Feliz Ano Nuevo

So this week definitely was awesome and super hard too! I was an emotional wreck after talking with you guys cause that was the best time ever! Hope you guys liked my videos! Those of you who didn't see ask my mom for the videos!! 

SO the big news for this week is that Elder Samaniego is a liar!!! He finishes his mission after my training!! So ya AJ was right about him, he was also the Assistant with Elder Bengtzen after im his first companion after that!! So I am his one and only son! So ya sorry I lied to you guys about that but blame elder Samaniego.

Funny story, this week we were walking down the street and we just see this lady start squating... I was like what the, then you could see her push her dress back and ya she started laying an egg.... if you aren't catching my drift, she definitely was just taking a dump in the middle of the field... Ya it was crazy! I am scarred for life1, She didn't even have toilet paper to wipe!!! :O

Another funny story this week was that when talking with Jonny on Christmas he asked if I had had Lomo Saltado, which I hadn't, but the next day for lunch we did!! Its pretty dang good!!

One more funny story for the week! Before we had ward council we were talking with this guy, his name is Carlos and he is a kick boxer, and before we had ward council he was teaching us all these kick boxing moves and how to defend ourselves in certain situations and it was legit!! I don't know how old he is but he's like 50 I think and he is so awesome!! '

Well lets just say that I am super excited for mothers day! Ha that was the greatest thing talking to you guys thanks for all your support and all your prayers, I couldn't do this without you guys! And without the lord! I said some things at the end of my call that I wasn't even planning on saying, so ya I don't know what that means you guys take it how you want! But because its the new year and i know all of you are making your goals so I have a goal for all of you. This is the goal and the scripture of the year to go with it:

Mathew 5:6 and the goal is to STUDY the scriptures every day this year! We need to be hungry and feed ourselves with the word of the Lord. I promise to you guys that if you do this, you will see the blessings of heaven in your life as I have seen here. Your testimony will strengthen or you will gain a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. The results of doing this are found in D and C 9:8. I will check up on everyone every week to see how you are doing! I too will accept this challenge! 

I love all of you so much! I miss you so much but don't want to be anywhere else!! Here's some pics of our Christmas day!

Navidad

Holy crap I can't believe that it's Christmas this week!!!!! I am so excited to talk with you guys!!!! this week was definitely a million times better than last week! I have gotten a lot healthier and man things are just going good!! We still haven't had a ton of success like many we had 5 appointments this week but still those were great! We are really trying to get our ward involved because there is a goal to get the number of members assisting to 300 by the end of 2015 in the ward chanu chanu, we are at about 110. So ya its a lot of work but if the members help it will be easy!! Our ward mission leader is a freaking boss! He has helped us so much in creating a mission plan for the ward, and in ward council this week things got a little heated! Just talking about what the ward needs to do because we are all working together, not the missionaries do all the work! So.... in church we had every member the third hour, minus primary, yes every member in a class and Hermano Oscar, the ward mission leader, had this power point that kinda presented and he was running around getting into it just so pumped about everything and it was so awesome!!!

 A funny thing that happened this week was we contacted a guy and like the first thing he said to us was that he was drunk, and catholic. We kept talking to him and told him the Jesus Christ can help him, because of the atonement, he then told us that neither god nor Jesus are perfect, to that I almost chuckled because I have such a firm testimony of this! Then he went on to talk about how the leaders of our church, bishops, stake presidents, etc. take our tithing and use it for there own personal lives, to that I wanted to ask, what about the temples and the chapels, because they are like the nicest buildings down here. And then when we introduced ourselves he as Elders he said but what's your real name, to this we replied for two years it's Elder Ludlow, and samaniego, he then got mad and said that it's super disrespectful to him that we do this and that we won't tell him our first names. Oh drunk people!

This week it has rained like crazy!!!! Totally insane and one night we were walking back and Elder S wanted to stop in the tienda to buy bread, so we stopped and the owners happened to be members, so we said hi and asked if they had bread. They didn't but I saw panaton there. Panaton is a delicacy here, it's like fruit cake but its freaking delicious! So i pointed it out to elder S and 5 seconds after the wife in the back goes here I have something for the elders...... It was Panaton!!!!!! So we walked back in the pouring rain just so happy because the Lord BLESSES those who ask and those who are worthy!!

