December 26, 2017

Area where our ward is

One of my favorite teaching spots

View from the lighthouse we run to in the morning

December 18, 2017

Hey guys it was another successful week in Peru. I guess my wrist isn’t broken because it feels a lot better but still hurts a tiny bit. My guess is I just bruised the bone really bad or sprained it. I do have some bad news about my pictures though. The computers here aren’t very good so last week when I put my sim card in the computer it reformatted it and deleted everything. I have the first 4 weeks of the CCM saved in google drive but everything after that is lost which stinks.

We got to go to Piura on Thursday for the Christmas party so we had to leave super early. We had some trouble getting there because our bus broke down on the way there so we got on another bus which eventually broke down also. The trip took 8 hours instead of 6 but the party was a lot of fun. We got to eat a lot of pizza and candy, play games, and watched "It’s A Wonderful Life.” We stayed the night in Piura and got back to Zorritos in the afternoon safely.

Our investigators are progressing well and we’re baptizing our golden investigator (Juan) on December 30^th. We’re also going to try to baptize our pensionista this Saturday because she has been ready but she’s been waiting to be baptized with her friends who are also our investigators. Hopefully I have some good news about her next week.

I had a close call with almost speaking in church this week. We share a ward with another companionship and the Bishop told them he wanted me to speak. I was freaking out a little bit so my companion texted the Bishop to not have me speak because I was still very new. It worked out because he called another missionary to speak.

Anyways, I’m excited to get to Skype with y'all next week! We don’t know how or where we’re going to do it yet but we’ll figure it out. We should get to call or something on Sunday or maybe Saturday to set up the time with you guys. Take care and Love you guys!

Elder Smith

Scary experience on the combi

It was another exciting week. We were able to find some new investigators and our others are progressing pretty well. 

We were able to find the perfect investigator who driving us around in his moto taxi. He had a lot of questions for us and we were able to set up an appointment to visit him during his break. He knew the Bible in and out which actually helped us a lot. Our 2nd lesson we only taught a little about the Plan of Salvation and gave him a pamphlet. He came back the next lesson with a whole page of a sketch pad with a diagram and what he learned from it and it was all correct. It will probably be the most impressive thing I see on the mission from an investigator. We were able to get him to church and he loved it. A member actually asked him if he was baptized because he was participating so much. We hadn't invited him to be baptized yet because we hadn't taught about it yet but his answer that he will be soon so me and Elder Shumway freaked out a little bit. We just hope that he is married because that is a big problem here of people living together but not being married.

A scary experience we had this week was in a combi (little transportation bus) on the way back from a district meeting. A tire exploded and we were swerving all over the road and almost ended up in a ditch as we were trying to stop. All the Peruvian ladies were screaming and crying which didn't help but we eventually stopped safely. Then we had to wait on the side of the road for another combi to come by.

Today we had a soccer game against another zone which was fun but it was to make it to the Copa Piura next week. It's a big tourney between all the zones but we had to win to go because our zones are so far away. We ended up losing but they still might let us go. I also might have broken my wrist playing because I was going for a ball but ended up falling and slamming against a wall. It hurts to do a lot of things with it but I'll see how it feels Thursday and ask Hermana Rasmussen on Thursday during the Christmas Party in Piura. Other than that all is well here and we´re hoping to have multiple baptisms these next few weeks. 

Love, Elder Smith

Zorritos

This week has been a very long and exciting week but pretty hard because I'm still not that comfortable with Spanish. After lunch at the mission home we got assigned our trainers and our new areas. My companion is Elder Shumway who is from Spring, Texas which is pretty cool. He has been out for 9 months and we´ve been getting along really well.

Our area is Zorritos (La Cruz 2) which is in the Tumbes zone. We´re like right on the beach and this is probably the nicest area in the whole mission. However, we had some trouble getting out here because it´s a 5 1/2 hour bus ride to our area from Piura. We were planning to get here Tuesday night but there were no buses that night so we had to stay the night at the office where the assistants live. We did get to proselyte for a few hours though in Piura and it went great. We were able to get 3 new investigators for that area and they all seemed ready to get baptized already. 

We were then planning to leave for Zorritos on Wednesday morning but that didn't work out because there was a protest going on in the streets and nobody could pass them to get to Tumbes. The President decided to put us on a bus to Paita which is an hour away and then take a different route to Tumbes. But when we got to Paita the roads to Tumbes from there were also blocked off so they sent us back to Piura to stay the night there again. 

We finally got on a bus Thursday morning to Zorritos and got to work. We only have 1 member in our area but we have 3 others who are ready to be baptized they just get nervous every time we bring up a date and they all want to be baptized together because they became best friends at church when they went. We are always busy because we have plenty of people to teach and a lot more to find. I already love the people here and many of them are ready for the Gospel.

