 2015

So, if you haven't been able to tell from my other emails, when it rains down here everything shuts down.  No Joke.  If people have an appointment to go to and it begins to drizzle, all plans are canceled because of rain.  And no.  This is not because it is super duper heavy rain or anything, that is just how it is....  I'm sure that if somebody didn't show up to work because of the [rain] their boss would probably be alright with it. Ahhhhhh.... So many people just don't want to work or do anything when there is rain!  That is the excuse that just bugs me so much is we will ask something of someone, and will ask them why they didn't do it, and they will be all like, "Elder, it was raining..."  Do you know how annoying that phrase is!!!

For P-Day we just stayed close to home and made Sugar Cookies as a district and I added some of my M&M's to the cookies to make them super delicious.  But other than that, we just hung out that day and watched some church films. 

Another topic worthy of mention is that we have found a new person to teach.  I won't go into super details, but it is a clown with all that is entailed of being a professional clown.  There is a drinking issue and double that with the fact that this individual is also a clown... Reminds me of a movie....

Anyways... We are working with this individual to help out and do whatever we can...

Tzancuvatziari.  Music to my ears.  This is the name of the Government office for one of the outlying provinces in Satipo that we will be using for the wedding that we are planning for March 20th 2015.  So much cheaper over there than it is using the local government building.  Go figure!  Part of that though is that as a church we always strive to make sure that couples living together are married as to not obstruct the Commandment found in the scriptures right? So, the Government office knows that, we kinda get a deal with them as members because they know that we will always be bringing people in to get married!  Something, that is less than common down here in Peru, where it is just so hard and expensive logistically to get married!

So, the search continues for the perfect wedding cake!  I will tell you, I didn't think for a second that part of my mission would be planning weddings!  But, this is just one of the many things I have learned how to do on the mission!

English Class is progressing well as we still have a steady stream of faithful students who will come, however there were a few less this week for reason of the Youth Temple trip to Lima. About 20 or so people went to the Lima Temple from Satipo to go and do Proxy Work *Mom, if you could insert the video from the church on Why Mormons build temples*  

So, with them all leaving I just collected a bunch of my money, gave it to a youth that I like, and had him go shopping for me in Lima at the Distribution Center.  Loaded up on some of the DVD's, Church Gospel Art Book, Audio Book of the Book of Mormon to copy to flash drives for members, etc... It was like Christmas!!!

Ward Council is always fun, as new drama comes up every week.  Just love telling them what we need, and watch looks on peoples faces... But in reality, things are looking up, and things are working well...

All in all, things are great here in Peru, Still catching water for my showers, to use the toilet, to drink.. hahaha... Planning weddings, Learning more Spanish, Teaching English, rain, waterfalls, using Honda Moto taxis, buying soft serve ice cream every time I pass one, the works...

They are called Honda Moto taxis...look them up... that is what we use to get everywhere... so fun, and I'm sure that dad will now want to make one!

Hope all is well back at home!  I'm loving the jungle!

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru

[PS: Andrew had some extra time to answer some questions that we had. So we will post them here. Enjoy!!]

Question: Do you have a favorite fruit that is down there? 
Answer: MANGO!  MANGO Juice... or maybe the Banana Juice... You would love these cooking bananas they have here... they are tough and only used for cooking or for drinks... not the ones from home...
Question: How are your clothes etc holding up? Need anything?
Answer: Clothes are doing good.. I will admit though, I do NOT Like these shoes... The traction stinks!  I have slipped and fallen, and almost fallen so much!  When I find a good shoe guy, Im having him resole my shoes..... they are super waterproof though!
Reply: Sorry about the traction on your shoes, but glad they are holding up.
Answer: Oh yea, they are doing pretty good, just am going to get them resoled here soon... Shouldn't be an issue, there are a bunch of hole in the wall stores here...
Question: Do you have running water yet? Still catching your water in buckets? I bet U use your UV filter a lot.
Answer: I do use it actually, and we did get water turned on today, but the presure is so low that only one faucet in the house can work at a time... We will see how long it stays on, becasue we have been teased with this before!
Question: Will you be able to watch [LDS] General Conference LIVE, or will it be recorded and you will watch it later?
Answer: We will be watching conference live.. All the church buildings have Satellite, so it won't be an issue... And if they don't, they have pretty decent internet.. I will be watching it wherever I am... Since transfers are before the Conference....
Reply: I'm glad you can watch it live, cause we can watch the same thing at the same time. Love that.
Answer: But, I will be in Spanish!
Question: Do you think you will be transfered this next time at the end of the month?
Answer: Well, my companion has 2 weeks less than I do here in Satipo... but he only has 3 transfers left after this.... so wherever he goes next will probably be where he ends his mission.. my guess... We really have no clue as of right now....

