¡Hola Hola Hola!

The Plaza de Armas in Tumbes

Sugar Cane!

Pretty darn good week down here in Peru! not a ton going on, just trying to work hard. This last thursday we had a multi zone conference with...just the Tumbes zone haha so it really wasnt a multi zone conference but president chipman and his wife came up for a day and it was really great to take a day to learn instead of teach and really disect the atonement. we also got mail which was awesome because i had two packages waiting for me! one from humper and one from Alli! and a letter from mert! yay! Oh man i love that music. I was dying to get it and it was definitely a life saver. We listen to it everymorning and night. you all are the best. oh and now you dont have to worry anymore mom it got here safe ;) but as for things i need....nothing i can think of right this second, just protein bars or chocolate or a mini fridge filled with ice cold beverages....just something like that ;) haha jk jk.

Thanks for listening to t swift for me! I got humper's package with her singing card in it and i love that thing. Its gonna come in handy down the road when im craving some t swift. Its pretty sad, everyone down here is so deprived...and im not talking about the houses or the food, no one knows t swift! how sad is that for them?!? ill have to spread the joy, and by joy i mean the gospel...and t swift. haha

So friday after the multi zone conf. we had the chance to go out and teach with the president. I learned a lot from those 3 hours with him. This is a tough work, even for him its tough to get in houses and teach but its important to be able to gauge the intrest of the people we teach because there are people that will just listen and listen and listen but not do anything. so we have to search out the peolple that are willing to follow through with reading the book of mormon and prayer. One of our appointments was with Hna Rocio with the president which was great becuase we really needed his help. I had a nice experience that helped me realize just how important the spirit is, and just how bad i suck at using it. so thats something im gonna work on this week. but the experience was that we were teaching her and i asked about her baptismal date and she said that she wasnt going to be ready. and then i said well you still have a week before the date and she said no no im not gonna be ready by then. and i stupidly just asked again "well why hna?" which is when president jumped in and understood that she had something that she needed to take care of that was personal and so he set up an appointment with her for sunday. i asked later how he knew that she needed an appointment and he said that it was "mas que entendimiento" more than just understanding. ill be working on that from now on. but after the interview the president just said that she will tell us when shes ready to be baptized and that we just need to keep working with her. So she could defininitely use your prayers still. prez said shes had a really tough life. Thanks for your help in the work!

So early today we went to a members house to cut down some sugar cane! haha they have this really big space out behind their house which is really beautiful and green. we went there and he cut down 4 really big sugar canes, one for each of us. they are supposed to be really good for you to eat. good for your stomach or something like that. but anyways we walked home (10 min) through the town carrying sugar cane in each hand lol. classic moment. now theyre just sitting in our room, not sure when well have time to eat them but well see. but before we left i was sure to stop by the two little piglets that they have there. Rambo and some other name that i cant remember haha.But that were cute little pigglets.smelly...but cute haha.

Good to hear that everyone is doing so well! its crazy to hear the changes that have been going on. The family has really changed for the better huh? it makes me sad that im missing out on seeing all of the blessings going on there but that joy in knowing that they are happening definietly out weighs it. you guys are awesome examples to me. keep up the good work. and well party when i get back! haha

I was thinking about buying boots but i dont really wanna pack them around so i think im just gonna stick it out with these. its not too bad because it doesnt rain every single day. but its definitely dirty mud. haha everything here is dirty....including me. but as for experation dates on ketchup, id take that any day of the week now. haha here i just eat what they give me and dont ask questions lol. ive seen them prepare the chicken and its disgusting. but i just push it out of my mind and eat it. and then when im eating a spoonful of rice and i feel something crunch, i just tell myself im in peru and that its supposed to be like that and swallow it hahahahaha i love my mission :) theres not anything better than this :)

Love and miss you all tons! Unitl Next week!

Elder Woodburn

Muy Buenos dias familia!

The Elders plus a friend :)

A Peruvian bird

From walking through the mud all day!

The church building

Trying something new...

All is well down here in Peru. Thanks a lot for the email and love. I love to hear about all thats going on and laugh along with you all even if im far away :) so I got my new companion, his name is Elder Cabrera. (oh and btw mom, my last companioins name was Elder Lopez not gonzalez lol.) but yeah hes pretty cool. Hes from Lima which i love becuase he knows the language of peru much better. you would think that all spanish would be the same but every country has different words for the same thing. so there were many times where e lopez would teach me something and then i would find out that it was something different here. i hate it. there are even different words for the same things in Piura and Tumbes so its no fun but thtats okay. E cabrera has the same time in the mission as i do (almost 5 months) so he entered the mtc the 24 of august too but he was only in there for 3 weeks so he has one more transfer than me in the field (6 weeks). Ive definitely noticed a difference with him. Hes more of a serious guy for the most part and just likes to go to work. Which is great because just in this last week ive noticed even more that when we go to work and just knock doors and teach lessons, the time flys by. He's 21 and i feel like were gonna get the job done in the next 6 weeks.

