Cambios

Well the zone leaders called this morning and.....everyone here in
Catacaos is staying right where they are for 6 more weeks. haha Elder
Garcia spent the last week or some saying goodbye to all of the
investigators and members here and now hell be able to say hi to them
again starting tomorrow haha. At the end of this change hell have 6
months here in Catacaos which is a pretty long time, but that was
pretty funny to see their faces when they told us. It should be
interesting to see how it goes this next change. Because he had
already been here so long before the transfer, this last week he didnt
have much desire to work...6 more weeks now so hopefully we can get it
back into gear and start knocking doors, he says hes knocked all the
doors in the area so he doesnt want to anymore but thats not how it
works so well see how it goes! wish me luck! (oh and one more thing,
in spanish there isnt a word for transfers so we use the word cambios
or changes. so if i ever say changes or a change i mean to say
transfers, im just used to it in spanish and i translate it in my
head. Sorry!)

So the next Bourne movie came out huh....well....i had no idea that
there was gonnna be another movie...i thought they had ended the
series....so uh...that was a little bit of a stab in the heart ;) haha
but thats okay...ill live, just have it ready for me when i get home
;)

Im glad everyone liked the video of the trompos it was a lot of fun
making it. Better than doing nothing all P day. it took like 20 shots
to make it because im still a rookie ;) oh but funny story, so this
week we had a talent show and us ( the missionaries) did a nice skit,
we had them announce that the missionaries were going to dance for
everyone! so we went up on stage with our backs to the crowd (the 4 of
us) and they started playing really loud hip hop music and everyone
started clapping. we counted to 3 and turned around holding signs that
said Los misioneros no bailan ( missionaries dont dance) and then
walked off the stage. It got a good laugh out of everyone because they
all thought we were going to see something unforgettable. haha

Thank you all tons for all the love from home! You all definitiely
sent a ton this week. I spent a lot of my hour today searching for my
password and Eaglenet ID, which was a waste of time :( so idk if ill
be able to respond to everyone one by one! sorry!
Trev Kandi y los niños!
hey! how are you all doing?! I love the part you wrote trev about the
smells of tiajuana. Its so true so true...haha By now ive basically
gotten used to it...until i walk past the many random piles of garbage
or a dead animal....oh well. Im glad you understand it. haha im gonna
take your advice to heart. this is my time to learn all that i can.
There isnt going to be any other time in my life when i can dedicate
my life to helping others and in turn, help myself. thanks for giving
me the heads up and telling me what no one ever told you! thats so
awesome that they are into dirtbikes now! did you get one too then?
cuz if thats the case then im gonna have to come visit and take em
out. Did my mom tell you that ive decided im getting a motorcycle when
i get back? youll ahve to back me up on that one and tell her its a
good idea! haha. Miss you all tons. I cant wait to get back and see
how big the boys are and hear all of the stories from your mission
too. Cant believe i never asked! Say hi to Kandi and the Kids for me!
love you all tons!

Sorry there isnt time to say hi to everyone! but i love you all tons
and i feel the love!

Hasta la proxima

Love Elder Woodburn

¡Bala Humana!

Hola Familia!

Bala Humana! That was the headline of one of the newspapers i saw as i
passed the newspaper stand this morning...Human Bullet! It also had a
nice big picture of Usain Bolt on there so im assuming that he won the
100 meters...am i right in also assuming that he broke his own record
again? youll have to let me know about that :) Im really missing out
on the olympics huh? well im sure itll be even better when im back in
4 years. I dont hear a ton about it here because Peru is pretty
terrible. They said that when they did the entrance the USA was on the
screen for like 5 minutes with all of the people competting and then
when Peru came up they didnt even have time to read the countries name
before they went to the next country because almost no one went. haha.
Oh well.

Sounds like you all had a good time in Montana. How many times did you
go out on the lake? cuz i can already see the sun burns that you guys
have in the pictures haha. Good to see pops and grandpops out on the
tube. I bet that was a good laugh ;) I see Josh is just one of the
family now huh? haha someone let him (Josh) know that i still havent
given away that Book of Mormon yet, I can write a heartfelt testimony
in Spanish, but i wanna make sure its someone that is going to treat
the book good.

