everything's better with ketchup on it

Dear Family,

Summer has come quickly here - I'm not sure if that has anything to do with being closer to the equator, but either way, it's getting warmer fast. Christmas came and went, and Wednesday we were back at it with our district and zone meetings in the morning and proselyting in the evening.

My companion and I noticed (it's worse when others notice, too) that we have been gaining a little weight, so we committed to go running in the morning. We started Thursday morning at a brisk pace off to the end of the Gran Chimu (the street parallel to ours). It was maybe a mile and a half or two before we reached the end, then we turned and headed back. We were both sore all the rest of the day. Friday morning, we took it easy and ran to the zone leaders' house and collected the packages Mom sent me. It was like Christmas unwrapping all that newspaper! Thanks for the tie (and everything else)! And my companion says thanks for his. And my pensionista wants you to come visit her when I finish my mission... haha. But again, thanks for all the effort put in to sending those. They appeared untampered with when I received them, so I'm pretty sure everything arrived safely.

It was an extraordinary week. Every time we had a lesson, we invited our investigators to come to the ward activity on Saturday, and then we spent most of Saturday running to and fro, gathering those who committed to come. It was amazing to see a whole ward forget the whole ward-family-strengthening-activity mindset and turn into a building full of missionaries. During one of the later parts of the activity, the microphone was passed around to everybody present to allow them to introduce themselves, and almost every member took the opportunity to extend (at least verbally) the arm of fellowship to those who weren't members. A little time was given to the missionaries (as we whispered frantically, trying to come up with a game to play with everybody), and at the last moment I got an idea. I got everybody to stand in a circle, and I taught them the Hokey Pokey in Spanish. (It was a rough translation - you can't really say "that's what it's all about" directly translating it.) We went through it slowly at first, and to finish it off, I sang it in English while we all danced. They loved it. My only fear is the impression I'm leaving of what North Americans are like.

There were twelve investigators who attended the ward activity. We didn't stay for the whole thing, since we had other appointments, but we left with smiles on our faces. One of our investigators, Carmen, was deeply impressed by everything she saw and felt. She, along with any of those who came to the activity, was able to come to church the next day and experience the spiritual side of her new member friends. We had left her a long reading assignment in the Book of Mormon the last time we taught (the stripling warriors, Alma 53-58 inclusive), and after church she read the whole thing that afternoon. Thanks to the member support and everything they did during the activity, we were able to help four people set a goal for baptism in the coming month. And we hope to set one or two more this week for a couple others who attended the activity.

I love missionary work. Most of all, I love seeing the people I serve smile when they talk about the changes in their lives as they make little steps to come unto Christ. It motivates me to smile all day long. The Gospel is true - but as extraordinary a fact as that is, it's not as inspiring as the fact that the Gospel works. It changes. It makes people better. It isn't enough to know the truth - one has to live the truth until it's a part of who they are.

There are a number of strong young men in our ward, and a couple of them accompanied us to our teaching appointments various days during the week. At first I felt like we were ganging up on people, but it really had fantastic results when they saw that the third missionary didn't have a nametag and found out that he lived right down the hill. I only had one chance to go with the missionaries before leaving on my mission - but in retrospect, I can't think of a more practical mission preparation experience.

Congratulations, Drew and Michelle! I've been telling mostly everyone about the wedding, and I even used it as an example when I talked about temple marriage. I have a "cuñada" now! That's exciting. And another one in June. But if I have to say "sobrino" before I set foot in the land of the free again...well, then somebody better send me pictures. (You can e-mail them, too!) I hope everybody made it to their respective homes safely. I get a little jealous when everyone talks about cold, snow, rain, and other wonderful features of living in the great northwest...

I have a personal goal to apply a different Christlike attribute every month of my mission. At the beginning of each month, I search for concrete ways to improve and apply the principles in Preach My Gospel (chapter 6 - it's phenomenal) throughout the month. October was humility, November was charity, and December was faith. I've been thinking of what to start this next year with, and I feel like "hope" is the best one to apply in January (who knows how long I'll be here in Esperanza?). The goal is continuing to apply what I learned in the previous months; Preach My Gospel is a fabulous resource for the Latter-Day Saint who wants to live the kind of life Jesus Christ lived.

