Gocta

We went to Gocta last Pday. It is one of the coolest places I have ever been in my entire life. I had gone there about a year ago, and even having seen it before it did not disapoint. It is an absolutely massive waterfall. We hardly saw anyone and it was so pretty. It is such a big fall that the water just turns into mist by the end. I was in awe just looking at the thing. I can't even describe how cool it is. We were able to go underneath the first part of the falls and the second. The hike was a beast but was worth every second. The pictures I took were from over a half mile away from it because once you get up close to it it is too big to capture in the picture. 

Last monday I had gotten ready for bed, said a prayer and was getting in bed. It was cold so I went to grab a blanket from the dress in the other room. I went opened the drawer to get it out and the entire dresser fell on me. It is a huge tall dresser that has three parts. The top part fell on my head. Somehow, the Lord protecting his missionaries being the only reasonable explanation, I left with a gash behind my ear and a minor headache. I don't know how it didn't crush my head into a pancake, break all manner of bones, etc. I am so lucky. The gash in the ear blead like crazy for a few days. I probably should have just gotten stitches. But finally it stopped bleading. As painful as it was, I am so incredibly lucky

During Christmas time we were teaching a family we had found in Pomalca. I had talked about them in a few emails. Familia Cabrejos Pacherrez. The wife getting baptized this week and asked if I would participate through zoom. So cool

There was a hail/lighning storm this week that was absolutely crazy. The hail hiting all the tin roofs was so loud and the lightning was right in the city. All that time in the burning hot really made seeing ice balls falling from the sky quite a joyful experience. 

The electric shower isn't working lately. The cold water has got to be no more than 40 degrees. It is seriously so cold. It is only about 55 degrees in the house in the morning, so the water is absolutely freezing. It comes straight out of the mountain so it is unbelievably cold. I have to do the hokie pokie one arm in one arm out one leg in one leg out for a couple minutes until I get up the courage to stand under it. After washing my hair I get a brain freeze. I absolutely hated it for the first few days but now I actually am starting to kinda like it. I get out of that thing feeling like an absolute man

The power of the sacrament is so strong. Yesterday it was pooring rain. The rain hitting the roof made it really hard to hear anything. Rain was leaking through the roof of the chappel and dripping into the seats. And yet the spirit can still be felt. I have seen all manner of different chaos during sacrament meetings in peru, but all have one thing in common, the peace that can be felt. 

The work can be kinda demoralizing sometimes here. The normal day usually includes 4-5 hours of contacting catholics that want nothing to do with us. It is completely different than any other area I have been in. I have started praying for and studying miracles and it has changed the way I see the work. I have started realizing the miracles that almost constantly are happening. I have never been an OMG HUGE MIRACLE SEND IT TO THE ZONE CHAT 5 times a day type missionary (and wont ever be) , in fact I usually find that kinda cringe, but lately I cant even count the number of times I have seen miracles throughout the day. I don't think God is making more things happpen, I think he is helping to realize when he does. Thats been a really cool lesson for me. 

Moroni 7: 

27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?

29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.

We belive in miracles. We believe in angels. 

Happy birthday to my estimado amigo Clayson James Woodward as well. What a good guy.

Sarcófagos de Karajía

 I could sit in combis and drive through the mountains listening to cumbias serranas all day long. I used to not like car rides but now a 4 hour car ride is an absolute treat for some reason.

We had zone conference this week in Jaen and it was awesome. It was so fun to see other missionaries, people that I baptized over a year ago, and listen to my mission president and his wife. I don't know how it is possible that Presidente and Hermana Giuria are so incredibly cool. They are seriously such inspiring people. Every time they talk it seems like the spirit is just speaking into my ear. I always say how cool presidente Giuria is, but hermana Giuria is an absolute angel as well. They are seriously such incredible people. 

Got my hair cut last week and the guy tried to shave me bald. I told him "ya mucho" like 4 times. Homie hit me with the "confía soli" and just kept going. 2/10 haircut. Will not be returning to peluquería el chato ever again.

We went last week to the "sarcófagos de karajía". Pretty cool. It's basically a bunch of super old mummified people perched on an unreachable cliff from the chachapoyan people. Serving in a place with such a cool culture is so cool. The people here are really cold and not accepting, but that is one way I have seen to find a way into them, asking them about their culture. 

Right now is "carnavales" time and they go absolutely nuts. Basically everyone in the streets throw water baloons and paint at each other. Im not sure exactly what it is to celebrate but every februrary it goes on for a few weeks. Absolute chaos. They are absolutely rutheless. No mercy on anyone. They usually leave us alone but ocasionally we get rinsed.