Andrew told us that he has a little extra time on the Internet because of the slow connection and that we can ask him a few questions. So we will post what we find out. Until next time...]

Week in Review - Feb 23, 2015 - Mar 1, 2015

Elder Holmes with the Ashaninka people and his new friend, the Boa!

6 Months!?! Are you kidding me?!?!

So, its official.  I have been out in the mission field for over 6 months!  What is this!?!  While I would love to recap all of these last 6 months with you, I barely have enough time on this precious computer with internet to share this last week.  So, we will start with that!

Elder Homes and Elder Inkley and their new companion

I am just loving being in the Jungle!  So, we will start out with our adventures in the missionary force of Peru on this last Monday.  So, we had a multi-zone conference in La Merced which consisted of Missionaries from Satipo, Pichinachi, La Merced, Tarma, Oxypampa, San Pedro de Cajas, just to name a few.  But of course we also did a Multi Zone P-Day!  Off we went to a place called Pompa Michi where a local tribe called the Ashaninka live [Click Here, for more info on this tribe] -  they are sort of like our version of Native Americans on their little reserve and sell gifty things afterwards -  which was a bunch of fun. Started out there with getting dressed up in the Tribal clothing, and our faces painted to match. Yes, I can hear you getting jealous, but it doesn't stop there... from there we learn about their history and then are part and learn of one of their ritual dances.  After that we were able to buy stuff, but that wasn't even my favorite part either.  My favorite was the Boa. Yup, the boa snake.  I would say it is about 8 feet long, maybe a bit more... I hate snakes with a passion, so the following will surprise you.  I held the snake around my neck and held it by its head.  And I got a photo!  Wasn't a huge fan of the muscularly snake playing on my neck, but thats another story.  We finished the day by going to a a very fancy Ice Cream Shop, where I easily spent 10 soles on Ice Cream, something which is almost unheard of, because you can buy dinner for a good 7 to 10 soles.  Well, let me just tell you this Ice Cream was worth the American equivalent of $3.  It had brownies and syrup, and all the good stuff... [I have a feeling he will be visiting Cold Stone as soon as he comes home.]

That night we all stayed in a hotel called (yes in English) Texas City, which was actually pretty nice, we got a complimentary soap and toilet paper.  Life was good.  Spent the night there , next day for breakfast we just ate yogurt and some drink and called it good.  Then off to the conference.  The building we were in, in La Merced was beautiful, and it had Air Conditioning!  1st building in 6 months i have seen with AC.  Must be because it is in the jungle too!  I just wish ours had it too in Satipo.  Anyways, my comp was asked to play piano, and i was asked to direct music.  Surprise!  All in all, the conference was great, President Henderson and his wife did great as they always do, brownies were yummy, assistants to the President did a good job, and it was a very nice conference.  After the conference all the zones got together and did our usual photo shoots, which if internet goes well today, you get a copy. Then we all said our goodbyes, had lunch.  I had Chifa [Fusion Cooking, Chinese food meets Peruvian Food. When I looked it up, just looks like something you would find at Panda Express, lol], then off to Shima, our taxi service that the mission uses for the missionaries to do distance traveling.  We got back in Satipo about 2 hours later which was enough time for us to go to 1 more appointment before dinner at 8 pm.  

