August 31, 2015

Okay so you guys aren’t even going to believe the story I am about to tell. Today just walking around in plaza vea (like a Peruvian Walmart) I had one of the craziest experiences of my entire mission. So me, Elder Rollins, Elder Riquelme, and Elder Hendrix were going to buy a bunch of stuff. But we needed to get our money out of the bank first. We sent Riquelme and Rollins to the lower part of Paita to go to the bank and me and Elder Hendrix went to plaza vea to just wait for them. We were just in there walking around and looking at stuff almost in the back when all of the sudden we just heard people screaming by the entrance. So we got to a place where we could see what was going on. I thought that people were fighting or that someone was trying to rob the place. But turns out that two giant Rottweilers had attacked their owner and gotten out and decided to take a trip to plaza vea. Well one guy tried to scare them and make them run away. Bad idea. He got bit really bad in his leg. So we were kind of walking down the main aisle to see what exactly was going on and we saw them walk right in front of us. They had blood dripping from their mouths. Well they finally got them out and shut the doors to the store. Another guy in the parking lot got bit too. Then the cops showed up with guns and stuff and finally trapped them in some room that was outside and they were helping everyone get out of there. The floor of plaza vea by the entrance looked like a crime scene with all the freaking blood. Turns out that there was a third one as well but someone shot it before it got to plaza vea. Pretty freaking scary man ha-ha. I was about to open up a 50 gallon drum of butt whoopin on some dogs man hahaha. Just kidding. But it was a pretty crazy experience. I don’t ever plan on buying a Rottweiler though. I’ll just stick to labs.

Anyway other than that everything went well this week. Just working hard and spreading the good news. Last week I completed two years in the mission. Crazy how fast time has flown. And is still flying. Is there a pause button? I know you guys don’t want there to be ha-ha. But even the thought of having to leave here just makes me sad. Happy to see everyone, but sad to leave Piura.

So as you all know, Elder David A. Bednar was here last Friday with us. It was an awesome experience. My companion and I got to sit front row right in front of the pulpit so we were really close. It was funny though because the first four rows were for sisters only. But since my companion was leading the music we got to sit there too. It was a little awkward sitting there with just a bunch of sisters, but oh well ha-ha. The conference was great and his teaching method is so unique. I love it. I went in knowing he was going to give us time to ask him questions. Well my question for him was going to be "what did you do and what advice do you give to us to stay active after our missions?" when we started he asked us what we thought of the talks he had sent us to study. One of them he sent was called "Converted Unto the Lord" and talks about the difference between a testimony and conversion. So I raised my hand and he told me to stand up. I told him that I learned that there is a difference between being converted and only having a testimony. Which then led to like a 3 minute conversation between me and elder Bednar. He was just asking me more questions and it was crazy how strong the spirit was there. Then he asked, "So Elder, can I ask you a question about home without you getting trunky?" ha-ha I laughed and said “yes”. Then he said, "what do you plan on doing once you get home to stay converted?" and the first thing that went through my head was, "well that’s what I came to ask you!" ha-ha but the spirit taught me what I needed to do and I told him read the scriptures every day and work in callings and just make sure to do the basic stuff.” Then he said, "Here are two things that if you do them, you will never go inactive, 1. Feast upon the words of Christ daily from the Book of Mormon. 2. Pay your tithing." so that was my answer! It was an awesome spiritual experience that I will never forget.

That’s about all the news for this week. Love you guys!

PS...watch out for dogs.

August 17, 2015

And he's probably never seen a "selfie stick"! Wonder what he'll think of those!!!

Hey guys. What’s up? If everyone is still alive I would like to know. I mean I know my parents are alive. And Jason. But if there is anyone else out there, please feel free to let me know. Hahaha.

This week was crazy and full of changes. It has been awesome being with elder Rollins. We both have big goals and are working hard in our area to achieve them. To be honest, having a North American companion is awesome haha. I feel like we can connect a lot better and talk about common things that we both know. Not that having a Latino companion was bad, but I have loved having my first and last gringo one haha.

We found a really cool family this week. We went to visit a less active that isn’t really progressing so we just asked him for a reference. He didn’t really know of anyone but he said that the people that lived around the corner from him were receiving the missionaries about a year ago but nothing ever happened. Well we decided to go. They are the Zevallos family. Well when we first got there the mom wanted to like contend with us about Joseph Smith and why our church is so big and has so much money. But we just started talking about the Doctrine of Christ and we softened her right up haha! She started talking to us about the things that have been going on in her family and all her problems and stuff. She also has 5 kids that are really receptive too. So we visited them a few times and they all came to church yesterday! It was sweet.