Ive been thinking about what i want to study and i still havent
decided for sure but i think i wanna go into dentistry or
orthodontics. Ill have to think about it some more and pray a lot ;)
let me know what you think. thanks for finishing with the CDs! cant
wait to hear em. As for anything else that i need? hmmm...i can never
think of anything when you ask :s sorry! oh wait, a few weeks ago i
was gonna ask but forgot, idk if you could send me another journal
like the one that Alli bought me? or if thats not possible i think
there are also looseleaf ones that would be a little bit easier to
send. I just would like one of the same type because if im gonna keep
it forever i dont want it in a dragon ball z notebook (which is all
they have here ;)) Thanks!

This week has been going well here in Catacoas, nothing too out of the
normal, this is the last week of the change so next Monday well see
whos going where and whos staying. Elder Garcia has been here 41/2
months so theres a chance that he goes, but we will have to wait and

see!

I didnt have enough time last week to tell you thanks for that awesome

bit  of counsel you sent! :) Looking ahead, i can definitiely see it
happening, Ive been enveloped in this world and it feels like the
normal now. There are times where i forget how dirty it is, how no one is
married yet living together, how irreverent sacrament meeting is, or

 how no one wants to listen, but looking ahead, i KNOW that i
am going to miss it so much. Im going to take that cousel to heart.
This is the time when i should take full advantage of it. Im not sure
why but ive been thinking a lot this week about what you told me and i
feel like i have a better outlook on the next year here in the
mission. Its just work, thats all it is. Work and love. As long as im
willing to have both, its really isnt hard. I love this work so much.
I know that its true. 

Love you all tons! Until next week!

Love,
Elder Woodburn

¡Feliz 28 de Julio!

Happy 28th of July! haha the 28th here in Peru was their "independence
day". It was actually pretty cool, that was part of the reason that
there were parades and such here but tons of people put flags up
outside of their houses so it looked pretty cool walking down the
street with flags all over. As for the actual
holiday?....welll....lets just say i wasnt too thrilled. Its actually
really funny because it says in our mission manuals that weekends and
holidays are when we should do most of our tracting because "everyone"
is together as families. which i suppose is pretty true...in the
united states....haha we always talk about how that manual was written
for missionaries in the US because a lot of it doesnt apply here. for
example....weekends and holidays? no one is in their house. haha ive
already told you all about this before but they all just go out and
drink. so that was a fun day of tracting...not a ton of success. There
was a nice little experience that came of it though, a reassurance you
could call it. There was this one guy we had taught once and then we
had an appointment to come back later in the week, but Elder Garcia
got sick so we werent able to make it, we went back the 28th and he
was there. Sadly he told us that he was waiting for us and that we
didnt come. And that he really didnt have much time to talk. He said
that he told his wife about it and that she didnt want ANYTHING to do
with it. Not gonna lie, i was a little frustrated. But instead of just
saying yeah thanks and walking away like i really wanted to do, i
asked if there was anything we could help him with. Im not sure why
but that really opened up his eyes and he told us that he had heard
that the church always lends a helping hand to others. In the end he
said that there was nothing we could do for his and that he wasnt
interested and so we ended up just leaving. the really cool/weird
thing is that the next day during sacrament meeting, he showed up and
told us that he had talked to his wife, and that we could come and
visit them this wednesday night. It was completely and utterly
unexpected, but totally a blessing. It imediately brought to mind a
scripture in Alma 16:16 where it talks about how the Lord ALWAYS is
preparing people to hear this. Who knows what will come of this guy
and his family, but im excited to be able to help him out, he must
have felt something.