Well, time is running out. Happy New Year! We have another short week, since it's not recommendable that we go out and teach on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It'll be somewhat like Christmas, only without the phone calls home.

Love always,
Elder Withers

pictures

There's a video of the Plaza de Armas extravaganza right before we started, then a picture of us singing (I know it's blurry, but it looked icky with the flash). And another picture of my companion and me with the sisters from my last zone. Hopefully I can send it all: the video takes up a lot of space!

Merry Christmas,
Elder Withers

Feliz Navidad desde Sudamerica

Dear Family,

I had a host of possible subject lines for this e-mail home, so I'll treat each one individually in short bursts.

Leaving Buenos Aires
It was sad to leave Buenos Aires, but we managed to say goodbye to our best investigators and left our love and testimonies with them. There are at least two that I'm confident will be members of the church soon. Other missionaries may end up with the numbers, but Elder Gonzales del Valle and I left having witnessed miracles. Our pensionista cried when she found out we were leaving, and she cried again when we left. She treated us like her children; it was hard to leave.

Piano in the rain
I've become the unofficial mission pianist. I thought it a little neat that I got to play in the mission's Christmas program while Dad was at home preparing for our Ward's program. Saturday was the big show. We all met in Trujillo's Plaza de Armas (the equivalent of something like Pioneer Courthouse Square, only bigger) after a devotional in the nearby chapel. We carried a little electric piano and hooked up some enormous speakers to it, threw in some microphones for the singers and were set. All the missionaries close enough to the city of Trujillo to come gathered on the steps of the central monument, and we sang several Christmas songs with little spoken-word bits in between, talking about the birth of Jesus Christ as well as the Restoration of the Gospel. It started raining during the first time through; luckily the electric keyboard was easier to play when it got wet, but the pages in the hymnbook were not easier to play. Of all the days for it to rain! Such was the first day of summer here in Trujillo.

A city built on a hill
Pueblo Libre is built on a hill. The higher you go, the more likely it is that you'll get robbed (or worse). So we don't go up other than during bright daylight hours, and even then we put our watches in our pockets. Our method for not getting robbed is saying 'hello' to everybody we see. It seems to be working so far. From way up high, one can see the whole city of Trujillo and even the Pacific Ocean in the distance. It's a nice view, but not worth bringing a camera up there to risk a picture.

The purple stuff isn't grape juice
That's a lesson I learned on my first day in the Peru MTC. The purple stuff is called 'chicha morada', and it's made by boiling purple corn, adding sugar, and drinking the result. When I first tried it, it tasted what I might imagine a scented candle might taste like if I dared to drink the wax. But lately it's not so bad. I suppose it's more fresh in the field.

They're called fleas and they suck
They're practically invisible, but you can feel them. They're all over the place here in Esperanza. I've been employing my 40% deet the last few days to see if it really works.

It's called fruitcake and they actually eat it here
They call it 'paneton', which literally means "huge bread". I've gotten sick every time I've eaten it, and therefore swore it off after the second time. There are just some things I won't eat more than twice.

Motorcycle taxis
You take the front 2/3 of a motorcycle and replace the back with two wheels and a little carriage big enough for 2 or 3 people. They're everywhere in Esperanza. I only saw one or two in Buenos Aires while I was there. They drive just about as nuts as a normal taxi, but there isn't as much traffic for them on the neighborhood streets.

Supplies are running out
The whole mission has run out of copies of the Libro de Mormon and Missionary Daily Planners. It's a rough situation. I've been planning and living out of my Cesar Acuña (a rather disliked political candidate) miniature notebook (with tear-out pages) that a member woman gave me a month ago. Living without a planner is impossible! We ran out of drinkable water in our room last night (I used the last bit to brush my teeth). Luckily, our pensionista has water that we can drink (and always serves us juice with our meals) - but we're waiting on the elders in our zone who are in charge of water to give us another tank. The woman who rents our room for us (a convert of 5 months or so) heard that we were running low on copies of the Book of Mormon, and this morning she came up and handed us two copies that the missionaries had given her and her son so many months ago. That sort of sharing is what Christmas is about. It made my heart melt.

