Eat, Drink, and Be Merry for tomorrow we work!

Well Monday was awesome. Right after writing the family we decided to go to this store that has all american candy and stuff... And to our delight there was mountain dew there!! You know we bought a twelve pack!! And so that was great! Then we had to set up and plan our zone meeting we were up til 12:30...

Then Tuesday we had a zone meeting. To finish getting ready for zone meeting we had to get up at 5... it was crazy!! But what we did was the "Iron Rod" activity, all through our church. It was sweet!! Then we had lessons with investigators and other zone stuff to do.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Milagros an investigator who accepted a date for the 25th! It's going to be so awesome!! Then we had a couple other lessons with some other people who are kinda progressing. We also had more zone problems we had to take care of.

Thursday we had a couple lessons and got some new investigators all from referrals from Grover, and his sister. The reference from his sister now has a date for the 25th of December as well!! We had a lesson with Federico and Magly and things aren't looking good for their wedding. Oh and Happy Thanksgiving!! haha When we were eating lunch my comp was sitting on a bench, and the pension on the other side.  The pension got up to help her husband carry something and my comp turns to help and the bench tips and he falls and spills juice in his lunch and it was so darn funny!!! haha He almost tipped the table over even!! Oh man we were dying laughing!

Friday I did divisions with Elder Polad, one of the district leaders in our zone, and it actually is AJ's son!! So it was awesome! We had a couple of lessons, mission coordination, ward council and a ward activity so it was sweet! Then he showed me some pictures of AJ! That was trunky....

Saturday we had a couple of lessons with investigators as well. and we have another inv with a date for the 25th. We have been inviting everyone to baptism, and lots with date for the 25th, its gonna be a white christmas!!! We also contacted some people and contacted this kinda crazy, but super nice lady!

Sunday just a normal Sunday, but I had to take an elder to Chanu Chanu to pick up his new companion, there were changes within the change, and well it was sweet because I got to see a lot of the old members from Chanu Chanu, I also saw Belinda, and her family. They were my rescue there and so it made me so happy to see that they were active!! I went to chanu chanu with him and my comp stayed with a member cause we had lessons for 3 straight hours after the church!! It was awesome and the best part was we reached our goal of having 20 lessons with investigators this week!! We are working super hard!!

The work here is awesome!! I love it! Elder Johanson and I teach so great together!! We are seeing lots of success! We have 6 inv. with a date right now, and plan to have a couple more this week!!! So it's gonna be great!! I love you all and hope you have a great week!! I can't believe tomorrow is December..... It's crazy!!

Love,

ELder Ludlow

Cookies and Cleft Palates'

So here is another rundown of another great week!! I'm doing great and so don't worry mom!!

Tuesday we had actually a lot of lessons and it was so awesome!! Even though a lot of them failed us we were able to find a lot of the people who we need to progress so that was awesome!! We also got a new investigator who is seems pretty interested!! We also had a lesson with an investigator who saw me playing piano and wants to learn, so we said i can teach her every time we teach her the lessons, cause we teach her in the church!! She was totally pumped! So hopefully I can be like Janet!! haha

Wednesday We had a service, kinda like the oneSight service i did in Cusco but for a organization called Operation Sunrise, or Operation Smile. We thought we would be translating but they all spoke Spanish so we did other types of service,  we were there a lot of the day and then we were doing zone stuff for the rest... haha

Thursday we had the service again, a lesson with Edgar who sadly is just not progressing.. we aren't sure what to do with him, but we are thinking of leaving him. Then we had some lessons with Yonni, our inv with a date for the 12th, and it was a solid lesson, but kinda short cause he didn't have time, hes got a bad drinking problem as well, so sad. we also had other lessons with people, then a meeting with the stake president #ZoneLeaderBusiness it stunk, he's an interesting man... haha

Friday Was great, we had stuff to do from 6:30 in the morning to 9 at night!! Full of stuff we had to do for the zone, lessons, which is awesome, then more lessons and well ya it was a busy busy busy day! But busy days are the best!! Magly and Federico, the less active and Inv, who we are getting married are super excited about their marriage still! So that's awesome! We also got a new inv from an inv that we have, its his cousin! She is so cool and is super interested and is helping our investigator be more interested so ya that's awesome!

