Week 29

Another week gone by. Ethan had a slow week with resting and his companion being sick. He sounds good though and happy! Still no answers to his stomach problems, but he is dealing with it okay. I sure miss him :)

"Hi it is time to write again. I am doing a little bit earlier since I have to go to Chiclayo later. I am so excited for Chance and his mission call. What part of Africa is Zimbabwe? Is he learning another language or do the people speak English there? At the zone conference we had popeyes chicken that was pretty good. The weather here is pretty much the same. It is actually cooling off and is a little chilly at night with the wind from the ocean.

¡Hola! hopefully everyone is doing alright. This week we did not have a whole lot going on. That thing on my side still kind of hurts and then my companion has been sick too this past couple of days. So we kind of had another week of resting going on. We did leave and visit some people, but it was just kind of slow. We had a multi-zona on Tuesday with half of the zones in the mission. It was pretty cool since the people that are up in Jaen came down and were in the same meeting as us, so I got to see Elder Fernandez for the first time in a while. He told me that it is really beautiful up there with lots of mountains and trees. They also gave us Popeyes Chicken for lunch that was actually really good. I haven't had fast food for a long time. 

That picture of the hobo was pretty funny. I should make a people of Peru page. Some of the things they do are pretty funny. One of them I wish I had a picture of, but didn't have my camera.  There were people fixing the power lines with a ladder that was leaning on the powerlines.

Sister Sugey is pretty awesome. Maybe someday you can come down here to see her. I don't have any pictures. I left my camera in our room and we did not really do anything this week. I will send some more next week. We also have the changes so I will probably be leaving next week. I will let you know where I go, even though it will probably be somewhere close to Chiclayo till my stomach gets better.

I can't believe Clay is getting married. That is pretty awesome, you will have to tell him felicidades for me.

We found some new investigators that are pretty good. or they are crazy. Sometimes I can't really tell. Hopefully everyone is doing alright. The people here have been talking about some crazy things that the United States is bombing Syria and other countries are mad, but I don't know. You will have to fill me in on the details.

See you all next week.

Elder Lamb"

Since Ethan didn't have any pictures for us this week, I snagged this one from  his Mission President's facebook page. If you look closely, you can see Ethan enjoying his Popeye's Chicken :)

Week 28

Another week in gone by! Ethan's still feeling the same, but in good spirits! I love hearing from him on Mondays.

 "This week not a whole lot happened. For the first half I had to be in Chiclayo in the oficina to rest and lay down since the doctor guy touched my stomach and "knew" that it is a muscle problem. It was alright though, since the food from the secretaries is pretty good, and the room that the assistants and secretaries sleep is really nice. But it was really boring and there is nothing to do but read the scriptures or study. Their pensionista makes really good impenadas though. Then I went back in the middle of the week and had to do the same thing just in our room. It sucks because I can't just be in our room, I have to lay down the whole time they told me, and I never really like to just lay down for the whole day and do nothing. But I may have convinced may companion and we went out for like one hour on Saturday and Sunday.

Andrew is looking stronger than when I saw him last. I'm over here and getting a little bit thinner since I have had to lay around for almost a whole week. It still hurts but I don't know what to do, since I don't really want to go back to a doctor that doesn't really do anything. I will just have to wait another year and a half to find out.

 It was pretty cool the other elders in our district baptized a family of 4 on Saturday.  I feel happy for them but also sad that I am doing nothing. On Sunday I had to give a talk in our ward. There was also a return missionary in our ward that got back this week from lima central. So our talks were me my companion and him. It is pretty weird giving a talk in another language, but it almost felt easier than in our ward. Today for Pday we went out to a place called el bosque de pomác or the forest of pomac. But the price to go inside was pretty dumb. It was 5 if you live in the area, 11 if you are from peru and 30 if you are from a foreign country. That is pretty racist. So we just kind of looked around the outside. Then we drove the 30 min back in the back of a three wheeled moto truck thing with all six of us. That is pretty much all, so I hope you are all doing well. See you all next week.

Elder Lamb"

Ethan burning a tie to celebrate his six month mark :)

Pday fun

More pday fun

I miss that smile!!