Wednesday was our usual day to go to Mazamari, the other city that we visit so long as we have references.  So, we continue to go, because we do have references that trickle in, its just hard because we aren't there all the time, it is difficult to check in on people.

Thursday!  6 month mark!  Woah!  6 months in the mission, and 6 months since the CCM!  25 % done with my mission?  Already!?  There were times where it went painfully slow, but looking back that was super fast!  No, I (haven't burnt my tie as of yet, I am searching both Satipo and Mazamari for used ugly ties of any type.  Let me tell you they do not exist!  I do not have it in my heart to burn one of my ties as of yet  So, when I find one it will be burnt in memory of the 6 months.  Today was a pretty normal day, did our stuff, hit up the Soft Serve Ice Cream place, and taught English class.  The works.  However, I don't know what happened at English Class today, I was just about to start teaching and like 20 kids NO JOKE came into my class.  Id swear it was like the scene form the Santa Clause where all of them knew he was Santa and swarmed him.  It was like that for the English Class, on the upside though, I made a new English Cheat sheet and have begun distributing them at my classes.  

Also today, I had the opportunity to try a mix of products from a brand name OmniLife From one of our investigators.  Basically it is a nutrient supplement powder drink mix.  Well, he wanted me and my companion to try this mix we call the Bomba.  Yup.,  The Bomb.  4 packets, 1 bottle.  My face  tightened up so quick and I almost threw up.,  I felt nasty for the rest of the day!  OmniLife my butt, it was disgusting!

Friday!  Weekly Planning and our appointments after lunch!  1st off I will start of with the Hno. Arturo, the Investigator who I am buying his wedding cake... well he announced to us he wants all of his family, including his wife, his daughter, and his son, to be baptized and in the river, in the same day as his marriage!  Woo hoo!  Off to find all the baptism clothes!  Also, today he brought his mom to this lesson.  So we taught her as well, she liked it, and came to church the following Sunday!  You should have seen it though, he announced to his mom while we were there that (it was a secret before to her) that he was getting married because he knows he was living in sin.. I was so awesome to see this family announce that and move forward as a family now!

Today on this Saturday we stared out with our district meeting, then headed off as a district to Mazamari to do a district attack so we can use less time to find more people - the investigators that the other missionaries had before they closed this area.  It helped us quite a bit actually, we found some members, and investigators, so it was a success.  Ended the day in the chapel with our Ward Mission Night.  Not to bad.

Fast Sunday was today.  The most interesting part of my Sundays are the Ward Council Meetings.  I along with the other missionary have adapted for our use the philosophy that nobody leaves ward council without an assignment, or something to do for the week.  And so we assigned things.... and things start looking up, we are beginning to get the ward involved in their own activities, just needed some direction is all..

All is going well here in Satipo, and there is so much more that I want to share but am Limited by time and email space!

Love you all back home!  25% down, 75% to go!

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru

Week in Review - Feb 16, 2015 - Feb 22, 2015

Estoy....

So, this week was a crazy week, and with all that I fell asleep last night before I had a chance to organize my letter for today... So with that in mind... here we go...]

NOT IN ORDER OF DAYS... Just fun events that happened this week...

So, one of the days we were in Mazamari right, which remember that a bunch of Mazamari is farms, and so with that my companion and I tried finding a way out of where we were and take a shortcut through one of the farms by where the cows were.  Problem one.  There were dogs and cows.  Two, it was a rice farm. If you know anything about Rice you know that the terrain is very, squishy and unstable.   We were falling in that. Fun. Then we made it out of the rice fields into the Citrus Groves which we thought would help us in our search for the shortcut, which I will tell you right now NEVER Existed. Anyways so off we went through the Citrus grove which they haven't weed whacked in what seemed like forever, but it was probably only like 2 weeks at the rate that things grow here... It was as high as we were, which is an important part of this story.  

