[No pictures this week.]
Woah. This week flew. So much stuff, so little time. I will try to resume it all.
Monday: An Elder in my Zone got stitches. 15. Yea. Today wasn't P-day, because what we did was we had our P-DAY on Thursday as the multi-zone, so on Monday we only did Internet, and had to do normal missionary stuff on Monday. So, if anything, today was ANTI P-Day. But everything worked out well. At lunchtime we got together as the zone leaders of Huancayo, and planned out the last of the stuff for the Multi Zone P-day on Thursday, ate a delicious hamburger, and were off.
Tuesday: Today was a kinda slow day. From lunch on, we had a Zone Leader training for all the zone leaders in the mission, in the mission office, ate lunch there, had a salad, yum yum..... It was great. Anything out of the ordinary no, just a normal training, got to hear a few fun stories from President Henderson, and Sister Henderson, and got the scoops on applying to BYU while I am here in the mission. Looks like I have some work to do. yea.
Wednesday: Today we had a Family History Training Meeting. It is kinda funny the way they do it. It is an Area training that they put together for the local leaders, and it gets distributed and taught even to the missionaries, because they know that here if there is anything that the area wants, they give that responsibility to the missionaries. So, that is why we found ourselves in this training. It is kinda funny though because they are teaching us the doctrine of Family History... almost like we don't know it! Ha-ha-ha.
In preparation for the Multi-Zone that we will have on Thursday, we had to buy a few Potato Sacks. 30 to be specific. They just looked at me in the market like... Gringo, why on earth would you want 30 potato sacks? I tried explaining some of the games we would be doing, but they didn't get it all the way. I don't think.
Thursday: I will send you pictures and info from Thursday on in the next weeks email. I will probably write it down and send it in a picture or something.
Love you all! Hope all is doing well at home, I do miss you all, and hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!
Love: Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
Monday, November 9, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Week in Review - October 26, 2015 - November 1, 2015
[No pictures this week]
Monday 26th 2015
Today I have completed 14 months here in Peru. Woah. I wish I could say we had some awesome lesson or something, but the 3 firm appointments that we had scheduled for the nighttime after P-Day all decided they didn't want to be home. But our afternoon was an interesting one at that. A missionary in my zone got a type of infection from a bug bite and appears it was contacted by dirty water when he was showering or something, so it just kept getting bigger, so we went to the clinic to get it taken care of. So, the Elder lifts up his shirt, and the doctor pokes it and goes OH MY, thats quite big. There, buy these drugs and take them, and if in 3 days it (the swelling) doesn't go down, return here. Well, we returned in 2 days as it had begun to get so large it exploded and the lovely doctor accepted us back, shot it up about 10 times with a thick numbing agent (did NOT) look fun.
Then the doctor went in this Elders infected area began cutting, gouging, etc, to remove it all. Got it all on video. [Really, Elder Holmes?? Why?] Then I received training on how to clean the new wound (about the size of a nickel-dime) daily, and change the dressing, and the gel net that has to be inserted daily to keep the structure together or something. So, I have been Dr. Holmes for 5 days cleaning, and dressing the wound. I even bought surgical gloves, Hydrogen Peroxide, Surgical Tape, the works. I'm actually enjoying this a bit, ha-ha. We will see how this progresses, wasn't too expensive, and the mission covers these expenses, so there is no worry there...
Tuesday 27th 2015
Another busy day. Today we had a district meeting with the 2 districts in our zone, and right after had to go to the bus terminal to send off 3 missionaries to Lima, get them a disposable phone so they can communicate with us for these 3 days of immigration junk, and send them off. Well it would've been great if all 3 got here on time. Only 2 got here on time, and we had to buy another ticket for the other missionary and send them off at a later time, because they HAD to go to Lima for their immigration junk. So, we got that all figured out, I even bought that missionary a cheaper seat. Sorry, you get late, without an excuse, you WILL NOT be getting a nice replacement seat. After lunch, we found a few less actives to teach a few eternal investigators, and finished the day with 2 great investigators.
One of which is reading the Book of Mormon for her own desire, and we acquired a picture Book of Mormon for her kids and is studying them both as a family in the mission, there are a few, but very rare instantaneous where prepared people will find you. This is about what happened with this family.
They searched us out, and now they are beginning to understand (The Why) behind why they felt the impression to search out the missionaries. When you teach families like that, then you feel the spirit even more, and just tell them you know there are blessings they can receive, that they aren't even aware of that exist, and can ONLY exist in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We finished off the night by teaching another investigator the story of the Tree of Life, and ended up asking him where in the photo he felt he was, which really helped us to understand in what way we should continue in teaching him.
