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Today marks 20 months as a missionary. Time flies doesn't it? 

We were driving back to Chachapoyas late at night after zone conference. We passed through a super dark pass in the middle of the mountains and there were hundreds of fireflies flying around the van. It was really cool. 

Perú beat bolivia this week. smokin dat bolivia pak 🤣🚬📈 glib 

We weren't able to work much in our area this week because we were in Jaen for a few days, and then the other days we had to film videos here for Facebook. One thing that was really cool is that we were randomly asking people in the street to help us with the videos and one lady accepted and acted for us in the videos and turned out to be really receptive actually. She is now a person in teaching.

We had a crazy lesson this week. We traveled an hour to Magdalena to visit David our miracle guy. 10 minutes into the lesson he got a call and went outside. 15 minutes passed, 30, an hour. We called him and in classic peruvian style he said hed be back in 2 minutes. 30 more minutes passed. If we hadn't traveled a whole hour to get there I would've left for sure. After about an hour and a half he came back. He told us how an insane miracle had happened. Someone he had had arguments with for years showed up out of nowhere to make things right. He was so excited to tell us how our presence and the changes he is making in his life is leading to huge miracles like this. Then he told us that to celebrate they had drinken 2 beers 😐 lol. We shared the word of wisdom with him and he accepted on the spot and said how he needs to stop drinking and how he knows it's the right thing to do. We finished with a prayer on our knees (something I have never done before in lessons). It was one of the wildest lessons of my mission. 

A bunch of people were weirdly agressive towards us this week. We got texts telling us how we are going to be damned for having Sunday be our sabath day, people ignoring us in the street, throwing our contact cards on the ground, and one guy actually slamming his door in our face. It was the first time that someone has agresively slammed a door on me in my mission. I have thought a little bit about all this contention and realized that the spirit of contention is truly deadly. It takes a bigger man to listen to someone yell at you and insult you, your precious believes and your way of life when you are sacrificing to serve them and just turn the other cheek. But that is what Christ did. I am trying to be like him more and more every day. 

The prophets that wrote the Book of Mormon never had the Book of Mormon as we have it today. It was written for us. For our time. That Book is powerful. It has the power to change lives. Let is change yours. 

The small things (prayer, scripture study, ministering, fasting, repentance, taking the sacrament, etc) are all really easy to do. They are all really easy to not do though. But that fine line has huge consequences, both for good or bad. 

This speach is incredible, we studied it as a mission and it has changed my mission. Find it in english and listen to it. He talks about the fact that the small things are easy to do, but also not to do. It is about living with real intention. Super good. 

Kuelap/David Caro

Last week we went to kuelap. It was a blast. The only gondola in perú is there. It goes through some of the prettiest mountains I have seen down here. The ruins were cool. I love learning about the culture here. Perú has so much cool culture. 

I found a place that sells maracumango juice for 1 sol. I think in the highest level of exaltation maracumango juice comes out of the faucet and chirimoyas grow on every tree. I want to go there. 

The work is picking up a little bit. We have three baptismal dates and a couple people with a lot of potential. We contacted a girl named Katy in the park a few weeks ago. She was interested in English classes. She came and we shared a super breif spiritual thought about families and how they are eternal. She teared up. It turned out her grandpa had just passed away. She felt the spirit strongly as we shared. She came to church the next day. Then accepted a baptismal date in our lesson with her that evening. We have met with her and her mom throughout this week. Her mom is super interested to, and said that if Katy decides to be baptized, her and her huband would like to as well. She has a date for the 29th, and we are hoping the rest of the family will make the same decision to all be baptized the same day. Her parents and brother went to sacrament meeting yesterday as well. All of the time we have spent contacting is paying off. I had been a little bit beat down, feeling like we were wasting our time and not seeing results. But this week my eyes were opened and I was able to see a mountain of miracles and blessings. Pray for Katy, Zamara, David, Gloria, Elizabeth and Marco. 

David, the guy that I wrote about last week that we miraculously found that lives in an hour from here came to church yesterday. One of the coolest things about teaching latinos is that they often receive revelation very vividly. In South America the people often have vivid dreams, see visions, hear voices and see angeles. I think it is really cool. Anyways, David has been receiving vivid answers to prayers through his dreams. This week he had dreams about the temple. On sunday he had to leave his town at 6 am to get to church. He said that he was having a dream about someone hitting him with a broom and telling him to wake up. He woke up and it was 5:55. He got dressed, called the combi and got here in time. After the meeting we met with him and he accepted a baptismal date for March 30. I can't even describe how cool it has been teaching him. From just happening to sit next to him in a combi, to seeing him receive answers to prayers, and now travel over an hour to get to church, it has been one of the coolest experiences of my mission. 

We are going to Jaen this week. I'm hyped. That place is madness. I'm pumped to drink some coconuts, see some old people from my time there, eat some chifles, listen to the inspired words of my mission president, and kick it with other missionaries. 

I love this work. I love the peruvian people. It is cool to think that these people in the remote Andes mountains with one little branch within 3 hours and the people in Salt Lake City with temples scattered throughout the valley will receive the same Lord when he comes again in glory. He will come. May we all prepare to receive him in that jouyous day. 

