📍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 

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.