Wednesday 28th 2015
So, a while back, I have my Pensionista a coupon for 100 soles off stuff in an electric store, but it is only valid if you spend over 500 soles. We happened to be commenting a week before that if she had bought a microwave, we would teach her how to use it, and how it can help her save time in all of the kitchen. Well, today we showed up to the pension, and she had bought the nicest Samsung Microwave I have seen so far! When we got there she told me, Elder! I had to use your coupon, it was only good for 2 days, so I bought a microwave! Now you have to show me how to use it! Hahaha...,, yes, then we will, don't worry about a thing. :) I'm not so sure her husband was so thrilled with the purchase, but really they are financially ok. We finished the day off, fixing a washing machine issue with an older couple, getting 100% soaked because it poured super duper today, even hailed, all for about 1 hour, and we weren't anywhere near cars, and our umbrellas can only protect us from rain from one direction, not from all of them. In the evening, we had our English class, ya with the rain only 2 showed up, but it was a pretty good English Class.
29 Thursday 2015
So, today we had a lesson with somebody that we had thought was a less active (they found us in the street) but turns out he is an old investigator who was getting ready to get baptized about 1 year ago, but a few things happened and is now ready to listen to us again. Woo! Later on, we did an office visit, picked up 2 packages for me! Woo hoo! Halloween packages, thank you! I can tell you that my comp and my roommates and Pension were very happy to get the two Halloween packages!
30 Friday 2015
Fridays sometimes can be a bit boring. Weekly planning all morning, and sometimes there are days you cannot find anybody: Today was that day. We did finish up today visiting one of our investigators, that is progressing by herself, and is taking her family with her. I just love teaching people who when they just get it you can see their faces light up with understanding. Its awesome! Today it also rained a bunch, and we got soaked all over again. Usually, when it is raining, the thing to do here is close your corner store, and not answer the door, because it is raining. ugh.
31 Saturday 2015
As far as lessons go today, it was a pretty normal day today. not much to report.
1 November 2015
Back to the Sunday routine. 8 AM in our chapel. Fast Sunday. I will not lie, but this church meeting that we had today was the most spiritual I have had in a VERY long time. Not going to lie, in the mission, you catch yourself dreading Sundays because you are worried about getting your 5 investigators, and your other 5 less actives to come to church, and stay for the 3 hours, answer all their questions, help out in Gospel Principles, attend Ward Council, and help run that meeting as well. It can become very stressful and tiring. All in all, things are getting better in our ward, and we are learning to think outside of the box on a lot of things. For example, I took this example from my mom from home. There are a few sisters in the ward that don't come to church for a few traumatic events that happened in and outside of the home. Won't even see the members or as of yet us, in the houses, because of embarrassment for the accident. So, we have applied the following. Letters. We now have a few sisters in the ward assigned to just write letters to these sisters that need to understand that they are still cared about, even if it is difficult to visit them in their homes, I really hope that with some time, this also can bear some fruits.
Woah. This week passed by really fast, and I'm sure that the following week will pass by even faster. I love you all, and hope you had a Happy Halloween! Loved the two packages (grandma-grandpa, and Home) the candy is great, and the pension loves it too. Hahaha!
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
Monday 26th 2015
Today I have completed 14 months here in Peru. Woah. I wish I could say we had some awesome lesson or something, but the 3 firm appointments that we had scheduled for the nighttime after P-Day all decided they didn't want to be home. But our afternoon was an interesting one at that. A missionary in my zone got a type of infection from a bug bite and appears it was contacted by dirty water when he was showering or something, so it just kept getting bigger, so we went to the clinic to get it taken care of. So, the Elder lifts up his shirt, and the doctor pokes it and goes OH MY, thats quite big. There, buy these drugs and take them, and if in 3 days it (the swelling) doesn't go down, return here. Well, we returned in 2 days as it had begun to get so large it exploded and the lovely doctor accepted us back, shot it up about 10 times with a thick numbing agent (did NOT) look fun.
Then the doctor went in this Elders infected area began cutting, gouging, etc, to remove it all. Got it all on video. [Really, Elder Holmes?? Why?] Then I received training on how to clean the new wound (about the size of a nickel-dime) daily, and change the dressing, and the gel net that has to be inserted daily to keep the structure together or something. So, I have been Dr. Holmes for 5 days cleaning, and dressing the wound. I even bought surgical gloves, Hydrogen Peroxide, Surgical Tape, the works. I'm actually enjoying this a bit, ha-ha. We will see how this progresses, wasn't too expensive, and the mission covers these expenses, so there is no worry there...
