Masen is working in his Field of Dreams and finding mucho success

Hi Family and Friends,

Another happy e-mail from Masen. He says the work is tough, but I can’t imagine anything more providential than making contact with someone who found the Book of Mormon on the side of the road and has already read it. Amazing! Thanks for your prayers and support!

we ate suri live.
ya suri is a right of passage in iquitos. we just did it for fun and it was the funniest grosest exprience of my life. i have it all on video. i will try to send it to you tomorrow.

as for the time here it has been normal. not to fast, not to slow. and i dont want a transfer. i love my area even though it is tough. i believe we are changing it. last week a family went to church. their friend invited them so they came. we talked to them and took their address. it sounded like it was far away, but all the members said it was close. becasue the members said it was close we went to visit them. the branch president has a mototaxi. its a motercycle choped in half and the front is attached to a bench with 2 wheels. i make it sound crazier than it is, but its wack. ha ha. so we went with him. we were driving for like 10 minutes when i saw the sign SANTA CLARA ---> ya tight its not that far away. then we drove for like another 15 20 minutes to get there. ah su. tan lejos. it is in the middle of no where. only thing out there is rice farms. as we were driving the road is pure white. and my comp (becuase he is columbian and always joking about his farm) said hey where is the coke. ha ha ha i laughed a little then noticed the road. i said they found a perfect way to hide it. look at the road. he laughed and when he got out he made the action like he was going to sniff it. hes a goof, but way funny. elder collins called him goofy when they were in the same district.

the mission work goes on. estamos luchando como siempre. this week we found one dude that has read the book of mormon. he said he found it on the side of the road. its amazing how the lord can prepare someone. when we talked to him he asked about that, but said something about how Jesus Christ existed before this life. i asked him what he would think if i said he exsited before too. his eyes lifted up. then we read in the bible where god says that before this life he knew us and we were pre ordained and everything. he was shocked and it was cool. we only talked to him once for 20 minutes then had to go. i am sure that he will progress and be a leader in the church.

got to go. love you all.

im trying to send pics but its not working.

Elder Fenn

These are the bugs, YUMMY YUMMY. How would you like to eat these plump and juicy morsels.

This is dinner!!  Masen said that these bugs are high in protein and palm oil.  It is the missionaries rite of passage to eat these bugs.  I for one would have a hard time even picking the bug up but Masen has eaten several questionable delicacy which in my eyes makes him more than a man....

it makes him a missionary!!

Worms are part of serving in other countries but these are the worms Masen will have for dinner tonight.

This is Masen's e-mail from Monday. It's a bit short, but he wrote Tayden an e-mail where he gives advise to his little brother about playing football.  Tayden is lucky to have a big brother who loves and cares about him as well as the other siblings.

Masen's reference to my "faith" is in response to my e-mail where I told him that every day last week I would look at the picture of him baptizing in the river and think to myself..."he is just like John the Baptist in the wilderness--so amazing!" Then one day it hit me..."HE IS IN THE RIVER"--parasites...bacteria...please tell me you are wearing shoes!

 

First things first. where is your faith? ha ha ha ha im a missionary

and im not doing anything wrong so god will protect me, and im not

stupid enough to not take stuff to get better so dont worry. i

probably do have a parisite of something, but it hasent hurt me yet.

ha ha ah ah hahaah oh ya i will have a worm in my stomache tonight

just so you know. ill send you the picture of what im going to eat.

its so discusting, and it will probably only be in my stomache for 30

seconds. ha ha

read taydens email. i sent him a load of stuff that i am learning. its

really nerdy and missionary, but its tight. i know you will like it.

one thing i need for my health is a balance band. 20 or 30 doesnt

matter, but i need the best. i get alot of headaches here becuase of

the sun and the stress. but im loving life. my comp is the best and we

always laugh. its all good here. a little tough in the missionary

work.

got to go love you all.

Elder Fenn

The "worm in his stomach" is referring to a worm that they eat in the Peruvian Jungles called "Suri". Eating one is a missionary rite of passage. This is what they look like:

Suri is a clean food rich in protein and palm oil.

Masen got his new companion finally and he loves him.