 

Cheleando

I think this week I felt more guided by the spirit than any week my whole mission. It just seemed like we were always in the right place. There were multiple times when appointments fell but other people in teaching just happened to be walking down the street of the appointment that fell. On thursday we had Cuy (guinea pig) for lunch and there is 0 meat on those things so we were hungry after. We bought bread and talked to the girl working in the panadería and she turned out to be super interested and now is a super cool person in teaching. We had a lesson in a park and were teaching about prophets and the lady had doubts. Out of the blue an absolutely awesome member walked by. We asked him to share a testimony and he shared a beautiful testimony. One night the last apoinment fell and at 8:45 with 15 minutes left in the day we walked into a farmacy because it was the last place we could find someone to contact because it was raining. The person working turned out to be someone that had met missionaries before. We contacted a guy in the street one day that gave us a super vague reference to get to his house. The next day we got in a taxi and told the taxi driver where we were going. He took us out into the countryside to a group of probably 30 houses. The second door we knocked just happened to be the guy we were looking for. We had a super awesome lesson with him and were able to find a taxi back to chachapoyas so we didn't have to walk all the way back in the dark. I could go on and on about all the super cool moments when I felt like an instrument God's hands. Missionary work is cool. 

One thing I have been thinking about lately is confidence/trust. A lot of what we do as missionaries depends on our condidence/trust. I have full confidence that we can be guided by the Spirit to the people that are waiting for us. I have full confidence that if someone reads the BOM, prays about it, and applies what they learn, they will be baptized. It really makes our job a lot more simple. 

We had an emergency meeting as a mission because aparently the church is worried about threats against american missionaries in Latin America due to the deportions going on in the states. I personally don't think it will escalate to anything here in my mission. I have heard that in Lima things are getting a little scary in some parts though.

We met a super cool inactive member. She gave us a bunch of free Chirimoyas because she has a Chirimoya farm. They were so big. Chirimoya is the best fruit on earth. She also came to church on sunday and brought her nonmember friend. 

This transfer has been one of my favorites. I absolutely have loved my time with Elder Arellano. I have never talked to so many people. It is the first transfer of my mission that nobody has gotten baptized. That has been a little hard to swollow, but at least I feel 100% certain that I did everything in my power. At the end of the day thats all we can do...

We were teaching a lesson this week litterally inside the evangelist church during their saturday morning meeting. We could hear the meeting going on and we thought their chappel was next door but it turned out it was attatched to the little house we were teaching in. A couple of their members walked in and just stared at us. It was crazy. We then invited the lady we were teaching to be baptized and she accepted. Evangélicos in shambles. 

On saturday we had english class. Because the chappel is a rented house sometimes the landlord is in there. He is not a member. He is a big problem because he always gets everything all dirty because they are doing construction above. On saturday him and all his boys were in the chapell with 12 packs absolutely hammering beers. We had no idea what to do. They ended up leaving and going outside. They posted up right outside the door and were hammering chelitas. It was not a good look for our non member friends that came to the english class and saw a group of drunks posted up right underneath the sign of the church throwing back tragos. Happens. It will be cool to see in a couple years that the members here have their own beautiful chappel and don't have to deal with garbage like the landlord drinking in the church. 

Yesterday 5 people that we had contacted in public this transfer showed up to church. We hadn't had 1 contact come the entire transfer but then yesterday a bunch showed up. After all the time we have spent doing what felt like hopeless contacting, that felt really good. It was a super spiritual meeting and everyone that came loved it. Then they got to stay for the second hour and learn about Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry and the translation of the BOM and got their brains boggled. I'm sure they still felt the spirit though. 

Love you all

Contigo Perú

 I ate 15 bananas in the span of 30 minutes this week. I am still not even kinda sick of the bananas. I did the math and have eaten more or less than 1,734 during my mission. 

On saturday the tabernacle choir was in Lima and it was a huge event. It was a huge thing for the missionaries as well. We received a ton of invitations, and the church had rented out the gobierno regional (litterally the biggest building in this town) it was going to be a huge live steam on a jumbotron with food and everything. Unfortunately the area ended up canceling the budget for us because we are in such a small branch. So we did it in the house chappel on a tv screen 🥲But it was still super super cool. The members were kinda bummed and felt left out because in the rest of Peru it was a massive event in every stake, but they are all set on doing their home visiting visits to make sure they can be a stake soon 👍I love peruvians so much. It wasn't quite the event we hoped it was but it was such a blast. The tabernacle choir is so insanely cool. They sang in spanish and the people absolutely loved it. We received the instructions from our mission president to just go enjoy ourselves. We were told not to teach lessons, contact, or anything. Just kick it with the people that came, get their number and talk with them. It was fun to just hang out and enjoy! It was litterally a party. We got to just hang out in the church until 10 pm and have a blast. 

The choir sang Contigo Perú and I realized that I can't even realize how much I love Perú. These people, these places I have served, and the memories I have made here I all love so much. 

The closing song was "the spirit of God" in half spanish/half english. It was so dang beautiful. It was seriously one of the coolest things ever to watch. 

On saturday it rained all day long. Super hard downpour. All of our apointments fell. We almost just called it and called references in the apartment but we decided to go out and try to just make the best of it. It turned into one of the funnest days of my mission. We were soaked to the bone, wet socks and all running around contacting people in the street. We were the only ones out in the open rain everyone else was standing under the overhanging roofs and looking at us like we were crazy. I'm not sure why but it was a really fun and memorable time. 

Jenny Pacherrez from pomalca was baptized. It was super cool to be able to participate on facetime. One of the coolest ladies I have ever met. 

I think it is super cool that multiple times in the BOM the missionaries get super beat down and rejected and are about to turn back right before something super cool happens. It is always right before the incredible experience that satan is working his hardest to beat us down. 

I love this work, love the Lord, love the Peruvian people, and love the oportunity to be a missionary. 

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