So we had a leadership council with president last week. And we were looking at the numbers of the mission and to be honest, a lot needed and needs to be changed here. So we decided to make some changes in the mission. One of the biggest changes we made was that every single day, from 6-8 at night, we are only supposed to knock doors and look for new families to teach. I was excited for the change because I mean that’s what me and my companion had been doing all week haha. But it has really helped us out in more than one way. We are finding new investigators and it is helping us have to plan a lot better. I’m stoked.

My companion and I decided to fast this weekend so that we could find a new family to teach. A family that is prepared and ready to be baptized. Well we finished our fast on Sunday and in the afternoon we headed out to go teach. A few lessons fell through so I looked at the references from my planner. We went to look for a guy named Hector. He lived basically at the end of our area but when we got there and knocked on the door I could tell there was something special. Well probably because when they opened the door I saw a bunch of pictures of Christ and even a pictures of Moroni with the plates haha. Come to find out the wife is a member that recently moved to our area but has been attending another branch. She and Hector used to live in another area and they weren’t married. Well the missionaries there worked with them like 4 months ago to be able to get married, the missionaries were changed, and they never got to get married. Until a month ago when they got married! It was so awesome to find them and I know the Lord hears and answers our prayers. I have a very strong testimony of fasting as well.

Yesterday was District Conference here in Paita. President and Sister Rasmussen gave some awesome talks. The crazy part was when President just randomly called on my companion and me to go up and share our testimonies and our experience from our mission. Haha the first thing I said was, "well future missionaries, just so you know, you need to always be prepared because your mission president can call on you at any time and make you go up and talk in front of everyone." haha it’s a good thing President Rasmussen has a good sense of humor haha.

Love you guys!

August 10, 2015

Otter Pops in Peru...who knew! Haha...a little piece of heaven for this kid!!!

Wow I honestly can’t believe how fast time has flown. Today is the start of my last transfer in the mission. And to be honest, a transfer that I am lucky to have. It’s weird because all of the missionaries from my group are going home tomorrow. But I still don’t feel like my time is up yet. My companion returned home this transfer...if I had a dollar for every time I heard him talk about or mention the fact that he was going home I could have bought him his own plane ticket and sent him two weeks ago haha. But even though he was a little trunky I still loved him to death. My new companion is Elder Rollins from Lehi. Yep that’s right, a North American companion! Maybe I can improve a little bit more on my English this transfer haha. But so far we have gotten along great. I knew him from when he was in the office as the financial secretary and it will be fun to work with him. I’m really excited.

So on Saturday Pamela got baptized. I don’t know how I forgot but I forgot to mention that to you guys last week. It was a great baptismal service. The best part about Pamela was that we basically didn’t have to do very much. The young women took charge of everything. Helping her come to church, helping her go to the activities, making sure she has friends,
and much more. We just taught her the lessons and helped her get enough of a testimony to make the decision and have the faith to do it. The young women also participated a lot in the baptismal service. It was the first baptism in over 16 months in our branch so the members were really excited for it and so was I.










Well this marks the start of my last transfer. And after seeing how many missionaries have been finishing their missions lately, I don’t want to be just another one of them. I want to work my hardest every single day that I have left. I am going to look at these next six weeks as a gift that God has given to be able to keep participating in this great work. I know we will see miracles this transfer.

Well that’s all. Love you guys!

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

August 3, 2015

Well this week was pretty crazy. Went by slow at first but finished great. Last week was "independence day" in Peru so it was a pretty rough two days here haha. Lots of people drinking and partying and being off of work. And you would think that with them being off of work it would be a great opportunity to meet the missionaries and let them in their house and hear a message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But no. I think that is the last thing on their to do list when they are on vacation haha. But we worked hard and tried to talk to everyone we could.

So last week we went running to the sister’s room one morning so that a sister could sign some papers. Well they live about 3 miles from us. We made it without even one heart attack haha. But the funniest part was when we came back there was a dog that followed us all the way from their room to our room. It was pretty funny. I named him Calichín. He followed us around that whole day. But then disappeared. Freaking Peruvian dogs. At least he didn’t try to just attack us for no reason like the other ones.

