La Ronda Campesina

Last pday after I wrote we went on a hike to a super cool lookout and some pre-incan ruins. Super cool. Man I love the mountains. It was rainy and cold and we were standing on the top of a huge cliff. It made me miss the mountains back home. 

We also went and ate the trout that we caught. The restaurant de-boned them and fried them for us with ají 🔥 chicharrón de trucha. Catch and cook trout in south america ✔️ probably one of the best days of my mission. 

Chota is a super traditional town. The people are mostly farm workers that are very well mannered people. The town is also extremely clean. The whole throw your bag of trash out on the street and let the dogs eat it thing doesn't exist up there. I was asking people why the town is so much as they would say "menos malcriado" and found out about one of the coolest organizations I have ever heard of. "La Ronda Campesina". Basically the police up there take the back seat. There is a group of people called La Ronda. They basically regulate all crime in the city. They wear these super cool hats that are traditional to Chota. Almost all of the old timers there are "Ronderos" (part of this organization). If someone steals a cow, La Ronda takes them, strips them down, and whips them. If someone steals from a tienda, they write the crime they did on their chest, put them in the town center and beat the snot out of them. I found it super interesting. The first 3 guys we contacted up there were Ronderos, so I got super intrigued. We went to a museam about it that was super awesome. I'll throw a picture in. I also bought a book called "así nació La Ronda". I don't know why it is so interesting to me, but I think these people are the coolest people ever. Basically just peruvian cowboys that wear sick hats and ponchos and keep the city in check. I asked a guy if he was a Rondero and he said, "claro amigo ando con el cohete en el bolsillo" (of course my friend, I roll with the rocket in the pocket). That's something cool I learned, rocket in the pocket is a term here too. If anyone would like to research "La Ronda Campesina" of Chota Perú and send me some cool info I would apreciate it. 

One of my very favorite things about the sierra (mountains) of northern perú is how the people talk. They speak the clearest most beautiful spanish I have ever heard. They pronounce every single letter extremely precisely if not over exagerated. It is so cool to listen to them. It is so incredibly easy to understand. 

Another one of my favorite things about the mountains is that the panaderías (bread shops) all use wood ovens to cook their bread. The huge industrial electric ovens haven't gotten up there yet so its all "a la leña". It is so good. 10x better. We got some cemita, bizcochos serranos, alfajores de chocolate, pan integral, etc and it was all so dang good. I wish I could take it all home. 

On the ride back to Pomalca the tire on the combi popped. Luckily right when we gotten to a little town called called Cochabamba. There was a little shop that was able to fix it up in about an hour. The rest of the drive was through the straight fog. Like thick thick. The driver was absolutely ripping though. He was going like 40 around sharp corners on a two lane road on the edge of cliffs with semis coming the other way in fog that I kid you not made it impossible to see 20 feet in front. I wish I was exagerating. It was absolutely unreal

Some member stood up in sacrament and said that the elders need to stop baptizing because they've done it too much. Great member.

This week marks 6 months until I am home. Somehow I feel better and more motivated than ever. Man. I wish this would never end. 

I think with almost 18 months in the mission I have finally understood the importance of baptism. I have always wanted to baptize, but lately it has been a burning desire. It drives me throughout the day. My companions have probably gotten sick of me saying "yeah he"s probably getting baptized" after first contacts. Sometimes I ask myself if being obsessed with baptizing people is a bad thing. I think this letter is the perfect answer. 

Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. Loor al profeta. 

New years: Chota, rain, trucha (trout)

Its been raining this week in Pomalca. I personally love the rain, but it puts peruvians on complete shutdown mode. The street behind our house is dirt and doesnt have drains so it turned into a river and the water has just been there for a while now. It smells absolutely rank and is full of mosquitos so we can't keep our windows open at night which makes it even hotter. 

We are currently in a town called Chota. One of the cooler places I have ever been. I actually had been here about a year ago because it used to be part of my old zone. Now it is part of this zone so I got to go again. Its a super cool town way up in the Andes mountains. It is what I thought peru would be like. Super cool big mountains, cows everywhere, etc. There is a huge bull fighting arena here where they do bull fights. It is pretty cool. It is also freezing up here. Definately will never forget spending new years in the middle of the mountains in peru. 