So to answer questions from last email becuase i always forget lol, Yes it has started raining here and yes it does suck lol i attached one pic to this email with my shoes after we had to walkl in the mud. its pretty terrible. the dirt here is the kind that doesnt absorb water so it just pours and pours and turns to mud. oh well. it sucks but it doesnt happen every day so its okay. and luckly i havent taken a spill into the mud yet but im sure itll happen in the next 19 months.lol

also about pics, yes i can recieve them. cant print them off but i can look at them :) i would love to see anything from the real world :) haha

So one of the elders in the mission finished up his 2 years last week and was "released" from his service. But his dad came here to pick him up. so they spent a week traveling around and visiting all his areas and saying hi to old investigators and companions. he came here as the last area and then they went down to macchu picchu and then home. so im just saying, im counting on someone coming down here to pick me up. president chipman was totally cool with it. it may seem like a lot to fly down here but after that, it costs like 10 dollars tops to spend a week here...lol okay maybe 100 but seriously no more than that. wink wink james...

So last night the power went out....which means first off that we couldnt prosylte in the dark because its pitch black, but it also meant that that flash light that dad gave me came in handy! haha never thought id use that but thanks pops ;) and the light burnt out so the back up came in handy too along with the 20 batteries you gave me ;) haha thanks for looking out. Oh and the leatherman too. i use that thing all the time :)

But other than that not a whole lot going on. we have been knocking a lot of doors and have a few really good investigators. one speaks some english and loves to joke around with me a lot which is really funny, but he knows a ton about religion and askes really good questions when we teach. we spent 2 hours in his house the other day just teaching the plan of salvatin but every second was well spent. hes a great guy. I would love love love if you all could pray for Hna Rosio though. shes the mom of the family that we baptized. Shes having a lot of trouble and trials in her life right now and needs help. She lost her job but hasnt told her family yet becuase she doesnt want to worry them. we have a baptism date for the 4th of Feb for her but she wants to see changes in her own life first. i know she can do it. she just needs the help of her Heavely Father :)

Im definitely gonna look that scripture up mom :) i too have noticed how important missionary work is oldly enough haha who would have guessed right? ;) but seriously, what ive noticed is that its really not the work of the missionaries. its the work of the members. we cant do anything without members. the investigators have to see that there are real people that are a part of this church before they do ANYthing. of the 4 people that weve baptized so far...and 4 were references from members. Seriously its the only way we can do this work is with the help of members. most people know that we are just kids and ignore us when we talk and teach them. seriously though, if i could ask anything from you all, its put yourself out there and help the missionaries. go out and teach with them. youre not going to have to teach the whole lesson. shoot just tell them that all you want to do is share your testimony about howw you know the church is true. they will LOVE to have you there. even just your precese there helps. Help those weird teenagers in suits!!! they need it! :D

I miss every one tons but life goes on down here. Got my head shaved again today so im hoping that will help with the heat. haha keep the work up up there and tell james good luck on his dryspell with the ladies haha jk jk. until next week.

Love

Elder Woodburn

Transfers!

Elder Woodburn & Elder Lopez with the family they baptized this week (everyone but the mom on the right).

Elder Woodburn's Zone.

Alright so first off...transfers today! Elder Lopez is changing to a different area here in Tumbes but ill have a new companion that ill meet tomorrow. So well see! but yeah itll be nice to have a change but at the same time Elder Lopez has been a great help to me. He taught me a lot and would always help me out. One thing i never really realized is how patient with me he was. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to teach with with someone that cant speak and sucks as bad as i do haha. But He will be okay.

