12-25-08
From the call with Jon
From the call with Jon
This is a picture of the family Jon lives with in Vitarte
We asked him what he knew of the Bolivian mission being closed. The companion that Jon has now never went to Bolivia he went from the Peru MTC to Lima East. He was called to Bolivia though.
Apparently the mission was closed in 1 day due to terrorists. Many of the missionaries left with only what was on their back. There are some real scary stories.
One Elder tells of them leaving in a hurry with 4 Elders in a back of a pickup truck. There were sticks of dynamite thrown at them as they left. The church had a private plane waiting for them at the airport.
We ask about the Lima Este mission. There are 230 missionaries now. We think that 30-50 are from the Bolivia mission. There are 20 zones in Jon’s mission. There are 6 zones in Lima: 1 zone on the Amazon, 2 in Huanuco, some in the providences etc. There are 4-6 Elders in a district. There are about 230 baptisms a month. That means about one per missionary, but it does not always work out that way.
For Christmas the mission president organized some Christmas dinners. Jon said he had about 100 missionaries at his dinner and some missionary couples. Jon was real impressed because they had mashed potatoes and gravy and good meat. Jon’s mission president is a native so he was real impressed with the good food. They held the dinner in the stake center. Jon said the Stake Centers are huge in Peru.
The Stake Centers in Peru are way bigger than the Stake Centers in the states.
Jon was supposed to have a baptismal interview on Christmas Eve, but the person getting baptized forgot (?) about it. Jon was going to take the DL to the potential member’s home later in the day on Christmas day to possibly conduct the interview
Rafael in getting baptized later this month and Jon calls or cks up on him everyday. Rafael said you don’t have to keep asking me if I drank alcohol or if I have been with girls. Jon told him --- I will call you everyday until we get you baptized!
Peru has interesting Christmas Eve traditions. Everyone goes up on their roof and shoots off powerful fireworks. Jon says it last for 15 minutes and it feels like you are in a war zone. It was unbelievably loud and pretty.
All the workers take Christmas off including the Police so Christmas Eve and Christmas day are a free for all. Jon watched a dude getting robbed right in front of his house.
Jon is 176 pounds now. His cooking lady cooks rice with chicken sauce every night. He is getting tired of that taste, but loves the cooking lady and her family. Jon also lives with this family. It is very hot and moist in Peru right now as it is summer.
Jon lives in Vitarte, Lima, Peru. It is a part of Lima. It is very poor area. The people live in little dusty houses on the hills. He says it looks a lot like the Mesquite area.
Jon loves the people and the Elder’s are trying really hard to get some families in the church.
During Jon’s call we quickly conference called all the Grandmas and Grandpa’s and Lisha and Clint. He was able to say a quick Merry Christmas and able to hear them tell him that they loved him.
We sure enjoyed hearing from Jon. Mostly we just listened and enjoyed hearing his voice and spirit.
We asked him what he knew of the Bolivian mission being closed. The companion that Jon has now never went to Bolivia he went from the Peru MTC to Lima East. He was called to Bolivia though.
Apparently the mission was closed in 1 day due to terrorists. Many of the missionaries left with only what was on their back. There are some real scary stories.
One Elder tells of them leaving in a hurry with 4 Elders in a back of a pickup truck. There were sticks of dynamite thrown at them as they left. The church had a private plane waiting for them at the airport.
We ask about the Lima Este mission. There are 230 missionaries now. We think that 30-50 are from the Bolivia mission. There are 20 zones in Jon’s mission. There are 6 zones in Lima: 1 zone on the Amazon, 2 in Huanuco, some in the providences etc. There are 4-6 Elders in a district. There are about 230 baptisms a month. That means about one per missionary, but it does not always work out that way.
For Christmas the mission president organized some Christmas dinners. Jon said he had about 100 missionaries at his dinner and some missionary couples. Jon was real impressed because they had mashed potatoes and gravy and good meat. Jon’s mission president is a native so he was real impressed with the good food. They held the dinner in the stake center. Jon said the Stake Centers are huge in Peru.
The Stake Centers in Peru are way bigger than the Stake Centers in the states.
Jon was supposed to have a baptismal interview on Christmas Eve, but the person getting baptized forgot (?) about it. Jon was going to take the DL to the potential member’s home later in the day on Christmas day to possibly conduct the interview
Rafael in getting baptized later this month and Jon calls or cks up on him everyday. Rafael said you don’t have to keep asking me if I drank alcohol or if I have been with girls. Jon told him --- I will call you everyday until we get you baptized!
Peru has interesting Christmas Eve traditions. Everyone goes up on their roof and shoots off powerful fireworks. Jon says it last for 15 minutes and it feels like you are in a war zone. It was unbelievably loud and pretty.
All the workers take Christmas off including the Police so Christmas Eve and Christmas day are a free for all. Jon watched a dude getting robbed right in front of his house.
Jon is 176 pounds now. His cooking lady cooks rice with chicken sauce every night. He is getting tired of that taste, but loves the cooking lady and her family. Jon also lives with this family. It is very hot and moist in Peru right now as it is summer.
Jon lives in Vitarte, Lima, Peru. It is a part of Lima. It is very poor area. The people live in little dusty houses on the hills. He says it looks a lot like the Mesquite area.
Jon loves the people and the Elder’s are trying really hard to get some families in the church.
During Jon’s call we quickly conference called all the Grandmas and Grandpa’s and Lisha and Clint. He was able to say a quick Merry Christmas and able to hear them tell him that they loved him.
We sure enjoyed hearing from Jon. Mostly we just listened and enjoyed hearing his voice and spirit.