Tuesday 27th 2015
Another busy day. Today we had a district meeting with the 2 districts in our zone, and right after had to go to the bus terminal to send off 3 missionaries to Lima, get them a disposable phone so they can communicate with us for these 3 days of immigration junk, and send them off. Well it would've been great if all 3 got here on time. Only 2 got here on time, and we had to buy another ticket for the other missionary and send them off at a later time, because they HAD to go to Lima for their immigration junk. So, we got that all figured out, I even bought that missionary a cheaper seat. Sorry, you get late, without an excuse, you WILL NOT be getting a nice replacement seat. After lunch, we found a few less actives to teach a few eternal investigators, and finished the day with 2 great investigators.
One of which is reading the Book of Mormon for her own desire, and we acquired a picture Book of Mormon for her kids and is studying them both as a family in the mission, there are a few, but very rare instantaneous where prepared people will find you. This is about what happened with this family.
They searched us out, and now they are beginning to understand (The Why) behind why they felt the impression to search out the missionaries. When you teach families like that, then you feel the spirit even more, and just tell them you know there are blessings they can receive, that they aren't even aware of that exist, and can ONLY exist in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We finished off the night by teaching another investigator the story of the Tree of Life, and ended up asking him where in the photo he felt he was, which really helped us to understand in what way we should continue in teaching him.
Wednesday 28th 2015
So, a while back, I have my Pensionista a coupon for 100 soles off stuff in an electric store, but it is only valid if you spend over 500 soles. We happened to be commenting a week before that if she had bought a microwave, we would teach her how to use it, and how it can help her save time in all of the kitchen. Well, today we showed up to the pension, and she had bought the nicest Samsung Microwave I have seen so far! When we got there she told me, Elder! I had to use your coupon, it was only good for 2 days, so I bought a microwave! Now you have to show me how to use it! Hahaha...,, yes, then we will, don't worry about a thing. :) I'm not so sure her husband was so thrilled with the purchase, but really they are financially ok. We finished the day off, fixing a washing machine issue with an older couple, getting 100% soaked because it poured super duper today, even hailed, all for about 1 hour, and we weren't anywhere near cars, and our umbrellas can only protect us from rain from one direction, not from all of them. In the evening, we had our English class, ya with the rain only 2 showed up, but it was a pretty good English Class.
29 Thursday 2015
So, today we had a lesson with somebody that we had thought was a less active (they found us in the street) but turns out he is an old investigator who was getting ready to get baptized about 1 year ago, but a few things happened and is now ready to listen to us again. Woo! Later on, we did an office visit, picked up 2 packages for me! Woo hoo! Halloween packages, thank you! I can tell you that my comp and my roommates and Pension were very happy to get the two Halloween packages!
30 Friday 2015
Fridays sometimes can be a bit boring. Weekly planning all morning, and sometimes there are days you cannot find anybody: Today was that day. We did finish up today visiting one of our investigators, that is progressing by herself, and is taking her family with her. I just love teaching people who when they just get it you can see their faces light up with understanding. Its awesome! Today it also rained a bunch, and we got soaked all over again. Usually, when it is raining, the thing to do here is close your corner store, and not answer the door, because it is raining. ugh.
31 Saturday 2015
As far as lessons go today, it was a pretty normal day today. not much to report.
1 November 2015
Back to the Sunday routine. 8 AM in our chapel. Fast Sunday. I will not lie, but this church meeting that we had today was the most spiritual I have had in a VERY long time. Not going to lie, in the mission, you catch yourself dreading Sundays because you are worried about getting your 5 investigators, and your other 5 less actives to come to church, and stay for the 3 hours, answer all their questions, help out in Gospel Principles, attend Ward Council, and help run that meeting as well. It can become very stressful and tiring. All in all, things are getting better in our ward, and we are learning to think outside of the box on a lot of things. For example, I took this example from my mom from home. There are a few sisters in the ward that don't come to church for a few traumatic events that happened in and outside of the home. Won't even see the members or as of yet us, in the houses, because of embarrassment for the accident. So, we have applied the following. Letters. We now have a few sisters in the ward assigned to just write letters to these sisters that need to understand that they are still cared about, even if it is difficult to visit them in their homes, I really hope that with some time, this also can bear some fruits.
Woah. This week passed by really fast, and I'm sure that the following week will pass by even faster. I love you all, and hope you had a Happy Halloween! Loved the two packages (grandma-grandpa, and Home) the candy is great, and the pension loves it too. Hahaha!
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
Monday, October 26, 2015
Week in Review - October 19, 2015 - October 25, 2015
[No pictures this week.]