Masen's message this week is full of fun comments about his new companion and the work he is doing with the people of Nueva Cajamarca.  This is a great message that makes a parent happy that their son is about the fathers work.

well to start off i had a great week. i finaly got my new comp. he is 22 and from columbia. his name. Elder Amaya. he is the best. he is super funny and we are alway laughing. the best thing is that he was in the same district as Elder Collins before. so we have fun making fun of everyone. the other best part about this week is that i got to baptise in the river baby. it was so sweet. the baptism was way spiritual and you could really feel the spirit, but in the waters of mormon (ya thats directly translated, i dont know if thats the right name or not, but you will understand.) was way better. when i baptised him he came out of the water and we took a couple more pictures. while we were taking pictures he turned to me and said, when is was in the water my body felt different. i asked him if it was a good feeling or what he thought. he just said different, but i know it was good. then we said jokingly that its because everything was washed clean. we laught a little. but then when he bore his testimony it was really powerful. you could really feel the spirt and tell that we helped him in his life. you know you got a good one when he says that he knows its true, but wants to learn more, then asks the whole branch for help. he will be a good leader in the church, and i think he might even go on a mission.

saturday was independence day for peru or something so everyone was celebrating. we were contacting and it was good. then we went to a different area closer to the pesions house. the first door we knocked my comp said we are going to find a future stake president here. i said that was too small and joking said profet, then i said no, but something bigger than a stake pres. a huge man answered the door and let us in. he told us that he was super cathlic and hes not going to chang for nothing. i said that was tight, but we would like to share what we know with him. he let us and we started talking. it was all normal then he shared with us a dream (EVERYONE HAS DREAMS/REVILATIONS HERE. . . EVERYONE) but this one was different. he said he dreamed a light, and heard a voice, but couldnt see anyone in the light. then the voice read jaramis 1:5 in the bible that says that we are chosen and ordained before this life. after he had that dream he converted to the catholic chruch and hasnt had it again. i am banking that after we shared our message with him that he will have that dream again, because if he does that we can baptise him and he will become a pres. of something big.

well i got to go. i love you all and miss you all.

Elder Fenn

 Masen and his new companion Elder Amaya with Hombre Mayor 

who he was able to baptize. 

 Baptising in the river.

This is suppose to be a fruit which he says is pretty tasty, much like a mango.

Hello again from Nueva Cajamarca

Hi Friends and Family,

Here is Masen’s last two weeks of e-mails. I think I neglected to forward his e-mail from two Mondays ago, so I’ve included it. I love it when I see Spanish taking over his brain, like when he spells lesson “leccion”. We are getting ready to send him a package so he’s listed a few requests…some predictable, others not so much.

Hi Family,

Mom, I would like calcium pills I dont eat like anything dairy here. the milk and cheese are horrible, and yogurt is alright, but i dont drink it that much. one thing you can send is my mission commision by bruce R McConkie. ya i dont know how to spell, but i think they have cards of it in the distribution center. like 5 of those in spanish would be cool. i have one in english, but several people have asked me for it. ya so my area is Nueva Cajamarca, i dont know if that will show up. Moyobamba might, and if that doesnt Tarapoto should. im like 3;30 hours south of tarapoto. and 1 hour out of moyobamba. my two line email last week was because i didnt get any of your emails. we email an hour earlier here. our schedule is different in the jungle because of the heat. but its not bad here. only like high 90s.

ya so my area is freaking tough. lima was ugly and it was hard to get into houses there, but it is totaly different here. we can usually get into houses to teach pretty easy, but they either dont understand,

dont care, or we cant find them again after the first leccion. freaking sorry if i write half in spanish, im writing freaking fast. the other day we went to visit a dad of a family whos wife is a member. he has all the knowledge that he needs to be baptized, but he is scared that his family will reject him if he stops drinking. Ah crap that should be easy to drop cause its crap, and we had the sickest lesson with him, but he just wouldnt accept a baptism date and dropping alcohol. yesterday we got into a house and they arent going to church or anything. we invited them to baptism, and they accepted, then they asked us if they needed to be married first. that usually doesnt happen. we said yes and explained why. they said that they wanted to learn more which is normal. it was the first lesson. so I have high hopes that they will get baptized next month. we are teaching another family of 7. mom dad and 5 girls. hahahahaha. but the dad is way cool. he knows a ton about every other church but ours, and he said that he likes our visits, i hope that he will get baptized next month, with total his family.

got to go. out of time.

Elder Fenn

Wendy keeps up better than me. Masen got to skype

If picture is worth a thousand words, then skyping is worth a gazillion! We got a great surprise Sunday when Masen was able to skype from the jungle. There was a delay and it was hard to discern what he was saying, but just seeing his smile was all we needed.

He was at the ward mission leader’s house and as we talked people came by and Masen would aim the camera at them and introduce them to us. We were all squished together trying to be in the camera frame all at once. He had ear phones and a mic so they could not hear us, but we would wave and they would wave back. There were several children, a cute 2 ½ year old who Masen persuaded to say “Hola”! And a little eight year old girl snuggled right up to him and “shared” one of the head phones. Her name is Sondra and when Greg commented to Masen that it looks like he has a little “friend” Masen burst into a big smile and nodded his head. EJ and Brietyn cried several times when he spoke just to them.