They did a ton of fireworks and burned mummies. Christmas and new years in the mission have been unforgettable 

This morning we got up and went fishing. Catch a trout in south america ✅️ bucket list. Probably one of the coolest things ever. For the record, I have caught more trout in 2025 than my dad and brothers. Shouldn't surprise anyone. We headed up to the mountains and caught a bunch of nice ones. Definitely one of the highlights of my mission so far. 

On the way out to go fishing there was a drunk guy with his moto slid off the road on the side of an absolute cliff. I cannot believe he didnt die. We pulled him up and he headed on his way. 

It sprinkled sunday morning so nobody went to church. Bummer. 

I still am baffled every day at how perfect my mission is for me. I couldn't invision myself serving anywhere other than Chiclayo Perú. It's kinda crazy how la MPCH is the best mission in the world. 

I think 2024 was the best year of my life. I got to spend every single second of it in peru. A place that has come to feel like just as much of a home as anywhere. I got to spend every second among the peruvian people in their service and in the service of God. There is no doubt that this year is the year that I have grown the most, learned the most about myself, and become a better man, disciple of Christ, and all around person. I think if I could have seen myself at the end of this year back at the beginning of the year I would have been pretty proud. That's about all I can ask for.

Cheers to 2025, bring what it may, I am sure it will be one to remember. See yall this year  

Feliz navidad

We rode in a car with seatbelts this week. First time in over 15 months that I had put a seatbelt on. My mind was absolutely blown. I felt like I was going on a roller coaster. So weird. I cannot belive that is a normal thing back home. It seriously blew my mind. Its weird how used to a culture you can become and how fast your body can create habits. 

We stood in the town center and sang carols every night this week. It actually worked incredibly well. Three white guys singing. Who wouldnt want to watch. We probably sounded horrible, but it is probably all over tik tok. 

I absolutely love paneton. Dont know why so many people dont like it.

One evening this week things were not going for us. A bunch of stuff fell, including a baptismal date for 3 days later. I was absolutely beat. We had been walking around to little towns all day and I was absolutely exhausted. We were standing in the street trying to figure out what to do because we literally had nothing. While my companions were calling someone I went and knocked the door we were standing in front of. A lady opened up and said she was busy. I asked her if she would have 3 minutes to talk about Christ’s birth. Another no. I asked her if she knew that the authority that Christ had and gave to his apostols to do miracles and do his work had been restored to the earth once again. The door opened. We went in and she told us how her daughter was having bad health problems. She asked if we could give her a blessing. We did it and it was incredibly powerful. I dont even remember what I said, but when we finished, everyone in the room was crying. They told us the classic "there is something special about you guys". Cool experience. Something that I have changed as a missionary is that every single time I talk to someone I mention a restored truth. This was really hard for me to start doing at first but I have seen huge results from it. Everyone down here knows that God loves them and that Christ died for them. What they don't know is that there are prophets on earth again, the preisthood is again on the earth, Christ came to the Americas, God has blessed us with another testiment of Jesus Christ, families can be together forever, etc. 

I still no sabo espanish. Said "hermano, vaya a el iglesia para que puede sentir la amor de Dios" this week 🤯🤯🤯🤯 im locked in. No wonder a guy thought I was crazy when I told him joseph smith was called "para que tradució" el libro de mormon. 🤯🤯🤯 I think I've realized my problem. I need to stop thinking about what I say and just talk. On a more serious note, I am fine. I havent forgotten how to speak, I am just way too up tight about it and because of that I make errors. Ill be ight though. 

The only thing I remember from my high school spanish class is the burrito sabanero song. Little did I know that that is litterally the only song I would hear for a month straight 5 years later. And cholito jesus. Banger. 