Transfers! I need to think that the week of transfers was all fun and dandy until I became a Zone leader, and had to do it all. Not to mention Elder Ottley finished his mission, so I was unavailable to ask for help. Wasn't too bad, just stressful, for the time and all, we had to send, and arrange transfers for one Elder or Sister in every companionship, so that became a bit costly and stressful. A few from Huancayo to other areas inside of Juancayo, a few to Tarma, and to Huanuco, and even to Huancavelica. So basically my day was to babysit missionaries - - no just kidding, it is because a bunch of them were without companionships, and belong to areas over 1 hour away, so it wasn't a great idea to send them to their area just to have them be called back. So, at one time in our room (between 2 zones) we had like 14 elders in our room, eating and waiting for their new companions. Ugh. The kitchen is empty! We got them all sent off and at the end of the day I was able to pick up my new companion Elder Schreiner, from Utah... A bit late in the day to actually do much visits, and I had planed our appointments for the following days because I didn't know from were he was coming..: So, all is well on the transfer font. I was able to send and pay for everybody to get to their new areas, and meet their new companions.
This week has been nuts, but good. It's raining more here, because apparently we are in preparation for El Niño which is on its way for December. They are modifying all the school schedules so they can finish before the storm. Even Saturdays and Sundays they are studying now... it's nuts. I don't even think it will be that bad, they get into habits sometimes of over exaggerating.. So we will see..
All in all this week was pretty calm after transfers. We made a cake in our Bakery Friends place. It is the cake that is the first layer cookie dough, next is Oreos, and the last one is brownie mix. Yup. It was delicious. We went and ate it in the office with the secretaries and the assistants when we went to go and pick up packages.
Also, this week we had our Area Conference which consisted of Peru and Bolivia. The speakers were Marcus B. Nash, Sis. Cheryl A Esplin, Juan A Uceda, and Elder Neil L. Anderson. ALL of them spoke in Spanish, except for Cheryl Esplin. Great talks, which focused on Sabbath day, and temple attendance, at any cost, any distance.
Sorry its a bit short this week, and there are no photos, but next week I will try to do something...
Love you all, and hope you have a great week!
P.S. I slept this week.
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
Transfers! I need to think that the week of transfers was all fun and dandy until I became a Zone leader, and had to do it all. Not to mention Elder Ottley finished his mission, so I was unavailable to ask for help. Wasn't too bad, just stressful, for the time and all, we had to send, and arrange transfers for one Elder or Sister in every companionship, so that became a bit costly and stressful. A few from Huancayo to other areas inside of Juancayo, a few to Tarma, and to Huanuco, and even to Huancavelica. So basically my day was to babysit missionaries - - no just kidding, it is because a bunch of them were without companionships, and belong to areas over 1 hour away, so it wasn't a great idea to send them to their area just to have them be called back. So, at one time in our room (between 2 zones) we had like 14 elders in our room, eating and waiting for their new companions. Ugh. The kitchen is empty! We got them all sent off and at the end of the day I was able to pick up my new companion Elder Schreiner, from Utah... A bit late in the day to actually do much visits, and I had planed our appointments for the following days because I didn't know from were he was coming..: So, all is well on the transfer font. I was able to send and pay for everybody to get to their new areas, and meet their new companions.
This week has been nuts, but good. It's raining more here, because apparently we are in preparation for El Niño which is on its way for December. They are modifying all the school schedules so they can finish before the storm. Even Saturdays and Sundays they are studying now... it's nuts. I don't even think it will be that bad, they get into habits sometimes of over exaggerating.. So we will see..
All in all this week was pretty calm after transfers. We made a cake in our Bakery Friends place. It is the cake that is the first layer cookie dough, next is Oreos, and the last one is brownie mix. Yup. It was delicious. We went and ate it in the office with the secretaries and the assistants when we went to go and pick up packages.
Also, this week we had our Area Conference which consisted of Peru and Bolivia. The speakers were Marcus B. Nash, Sis. Cheryl A Esplin, Juan A Uceda, and Elder Neil L. Anderson. ALL of them spoke in Spanish, except for Cheryl Esplin. Great talks, which focused on Sabbath day, and temple attendance, at any cost, any distance.
Sorry its a bit short this week, and there are no photos, but next week I will try to do something...
Love you all, and hope you have a great week!
P.S. I slept this week.
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
Monday, October 19, 2015
Week in Review - October 12, 2015 - October 18, 2015
Really Though. Do I have to write this week? It has been so SO SO Busy, I don't even know where to start. I hope that a picture is worth a thousand words because I don't even have a few words to share this week. I will bullet point a few of the things that happened this week then I will try to explain a few of the pictures that are uploading right now so that at the very least some of them will make some sense.
Panchamanka. This week we received permission from President Henderson to make a panchamanka. This is basically a bunch of food that is cooked in the ground or above the ground by using stone heat to cook it all, even the meat. So, as part of the goodbye thing for my companion we got permission to do it with a less active to try and animate them to have a bit more of confidence in us so we can help them out a bit more in their family and do the stuff we need to do. So, attached are a few photos of the steps we used to make the panchamanka, and what it consists of. Maybe next week I will make a video that explains the photos of the panchamanka. If not, just look it up online, I'm sure it explains it pretty well. But you have to look it up from the earth, and not from the pan.
