January 25, 2015

Well time is going by fast now....

This week we had the opportunity to plant some trees and help some other people out.

The best part of this week was one of our investigators named Oscar finally accepted a baptismal date. We have been trying to put a date on him for over a month now.. Now he is going to be getting baptized this upcoming Saturday. His only problem that he had before is that he had not received his answer to his prayer yet.. He left him many assignments to read in the Book of Mormon, but every time we would go and ask him about his prayers he would just tell us that as he prayed he felt the same. 

This last week we had the great idea to have him come help us with service. Then he started to leave with us more often. The we just gave him a paper and told he to put the date he was going to get baptized and give to to us on Sunday... Then this Sunday he gave us the note...

It makes me super excited

Well I hope you are all doing well

 

 

January 18, 2016

This week was another great week of work and service. This week we painted again... I actually like painting... The weird thing is the colors of the paint here are so weird.... Who paints their house neon green... whatever their choice...

This time we painted the metal window guards for a poor old lady named Pifania. It was fun... Also my hands were brown for basically all of this week because we used sponges to paint.

So since, Mom asked... District Leader is basically I am in charge of 5 other missionaries. Each week we have a district meeting that is about an hour and a half where I teach them and encourage them to be better and work smarter and harder. Also I have the opportunity to take all the numbers Sunday nights so that I report to the zone leaders. If the zone leaders have an announcement they call me... Also Fridays and call and ask if there are any baptismal or rescue date for the weekend. The coolest part is as district leader I get to do work visits, where I go to the other areas of the missionaries in my district to see how the are working and how the are getting along with their companions. The work visit lasts for 24 hours or a little less. And that is basically it... but my main job though is teach the gospel, find people, and baptize... Also their is a big responsibility to set an example to the district with all that I do... Easy... It is more just another opportunity to serve others...

This week we helped The Mori family do a cabritada which is a fundraiser like a bake sale but with goat... and rice and beans... we sold them to the members of the ward and then helped deliver the end product. Haha my entire district and the zone leaders bought some... all the earned money went to pay for the marriage of the Mori family... it was a success. Cabrito or goat is actually really really tasty. You guys should all try some.. The mori family will be getting married soon and then on the 30th they will all be baptized.

Hope all is going well over there..

Thanks Grandma, and aunt Sara

Elder Mecham

January 11, 2015

      Well I apologize for not taking pictures,, or better said not sending pictures because here in this area the computers are full of viruses so it somewhat scares me to put my  usbs and memoria in the machines.... Sorry

Well I have been here with elder Isuiza for 2 weeks now... I still get lost in this area because it is huge. I will get used to it though. I get along with Elder Isuiza well... The guy just tries to make others laugh and feel good about themselves... The other thing that is really funny is that the only english words he knows are kind of bad.... For him queer means friend and then he knows others that i will not mention... They are not swear words but it is better left a secret.

This week I did my first work visit as a District Leader... I went with Elder Fresneda to his area to see how he was doing... and what thing we could help them with... He is a really cool guy, that is actually striving to learn english... Everyday he studies super hard and he read the book of mormon out loud. I understand the difficulty of learning a language but he is learning because he wants to. I learned because I was called to and that I need to to survive and talk with others.

We had interviews with president williams and Hermana williams this week too. It is always cool to see him and see what advice he and she have for us. And the best part is eating the cookies or brownies that hermana williams always makes... President williams said I was a very humble person that teaches well and can be trusted... hhmmm wow. thanks President.

This week I was worried for my companion because he was having a real hard time sleeping... He went 3 or 4 nights with out basically no sleep.. He is stressed about a less active he met while we went on the work visit because we heard that he is in the hospital... I hope the guy get better and I also hope my comp does not get sick from not sleeping very much.

Well I am doing just fine... I hope you all are doing great.. cool to hear that Rachel is now on the mission too.

Elder Mecham

January 4, 2016

Well not to much has gone down since  Friday... lets just say it was really nice to have 2 pdays back to back... It is kind of weird too.. Today, we went to the institute building again to play soccer, ping pong, air hockey and uno. It is nice to be in a zone where all the elders are not 30 minutes away so it is much easier to do fun things. Afterwards we went to Metros which is basically walmart and I bought a giant sandwich because I was hungry.

