This week was a little weird because my companion was a mini missionero and it was weird to be sr companion for a week. but we worked hard. on Monday one of our citas fell through and I had a feeling that we should go see this family. when we got there the dad was struggling to get the moto out of the house because they had dug more ditches. We helped him and after he told us he had said a prayer that someone would come to help him and then we showed up. it was nice to talk to everyone on Christmas! on Thursday one of our citas fell through and i had a feeling that we should go talk to this group of kids. so we went and talked to them and it turns out they have been looking for the missionaries to come around. we ended up teaching two brothers the next day and challenged them to baptism in the first lesson and they accepted! they are getting baptized January 18 and their parents are interested in listening too. it was awesome. then the rest of the days were pretty normal and today my new companion elder cortes from Chile also haha is here and we are excited to get to work. sorry this email kinda sucks i haven't been feeling too good lately.

 

Well hello again this week was pretty good. On Wednesday we decorated our room with Christmas lights and I even broke a branch off of a tree a crossed the road to make a Christmas tree haha. then on Friday we had our ward talent show and it was awesome. Except it was supposed to start at 7 and we started at about 840 haha but that's just pretty much how it is down here. On Saturday we had our devotional with the President in Piura. We played games and watched the polar express so that was pretty cool haha. When we were there I was talking to an elder from Hurricane and he was telling me that he was at our state football games last year and was telling me how awesome our crowd was. One of the families we are teaching have a dog that just had puppies and there was only one white one...they named it Elder Chapman hahahah.  Yesterday the assistants called us in the morning and told us that my companion has a cambio de emergencia  so he left today in the morning for Piura to be the personal secretary to the president. That kinda sucked because we were good friends. Now I am with two other elders but I'm pretty sure that Adhayr is going to be my companion this week. 

My gustarìa terminar este mensaje con mi testimonio. en este tiempo de navidad a veces solo pensamos en los regalos o la comida pero sabemos el proposito verdadero de la navidad. yo sè que jesucristo murió para nosotros y que el vive. yo sè que este es la iglesia verdadera aquì en la tierra y que podemos ser familias eternas. feliz navidad cholos  Translation: I'd like to end this post with my testimony. Christmas at this time sometimes we just think of the gifts or the food but we celebrate the real purpose of Christmas. I know that Jesus Christ died for us and he lives. I know this is the true church here on earth and we can be eternal families. Happy Christmas cholos...

 

 Elder Chapman, Adhayr and Elder Mantura

 

Hola...this week was pretty good. On Wednesday we had entrevistas with the President and it was my first one in the field so that was pretty cool. Then on Friday the zone leaders did a surprise visit in the morning and studied with us. Then when we got home our dueño told us that we aren't going to have water for 8 days starting soon. So that is going to suck haha. We are filling every bottle and bucket we can find with water so that we will have something to shower with haha. then Saturday I finally got my Thanksgiving dinner. We ate at a members house and had turkey and there was so much freakin food. By the time we finally finished the turkey and rice and stuff they brought out giant muffins. Then when we finally finished that they brought out a giant slice of pie. Then me and my companion were joking with them asking if there was anything else we could eat and they brought out panetón its like a fruit cake and it wasn't really very good but holy crap we were stuffed haha... then for dinner we went out on a limb and ate hamburgers from the street again haha. Still no damage done so thats good. This week we have a talent show in our ward and we are writing a song to sing in it that should be really funny haha. Then Saturday we have our Christmas devotional in Piura. We have a baptism planned for Saturday but we arent very sure its going to happen because the girls mom doesn't want her to so I guess we will see how that goes. Me and my companion saw this guy during the past week and felt we should talk to him and holy crap he turned out to have some serious potential.  The only problem is he doesn't have chairs in his house so we teach him standing up haha. Love you guys.

