Changes and Christmas in February

Well, the changes are in, I’m staying here and Elder Duarte is going to Iquitos. My new companion is Elder Montellanos. He is from Bolivia, Santa Cruz just like Elder Roca and Elder Chambi. He is from my group too. I know he is way humble but I’m pretty sure he is a fun guy. I’m way excited to get going.

So we had the baptism of Claudia, everything went well, she is so awesome she goes to all the mutual activities and is doing the personal progress thing that the young woman do. She is the best!! We had new people come to church, a family that went to church before and they came back so we are going to teach them. They seem way nice, this change should be a fun change.

Oh and I got my two packages (Christmas and Valentines), I got them Friday, it was awesome, I loved the pictures and the food was good, I loves the ties too, thanks Mimi and Pop for my paisley white tie, I’m so happy they finally came. I really enjoyed it.

As for the monkey that was mine, it wasn’t Elder Layton’s that died, I know laytons monkey, that’s thing is mean and it yells and yells, and it doesn’t let you touch it. Mine would curl up on your lap and grap your hands and fall asleep.

Friday we had a meeting and President did announce the Mission changes. I’m so happy that it’s going to divide because it shows the work we are doing here but also its going to happen when I leave so it won’t effect me. I will be more excited to go home then see the mission split.

Caving Lima Style, Talks, Teaching and a Companion's Sacrifice

This week was a good week!!!

First of all P-day we went to the beach and then we went to some caves with flashlights with some members. It was way fun. It was no Timpanogos Cave. The caves here it was filled with trash, smelt bad and graffiti everywhere but it was still fun.

Yesterday was a good day, way spiritual!!! First of all we gave talks in Sacrament Meeting. I talked for like 15 minutes and then at night there was a Stake Fireside about Missionary Work. Because we are the Zone Leaders we had to give other talks for 10 minutes in front of the Stake. I talked about Daniel and the lions den and that if we do as Daniel did and are obedient and trust in God and put the things of God first in our life, God will protect us and bless us just like he did with Daniel. How the lions sometimes can be those trials and difficult times in our life’s or even temptation but if we are prepared we shouldn’t have to worry, I thought it went well.

I also taught the Gospel principles class. We just got a new teacher put in the class. So Sunday she gets up and talks for 5 minutes and says amen and looks at me. So I had to get up and teach but its alright because she is learning, it was a good spiritual day yesterday.

We did get the news about the missions. President is going to talk about it this Friday but basically it doesn’t effect me, it will be after I leave, I will finish the mission with President and the mission, I will be a true norteño. My last change it will be a fun despedida with President and everyone.

This Saturday we are going to baptize a girl named Claudia she is 14, she is such a cool girl and way smart. She was prepared, she goes to all the activities in the church and all her friends are members.

I also got news from Elder Roldan. My second companion here, one of my favorites. If you remember his parents are Evangelists(I think that’s what it is in English), his Dad is a pastor for the church and once Elder Roldan got back his parents kicked him out of the house and never want to see him again. Right now he is living with another returned missionary from this mission and now teaches in the mtc in Guatemala, I loved him so much and I feel so bad for him, it makes me appreciate the family that I have, thank you so much for all the support, I love you guys so much.

love elder ridge

Visit with Pres. and Sis. Perez

This week was a real busy week. We had interviews on Friday with President Perez. It was way good but my companion an I had to do so much. We had to clean the room and make sure that all the missionaries were good. We did a couple of splits, then we had to prepare a training to give to the Elders and the Assistants and President and his wife. I talked for 20 minutes and my companion talked like 30 minutes. It was way good, also Sister Perez visits all the rooms to see if they are clean so I went with her and one of the Assistants. It was fun going around in the car with them and looking at the rooms of all the missionaries. I got to get to know Sister Perez better, she is way nice.

We haven’t had really that much time to work which kind of stinks, but we did have 13 new people come to church. We have appointments with them this week, we are going to go and challenge them to get baptized.

To answer your questions, my pensionista is way cool she is blind, her daughter lives in the United States. A gringo came back and got her and she has lived there for 9 years so she has taught her mom she knows how to cook good. At dinner I usually ask for watermelon so I can lose weight. Our room is kind of big, its nice way nice way nice, I have seen better but I have seen worse, it has a tiled floor so that is a step up but we don’t have hot water so its cold. I haven’t showered with hot water since I left Barranca in October. It’s starting to get hot so the cold showers are not too bad but still, it doesn’t feel good.

There are always fleas, I don’t have them that much because I take my pills and they are working but this city is a sandbox so it is filled with fleas. This zone is the poorest in Peru, I’m not kidding, its bad. It’s really humbling and after all I have seen in Peru, I’m still being even more humbled being here. My area has road and dirt but because we are zone leaders we have the nicest area, the other areas are very humble. I’m about an hour away from the offices and I think like hours from the temple but the temple is closed for the usual maintenance stuff, so we cant go to the temple so in 2009 I went to temple once, kind of stinks, the next time I will go will be in march.

In my area we walk a lot but when we travel the zone we have to take the vans. Yes we have a cell phone and we use it to call the Assistants and they call us. More than anything it’s for people to call us if there is a problem.

love elder ridge

Splits and Stake Training

Well this week was kind of normal. We had to do some busy work and we did splits twice. Tuesday I went and worked with one of the district leaders it was good. Then Friday my companion visited the other district leader and his companion came to my area. He is just started out the mission but we had a gringo day. His name is Elder Evans from Idaho. We were having fun working we went to bed and he just started throwing up and felt sick. He is still getting use to it down here. I told him to go to bed and to rest. He slept all morning, I felt bad, it made me remember when I first got here. It was hard to get used to it.

This week also we had a visit from one of the assistants. They visit the Zone Leaders, it was fun and I learned a lot. Yesterday we had a stake meeting. All the leaders in the wards, Bishoprics, Relief Society, Elders quorum, in the whole stake came. My companion gave a training about the correlation meeting. We had one hour to deliver the training. My comp talked for about 15minutes and I talked for 40 minutes. It was way good and the Stake President loved it. Afterwards I sat down I just thought, I’m 20 years old and I just trained all the leaders in the stake. My companion and I felt good after. We are trying to better the work with the members.

love elder ridge