Saturday was awesome, more service, more zone stuff and a couple lessons. We found a lady we had contacted in the street, and we truly believe she was prepared! She has family who are Mormon and in the first lesson we committed her to be baptized! #PMGmission=BaptizinMisson #TheDistrictJokes oh ya my comp also lost his bag so we spent some time looking for it, we found it! :)

Sunday was just a  normal busy Sunday WE were all over the place We had another lesson with our inv and his cousin, Edward and Lucero, they are progressing very well! They both came to church and they both now have date for the 19th of December!! SWEETTTT!! haha then they had a multi stake fireside for returned missionaries, and the Stake President asked our zone to do a special number, We sang Oh My Father, the hymn, but to the music of Come Thou Fount, I played the piano and my zone sang, we practiced for about 30 min, we sounded like the MO tab!! haha Then we had a lesson with a less active, RM, Omar. He is gonna come back we are sure of it!! 

Well That's about it!! Another great part of the week is we put up Christmas light in our room, and well here's a picture, we don't even use our light anymore, just the Christmas light!! I love Christmas!! haha and don't say it's not even thanksgiving yet, cause they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here!! Good ole Peru!! haah Well i love you all and am so thankful for all the support! Have a great  Thanksgiving!! 

Love, 

Elder Ludlow

Oh My HILLS!!!

Well this week was awesome! 

On Tuesday we had a couple lessons, one with this crazy investigator named Fanny. My comp told me we aren't sure how she will progress cause she's kinda crazy, ya she was. Really nice, just crazy haha! Then we had a lesson with a kid named Edgar, he had a date and passed his interview, but his parents talked him out of being baptized, even though he's like 20. So we had a sweet lesson with him, but he's still scared about something. Then we had some lessons with some recent converts. 

Wednesday we decided we needed to run every morning, so now every morning we are running to Edgar's house and reading the BofM with him. The crappy thing is he lives on the top of a hill!! haha but hopefully I will get less fat. Then we had some lessons with some other people and had one with an inv. named Jonny. We taught the Restoration and taught it so well!! It was awesome! He has a date for the 13th of December! Then we had some other lessons. 

Thursday in weekly planning I had the greatest idea! So we have this less active who lives with her boyfriend, who is an inv. who knows the church is true. My comp has been trying to get them to get married forever!! Well, I thought  we could use a Christmas miracle!!!! So we went to their house that night and shared our idea that they should get married and then her boyfriend, Federico, could get baptized on Christmas!! So she was a little hesitant but accepted! So now we are in the proccess of helping them!! Then we also got 3 references from a recent convert Grover! Grover is a golden reference machine!! 2 of the 3 references he had given before these three, have been baptized and the other one we are working with! They all seem like they could progress!!

Friday we had to go do some stuff for the zone. Saturday we had a zone meeting, and we had to go buy stuff to make lunch for the zone for this conference. It took a lot of time but we still had a couple of lessons

Saturday we had our zone conference and interviews with President Harbertson. It was all good, but our zone is huge so it lasted a long time. Then after we had to clean the chapel up. But luckily a recent convert came to the chapel, so we taught her with Sister Harbertson! That was awesome!!!

Sunday We had stake conference, a new investigator that we commited to baptism in the first lesson, and some other powerful lessons! We had a lesson with Jonny and we talked about the Book of Mormon, well we taught with such power it was so awesome!!!!!! It was sweet!! Then we did the same with a recent convert.

Well this week was awesome!! I love life and I love Puno!! It has rained everyday this week so that's kinda lame, but its awesome!! Really we are putting in work and Elder Johanson has helped me a lot to be better!!

Here's a pic of me in our bathroom, I'm taller than our shower head....  #tallpeopleproblem!!

Love you all have a great week!!

Elder Ludlow

Puno!!!

Well this week was an interesting week, I'll show you why.

So Monday I got my change right? Well I couldn't even pack my bags that day because we had to go help our bishop with a baptism. So that was kinda lame, then I cut my hair and we had a district meeting and, yup that was good.

Tuesday I went and said bye to a lot of people, and it was really sad, one of the saddest moments was when Gustavo started to cry. Me and him are patas you could say and well he is the greatest guy! Then I also said goodbye to other people and packed the bags, from 8:00 in the morning we were busy.  Also we had an appt with this new investigator who knows a lot. He was talking to us about a lot of stuff but the funniest thing was he asked us if we knew why we left two by two.  We shared a scripture why and then he said:

"Oh that makes sense, but also do you know where the word testify comes from? It comes from the word testicules. How many testicules do men have? 2 right? Back in the old times before there were bibles, when people would go to court they would grab there testicules with their left hand, put their right hand over their heart and testify!" 