I love you all and hope to hear from everyone!!! Here's my Christmas card!
(Always reppin one team one dream)

Is it Monday Yet?

Well Monday is finally here and it's been an eternity. I can definitely say this was one of the hardest weeks of my life. Tuesday I was so sick, pretty sure I had strep throat. I felt like garbage all day, and thought, "How can I make it through this for two years?" I talked to Elder Bentson and he said his first week he was super sick to so and that he had to take a day of rest, I woke up Wednesday and he looks at me and goes, 'Elder don't even think about work today, just rest it will help," It definitely helped and by Thursday I felt so much better. Well that's not all that has been hard this week, I have been super stressed, Yes dad i have read out of the green book, and it has helped but still super stressed. I love my companion but he does things that get on my nerves, he is not punctual at all, which I've learned is just a Latino thing, but its so frustrating cause the lord wont bless us if we aren't on time. Just little things are really getting to me this week and I'm trying to just ignore them. We have had about as much success as i have had solid poop since being out here, (maybe one or two times). So ya that's how my week went. We had our Christmas dinner this Friday and that was actually pretty fun. We also had a dog follow us around for about an hour or two yesterday as we went to our appointments. It was pretty funny.
>
> a couple random things, Sister Harbertson, her name is Vicki, totally reminds me of Mrs, Houmand. And the fact they have the same name seals it! Its pretty awesome, and during our conference this week she was teaching English to the Latinos, and it was like I was back in Kindergarten. It was so funny!
>
> We watched the Christmas devotional last night and that was cool, but totally reminded me of home... Which was hard! and it was in Spanish so that kinda sucked! haha
>
> another thing which was one of our few successes, after We had gone to an appointment and the family wasn't there, we just kinda waited for a little, I sat down and I prayed, just asking heavenly father for something, and I kid you not five seconds after saying Amen, an old man was walking up the street pushing his bike cart thing. I instantly said "Vamos"and we went. Apparently this guy is the uncle of a member so he knew about the church. SO we set an appt up for the next day, as we went to his house a kid answered the door we asked if the guy was there and he wasn't. but he was the Nephew of this same guy. The kid didn't even know this guy. Which is weird cause they were all family. Who knows if this is true, but i wouldn't doubt for a minute that that man was an angel, that heavenly father sent just to say, Hey I'm still here don't worry. It was an incredible experience.
>
> One thing I found out that Grandma and Grandpa Ludlow love dad more than my parents love me. i decided this because of a scripture i read. DC 11:7. "Behold he that hath Eternal life is rich." well dad you are really lucky! I know what i am naming my son! I love you all so much keep praying for me! Talk to you all soon!!
>
> LOVE ELDER LUDLOW

La primera semana‏

Well this week has been a roller coaster of emotions to say the least. We arrived in Cusco and the first day was nice cause we took a little tour of the city then after we went to the mission home and just kinda relaxed. I talked to elder bengtzen a ton and that was super nice because i was super nervous and he really calmed me down!

Well my first sector is Puno Central Chanu Chanu. It's freezing cold here. I don't actually no the weather but i am like always cold. That could be because i have been sick all week. After arriving in puno i got sick. I have had a fever headache and just haven't felt good. Its been rough but thank goodness for ibuprofen! Its really hard for me to breathe. and Puno has a lot of hills and so walking up these hills not being able to breathe kinda sucks! but oh well hopefully i will get used to it! my companion is elder samaniego and he is so awesome! He is Latino from Paraguay but speaks pretty good English! Which he has learned all on his mission! He is super cool and we get a long great!

We try to contact families in the street that's our goal. we contacted a lot this week and set up appointments and all of them fell through this week so that is awful. But in a lesson i had with a less active member, as i go to explain a scripture i get a bloody nose... it was awful!! I've been getting more now here, i think it's cause it's really dry. 

Also another funny thing that happened is we were walking to an appointment but were super lost cause elder samaniego or i know nothing about this area,but we asked this guy a question and he recognized us being missionaries and started telling us he was catholic. Well this guy was straight wasted, he was holding a bag with 6 or7 beer bottles in it. so elder samaniego gave him a picture of Jesus and he puts in his bag with all the beer bottles.. we just kinda chuckled and tried to stop him but ya we couldn't.