He looked incredibly happy, showered with love, and completely at home. It was hard to believe he has only been there for 3 weeks. He has a pensionista—a member that is hired to cook for the missionaries. In Lima his pensionista did not cater to them, but his pensionista now has told him she will try and cook American food that he wants if he gets her a recipe. So his big request was a recipe for pizza dough. His companion, who is from Chile, was in the background saying “pizza please…pizza please”. He also asked for us to send him brownie mixes. We asked him if he was still having to eat a lot of fish. He said the pensionista saw him eating fish and recognized that he did not like it and told him she would not make him any more fish. Can I just say I LOVE THIS WOMAN! I am so grateful to her for spoiling Masen!

He said he has to cross the river everyday on a bridge this is bouncy like a trampoline…just like the movies. He takes a cold shower every morning…colder that the river. He said that the bugs and spiders have not been any more ominous than the ones in Lima. He said that it is beautiful and amazing and he is loving it. I don’t think it is as remote as you might imagine.

As we were saying goodbye, he aimed the camera at the group of people and we made a heart shape with our hands. He aimed the camera back at himself for a minute then back to the group of people who were making hearts back to us. All barriers vanish…geographical, cultural, language…and we all felt the exchange of pure love and we became brothers and sisters instead of strangers. It was a powerful moment for me.

We asked Masen to call us for his remaining 15 minutes so we could really communicate. It was about another hour when we got his call. The connection was fuzzy and still hard to hear and I asked him if he wanted to call back to try to get a clearer line. He said he only had 12 minutes left on his card and was headed for a meeting and asked me what else there was to talk about? Enough said…”been good talking to you but got to get back to work.” I actually thought that was the perfect way to end the call. Can’t wait for Christmas!

I’m writing this at work and funny thing just happened his mission president, President Blunck, just called in. I could not help it…I had to tell him that I had a missionary in his mission and what a great conversation we had with him on Sunday. He, of course, told me what a great missionary Masen is and thanks for sending him to us!

This is Masen’s “two-line” e-mail from Monday…(really Masen?)

ya so it was good talking to you yesterday. ill write you next week. this computer stinks. ill see if i can send you pics another way. love you all. bye

This last week Masen let us know that he is getting his wish and transfered into the jungle... oh wow

Hi Friends and Family,

Here is his e-mail from this week. It has finally happened…he’s going to the Jungle. This is why the Lord sends out 19 year olds…who else would be so eager to live in sweltering heat with giant bugs and spiders and endure poor, remote living conditions. He will have to fly to get there. The zone leaders fly to the mission office once a month to meet with the president and take back the mail. I believe a rite of passage of living in the Jungle is to eat certain giant caterpillar. Our mother’s day call is really going to be interesting now.

In Primary on Sunday the question was asked…do you have anybody you really look up to and want to be just like them. Several of the kids responded and cute EJ shot his hand up and replied that he wants to be like Masen. I was telling the story to Greg at home and Brynlie said to EJ that Masen is her hero too. Greg made the comment of how nice it is to have a big brother to look up to. I wrote about that to Masen and thanked him for being the kind of big brother that we can all look up to.

In this e-mail we did a question/answer section…so in the middle he includes my question and then his answer.

first things first, hold off on that package, im going to the jungle, so it wont get to me for forever. ya i just found out about my transfer. im super super stoked, but i wanted one more change here. the family of luis is going to get married so we can baptise his mom. puchi. oh well i just hope things keep going with that family like they are. im glad im changing though. gives me a fresh start, which means i have to work super hard and i want that because the time goes by faster becuase its funner. im super stoked, but ill be going to war with the bugs and spiders. alright.

Did you get to enjoy some baptisms on Saturday?
yes ma'am i did. we baptied luis's aunt. it was pretty cool because i guess she was a little reble a month ago alway leaving the house and staying out late. . . . if she came home, and rosemary (the mom of luis) said that she was changing, and that she new the church was true and this was the right thing to do. its super sweet to hear that come from one of your investigators, and its cooler that she is still young. i just saved her from a life of miserey. thats whats up.
Did I tell you that Grandma Lynn turned 85 a couple weeks ago? She is the same age as President Monson. Do you ever get visiting General Authorities down there that talk to you?
same age as president monson. she is a boss. thats super awesome. wow. she is living right ha ha. we have had 70s talk to us in the mtc and one time for our stake conference, but thats it. area 70 by the way. but they are super good at giving talks.
everybody is old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im old!! your old! ha ha we are all old. man life is so short. what to do in so short a time. well the best thing to do is do what larsen is doing and give your time to the lord ha ha. its pretty sweet to see what the lord can do, and the cooler part is what the lord can do with me. the lord has his perfect plan for everyone. we just have to ask to see what we have to do. that hero stuff is sweet to hear, but they should look at someone better. but hearing that makes me want to be better so that they can have someone better to look at.
love you all
Elder Fenn