LED TO MAN ON ROOF

August 20, 2012

O yea you know what it is.

So we shot pool on Monday, which was sick. But I forgot to take a picture ha-ha sorry. I was too busy whooping on the Latin’s with my zone leaders. But later that day we had a family night with our recent convert family and we brought out the relief society army all the way to the top of a mountain to give their testimonies. Let’s just say Hermana Cecilia’s parents are pretty excited to get married and baptized. We had an area 70 come to the mission home and all of the missionaries in Lima had a big old training so that was cool. It was Elder Torres who was the mission president in Guadalajara 2 presidents before the Jesperson’s .So that was pretty boss. He gave a great training. An elder from the ward come home on Monday and we proselyted with him all of Tuesday in the afternoon. It was pretty cool. So at like 11 o’clock p.m. on Wednesday the little old ladies beneath us knocked on the door and gave us two pieces of cake and two cokes! So that was a nice end to a tough day ha-ha. I had another work visit with my zone leader on Friday, let’s just say we made the most of it. We stayed up to the wee hours of the morning drawing up an awesome super hero picture for the back of our shirts that we are hopefully making. I’m glad God gave me my right hand.

So time for the spiritual experience. Saturday after we had got to all of our visits and no one was home. We started walking. I don’t know why but I knew we had to go to this area that was pretty far form where we were. So I was like we need to go this way. I don’t know where I was walking I knew the place, but we hadn't been there in so long because we don’t have any investigators there. It was raining pretty badly and it was freezing. So I got to the hill and we were walking and I was like it’s not the street. Not this street. Not this street... this street. The street was totally dark. And I turned to my companion who had no idea where we were or why or where we are going and I said. I don’t know why, but we are supposed to find someone here. And before I finished my sentence I man on his roof yelled down to us then told us to wait and then came down and let us in. We didn't even knock a door. We were standing right where we needed to be. Never in my life have I been more directed by the Lord. We taught the single father and his daughters. And he wants to get baptized. So there you go hopefully this will work out and we can help this man get baptized.

                

And on Sunday I fell asleep like always and accidently turn the lights off in the chapel with my head when it fell against the wall... So that was something real funny ha-ha… for everyone else.

               

 So yea everything is chill in this hemisphere 

BAPTIZED THE GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER

August 13, 2012

So this week started off with tacos!!!! Mexican tacos!!! Marmita Charo made Mexican tacos for us it was her first time cooking like that and it was awesome. Well Tuesday I had a work visit with my district leader Elder Frost from Missouri and we talked about deep doctrine all night long ha-ha, but he helped me a lot and helped me make a lot of great goals. I have started getting up an hour earlier to read so that’s probably weird for mom to hear. The baptisms went off without a hitch. The water wasn't super-hot but it was warmer than freezing. We baptized the ggg (greatgreatgrandmother) and we had planned to put her on a chair but she floated like a balloon so we kind of just helped her in the water and pushed her under ha-ha. It was pretty sweet. All they could say was thank you, she was crying and it was something you would have had to see for yourself. Then we baptized the family and it was great we confirmed all of them on Sunday except for the oldest daughter because she had a test to go to college in the Centro de Lima on Sunday and couldn't come but we are confirming her this week.

I keep getting asked if I’m from Chile or Argentina or Cajamarca I think my Spanish is getting too good ha-ha. On Tuesday morning we were studying and got a call from the zone leaders and they we freaking out because they forgot to tell us about our training with the president. So we ran like 2 miles in like 15 minutes to get to the other stake center late. Hermana Blunck taught us how to brush our teeth during the training which was perfect because I had forgotten to that day. It was an ordeal, but I got like 3 new ties that day so that was a plus. On Thursday my companion and I were contacting when we saw a crowd of kids watching something awesome. We quickly ran over and watched the cockfight! It was awesome, I of coarse didn't have my camera with me, but it was a cool experience nonetheless.

Not much going on right now, we are kind of just searching hard for some bomb awesome new investigators to teach. We are searching for those families just itching for the truth.

Suyo atentamente

-- 

HOT JELL-O AND ZITS GAME

August 6. 2012

Yea buddy

So we didn't baptize the sweet angel from heaven, 96 year-old lady. Because we couldn't heat the water sufficiently so we are going to baptize her on Wednesday with a family that we are baptizing, the familia Cruz. The father Yuri is a member for almost all his life, but has been less active because when his brothers went on missions he decide to serve a different mission, a military mission and has been serving in the Peruvian special forces for almost all his life. So he hasn't had much time to attend church his wife Ana Cecilia and their two daughters, Valery and Siomara are super awesome. They were super ready for the gospel, their dad has been a great example in their lives and various times he would teacher them something about the gospel before we would come over to teach and we wouldn't have anything to teach because they already knew it. They problem is, he is leaving for a mission on the ninth and Wednesday is the last day we can baptized. We knew that the invitation to be baptized on that day would be a hard decision for them because it was a very short period of time we have been teaching them, but I bore a huge heartfelt testimony and so did my companion and so did Yuri and everyone was crying and we committed them to pray about it as a family. We came over the next day in the night to teach them again. Not expecting to baptize them and very concerned about the situation. But through their faith and a fervent prayer they have decided to be baptized. So we got their interviews done and they are super ready to go so we just need to find a way to heat the water for the ancient Incan woman.