Also, something worthy of mention this week is that we did Divisions. Woo hoo. Actually they went through pretty well, it was just logistical crap for the last part because that is when we began finding out there were changes in the sister zone that happens to live with us, so we had to help them out a bit because there wasn't enough missionaries to go around. Woah. Long Story short, the other missionary that was in our room is now in the office, he is an Assistant to the President, and so we have been in a Trio since that Wednesday. Fun fun. This week I said goodbye to my companion, as Elder Ottley has finished his two years of service, last night and this morning, and like all of last week we spent time packing, and I think he finally made it all in, and just at weight. Ugh. I don't want to do that. Yuck.
There was a baptism this week in the ward, but from the sister missionaries, but I had the opportunity to be the Priesthood that baptized their convert. A fun experience, and it was even more fun trying to fix the freaking machine for the font. That sucks in water, pushes it out, and heats it up. It's such a mess. I will send you guys a photo of what it is like... Then you can see how fun it is when it breaks...
That should be it. I will try to write something better up today, but I cant think.: I'm so tired. I Will probably sleep next week after the transfers. haha.
Love you all
Elder Holmes
Monday, October 12, 2015
Week in Review - October 5, 2015 - October 11, 2015
[Note: Click on pictures to make them larger]
General Conference
Weekend
This weekend we had
the opportunity to watch General Conference Live, but also in
English! There were enough of North American Missionaries that we
constituted a small room in the stake center. English is channel 3,
and Spanish is channel 8. While many members were a bit tardy, we
were there on time to take advantage of the time we have to listen to
the prophet and his apostles in these days. I won't go through each
one, because it was a conference of two days, but there were many
discourses that called my attention, like discourses from Sis. NeillF. Marriott that “It will all work out” or Sis. Carole M.Stephens, “Teach them” or many others, all of which are available
to still watch or listen to at conference.lds.org. On Sunday morning
session however, the stake center was fill to the brim, but the other
sessions were a very story. [?] Talking to the members, its almost as
if the majority were unaware of the fact conference was a total of 6
different sessions in one week, and not just 1 or 2, ugh. Well, I
will tell you I kept on the tradition of ice cream after priesthood
session and got some with my companion, but it had to be super quick
and in our room because the priesthood session ended at 9pm, and the
absolute latest we can be out of our room is 9:30pm and we had to
pick up our dinner to bring home, because on a normal day here in the
mission dinner is served at 8pm.
Appointments that
fail
An interesting topic
I had the opportunity to teach this week was time management to a
youth who is a recent convert to the church. An odd topic for
missionary to be teaching, perhaps --- an odd topic for a missionary
to be teaching in Peru – not so much. At home it is drilled into
our heads in all aspects that ones time is your most valuable asset,
and best do everything possible to preserve it and utilize it well,
unless it is something taught by your parents, is not taught anywhere
else, this making it way difficult to stress to individuals that
being on time, or honoring an appointment is not a joke, or
completely excusable for [?] half an hour late to activities… So,
every once and a while we take advantage of this opportunity and try
to make a teaching opportunity of it. The older generation is
beginning to understand it, along with a few select families, but if
the attention to this is not called, it makes it very difficult to
teach sometimes, or to have members who will accompany us on
appointments. So, with all of that there are many times we cannot
visit members because there is no male present, or they simply aren't
there because they decided to do a quick shop in the market – the
same time we had planned with them – because they forgot and don't
keep any type of schedule or reminders in the phones that they all
have. Ok, rant [?] is now over.
P-Day!
P-Day this
week was pretty darn fun. We took a comvee from Hauncayo to an
outskirt town called “El Ingenio”. Were basically it is just
trout farms with a bunch of local restaurants. We
found a super cool
restaurant not only where we could fit all 16 of us (our zone) but we
could also fish our own lunch! I wasn't very patient, so I took a
plastic crate and scooped out my fish. This was by far
the best fish I have ever eaten in the mission, and if it wasn't so
far away I would keep going back.
The plate cost like 13 soles, and the jar of lemonade for 2 was 8 soles. So, considering in total a lunch here is 7 soles with everything it was a bit 'pricey' but it was completely delicious. After El Ingenio we took another comve over to Santa Rosa Ptn Ocopa which is a Catholic Church/Museum clear back from the 1,600's. It was prohibited to take photos inside the structure but outside there was no problem.
We did get them to lower the entrance fee because we said we were part of a religious organization, and the majority of us, Latinos or North Americans are foreigners, so we got the price lowered from 5 to 3 each one, not to bad. A lot of cool history stuff, photos, 22 [?] that nobody can read, and many old paintings from that era. We finished the day by taking a mototaxi around, I kinda sat on the back 'seat' but nobody noticed because it is something that many people do from time to time.
