Well my new area is in the La Merced zone, but it is called Pichanaki. It is about 73 km or about an hours drive from La Merced. Oh boy is it beautiful here though. I love the jungle, and finally have some heat, I'm loving it. My new companion is Elder Per, and he is awesome. He isn't bossy like Elder Lima was, and that is definitly a pleasant change. He is definitely a hard worker too, he and Elder Guttierez actually had two baptisms saturday. The baptisms are awesome here though, because there is no bapismal font so all of the baptisms are in the river!!! I can't wait to have a baptism to actually get to baptize in a river, it is like a dream!
We have an awesome branch here, and I have only been here for like 4 days but I am amazed at how much the members help. The last 2 days we had two people out prosyliting with us. Its hard enough to get one person to go with us, but these guys want to go out with us as much as they can. One of them is Luis Pastor. He is 28 years old, and was baptized last month. He went with us for like 5 hours, and he has such a strong testimony I wish he could go with us like every day. We also have two young men Hillrum and Jimmy that go with us. We have a goal for 5 baptisms next month, so we will be working hard to achieve.
Oh and my companion likes to run!!!! Finally I get to run, and it is so great. We get up at 6 every morning to run. Its awesome to because we woke up at 5:30 this morning to someone yelling Elderes! It was Jimmy ready to run with us. How awesome is that! I told him we run in the mornings and he wanted to go with us, but he came at 5:30 it was hilarious. Luis Pastor also wants to run with us, he was in the military for 2 years so he really likes working out. So we get along really well :) We're just going to start a little running club or something, ha ha it is great! Our pensionista is amazing too. We have had pancakes for dinner for the past three nights with different things. How great it is to have pancakes again, and these pancakes are as close to mom's pancakes as anyone has gotten. Nobody is near as good though! That is one thing I look forward to when I get home.
I absolutely love this area, and I wouldn't mind spending like a year here, that is how awesome it is. We also live with two other missionaries too, Elder Smith and Elder Guttierez. They split Pichanaki in the middle so we each have one half. We have so great investigators so hopefully soon I will be telling you about some baptisms.
Everything seems to be going well at home. I hope everything is going ok with Tim, I will be praying for him. Hope everyone is doing well at home too, its great to hear Allison got a raise, and I hope she gets to go to Nevada for the dig. Keep up all the good work, I'm always praying for you guys. Thanks for being such an amazing family! The church is true, and how great it is to know we will be together forever. Love you guys!
Elder Lee
WRITE ME!!!
Click on the envelope and it will take you to this awesome site that will print and send Jon the letters absolutely FREE! All you have to do is type it up, press send and then it prints it off and Jon gets asap. He loves the letters and needs the love. Make sure that you send it to PERU LIMA EAST. Thanks everyone!!!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
19 January 2009-La Merced!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just found out about 5 minutes ago that I am being transfered to La Merced!! I'm not going to lie, I found out last Thursday that I was going to be transferred. Its because they are making a new zone, and it is the zone La Oroya, Marcavalle. Elder Lima is a zone leader with elder cook so I am being transferred. I was really bummed when I first found out, I feel like Marcavalle is my new home. It really is like leaving home again. I'm going to be taking some major fotos in the next couple days with all of the amazing friends I have made here. I'm definitely going to be writing them too.
Great news this weekend, we had two more baptisms. I baptized an 8 year old named Rafael and another 13 year old named Dorris. Nobody passed out this time!! It was great, and I was just so happy I was able to baptize them before I left. We have still about 4 more investigators that are really great, but I guess Elder Lima will just have to send me the pictures :(
I can't believe I am going to La Merced though! It is the jungle!! I'm not going to be cold anymore. My new companero is Elder Per. I met him last transfers and he is really awesome, really short but really awesome. It is going to be great to be hot all of the time now. I've never been one who likes the cold very much. It is going to be great!