Hermana Cecilia makes me hot Jell-O every time I go over there because I commented on how my mom makes that for me every time I’m sick and she has taking the role to make it for me every single day. Its awesome because Peruvian Jell-O is awesome! We had a family night with them that’s why in the picture we have lip stick zits on our face ha-ha. The game we played is kind of hard to explain, it's like big booty but with consequences ha-ha. Anyway my companion is a nut. In the shower he screams random weird stuff in Spanish and sings songs like a dying alpaca. It's hilarious, but ya we are working on finding some new families. O yea we now have cell phones in our area so ya our zone is pretty cool. We are the first zone to get them to see if they improve the work and so far they have because all the calls to the district leaders and zone leaders are free so we can get a lot more feedback on our numbers. So that’s pretty chill. We have a new elder in the zone from Boise this kid doesn't know any Spanish. Its hilarious, I wonder if I was really that bad when I started. His name is Elder Harris. Yes, we have two elder Harris' in our zone. One is the zone leader with one change left, the other has two weeks in the mission and is the newest elder in the mission, ha-ha it's funny because they are in the same church on Sundays. Last night we got a miracle phone call from a man in Utah who is from Peru who gave us a reference in our district. So that was kind of cool. I have no idea how he got our number, but I don’t mind. Also last night we had 99 contacts on the week and we need 100 every week so me and elder Cruz preached from atop our apartment to get 2 more contacts at 10:30 at night, ha-ha so that’s kind of sad.

So yea Peru is freezing right now, but it’s nothing like Utah.

Our investigators were searching the internet and put in my name and found the mission president's blog check it out I’m in there a few times lpblunck.blogspot.com

HANDSTAND ON MOUNTAIN

 July 30, 2012

New change

Guess who is in the jungle!!! .. Not me! Our zone is 10 missionaries and we had 5 change! Yes half of the zone. So that’s sweet  Ha-ha my companion left to Iquitos on Tuesday and I got my new comp Elder Cruz from Querétaro, Mexico. He is a stud, he looks like Ecrul straight up. He has one more change in the mission than I do and he is one change older than me in his life. He started in Iquitos and has been there for his first 6 months. Its pretty fun having two young elders in the area because we actually do work. We are baptizing the 96 year-old lady this week and we are also baptizing a family. The dad is a member, he is in the army and is inactive. They are basically members,  he teaches his family the lessons before we come over and the wife and their two daughters and taking it all in and are super ready. I think we will be getting that baptism this next week.

On P day last week Elder Harris and I climbed a mountain because we are crazy North Americans. I hope you like my gnarly pictures. There is much going on this side, Elder Cruz and I are just focusing really hard on our families so we can get 8-4-2 in the mission, which is an award where one month you have 8 investigators progressing (4 families and 4 others), 4 baptisms and 2 families baptized in one month. We think it would be sweet to get that as two super young missionaries.

I’m leading this area, we are both senor companions because he has only one change more than me, but I have two changes in this area so we are just kind of burning up this zone. I’m destroying all of the bad habits I made with my trainer and continue to do the good habits and learn more good habits from Elder Cruz. 

change is good. 

--

Elder Sy E. Woolstenhulme

Misión  Perú  Lima  Norte

Febrero 2012 - Marzo 2014

Of course Sy decided that doing a handstand on a rock on a mountain was a safe thing to do!!!!

ATE ALPACA AND CHICKEN FEET SOUP

July 23, 2012

So yep last week as a greenie.