The plate cost like 13 soles, and the jar of lemonade for 2 was 8 soles. So, considering in total a lunch here is 7 soles with everything it was a bit 'pricey' but it was completely delicious. After El Ingenio we took another comve over to Santa Rosa Ptn Ocopa which is a Catholic Church/Museum clear back from the 1,600's. It was prohibited to take photos inside the structure but outside there was no problem.
We did get them to lower the entrance fee because we said we were part of a religious organization, and the majority of us, Latinos or North Americans are foreigners, so we got the price lowered from 5 to 3 each one, not to bad. A lot of cool history stuff, photos, 22 [?] that nobody can read, and many old paintings from that era. We finished the day by taking a mototaxi around, I kinda sat on the back 'seat' but nobody noticed because it is something that many people do from time to time.
Breakfasts
So you know that in
the room that I am in we cook our own breakfasts, so we have a stove
(no oven), a fridge and a couple other plates, and dumb stuff. Well,
Elder Glasset and I have gotten to experimenting and so we have with
many different items. Our latest two inventions has been stove top
egg casserole and cactus syrup. Both of which might I add are
delicious, and our Pension [cook] wants to buy the cactus syrup from
us. It is fairly easy to find the cactus fruit here and then you just
have to do the necessary steps to syrupify [?] it. It came out great!
I have attached some photos of our attempts to imitate an oven on the
stove top (for casserole) and some cactus syrup pictures.
 |
| Cactus Fruit |
 |
| Peeled Cactus Fruit |
 |
| The start of their egg casserole - stove top |
Mormon Helping Hands
So, on Thursday we
had the Worldwide Mormon Helping Hands project which consists of all
members taking part in service projects around the world to help the
community. That's it! Simple. I never go anywhere without my
Leatherman, and let me tell you that was a blessing. A big part of
our park clean up service project was taking down barbed wire walls,
untangling it, cutting it, and installing it. Nobody had or brought
pliers or thick gloves, or wire cutters, so my Leatherman and I
became lifesavers. My hand hurt like heck after wards, but it all
worked out. P.S. I'm glad I had my Tetanus Booster shot. :)
To
explain photos that I didn't
explain.... lets see.... there is a solar water heater on our roof
now. We use that for all of our hot water in our companionship.
And let me tell you, does that steam BURN your skin! We use it daily,
and it works great! I think in dollars it is like 500. Totally worth
it to not have to heat hot water and pay for the gas to do so,
especially down here!
All
in all we are doing good down here... My health is great, I'm
definitely
slowing down on my metabolism, but I
guess that is a good thing. It is kinda weird
to be helping a missionary
finish his mission. ugh... weird.
But I'm
doing great.
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
 |
| Solar Panel on roof of Elder's room |
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
Monday, October 5, 2015
Week in Review - September 28, 2015 - October 4, 2015
I cannot stress how much time we do NOT Have here in the internet cafe stuff that they have here. it is almost impossible to be able to share all that you want to share. And for that reason the other day I wrote it out before and sent it to you guys so you could at least read it. But that is also increasingly difficult to do as it also takes up time that I am finding that I do not have as we are planning trainings, talking to other missionaries about their areas (because they call super late and they do not respect the time of other missionaries, but that is another topic). So, if this email seems a bit low on the details sorry, I am trying my best on trying to get all of what happens into this email in a few minutes. Also, My USB that I have just got a worm virus. Yea. So, With all these things I have the 1 hour of internet. Yea!
So, starting with Monday we had P-DAY. Basically it was a companionship p day where we just did shopping and got the stuff we needed for the week. As Elder Ottley is finishing his mission in a few weeks we are doing some super fun shopping like recuerdos and what not. Needless to say I have been inspired to start some shopping for home as well. I'm not done, but I am getting a good chunk done. I wont tell you what I am getting, but just be satisfied that I am getting it. And you will like them! I guarantee it.,
Tuesday we had our District Meeting. Not much new stuff, just fun to hear about the other missionaries and see how and what they are teaching the other investigators and less active members in their areas. And how as of yet hardly any of the ward members are aware that there is General Conference this week. That could be a problem. Later today we began to search for pickup trucks because the sisters in Concepción are moving tomorrow and don't have any means to make the move. Just love it when the plans we made and told people we would pay them just decide to bail on us, and not even tell us. Tomorrow should be super fun! hahahaha
Wednesday
Today we had the lovely opportunity to move the sisters from Concepción. Found a guy with a pickup moving truck, and had him help us move the sisters over to their beautiful room where they basically are living in a Mini Mansion, with huge grass lawns, sheep, fountains, the works. It is a beautiful house, but it was a pain in the butt to do the moving, and convince the sisters that the only way all their stuff and their million bags will fit is if we do it in the following way. Yup, that was a fun one to show, but after about 2 hours of showing and moving and what not, we got it all in, and settled down. Hope that lasts for a while there. Ugh.... Also, later on today we went past a less active and I gifted a copy of the Simplified hymns to his son who is learning the piano. He got straight to it and began practicing the simplified hymns. i really hope that even with this it will help them to have a bit more desire to stay in the church, and at the very least, learn some more piano, an art here that almost doesn't exist.