Secondly, This week has been packed full of blessings and miracles. It has really be amazing to see. Usually every single week we put down 1 baptism as our goal and try and strive to find that one person that is willing to work towards baptism. This week at the start of the week I decided to put down 4...Thinking back on it, there was zero reason to think that this family was going to be baptized. They had all the lessons, they had attended church, they knew it was true. but they all wanted to wait and learn more. But we put 4 down anyways. Then came tuesday and we fasted for them. during our fast we went to their house to teach them with a member and they still didnt want to be baptized. the grandma was set on being baptized in july for her birthday. At the end of the lesson we asked one more time and the grandma said yes. just like that she changed her mind. she said she was going to travel this weekend but if we could do it before then then she would be baptized. so we set it up for thursday. we stopped by wednesday to pick her up for her interview and her granddaughter decided to come with because she had nothing better to do. During her grandmas interview we asked her when she was gonna be baptized and she said "eh maybe next week or something like that". then her grandma came out and everything was set for her baptism. I went down the hall to get a drink of water and came back and her grandaughter was in there being interviewed for her baptism too. just like that.lol so then came thursday and we spent 2 hours cleaning the church and making it all nice for their baptism. Everything went well except...well i baptized the grandma and....i struggled. The first time i baptized her she didnt go all the way under. then the second time i didnt say her name, but i also didnt say it the first time but neither of the witnesses told me so i forgot again the second time...and then finally the third time i got it right. How awful right? but at least we got it right and now i will never forget to say the name when i baptize. but after the baptism the grandson and brother came up to us and said he was ready to be baptized this saturday! boom just like that. So again on saturday we had a baptismal service. It was awesome. The only one that wasnt baptized was the mom. She has some things that she needs to overcome but having seen her whole family be baptized and having attended church i know she knows its true. we just need to help her out some more. Thank you all so much for your prayers. I know for a fact that this success wouldnt have happened without your prayers. That just proves the power of prayer though. You all can make an influence from thousands of miles away. This is such a beautiful work. Afterwards Ronny (the son) got up and bore a beautiful testimony about this church.

Lets see....Thirdly...I got 5 letters last week! it was a mid-January miracle!!! haha ;) I finally got 3 of the letters that have just been sitting in the office from Alli and then i got the one from mert too! from....november 7 lol. It came with a nice stamp on the front that said it got sent to El Salvador in Central America.lol classic. But thanks for all the letters and love! How do the letters that i send show up when you get em? cuz we just write the addresses on them and give them to the office without a stamp and they take care of the rest. Which reminds me, ill have to pay for all of these letters at the end of the mish lol probably 1 dollar each. but the mish does pay for 4 letters a month (one a week) for us so it should be a lil cheaper :)

Keep up the good work up there in the good ole U S of A. 6 More weeks in Tumbes and well see what happends after that! Love you all so much!

Love

Elder Woodburn

Vamos a la Playa!!!

"Zona Tumbes"

At the Beach!

"Working for your town!"

¡Feliz Cumpliaños James! Hope it was great. The big 25. man getting old. Im sure that driver wont help your game much anyways but hit a round for me. If you were here for your birthday you would get eggs chucked at you. I cant remember if i told you all this story but Elder Lopez birthday was Dec 14 and so our Pensionista and her daughter chased him into her daughters room with two eggs and cracked em right over his head. He was in a white shirt and tie...everything...lol and he was on the little girls bed but they still did it. They dont mess around. They asked when my birthday was and i said in 2014 lol.

Good week on my end. Getting lost in it all. But today was awesome!!! We spent just about all of the day at....the beach!!! hope you like all the pics i sent. It was such a good change to be able to just walk along the beach in shorts and a t shirt with the wind blowing. very relaxing. and we got to take some cool pics and videos. I got absolutely fried though lol. I put sunscreen on but i got dominated still. oh well. im okay with it. it was an awesome trade. Loved that beach. If only we could have gone in....lol but as for the work! Same old same old. Its definitely tough at times with the teaching people that dont want to listen and getting people to understand what is already so clear to you. I love that Plan Of Salvation puzzle you sent me mom. We dont use it everytime we teach that lesson but every time that we do use it, The investigator talks about how much it helps them to visualize and understand the plan. Other than that they just dont really listen. and at times dont understand the scriptures so that definitely helps us to teach more effectively. I dont know if there is anything like that for the Restauration or The Gospel of Jesus Christ but i would love if you sent them to me if they do exist :D thanks mommy. Other than that I've been throwing down on the candy that you all sent for christmas. I love those flavor packets that alli sent. at first i was wondering if they would work but i love it. They replaced all of the Soda that i would usually drink so its definitely more healthy. oh and power bars would be great btw ;) but not necessary ;) But as for mail....all i got last week was 2 letters...one from alli and one from....Brazil! lol Im not entirley sure what happened to all of the other letters and stuff because the letter from alli was from the 18th of December. But im suprised Elder Siddoways letter got here so quick. it was awesome to hear from him and compare experiences. He sounds like hes doing great and working hard and that its basically the same as here...smelly...hot...and sweaty. lol

We have a family that we are really hoping to baptize this saturday. they want to wait more time and learn more but transfers are this next monday and we both think there is a good chance that at least one of us is leaving so we really wanna get it done. Were gonna work hard with them and see what happens. Lots of prayer and fasting and feel free to join in ;) I love this work. Its hot and difficult, but were honestly just trying to help these people. thats all it is. Ive found how incredibly difficult it can be to feel the spirit here in lessons which is not what i expected at all as a missionary but everytime i can feel it...its amazing. I just hope i can find a way to keep it around more.