This week started out with a knock on the door at Mamita Charos house. So Elder Cifuentes and I  answered the door and dos Jehovah Witnesses were standing there. Never in my life had I seen such fear penetrate the faces on such sweet little ladies. They quickly asked if the family was busy and then said they would come back another day. Why were they so scared? They ran away so fast, but whatever. Also we were teaching an investigator outside of his house and a group of witnesses started knocking doors down that street and after seeing us promptly changed directions. What’s the deal? So I had a work visit with my zone leader for like 3 days, so that was sweet. My zone leader is a stud of all studs and he has more stories than he has hairs on his head. We have an investigator who has a baptismal date this 4th of August who is 96 ,yes 96 years-old. She has great-great-grandchildren. I’m terrified that she will die when I baptize her. That will be a fun experience if I don’t get transferred tomorrow. I can now solve a rubix cube and in less than 3 minutes I might add. So that’s pretty chill. A car bomb went off in the street next to ours. That was a fun thing to wake up to Wednesday night. I ate alpaca which was delicious. I thought it was lamb the whole time until I was finished and someone told me what it was then I liked it even more! I also ate chicken feet soup again, which is delicious. We have 13 new investigators and 4 new families so hopefully they will come to church this next week because none of them could come this week and that killed us. Hopefully we can get these baptisms because they are all sick gnarly awesome. I don’t know if I’m getting transferred so hopefully I don’t because this area is killing it right now, also I want to baptize the dinosaur lady.

Make sure once Landon gets his call you tell me because I’m itching to know.

Don’t trust technology even your American 16G USB drive can magically break when you use it one day a week...

--

Elder Sy E. Woolstenhulme

Misión  Perú  Lima  Norte

Febrero 2012 - Marzo 2014

LIFE IS LIKE A BUS RIDE...

July 16, 2012

Hello family

O man do I have a tale for you all. This week started off with a surprise interview from the president! So that was fun to have that talk to figure out all that I have progressed in. He said that I have made a complete 180 with my domineer, he said I seem happier and more ready and faithful... ha-ha I don’t feel much different it was probably just the haircut.

I have good news and bad news... I will give you all the bad news first. Our investigator Joel Prado cannot be baptized. And I and Elder Cifuentes have zero progressing investigators. I was having a work visit with the zone leader that day in order for Elder Cifuentes to do an interview in the area of the zone leaders. After I heard that he couldn't get baptized my heart fell. We have worked so hard on this man and his life is so tough right now and I said to myself. Self. This is your first real tough feeling you have on your mission. You need to decide now, how you will react, negatively will destroy your excitement in the work, and positively will strengthen it. I knew I had to look forward in faith. He cannot get baptized for probably over a year. But we are going to help him as much as we can while we are in this area then when that day comes, he can be ready. The next day, yesterday, we found a new family, Marino and Raquel with their 4 children Luz (11), Diego (9), Lionel (5), and Jousue (3). We found them after a lesson we had with another one of our investigating families, Marivel and Martin with their two twin sons Paul and Bryan (14). After dinner we found another man named Santos. This man is ready. I always heard stories of missionaries meeting people completely prepared for the missionaries and I thought I would never find one. But man he asked us multiple times questions about exactly what we were going to teach on next page. He asked us about the other sheep not of this fold. (Before teaching about Christ’s visit to the Americas) about “Where is the new prophet? God always calls a prophet.”  (After teaching prophets and before Joseph Smith). And when we asked him to pray at the end of the lesson he asked us if he could kneel to show respect for God. Oh my good golly goodness myfatherdweltinatent! Was it unreal - shoot dang - I’m pumped and I really hope I don’t get transferred this next week.

So today! P day my super stud zone leader Elder Harris called me up the night before with a proposition. He needed to go to the offices and he needs the other zone leader in the zone to help with P day stuff. So shoot dang, who should I take to the offices with me?!?¿¿? The awesome new gringo in the zone so as we are going down to the offices we are working on the rubix cube and I’m pretty much a master. So we get the packages then go get some breakfast talk with the homies then grab some McDonald's ! Explore and kick it fatty then go deep into Lima West territory to get the papers for the marriages for the zone. Came back said peace out and got on a bus home. But little did we know the bus would be a trap, we were too focused on me learning the rubix cube that we didn't realize that the bus we were on was the right bus, but it was going the wrong way!!!!!! So after a spiritual impression from my ZL we realized we were far from our destination. We then exited the bus and realized we were straight up gone hahahah so after about a half an hour looking for another bus and talking to people we found the bus and peaced out here to internet time. A little late but I’m with the zone leader so it’s all chill.

I saw my package in the offices. I don’t have it yet it’s in my apartment with Elder Cifuentes, but I got it. Thanks doll face. All your Lake Powell pictures look so awesome I wish I could be with you, but I’m too busy freezing my buns off and getting lost in Peru ha-ha. I hope Brandon is lovin the dungeon boy duties and I hope Elle feels welcome. You better make a sweet video this year. I miss you all a ton and love all your prayers.

Mom let me know how much a hymn book is in English.

Just found out we are going to the temple tomorrow!!! Sick!

“Life is like bus ride, if get on the wrong bus, don’t worry… Just get on the next one.”