So I don’t know if you guys remember but a little over a month ago I wrote you about a work visit that I had with elder Abbott in Pueblo Nuevo. Well this week I had another one with him but he came to my area in Paita. As we started we were talking about the things that happened in the last work visit and the funny things that happened. Then he told me something that really lifted me up. He said, "Do you remember the family that we contacted when you were with me last time?" and I honestly didn’t remember haha. But he explained to me who they were and how I told him that we should go talk to them. Then I finally remembered and he said, "yeah, they are getting baptized in two weeks." who would thought! Haha that was something that I really needed to hear. To know that someone that we talked to over a month ago is now going to be baptized was an awesome feeling. I didn’t think much in the initial contact, but I guess you can’t judge people by a two minute contact in the street.

But the true highlight of last week was when the assistants called me on Friday morning. Now to explain the setting a little bit without going too into detail, I have been really stressed out because my companion is going home and is pretty much just indifferent about everything. So after about three weeks of that I was pretty stressed out and was just laying on my bed thinking about everything that was going on. Then the assistants called…they said, "hey Elder Chapman Hermana Liliana is getting married today in Talara, are you going to go?" Well I basically said that there was no way that President was going to give me permission to go to Talara for a wedding. But they told me to call and ask him. So I did. And he said yes!! Holy crap that was the highlight of the last two and a half months since I left. Nobody there knew that we were going to show up. Me and Elder Mendoza traveled together and got there a little earlier so we went and bought the wedding present. An 8x10 picture of us with their whole family the day they got baptized. When we got to the wedding at the church they were signing the papers so we just stayed in the door and kind of hid ourselves. Then when they started their first dance Hermana Liliana looked up and saw me and Elder Mendoza and started smiling really big and crying. Everyone there was so happy to see us. But I don’t think anyone was as happy as I was to be there haha. It was great to see my big Talara family. I love them so much.

That’s about it.

PS. if I wouldn’t have extended I would be coming home next week. Wow. Luckily I extended!! And don’t even start a countdown. I don’t want to hear it haha.

Love you guys!

July 27, 2015

Well we finally had a better week here. It was an awesome week and seemed like things were going the way they should, well at least for a little bit. It was nice to finally have some good lessons and contact some people that actually wanted to talk to us haha. Yesterday at church Pamela came and Tatiana came as well along with 7 less actives that we are teaching. It was a great blessing and proof to us that our work is actually paying off. We still have quite a few people that aren’t coming to church and we are working hard to figure out what to do with them.

So these past couple weeks I have been trying to figure out why I extended. not that I didn’t want to, because I prayed and fasted and received my answer that I needed to extend, but I have just been trying to find out why the lord wanted me to stay. Well this week I got a little bit of that answer. We received the awesome news that elder Bednar is going to be coming to Chiclayo at the end of august and we are going to be invited to go to the conference. I guess you could say I was a little excited haha. I was happier than a dog chasing his own tail when they told me that. And I will also be the only one from my group that will see it because I was the only one that extended. I’m pretty pumped for it haha.

Funny story of the week, on Friday night there was a party two houses down from our room. And when there is a party in Peru, they have more alcohol in one house than in the entire state of Utah. Well the party started when we left our room at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. When we got back at nine it’s pretty safe to say that the alcohol was starting to have effect on them haha. Well we just went into our room and I was writing in my journal and my companion was studying when we heard people screaming and yelling so we went outside to see what all the fuss was about. Well we watched them argue for a few minutes and then things got calmed down and we got bored and went inside. About 3 minutes later we heard the same thing so we ran to see what was happening and they were still just arguing over stupid stuff. But as we were watching we found the highlight of the party. A 70 year old that was so drunk he was in another world man ha-ha. I guess you just had to be there, but it was freaking funny haha.

The Espinoza family is also going well. We only visit them once a week so we are working hard to help them progress. Yesterday we were with them and we asked them where their other Book of Mormon was because we had given them two. They said, "Oh we took it to our son that is in jail so that he can read it. He says he really likes It." well I guess you can’t be mad about that haha! Hopefully he keeps reading it and they can use that to join themselves together when they visit him.

Well that’s about it.

Love you guys!

July 20, 2015

Wow this was a tough week for us. I don’t know why, but almost every lesson we had planned always fell through, people were never home, and nobody was in the streets to talk to. I think everyone just got together and agreed that they were going to make our lives a little more difficult than normal this week. And they succeeded haha. But I guess you win some and you lose some. I’m just pumped to get back to work this week and work even harder.