 

Well this was a pretty good week. On Tuesday we had intercambios (forgot what they are called in English) and that was nice because our district leader came to our area with me and I actually got to be in charge for once haha. We taught a few lessons that day and even taught a couple new people but the highlight of the day was when we were walking home that night and ended up finding one of our investigators drunk and he was just wandering around. This was the second time we have found him drunk but the first time that we have found him in public haha...and my district leader is also a gringo and he didn't know what to do and I pretty much just had to talk to this drunk guy and convince him to go back home and then we walked him to his house haha. The other day we were walking down the road and all these little kids started screaming, vaqueros! vaqueros! haha because one time we wore our cowboy hats and they saw us and now they call us that every time they see us hahaha. Yesterday we got to participate in the primary program and that was cool. Then I had my first experience with weird food. haha we ate at a members house and had fish but they just like cut it in half and fried it. eyeballs and all haha but it was pretty good actually. I have learned that there are two parts to the gift of tongues...one has to do with the language and the other is to be able to handle weird food hahaha. The other day me and my companion were feeling pretty good so we bought some hamburgers from a vender in La Venita and we thought for sure we were going to be sick but they were delicious and we didn't get sick. We think we are going to return for more haha. This morning it rained for about 20 mins...it was weird because I haven't seen rain for 3 months haha. Well thats all. Love you guys.

The Elders singing in the Primary Program...looks like he sings as much as he did when he was in Primary!!!

Thanksgiving Peruvian Syle

Well hello again. This week went by really fast. Haha first off our whole area is destroyed because they are going to put in water so that the people can have flushing toilets. So all of the "roads" are torn up and there is a big canal and big sand hills that we have to climb to get to lessons. So every night when we get home we empty like 5 pounds of sand out of our shoes haha. Thanksgiving was pretty cool here. I had some nice turkey and cheese sandwiches. You guys really missed out haha. On Saturday we finished our lessons and we were walking home and all of the power went out and we were in a pretty scary part of our area and still had like 20 mins of walking and we could only see like 10 feet in front of us so that was pretty cool haha. Yesterday we got invited to participate in the primary program this Sunday so that should be cool hanging out with all these freaking churres haha. Just so everybody knows, DeLane is winning the letter count... pretty handily. Well that's all, Love you guys.

This was a pretty good week. As you all know on Wednesday we went to Chiclayo to hear Russell M. Nelson speak. It was really good and we also heard from one of the area presidency and his wife and Russell M. Nelson's wife. There seemed to be a theme of family history work and eternal families and how the goal isn't baptism, the goal is the temple and eternal families. That took up all of Wednesday then on Thursday me and my companion were teaching this lady and we started talking about how hot it is and she said we need hats. So she went and got us both cowboy hats hahah.
 Then Friday this new evangelic church started going around telling people not to listen to us and their main arguments were that the Mormons don't preach repentance. I have one of their pamphlets and it just talks about how Adam and Eve were not naked in the garden of Eden hahaha. Then Saturday we had a service project and holy crap that was a lot of work haha. We had to dig a trench for these people to put water in so they could have a flushing toilet. The trench was about three feet deep, two feet wide, and about 20 yards long and its not like we were using your classic Home Depot shovels, these things were home made haha. I have a blister, well a hole in my hand where there used to be a blister, about the size of a quarter haha. No big plans for thanksgiving. I'll probably just have my ramen noodles. Well that's my week. Love you guys.

 

 

Cold showers and bugs...

Hello again. This was a really good week for me. On Wednesday we had exchanges so I was with another new missionary in his area for the day. Haha two new missionaries together for a day. Actually turned out really good though. The plus side was that he is Peruvian so it wasn't two gringos trying to do something haha. Then on Thursday we went to Piura for a reunion of all the new missionaries and had a little conference thing and ate lunch there. We had sloppy joes and I have never liked them but I pounded about 3 of them haha hey everyone always says the mission changes you. It has been getting really hot lately. Everyday after lunch when we have language study I take a shower with this freezing cold water and that helps for about 30 minutes. Then I do the same thing before I go to bed haha. Also the mosquitos have been coming out. I havent gotten bit too much but my companion is covered haha. This week we are going to Chiclayo on Wednesday! Elder Russell M. Nelson is coming to talk to the mission and the whole Peru Piura mission gets to go and watch, I'm pretty pumped for that haha. Well thats all for this week. Love you guys.

 

The Elders and Adha Yr 



Short(er) and Sweet...