--

Elder Sy E. Woolstenhulme

Misión  Perú  Lima  Norte

Febrero 2012 - Marzo 2014

TOCUSH TASTES LIKE POO

July 9, 2012

Well this week started off with a taste of Peru. Not a good taste, it is called... tocush and it is horrible. The Peruvians eat it as a cure-all and I had heard about it from all the Peruvians. I finally got a chance to eat it, I had one ... one! spoonful. If you know how a horse stable smells, that is the taste exactly. It tastes like a horse stable. Haha, but now I can say I ate tocush and didn't puke like my companion. This Wednesday was the conference for the zone leaders and at 7 in the morning we got a call saying that the district leaders in Lima are supposed to be there as well. So my companion and the other district leader left for the mission office leaving Elder Maldonado from Honduras and me alone and unprepared. So we are both brand new missionaries walking back and forth from our areas and we ended up at one of my investigator's house. We taught the third lesson and I committed him to baptism and he accepted for the 21st so that's pretty sweet. He also came to church this Sunday so now he has two attendances. This week we are going to finish the lessons and get him interviewed. I am about 20 chapters away from finishing the Book of Mormon again. I started the first day in the field and I'm about to finish it. I plan on tossing it in my suitcase and never reading in English again haha, but we will see. We have dropped almost all of our investigators because none are progressing and we have been contacting like wild Laminites so hopefully our efforts will be positive and we can find those golden children ready to listen in these last weeks of this transfer. I'm jealous of all your 4th of July fun, but its fine because Saturday and Sunday was the Dia de Amigos so all the drunks were really nice to us haha .

the church is true.

its for everyone, me and you.

tocush tastes like poo. 

peace love baptisms

Rocio Mallque - the young girl that Sy talked about in his letter last week.

EATING CUY!!

July 2, 2012

So anywho, just chillin after internet on Monday. We go back to Hermana Charitos house for lunch and we are eating cuy (guinepig for those not familiar with the name)!!! And oh my how I loved it. All I could think about was Bain's hamster that died like 8 years ago and how I should have cooked it up cause man this was good. My companion said that he had cuy once before and it was horrible, so I am glad our pensionista is a great cook and my first experience was a good one. I have been smelling a lot of odd things this week. When I smell cucumbers I think of Lake Powell. Every car here is diesel so that reminds me of the fumes from the boat. Also to top that off we were knocking doors and a man across the street was listening to Hotel California. So I don't know, maybe God is trying my faith because he knows how much I love Lake Powell and how sad I am missing it this year. So ya, today is Bain's birthday and I'm pretty sad about that. We baptized a girl on  Friday who was a reference for a lady in the ward and she is pretty much Bain's age so that's cool. Her name is Rocio Mallque and she is pretty awesome. Anywho not much happened this week. We didn't reach our goal for contacts, because we are always running around for baptism interviews and I still lack confidence to talk to people.I just hope I can find some soon. Anyways I've been out for 4 months. Doesn't feel like it I'm sure its felt like a year for you guys haha. I cannot wait to hear where Landon is going. I think about it a lot. It sound like everyone is doing well. Bain's story was quite hilarious about girls camp. I think you guys had more of a camp in that 24 hours that I did my entire time in the scouts.

Well I don't have much time because we were late to get to the computers so hopefully I will have more to talk about next week. Hopefully we can get some more baptisms and a lot more contacts!

I saw a man playing a hermonica yesterday and oh man did he kill it. I'm searching for one I hope I find one.

I tried to send 2 more photos but I ran out of time. Next week I will send them. One is of our baptism and the other is a birthday card for Bain so I guess you will have to wait sorry sorry.

Oh yea I can now wiggle my ears so I guess practice makes perfect.