So in this section of the grove we reached the edge of this section which started into a new Rice Farm.  So, right as I was changed from one farm type to the other, I neglected to see under all the grass that there was a canal of water as tall as me, so accordingly I fell in.  Yup, all the way to my waist, and I didn't touch the bottom, what stopped me was my hands when I hit my head on the ground on the top of the canal. And yes, it was before the first appointment of the day in another area away from home.  I was wet and muddy all day.  All in the line of missionary work I guess right?  Oh, and after that I just gave up on avoiding the water so I probably killed about $5 worth of Rice in the farm, which is a bunch... But yea, it was a great day in Mazamari!

So, one of the other Companionships here in Satipo had a wedding and a baptism here in the Chapel, but the baptism was in the River.  How awesome!  My Companion played the wedding march for the wedding on the piano, which I am almost positive that was the first time it was ever played there, and just had a great time.  My Investigator showed up to the party as he usually goes to all the activities and announced that he will be getting married in que with our goal we have for him for the end of March before transfers... Yes!  He wants a river baptism too which will be awesome for whoever gets to baptize him...  I did promise him that since I cannot help him with his wedding, I would buy him the wedding cake.  I will admit, I didn't think that on my mission I would be going wedding cake shopping, but it is the least that I can do for all the work we have put through here... Also, I just want another reason to eat cake!

SO, the other day we had Ward Council... More or less a Missionary Council because there were more missionaries then there were Council members... Yup, I brought that up as well as a few other things... If it were possible for missionaries to grill ward council I guess you could say that I did... It was a very interesting meeting.  I told them that we CANNOT leave until we actually plan something, make an assignment, and hold people responsible for stuff they do not do!  My lack of fluency in Spanish did not hold me back on this one... Let's just say that there were things that needed to be said.  And they were said.  :)

So, the reason why this email is super early at home is because I am leaving for a Multi Zone Conference and P-day in La Merced right after internet... So next week, if I can the photos should be awesome!  I'm so looking forward to these conferences that we have every 3 months, its just a great time!  

Not much other to report on. I did get another package, which everyone just loves because they know I will share... So on behalf of all, thanks for the Girl Scout Cookies! [Anyone that knows Andrew, knows he LOVES Girl Scout cookies. I was able to send him one box, Peanut Butter Patties, to Peru.]  This package is basically our snack package we will be using to get to La Merced today on the 2 hour Shima ride...

Love you all, and thanks for your continued emails!

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru

Week in Review - Feb 9, 2015 - Feb 15, 2015

Ok, so this week will be an email just summarizing all of the stuff that has happened, because a bunch did.  From water balloon fights, to crazy drunks with machetes, to our room getting a makeover, it was an eventful week, but I will start off with P-day.  

So, for P-day we just stayed close to home today, and had some water balloon activities as missionaries, and made brownies with M & Ms, and even went down to the ice cream lady and introduced her to the brownies and Ice Cream, and she said she will learn how to make brownies so she can add that option to her store.  Yup, there will go another 3 sols.... See what happens when you send 5 North Americans to the same ward?  Ice Cream and Brownies!  Oh yea, and the sister missionaries have an appointment with her to teach her and her family as well. [I taught my son well. We ALWAYS have brownies in hand at home. You just never know when you have to bring a dessert to some activity or food assignment. Love this.]

Well, a while ago I told one of my super investigators that if he gets married, I would buy him the cake.  Every time I see him, he brings it up, and even talks about it to others!  This guy is awesome!  He even took us in his MotoTaxi to a few of our appointments and accompanied us for our lessons!  That's more than a bunch of the members even do!  

As my collection of LDS Church materials in Spanish grows, so to does the desire of all the ward members for what I have.  People I don't even really know will come up to me and whisper like its a drug deal or something... Ï hear you have a bunch of church videos and hymns and stuff.... ¨could you pass me all of them please?!  hahaha.....I respond with sure, but only if we can get a lesson in with them... so there we go!  I feel so bad, the church has so many resources in so any languages, but the internet is so painfully slow here it would be frustrating to even try.  Which is why I am slowly collecting the stuff from the church on my flash drives so I can give all of them copies of what they need to help out.... [I have been helping out Elder Holmes and downloading Spanish Bible Videos and Mormon Messages and sending them to him to share. They have access to a DVD player. He is now requesting some of the manual's that are available in pdf, which the church has a ton. I guess we have a new project and start burning CD's.]