But anywho, so this week we had the opportunity to baptize a young
woman named Tatiana. Shes 14 years old and her mom was already a
member. She is really smart and understood everything that we taught
her, we were just a litle bit worried about whether or not she really
wanted to be baptized because she knew it was the right thing to do or
for her friends. We ended up working it all out fine and she was
baptized Sunday after church. It was actually pretty funny, she told
me her name before hand, and the thing is that here they have multiple
names, mostly 4 names, so she told me that she had 3 names, one first
name, and 2 last names. So i said the prayer and baptized her using 3
names. Then after wards Elder Penney told me that she had 2 first
names. The REALLY weird part was that she didnt want me to say that
name? I was like okay we are gonna have to do it again okay? and she
was like...no no no no. haha in the end i just said the prayer and did
it again. I hope you catch the funniness of that ;) i guess you had to
be there ;)

So yeah ive been seeing the Olympics all over the place here and its
been trunking me out of my mind....haha jk jk, but really i wanna
watch them really bad. Youll have to keep me updated on how the states
are doing.

So its gotten really really hot up there then huh? its actually been
really weird here. Its gotten down into the upper 60s which has been
nice. Ive loved it. Basically when its cloudy it cools off and when
the sun comes out its a furnace. But the best part is that whenever it
gets down to 70 or so, the people bust out their winter clothes.
Legitimately their winter clothes, were talking full winter jackets,
hats, gloves. its like they think its 30 degrees down here. I get a
good laugh out of it everytime i see it. But i cant balame them i
guess, i get pretty cold even when its just 60 degrees. I guess ive
just gotten used to the heat.

bueno, me encanta la misión. no hay un sentimiento mayor de lo que
siento cuando estoy ayudando alguien. verdaderamente ayudandole a
alguein recibir la felicidad. Esta es la iglesia del Señor. no hay una
duda. deben seguir firmes en lo que creen, en lo que saben, porque
cuando yo regrese del Peru, vamos a hacer una fiesta!!! haha

Well i love you all. thank you so much for all that you do for me. I
know that there isnt much that i can do from way down here in Peru but
if there ever is anything, let me know.

Stay strong until the next week!!!

Love,
Elder Woodburn

Greetings from Peru

Hello everyone!

This week went fairly well here in Catacaos, the only problem is that
it seems like we have spent more time in Piura and in the office than
we have in our area. We had to go to the hospital two more times this
week so that Elder Garcia could get his stomach checked up again. It
turns out that he had a little parasite still so its a good thing that
we ended up going back again. But it was not very fun for the fact
that we had to waste two more days without getting to teach our
investigators. Kinda frustrating, but the good news is that he doesnt
have to go back for another month so we should be good to work from
here on out.

Wow that is terribly sad to hear about the guy that went crazy at the
batman premiere. I can tell it must have been terrible for everyone
there too because it managed to make news down here too for the last
few days. Ive heard like 3 different stories about someone going into
a bank and this and that so thank you for setting the story straight
mom, but now i think id rather not have known. I had no idea that
SEVENTY people were shot?! thats just sick. I cant understand what
would drive someone to do something like that. They will all be in my
prayers.

So this last friday the ward here had an awesome activity. They
invited everyone, members, less active, and investigators to the
church with their best meal. So we had it all set up for 6:30
(naturally everyone showed up at about 8) and everyone was invited to
bring their favorite or best meal that was native to peru. So we had a
ton of awesome food that the members brought and then we have 6
missionaries from different countries (USA, Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Hondurous, and Argentina) and so we each made something from our
country, except my companion because he didnt know what to make. now
im not entirely sure that Rice Krispy Treats are "native" to the
states, but they are delicious and easy to make, so  thats what i
made. ;) the activity actually went really REALLY well which was kinda
suprising because its hard to get things to work here but i loved it
and it was great for the investigators, plus i got to eat rice krispy
treats (eventhough they werent that great...but i blame the lack of
good marshmellows and original rice krispys ;)

Sounds like you all had a fun time out on the town! :)
thats something we will definitely have to do when i get back. I
forgot how much we just go out and eat on the weekend back home. Yum.
you all better appreciate it, Chineese, Italian, German, burgers,
pizza all in one place. Someone be sure to eat something for me ;) i
guess i cant complain too much though, last pday we went and got Pizza
hut too. I always feel like im spending so much money when i buy it
for 40 soles, but thats just the peruvian mind thinking, its really
only like 10-12 dollars :) but i think its time to stay away from the
pizza, im starting to get fat.