-- 

Elder Sy E. Woolstenhulme

Misión  Perú  Lima  Norte

Febrero 2012 - Marzo 2014

JUNE 25, 2012

June 25, 2012

Kickin it fatty in Peru 

This week started off with a few gnarly earthquakes which were awesome. I secretly enjoy them. Everyone else starts to freak out, probably because I have never actually felt one. Anywho, we played soccer with the other zone and of the 4 different teams I was on the all gringo team. We got destroyed the first 3 games but by a miracle from heaven Elder Torres ( the lone Latino on our team who doesn't run or kick the ball or anything) kicked a shot that went right through the goalies' legs. From then on we went 5 games uncontested oh the spirits of the founding fathers were rejoicing as we prevailed in the sport of the Latinos. I have never been more proud to be an American hahah. This week for service we helped a new investigator with his work, which happens to be silk screening jerseys. So I had a blast using my knowledge of silk-screening to help out Joel and his work. This Sunday he actually came to church and stayed all the hours so we are really going to work hard on him so he can make some sweet covenants with his Heavenly Father. We were contacting on Thursday when a little lady asked for our help. She knew we couldn't say no, so we hiked up the tallest hill in our area to the very last house. With my bag and a ladder on my shoulder praying my shoes wouldn't slip to a rocky death. We helped put plastic over her roof because it was going to rain this week. Oh man I am glad I am from Utah were I can learn how to climb up some hills. Also we had a baptizm this week, 23 year-old  Victor Albero Vasquez, the son of a recent convert family the. His father Carlos baptized him and it was a great thing to see. His little brother Krauss is preparing to sever a mission and in Peru boys can serve at 18 years old. It is something new that got started this year I think. We had been teaching Victor and his wife and three kids, but one thing lead to another and they are now separated but we got him baptized confirmed and conferred with the priesthood so that's a great progress for the ward. Also my first baptism Hermano Juan Romedo received the priesthood as well. We are really working on our families, but it is hard to find them and especially to get them to come to church. So yea just kinda chilling, my new zone leader is awesome. My pensionista is the best. My companion is still kinda annoying haha and I'm working on my confidence in my Spanish. 

My companion wants to know how much a hymn book is in English.  All of the Latinos want one. Keep me up to date on Cameron and Brandon. I can't wait to hear where Landon is going.I pray that Elder Brasher will come to my mission on his proselyting trips in the MTC. Steady mobbing all day yanadadamin! 

-- 

Elder Sy E. Woolstenhulme

Misión  Perú  Lima  Norte

Febrero 2012 - Marzo 2014

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

June 18, 2012

Well Happy Father's Day. I know you all know this, but I have the greatest father on the earth. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't tell me how awesome my father is, or how he has helped them in their lives. My father does nothing but help others reach their goals. In that way he reminds me of the Prophet. If anyone needs an errand run, Roger B Woolstenhulme will run that errand. My father has the heart the size of a full grown rhinoceros, and if you spend 2 minutes with him you will feel that love. My dad did nothing in my life, but work as hard as he could to improve my circumstances and to help me succeed with all of my endeavors. My father works harder, plays harder, laughs harder, and loves more than any man I know, or will ever know in my life. My father changes lives and does nothing but love. To my great father I would like to say Happy Father's Day!

I loved all the pictures! All the elders tell me I have a good-looking family. THOSE CHERRIES LOOK DELICIOUS!!!! I am beyond jealous. Yea it's winter, but it's like a Spring day in Utah. My companion hates the cold. Guatemala is really hot and the cold is tough for him. Well this week we don't have any baptisms, but the other district baptized a 91, yes 91 year-old lady who only speaks Quechua. Yea hahah that's whats up. And this is the Elder's last transfer. Pretty sweet. Cifuentes and I have three new families we are teaching and they all need to be married!! ahhhhh!! It is going to be a lot of work I just hope and pray that we can get it all done before these last 6 weeks are up and I'm off to who knows where. The three families are: Linder and Milagros and their daughter Angie who is 12, Henry and Consuelo and their son Angelo who is 9, and George and Estrella. Estrella is a member we just need to get them married so he can be baptized because they are living together. Our service this week was moving bags of dirt up a huge flight of stairs to help rebuild a house of a member. I had a blast, I felt like I was at wrestling practice running up stairs a thousand times with Chase Orwin on my back. All the Latinos we huffing and puffing and sitting down, but the new Zone Leader (who is from Montana) and me were sprinting trying to get a workout. Oh man was it a workout! Almost 60 50-lb bags per missionary up a huge flight of stairs. Also I know you guys are going to be jealous of this, but yesterday for father's day we ate at the bishop's house and he made us cerviche. Cerviche of swordfish! Oh my goodness gracious ¡Alma-the-younger-saw-an-angel! it was good!!! I almost cried! Raw swordfish, lemon, onions, and who knows what else. Oh it was heavenly. Also last night while we were walking to out last appointment there were like 9 gunshots. We didn't know if some drunk was just having a great father's day and shot up in the air or if someone got shot. We just walked down the next street. People were screaming but I don't think anything happened because after our lesson there wasn't a commotion. Anywho, hopefully we get these baptisms and get the ball rolling. Hopefully I don't get shot! haha, just kidding.. but seriously.

 ¡VIVE PERÚ!