So there’s not really any news this week haha. J didn’t come to church because he and his girly friend got in a fight. I guess we are really going to have to make sure he can get a testimony haha. And the other people we were teaching didn’t come either. Heck, we even showed up 40 mines late ha-ha. Here’s the story, on Saturday we went out with our mission leader and we found this new family to start teaching. On a scale of one to ten I would say they were about a 6 as far as level of interest goes. But we still committed them to coming to church on Sunday. Well our church starts at ten. So we told them we would pass by at nine thirty. When we got there they were just barely going to shower. I wanted to die haha. So they all got ready and we went to church and finally got there at ten forty. Haha but the kids liked the primary and young women’s and stuff. The mom wasn’t as excited. But hey, you win some and you lose some.

Funny story from this week, me and my companion were walking down the road and we walked past a parked moto. In the back of the moto there was a dog that was just chillin out being cool. Well then he started to kind of lazily bark at us. Well us, two twenty year old who think they are funny, started telling the dog to do something. "Do something!" "Come over here and do something!" and all other kinds of stuff that we were just egging him on to come and attack us. Well someone must have taught that dog an infinite amount of Spanish or someone must have peed in his coffee that morning, because he jumped right down and ran after us and almost bit my companion. I was already on the other side of the street by the time he got there but my companion didn’t really know what to do ahahaha. So be careful what you say to dogs, you never know if they might just understand you.

And today marks one year since my best friend Daulton and his brother Jaxon passed away. Crazy how fast time flies and it still seems so surreal to me. But the thing that keeps giving me comfort is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the promised blessings. That was a really hard time for me in my mission. Pretty much the refining fire. But it helped me learn to put all of my faith and trust in god and everything will be okay. I miss Daulton. And I’m sure it will hit me even harder when I get home. But I have the surety that I will see him again. And that’s what keeps me going.

Well that’s about it.

Love you guys!

No pictures this week from Logan...just adding these from memories with Daulton...

July 13, 2015

This week was actually really fun here in paita for us. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like we are always laughing about something ha-ha. Me and my companion get along great and we are always making jokes and are just enjoying our time here. And it’s good because we are enjoying everything but still working super hard. This week we found a new investigator named Julio. He is 17 and we found him through his "friend" who is in young women’s ha-ha. Well he came to church last week and we taught him and everything and he came to church again. So I would say things are lookin pretty good for him. Now we just gotta try to help him receive a testimony so that he will stay active in the church even when his girlfriend dumps him ha-ha. Because hey, it’s bound to happen sooner or later. But at least she helped him know the church so I guess they can date for a little bit so that he can get a testimony ha-ha.

We have also been visiting a girl named Pamela. She is 15 and her mom is a less active that is coming back to the church. We have

always tried to set a baptismal goal and it never worked out. I guess it was us just thinking that it was an automatic baptism because her mom was already a member. So the last time we visited her which was like a month ago I just told her to read her book of Mormon. Well we were teaching a lesson on Saturday night and when we finished it was like 9 at night. We were way far away from our room and were going to walk back home. We were also pretty far away from her house but something told me that we should call her mom to see if they were home. So we called them and they said that they were so we basically ran to their house to visit them. Well we sat down and Pamela told us, "I have been reading my book of Mormon and I talked to my mom, I want to be baptized on august 8th." who can say no to that! Ha-ha. But I love the book of Mormon and the converting power that it has in people.

The Espinoza family is also going really well. They are super catholic. Like with saints in their house and they have tons of catholic traditions. But they are also so open and receptive. Yesterday we taught them the book of Mormon and they seriously couldn’t wait to get their hands on it to start reading it. I know that it will help them to know that what we are teaching them is true.

So I guess you could say that the book of Mormon was a big part of my week, and it was. I finished reading it again this week. And I set a new goal. I am going to read 7 pages every single day to be able to finish it one more time before I get home. And I am going to focus on and mark the Christ like attributes that are in it. Ever since I came on my mission I have gained a whole new love for the book of Mormon. Heck if it wasn’t for that book, I wouldn’t even be here. I still remember the plane ride and being so nervous and not having any idea what I was about to do. But the only thing I did was open my scriptures and read them and it brought instant peace and comfort. And it has done the same ever since. I am so thankful that we have the scriptures to read and learn from. I don’t know who I would be without them. I know that they bless us and our families and they help us prepare to be eternal families.

Well that’s about it.

Elder Chapman

Ps. LEAN SUS LIBROS DE MORMÓN!!