One of our investigators is actually our pensionista who makes lunch for us everyday. She makes great food and she always asks us what we want so I never have to worry about eating something gross from her. However, the members make us lunch on Saturdays and Sundays and their meals are a little different. We ate fish both times which wasn't too bad but they load huge plates up with rice and usually something else that isn't good. It's tough to get through it but I'm thankful that the members are willing to feed us. 

We go to to a church that is 20 minutes away and is actually a pretty good size with a decent amount of people but we need more Priesthood holders. I got the opportunity to introduce myself and share my testimony. They all came up to me after asking if I´m related to Joseph Smith which is pretty normal now. 

Our mission President is also super cool and chill. He trusts us a lot and let's us use our agency for most situations. 

Love, Elder Smith

Jacob arrives in Piura

Dear Brother & Sister Smith 

We are so happy to have Elder Smith serving in the Peru Piura Mission!  He arrived eager to go to work and we are impressed with his enthusiasm and desire to serve our Heavenly Father as a missionary.  After meeting him at the airport we had a luncheon at the Mission Home followed by a devotional and an interview.  The following day was a morning of training and the assignment of his trainer/companion.  Trainers are chosen for their obedience, patience, dedication and the guidance of the Holy Ghost.   We know that as these two missionaries study, pray and work together they will be blessed and guided in their service and find joy in teaching and sharing the gospel message. We are attaching a photo of your missionary with his new companion and us. 
  

We are grateful to you for sharing your son with us.  We know that thru hard work, obedience and prayer. Elder Smith will find joy in serving the Lord and the beautiful people of Peru.  Please encourage him to share his experiences with you and your family.  Write to him weekly and express your love, support and confidence in him.  You will witness miraculous changes in him as he learns to serve and love those with whom he works. 

We know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy and peace to all who will follow Him.  We are grateful to be a part of this great work and to serve with the wonderful young Elders and Sisters of our mission. 

If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at:  2010224@ldschurch.org. 

Fallow our Facebook page: Peru Piura Mission -- Rasmussen 

Sincerely, 

President & Sister Rasmussen 

Peru Piura Mission 

Week 5

This week has been a lot of fun but kind of crazy. Peru won their game on Wednesday night to make it into the world cup for the first time in a long time. Even though the CCM is kind of isolated we could hear the celebrations all night long. There was tons of fireworks and air horns going off. It was funny because all of the teachers had lost their voice from screaming celebrating and were running on 2 hours of sleep.

 The Spanish has been going well but can be very frustrating at times. I'm starting to be able to understand everything pretty well but can´t speak like I want to yet.

 Our proselyting activity was pretty hectic this week because we were supposed to be able to proselyte for about 3 hours but our bus took a wrong turn and got lost. We only got to proselyte for an hour but for me it was really only 30 minutes because the Elder I was going with misunderstood something and got us off track. I got to ride in their little transportation buses but I had to stand because there was no room and I was way too tall for it. I had my shoulders pushing against the ceiling and found out the ceiling was very dirty. It stained my shirt pretty bad with dust but Hermana Moore (the President's wife) will see what she can do about it. The first thing I got to teach about was homosexual relations and if women can wear pants to church so that was interesting. We only got to knock on 2 doors but we were able to have a good 10 minute conversation with a great lady that let us set up another appointment. I didn't say a whole lot but I got to testify to her that God loves her and knows her personally and her eyes lit up when I said that. It was great experience and the people of Peru are very open to talk to us. There are many people here who are ready for the Gospel.

Today we got to go to the temple for the last time for the next 2 years but it was a great experience as always. I will try to send some more pictures this week.

We will probably be leaving for Piura really late Monday night or early Tuesday morning. I will either get to email you guys quickly or have a quick phone call when we arrive there. I´m very excited to finally get to go out and teach.

Love, Elder Smith

My teacher

Week 4

The days are really starting to fly now and we get the chance to go proselyting in the Lima East Mission on Saturday so I'm super excited about that. Hopefully I'll get lucky and get to go with Jack Lopez. We got to go to the Temple again today and we got to do an English session which was great. I did get some better pictures of the temple but I'll have to find another way to send them because they blocked google drive on all the computers. 

This past Sunday has probably been my favorite day so far even though I had to speak in sacrament meeting. Every week they pick 4 people out of the congregation to give 5 minute talks in Spanish so you have to prepare a talk every week over a certain topic. I got called up and actually spoke for almost 7 minutes which has been the only time I've ever spoke over the given time. 