We got handed cups of coffee this week and told to drink it. It is impolite to reject anything. We explained the Word of Wisdom and they still wouldn't let it deny it. We ended up having to leave it and probably ruin our relationship with the family. Bummer. 

I've been sleeping so good here. Nice and cold and the rain pounds the roof all night. Heavenly. 

Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. He spilt his blood in this earth to free us all from the chains of death and sin. His sacrifice is infinate. Every single one of us is a sinner and are in dept greatly to him. Through the young prophet Joseph Smith the fullness of the Gospel has been restored in these last days. There is no better place to grow your testimony about that than in the Book of Mormon. Another testiment of Jesus Christ, his love for the people in every part of the world, and his infinite sacrifice. The Church of Jesus Christ is Christ's kingdom restored on earth once again. The same church Christ himself lead during his earthly ministry.

The articles of faith are so simple, yet incredibly powerful. 

3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. 

4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost 

Yalape

Last pday we went to a place called "Yalape". It is a super cool ancient city from the Chachapoyan people. There is a super cool story about how two brothers had their own cities but got into a bunch of wars. So to show that they were watching each other they put figures in the shapes of eyes on the walls of the forts facing each other across the valley. The younger brother lived in Yalape and the other in Kuelap. We are going to see Kuelap one of these weeks. Aparently it is super cool. Yalape was super cool too. It's just an ancient civilization on a mountain. There were over 600 of these little round fort things. Theres no gate, entrance fee, people that work there or anything. You can just go up there and hang out. I thought about bringing one of the bricks that the forts are made of home but figured a random brick would be pretty weird a couple years from now. 

People are always chewing coca leaves here. I don't know what it does but they sure love them. 

We were teaching a lesson this week and in the house there was an extremely old lady laying in her bed. Like probably 95 at least. She looked like mamá coco from the movie. I figured she couldn't even hear or see. About 10 minutes into the lesson she sat up and started listening. At the end she told us how she was raised in the mountains and never went to school or learned to read but that what we were reading and teaching was beautiful and that she loved it. I was baffled that she could even talk. I didn't think she could even move. She was litterally so old. It was such a cool moment. 

The goal here in Chachapoyas is to get the branch split in two. The goal is baptize the next branch president. Once we can baptize a few young studs that can be the branch president, it should split. It is crazy how much the Lord trusts people to grow his work. Some young guy is going to get baptized and then made branch president almost immediately. It is cool to be apart of such a young and growing part of the vineyard. It will be really cool to look back 20,30,40 years from now and see branches, districts, wards, and eventually a stake here. Maybe even a temple. It is pretty motivating to be laying the groundwork. It is cool to think that our task right now is baptize not only the new branch president but also potentially the first ever bishop and stake president here in Chachapoyas

Our veiw out our window is insane. I'll throw a picture in. 

There is a super cool lady we are teaching names Milu. She is so cool. Shes from venezuela. She came to church yesterday. I have never baptized anyone from anywhere other than Perú. Really hoping for her. 

I have heard from some peoples groans or discontent about studying D and C for come follow me this year. Up until I had about 13 months in my mission I had hardly even touched it ever and honestly wouldn't have been too hyped to read it either. I realized that it was a weak point of my testimony and decided to read all of it in one transfer (6 weeks). It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It turned D and C from a mysterious list of seemingly weird revelations that I didn't want people in teaching to find out about into a powerful tool in my toolbox as a missionary and a strong point of my testimony. It is seriously so cool and can strengthen our testimonies so much if we let it. I hope you all got to read D and C 4 this week and feel the importance of missionary work. This is the most important work on earth. 

4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul 

The field is white...

-Elder Pohlman 

📍Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Perú

 We had transfers this week. I got pranked and told beforehand that I was going to a nasty area in Chiclayo. Then we pulled up to the meeting and President Giuria announced that I would be going to an area called Chachapoyas...

Chachapoyas is the furthest area in our mission from the city. It is the area that everyone would kill to go to because of how beautiful it is. We got shipped off on an 8 hour bus ride to a city called Jaen. I served there about a year ago. It was super cool to spend a few hours there and see some people that I had met there. Then from Jaen we hopped in a combi and had another 5 hour ride up to Chacha. This place is so dang cool. I had come here on exchanges last march and it is seriously such a beautiful place. I am definately lucky. 