Wake-up call
Every morning, at about 6, a man walks up and down the street with his box on wheels full of bread, selling it to whoever he can wake up at that hour. He walks by with a little horn (with a rubber bulb and trumpet nozzle like you might see on a child's bike) and makes a big noise. In similar manner, most neighborhood streets are patrolled by other men with carts (and other boxes on wheels) covered in various types of fruit, shouting their sales to anybody who can hear, often using a little microphone that makes their voice metallic and raspy. It's a standing joke among all the missionaries to change one's voice and shout, "rica manzana, cebolla, pepino! mango, papaya, palta, fresa!" or any other combination of fruits and vegetables.

Merry Christmas
I talked with the office elders on Saturday, and I was informed that the packages sent here have arrived, but are still at the post office. That was nice to know, but didn't lead to any opportunity of actually acquiring the goods any time soon. (I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to recover my own packages from the post office - it's the job of a certain elder in the office). It will likely be after Christmas when I get them, unless somebody nice goes out of their way to make me happy. Tonight, we're having a big dinner with our zone and staying the night with all of the missionaries in our zone together. There was talk about carrying mattresses to this party, but I'm not sure how that's going to work. My companion said we're going to stack them on one of those moto-taxis... I guess we'll see. It's a little rough on the emotions to endure a transfer a week before Christmas. My new zone is a little different than the one I just left, and I haven't had much time to really become friends with any of them, except for my companion. I'm going to make an effort to be a friend to all of them tonight; they aren't as friendly as my last zone, but I think I can help change that.

Today is P-day, and tomorrow we have a day of rest as well. We'll return from the Christmas party to our own rooms at 7 in the morning for phone calls and all that wonderful business. I'm looking forward to hearing from everybody and talking to Drew and Tia in Spanish. It still doesn't feel like Christmas: it's 75° outside!

Travel safely! Especially in the snow! Enjoy all the time with family! Good luck with all the wedding plans! And have a very Merry Christmas! I'll include pictures in a second e-mail.

Love,
Elder Withers

pictures

There's a couple pictures of me in that shirt I was talking about. Also a picture of our pension (and my companion in front of the door) and a map of trujillo. There's a photo of our district from last night - we went around singing Christmas songs in Trujillo with some members in the stake. And a picture of me with Hermana Stokes, who is finishing her mission tomorrow and heading back to Idaho.

Love,
Elder Withers

transfers

Dear Family,

It was a bittersweet week. On Wednesday we had a work visit - I traded places with one zone leader for a day, sleeping in his bed, using his toothbrush, etc. I learned a lot during the day with the other zone leader, and upon returning to my old area, I felt almost like a million soles. Everything seemed new again, and I had more enthusiasm for the work.

We've been teaching a woman named Miriam who has some physical and psychological health issues (mostly stemming from ill treatment from her husband, I believe). When we first taught her, things were rough. Her children, a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old, are a bit noisy and distracting. She didn't have much desire to do anything about her problems; her only wish was that they would just all go away. I felt like we weren't getting anywhere with her. But we gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read. We also gave her a Priesthood blessing of health. We passed by a few times with different members of the ward, and last Sunday a ward member accompanied her to church. (Now THAT's missionary work!) She started going to the weekly Relief Society activities, and she has started praying and reading the Book of Mormon every day. Her kids are as noisy as ever, but her countenance has changed. She smiles more often, she understands what she reads, and even though she isn't sure what to do about the problems with her husband, she isn't hopeless anymore. The Gospel changes lives. The Book of Mormon changes lives. She has a baptismal date set for the 29th of December.