Week 27

I was hoping to hear this was the day Ethan was feeling better, but no such luck. I worry all the time and it stinks that I can't help him out or even figure out what is going on. Keep praying for him and hopefully one day he'll actually feel normal again!

"Hi, I cant believe that it has been another week already. Also this week was when I completed 6 months! I can't really believe it.It has gone by a lot faster than I thought, even though many times it felt really slow. I burnt a tie this week and my companion burnt a shirt for one year. It was also pretty funny he didn't want me to burn my tie because he said it was too beautiful, so he traded me one of his old ripped ones and told me to burn that. 

I went back to the doctor again because that thing is not really getting better, and he told me that i need to be in absolute rest for a while, so I have to go to the oficina for the rest of this week. I will have to let you know if I hear more. He gave me some kind of cream and then I have to get shots of some kind of thing too. I got another one this week from Sugey and i kind of almost passed out like i have before with some of those things at home. She told me that my body is really sensitive to dolor so i guess that is why. The shot she gave me had some kind of muscle relaxer and anti inflamitorio in it. I also wish that there were better doctors here, but there are not so I just have to live with it. 

That's funny that I mix up Spanish and English. I didn't even know that I mixed things up:) I do have pictures but I don't have my camera since I came directly from the doctor. But I will send some next week. And of the kitten that is outside of our room for the past week and sometimes goes in. Also Elder Whitworth was at byu for a summer term the same time that we were there for efy, I thought that was kind of funny. The candy was also really good. 

This letter was to Jeremy: I actually watched conference in Eglish with Elder Whitworth from California. President wanted that we could understand what the said, also he says it is better in English since it is directly to us and in español, there can be errors in translation. He is pretty strict, but I guess that it is good that way. That is a bummer with the track meet, I remember how that feels. But it will get better later on. The changes are the 24th, but i have to go on a small emergency change to the office where I have to rest for the rest of this week, because that stomach pain is not really going away, and the president wants to make sure that all the investigadores can be taught. So I have another week of resting and a lot of studying to do, so i will have to let you know how it goes. Also let me know when Chance gets his call, It seems pretty exciting. Also if he wants to email me he can. I have been talking with Tanner for a couple months now and he seems really excited. I will send another letter to mom too, i just wanted to email you too. See you next week.

The rest of this week was kind of the same. I got really excited for conference even though I don't know why. I watched conference in the clerks office with Elder Whitworth. It was pretty fun since we just kind of hung out with english and american things. I also brought those easter candy to eat during conference. I feel like he might be better than with Elder smith since we don't talk about going home all of the time and how hard it is. It is nice to have someone who understands how different it is though. We just kind of laugh at it though and say yep it sucks. Conference was pretty crazy too with all of those new things. I felt like this was kind of a get business done conference, but it was still really good. 


And that pretty much is it for now. I am at the point now that my Spanish is alright but not perfect and my English is just getting bad too since I don't use it a whole lot. Those letters that you sent me were awesome but pretty hard to understand now. It will get better soon though. See you all next week.

Elder Lamb"

I got this picture from Sister Sugey, Ethan's pension. He was helping her husband to make bookshelves. She also sent a video. It was such a nice surprise!

Week 26 - 6 months!!

I can hardly believe it's been six months since Ethan left. I never thought we'd make it without him! Ha ha! It's gone by both slow, yet really fast. Such exciting times! 

"Hey it is time to write again. I heard about Tanner's call. That is pretty cool, I actually have been emailing him almost every week,  Cochabamba sounds cool. It is where my mission president is from and my trainer. There are 2 people in my ward here that served there. I'm really excited for him. That's cool about the other calls too, and I wonder when Chance will get his?

This week not a whole lot of new things happened. I had to stay inside and rest a lot since my stomach is kind of bad. We still went out and taught people and walked around though. We had a baptism this week too, and it was a pretty cool experience. Her name is Rosa and we started teaching her because her husband or the guy she was living with was a less active member. She seemed interested but also I thought that she was only listening and wanting to be baptized because of him. But then they got in an argument and separated and she was living with her parents. I didn't think she wanted to listen anymore but we tried to visit and she was excited she came. She really has a strong testimony because her parents wont even listen to us or go to her baptism. Her mom wouldn't even let her go to church, but she went anyways.