Got asked to speak right before sacrament meeting again this week. Kinda crazy. Second year in a row down here that they have asked me to speak at the christmas sacrament meeting. I actually have a recording of my talk and will throw that in here so that you guys can listen. Talked about christmas and baptism. There was a huge lady breastfeeding on the front row smiling at me weird. Definately won't forget this talk. 

Last night was absolutely insane. The whole city turns into an absolute war zone. So many fireworks, parties, and just craziness. We went up on the roof and were almost getting drilled by fireworks. We bought like 4 panetones, a few chocolate panetones, a bunch of empanadas, some besos de moza, inca kola, you name it. It was a blast. Definately one of the best nights of my life

 

Missionary work during christmas is magical. The peoples hearts are softer. My whole life I thought that Christmas on the mission would be hard. I figured that being away from family, friends, food, traditions, culture, gifts, snow, santa, etc would be hard. I was thinking last night about how these two Christmases I have spent in Perú have probably been the two best ones of my entire life. How is that possible? Because I have not put one thought into any of those things. I have had the privilege of spending christmas spreading the good news of Christs birth with the Peruvian people. I seriously love this place so much. I love these people so much. There is no place I would rather be than here this Christmas. 

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

May we all remember that he is the reason for the season. He is the king of kings. The lord of lords.

Cuy

Transfers were this week. Should be a good transfer. I'm staying in Pomalca and recived two new comps. One is elder Rice from Alaska. We have about the same amount of time in the mission. We were together out in the jungle and did a bunch of exchanges out there so we knew each other well. We are also training an absolute stud named elder Martin from Idaho Falls. Hes an absolute unit and such a cool guy. Prodigy of the MPCH. He will be carrying my torch for 17 months after I leave, so thats kinda cool. I couldn't say enough good things about this guy. The bishop asked one of us to speak in sacrament meeting so we had him do it. He did it like an absolute champ. First sunday in peru and he absolutely nailed it. I think the Lord hears me every time I say I don't like trio training because he keeps having me do it. I am actually pretty excited this time though. Pretty cool oportunity to help a new guy learn and grow with two experienced missionaries. 

My trainer, my last companion, and the sisters that got here with me all went home this week. That one stung a bit. 

Ate cuy (guinea pig) this week. I hate that stuff. Its so nasty. We sat down to eat it and I really struggled to find any meat whatsoever on it. The whole family just went at it whole, crunching the bones super loud. Absolutely sick. People here kill for that stuff. You can get two whole chickens for the price of one tiny little meatless piece of garbage guinea pig. So nasty

I love christmas in the mission. Boy is it getting toasty though. We had an hour long car ride the other day to go help some sisters way out in the boonies move houses. The taxi driver would not role the windows down or turn on the ac because "mucho aire hace daño". It was probably 95 in that car for an hour straight. I had a headache the rest of the day. 

Some guy showed up at church on sunday saying he wants to get baptized asap. The problem is that his is currently living with some lady but she is legally married to another guy, so its a whole vaina trying to figure that out. The lady will have to find a way to divorce and then they will have to get married. 

Is it posible to be completely confident in spanish for over a year and then wake up one day and feel like you forgot it? Yeah. Still struggling with trying to figure out what happened there.

I have almost collected all of the coins in perú. I have a pretty cool looking set. I bought a book for them and I think its pretty cool. I'll throw a picture in. 

"Whats the best way to fulfill your missionary pourpose? Baptize people." -President Giuria. 

I think we often overlook the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes as missionaries and miembers of the church we focus so much on baptism and not on this Gift. The Holy Ghost is truly whay purifies us and helps us to live better lives. It has been interesting to see how it works in me. I wish I had a bunch of crazy mission experiences when the Holy Ghost told me exactly what door to know or who to talk to, but in reality that almost never happens. In fact most of the time those miracles that come from him just feel like coincidences. But it is always cool to see how he influences us and the miracles that come from him. 

Darian/Brallim🌊

The heat has me drinking a lot of sprite (esprite) and pepsi (pecsi). There is a limited edition sugar free pecsi that has ancient incan and mochica figures on the little wrapper thing on the outside of the bottle and I got the Señor de Sipan one this week. He's some ancient figure that ruled this area of chiclayo. Pretty cool. I think the incan culture is really cool. Call me a nerd but I am going to collect every single special edition pecsi wrapper. 