Thursday we had interviews. As Zone Leaders we had to be there all day to supervise the others while they were waiting, and help out doing practices with the Assistants and the missionaries in our Zone. Started at like 8 Am and finished for Lunch. Had a nice chat with President, but it is always hard to read him sometimes, not in a bad way, just in a way that he will say something in a code (I feel) and then you have to figure it out. ugh... hahaha but it is all good.
Later on today we get a call from the Stake Family History lady. She found in the chapel today a couple who came to the chapel looking for missionaries from our area. They are having a few problems in their family and felt the need to search out the missionaries. The mom didn't know why, where, or how to do it, but found a number in her phone that actually worked, called it and got directions to the church building. Happened to find somebody there, and the chapel was open, gave us a call, and we came right over. It worked out great. We now are visiting the family, and we know where they live. There are so many miracles that happen like that here, that there isn't enough time or room to write them all.
Friday, I ended up doing a Baptism Interview for somebody in another one of our Districts. Over 1 and a half hours later we finished the interview. Woah. This was by far the most spiritually uplifting interview I have ever done. The ability to apply repentance to the life of somebody and watch them make the change, and apply the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is something amazing to witness. Put him with goals, approved his baptism. Woah. What am I being prepared for. That was draining, but in the same breath, uplifting.
Saturday and Sunday, I will put in next weeks email, there is not enough time to talk about General Conference. But just let it be said that I watched the 5 session in ENGLISH! Woo!! We had our own little room and everything, it was great... I will talk more about that next week.
Love you all! Hope you have a great week!
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
[PS: No photos this week, just not enough time.}
So, starting with Monday we had P-DAY. Basically it was a companionship p day where we just did shopping and got the stuff we needed for the week. As Elder Ottley is finishing his mission in a few weeks we are doing some super fun shopping like recuerdos and what not. Needless to say I have been inspired to start some shopping for home as well. I'm not done, but I am getting a good chunk done. I wont tell you what I am getting, but just be satisfied that I am getting it. And you will like them! I guarantee it.,
Tuesday we had our District Meeting. Not much new stuff, just fun to hear about the other missionaries and see how and what they are teaching the other investigators and less active members in their areas. And how as of yet hardly any of the ward members are aware that there is General Conference this week. That could be a problem. Later today we began to search for pickup trucks because the sisters in Concepción are moving tomorrow and don't have any means to make the move. Just love it when the plans we made and told people we would pay them just decide to bail on us, and not even tell us. Tomorrow should be super fun! hahahaha
Wednesday
Today we had the lovely opportunity to move the sisters from Concepción. Found a guy with a pickup moving truck, and had him help us move the sisters over to their beautiful room where they basically are living in a Mini Mansion, with huge grass lawns, sheep, fountains, the works. It is a beautiful house, but it was a pain in the butt to do the moving, and convince the sisters that the only way all their stuff and their million bags will fit is if we do it in the following way. Yup, that was a fun one to show, but after about 2 hours of showing and moving and what not, we got it all in, and settled down. Hope that lasts for a while there. Ugh.... Also, later on today we went past a less active and I gifted a copy of the Simplified hymns to his son who is learning the piano. He got straight to it and began practicing the simplified hymns. i really hope that even with this it will help them to have a bit more desire to stay in the church, and at the very least, learn some more piano, an art here that almost doesn't exist.
Thursday we had interviews. As Zone Leaders we had to be there all day to supervise the others while they were waiting, and help out doing practices with the Assistants and the missionaries in our Zone. Started at like 8 Am and finished for Lunch. Had a nice chat with President, but it is always hard to read him sometimes, not in a bad way, just in a way that he will say something in a code (I feel) and then you have to figure it out. ugh... hahaha but it is all good.
Later on today we get a call from the Stake Family History lady. She found in the chapel today a couple who came to the chapel looking for missionaries from our area. They are having a few problems in their family and felt the need to search out the missionaries. The mom didn't know why, where, or how to do it, but found a number in her phone that actually worked, called it and got directions to the church building. Happened to find somebody there, and the chapel was open, gave us a call, and we came right over. It worked out great. We now are visiting the family, and we know where they live. There are so many miracles that happen like that here, that there isn't enough time or room to write them all.