 Other than that the rest of the week was pretty much the same as always. For Pday we cooked the macaroni and cheese in the church building and watched church videos that we had downloaded on our usb. Sorry if i don't have a lot to write about. I will try and get a longer letter this next week.

I may do something fun for my six month mark, like buy a cake or something. Thanks for the Easter baskets. My companion says thanks too. I don't think the native elders get much mail or packages. He appreciates it. We didn't open them, but we might have snuck a candy or two out :)

See you all next week, Elder Lamb"

Week 25

No pictures again this week! Bummer! Not much new information on his stomach problems. We're still praying he heals and feels better soon. At least he still seems in good spirits. 

" Hi how is it going this week? There was not a whole lot of new things that happened this week but I will write them all down. I got a new companion, Elder Nuñez. He is from Santa Cruz Bolivia, and he is pretty alright. He is pretty funny and one of those people who is kind a funny laughy guy all of the time. He has a pretty funny laugh that kind of sounds like spongebob. He can also sing really good, so that is cool. We do still have four of us living in one room , and I kind of like it. 

Thanks for the package. I got the easter one and one from the distribution center. How much does it cost to send stuff here? Alot? Thanks for doing that for me. Dad, I got your old mission pictures. Thanks, those are great. 

You asked if I get to do something fun for my 6 month mark. I think i do. My companion also completes one year this week, so maybe we'll do something cool,

This week was pretty busy. It was a lot of stuff to do to show my companion around and stuff. And I went to the doctor again in Chiclayo to try and figure out what it is that is making my stomach hurt. I actually just got back from there today. It turns out that is not appendicitis or anything like that, but they said that i might have some kind of infection or something in my intestine, but i need to wait for the rest of the test results. and that my abs, the right side is like torn or something and is being pulled really thin. So they told me it is from something that i did that injured it like normal, but since we are walking constantly all day, it doesn't have time to heal like a normal person, so i have to rest for 2 weeks. It is probably going to be really boring. They said that i can only go out for like an hour or two and then come back to rest. That would be easy to do at home with TV, but here there is nothing, and i might be pretty bored. They also gave me like a million pills to try and help it. It's hard to understand doctors. I am knowing spanish pretty good, but I have never had to know medical terms. Hopefully I will heal eventually!

 Other than that there was not a whole lot that happened this week. We didn't have any baptisms planned for this week, but this Saturday we should have one. Hopefully you are all doing good. I will have to write some more things next week. Miss you and all love you so so much.

Elder Lamb"

Week 24

No transfers again for Ethan this week. He was kind of bummed. He was looking forward to a change. I'm sure there is a reason he is staying :)

"Hi how is it going. This week was the last week of this change. My companion leaves to be a zone leader after only one change here. I have my fourth change in this area. That is kind of hard since I have been here since November and I have been wanting a change. Maybe help me `feel a little better, but no. Who knows, our president has been getting pretty crazy with rules and things. Also I still have been feeling bad this week. My stomach hurts and my head too. I am getting tired of feeling so horrible everyday. It has been more than 2 months now and I have no idea what to do. 

I have a few good pictures, but I left my cable again in our room when we left in the morning. I will take some more fun ones this week though. Also I went on a work visit with the zone leaders and went with Elder Lott. He is from Lehi, I wonder if Aimee and Greg know him? 

The good news is that we had 2 baptisms this week. Ines and her cousin Luana. They both are pretty cool and were very excited to be baptized. Ines has 21 years and she even asked us about serving a mission too. Today we just kind of did nothing for Pday. Hopefully your day is going pretty good. I have even less time now, but i think that I will write out my letter next week. I hope that everyone is doing good. See you next week.

Elder Lamb"

Ethan's zone. I got this from one of the other moms since Ethan didn't have any pictures for us this week.