The guy finally showed up to fix the moldy wall (4 weeks later). I was joking with Elder Quintero about how he would probably show up, slap some paint over it and call it a day. He showed up at 8:30, threw some paint on it, got paint all over the floor, and was out the door in 20 minutes. Put no thought into the fact that he had gotten paint all over the floor and not even kind of fixed the problem, and that it still looked and smelled rank. Par for the course. Sometimes all I can do is shake my head. I wonder if the ability to just take garbage situations and be like "ope ok well thats alright" that I have developed on my mission will help me in life or just make me complaicent and willing to settle for crappy situations. I truly love peruvians and peru, but things like this make me really really really miss the U.S and the general sense of do stuff right (or at all) that there is there. 

I am convinced there is nothing harder than convincing a peruvian that the elders have the same preisthood authority as the members and that us giving blessings doesn't bring more blessings than if the members do it. We have been having a ton of completely worthy, active, incredible members coming to us to have us give blessings to their wives and kids. Our mission president has encouraged all of us to discuss with the members how we are not superheroes and how we are more than willing to give blessings, but that the preisthood they have is the same as ours. Yesterday in the Elders Quorum class the EQ president actually brought this topic up, so it was a great opportunity to talk about it. It ended up with some guy bearing his testimony about how he gave his sick dog a preisthood blessing and the dog was healed immediately and how he did it himself and not the elders so we need to trust in our own preisthood power and not just the elders. Everyone was super hyped about that. No comment. I wish I was kidding.

We ate a bunch of sting ray this week. I don't mind it, not my first choice though. The skin is soft and they kinda just eat it, but its kinda a nasty texture. Its like eating a soft banana peel. 

Something I find hillarious (and often times extremely irritating) is that the concept of waiting in line does not exist here. People just kinda pull up and hop right in front. Just about any time we go to the panadería (or any store really), someone will come hauling in, yell "a ver!!!", walk right up in front of everyone, throw coins on the counter and start yelling at the workers what kind of bread they want. Ok, maybe not every single time, but I would say more often than not. Its just another one of those things that all we can do is laugh about. 

I realized this week that being an eagle scout isn't going to garuntee me billions of dollars, free school, and whatever job I want like I was told it would. Hard to come to grips with that one. Still thankful to be apart of the eagles nest though. One of the most elite groups out there. 

We had a few baptisms this week. One was an 11 year old kid that a couple weeks ago a family coming back to church brought to us and said "elders we want him to be baptized asap". The other one is a 27 year old stud. Exactly what the church needs. His brother is currently serving a mission in Lima so we have been teaching him with his brother on facetime. He is an absolute champion. The BOM played a huge role in his decision to be baptized. I stand almost 17 months into my mission and am yet to see someone read the Book of Mormon consistently, pray about it and not end up getting baptized. It makes missionary work so much easier. 

Transfers are this week. It was definately one of my favorite transfers of my mission. Elder Quintero is a lifelong friend. With the baptisms this week we were officially able to complete our goal and baptize at least one person every week this transfer. Hard to complain about a transfer in which we have a baptism every single week. 

The sisters that I started my mission with are going home this week. Crazy 

I promise this talk will strengthen your testimony! 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-book-of-mormon-a-book-from-god?lang=spa

Camila

Went to the big mall in chiclayo last pday. They have a mcdonalds there. They have Maracuya sundaes. Turns out the icecream is exactly the same as mcdonalds in the states. Probably one of the best things I have ever eaten in my entire mission. 

Had some cow heart this week. I wont lie, it was pretty dang good. I genuinly enjoyed. I don't know why i have avoided it my whole mission.

We had a baptism yesterday. It was really good. Super sweet 13 year old girl named Camila. 

I have been facing a weird challenge lately. I have felt the last few weeks that I cant speak spanish. Or express myself how I want to. It is really weird considering I have felt almost 100 percent comfortable for about a year now. I am trying to figure out what my problem is. I feel like I am forgetting words and grammer rules. Really weird. I think its a mental slump that i am letting get to my head. 