This Sunday I had the pleasure to meet the new ward.. They seem pretty cool but I have to say that I really miss my old ward in Cria,. They are just so nice and loving... here in the city you can say Buenos Dias to someone and they will not even notice that you are a living breathing creature... The Cria it is rude not to say hi when people walk by. Also something that I really miss is that all the members in the Cria wanted to come out and teach with us... In this week, only one member has come out with us... I will make sure that we change this around... Haha as a welcome gift to the Las Brisas ward they had me teach the Principles of the Gospel class. Winging it is alwaysfun. Especially if it is a topic about the signs of the second coming... It went well and I felt the spirit so that is all that matters.

My comp is a cool little guy.. They guy is probably barely of just a little shorter than 5 ft... haha... He is 25 years old and he will soon 26.. He has a really cool story about him leaving the  church and getting into a lot of things that he should not have. Then later he came back... after having an accident where someone stabbed in with a knife which resulted in a lung and heart surgery... Lets just say he has a powerful testimony when it comes to Less actives... He has about 6 monthes in the mission and will finish when he turns 27... but he already has his degree as a Civil Engineer and a girl friend that is waiting for him... She is so much taller than him... it is funny.

Well I am doing well... Learning this new area which is huge compared to any of the areas I have had in the past... Also I am getting in the hang of being District Leader... it is a little different but cool.

HAVE FUN THIS NEW YEAR... AND DO NOT FORGET TO DO THE SIMPLE THINGS LIKE PRAYER; READ; AND GO TO CHURCH...

until next week

January 1, 2015

Wow so there went 2015... Cheers to all.... Last night peru had a blast shooting off fire works and burning huge dolls. It is actually kinda funny. The spend all this time dressing up hay dolls so they can burn the old year and welcome in the new year. Most of the dolls are life sized yet some people just go out... There was a huge dragon and then another one that was over 3 stories tall. For new years we had to be inside the room by 8 o clock because the drunks sometimes go overboard and start doing stupid things... I was super tired so I just went to bed,,, my comp did the same... I knew that at 12am I would be woken up by a bunch of fireworks... I was right... right on time the fireworks started... It sounded like a war outside... so I went and watched for a little bit.

I am slowly adjusting to being in my new area... It is really different being back in the city where I now need to worry about being robbed or attacked by random people... For example my first day here some guys stopped us and asked for my banana... My banana.... haha... I was like ya sweet I really was not going to eat it anyway... My companion thought they were going to take my watch but all they wanted was a little snack... Which is hilarious for me.

So far being district leader has not been too bad.. I taught my first class on wednesday. I think it went well. The nice thing is because there is going to be zone training next week I will have even more time to prepare and have an awesome class. With practices and all... The only annoying thing here in my new area is that all the mosquitos come out at night. i am being eaten alive.. It does not matter if I put on bug spray they still eat me up. Last night we bought a repellant that we can plug into the wall. Well it helped but they still ate me alive.. haha... I need to eat more garlick now I guess.

To be honest I miss Elder Darrington.. he is a stud... I hope he has a great mission because I probably will not see him too much any more...

My new companion is not from Lima but from Huanaco... he is a short really funny guy that loves to serve his peruvian people..  We painted a house yesterday, and the day before we helped fix an old lady{s roof... Also this area has a lot of families that are preparing to get baptized which is sweet.

Today we played soccer, ping pong, air hockey, uno... and ate some good treats and the institute building... I will now have the privilege to be able to go to a lot of different stores and restaurants because this zone is in the center of chiclayo...

I hope that you all are having a great new year... haha this year I will be coming home... I finished the year where I do not see the family

Elder Mecham

December 28, 2015

Hey well suprise.... After skyping with you guys I received a phone call from the assistants that I will have a change and that I will become a district leader... My anticipations were confirmed that yep,,, I am leaving the Cria... The suprising part this time is I actually know where I am going and who will be me new companion. I am heading off tomorrow to an area in chiclayo called las brisas or the breezes.. It will be really different actually being close to the center of chiclayo. I will be in the Chiclayo Central zone. I am actually devastated to leave Elder Darrington. We have become great friends yet it will be really easy to see eachother after the mission because we live the max 7 minutes away from eachother. Oh my new companion is named elder Isuiza... he is from Lima and will be my first companion from peru... the funniest part is this guy is basically a midget... well not quite but it is really short... He has the same time as my stepson in the mission... I feel that it will help my accent having a companion that is actually from peru.