Week 23

Here is Ethan's letter for the week:

"Hi, how is it going? This week was a little better but I still am having problems with my stomach and head. Hopefully soon it will change. Also this is the last week of this transfer, so I guess the next week we will see if I change or stay in this area longer. I have a feeling that I might change since everyone else in our district is new except for the guy that is training another missionary right now, so he probably won't change. This week was pretty normal. We had another baptism for a kid that we were teaching. He was baptized before but he was never confirmed and they lost his papers so we had to teach him over again and baptize him. His parents are inactive but his mom came back this week in church and really seemed to enjoy being there. We also have another two baptisms planned for this week that hopefully work out pretty good. It is a girl who has 21 years and her cousin who is 9 but reminds me a lot of Emma. We were teaching them and only had planned for the girl who is 21, but she always brought her cousin to listen too. Then after our lesson we were talking about the baptism and she hugged her little cousin and said that we are going to be baptized next week. That was pretty cool only now we need to talk to her mom who is really Catholic, to get her 
permission. 

I got to do a confirmación in sacrement meeting yesterday for the first time. I wasn't really sure what to say in english, or in spanish but it went pretty good. I was super nervous too, but it my companion said that he really liked what i said. If you have any more mission stories, I always love to hear them. 


I also tried to cook funnel cakes but they didn't really work. I did deep fried oreos instead. I just felt like the cake mix soaked up a ton of grease. Could you send me a recipe for chocolate chip cookies?

I also thought of a few things that you could send me in the package. There is a small s-clip on my jeep keychain and i need something like that the same size or maybe another one bigger too for my keys. also maybe just some little like souvenirs things from Arizona that I can give to my companions. Or some coins from the united states to trade for some other coins. I have been collecting some of the coins here that are kind of like the designs for quarters, they have 45 different designs for all different historical sites in Peru. I don't need a whole lot of stuff only a little. Also do you have grandmas email. I got a letter from her this week and wanted to send her an email.

 We also had another multi zone meeting in Chiclayo and we again had pizza hut pizza. It was so good. It was also fun to see all of the other missionaries. I saw Elder Smith too, but not my first companion because he is in the jungle part and it is too far to come the 10 hours down to chiclayo. The sad part is that we found out Elder Smith went home the other day. I guess his stomach was bad still, he told me that he had that gastritis and a colon infection and salmonella. Hopefully whatever is wrong with me is not that bad. He also skyped his family and they told him to come home. I thought that was crazy. Maybe he will come back when he gets better though. 

For pday we bought some stuff from the market and cooked it and watched church movies in the church building. The rest of the week was pretty normal, just a lot of walking and teaching and preaching. I feel like some days my Spanish is alright and then other days it is not super good. We also had the two elders in Ferreñafe move into our room since they had a lot of problems with there owner. So that has been pretty fun to have 4 people. Hopefully everything is going good in Arizona. 

Con Amor, Elder Lamb

Pday fun!

Week 22

5 months today! It's hard to believe that time has gone by so fast. It sounds like he is doing good. Still struggling with stomach things, but hopefully time will help. We still miss him like crazy!

"Hi, I cant believe that I have been gone and on my mission for 5 months now! It is already almost half of a year. This week was alright, not a whole lot of new things. I am still having problems with my stomach and don't really know how long it will take to get better, since it has been almost 2 months like this. We did not have any baptisms this week. We had a person but he told us that he was not ready and that he needed to wait a while. We do have another planned for this Friday that should be pretty certain though. My Spanish is getting better, but  I still have a long way to go until it is perfect. 

That is so awesome about Austin's mission call, I emailed him, he told me that he leaves on May 23. Hopefully he is pretty excited. Sometimes I wish I could be in the united states with members and lots of good food, and normal things but I think I just need to keep going where I was called to. I know I am here for a reason. Also my stomach is not really getting better. I got your package with snacks too. It was pretty awesome. Also do you think that you can find more songs by david archuleta in Spanish? I really like to listen to them to help me learn more things. I am going to write the president and then the weekly letter and then pictures.

Even if I get transferred, I can get the tie to my companion. I think his family is sending some of the Peru ties that Ican get for Andrew and Eli and dad. Do you know what I can do for my stomach? I feel that I have done everything. now the presidents wife is just having me eat a bunch of weird stuff. It is so hard to walk around and think and talk when my stomach is hurting a lot.