So sounds like things continue to go great at home. Airsoft wars on Y mountain, that is awesome! I'll be there playing with you guys in 20 more months. Ha ha yeah. Its good to hear that you are all still working hard, and that the house was dedicated. Oh and tell the Familia Kwong thank you for their letters, it was awesome to get letters from the new ward :) Oh and the packages arrived I guess. They are actually sending them from Tarma today, so I am pretty excited to get them. Really thank you for everything family, I love you guys so much. Keep having fun, and know that I couldn't be happier out here. Thank you for your prayers always!! My next e-mail will be from the jungle, ha ha yeah!! Love you!!
Elder Lee
The Pictures are of Rafael and Dorris at the baptism, and the familia of my pensionista.
12 January 2009--Hola Familia!
Well nothing too excited happenend this week, compared to last week at least. Oh and Estefany the girl I baptized is fine. It was really weird because just after the baptism she went and changed, and came back in and bore her testimony and everything. So it really didn't end up being too serious, but well, that is definitely going to be one baptism I will never forget.
Your right my face has gotten burned. The weather here is so weird because at times the sun comes out, and it is hot, but then like 5 minutes later it is raining and cold again. So I always forget to put on sun screen because it is always pretty cold in the morning, but I actually remembered the other day, and it is getting better. Don't worry I set the sunscreen out on my desk too, so I wont forget. The weather here really isn't too cold, at least compared to what you guys are dealing with. Holy cow, it sounds like you are having a lot of snow and ice. I think our problem is our room is 3 floors down so it is always cold, but jump roping always keeps me warm :)
The language is coming along. I actually get a lot of complements on my spanish when people find out I've only been in Peru for 3 months. I definitely need to continue practicing though, there is still so much more to learn. Its nice because at least 3 days a week I have like 45 minutes for language study.
We had a great Sunday yesterday. We had 7 investigators in sacrament meeting, and there were a ton of inactives that we had visited. It was really great, and there were probably around 80 people in the meeting. This branch is really great, and the goal is to become a ward, the problem is that we need all of the other branches in the area to convert into wards too. Because I guess it has to be a stake, so it might be a while. It is great to have faithful members though.
Crazy thing is that we have changes again in a week. This change went much faster than the last one. When your working hard time just seems to be flying. I think I will probably be in La Oroya for at least one more change, and I think Elder Lima will probably leaving this change. But who knows, its all in the hands of the Lord. I really don't want to leave though because we have some great investigators preparing for baptism. Rosario and Roberto is a couple we are working with, and they have come to church the last three weeks. They are preparing for their marriage this February, and the next week their baptizm. There are just so many great families here, it is really going to be hard to leave.
Everything is really going great. We are going to have at least one more baptizm saturday, and possibly 2 depending on the interviews and everything. An 8 year old named Rafael Quijaite, and another girl named Dorris Morales. Things are just going great, and I couldn't be happier.
Oh this morning I pulled out the family history stuff, and read the story about where the name Lee came from. How awesome, people are always asking me where it came from because I'm not chinese, and now I can tell them it came from some farms in Denmark. Ha thats awesome.
Well I'm just about out of time, but I just want you guys to know that I love you a ton. I know this church is true, and my testimony is strengthened every day through the power of the Spirit. Love you guys, and thanks for everything you do. Thanks for writing everyone!
Love Elder Lee
Your right my face has gotten burned. The weather here is so weird because at times the sun comes out, and it is hot, but then like 5 minutes later it is raining and cold again. So I always forget to put on sun screen because it is always pretty cold in the morning, but I actually remembered the other day, and it is getting better. Don't worry I set the sunscreen out on my desk too, so I wont forget. The weather here really isn't too cold, at least compared to what you guys are dealing with. Holy cow, it sounds like you are having a lot of snow and ice. I think our problem is our room is 3 floors down so it is always cold, but jump roping always keeps me warm :)
The language is coming along. I actually get a lot of complements on my spanish when people find out I've only been in Peru for 3 months. I definitely need to continue practicing though, there is still so much more to learn. Its nice because at least 3 days a week I have like 45 minutes for language study.