Ok, there for the crazy drunks with the machetes story.  So first off, living here in this part of Peru, it is quite normal to see people walking around with machetes.  So with that in mind, I was sleeping.  Then at 12 in the morning, we hear super fool yelling right outside our door with the sound of people throwing beer bottles and what not... So, Elder Inkley and I rise up to the 2nd floor to see what is going on below.  We get up there and my companion sees the guys with machetes swinging and trying to get at each others bodies. Eventually the serenazgo [police] gets in and I think they took them away. The only people that I saw them take away were some other drugged up hooligans hiding in the bushes next door.

On Tuesday we had a district meeting I wont easily forget.  I twas in English, so part of this is because we were waiting for Elder Sebando to come in, our other Zone Leader, but nobody could get in or out of our area because they closed our bridge.  Yup, they closed our only bridge in and out of the area for like a week, and there were rebels.  Yup, so the reason they closed the bridge is because they think they have found petroleum, here which would drastically change things here.  Anything from the economy, jobs, pollution, river run off, and fish production., you know... the works... There came some people fighting for both sides, but during all this mess there were some individuals who were injured and subsequently perished.  I wouldn't worry though, it was only those who made a stink about everything and tried changing it all up , its just an inconvenience for us is all... Sup you, we had our district meeting in English which is basically the best, and felt super weird and a bit difficult to actually teach and pray and do normal things in English.  It is almost like another language to me.  I'm in that halfway stage of Spanish right now... I understand basically everything, and now am improving my responses, which accordingly my English is changing to how I would directly translate things back into English. Its a mess..

Speaking of English, my English classes are going quite well, we always have good attendance for these, and I really enjoy teaching them as well, its just fun!

I said we got an extreme home makeover - Peru Edition, so for a few weeks ago our room leaded from the floor, so they added a layer of cement and tiled that side.  We thought that was all, but nope!  We got new paint, a new light, and will be getting more window panes here soon!  Things are looking up!  But, we still don't have water... Here I go to put out the buckets for the rain.  

Mazamari is always fun as usual, exploring through farms to find members and what not is always a blast, it is just hard over there sometimes because of the lack of member support over there...

So my favorite part of the week was Sunday.  Went on our normal route to scoop up people for church right, and i went over with a ward member on splits to see a sister in the ward that  is totally bed and wheelchair bound and physically cannot get herself to church.  So, I went over and convinced her that we could go to church, yes even with the rain... and with a bit of help from her husband, I got her in to the wheelchair.  And off we went!  I will tell you though, dirt and mud streets are not my favorite, but about 20 minutes later we got to church (she cannot get into the Moto Taxis here, we walked it) were about 15 minutes late, but it showed to the ward that even with the rain, and a broken umbrella, we made it to church:  She was beyond grateful, and I complete an experience that I will truly never forget. It is my hope that the ward can learn from this and begin to help out these individuals a bit more.  It is super interesting, whenever it rains, people just shut down.  No more work, taxis, church, everything just practically shuts down.

So we are also working on a few smaller projects here like training them how to sing hymns, but also how to do their home teaching and visiting teaching visits with them as that is now part of our assignment as missionaries.  Things are really moving forward here in Satipo, Peru, and I am loving every single bit of it.

I hope and pray that you are enjoying your time that you still get a kick out of my emails every once and a while!  Sorry, there is no photos this week, partially because of the internet!!!

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru

Week in Review Feb 2, 2015 - Feb 8, 2015

Satipo, Peru (The Jungle) - Click Photos to see them larger

How am I not Sun Burnt?

