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
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
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
....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
....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
Congratulations on your sealing in the temple Humper! That was an
awesome Email to read and pictures to see. It looks like you all had a
ton ton ton of fun and Holly looks very happy in the pictures and
thats all that matters right? You all are so funny with that cardboard
cut out lol. I have zero idea how you made that happen but i love it.
very creepy, but i love it. lol especially that body...who is that?
because ive never worn that tie in my life haha. All the girls looked
very beautiful with their dresses and cowgirl boots. I especially like
the flintstones necklaces too ;) thats what wilma wore right....? haha
So it sounds like we all kinda had a hectic week because this week
here in La Union was pretty crazy as well. On monday night we got a
call from our zone leaders and they told us that the next day we would
report to some place that we had never heard of before at 8 am and
work as translators all day long until 6 pm....and thats all they told
us....haha So we ended up finding the place, went inside and waited
for a little while until we see this huge group of gringos walking
towards us....ill be quite honest that freaked me out a little bit.
The only white people i have talked to in a long time have been
missionaries....oh man im gonna be so awkward when i get back. But
yeah so this huge group of people walked in and we ended up finding
out that they were mostly all mormons working as humanitarians here in
Piura for a few weeks. Apparently one of the kids that was there
started it up for his Eagle project and it worked so well theyve kept
it going for a few years now. But what they do is they have a TON of
glasses that have been donated, like a few thousand. and they are all
organized and then anyone that wants to come can come but its first
come first serve. So they come in, get their eyes checked and then
they try and find a pair of glasses that fits their vision more or
less. its a lot of guess work but the people were SO thankful for what
they were doing. All we did as missionaries all day was translate
between the eye doctors and patients. It was very scary at first but
my spanish has come a long ways so it all turned out okay. i could
definitiely tell that i was blessing in my language too. Thank
goodness for that. The whole time i was just thinking about mom and
how this is what you do everyday....given its in a sterile environment
and its much more exact...but it was really cool. I loved it because
we ended up seeing a few of our investigators there and it was great
to give everyone a chance to see that we are normal people and that we
are there to serve them as missionaries. Oh and one thing i learned
here is that Carnosidad is really prevelant here. Im not sure what it
is in english, literally it would translate to carnosity, but idk if
thats right mom. but basically its because everyone here goes out into
their rice fields and work everyday and the sun is way strong here so
they get this sickness in their eyes that steadily gets worse and
worse until they are blinded. So we gave out a TON of sunglasses.
thank you very much for those sunglasses mommy, i will definitely be
wearing them now that i know the sun is stronger here than in the
states.
So that was an awesome experience, We got to help a lot of people with
their vision...i cant imagine having to walk around with out my
glasses all day everyday :s but then right after that we went straight
to the church at about 6 30 because we were supposed to be there at 6
to meet with Katy Paico. We got there JUST in time as she was leaving
the church. She still had to go becuase she was late for someting, but
before she left we asked her how her mom was doing and she told us
taht her mom miraculously changed her mind and that she could get
baptized! how awesome was that?! it was definitiely a big boost and a
testimony builder for me in regards to fasting. So we had the chance
to baptize her this week along with the mom of Yerson who was baptized
a few weeks ago. Such a blessing and an awesome experience. They both
have such strong testimonies and are so strong in what they know.
But another really really weird thing happened this week. We were
walking through La Union coming back from a meeting we had as the 4 of
us Elders and we walk by this park and see ANOTHER group of
gringos....like i said before, at this point they freak us out so we
tried to sneak by without them noticing us...haha but they ended up
seeing us and screaming at us in really bad spanish to go over there
(i love trying to act like my spanish is even better ;)) We went over
there and ended up finding out that they were teenage kids from the US
that were all christians. they were traveling through PERU doing some
kind of theatre show about jesus and his ressurection. We talked with
them for a bit and then they asked us to stay after so they could ask
us questions. Let me just tell you....it was sooooo weird trying to
share the gospel in English. It went okay and it felt awesome bearing
my testimony about the book of mormon in English because its been so
long. One of the kids named Zach from Oklahoma was especially curious
but sceptical at the same time. In the end he understood the
importance of whether or not the Book of Mormon is a true book. Only
problem? he didnt speak Spanish and all we had were Spanish books of
mormon....He said he was gonna search for one when he got back to the
states and email us when he read it. I really really really hope he
finds one and reads it earnestly. I love this work so much. In english
or spanish in the states or Peru, its true. It doesn't matter who's
sharing it but its true.