On Thursday i got my card for being in Perú, which is pretty cool even though it has to stay in the office. There are slowly getting more people in my English class, even though now they are mostly members. Our goal is to have these classes to find more people to teach. The rest of the days were pretty normal, Today for Pday we went to a mountain and hiked up it, that was pretty fun. I don't really have a whole lot to write about, but I will try to send more pictures instead. 

Con amor, Elder Lamb

Ethan's birthday message to Eli. How sweet of him to remember!

Ethan hiked for pday. Found some old Aztec ruins.

Top of the hike.

Week 21

Another week gone by! Another baptism for Ethan. I loved how he told us that she chose him to baptize her. He's so good with kids! Such a sweet and kind hearted soul! Oh how I miss that sweet boy! It's so good to see him happy and serving the Lord. Now if we could just get his poor stomach to heal...

"Hi how is it going? This week we didn't really have a whole lot of new people to teach but we have quite a few other ones that are getting pretty much ready for baptism. We had a baptism for a girl whose family is members except for her Dad who just recently gave us permission to teach her and he has been listening too. It was a little crazy since we had it planned for Saturday and on Friday the bishop called and said that there is an activity for the primary on Saturday and we couldn't have it. So we just decided to do it Friday after her interview. Since my companion is the district leader we have to have the zone leaders come and do the interview. One is new Elder Lott from Lehi, you'll have to see if the Weeks know him? After the interview we asked her who she wanted to baptize her and she wanted me. That felt pretty awesome, and I got another person to baptize. Wednesday we had companion exchanges and one of the elders from the other area came with me. He has only been out for 2 weeks so I had to do a lot of talking and teaching, but I was able to do it, actually better than I thought too. 

My stomach  hurts pretty much all over my stomach now, but mostly upper in the middle and lower in the right. Also the sun is really strong and makes my head hurt everyday too and I've had a cold almost the whole time so yep it is pretty sucky, I kind of just want to be better right now. President said that I need to drink cold drinks but everything is hot and we don't have refrigerators or stuff to cook. I think i might ask him if they could give us one to help me. It's hard to drink cold things when everything here is hot.

We call our pension hermana sugey. The names are different here. a first name and middle name but two last names, one from their dad and another from their mom. But they usually just use the first one from their dad.

Also can you send me recipes for cookies or some food? And the music for the song piano man? so my companion can play it?
Yes or email if you can find them. Also for the song Gethsemane in English and Spanish. Also if you can find one of those ties that you got me for Christmas with the moronis my companion really likes it. in green. Then I think I can send you guys some of the Peruvian ties that they sell at the temple which is 5 min from his house. His family can buy things on Monday send them Tuesday and they are here on Thursday that is crazy

Thursday we had interviews with president and it went good. He is pretty happy how I am doing and is excited that I am improving a lot. Saturday was a baptism in the other area and we came and did a special musical number that was alright but not so special ;)  Also Elder Smith came from his area in Chiclayo to baptize the person since it was someone that he started to teach. It was fun to see him again. The rest of the week was pretty much the same, a lot of walking and teaching. It is exciting that Austin and Tanner and Chance and all these people are getting ready to get out on their missions. It will be fun too when we all get back and have a million stories to tell. Hopefully everyone else is doing alright. 

Con Amor, Elder Lamb

Ethan's 2nd baptism. 

I miss this face!!

Some kind of pday get together by a drainage ditch? Looks like fun!

Week 20

Twenty weeks! Time is flying by. Ethan did his first baptism Saturday. He was so excited! He has such a way with little kids. I knew that it would be such a blessing to him on his mission. Here is his letter for the week:

" Hi how is it going? This week was a little bit better. I still am having stomach problems and none of the medicine that they gave me is really working so I might just have to stay forever with a hurting stomach. Also my head hurts a lot, but I think that it is just because of the sun and the hot. I told president this so maybe he will send me to a place in the mountains that is cold :) The rest of the week was pretty similar to all of the other weeks though. 