Translation…read your Book of Mormon

July 6, 2015

Wow this week was awesome. Last Monday I got to go to Chulucanas and go visit a few of the families that I met there. It was crazy to be there 1 year later and see how everything has changed. But also how everything is still the same. One of my favorite parts was when Jake (the little 5 year old kid in the member’s house where we lived) still remembered my name. It was awesome. His dad asked him if he remembered my name and he just yelled "Elder Chocman!" and ran up and hugged my legs. It was awesome. Then we visited the pensionista and said hi to her and her family. I promised them I would be back in September with my parents. So mom and dad I hope you are ready to make a trip to Chulucanas!

 

All day Tuesday we were at the service project in a little town just outside of Chulucanas called "La Matanza" and it was a pretty sweet day. We were just translating for a volunteer group called "The Hope Alliance" which was giving away glasses to people that needed them. They were about 10 or 12 and all from Utah. But only two were members which was surprising to me haha. But I spent the whole day translating for a guy named Matt Poston and he was a really cool guy. The service we did was awesome and it was a great experience to see the people and their reaction when they put the glasses on and could finally see. They had probably been seeing blurry their entire life but when they put on glasses their faces lit up with happiness. It was awesome. Then we got back to Piura late that night and spent the night in the mission offices. It was my first time sleeping there and it was awesome ha-ha. Hot water, air conditioning, I wouldn’t mind going back for a few more nights ha-ha.

On Friday we finally got to meet President and Sister Rasmussen. They are freaking sweet. They are still adjusting to the culture and the language and everything but I can tell that they are excited to be here in this mission and work with us. And I am excited to work with them even if it is for just a few months. They have a lot of great ideas and changes that they would like to make and I am excited for it. But there are also a few missionaries that don’t want anything to change and are a little frustrated. But I have learned on my mission that things change...even at church...the only thing that never changes is the doctrine. But we are always trying to change and improve for the better. And the Lord places leaders in his church to advance His work. And I know that President Rasmussen is here to do just that.

Yesterday we found a really cool family that we are going to start teaching today. We went up to the door and the guy immediately let us in his house and we started talking to him. Well we could see that the family was really busy with things so we just set up an appointment to come back today and were going to leave. But they invited us to stay for dinner with them and everything. They have a son that is in jail and they are going through some tough times as a family but they just kept telling us that they knew that we were messengers from god and that they wanted to listen to us. It made me think of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 29:7, how the elect recognize the lord’s voice and his servants. Hopefully we can be good instruments in helping them learn more. Something funny about that night, they gave us a glass full of what we thought was coffee so we just left it sitting there on the table all dinner. Well at the end they told us that it was hot chocolate so we just chugged it down. But by that time it had already gone cold hahaha. But hey, better safe than sorry I guess ha-ha. Because last time I just downed like half a glass of tea without even knowing until my companion told me ha-ha. But hey I’m from Utah. How am I supposed to know about these things??? ha-ha.

Well that’s about it. Love you guys!

June 29, 2015

Well this week was honestly pretty slow. It was the last week of the transfer and we both knew that my companion was leaving so it was just a lot of him saying goodbye and stuff. But we are teaching a new girl named Tatiana. She is actually pretty interested and even came to a baptism on Saturday. Hopefully things will work out with her.

So this whole week I was praying to have a new companion that would be ready to work and that I could really connect with to be able to finish my mission. But I guess the lord has other plans ha-ha. When I read the transfers and saw that I was going to be with Elder Bazan I was surprised ha-ha. He is from Bolivia and he is going to be finishing his mission in august. It was a really big surprise for everyone here ha-ha but I am excited to work with him and help him finish his mission right. He was a little discouraged about leaving his last area to come here for only one transfer. But I have a good feeling about how things are going to work out for us.

This week President Rowley finishes and president Rasmussen gets here. I’m pretty excited to see how things will be with the new president. Lucky for me I get to go meet him in a leadership counsel on Friday.

But right now I am freaking pumped. The assistants called and told me that there are a bunch of gringos in a place called "la matanza" (PS don’t look up the translation of that, you might not feel comfortable about me going there hahaha) but anyway they are doing a service project and need people to translate for them. Well lucky me I get to go! And the best part is that I am going to stay the night in Chulucanas!!!! So we are going there right now and I will visit a few of my good friends there. I’m freaking pumped right now ha-ha. I will be sure to send pictures next week!

Love you guys!