Sorry there isnt any time to respond to everyones emails. I loved the
pictures a ton. Thanks for all the love you all send my way. I could
definitiely feel it this week.
So as a slight after though, transfers were today and....Im outta
here. Ive gotta pack everything up today and we will find out bright
and early tomorrow morning who our companions are and where we are
going. exciting stuff! I love you all so much, i miss you tons. "One
great big happy (crazy) family!" :D
Until next week!
Love, Elder Woodburn
Happy Fathers day father of mine whom i love so much!!!! :) I hope you
had an awesome day and took advantage of that nice day off from the
wedding madness!!! haha I love the pics you all sent that corn in the
hole one has to be set up, i can see that goofy look on james face :)
haha I love the bacon one...makes me wish i could eat it. Im not sure
if i ever told you but one of the foods we cant eat here as
missionaries is pig. Any kind of pig, not entirely sure why...its just
a really dirty food here and the pigs arent raised right. so i really
miss my BACON!!!! ;) oh and when did hump get a robe? weirdo ;) haha
lets see what else did i notice? Mert is wacky with her fly swatters,
and if im not mistaken that picture was taken at in-n-out? if thats
the case...not cool man not cool ;) oh and mert better not be wearing
my shirt....hehe
So this last week went by really fast. I was definitely suprised. We
went to work as usual. This last tuesday we ended up fasting with Katy
Paico the 17 year old investigator that we have so that her mom would
open up a little bit more. But then our weekly appointment came around
on saturday and she didnt show up, and then sunday came around for
church and she didnt show up to that either which was the first time,
so we decided to call her up and she went on to tell us how her mom
had gotten even worse after the fast and that she wouldnt let her meet
with us or go to church. It was pretty rough for her and a weird way
to get a prayer answered but it was just another testimony to me that
its not our will, its heavely fathers will and in the end its all
going to turn out okay as long as we are doing what we need to be. I
know that soon enough she will have the chance to be baptized, its
just unfortunate that transfers are coming up next week and i might
not get to see it :( So just keep her in your prayers that she can
keep her faith because im sure its been especially difficult for her
with this being her answer, but we are going to meet with her
tommorrow hopefully so ill let you know how it goes.
So remember how my P-Blessing said that i would give a lot of
blessings of health on my mission?yeah well that has definitiely come
to pass so far. Im not sure how many exactly, i havent been counting,
but the opportunity has come up quite a bit. It has just really made
me thankful that im worthy when they ask. Because obviously its just a
suprise when they come up and say Elders, could you give me a
blessing? and we are just like...uh yeah sure haha. It has made me
promise myself that i will always be worthy and willing to give a
blessing or help someone in need. Now i understand why President
Monson said that the priesthood is an opportunity to serve.
Oh and this last weeek everyone around here has been saying "El Niño
esta por venir!!!" "the niño is coming! not sure if you all have heard
of the niño or if there is a different word for it in English, but its
a really big storm that comes every once in a while. Im not entirely
sure how it works to be honest, but all i know is that it came in 1983
and it was so bad that it didnt stop raining for a week and just about
everyones houses got flooded and destroyed. Apparently the news is all
over it and trying to predict that it will come. You all should look
it up and let me know what you can find out. As for me? im pumped! i
say bring that storm on! i need some excitment! it would defintiely
give us some good service to do afterwards haha.
Other than that all is well in the La Union, This last friday we had a
fireside with a ton of missionaries from different areas as a farewell
to presdient chipman since he is leaving in about 2 weeks now. It was
really awesome, song lots of hyms and lots of testimonies. The coolest
thing was see a lot of Elders that i havent seen in a while like Elder
Frame "draco malfoy" and Elder Cabrera. Im not sure why but seein him
just brought back tons of awesome memories from the times in Los
Angelels 2. He was a great comp and hes still doing good.
Love you all tons and i hope this week goes great! Ill keep you all in
prayers that everything goes well! (especially you mommy ;) deep
breaths deep breaths ;))
Congrats to Alli for graduating and congrats to Humper and TGB for
getting sealed in the temple for time and all eternity!
Love
Elder Woodburn