We had a great Sunday yesterday. We had 7 investigators in sacrament meeting, and there were a ton of inactives that we had visited. It was really great, and there were probably around 80 people in the meeting. This branch is really great, and the goal is to become a ward, the problem is that we need all of the other branches in the area to convert into wards too. Because I guess it has to be a stake, so it might be a while. It is great to have faithful members though.
Crazy thing is that we have changes again in a week. This change went much faster than the last one. When your working hard time just seems to be flying. I think I will probably be in La Oroya for at least one more change, and I think Elder Lima will probably leaving this change. But who knows, its all in the hands of the Lord. I really don't want to leave though because we have some great investigators preparing for baptism. Rosario and Roberto is a couple we are working with, and they have come to church the last three weeks. They are preparing for their marriage this February, and the next week their baptizm. There are just so many great families here, it is really going to be hard to leave.
Everything is really going great. We are going to have at least one more baptizm saturday, and possibly 2 depending on the interviews and everything. An 8 year old named Rafael Quijaite, and another girl named Dorris Morales. Things are just going great, and I couldn't be happier.
Oh this morning I pulled out the family history stuff, and read the story about where the name Lee came from. How awesome, people are always asking me where it came from because I'm not chinese, and now I can tell them it came from some farms in Denmark. Ha thats awesome.
Well I'm just about out of time, but I just want you guys to know that I love you a ton. I know this church is true, and my testimony is strengthened every day through the power of the Spirit. Love you guys, and thanks for everything you do. Thanks for writing everyone!
Love Elder Lee
5 January 2009--Interesante fin de semana
Hola familia, Como esta!
Mom, I forgot to tell you that your poem for Christmas was awesome! Sounds like things are going well at home. That package isn't here yet, but I'm pretty sure you sent it to the right address so it should be getting here soon. A year pass to seven peaks that sounds awesome too. It will be fun to go with you guys in a few years! Hey Dad don't worry I write in my journal every night, and I'm up to about 100 pictures right now so everything is going good. Allison I'm going to send some pictures of some ruines we hiked to here in La Oroya! They were pretty sweet, and the kid who took us to them said that the Inca's lived up there during wars or something like that. It was pretty awesome. I couldn't believe they lived that high in the mountains. Steph, Andrew, and Jen hope the break was a lot of fun. Keep working hard in school, and reading your scriptures and all that good stuff.
Ok now for this crazy weekend. We had three baptisms. Three sisters named Estefany, Katy, y Jaquie. We had there baptisms saturday night, and I'm sure that was the most interesting baptism that I've ever had. I baptized Estefany, and first of all I have to tell you she is one of the most hyper people I have ever met. When I baptized her she came out of the water with a big smile on her face with her eyes closed. I think she got some water in her windpipe or something because then she passed out! Holy cow was that crazy. I was sitting there holding her so her head didn't go under water. I sat her down on the steps telling her to breath while everybody outside of the pila was yelling instructions. Within a minute or so she coughed a little and then with a big smile opened her eyes and was fine. Ha ha good times. It was hilarious because a little kid yelled "Ella salio muerta!" She came out dead! Oh man that was interesting, and hopefully that doesn't happen again.
I actually had my first confirmation sunday too. Usually the Presidencia de la Rama do the confirmations, but Jaquie wanted me to do it. So it was a great experience also. There are a lot fewer people here, but we had close to 100 people in church yesterday!! We are really being blessed and are really hoping for at least 2 more baptisms this month. Love you guys, and thank you for all of your prayers.
I'm going to attach some pictures of the baptism, and the ruins.
29 December 2008--Casi enero
Hey Family,
It was so great to talk to you guys, you don't even know! I'm glad you guys had such a wonderful Christmas. I think the best gift I got was talking to you guys though. I was so happy the rest of the day, it was great.