Oh and I got to say a nice talk in sacrament meeting yesterday! haha
it was a great joy. I feel like it went well...but at the same time,
who knows if anyone actually understood anything right? oh well, i
talked a little bit on missionary work and how there are lots of
different ways to do it, through service, example, or directly sharing
the gospel. But the most important thing is that we do it with love.
If we dont do it with love, theres no point in doing it at all ;)

Sorry no time!

Love you all tonnnnn!,

Hasta la proxima semana!

Love,
Elder Woodburn

Perú!!!

Hola todos!

Thats so cool that you and dad got to go and see President and Hermana
Chipman! I wasnt sure if you two would be able to make it there on
such short notice or if youd be able to find it but thats really cool
that you got to go and see them. I love that picture of dad and pres
Chipman too. Its pretty weird seeing him without his missionary
nametag. haha. Really weird to think that they are at home with all
their grandkids and just a short distance from where you are. But i
agree, President Rowley is a great man too. Tomorrow we actually have
interviews with him 1 on 1 so that should be a good chance to get to
talk to him a little bit. We will have to see how it goes.

This week has been pretty good. It had a lot of ups and downs to it.
One day was bad and the next good, then bad, then good. The bad days
drove me to my knees and prayer and that brought the good day along,
it was definitiely a rollar coaster but it helped to get back to the
basics. for a while there IIII was trying to teach the people instead
of letting THE SPIRIT teach them. Now it has helped me get back to
simply testifing of Jesus Christ, his Atonement, and letting the
spirit do the rest. because really the only way they are going to know
if its REALLY true is through the holy ghost. Overall id say i learned
a lot this week DUE to the tough week instead of IN SPITE of it.

Oh and one other thing, i havent gotten into my bank account in
forever but assuming Trevor is still giving me 150 dollars every month
and they are just sitting there, i think ive came to a decsion this
week. In one of the lessons where we were explaining tithing and other
offerings i was listening to my companion teach about it and i
realized how much i love this work and how important it is, and that
lead me to decide that i would rather give that 150 dollars every
month to the general church mission fund. Being down here with a lot
of latino companions i can see how much they wanna serve but they just
dont have the money AT ALL. So i would love it if Trev could either
donate it himself, considering it IS his money and therefore his right
to choose, or if he says its okay, you can take it from my account and
do it for me. It might sound a little bit crazy but the spirit spoke
to me that day and helped me to know that ive got more than i need and
that this work is going to progress with or without me...its just a
matter of how fast, so might as well help it along by helping others
right? the more missionaries the merrier!!!

Well Family and friends, I love you all tons and i thank you very much
for all of the support and love you send daily through prayer and
weekly through these emails and letters! This church is true. Theres
no doubt about it, and if there is, pray about it! ;) Love you all!
Until next week!

Love,
Elder Woodburn

Hola from....

....the hospital?

haha well this week was a little bit weird. it started off normal like
usual, just going to work. but then thursday morning we had a meeting
with President and Sister Rowley to get to know them a little bit
which was cool. they are really nice and already know spanish better
than i do becuase they both served missions in south america. It was
really weird though becuase they are both so young compared to Pres
and Sis Chipman. But im excited to work with them. Theyll be great.
But then after the meeting in the morning we went out to proselyte and
Elder Garcias stomach was killing him. It was actually pretty funny.
We got to one of the doors where we had an appointment and she opened
up and he started talking to her and was like "yeah so we came to
visit you but the thing is...we kinda have this emergency that we need
to take care of..." and then looked over at me and i was like "...yeah
so were gonna come back another day..." and then we had to take a
"moto" or a taxi home so that he could make it to the bathroom. We
ended up going to the hospital the next day (friday) and finding out
that he had an infection in his intestine and that he needed to stay a
few days so that they could flush it out. So we ended up staying they
from friday to today...it was great fun. The thing was that we had no
idea that we were going to stay there over night so we didnt have any
clothes to change into or anything. It was terrible and i smelled so
bad. Reminded me of being a little kid and wearing the same clothes
like 4 days straight. but all in all it turned out okay. Elder Garcia
is doing fine now and we left early this morning. i had to spend a
couple nights on the little bed side couch but thats okay :)