Well another week that flew by. Me and my companion worked hard this week and we had the best numbers of the transfer so far for us. Nothing really exciting though. Just working haha. We aren't doing anything as a zone today so we have the whole day free until 6 when we have our lessons. Yesterday the three girls got confirmed and they felt really good after. I do have to brag that I make a pretty mean French toast for what I have to work with haha and I don't know why but I can freakin eat a lot haha I'm gonna be fat by the time I come home but that's a good thing. Sorry this e mail is short haha I don't really have a whole lot to write about, just the same old same old, sand, sun, sweat. heat, etc. its great. Well love you guys.

Well this week was great and flew by. I cant believe I'm sitting here writing you guys again already. We were supposed to have two baptisms yesterday but they fell through because their mom doesn't want them to be baptized. We were also supposed to have 4 confirmations but only had one because the three little girls didn't have money to get to the church so they will be confirmed this week. On Thursday we got some great news that on November 20th Elder Russell M Nelson is going to Chiclayo and that the entire Peru Piura mission is going to watch him talk so that should be way fun. So yesterday was fast Sunday, and we get to the church and one of the counselors in the bishopric came up to us and said that the stake president moved fast Sunday to next week and that they need people to talk in sacrament meeting. so I got volunteered and got to give my first talk haha. It was good and I talked about missionary work and how everyone should want to share the blessings that we have in this gospel. Then the guy that talked after me talked about how they all watched me bear my testimony a month ago and how I struggled with my words and how today I gave a great message and he talked about how the gift of tongues is real. So I felt pretty good about that haha. Well that's all for this week. Love you guys.

Halloween was pretty normal around here. Nothing to exciting happened. Me and my companion made sponge bob mac and cheese for dinner and that's about it haha.  Its a solid 95 right now where I'm at.

This week was pretty good i guess. On Wednesday we went to Piura for a multizone and we learned a lot of good things there that will help us on our missions. Then Thursday was just another normal day haha. Then friday we went to piura again because my companion had to get his prescription. We were only there for like an hour though and came back and had lessons that day. Then yesterday we had our baptisms and it was my first two baptisms. I baptized two little girls one 13 and one 9. It was a great experience for me to be able to help them start their path. Down here they all have like 4 names that i cant even pronounce but i got everything right so that was good haha. Then today we went and played basketball and futbol at the stake center with the whole zone. They all wanted to be on my team for basketball but when it comes to futbol they all say "no basa nada con elder chapman" which translates to he sucks... hahahaha its in a joking way though and we all laugh haha.

Short update...Week 2 in Sullana

Well one more week down. Nothing really new here. Just hot and dusty as normal...haha it was a good week though. On Wednesday we had to go to Piura because my companion was going to Lima for visa stuff so I spent the night and the next day in Piura with a zone leader. I even had to sleep under a mosquito net haha. Lets just say it didn't really work and i have a few mosquito bites haha. then we didn't get back to Sullana until about 10 Thursday night. then it was just back to normal. We are really busy right now and are teaching lots of lessons. We have a few investigators but a lot of less actives that we are working on. We have 4 baptisms for this Sunday and two for the next to hopefully those don't fall. haha me and my companion were so bored the other day we were playing baseball in our room with a ball of paper and our flip flops. Which reminds me I didn't tell you guys about our room. Its actually really big and nice compared to the other missionaries rooms. Our bathroom is awesome though haha. I haven't had a hot shower since I got here haha. The water barely flows out of the shower head and sometimes there's no water at all. In that case there's a 25 gallon bucket in the shower with a cup in it. Its great haha. well that's all for this week. 

Logan

Week 1 Sullana...pure entertainment!