Church was pretty interesting yesterday. Elder Lima and I gave talks. I talked for about 15 minutes on hope (esperanza). The talks were good, and guess what, I played Joy to the World on the Piano in Sacrament Meeting! Ha ha it went pretty well. Elder Lima sang the first verse while I played, and then I tried joining in for the second verse. Lets just say that didn't work out very well. I must say people who can sing and play the piano at the same time are really talented. You are amazing at that mom. About 3/4 of the way through I totally messed up on the Piano so we just sang the rest of that verse and then I just played while the congregation sang the rest. Ha ha good times. I'll have to practice up more for next Year :)
Well the work is going good. Its rough because school just got out so everybody is leaving for vacations. We have 2 different investigatores who are really progressing well, but they are both going to Lima for the next 3 months until school starts again. It makes things pretty rough when everybody leaves for the whole summer vacation, but we are still working hard, and we have a couple that is really progressing a ton. They just need to get married, and then baptized. Thank you for all of your prayers, I know they help a ton.
I think the family had gone through the Book of Mormon twice before I left, but I'm not completely sure. That is awesome you are finishing it up right now though. Presidente Leyva challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon from Nov 15 to Mar 15. I'm in Mosiah right now, Its a little slower studying it in Spanish, but I think I will finish by March. Everything is really going well here in La Oroya. My jump rope broke due to overuse I think, I'm going to try and pick up another one today. The food is good. I don't want to eat any more paneton for at least until next Christmas though. I ate so much it made me sick, but its all good now. I'm really excited for that package you guys sent, I'm sure it will be here by next Monday!
Thanks for everything. I Love you guys so much. How great it is to know that we can be together forever. Can't wait to hear from you again!
Love Elder Lee
It was so great to talk to you guys, you don't even know! I'm glad you guys had such a wonderful Christmas. I think the best gift I got was talking to you guys though. I was so happy the rest of the day, it was great.
Church was pretty interesting yesterday. Elder Lima and I gave talks. I talked for about 15 minutes on hope (esperanza). The talks were good, and guess what, I played Joy to the World on the Piano in Sacrament Meeting! Ha ha it went pretty well. Elder Lima sang the first verse while I played, and then I tried joining in for the second verse. Lets just say that didn't work out very well. I must say people who can sing and play the piano at the same time are really talented. You are amazing at that mom. About 3/4 of the way through I totally messed up on the Piano so we just sang the rest of that verse and then I just played while the congregation sang the rest. Ha ha good times. I'll have to practice up more for next Year :)
Well the work is going good. Its rough because school just got out so everybody is leaving for vacations. We have 2 different investigatores who are really progressing well, but they are both going to Lima for the next 3 months until school starts again. It makes things pretty rough when everybody leaves for the whole summer vacation, but we are still working hard, and we have a couple that is really progressing a ton. They just need to get married, and then baptized. Thank you for all of your prayers, I know they help a ton.
I think the family had gone through the Book of Mormon twice before I left, but I'm not completely sure. That is awesome you are finishing it up right now though. Presidente Leyva challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon from Nov 15 to Mar 15. I'm in Mosiah right now, Its a little slower studying it in Spanish, but I think I will finish by March. Everything is really going well here in La Oroya. My jump rope broke due to overuse I think, I'm going to try and pick up another one today. The food is good. I don't want to eat any more paneton for at least until next Christmas though. I ate so much it made me sick, but its all good now. I'm really excited for that package you guys sent, I'm sure it will be here by next Monday!
Thanks for everything. I Love you guys so much. How great it is to know that we can be together forever. Can't wait to hear from you again!
Love Elder Lee
25 December 2008--Feliz Navidad!!!
Ha ha we get internet today, but I am so excited to talk on the phone with you guys in an hour you don't even know. I can't believe what happened with the phone. I actually called twice before, and I thought your phone was off or something. That is why I called Steph's phone. It is really amazing that I was able to talk to you guys for 2 minutes, and it was so good to hear your voices. I don't know what has happened to Andrew, he sounded like a grown man! I can't believe he is 5'11!! I think he is going to pass me up, and like you guys said start beating up on me :)
I don't really know what to say because I'll be talking to you in about an hour, but things are going great as always. Christmas eve was insane! We visited a bunch of families and every single family loaded us up with Paneton and hot chocolate. I ate probably an entire paneton last night, and already today probably another half. Paneton is like fruit cake and it is soo good. I don't think I could fit another piece in my stomach though. It was crazy too, they celebrate Navidad different here. They all stay up until midnight, and then I swear every person in La Oroya was lighting off fireworks. It was awesome. It was definitely the loudest bunch of fireworks I have heard for about 15 minutes.