Hey there!  So, to start everything off, this last week has been a hectic one at that!  So, as usual I will highlight some of the days during the week that were most eventful...  Between Singing in English to Waterfalls, to activities I am most definitely keeping myself busy here in Peru, especially in the Jungle.  So much work to do here!  Its great!  And, I am learning how much the English Language is screwed up!  I am going to talk so differently when I get home!!! [We also found out that he received two of his packages from home. One that was sent over 10 weeks ago. Woo Hoo! And some much needed black socks, not the 'church kind' he wanted them to athletic type, the 'church kind' are just too thin. So so glad he got them. He had requested his retainers and so he finally got them and he said his teeth hurt after just wearing them for two days. lol]

2 February 2015

The 'Lego Guy' saying Hi

Most important entry of the week right? P-Day! Today I was able to send a few photos which made me beyond excited, and I'm sure for my family too! After normal P-Day [Preparation Day] morning stuff, we went just us 2 and Benjamin (member who lives in our house-pension) because the elders are in Huancayo for a conference and the sisters decided to have a sister P-Day in La Merced, so we went solo. Off to the waterfall San Andres we went! Beautiful, and nice and full because we just had some rain, so it was at 100 percent!  On the way back through our Taxi wasn't there, so we walked for 45 minutes before we found him... At which he

only took off 3 soles from the 15 for his being super late with his Girlfriend.  Yup, I know what he was doing during that 45 minutes while we were walking... But today was great, awesome photos, and yes, the Lego guy has found his way to another part of Peru.

5 February 2015

So, today is our time of the week, we go to Mazamari, which I really enjoy because there is a lot of work to be done there in Mazamari when the people are home.  The tough part about the work there is that we cannot heck up on them as we can here in Satipo, and bring them to activities and such, which is a bummer.  Also, the pensionista [cook] we have here in Mazamari loves to serve us hot soup before our Entree which is so tough to eat and then also enjoy even when we like it, because it is so stinkin hot!  Sweating during Lunch is NOT Fun....

6 February 2015

Ok, so as usual we are teaching one of our investigators who is doing everything that a member is.  Studies Gospel Principles Book-Class, teachings of the Presidents of the Church, attends activities, the works... Only fault is that he isn't married.  He is in a couple relationship, and for baptism to be permitted one must be completely committed to their decision as well as the individual he is living with.  So, we have been trying with his wife for a while, but she was so tough to us, wouldn't open, for over 4 weeks!  And today she was part of our lesson and agreed to come to church!  Finally! I cannot tell you how happy her husband is right now with this decision, she has made to at least listen!  

Later this evening we had our ward mission night which my companion and I put on called, ¨Travel to Paradise¨ which starts out with everyone entering the chapel (seats and all is set up like a planes interior) and we had the sister missionaries as the flight attendants doing what they do before each flight.  After which we began the flight, lights dimmed, and a video showed in the front a calm plane, and then one of the engines, explodes and shows a clip from and airplane movie of everyone on board dying.  Welcome to paradise!  hahahaha. so from there my companion and I explained the Telestial Kingdom as well were all dressed in white explaining how those who repent not will be there, in the Glory of the Starts (we had Christmas lights at this point dimly lighting the chapel((Super duper hard to find Christmas lights))) From there we moved them to another room to represent the Terrestial Kingdom with the Glory of the moon. My little flashlight uncapped putting one beam of light in the room to show a little more glory, but not complete.   There we had the other elders explain that there were those who would follow Christ, but fail to make covenants with the Lord will eternally live there. 


And finally, we make our way down the hall to the room that represents the Celestial Kingdom. Here we had a family dressed in white who are converts of many years, and are also sealed in the temple.  They explained that those who will live here int he glory of the sun are those who make covenants with the Lord, become married, and Preserver to the end.  I was beyond thrilled with the outcome and the turnout of the event, and we had our investigators show up as well!  Score!  And of course, it wouldn't be a proper Mormon activity without refreshments!

7 February 2015

Today we had our Zone Conference in Pichanaki which is about 50 minutes away by Taxi, so we all went over there and it was really nice to see the new chapel over there.  I think this chapel only has like 5 or 6 months of being used, it is SUPER NEW.... Nice time to get together with other missionaries and discuss missionary junk, and also say goodbye to 2 more missionaries who are terminating their missions this week.   One day... wait... stop it!!!