Well here I am sitting in some random internet cafe in Sullana Peru where no one speaks English. Just another day in paradise haha. Where do I even start... well we got here on Tuesday, stayed the night in a hotel, and then left for our areas Wednesday. My area is Sullana and the ward I’m in is Sanchez Cerro. Sullana is the hottest area in all of Piura so I got that going for me. So Wednesday night we had a lesson with Rigoberto and that went good. I think. Haha it’s hard to even know whets going on when you don’t speak the language. But my companion is really good at basically telling me what to talk about so that’s good. Then on Thursday I saw the one eyed monster. Yep. We were in the middle of teaching a lesson and the little kid runs up to the mom and just starts lunch. hahaha well I though that it was like a rare thing but nope. It’s happened pretty much every day since haha. Then yesterday we were walking around to go to our lessons and we walked up to this guy who was sitting outside his front door. This guy was probably 220, sitting in a little tiny little kids chair holding his kid. Well while we were talking to him, and I’m not making this up, that little tiny blue chair completely shattered and he went down. Baby and all. It took everything in me not to be laughing my guts out but I helped him up and we went in his house. After me and my companion joked that the spirit broke the chair so that we could go in haha. We have 5 baptisms coming up in the next month. 3 for the 27 of October and 2 for the 3 of November. These people are so awesome. They have nothing but still want to make sure they give you something. Every time we go to Jorge’s house he runs down the street and buys us a drink after the lesson. His house is made out of bamboo and palm tree leaves. The food is awesome and a lot better than I expected. haven’t had anything really bad yet. Well that’s all. Te amo

Logan

Dear Brother & Sister Chapman,
We are so happy to have Elder Chapman 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 assigning 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 Chapman 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.

Brother and Sister Rowley

Well I made it to Piura! We got to know the President and his wife then we ate a really good lunch.  After that we went proselyting and had interviews.  Then we went and stayed in a hotel.  It was pretty cool I guess.  Then today we got our companions.  Our area is Sullana it's just a little north of Piura.  I'll tell you guys all about it on Monday when I write.  I'm excited to get out there and start teaching people.. We have our first lesson tonight at 7 haha...you guys are awesome I Love you guys...

Logan

Last week in the CCM

Well it was a great week here at the CCM! It sucks that I finally have a good week and now its already time to leave on Tuesday. haha I feel like the next couple months are pretty much going to suck because I don't speak Spanish very good but oh well once I learn it...it will be great. So I just got back from going to the post office to get my package and holy crap these people don't know how to drive. It was pretty fun though. Conference is on Sunday and I'm pumped! It will be a great last thing to watch before hitting the field. I feel like I always have a giant list of things to write about in my email but once I sit down I forget everything.

Oh do you guys remember that skinny little Logan? Yeah that guy is no more. I'm starting to get a Gary gut from all this rice. haha sorry dad. I seriously think I've gained like 15 pounds haha oh well it will shed off once I start actually moving around all day. I hope. So I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week and I was reading about the Stripling Warriors. You should read it. I love how they talk about their moms. You'll like it.  I don't get to write next week until the following Monday but I do get to write a letter and the secretary will scan it and email it to you. I'm going to try and call Tuesday morning from the airport.

I went to the temple for the last time for 2 years today. That was really nice to go but sucks that I wont get to go again. I haven't opened the package yet but I'm sure its full of some awesome stuff. Hopefully stuff that will help me lose weight haha. I'm getting fat and I haven't even left the CCM. Well that's it for this week.

Te Amo

Logan

Bitter-sweet pictures...these may be the last with Elder Russell and Elder Miller...for now!

 

 

 

This was the best week so far. On Sunday I got made zone leader so I am now in charge of all the North Americans here at the CCM until I leave. So that's pretty cool I guess. On Saturday we went proselyting and that was just a great reminder that I don't know any Spanish. It was still good though we taught one family and left them with a Book of Mormon. The other day I finished the book of Mormon and I started reading the day I left so that was nice for me to do. Yesterday was my first experience with an earthquake, that was awesome. It was really minor so don't worry mom, it was just pretty cool and something I had never done before. Today I got my haircut for the first time here, it wasn't quite as good as Whitney does but it was a lot better than I was expecting. I bought my third soccer jersey today, it was Brazil...its freakin sweet. The only downside to this week is I got kinda sick on Monday and it has been getting progressively worse and I sound like I have no voice right now haha but its all good nothing some NyQuil cant fix. We got new Latinos in our room and they are both going to Piura. There are alot of new Latinos going to Piura. Well that's pretty much it. Hope everything is fine and dandy back home. hasta luego.