--

Elder Sy E. Woolstenhulme

Misión  Perú  Lima  Norte

Febrero 2012 - Marzo 2014

JUNE 11, 2012

June 11, 2012

Well I'm halfway done with my training. The time is flying by. Not much happened this week, not many new investigators or much. We went to the ocean on Monday and went bowling. There were a lot of gringos there and it was kinda weird. I had the opportunity to go on a day split with the zone leader. His companion and I traded apartments for two days and a night. It was really good for me to be able to learn from a North American who only has one transfer left. We talked a lot about Utah and I learned a lot about what I need to do to study better and help my companion. I am very thankful for that chance I had. He is transferring tomorrow so we will most likely be getting a new North American zone leader who has no idea what he is doing hahahah! Anyways I got your envelope and I haven't opened it yet. I'm exited to see whats inside. Hopefully we have more progress this next week and find some new investigators.

Get that back fixed dad, you got to practice so when I get home we can go climbing. Pain is weakness leaving the body. My knees are killing me and my hip has been acting up. This pain would normally put me out of commission, but it's weird how much you can walk and work when you are on a mission .Its like someone is helping you... Get Landon's papers done!!! There is no greater work than mission work and tell Brandon that ¨God knows when and where he needs to serve, he needs to decided how he is going to serve.¨

church is true

Alma 38:12

JUNE 4, 2012

June 4, 2012

Hey sorry about the lack of description, my apartment is pretty small but its clean and tidy and I like it. The food is great but when you are sick it is horrid. Potatoes and rice or chicken and rice, all of the ladies cook so well, but my pentionista is the best.My companion and I bought KFC for the family last week which was a great taste of home. We baptized Velissa Marivell Cantera Garcia this past Saturday. She is a single mother of 28 years and is awesome. She has a son named Franco who is 5 and the funniest little boy in the world. We have been teaching Velissa since I got here and she progressed very fast. She wasn't sure if she wanted to get baptized so soon, but with much prayer and fasting she received a testimony and got baptized earlier than her desired date. She lives with members so she will be strong in the Church I know. The ward members are great but a lot of the time they don't show up to things. It's hard to work with the ward when the ward doesn't work with you. My companion and I are struggling in the new investigator area. In the winter here no one wants to do anything, all they do is go to work and come home. No one wants to listen, but I am just going to trust in the Lord. The city has a few bigger streets, but my area is houses on hills. If Lima is Salt Lake. San Juan Lourigancho is West Jordan. If that helps. My companion and I made ties!!!! The fabric I bought for Bree... we kind of used it to make ties Hermana Charo our pentionsita helped us make them. So the next time I'm in the centro de Lima I will buy another for her hahaha. Peru played Columbia last night in soccer and from the lack of cheers in the street I'm guessing we lost.

I haven't received an  email from Brandon. I know he has written a ton, but none of them go through. Have him forward all of them to dad and dad send them to me because I really want to hear from him. How is Cameron .. does anyone know?? Let me know. Dad where is Elder Brasher? Is he going to the Peru MTC before going to Bolivia? Let me know his status. 

 love you all.

May 29, 2012

May 29, 2012

Hey sorry about the letter it didn't send because it was too big. I put three pictures in it and it was too large to send. So I deleted two of the pictures and re-sent it. Anyways that is going to be tough for Brennan. I struggled in the Peru MTC with my Spanish my last weeks and he will have nine in a foreign country. O geez. So Brandon and Landon didn't go to Brennan's farewell... that's strange. I hope that Disneyland trip was awesome

We are struggling to find new investigators. We have only a handful of progressing investigators. It is difficult to move investigators into progressing. Especially when one missionary is teaching most of the lesson haha. Anywho, Beliza is getting baptized on Saturday!!!!!! Which is a great thing and we have two other baptisms the second week of June. They are two 14 year old girls that the young women have fellowshiped and now want to get baptized. So we didn't really find them and teach them, but we are going over the lessons with them to get them prepared. My Spanish is getting better I have no problem pronouncing the words. So everyone understands what I say I just don't say things that make sense haha. I am opposite of most of the North American missionaries who know how to talk, but cannot pronounce haha. Anyways we are getting a new zone leader next P day so that will be fun. Ben Kjar's cousin is in the same mission as me. His name is Elder Essig and I met him the first day at the mission home, but I forgot to tell you I think. So tell Ben that . 

church is true read 3 Nephi 31-32 

elder woolstenhulme

 