June 22, 2015

Wow well remember how I wrote last week hoping for a calmer and less busy week? Well I didn’t even finish writing and we got a call from a random number. I just put the phone away and didn’t want to answer it. Well they called again and something told me that I needed to answer it. Turns out one of the missionaries in the zone had gotten hit by a moto. So we had to just grab all our stuff and run to try and find them. When we got there was a ton of people around him trying to help him… it wasn’t too bad, he just had a cut on his face, his elbows were scraped up, and he couldn’t put any weight on his leg. Well I called president to see if we could take him to Piura and he told us to do it. So we grabbed a taxi that took us to the clinic in Piura. It was a pretty interesting experience hahaha. I ended up sleeping on the cold tile floor, my companion on some makeshift bed, and the elder’s companion on the floor. But the worst part was that the air conditioning was on and the remote didn’t have batteries and we couldn’t turn it off. Holy crap I think that was the coldest I have been for two years hahaha. But the elder is okay and it was nothing serious, so that’s good.

The highlight of the week for me was the temple dedication. The cultural celebration on Saturday was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. President Uchtdorf and Elder Bednar came for the dedication and there were tons of youth from all over northern Peru dancing and showing off the Peruvian culture. And it made me think about how lucky I have been to have been able to be here in this awesome country for the past 22 months. I know that everyone brags about their mission’s culture, but I don’t think Peru’s culture can be topped. The people are awesome and there is so much history to everything they do. Over 200 youth from Piura have been practicing since about January for the event and they were the first ones to dance. And let me tell you that was the most special experience I have had so far in my mission. I was watching them dance and the spirit was so strong. Then I saw Samir, Lilianas oldest son, from Talara. It was so great to see him there participating in that event. I am so grateful for the people of Peru. And I am so happy for them for the opportunity and blessing that they now have to have a temple here in the north. I know that it will be a great blessing and responsibility for them. Now that I realize the sacrifice that people make in other parts of the world to go to the temple I hope to never take for granted the temples that I will have close to home. Then the Sunday dedication was great as well. My favorite talk was from Elder Bednar when he talked about searching out OUR dead and not just THE dead. Only then are the scriptural promises fulfilled. It was a great talk.

Well this is the last week of the transfer and to be honest, I am excited for a new start. Me and my companion get along great and don’t fight at all. But I need someone who is pumped up and full of energy and will help me work hard to finish my mission right.

Well that’s about all. Love you guys!

Love...from Mom

Love...

Each week (or once a month with the intentions of once a week!) I sit down to update Logan's blog I have to spell check and proof read it...EVERY TIME the first word it asks me to change is the word LOVE...it's a crazy thing cause to be honest that is one of the things that has grown the most in our house in the last almost two years...

LOVE for each other...LOVE for the gospel...LOVE for family...LOVE for friends...LOVE for missionaries (which I can finally pass on the street and not cry!!!) LOVE for the people of Peru who have taken care of my son...LOVE is one of the things Christ taught was to LOVE one another...It all starts there...

I LOVE Logan and the choice he made to serve the Lord on a mission...I LOVE the change it has brought into our home...I LOVE the change it has inspired me to make in my own life! I LOVE my girls and the example they have become to me and their dad in their lives...

I remember the day I took Logan to get his passport and we went to lunch after...first thing I told him was "once you make the choice to go Logan, you can't come home early!!!" Hahaha...my biggest fear at the time! He started talking to me about some things...mostly hinting towards the changes he would like (and needed) to be made at home...I got a little worried cause I knew that it was going to require a lot of work on my part to turn things around and to be honest I wasn't sure my testimony was strong enough to do it!!! Not to share ALL the details but it was going to be a challenge...Happily I can say that it is SOOOO true...if you put your trust in the Lord and do your part...things can change! Little by little and in his time...things change!

Some of you may know already...But Gary and I are going through the Temple in the next few weeks to receive our endowments and be sealed to each other and when Logan get's home we will go back and have the kids sealed to us...CRAZY...! I'm so happy...I sometimes find myself saying can this really be happening for us! I only share this because maybe it might help someone struggling with their own problems...but I can promise this...happiness is ahead if you keep reaching for it...do your part and the Lord will do his!

This quote from Elder Holland kept me focused: 

June 15, 2015

Holy cow this week was probably the busiest week of my entire mission. We only had two days to actually work in our area which was pretty depressing. But at least it’s over and we will be able to focus better this week.