I am so sick of rice. Like seriously so sick of it. I think I am being traumatized by it. I dont think i will voluntarily eat it for at least 5 years after getting home. I would be lying if i said I love eating an absolute mountain of rice and then knocking doors in the heat. 

Yesterday was stake conference in our stake here. The stake is actually huge. It includes a bunch of wards scattered throughout the sugar cane as well as a few branches. It is a huge deal here. The chapel was absolutely packed as well as the overflows. I'd say there were about as many people there as at stake conference back home. I always love the stake conferences on the mission. I think its a blast to get to go to sacrament meeting with a bunch of other missionaries. The 70 that was there was the last speaker. He got about 10 minutes into his talk and then stopped. He said how he was going to do something he had never done before at a stake conference. He turned around and said to president Giuria (mission president) that he wanted him to pick two of the missionaries to come and talk about anything they wanted. The 70 went back and had president tell him who, walked back up to the stand and says "ok elder pohlman y su compañero, su tiempo". I was pretty dang nervous honestly. I dont consider myself someone who likes to speak so to be thrown on the spot like that by a 70 with 0 preperation 0 topic or anything in front of a ton of people was kinda scary. I walked on up to the pulpit with no idea what to talk about. I honestly still dont even remember what I said. But hopefully someone was touched. 

I was reading Luke 4 this week about how Satan tempted Jesus. I think it is very interesting. In verse 3 he tempts him with hunger. In verse 6 he tempts him with power and glory. In verse 7 he tempts him with material wealth. In verse 9 he tests his pride. All of these ways that Satan tempted him were attacking or tempting his natural man. Satan loves attacking and using our natural man to make us fall. I believe it was President Nelson that talked a couple conferences ago about how we need to "despojarnos del hombre natural" (strip ourselves of the natural man). When we learn to control our natural man, we become stronger, more converted people. 

Elder Pohlman

Eliseo

 Eliseo got baptized yesterday. His buddy baptized him. That was really cool. A bunch of preisthood has gotten baptized lately, which is an absolute blessing for the ward. 

This week I felt very grateful to be in perú. I love these people so much. A couple nights ago we were out in a little town called San Antonio. We had just had a bunch of successful lessons with some super humble awesome people. I felt super grateful. As we were walking back to Pomalca the sun was setting behind the sugar cane. I felt super glad to be in Perú and be having this experience I am having. 

It still baffles me how slow these people move. Bless their hearts

I hit 16 months in the mission this week. Time is absolutely flying. 

We met a buhdist lady this week. She had some sort of alter with some crazy looking scrolls with some sort of chinese or japanese or something on them. She shared a bunch of stories with us. We were both very confused. It was the first time I have ever taught someone that doesnt believe in Jesus Christ. We didnt really know what to teach. I have a lot of respect for people that have to teach from ground zero. 

It's starting to cook again down here. I forgot how hot it gets. We still aren't in the worst of it, but it is starting to get really hot. Realistically it isn't insanely hot, it is just the fact that there is no relief. It is just as hot inside as outside. 

The family that got baptized in my old area got sealed in the temple on saturday. They seem super excited. 

"When He arrived on the Western Hemisphere following His Resurrection, Christ said to the Nephites: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ. … I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, … in the which I have suffered the will of the Father … from the beginning.” Of the myriad ways He could have introduced Himself, Jesus did so by declaring His obedience to the will of the Father—never mind that not long before in His hour of greatest need, this Only Begotten Son of God had felt totally abandoned by His Father. Christ’s charity—evident in complete loyalty to divine will—persisted and continues to persist, not just through the easy and comfortable days but especially through the darkest and most difficult ones." -Holland 

I probably get asked 5+ times a week, "why do bad things happen to good people?" I love this explanation. It is pretty easy to feel alone sometimes and feel like Christ has abandoned us. I know that, as Holland says, we will stand before him one day, see the wounds in his hands and feet, and realize that we were never truly alone.

Elder Cpohl