8 February 2015

So, its Sunday, and Oh yea... I have a talk... And I remembered it yesterday... But it all went well, and guess what the topic was?  Missionary Work!  So, I used some personal stories from Charles C. Rich [As mentioned before, this is Elder Holmes 6th Great-grandfather and he was an Apostle to Brigham Young.] and compared the people here to being pioneers since the church is so new, and what not, And it was really great.. I actually was apparently talking past my time limit, and I got the (tiempo) card telling me to finish up. [Oh how I wish we could use the Tiempo [Time] card in the states. lol] Once we finished that the Bishop wanted to take advantage of having 5 North Americans so we all had a special musical number Be Still My Soul, which is a song that does not exist in Spanish, so they all loved it. Didn't understand it, but they loved it! [I bet that was the best.]

As usual, photos will be on the blog in a few days!

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru

[Some of the pictures below I believe were from last week but we just got them today... he can only send so many at a time.]

It says 'Welcome Cock of the Rocks' which is
Peru's National Bird

Love those bridges, a must have with all that water

Peligro means DANGER

Satipo, Peru - Gorgeous

Not quite sure what they are rigging up here, but since they don't
have running water, it looks like they collect the rain water
and might use it for bathing??

Week in Review Jan 19, 2015 - Jan 29, 2015

[If you are keeping up with Elder Holmes travels, you know that we didn't get our usual email last week. We got one line that stated he received a package from us and it was waiting for him at the chapel. But that was it. He informed us earlier in the month that the Internet is painfully slow and it was good to know that because I had a feeling that is why we didn't get our weekly email. And sure enough as he will explain below, that is what happened. Enjoy his travels and the pictures. He did good this week.]

[The following each line is emails he sent this morning and the one lines were in the subject line. We have found that we can do quick Q &A this way and it works. Just type one line in the subject line, it is like texting but with email.]

• SO Sorry... Google Didn't save the draft from last week and didn't tell me that the email failed.  The internet REALLY Stinks over here... I have been waiting for the last 25 minutes for the gmail to load to this point.... [Um, that seems worse than dial-up.]
• I am trying to send this weeks block email, but it wont let me.. I got the Reese's peanut butter spread packages, Thanks! And the internet wont let me send more than this.... [I had asked him which package he received from us. This is from December. He still hasn't received  his package from November. We shall continue to pray for that one.]
• I don't think I can send more... I am super mad that the internet here stinks... I do love you all and know that I am keeping all this so that one day I can send it.....Elder Holmes

[Then this little email came. As you can see it was chopped in mid sentence, but hey, we will take it. See below...]

This last week has been one for the books!  

Jan 19th 2015 

P-day, interviews with [Mission] President, and a haircut.  Oh yea, and we went to the Zoo. So, to start off the day we went to the internet Super painfully slow.

Jan 20th 2015

Started the day off with our weekly district meeting, which I always look forward to not only because it is a time for us 6 missionaries to get together, but it is an opportunity for us to get together and discuss future plans we have for what we plan on doing in each of our areas.  

Later in the day we continued with our lessons, 2 of which involve trying to get 2 different couples married in preparation for their baptism.  It is not that they don't want to get married, it is that it is so darn difficult here!  And the cost of it is not very friendly either for them!  We have ways to accrue funds down here, but it is a bummer that I or anyone from home cannot help *mission rule that we cannot solicit funds* because it is way less if we were to pay for it here.  

We also started teaching the family of the person who I baptized the other week, which is really inte

[The email stopped there, then we got these two very quick emails.]

• Woah.   I did not know that internet could stink this badly here in Peru, but I was horribly wrong.  I guess my email from last week not only didn't send, but didn't even save the draft... SO SORRY. 
• I will try to send photos from another internet connection, but no guarantees on that... Sorry... Gahhh.... [He sounds a bit frustrated.]

[UPDATE: Okay, at this point, I felt his frustration and I was reading all this at work. My daughter was with me waiting to catch the bus and I whispered to her, "We need to pray for Andrew, he needs to be able to send an email to us. Pray quietly and I will too." Then one hour later we got this email below. Jennifer, his sister, was already at school. But I texted to her our little miracle. She was excited. It doesn't hurt to pray for those things that you feel that are important for you. He will answer.]