Hahah it was one of the funniest things I've heard!! Good ole crazy people.  Then Tuesday Elder Barry's new companion got here so I went to another sector with another elder who didn't have a comp.

Wednesday we had a training for zone leaders ,so we were at the training, then that night some members invited us to eat. They made kabobs I ate 12! It was great.

Thursday my comp, Elder Johanson, came to Cusco.  Every month there is a meeting called consilio, or like a council of leadership in the mission, so my comp had to come for that. Meanwhile I did a service then picked him up, we went out to Mcdonalds! First big mac in over a year, it was great!

Friday we had that meeting and it was awesome, we usually are in suits but for this one we were in p-day clothes because we did an activity outside it was super cool! I learned a lot and hope to be better! Friday night we went to Chilis!

Saturday we traveled back to Puno and we also had a baptism, so right when we got there we had to go get stuff set up for the baptism. You know it's great when you get to a sector and the day you get there you have a baptism! Awesome!

Sunday was just a normal Sunday, well actually it was the primary program, it was really cool. Not as well prepared as the one in Cusco but it was good, then we had appts with a lot of inv! We have an inv. with a date who has a drinking problem his name is Euclides, he is super cool and we are gonna get him to stop drinking so he can be baptized!

The work in this sector is awesome! There are a lot of people! Elder Johanson is a great companion and we get along awesome! I'm super excited to be back here in my pueblo! Today we are actually going to have lunch with a member from Chanu Chanu so that's awesome! Well some funny things for this week, my bags still aren't even fully unpacked, we have just been so jam packed with things, but today I will get to them!! 

Everything is going great.  This new sector is like all hills, so I'm gonna die!!! Hahah. Nah, hopefully that helps me to not be so fat!!!

Well thanks for all your support! I love you! The church is true!! Have a great week!

Back in Puno with his new comp, Elder Johanson

The Puno Curse

Haha, well here's the rundown..

Tuesday we didn't have a lot of lessons but just one with our less active Janet, she's super awesome and so is her sister Ailang, an active member.  But other than that we had a lot of failed appts and nothing...

Wednesday was solid. We had appts with Gustavo, Juana, and then with a new reference from a member. The reference is super awesome and she is married as well!! The only thing is she lives right next to our limits so we don't know what will happen, hopefully she lives in our area!

Thursday was long and sad, we walked a lot and no one answered at all, everyone failed us and well it was just all sad.

Friday was good, we did divisions with the zone leaders, I was with Elder Day and we put in work! We had lessons with Gustavo and with a new less active named Alfredo who is super cool!!! He is such a great guy! He speaks English, has a sister that goes to BYU and really is just a great guy!! Then we knocked some doors, found some cool new people, had a lesson with our inv. Frida, and then with another family. We ended the day with misison coordination. It was a really good day!!!

Saturday, well Halloween definitely is different here. Not nearly as big, but oh well! We had no lessons, but Ailang invited us to eat and we had some chicken, go figure. Then we had a family night in our pensions house and we were using some Halloween costumes. . .vampire teeth that my mom sent me, and it was good fun.

Then Sunday I got a shoutout from the Bishop in Elders quorum because he kinda knew I would have a transfer. Then we had some lessons, I said bye to some friends and then we walked a little looking for people, no one was home. We ended with a family night in our ward mission leader's house, and ya... it's kinda sad.

Well the scripture of the week is alma 5:16. 

Well everyone has told me since I started my mission in Puno that I was cursed. I never actually believed them until today. The curse is that if you start in Puno you will always return!! Well I'm going back haha..... I'm going to BellaVista barrio Tupac Yupanqui.. it's the other stake in Puno. And I'm really sad.. I don't wanna leave my son!! I'm going to be companions with Elder Johanason a greengo, who supposedly plays soccer very well so now is my chance!! haha I met him when I was in Puno six months ago, he's been in the same sector a looooooong time!!

Love you all and well have a great week!!!

Elder Ludlow

I guess switching name tags was all a part of their "costumes.