 

The last few things is the binding on my English scriptures broke so that sucks so bad. i don't know what to do..... also our bathroom is about the size of our downstairs shower.... except in this bathroom it has shower toilet and sink not just shower... Elder bentson, one of our zone leaders, who lives with us is from riverton and knows brittny and camee, and also kendra. or so he says!

Well I love you all so much! Keep praying for me and i will do the same! Thanks for everything! love you and miss you

elder LUDLOW

The end is near!!! kinda....‏

So i have less days here now almost than i had weeks at the beginning so that is awesome!!! This week wasn't really anything special... I don't have a ton to write so sorry about that cause i know you're all dying to hear my great stories ;) Well just read last weeks email cause its probably about the same stuff!

Haha so a funny joke we have going on around here is we just randomly ask someone, really loudly, hey you still got diarrhea? its really funny to hear and see peoples reactions cause they just kinda sit there and don't know what to say.. Remember that we are 18 year old guys still!

So on another note i finished the book of Mormon this week.. It was my goal to finish it while i was here and i was able to do that so props to me for being the best! Jk I have a lot to work on but really the Book of Mormon is an incredible book. The truthfulness and the teachings that you can find in the book are incredible.  You learn things that aren't even relevant to the chapter you are reading but because you are doing what heavenly father asked he will bless you in whatever thing you need. That is one of the coolest things i have seen out here. And come to realize that if you aren't reading the book of Mormon every day. That is a waste of a day, whether its a chapter a verse or 10 chapters you should read every day. I challenge all of you to do that. It is incredible the blessings you will see in your life.

So it is my morning teachers, hermano davalos, last week here. we are his last district which is really cool. so he let us watch the other side of heaven to show us the part where the guy learns the language. we talked him into letting us watch the rest of it.. So we thought whats another movie we can talk him into letting us watch.... BEST TWO YEARS!!! we talked him into it.. we made a deal with him.. we had to go to two other districts and share scriptures with them and he would let us watch it! Its such a great movie.. and there is an elder here that is exactly like elder calhoun... it is the funniest thing i have ever seen!!

Well I really don't have much else.. I was kinda homesick this week.. but I'm kinda used to it so don't worry I'm fine! We talk a lot about movies and i miss all movies! i wish i could just watch a Disney movie or something haha!

This week i pondered a lot about the trip to Nauvoo this summer, i thought about Joseph smith a lot and studied him a lot this week.. What an incredible man. I complain because I'm so sick of eating rice every meal... But he went through so much pain and agony and persecution to bring forth this true and gospel.. I am so grateful for him! As you take my challenge and read the book of Mormon, cause i know you all will :), take some time to pray and find out for yourselves that Joseph smith was a true prophet. Research his testimony and the testimony of the early saints he is and incredible man. I love you all so much! Don't forget about me cause ill probably forget all of you ;) chiste! (that's joke in Spanish) i miss everything and everyone at home.. I have no idea the next time i will get to email so just be checking up!!

Love, Elder Ludlow

ps sorry if my english is poopy.

pps we played a lot of volleyball this week and don't worry i still got it

ppss i went to dalbys shop today and talked with the guy. he took a picture with me and told me he was visiting in march and that he was gonna visit bro dalby. he also wanted my address so they could come visit... so you may have visitors in march!

LOVE YOU ALL

Yo

So a couple crazy things happened this week!! First off I'm here to tell you that i have felt, and survived my first earthquake!! We had one while we were in class and it was really sick!! Then our teacher was like, "oh my gosh an earthquake!!! We were a little worried it would be bad but it was fine no harm or anything! it was a 5.8!

 

Next on Sunday we had Elder Evans, head director of the missionary department, come and talk to us. It was really cool!! He spoke in our sacrament meeting and he also gave us a devotional! SO that was really cool, but the best part about him coming is lunch after church was the bomb! Whenever someone important comes its always great food so we love it when they do! Elder Evans is directly under Elder Bednar, and Elder Nelson under missionary work just to give you an idea of how high up he is!

 

OK so the other night i was sleeping and everything and kicked something at the foot of my bed. I have no clue what it was or if i really kicked anything but I sat up and said "Sorry Bud" then about cried when i realized that it wasn't buddy!! It sucked i miss him like crazy!!