Hey!  I was able to use another computer for just a bit so I could send some photos. I have all the stuff I wanted to send, but I will send that next week probably in a Photo so you can type it out later if you would like.

Please make sure everyone knows that *through Facebook (that my internet stinks, so If I don't respond it isn't because I hate them... and I would like you to say it like that please....  :) [He is so funny, like we would hate him. lol]

26th January 2015

Awesome day today!  Started out with 1 hour of internet as usual, but after that we did something I have been wanting to do for a very long time.  Cook!  IT is difficult to cook because we have our pensionistas who cook for us for all of our meals all the time.... So, today after internet we went shopping. Believe it or not we found Betty Crocker Pancake Mix as well as a few other essential ingredients, but alas no syrup anywhere in Satipo...  So, off we went to prepare our Lunch of Heroes.  Oh, I also forgot to mention that I kept one of the giant bags of M and Ms from Grandma for something like this.  Yup, thats right... I cooked us (our district) Chocolate Chip Pancakes. So delicious!  

But you think the day ended there you are wrong! Off we went to one of our local waterfalls named Bird of the Rocks... It was about a 1.5 hour convey bus ride and was totally worth it.  The only expenses here to view waterfalls is the transportation. 

There is no entry fee for the bridges or the path to the falls.  Took some awesome photos of all of us sitting on a log in the middle of the pond below the waterfall, but as we all predicted the log broke with 6 of us on it, and the sister missionaries fell in first!  Oh no!! Lets just say that we got the pictures of us before and after!  Brought my Camelbak UV Water filter and drank some of the fresh waterfall water.  You bet that was probably the best water I have had the opportunity to drink in Peru. After we took all of our photos, we headed back home, and had a few family home evenings, and in transit to one of them (we were running a bit) 2 appointments a bit far away... and it was raining horrible.  Horribly. And yup, I fell bad in the rain, Totally soaked as well as my companion.  Welcome to the Jungle I guess!



27 January 2015

District Meeting today, you know.. the norm.  After we met together my companion and I headed down to a sister in the ward who has a disability in which makes it impossible for her to move around the house, let alone go to church. We have been visiting her every few days to see if there is anything more than our company that we can give her.  Then an opportunity for Relief Society came into place.  Basically everyone in her house is gone this week, and has nobody to move her from her bed to her wheelchair or to feed her, or do just the little things like that around the house.  Like a super mom, our pensionista kicked into gear and started organizing meals and visits all week.  About 2 weeks ago nobody knew her, and now we have our Ward Council scheduling visits and assistance (with the help of us of course, no ward is perfect down here) so she can be taken care of.  I can noticeably tell a difference in her attitude and energy, something that she did NOT have when I first met her.  Just little selfless acts of service can make her week!  At the end of the day, my companion Elder Inkley had to leave for a District Leaders Meeting in Huancayo, so I will be staying with the Other Zone Leaders and be doing a few divisions until he gets back. 

28 January 2015

Trio day!  Not much went down today, we looked for a new pensionista for the sisters and found one and talked about for a while what the pensions do, which I also snagged a bunch of recipes from Sister Henderon's [Mission President's wife] Big Book of Pension receipes both Peruvian and American,  yes, P-days here we come.  For the evening and the other meals, i ate with the other elders pension and slept in their very tiny room.

29 January 2015

Must show the Lego Guy

I will end it here to the emails can send... I REALLY REALLY HATE THIS... the internet here STINKS.  I will try to send from this day on for next week... [I'm not sure, did you all get that, the Internet Stinks.... I wasn't sure if you got that. haha lol]

Elder Holmes
Satipo, Peru




[PS: These pictures were supposed to be posted for the last blog, CLICK HERE to catch up. This are photos of his first baptism. But since they are new, I am posting them here also. Enjoy!!]

Elder Holmes 1st Baptism

If you look really close, the water is a bit yellow/green. They
collected it from rain water.