It was definitiely rough spending all that time in the hospital though
with nothing to do. Especially when youve spent nearly every day of
the last 10 months doing something on a schedule and being productive.
Weird to think about, i would have rather been out knocking doors than
resting haha. Oh well, now its back to work. which is good because no
one had visited or talked to our investigators in a few days :s

So times up on emailing but i love you all tons! keep up all the good
work back home and ill keep working down here in Piura. If you get
ahold of Alec tell him congrats on finishing strong but that im mad at
hime because he never wrote me back. Same goes for Cory and Elder
Siddoway. haha

Love you all tons,
Elder Woodburn

Adios La Union...

....y Bienvenidos a Catacaos!

Hi everyone! So transfers were last week and President Chipman sent me
about 20 minutes north to Catacaos. Haha Im actually still in the same
zone of the mission i was before, Castilla, but just a different area
and district. My new companion is named Elder Garcia from Nicaragua.
Hes 20 years old and a pretty chill guy. He doesnt know any english
like elder chichia but i like that better because ill be able to learn
more spanish now that im forced to speak it 24/7. So Catacaos is the
place in Piura where you go to but souviners and things like that,
kinda a tourist place but theres really not a whole lot to see here.
ha Elder Garcia has been here in our area, Catacaos 2 for 3 months
already so he knows it pretty well, but i was pretty lost the first
day. Now its gotten better. the thing is that our area is just
gigantic, to walk from one end to the other it would take about 1
hour. pretty good size, but thats okay, more doors to knock i suppose
haha. Here in Catacaos there is a pretty big Ward of about 200 as
opposed to 80 in the branch in La Union so its a little bit different.
Theyre talking about making it its own district too but well have to
see about that. Our room in La Union was gigantic and i knew i wasnt
going to get another room like that in the mission but little did i
know that my next room would be So tiny! haha theres hardly any room
to walk around at all but were hardly ever in there so it doesnt
matter much right? ;)

Hey so guess what else mom?! I got my package this week at changes!
yay! haha. Thank you so much! ah man i love getting those sweets :)
you all are the best :D I especially liked the ensign because the
Sunday Afternoon session i basically didnt even get to watch becuase
of all the kids, oh and my other two favorites were the St. Pattys
sauce and the paper to refill the flip notes thing. I was scared to
use that thing because i didnt want to waste all the notes but now
that i know i have more, i can use it :) thanks so much! That eye
glass thing was really fun mommy, really cool to see how it all works.
I would LOVE love love to come back here after the mission and help
out with something like that again. Way fulfilling and an awesome
experiece. Just gotta pay your own way ;) but the people here are way
thankful for everything that they get. I suppose it might be alittle
bit more fulfilling if you understand what they are saying, but even
if you dont they still give you a hug and a kiss and say thanks a ton.
haha. It was probably one of my most memorable days on the mission so
far because of how different it was. Sounds like you did good work
with the wedding mommy :) wish i could have been there to see how it
all turned out. Let me know what you all did for the 4th too! Im sure
it will just be another day here, especially since its wednesday haha.
thats alright, ill have to ask our pensionista to make me a hamburger
or something that night lol. but really mom, speaking of the
pensionista...were really spoiled here. I was thinking about it the
other day and its basically like having a maid...She cooks all three
meals, we just have to go to her house and then here in Catacaos there
is a family of members that run their own laudry mat. they even wash
suit jackets! Its pretty nice. So whenever you are thinking about me
being in bad situations, just know im doing alright :) Its definitiely
poor, but i dont remember how the states is anymore ;)

So president Chipman and sister chipman left this last Saturday! It
was kinda weird to think about it but now hes at home playing with his
grandkids hahaha. Im really pumped to meet President Rowley now that
he is our President and see how he is. I have a feeling that he is
going to be "more" of my mission president if you could call it that.
but well have to see how it all works out.

Well time is running low. Just know that im loving life here in
Catacaos so no worries about me. Keep on doing what everyones doing.
Thanks for all the love and support you all send every week! Hasta la
próxima semana!

Love
Elder Woodburn