Love everyone and miss you more!

Elder Woodburn

Feliz Año Nuevo Familia y Amigos!

A bathroom he found on his trek.

His trek through the field!

Hope you all had a great new year and all went well. New year here was pretty crazy. We didnt really experience it becuase we just went to bed at 10. but well before we went to bed everyone was out in the streets with music blaring and drinking and having tons of fun. But we went to bed and then were waken up by all of the fireworks at midnight but just went back to bed lol. For new years here they have this weird tradition where they make big dolls that are basically like scarecrows, filled with straw and hay and then at midnight they lay them in the street and light em on fire.lol classic i know. So the next morning we left our room and first of all, there was NOONE in the streets. usually there are motos driving by and honking and such but there was no one. it was like a ghost town. everybody was inside still hung over from the night before.lol but yeah so no one was in the streets but then we were walking down the street and we would see big piles of burnt ash in the outline of the dolls that they make and then at the bottom there would be a pair of burnt shoes lol. it was great. we would just see em everywhere. And then we had church at 8 now becuase of the change and so there were only like 20 people there but it was by far the best sacrament meeting ive ever had. usually there are tons of cars driving by and making tons of noise as we have the sacrament but since everyone was still hung over we had the first silent sacrament ive witnessed here. I could actually feel the spirit! it was amazing. thats one thing that has ALWAYS been hard for me here. you just dont really get the chance to feel the spirit here. there is always some music playing or a loud motorcycle driving by. cant stand it. But all that being said...im definitely glad that the holidays are over. Not only is it sad but the work is terrible! everyone is either busy or gone traveling. we couldnt find ANYONE to talk to yesterday becuase i guess everyone here goes to the playa (beach) im definitely excited to get back to the norm.

Also transfers are coming up here pretty soon so im kinda excited to see how that goes. I have a feeling im gonna get shipped out but in reality i have no idea. Today for Pday we did what we always do and go play soccer at the stake center with all of the elders from the zone tumbes (about 24 or so) but ive gotten really tired of that so i got a bunch of other elders to go out into the campo (field) where they grow a bunch of wheat and mangos and stuff and where its actually green so i sent some pics of that. Its basically like walking through the woods but we were with elder rice from Cedar City and he just got torn apart by mosquitos while we were out there haha. lucily i had put on sun repellant so they stayed away from me for the most part. but i feel bad for him. hopefully hes okay.

So I think ive collected most of the names that i go by down here. So far i have Elder Goodburn, Elder Wilford, Elder Goodmorning, Elder Voldemort, and Elder Woodberto. I personally like the last one. one of the 15 year old members calls me it. hes a pretty funny kid (pierto) But yeah basically its never Woodburn. they just cant do it. and from what i hear they cant handle Elder Siddoways name either so he feels my pain. haha. Oh and BTW, someone get a hold of Bubbles and wish him luck for me. he should be heading out to brazil soon right? Hope all is well!

Oh and one more funny story, so like i said, there is ALWAYS music blaring or something from the houses around where were teaching and most of the time its loud latino music which all sounds the same to me to be honest. Im not good enough to understand what they are saying for the most part yet. But this one time we were teaching Hermano David a 14 year old kid and his neighbor was blaring the final countdown in english which was pretty cool but not all that weird, they play a lot of american music here that they dont understand. but theyre favorites are definielty LMFAO, Usher and Pitbull (becuase pitbull speaks spanish lol) and J Biebs. but yeah they were playing that and we were teaching on the plan of salvation and then it changed to....Rah Rah Rasputin!!!! hahaha I couldnt help but start cracking up! what are the chances of that happening? you know that family didnt understand a word of the song they just liked the beat lol. But yeah i had a good laugh during the lesson.

Glad to hear you all had fun this week though with Alli and her family. I really wish I could have been there to party it up too. But thats all right. As of right now im just hoping that i can finally get all of my letters this thursday when we have meetings! Vamos a ver.

Love you all and hope everyone had a happy holidays! Keep working hard and most importantly keep working in the gospel. Mosiah 2:41

Elder Woodburn