Friday, I ended up doing a Baptism Interview for somebody in another one of our Districts. Over 1 and a half hours later we finished the interview. Woah. This was by far the most spiritually uplifting interview I have ever done. The ability to apply repentance to the life of somebody and watch them make the change, and apply the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is something amazing to witness. Put him with goals, approved his baptism. Woah. What am I being prepared for. That was draining, but in the same breath, uplifting.
Saturday and Sunday, I will put in next weeks email, there is not enough time to talk about General Conference. But just let it be said that I watched the 5 session in ENGLISH! Woo!! We had our own little room and everything, it was great... I will talk more about that next week.
Love you all! Hope you have a great week!
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
[PS: No photos this week, just not enough time.}
Monday, September 28, 2015
Week in Review - September 21, 2015 - September 27, 2015
SLEEP. Need SLEEP.
This week I am just going to do Highlights and things I wanted to say, because not a whole lot has gone on this week here in Los Andes.
The Elevation of Huancayo is actually around 9,400 something feet. I looked it up on my GPS Camera, I was just so busy these last few weeks I never actually looked at it...
This last week we went to a local park for P-DAY and bought a few things and took a few photos. I have begun the little trinket shopping for people at home now.... Ugh...
This week I hit 13 months... Woah.. Every Month, every transfer just goes by faster and faster!!!! But a bit faster for my companion, Elder Ottley, who this week has to weigh his bags to make sure that everything will be able to go home.:: Yuck. He doesn't like it, I will tell you that!!
This week we did some service at a members house that was moving form one block to the other. Might I add, a HUGE Upgrade from where they were living before. I really enjoyed the opportunity I had with my companion to help this family make this upgrade in their lives. She is a widow, and has 3 kids, who all work or do something to support the family. The son is also studying, and frankly I have no idea how they have all the time to do the things they need to, AND they still go to church. Later on the next day, we sent over some of the ward members to give a blessing to dedicate the home. I really hope they appreciated the gesture, we will go over to their house this week to see if there is anything else we can do for them in the meantime. Here in the mission, whether you are moving missionaries, or somebody inside of the ward, you will probably have at least 1 moving project weekly. But it's all good, you are just super tired afterwards!
This week we did a set of divisions. I went over to another ward that is in our Stake to see how everything is going on over there. Seems like it is going well, a few problems with following the schedule, but overall it looks good. While we were over there it was HAILING for a good 30 minutes, and I won't lie. All the Peruvians told me I would get sick and be in bed for days If I stayed outside (was in short sleeves and pants, but still shirt and tie) and they about flipped out on me! They couldn't understand that I was ok! They wouldn't even walk outside with us, we had to wait for the hail to let up for a sec so we could keep going! Jeesh! I loved it! I wanted more, but it only hails for a bit. Later on in that day we went over to a house that they said was leaking and there was no hope for it. Well, I wasn't liking that answer. Found the leak, they told me it was for something else and it wasn't fixable (A BUNCH of water was coming in their house) I got a plastic bag, and a metal pipe. Shoved it in the right spot, and not only stopped the leak, but redirected the water to another direction. I could hear them yelling from the other side of the wall,,,, how did you do it! It stoped! What! hahahahaha.... I was soaked after that day, because afterwards we also (I) dug a ditch for all the water to flow AWAY from the house because it was soaking everything. A BUNCH of rain. All is well. I hope the laundry lady doesn't kill me. Those pants are SO SO SO MUDDY.
You will find a few pictures this week that says Piense en aqui. It means, 'think in here'. This basically represents the people (Stake and Wards) that think about BAPTISMS BAPTISMS BAPTISMS without thinking of retaining the people they baptize. Well, we have over 500 basically in every ward, and only like 120 actives. That shows a problem. The Red Handbook... It just a suggestion to use it here... They say it doesn't really apply here. So. All the logic we try to use, is represented outside of this box. Because logic and thinking just doesn't enter... hahahaa... I will explain more next week.
Oh yea, I had a talk this week. Didn't really phase anybody, because the reverence levels here are bar none. Ugh. I can just breath a little deeper and keep going.
Seriously. In all of the things I am learning here in the mission, Patience is definitely one of them! Patience, and the ability to work with people who for some reason, logic just doesn't click. The manuals for the church are just (suggestion boxes) which makes everything just more difficult. I hope I will be able to write a better email next week, this week I was just caught off guard with all the things I had to do and the things that didn't even make it into this email. I hope that all is going well at home
I think that is all.... My comp and I are getting along well, we made pancakes the other day... Well, like every 3 days we make pancakes, they are so much cheaper... and the N
Elder Holmes
Huancayo, Peru
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