 

So we got new Latinos in our room and now we have four instead of just two. They are OK they smell weird and they hate the cold. Which is AWFUL!!! So our room is hot a lot of the time. except i turn the air on after they go to bed :) but its hot and there smell just roasts and its bad.. They seem pretty cool tho, i don't think they speak very much English so ya...

 

And one of the coolest things that happened this week was me and Elder martin had a connection. I asked him if he played jr jazz this year. He said ya and i ask him what day he played. He didn't know but he went to Alta and i remember playing an Alta team so i asked him if he was on the team with the big black guy, for those of you mainly the bangerz, who remember that team.. he was on them!! They we just talked about that and it was the greatest thing! Our teacher was kinda mad that we were talking but oh well!

 

I think my last story is this week 5 people from my district and 3 from another got to go be students for people who were applying to be teachers at the CCM. so it was a nice confident boost because it was all of us who were good at Spanish!! Haha but it was kinda stressful cause peoples jobs are on the line!!

 

Well that's about all i got for you! Me and budden are doing great! Me martin and augut hang out a lot too! Weve been playing volleyball a lot and I'm just killing it! Yesterday during gym time i dove popped a ball up then as i was on the ground someone spiked it at me and I hit it over for the point.. which saved the game which we ended up winning... SO ya get at me cause I'm kinda a big deal!! Haha I'm super excited to be leaving here though cant wait to get out in the field!! I love you all so much and miss you!! my p day will be on Wednesday next week so check Wednesday! And if not then it will be Thursday.

 

My spiritual thought for this week is to go look up the video "The atonement and missionary work" i think. Its a Mormon message kinda thing and we've watched it a couple times here and its a real tear jerker!! Its insane!! Well I love you, church is true!! Even if i can't spell.

 

 

Love, Elder Studlow

Cursear

The word of the week is cursear. Go look it up right now before you even continue to read!! That has been the name of my game this week!!

 

Ok first things first, now that you know that I've been sick all week, its been a pretty solid week! Other than being sick! pretty normal nothing to crazy to write about!! First off I'm gonna call little poody out in my big email so maybe he will email me!!!!! Haha thanks and tell everyone to email me!! It is so great hearing from home even if i can{t respond!! OH and send pictures too!! please!!

 

Ok, so some funny stories i wore the tie josh gave me this week, and every ones response was, "I will trade you every tie for that tie" But ya no I'm not trading that tie!! There's no way! Everyone loves the paisley ties and me too so i don't think I'm gonna be trading very many of them! we cant send pics this week or else id send some of my new stuff i got!! I also bought a box of Trix today and they are shaped as the fruits!!!!!! It is the coolest thing!!! I love AMERICAN THINGS!!

 

Ok really there isn't that much else. Elder budden is doing pretty good! Were both starting to get sick tho which kinda stinks! But oh is he a character! He told us that he brought his pillow to school and told people that he was really tired cause the night before he was up all night fighting a native American who was trying to shove clam dip down his pants!! Ya he is something else but i love him!!

 

Ok really the last story i have to tell you guys is the best story of the week. Keep in mind this is a bunch of 18-20 year old guys looking for ways to have fun!!! So elder Martin also cursear as well. So he was able to just rip farts like no ones business. these weren't weak farts either! They were powerful loud and wet and disgusting!! So me, Augat, Martin and I went into the bathroom where there are five stalls. We made put augut in the middle and me and martin on the ends! Augut brought nutella and yelled out when we heard someone come in, "Hey I'm out of tp can someone get me some" so and elder came and handed him some tp. Well Augut put some nutella on his fingers and wiped it on this elder, one of the new north Americans, and the kids reaction was priceless. Also don't forget that in the background martin was rippin up a storm!! So the kid goes.... OOOH IS THIS???? AHHHHHHHH and just screams like a girl! Ive never cried while in the bathroom but it was soooooooooo funny!  Martin the following night also got 25 huge farts in one sitting.. Him and Augut had a bet that's why i counted!