This last sunday all the ward members new I was going, and it was hard... .they were all saying their good byes... I hate good byes... it hurts... I love these people... AND I WILL SEE THEM AGAIN IN PERU..... when I come back with the family to do a little tour of all my areas. and hopefully see Machu pichu.. Haha one of the speakers did not show up so the bishop... haha... during the passing of the sacrament had one of his cousnelors pass me on note give a talk... I was fine with it... It was just another great time to thank the ward for all their help and love and support. I then talked about the atonement and the importance of being humble.... I shared isaiah 1 18 and 19 and talked about the cleaniness and whitenss of snow... I even mentioned how you guys held up and showed me the snow during our skype call.

I will be on later today... hope to see you all on because I love to chat with all of you guys..

love you a ton... Happy New year... haha next year I am coming home.. Time to kick it in to the top gear... Lider de distrito here I come...

Bring it

Elder Mecham

December 22, 2015

HAHAHAHAHA Merry Christmas

Hey the internet did not work yesterday so now we got permission from president to write right now.. how are you.. this week went well. The past week we did a work visit with the elders from Pucala. It was a little annoying because it was scheduled that I would stay in our area and Elder Darrington would go to pucala. They called the morning of and changed it all. It was actually annoying, but what evers you go where you go. It turned out well.

The only thing is work visits are always fun and something different always happens... for example the penscion of pucala gave me a tomale.. the last time they were delicious but thing time well lets just say i almost barfed. I was half way through eating the tamale when I bit into some chicken that was completely raw. How gross. I walked with elder Lozano and block and then I threw it to the dogs... the sad part is  the dogs would not even touch the tamale either.... that is when you know it is bad. The good part of the work visit is that it was the birthday of one of the members there. We were just passing by and we saw all these little kids eating cake, popcorn, and jell o. Next thing I know the ward mission leader, a big fat dude, was calling the kids over... He basically coerced the kids to show them what they had then he ripped the popcorn out of the hands out of one of the smaller children. The sight was hilarious a grown man stealing popcorn from a 3  year old. Later the family ended up giving us cake, jell o, and popcorn. The best part was that the little kids tried to get even with the ward mission leader of pucala. The little kid ran in got some of his older buddies and they started to attack the poor guy. His shirt was white when we started and later it is completely covered in dirt and grime.. . Moral of the story is do not steal popcorn from a peruvian.

On friday we went and sang in the plaza de armas or the town center of chiclayo. It was a blast to sing and see a lot of my friends and buddies from the mission. The cool thing is the mayor of chiclayo was there and also a whole camera crew, so we were live in the peruvian television. We also contacted like crazy there in the square.. .there were so many people. at the end of the night we stayed in chiclayo.. the best part is we stayed in the room of the zone leaders of chiclayo central which one of them is elder nordhoff my old companion. He took us to eat at a nice american style pizza place, where I ate the best pizza I have tried  in peru... Why was it so good, well because an american made it... The owner of the store is a guy named Bob that moved to peru married a girl and started a pizza restaurant. . the guy is awesome... he is from portland maine.... He also also taking the lessons from the missionaries... he will b e a great member.

Pedro pablo is doing well... Each time we meet with him he tells us more how since he has taken the visits from us he has changed and become basically a new creature... The man is inspiring... he lives in one of the humblest houses I have seen, yet he is happier than ever.... Money does not equal happiness folks... He is perparing for the 23rd of January.... This man is a testimony builder... you guys just got to meet him one day.

Well feliz navidad,,,, Go UTES... 5 consecutive games in a row over the BYU... Remember... Ha Nacido un Salvador    

With my buds,, Los cuys muertos... Also with Elder Nordhoff