LEARNING PATIENCE

Mon, May 21, 2012

This week has gone by so fast I hope all the weeks don't go by this fast. It is great to hear about all of your success. I am exited to hear more. Every week my companion and I are butting heads and he is getting on my nerves. It is all a trial of my faith because I obviously need to learn patience and charity. He teaches me well and he pushes me to speak and be a part of lessons which is good and I am more a part of the lesson now. It's great to feel you are actually teaching people. We have one great progressing investigator, but she is struggling with accepting a date for baptism. She says she wants to have a testimony that it is the right thing for her to do. Which is exactly what we want! We just hope and pray every night that she will get her answer. She attends church every Sunday . She lives with her mother-in-law who is a member and it will be a very smooth transition into our church because she is surround by it everyday. I cannot wait to see her excel in this church. My companion and I are struggling in the new investigator area. Since I have been here it has been harder to contact because of my lesser knowledge of the Spanish language. So along with focusing our efforts on contacts we are going to focus more on working hard with the members for referrals because blind contacts that become converts have a harder time with staying active and we want active members rather than a ton of baptisms. Anyways, I have been praying a ton that I don't snap my companion's neck. I am very glad I have him as a companion because he throws me in the deep end so I will have to swim to survive. Anywho I love you all. Go Wolverines! and GO TIGERS!

elder sy e. woolstenhulme

the church is true!

MOTHER'S DAY PHONE CALL

May 13, 2012

The missionaries are allowed to Skype now for their phone calls. So awesome to actually see his face and hear his voice at the same time.

Email from May 14, 2012

Anywho no more week two. It was great to see everyone's faces last night on Skype. My companion is pretty trunkie haha but what can you do. We had our first baptism as a companionship on Saturday. We married, baptized, and confirmed 83 yr. old Juan and 72 yr. old Benita. It was an awesome expirence. My companion and I butt heads here and there, but its nothing to worry about. I'm digging the food, everyday it gets better and better. I'm getting comfortable with the ward and it is making it easier. Anywho not much to say, just doing work. Bainy I just read your dearelder letter. I want to see the picture that got first place! Tell all the wrestlers I say "what up".

peace love baptize 

{elder wall-e}

elder woolstenhulme

IN THE FIELD

May 7, 2012

Hey everybody well I'm in the field, we left the CCM at 5:30 am to get to the mission home by 7. I

'm going to miss the CCM, but I was so ready to leave. I made tons of great friends and I know I will see them after the mission as well. The mission home is in northern Lima. We got there and we had about 3 hours of meetings to get everything figured out. After meeting the president and his wife we had the meetings then ate pizza then met our companions mine is Elder Jorge Cifuentes from Guatemala. He is 15 months out on the mission. My three buddies went straight to the jungle they are the first missionaries to be trained in the jungle Elder Brown (mi lo mejor amigo), Elder Gneiting, and Elder Neilson. Elder Price (amigo) and Elder Anderson (amigo) are in Lima as well. So is Stringham. I am in the zone magnolias and the district of Villa Hermosa. I am the only gringo greenie in my zone, there are two other greenie,s but they are Latinos. Our area is just a neighborhood, only houses, houses on top of houses. Our pentionista is Hermana Chara. She is about 60 and hilarious always cracking jokes. It is awesome, her family is great. She makes us breakfast and dinner we have lunch appointments everyday with members. We always have appointments and always have backups. We walk everywhere and climb a few mountains. We ride motoscooters to other areas to meet with other missionaries. One elder in my zone is Elder Kepner, he is 21 months out and is from Indiana so I thought mom would get a kick out of that. There is an elder in the office of the mission home named Elder Hendricks, he is 18 months out and he went to Mountain View. So I don't know maybe Bree knew him or something. Anywho we have two investigators with a baptism date. Hermano Juan y Hermana Bentia, they are both like 100 but they need to be married first. So we are working on their marriage papers so they can be married on Saturday in the morning then baptized in the afternoon. They have no money they sell snacks on the street and every time we meet with them they give us a treat and they won't let me not take it. They are some golden people, they have been interviewed and have been to church and are ready. Also we have another named Velissa who is a single mother and is progressing very well but is scared to accept a date. She thinks that a date this month or next month is too soon. We have given her all of the lessons and I know she has felt that it is right. We watched the restoration movie with her yesterday after church to get her more exited. We have others progressing but there are too many to name. I only have two ties from home left hahaa. I traded all the others so I have a pretty hefty set. We have a lot of ward council meetings, the ward is very involved which is great because that is one of the main focuses of the mission. My companion gets stressed out easy, but I don't understand what is going on so I bet I would be too haha. One thing when you send me letters don't write Elder on them because it makes it difficult to get them from post office. Also send giant envelopes rather than boxes.When you send packages you need to declare the value NEVER! declare it over $100 because the church needs to pay $200 to get it out, If I need anything of value just transfer me money. Never send me money or high value items. Also if you send me a package send me some more ties from savers/DI. Some sick thick vintage ones, but make sure they have the tag if possible because it makes it less of a target to be stolen at the post-office I NEED TO KNOW WHERE PETER MOLNAR IS GOING ON HIS MISSION so tell me when you get the chance. We can Skype on Mothers Day.!!! but i need to know Bree's Skype account!!!! I will be calling tonight around 7 or 8 my time so like 8 or 9 your time I think. *only for five minutes* so we can figure out what time for Mothers Day. So be readyI will be calling dad's phone.