It has started to warm up here so we'll make it to Piura just in time for the heat. We talked to some people at the distribution center this morning who were from Piura and they said It's about to be really hot there and they eat a lot of fish. I've heard we're not allowed to eat the fish so hopefully that's true because I have eaten it twice in the CCM and it wasn't very enjoyable. 

It's also a pretty exciting time in Peru because they play tonight in Lima to get into the World Cup. I've asked the President and his wife many times about letting us all go for our P-day but they weren't big fans of the idea because the game isn't till 9:15. 

Anyways hope all is well in the States and love you guys.

Elder, Smith

Week 3

This week flew by but It was really sad to see all of the Latinos leave yesterday. I also found out that the Astros won on Thursday morning. I asked my teacher to tell me but his reply was 1 Nephi 13:22. Another teacher came in and he looked it up but I had to make a deal with him for him to tell me. The deal was that I could only speak in Spanish for the next 10 hours and every word I said in English was 20 pushups during physical activity. I ended up saying 19 words and doing 380 pushups but it was totally worth it. It kind of sucked to not be able to speak in English but it was cool to see how much Spanish I actually knew and how Spanish I still don't know. On Thursday I got 2 huge blisters on the bottom of my feet from playing soccer barefoot on the turf for like 10 minutes. It has been a pain to walk all week but they are finally healing now. I am thankful I just have blisters though because one of my roommates broke his wrist while playing soccer and has to wear a cast for the next few weeks.

My companion and I both got called to be zone leaders starting today so that's exciting but I think it is also very uncommon to have a companionship to be zone leaders. 

This morning we got to go the temple which was an awesome experience. It was a Spanish session but they gave us headphones to listen to it English. It was really hard to get any good pictures of the temple because it didn't fit in my camera. 

Love, Elder Smith

BLISTERS!

With my Ecuador peeps

"The food is pretty good for the most part but sometimes isn't very good.
It is just different types of chicken and beef with rice everyday"

Week 2

The days are starting to move a lot faster now but it gets kind of old sitting in a class room all day everyday but we find ways to have fun. The only time we got to leave the walls were this morning when we cleaned a church for 4 hours. The Spanish is starting to come pretty well and I can hold a decent conversation with the Latinos from Ecuador. The still love our room and hang out every night with us so we can practice our Spanish. 

Nothing really too exciting happened this week but we did experience 2 small earthquakes. This time they were probably calling us to repentance because they both happened when messing around in class. My companion and I also got our first investigator to commit to baptism. Even though it was not real because he is our teacher, it was really awesome to see the progress that was made.

We get about an hour everyday for physical activity an I typically play volleyball most days because it is really dangerous to play basketball or soccer. I have played soccer with the natives a few times but they were way too good for me and did not let me cherry pick. 

I hope all is well and Go Astros! 

Love, Elder Smith

P day will be on Tuesday next week and let me know if you guys were able to see the pictures. None of us really know how to share them with family yet.

1st Week

This week has been a lot of fun but has been very busy. The first few days took forever because it was a lot of orientation and registration stuff. Once Sunday hit then the time started to fly. 

It has been very hard adjusting because I forgot how long the days can be when you wake up at 6:30. After the first day I was called to be the district leader so I got to add more responsibilities to my already busy schedule. It has been a blessing though because I love my district and we all get along really well. My companion is Elder Randall who is from Utah and he is a great guy. He works very hard and is from Utah and we are very similar because we both played basketball and football in high school. We also both struggle with not being allowed to keep score or compete to hard. 

The work days are long but the spirit is very strong here especially on Sundays. Sundays are mostly in English so it is my favorite day by far. Most of the teachers speak in Spanish most of the class but I am starting to be able to understand them pretty clearly it just frustrates me sometimes because I know what I want to say back I just don't have enough Spanish skills to do so. We had to teach an "investigator" on the second day in Spanish which went terribly and it was humbling. We tried to teach him how to pray in Spanish and we had not learned how to pray in Spanish yet. The next few lessons definitely went better though. 

The CCM has been a lot of fun so far though. We have Latinos on our floor that love us so we get to practice a lot of our Spanish with them and they help us a lot. 

Other things that happened this week were that I experienced my first earthquake. We were singing Savior, Redeemer of My Soul and the Spirit was so strong the earth trembled for like 10 seconds. Also, we went and applied for our visas on Monday was an exciting experience. The cops around interpol were walking around with AK 47s and there were cats everywhere. On the way back to the CCM we hit a car because the driving is so scary here because nobody obeys any laws and they definitely do not drive for themselves and everybody else. We also got to tour Lima today because there the temple is closed. I will try to send pictures. The food is typically good but we do eat rice for 2 meals a day. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Smith

We decided they wrote no dunking in English because no
Peruvians are tall enough to get up there