It all started on Tuesday with the multi zone conference in Piura. We had to get there bright and early and we also had to prepare a special musical number with the zone. Well they told us a little too late and we only practiced the musical number like twice before the conference. But it all turned out great. It was one of my favorite conferences of my mission. It just had a different spirit to it. It was also president Rowley’s last conference with us so it was pretty sad. I have learned so much from him and I am definitely going to miss him. Then after the zone conference we came back to Paita and started a work visit. I went with Elder Abbott from Montana to his area in Pueblo Nuevo. It is a little town about 30 mins from Paita and is basically identical to Chulucanas. So you can imagine that I was loving life haha. In Pueblo Nuevo it is just a family group so the elders live in the church (well the house that has been turned into a church) and pretty much are in charge of the church. It was cool to be there for a day and to work with Elder Abbott.

Then on Thursday Sister Rowley wanted me to go to Piura to get my finger x rayed. I guess you could say she worries a little hahaha (Mom note…in her defense she is like a mom to a few hundred missionaries…pretty sure I would have done the same!). But we had to be there at three thirty and the doctor was going to get there at 4. Well the doctor didn’t show up until 6:30 and we didn’t get back to Paita until 7:30. It was exhausting. Turns out I have a micro fracture in my finger. But there’s nothing I can do but just toughen up and wait for it to heal haha. In my defense I didn’t even want to go but we went to make Sister Rowley and the offices happy haha.

Then Friday we were with President Rowley all day doing room inspections in Paita. It was one of the best days of my mission. Just driving around with him and his wife talking all day. Definitely one of the days that I will never forget. I am so thankful for him. It will be sad to see him go but I am excited for the new president to get here too.

Well this Sunday is the Trujillo Temple Dedication. I’m pumped because I have never seen a temple dedication and I am excited to be a part of this one. Peru needed a temple in the northern part and this will be a great blessing to the members here.

Well that’s about all from my busy week here in Paita!

Love you guys!

Logan actually sent two pictures this week...the other might be rated R (kidding)...and I didn't want to scare the chics!!!

June 8, 2015

Wow this week seriously flew by. We were pretty busy with leadership council and the zone meeting and everything and this week we have even more things that we have to do. But it should be pretty exciting and fun.

The highlight of the week was the missionary fireside that we had last night with all of the members in Paita. Pres. Rowley and Sister Rowley came and talked and they both gave great messages. As missionaries we had to be the choir and I’m sure you can imagine how that turned out ha-ha. Jk it actually turned out pretty well. It’s sad because president is getting ready to leave and President Rasmussen will be getting here soon. I don’t want him to leave because I have learned so much from him and his example. But at the same time I am excited to see what changes will come with the new president when he gets here.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week. We are still working our behinds off trying to find new investigators. Hopefully we will have some more luck this week.

Well that’s about it. Love you guys!

June 1, 2015

Another good but tough week for us here in Paita. As I have said before, the hardest part of missionary work is finding people to teach. And we have been dedicating a lot of time and energy on finding new investigators. We have found quite a few people that have let us in their house and have listened to us. But we haven’t really felt that they are true investigators or that they are going to progress. The best one was yesterday. After a very powerful lesson on the restoration of the gospel and lots of inspired questions from the investigator, we were excited to see when we could go back and teach him. His exact words were "the last Sunday of every month." I almost died haha. We tried talking him into at least once a week but he didn’t really want to. So hopefully he at least comes to church haha.

We went and visited our branch president this week and he told us all about his conversion. He got baptized just a little over two years ago but is one of the strongest members I have ever met. But his story is super funny. Long story short, his wife got baptized before him and he was still investigating the church. One Sunday morning he got mad because he didn’t have any clean shirts to wear to church and decided he wasn’t going to go and that he was just going to watch movies all day. He was the only one in his house and wanted to watch the new Thor movie that had just came out. Well when he went to put the disc in he saw the doctrine and covenants DVDs sitting there and just stared at them for like 5 minutes trying to decide which one to watch. Well he made his decision and watched the doctrine and covenants videos and that’s when he received his testimony to be baptized. Haha it’s a pretty funny but awesome story.

These next two weeks we have a lot of stuff going on in the mission with multi zone conferences and leadership councils so that should be pretty exciting. I have been cooking lately and have invented a new dish. It’s called the super desayunazo. I will include a picture. I could charge 15 bucks a plate at home for this baby.

Well that’s about it. Love you guys!

Logan claims he made this...come on...REALLY! It's not long noodles or a bowl of sugar cereal swimming in milk...What the...!!! I'm impressed! 