     

Wednesday we went to Chiclayo so that I could get my DNI which I guess is like a citizenship card, but I have to come back in 2 weeks since it wasn't ready yet. We got a new investigator who is 9, and her Dad finally gave her permission to be baptized. She has been going to church with the rest of her family for a while now so it is pretty easy to teach them. We teach her and also her 7 year old brother who is pretty fun. She will be baptized this Saturday. I also had my first baptism on Saturday. It was the kid that we play marbles with and that we had been trying to baptize since I first got here, only we couldn't since his parents were less active. He was so excited and nervous too he told me. I told him that I was pretty nervous too. But it all went well and he was baptized and I got all of the words right and we had cake after and it was pretty awesome experience.

The picture with less people is his mom and dad and little sister, and the other is with his uncle and aunt. They are both members and return missionaries. They are pretty nice and help us all of the time, and they were pretty excited to see my first baptism and to have it be their nephew.

    

I think that my Spanish is getting a little better. I have had to teach more and contact and talk more since my new companion wants me to learn faster and be ready to train people or other things. That is good even though it is hard sometimes. Being able to talk more really helps, and now I have more people that are friends in the ward.  My English class was only one person so we changed it for next week. We will have to get the word out to all of the people for the class this week. I will have to let you know how it goes. 

Also I was wondering if you could send some of those things that are like post its but are plastic and an arrow for marking scripture spots? In a lot of different colors.

    

That is pretty much all for this week, I will have to write down some more things for next week and take some more pictures.

Con amor, Elder Lamb

Week 19 - New companion

We were excited to hear about transfers this week. Ethan is staying in Ferranafe, but he did get a new companion. He's still having stomach issues, so any prayers would be appreciated! Here is is letter for the week:

"Hi. we are writing now. My companion got changed up into the jungle, and I am a little jealous. I am still here with a different companion, Elder Espinoza from Lima. He is also the new district leader since Elder Smith left to Chiclayo. He told us that we have an hour and a half to write our families and president. I am writing another letter now that is longer with more details, I just thought that you would want to know.

My new companion is pretty good. It is a little different to be with someone else after being with another person for 12 weeks straight. He is good though and teaches really good, and I think the members trust him since he is from Peru. He also can play piano so this was the first Sunday with piano for a long time. We also have permission to teach English classes and piano classes to members to try and get more references and people to teach. Our first English class is this Thursday so wish me luck!

Hey how is it going back at home? First with the changes. I am still here in this area, but i think that it might be might last change here. My companion left to San Ignacio, which is way up by the jungle, so yes I am a little bit jealous, but I will probably have one chance to go there. My new companion is Elder Espinoza from Lima. He was literally neighbors with the CCM and his uncle worked there as a gardener. He gave me one of those cool ties that you can by from the temple there, but the missionaries were not allowed to go since it is just outside the fence. I might give him some money to have his family send some more to send to you guys, that is what his last companion did too. His last area was Chachapoyas and he has all sorts of cool things from there, and the pictures too are really awesome. He is the new district leader too, so there is a lot more stuff to do which helps me to feel better. Both people from the other district left and one from the other area, so it is just me and Elder Remigio that have been here the longest. We also have to new new people. a gringo and a latino. Elder Chura form Bolivia, and Elder Witworth from thousand oaks California, which I think was in Dad´s mission. We  had a pretty crazy week and a baptism on Saturday. We also have another one or two planned for this Saturday, and another for the next and for the next. Not a whole lot of new things happened only those, just the same things teaching and preaching. 

My Spanish has had to improve a lot for this week though. My companion works really hard and has almost finished all of the books to learn English, but still doesn't understand a whole lot. Also i have had to talk a lot with the people since they know me better. It is so hard, but it is getting better. My stomach is still hurting pretty much every day. It got a little better on Wednesday but then went back down. I haven't had things with milk or soda for like two weeks now which is a bummer. Also i a¿have a pretty bad cough that is like the bronchitis I had a year ago. One day I might get better though. Other than that not much new. I had a guy fall asleep on me in one of the vans when we were coming back from Chiclayo today. He also opened the door a little because his bag was stuck and later he was sleepy and the door opened and I had to catch him. That was pretty crazy.

Con Amor, Elder Lamb

Ethan at a baptism. 

Ethan on the day of transfers. He got a new companion last week. He's going to miss Elder Smith like crazy! Hopefully they meet up again sometime in the next two years :)