Last weekend we had three more baptisms!! We baptized Mesias, Mery, and the Hna Pajuelo. I baptized Mesias and the Hna Pajuelo, and it was an amazing experience just like all of the other baptisms. The Hna Pajuelo is just great. She actually has a daughter in the mission, and it was great to finally see her baptized. We have been working with her the whole time I've been here. All of her siblings are Catolicos so she had a hard time with it, but I can testify that the spirit touched her heart and she decided one day without a doubt she was getting baptised. It was so amazing to see our prayers answered, and she is really recieving a lot of support from her husband and her family. This work is just great.
I feel so lucky to be here in Peru, where the people are so receptive and willing to hear our message. I know that some other missionionaries only get like one or even no baptisms. Its just great to be able to work as hard as I can, and help as many people as I can recieve this gospel.
I love you guys, and always love reading all of the letters. Its so good to hear what great things you guys are doing at home. Ill talk to you in about 40 minutes.
Love Elder Lee
The Photos are Mesias y Mery, The Hna Pajuelo, Elder Lima and I with Santa, and My group in the CCM. We had a conference last weekend in Huancayo it was great.
15 December 2008--4 mas bautizmos!
Hey Family,
Sounds like things are just as busy as always at home. Its good to hear you guys are having a good time though. Hey dad thanks for those pictures you sent too. Its crazy that the first day in the MTC was over three months ago. Only 10 days until Christmas. I love this time of year so much, the music, decorations, everything. Guess what! Only 10 more days and I get to call home too, ha it is going to be awesome. I'm way excited to talk with you guys again!
Well this weekend was awesome. Saturday we had two baptisms, Gustavo and Susan. I baptized Susan and Elder Lima baptized Gustavo. They both were confirmed in church Sunday, and it was just great to hear there testimonies of how they felt after the baptism. Yesterday we baptized Percy and Iris Alania too. We have been working with them since I got here, and the other missionaries had been working with them before too. They needed to get married, and they were married Saturday, and we baptized them at 4 yesterday. I was a little nervous because Percy wanted me to baptize him, and he is the biggest guy I've ever had to baptize. It was great though, and they were so happy to finally be baptized, and when they gave their testimonies they thanked us for working so hard with them. It was really an amazing weekend. This weekend we are traveling to Hauncayo por a conference for christmas. It should be really fun, and I hear we are going to sing hymns in the plaza. The problem is we have 5 other people that have baptismal dates for this weekend. Mesias, Mary, Sandra, Dorris, and the Hna Pajuelo. We should baptize them Friday or Saturday, but we won't be there when the recieve the gift of the holy Ghost. They are all so great though. I can see the Lord blessing us daily in this work, and I know he is really always answering our prayers. It seems like we are always finding people that are ready to hear the gospel. I feel so lucky to be here in Peru sharing the gospel with everyone.
Oh crazy thing happened Saturday. At the baptism I had my camera for pictures, and I let some of the young women and men in the ward look at the pictures. We were way busy with the wedding of the family Alania and everything else so I didn't look at the pictures until the night. When I pulled our my camera it had 4 pictures on it. One of those kids somehow accidentally deleted all of my pictures. Lets just say I was ready to kill someone. Its all good though life goes on. Hopefully you guys have saved some of the pictures I have sent because they are all gone. Its ok though I've started a new and I have pictures of the family Alania baptism. Everything is going great, and I really couldn't be happier. I love you guys, and appreciate everything you always do for me. Hey and Andrew happy Birthday!! I actually remembered MOnday too, but I couldn't really contact you. I actually will also be doing a pre call home to find out when I should call. So be expecting a call in the next week or so. Look forward to talking to everyone. Love you all!!!!!
Elder Lee
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