May 25, 2015

Well this week was a lot different than I have been used to lately haha. I have had to learn the area and get to know the people and it has been really new for me. Not like new in the aspect of completely new, but something that I had forgotten about haha. Our area is freaking huge. Like enormous. We should at least get one of those moto taxis to proselyte haha. It’s kinda easy to tell that there hasn’t been a whole lot going on in our area for the last few months. We have one investigator family that we are teaching. So we have to pretty much start from scratch and start finding people to teach. Which is always fun but also the hardest part of missionary work.

The investigator family that we are teaching is the C family. The good news is that they are married! The mom is really receptive and interested but the dad is kind of quiet. They have had a few arguments lately and I think that isn’t letting them progress like they could be. But hopefully everything works out with them.

I have the best pensionista in the world. I don’t think I have had such a good cook since I left home. (props to mom) (Mom side note…didn’t know I was that good…so either he’s easily please or my cooking isn’t so bad!!!). But seriously I am going to make her give me a book of recipes before I leave so that I can make this stuff at home (Mom note…great idea! You can cook from now on…live at home rent free if you make dinner!!!) haha. Speaking of cooking, me and my companion have actually been cooking this week. Normally it was just the classic missionary dinner…ramen or a package of crackers haha. But now we have actually been cooking and it is nice. I have made some mean hash browns and hamburgers so far. This week we are going to make tacos. (Mom note…Hash browns and Tacos…a Chapman specialty learned from his dad and Grandpa C…) So far we haven’t gotten sick yet so that’s a good sign haha.

All is well in Paita. There’s just lots of sand and stuff haha. And a lot of work to do here in our area and in the whole zone. I’ve got my work cut out for me here in the next few months. Our branch is one of the strongest in Paita and the attendance is normally around 110. But that’s nowhere near where we could or should be. I also noticed that the members aren’t really used to working with the missionaries a whole lot either. My goal is to change that. The best way to work is with the members. The missionaries can’t do it alone.

Well that’s about all. Love you guys!

May 18, 2015

Well its transfers again. I got transferred to Tablazo in Paita. It was really hard to leave Talara and the people and everyone I met and taught there. I will definitely miss all of them and that great city. Now I have to get used to another new city haha. But I am excited for the new change. My companion is Elder Martinez from Argentina and I met him while I was in Talara and now we are companions. I’m excited to get to work with him this transfer and to be able to be here in Paita.

My last week in Talara had its ups and downs. S ended up not getting baptized. It’s a long story but basically she couldn’t come to her interview because they are moving and she was super busy with all of that. But she is still excited to keep learning and come to church and they are going to put a new date for her. I hope everything works out for her and her family.

Yesterday they did a little "farewell" for me and for another elder that was going home. Everyone was there and everyone just like said goodbye and stuff. It was a really cool experience to hear from all of my friends and basically family and to tell them thanks for all that they have done for me. I will never forget them. I am hoping to have the same experience here in Paita.

Anyways that’s about it for this week. More details next week.

Love you guys!

May 11, 2015

Well this week was really good here in Talara. We changed S’s baptismal date to next Sunday so we are hoping and praying and will probably fast so that everything will work out with her. We had a really good lesson with her on Saturday night and she almost started crying because of all the changes that she has been able to see in her family and in her life since we started teaching her and she was really excited to come to church on Sunday. But she called us in the morning and said she wasn’t going to be able to go for something that happened. But we are going to visit her tonight so hopefully everything works out okay.

This week we saw a bunch of pictures from the Trujillo temple open house and let me just say, it is the prettiest temple I have ever seen. If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, go look at them. We might even be able to plan a trip to come visit it in a couple years ;) ha-ha. I heard the Payson temple is really pretty too. Crazy how many temples are getting built! The temple should be the goal for everyone. That is where we can make covenants and become eternal families. I can’t wait to be able to go to the temple again. It’s been a while haha.

On Friday night we had a mother’s day activity in the branch and everything went great. The church was absolutely full haha. I had never seen that many people in the church before. But it was a sweet activity. It was like a talent show thing and as missionaries we did a skit that was way funny. I won’t go too into detail on what we did because I don’t know if you would understand it through email. But just take my word for it, it was awesome.

Well this week is also transfers. And it looks like I will most likely be leaving Talara. I have loved Talara and it has been my favorite area so far. It will be hard to leave. Crazy that the next area will probably be my last one. To be honest, I don’t like the sound of that haha. But I guess we will see how everything works out with the transfers and where they will send me. Or hopefully if they let me stay in Talara for 6 more weeks haha.

Love you guys!

PS happy mother’s day to everyone on this list! (Well the moms, not everyone)