 

Sorry theres not much to write about! Time is flying here and I'm getting more used to it. I called the CCM home for the first time last night so ya its OK! My homesickness is going away and now its not that i get sick i just miss home if that makes sense! But I love it here its crazy fun!! I'm super sick of rice tho.... Hopefully I get used to it soon!

 

I love you all and just wanted to remind all of you about the power of prayer.  I have never prayed so much in my life yet i still should be praying more.. I can see that Heavenly Father really answers my prayers here.. If you ever need anything fall to your knees and pray. HE WILL HELP!! it may not be how you want but i know he will do whats best. He love you more than Peruvians love rice!!! I miss you all so much!!!

 

 

Love, ELDER STUDLOW

 

I mean ludlow

 

P.S. cursear means to have diarrhea! Have a great week talk to you next week

ZL

So I thought i would begin by telling Parker and Mckaley happy freaking birthday!!!! I though about you guys the entire days on your birthdays and I love you!!

I'm gonna tell you one of the funny stories of the week! So on Sunday I was talking with elder Augaut about how happy i was that his companion was district leader and how I was glad that I probably wouldn't be zone leader because of that! So we just laughed cause he was so happy it wasn't him to! So after church Sunday we had a health class and i just couldn't keep my eyes open. so when it came time to say the prayer i was half awake half asleep... we said the prayer and I'm not sure if i stayed awake during the prayer! but i just kept my head down after the prayer was done for a little til i heard my name.  When I turned to see who it was it was a member of the branch presidency. He told me and elder budden to go with him so we went into the classrooms and low and behold you re looking at your new Zone Leader!!! haha i blame mom and dad for this because Zach Ludlow, zone leader, ZL, its like it was destined to be!

Haha so this week has been better its starting to go by a lot quicker! Elder Wilson and Elder Turner, our former roommates are gone and we have Latinos in our room now. How I wish elder Wilson and Turner were still here! They were the coolest funniest kids and we just had great times! now the new Latino leaders are kinda weird, make our room smell funny, and one of them the first night woke up at 2 in the morning turned all our lights on in our room, turned them off and went back to sleep, ya I don't know.

OK, Honestly there isn't many new things to tell because we do the same things all day. We sit in class and it really is kinda boring but really fun because i have awesome teachers! so a lot of this is just gonna be stories that i remember!! SO i described how the food was OK but i didn't really explain it. So every morning, and I'm not kidding when i say every morning, we have eggs, pretty sure they are fake eggs, usually they are fried, occasionally scrambled and they are GROSS!!! I haven't got them since like the first week! EWWW then we have rice every lunch and dinner! They cook every part of the chicken, i swear they cut up the chicken and just throw it in, they don't let anything go to waste! Its not bad but the desserts at the start were gross it was like flan, whatever that is, and it was flavorless poo. But the desserts are getting better, the most prized food here is the churros. Ooh we had those two times in a week and that's like a miracle!!! We threw them in the microwave and wow they were good! They have like this caramel sauce in the middle and wooh they are awesome!!

So I have made two tie trades. One with elder martin, and one with an elder Gomez. The one with elder Gomez is cool because it was the tie I got from the Gomez. So kinda a coincidence but really cool. Honestly my thing Is i don't know how to say no. I'm JUST to nice haha!

So some other funny stories theres this kid here, hes 22 thinks he knows everything, the gooberiest kid and hes got a girlfriend right? That's not the funny part, his girlfriend bought and named a star after him. First of the star isn't even recognized as a star by Nasa and second his first name is Patrick. Patrick Star!! I cried laughing it was great! Another funny story is in the bathroom we just sit there and blow bubbles and its so great!! haha Last funny story, We were playing soccer this week and there was a ball in the air, so i Went to jump and get it and so did an Hermana from the other team, except she led with her knee. She got me right in the place where she shouldn't have. My privates. She was like oh are you OK, and me being the stud that I am played it off like a champ but it hurt so bad!! They seriously hurt from 3:45 til i went to bed at 10:30 so pray I can still have kids!!

I'm doing a lot better now and everything is great except one thing. Teaching. Teaching is the most frustrating thing because i study and i study a lot. but elder budden doesn't. a lot of the times he just sits there and stares into space.  which is bad because he cant speak Spanish so when i try to help him write things down he does for maybe two minutes then just stops. I get so stressed and stuff when we have to go teach. I do most of the talking which is bad cause I don't know much but I just pray that the spirit will guide me.