Chachapoyas is part of the state "Amazonas" so technically is part of the amazon rainforest. But it sits right on the transition zone where the Andes mountain range turns into the Amazon rainforest. They call this transition zone the "ceja de selva". It is super cool because we are surrounded by lush green jungle but also mountains. It's called "cloud forest". Chachapoyas also sits at an elevation of just below 8,000 feet. So we are way up here. I have been living at sea level for a long time now so the elevation has been weird the last few days. I've had to take some pills and am always out of breath but man, I could not be more happy to be here. Because of the elevation it is also COLD here. It hasn't gotten above 70 degrees since I got here 🤯 absolutely heavenly. We crack the windows open and it gets down to like 60 in our apartment at night👌 absolutely maravilloso.

The people here are completely different. It is a completely different culture. They talk, walk, cook completely different. Their accent is absolutely beautiful as well. The hard part is that their names are insane. Because we are in the jungle/mountains the names are still mostly indigenous. Instead of the classic Juan Carlos Mendoza Arrasco that I got used to in the city we're dealing with Culqui Lihuisi Poquioma Malqui. Straight up lamanites. 

I feel like I am in the Perú I had invisioned before the mission. This place is so dang cool. 

This city has a ton of super cool history. The Chachapoya people were a pre-inca civilization. Chachapoya means "warrior of the clouds". They were later conquered by the incans and later by the spaniards. There are a bunch of museams and cool places to learn about the history that we are going to go to. 

As if the location wasn't enough to make me the happiest man on earth, my companion literally couldn't be any better. I am BACK with mi ñaño elder Arellano from Ecuador! We were already comps literally 3 transfers ago. He is such an absolute stud. I couldn't say enough excelent things about the guy. Since I got to this mission nobody has served with the same comp twice until now so it is crazy that we are together. I am so unbelievably pumped to be with this guy. 

The one down side of serving in this garden of eden is that the work here is tough. Like really tough. This area has had 2 baptisms in the past 12 months. Can't complain though, it is a whole lot easier to go knock doors or contact when it is 65 and cloudy outside. 

Since this place has a ton of cool tourist atractions there are a ton of foreigners here. The other day a group of 3 girls and a guy from colorado, florida and oregon talked to us in a market. I literally could not hold a conversation with them. I am so awkward. They were kinda laughing at the fact that I couldn't hold a 15 second conversation. I was disappointed at my ability to talk to other american non-missionaries. I didn't think I was that awkward. Luckily my companion speaks great english so people can talk to him instead of me. 

Completed 18 months in the mission. Crazy 

“The Book of Mormon provides the fullest and most authoritative understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere. It teaches what it really means to be born again. … We know why we are here on earth. These and other truths are more powerfully and persuasively taught in the Book of Mormon than in any other book. The full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is contained in the Book of Mormon” -Presidente Nelson 

Some pics from the last few days in Pomalca and first few days in Chacha.

La cachina

An absolute champion named Jorge Videla got baptized on saturday. His wife is a member. They got married right before I got here so she could get baptized and now he has gotten baptized as well. So cool. He is super stoked and is such a good convert. The whole family is now members and they are one of my favorite families from my mission. Families are forever. 

We went to "La cachina" in the mercado Modelo in Chiclayo. Modelo is the craziest market I have ever seen. They sell everything you can ever imagine there. There is a part called "la cachina" where people sell stolen stuff. It was nuts. It was the first time I have ever felt unsafe down here. Some sketchy people in there. 

We saw a guy throw a brick at another guy this week. Lit him up. 

A gallinaso (turkey vulture) landed on a telephone pole this week in the town center of Pomalca while we were walking down the street. All of the sudden we heard a huge boom, turned around and there were huge sparks flying and the gallinaso was blown to smithereens. Then the power went out for the whole town. So hype. It was insane. Literally out of a movie. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. 

Right after the gallinaso got blown to smithereens we had nothing going on for about 2 hours. All of us had the feeling to go to the town center park to contact. We walked straight there and walked up to the very first person. He was the most prepared person I've ever met. The first thing I said was how we are missionaries and we share the good news that through Christ's atonement we can receive forgiveness and apply his sacrifice through faith in him, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy ghost and enduring to the end. The guy broke down and told us he was waiting for an answer to all of his questions there in the park. Crazy. Very rarely do these moments happen, but when they do, it is so cool. It is so cool to feel like an instrument in God's hand and see it so clearly and prominently. Will he progress? Who knows. But man I love moments like that. 

I bought a baby chicken for 3 soles and then just gave it to someone

It always baffles me that we can receive a reference from social media, meaning that someone sees a video, fills out their name, adress, phone number, etc. Call them within 5 minutes. They answer the phone "ALÓ?!?!?!, CON QUIÉN HABLO?!?!? ALÓ?!?!?!?". I swear every time. They answer and they seem so mad. We can never hear what they're saying. I swear they are running a chainsaw half the time it is so loud. And then 90 percent of the time they don't even remember the add they saw and put every bit of personal information they have into. You put every bit of personal information you have other than your social security number in 5 minutes ago and you don't remember? Pretty funny.