That's the sweet part. The bitter is the news that came Friday night. I'm being transferred from here (Zona Central - Buenos Aires) to Zona Esperanza - Pueblo Libre. My companion, Elder Gonzales del Valle, is being transferred to Zona Laureles - Altamoche. I'll send a picture I took of our map. Buenos Aires is on the beach, the part of Trujillo most westward. Esperanza is northeast of downtown. It's not that far of a transfer - taking the mission office as the origin, it's only a movement of about negative two-thirds pi radians (I don't mean to be nerdy, that's just what came to my head when I found out where I was going). We're both being transferred, and our area, Buenos Aires, is being closed. We'll leave our area book with the zone leaders so that they can come teach the investigators we've left; but the area will remain relatively free of proselyting besides that.

We had our third and last baptism on Sunday morning. She's a 12-year-old girl in a part-member family. She witnessed the baptism of an 8-year-old last week and got excited to be baptized herself. All of the baptisms I've seen in this area of Buenos Aires have been miraculously quick. The first two found us on Saturday, were interviewed Sunday, and got baptized on Monday. This week, we taught Marita for the first time on Wednesday and again on Friday. On Friday she told us that she had prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was the word of God; she then recounted of how she felt that it was true. Her entire countenance changed as she told us what she felt. Her eyes lit up and she smiled as she testified of what she knew. She was interviewed on Saturday and baptized Sunday morning before Sacrament meeting. In Sacrament Meeting, I had the opportunity to confirm the 8-year-old who was baptized on Monday.

We're sad to leave Buenos Aires; it became like home for 3 months. I hear great things about my new area in Esperanza. But it sounds a little dangerous. Though I don't know - they told me Buenos Aires was dangerous, too. Maybe it just helps to be a half meter taller than everybody else. (Speak softly and carry a Book of Mormon)

Love,
Elder Withers

cockroaches

Dear Family,

Yes, cockroaches do exist - and they're just as big as you see them in the movies. Luckily we haven't seen any in our room or house; we saw one in our pension, though - they're quick (and nasty) little buggers, but my companion stomped on it after several tries.

There was a power outage in Trujillo Thursday night that lasted for 10 minutes or so. If we had been outside, we would have had to head back to our room to wait for the lights to return. Luckily, we were in the house of a part-member family and continued our lesson in the dark until the lights came back on.

Saturday, we participated in another ward's talent show; three companionships of missionaries took part in our little skit. It was fun to see some of the primary kids perform cultural dances like the Marinera - with the traditional flowy skirts, sombreros and everything else you'd expect in a real latin dance. It was impressive!

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. Elder Gonzales del Valle was assigned to speak about "hermanamiento" (I think that's "fellowshipping" - or the act of making a brother out of someone), and I was assigned the topic of tithing. The microphone wasn't functioning, so they removed the apparatus entirely. But somehow that made me feel more comfortable in front of everybody.

We finally found an investigator whose door we've been knocking fruitlessly for some time. He's a lawyer named José, and we passed by his house just as he was coming home from some "congreso" (I assume that's a congress - or some lawyer function, I'm not sure: he uses a lot of words I didn't know before). We asked 20 minutes of his time (and somehow stretched it to an hour) and taught him the message of the Restoration. He had some questions about the church's view on homosexuality, and was satisfied with our answers. He accepted what we taught, and we left him with a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. It was a notable experience for how readily he accepted what we taught; he was probably the most educated person we've taught thus far in my mission.

Saturday night completed 5 months straight of flossing every night. It used to always be a burdensome thing to do, but once it's a habit there's no problem!

I ate too much Saturday night and woke up sick Sunday morning. I skipped breakfast (rather, performed the opposite of breakfast, in fact) and was feeling whole again by lunch. While I gave my talk I pretty much forgot that I had been sick.

Today we had a "parrillada" (peruvian version of a barbecue) with a couple of other zones. The office elders heard that our zone played the best "futbito" (apparently there's a difference: "futbol" is played on grass, 11 v. 11; "futbito" is what we play 6 v. 6 on a smaller concrete "cancha," or field) and therefore challenged us to play this morning. It was pretty fun - they all showed up with matching shirts, and our zone leaders passed out our jerseys as well. I'd send a picture, but my camera batteries died just a half hour ago. Mine has the number 5 and the inscription "Mitchy". We looked pretty sharp. The food was incredible: corn on the cob, potatoes, tomato-avocado salad, rice, and some wonderfully cooked meat. The difficulty involved the lack of silverware. We all ate with our hands and somehow didn't make a mess.