I thought id leave you with another thought this week. Its a question i want you all to ponder! "If you could see God face to face what would you say?" and "What do you need to do to prepare for that"

I love and miss you all more than anything! I think about all the amazing friends and family i have at home every day and I am so so blessed to have all of you! This elephant is pretty big dad but I am a hungry young man!! :)

With much love,

 ELDER LUVLOW (LUDLOW)

Hola Familia'

Hola Familia y amigos! Como estas? Can you say the longest week of my life?? The flights were bad because I slept for 20 min and then I would wake up so it took so long!! and the entire time I was confused why I was doing this. We got to the CCM (MTC) at like 1 o clock Tuesday night. Wednesday felt like the entire 2 years all in one day! A lot of orientation and crap. Then Thursday felt like a year and a half because of all the same orientation crap! They say the first day is the longest day of your life and they just go by faster after that! And they aren't lying!

  

So my companion is Elder Budden, he is from Oregon! He is 20 and BJ always said "If there's not a weird elder in your district then it's you" Well let's just say that in my district my companionship has the weird elder.. .and it's not me!! haha oh but I love him and he is a great guy, but man you just got to meet him! Ill see if i can send some pictures of us! Haha Elder Augaut, Janice and Bill's nephew or whomever, is in my district and he is way cool! It's crazy here at the CCM so many people remind me of people from home! My district leader looks and acts exactly like Garret West! Make sure Garret hears about that! haha he is way cool and super funny! Then there's an advansado (advanced) elder who looks like Jake's twin. When I saw him i thought it was Jake. It is nuts! Then in my district also there's a guy named Elder Falslev, he reminds me of Reice! holy cow its crazy!!

Ok so after Wednesday and Thursday things kinda got better! Me and Elder Wright, another member of my district, get along super well! We always make fun of the Hermanas in our District, Lo SIENTO! But Elder wright is super chill and I've got a great district! Ok back to my schedule. I have classes all day everyday. and it's super busy but its so much better when its busy! It keeps my mind of things, and truly there is so much to learn!!  My morning classes I have 2 teachers, Hermano Davalos and Hermana Chacon. They are awesome! Davalos supposedly speaks fluent English but only talks to us in Spanish so we try to get him to say things in English! It's great! For PE I've played volleyball and soccer.. I don't really enjoy soccer because I'm not good and the Latinos never pass the ball.  But I definitely kill it in volleyball.. Ive had some great spikes and things. Man I feel like so much has happened but I honestly cant remember any of it!

Honestly I have been super homesick.  I never thought i would miss hearing my brothers fight and argue but hear I am wishing I could hear there voices.  Oh and the food.... I was so spoiled thanks a lot mom!! You have no idea what i would do for some home baked goods. To bad I cant get packages in the CCM.. Its a good thing that I wont be in the CCM on Christmas! haha honestly Dads letter has what has been truly getting me through all of this!

My Spanish is coming along really well! I remember so much more and have learned so much in the past week there's no way I could do this without the spirit.  I just thought I would leave you guys with this... Last night we had a devotional. An area authority came and spoke to us and that was great but we sang, How Great Thou Art, in Spanish but still, How great is Heavenly Father?? He is truly AMAZING!! If you ever want to feel the spirit sing hymns.  It is a great way to start of that meeting!

I love and miss you all so much! I will try and get back to as many emails as I can but I don't know if I will be able to! My Pdays are actually gonna be on Thursdays so don't fret when i don't email you next Wednesday! We just had it switched this week! I hope everything is great at home!!! Oh and by the way pretty sure I found BRO Dalbys tie shop... and everyone here has his ties its awesome!!! 

LOVE YOU ALL

ELDER LUDLOW! :)

HOLA

We have two minutes so i have to be short. I'm here and i am safe. I forgot my temple recommend so we will see how that goes.

 I love and miss you guys! I will email you soon! The plane ride was long and i slept a lot. During the plane ride I was really questioning what i was doing but now being here it has been a lot better.  The weather is actually really nice! It's kinda foggy and cloud cover but it feels great.  Gotta go Adios Familia!! btw the keyboards are really weird so if there are typos sorry!