Why do people answer the phone as if they were super upset here? Is that a peruvian thing? Or maybe a latino thing? I've always wondered. Why do people seem so mad that you call them? I love it, I think it is so funny. Anyone can get a call. Literally it can be the nicest peruvian ever, and yet they still seem so incredibly upset to answer the phone. It's hillarious. I've seen people get calls from the girl they like and they answer the phone as if they had just got their arm cut off. I want to know if thats a latino trait or just a perú thing. I think it is absolutely hillarious.

I forgot the moon isn't a planet. That blew my mind. Forgot about that one. Shoot. My IQ is in shambles. 

I love the talk by elder Oaks "the teachings of Jesus Christ". I remember when he gave it thinking it was interesting to give a talk using just scriptures, but it is so good. 

"We are given the scriptures to direct our lives. As the prophet Nephi taught us, we should “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” Most of the scriptures reporting Jesus’s mortal ministries are descriptions of what He did. My message today consists of a selection of the words of our Savior—what He said. These are words recorded in the New Testament (including the inspired additions of Joseph Smith) and in the Book of Mormon. Most of these selections are in the sequence in which our Savior spoke them. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are … they [which] do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.”

No hay luz di?

 Last monday our electricity went out. Well it actually went out for the whole town. We just figured it would be back. No fans at night is absolutely brutal. But we also can't open the windows because the street behind our house has turned into a muddy river and is full of mosquitos. We opened the window for like 10 minutes and a ton of mosquitos got in. So we were up all night sweating buckets and getting eaten alive by bugs. Sleeping at night is a battle. Makes for some funny stories though. I am absolutely covered in mosquito bites. Just waiting for dengue or yellow fever. I heavily have taken for granted lights and water. We didnt have power for 4 days. It was really hard to sleep. 

Last night at 4 am I woke up to my companion screaming bloody murder. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH. Obviously I was scared but I have had a ton of native comps supposedly see stuff in the night so I've gotten kinda used to it. I figured he was just sleep talking or something but I sat up and he jumped up like he was about to throw hands and ran away down the hall. I looked at our bedroom door and there was someone standing there. Holy cow it scared me to death. I jumped up ready to throw hands too. It turns out that it was our landlord and he came in to wake us up. He says, "It's an emergency". Our house had flooded during the night. It was honestly nothing crazy just an inch or two of water. Throughout the house. We filled buckets and got it mostly out. Nothing got ruined sorprisingly. Crazy experience though. I was laughing pretty hard the whole time. Waking up to a weird old peruvian in your bedroom is a weird experience. 

We also haven't had water to drink in our apartment for about a month now so we have to buy 20 liter drums to carry back. Pretty fun. 

We saw some dogs get into a crazy fight this week. I find those pretty intertaining. 

I have been exhausted this week. We haven't had a ton going on in the afternoon so have often found ourselves knocking doors for a while right after lunch. Fresh off a mountain of rice in the burning heat and dust. Character builder. It seems like we always see miracles though. Usually from 2-6 pm is pretty slow, but from 6-9 there are more people around. 

Had an exchange this week with Elder Talavera. Super cool guy from Puno. He was telling me about the traditiones of Puno. I had a companion a while ago named Elder Cutipa who is from the same place so hearing about all the superstitions and crazy rituals made a lot of stuff make sense. 

I don't know if it is a peruvian thing or a latino thing but people think that once they get sunburned or tan their skin will never go back. They don't believe in race or anything they just geniunely believe that some people are darker because they got burnt by the sun. They always say out of pocket stuff like, "wow, the sun must be strong in africa"... they always warn me to that I am going to turn brown and never turn back white. 

The family that came to church last week came again this week! Familia Cabrejos Pacherrez🙏🏼

"The Savior’s Atonement made it possible for us to overcome all evil—including contention. Make no mistake about it: contention is evil! Jesus Christ declared that those who have “the spirit of contention” are not of Him but are “of the devil, who is the father of contention, and [the devil] stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.” Those who foster contention are taking a page out of Satan’s playbook, whether they realize it or not. “No man can serve two masters.” We cannot support Satan with our verbal assaults and then think that we can still serve God. My dear brothers and sisters, how we treat each other really matters! How we speak to and about others at home, at church, at work, and online really matters. Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way. Please listen carefully. “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy” that we can say about another person—whether to his face or behind her back—that should be our standard of communication." -Presidente Nelson 

We are blessed to have modern prophets to guide us and help us. 

Have a good week everyone. 

Elder Pohlman