One spiritual highlight of this week was a lesson with the Ramirez family Friday night. We taught them over a month ago and just barely found them again. We refreshed them on the Restoration, and the Spirit was strong as we testified of it. There are specific steps we've been taught to use in teaching: invite (teach a principle and ask for a commitment), promise blessings, and testify. It's easy to go through the motions and say what we're supposed to: but I've been making an effort to make each step meaningful. I focussed more on teaching with clarity, promising blessings with charity, and testifying more sincerely. It seemed to make all the difference.

Preach My Gospel is highly useful. But all the missionaries, members and returned missionaries I've talked to seem to have found that members don't know how to use it the same way missionaries do. I remember trying to just read the book and getting stuck before coming on a mission. Now I can't do without it. Preach My Gospel is scripture: it's a manual on how to become more Christlike. I love it!

Love,
Elder Withers

Everything's better when it's drenched in lime juice

Dear Family,
Our pensionista made us cebiche twice this week. If you don't know, it's raw fish in little pieces ("cooked" by sitting in lime juice for an unspecified period of time) with abundant onions, spices, corn, canchita (basically corn nuts), yucca (never ate that in the States, don't really hope to - it's a kinda stringy potato-like substance, high in fiber), all of it bathed in lime juice. It's delightful.

I took a cold shower every morning this week (operating under the principle that a cold one is better than none at all), except for Sunday, when the key to the next door shower miraculously appeared. Unfortunately, its occupant appeared (somewhat non-miraculously) this morning, so we're back to cold showers. It's not that bad, really.

We're facing some of the same struggles lately. At least 4 investigators promised to come to church yesterday, but we were disappointed when none of them showed up. We're working on getting the members involved so that they can help bring them to church. The Bishop has asked us to help inspire the other leaders of the ward to participate in missionary work. We've come up with a few ideas that should help them catch the vision.

I forgot to write about one investigator we visited the week before this one. His name is Jorge Chavez, and we received his name from one of his numerous (13) children living in our area. We taught his son Hugo over a month ago, and when we ran into him the other week, he referred us to his father. His father is 88 years old, fairly white for a Peruvian, wealthy, and walks around with a revolver in his hand. But Hugo assured us that his father - for being a lighter-skinned man - had plenty of interest in North Americans; so I did most of the talking at the door and we didn't get shot. After inviting us in, he tossed his revolver into a nearby chair (no, it didn't fire), and that made things comfortable. We're going to go visit him again this week, I'm sure.

Our most progressive investigator, Johany, has a baptismal date set for this 18th of December. She has probably read half the Book of Mormon for all the readings we leave her every time we teach. We've found more families to teach, and we have high hopes to continue with those we've been working with during November. We're going to be working with the members a lot this month, too; everybody's clamoring for a pianist for their Christmas musical numbers. It's the least I can do to help them out.

We usually have service on Thursdays. We invited the sister missionaries to accompany us to the house of a family with some marital issues - while the sisters visited with the wife (her husband at work), we would fix the ceiling and clean the house. Unfortunately, they weren't home when we arrived. We resigned to cleaning the trash at a park up the street. Many people passed by, and Sister Stokes talked to one of them who seemed to be in desperate need of the Gospel. I felt impressed that morning to bring a Book of Mormon along with me to our service activity (because I read in Preach My Gospel that we're supposed to use that book in EVERY aspect of our work); we gave the woman, Ana, the Book of Mormon and taught her a mini-lesson and set a date for a later appointment. That was a miracle. We were in the right place at the right time with the right materials. The woman who we had planned to serve in the first place eventually passed by and saw us at the park and approached us, and we completed our planned service at her home.

Good luck with all the wedding plans, graduation plans, Christmas plans, and all the other plans that are taking shape up there!

Love,
Elder Withers