 

te amo

 

Elder Chapman

Elder Russell, Elder Chapman, Elder Gonzales (instructor at the CCM) and Elder Miller

Well I leave and mom gets a nice car. She definitely needed something to replace me hahaha. Everything was great down here this week. That's cool your going on a deer hunt. Make sure you don't miss, but your a Chapman so you don't have to worry about that. There's so many dogs down here and they're not like dogs at home. They avoid people because everyone is mean to them so they try to just stay away. I got my shoes shined by some guy today for 2 soles, it was pretty cool. Well that's it...only like a week and a half left here at the CCM then its the real deal haha...te amo

Elder Chapman and Elder Gonzales...Instructor at the CCM

 Ummmm...I guess this is a cool as missionaries can be...lol

 

 First Twinkies for these two...they thought they were delicious...I think these came in a care package from home...oh and these Elders don't party

 

Well one more week down. this week was pretty long and boring but oh well. I don't really have a lot to write about this week. One funny story, I got a letter from DeLane and was reading it and a Latino Elder came and asked me who it was from. I meant to say" novia" which means girlfriend but I accidentally said "novio" which means boyfriend. haha it was funny and we all laughed about it. Pretty much the same old same old down here, all the days just seem to blur together now. Yesterday was hump day which means I'm halfway through the missionary torture center. I cant wait to be in the field where I can actually be out during the day. Well that's pretty much it.

My nephew Chase came home this week from his mission to Mexico.  One of his companions met at the airport to welcome him home and shared a story of how he considers Chase one of his best friends even though when they were serving together they were robbed at knife point and when the elder turned to look for Chase all he could see was Chase running away...I shared this story with Logan and this was his rely:

Well just to get you excited about this week and to follow up on Chases story, we are going proselyting this week and we are supposed to carry a small amount of money on us just in case we do get robbed we have something to give them and they don't just take us. haha you have nothing to worry about though.


Logan did not send pictures this week so we "borrowed" these from Elder Russells blog...I really hope they don't mind!

Logan's attempt at MORE information!

Well this week was a lot better than last week. I realized though that I´ve been leaving you guys out of a lot of info here at the CCM. Well when we first got here there was basically the death plague going around so people were quarantined in their rooms. I was lucky enough to avoid it though. so when it comes to going to the bathroom here (number 2) you either have the siempres (always) or the nuncas (nevers) and I have also avoided both of those too. They have this really good fruit here called a granadia and you guys will have to look it up. It looks like fist eggs and feels like snot but its really good haha. the showers here are pretty cool. They will be boiling hot one minute and then freezing cold the next. So you always have to be ready. On Saturday we went proselyting and the area we went to was the worst living conditions I have ever seen. we still gave out a couple Book of Mormon and taught a couple people. I was with a Latino companion so he did most of the talking haha. Spanish is coming along great though. I have been talking to the janitors and the natives and try to have conversations with them so that I can get better at it. Monday was elder millers birthday and he had the luxury of having food poisoning (siempres) so he had to stay in bed all day. Tuesday our roommate's left so that sucked because I became pretty good friends with them. Now we have 2 Latinos in our room so this should be an adventure. today we went to the temple and it was a lot better than last time. I just love the peaceful feeling you have while you are there.  then after that went to metro to get some snacks and I just love being out and walking through the city. Well that's pretty much it. I would just like to leave you with a thought I had this week. When I said goodbye to all of you it sucked but I knew I would see you again. when god sent his children down here he didn't know if they were going to make the right choices and return so I can only imagine how hard that was for him. Well that's all. I love you guys!

I have actually learned a trick. You just put a rubber band around your wallet in your back pocket and it makes it so people cant just slip it out. I bought a cool little coin purse thing though because that is mainly what people use to pay with. That's cool that you sold the trailer. Now don't get any ideas about trying to sell my truck. you know when you used to tell me I should do pushups everyday and I just thought that was stupid? Well I have been doing 100-200 pushups a day since I got here, I´ve also gained some weight.  Hope everything is good at home. I love you.

 

Oh by the way it has actually been pretty cold down here...not too bad though...just a little above Chile...PUN...I´ve been waiting two weeks to say that. Well that's all. I love you guys.

 

 First roommates to leave the CCM...

 

 
 

 Ummmm...we don't know what this is...He's just being Logan

 

 

 Latino Companion

 

 

 Elder Collin Russell and Elder Logan Chapman...