Tell my friends to write me

Sy Woolstenhulme

Ave. Carlos Izaguirre 124

Independencia

LIMA 28

PERU

Anywho the church is true

I love you

I'll call you guys tonight.

He added this in a separate email on the same day.

My first area was a 45 minute bus ride from the mission home. My companion is from Guatemala and he is the district leader as well. We live in a upstairs apartment of a lady I don't know. Our pentionista is hilarious! We walk everywhere and we ride motos to the other districts we have lunch appointments everyday with members and our pentionista cooks for us breakfast and dinner. Our chapel isn't big, but it isn't small. Our area is very dusty and has a lot of small streets.

Last P Day at the Peru MTC

April 25, 2012

Today was the last P day in the CCM. We spent the whole morning at immigration with most all of the advanced North Americans getting our Peruvian ID cards. So that was fun... but afterwards our driver broke the rules and took us to McDonalds which was a awesome treat. After returning back to the CCM we took a nap and headed back out into the city to go to a temple session. The P days are very lax here. Saturday was fun, the tracting was not as successful as the first time but that's not my call who knows whose heart we touched indirectly. We were in Rimac, which is the poverty stricken area of Lima. All of the houses are on the mountains, the people say the higher on the mountain you are the poorer you are. Needless to say we climbed many stairs. I'm glad I had all of my experience of climbing mountains to get to rock walls to help me with my stair climbing. Most of the Peruvians were tired and out of breath only half way up the mountain. We were suppose to teach less active members, but in Rimac it is hard to find the right house so we just ended up proselytizing. My companion is very difficult to understand and he doesn't know how to condense the lessons so he likes to go on 10 minute sch-peels about one principle so it is hard for me to jump in when I don't know where he is. But I am learning through this trial. Lets just say i have been reading Ether 12:27 a lot this week. We did teach one woman at the very top house of Rimac who was 21 and she was interested in our message from the get go. We asked her to attend church on Sunday, but I have no idea if she did. We gave her a pamphlet and we taught her the entire first lesson and hopefully something got through to her through my broken Spanish and my companion's mumbling. Most people in Rimac live on dirt floors with tin roofs and plywood walls. It was very humbling to see a mother with 5 young children living in a house as big as my room. People here are humble and very receptive to the gospel. My teacher tells me of the food we will eat in the north. She says we will eat monkey, turtles, snakes, crocodiles, worms, larva, and guinea pig of coarse, just to name a few. I'm exited to get to the mission field so I can start learning some real Spanish. I hope and pray  will have a trainer with some knowledge of English, because I need so major help. I've lost ten pounds, but that was the ten pounds that I gained in Provo so I am back to normal. I'm killing it on the soccer field and I have been taking a  stab at goalie and doing pretty darn good. So Seth better get ready to win some games in a few years. All is well. I have almost traded all of my ties with an exception of a few favorites so I have quite the collection now. Feel free to send me some whenever because they are the greatest currency among missionaries.

I love you all, the church is true

ñuga yatray ima tasta kowsay ñuga yetray ima jesucristo chayni quishpichiq shuti jesucristo amen

{I know that God loves me I know that Jesus Christ is my savior in the name of Jesus Christ amen}

( testimony in quechuea )

Even though I wont use quechuea at all in my mission anywho peace and love

ELDER SY EMMETT WOOLSTEÑHÚLME

Advanced

April 18, 2012

I am now advanced, we have got a new group of missionaries in the MTC. There are typically 80 or so Latino missionaries, but this exchange we received 99 exactly. Also a new group of North Americans. The other two elders in my Provo district have come as well along with the others that were supposed to come earlier with us. I got a new North American companion because elder Stringham decided to go into a completely Latino class for his last three weeks in order to learn more. So I have Elder Price. He is about 6'2 150 lb. I love the kid, we are getting along very well and i am exited to continue to grow with him. the food is great. All of us North Americans receive our fair share of stomach sickness, but that has long since passed, but not for the new North Americans ;) The pizza here is so amazing. When we proselytize you are only with your Latino companion and you just knock doors and sometimes there is a teacher with you to help and to give feedback. This week we will be going out again on Saturday and I heard a rumor we are going to the super poor area of Lima called Rimac. I have a feeling I am going to be humbled greatly from the impoverished humble people and feel their sweet spirits. Today I am with my best buddy Elder Brown for our temple session and for P day. One of my new teachers in teaching us a few works and phrases in Quechua so.

¡cuyami!

"la iglesia es veredadera"

ELDER SY EMMETT WOOLSTEÑHÚLME