Thursday, November 8, 2007

I Hope They Call Me On a Mission
















My youngest brother Ryan got his mission call yesterday. He has been called to serve in the Peru Piura mission and he leaves on January 30th.


Ryan just barely had his interview with the Stake President last Tuesday and a week later he got his call. We were expecting it to come next week so it was a big surprise for all of us, except Ryan.


With all 3 of my brothers we have played a guessing game in our family journal of where they will go and when. My dad's first guess for Ryan was Peru, but he changed his mind because a missionary from our ward got his call to Peru and never got his visa. Then shortly after that all missionaries in Peru were sent home from Peru for some reason. So my dad would've guessed right.

After he opened his call we had Cameron on one laptop and Shane on another looking up all we could about Peru. Here is some of what we found:

-Peru has over 4,000 types of potatoes. Problem is Ryan isn't very fond of potatoes!
-They also are known for the best tasting cuisine in the Americas.
-Peru has a democratic government where the citizens 18-70 have to vote.
-It's home of the legendary Inca settlement of Machu Picchu.
-Piura is the oldest spanish settlement in the Americas.
-The city is also well known for its artisans who weave straw hats and make silverware.
-Piura means "supply base" as the area was used by the Incas as a stop to get provisions during their conquest of the area's original inhabitants.
-The population in Piura is 400,000.
-Piura is also on the coast which means lots of seafood that Ryan also doesn't like:)
-A favorite dish is called Ceviche, it's a citrus marinated seafood salad and is pictured above.
-They speak Spanish and not Peruvian Shane!!:)
Ryan is so excited! He really wanted to go spanish speaking. Now we'll have Cameron, my dad, Matthew, and Ryan speaking Spanish to each other. I really need to learn it.
Peru reminds Cameron a lot of Uruguay. We are all planning on picking Ryan up after his 2 years are up.

Ryan's girlfriend Kelley came down from Utah State to see him yesterday. I think she's a little shell-shocked. Kelley also plans on going on a mission so they won't see each other for quite awhile. It'll be interesting to see what happens, we all love her and would love to have her as part of the family. In our family with girls waiting for missionaries we are 2 for 2 so there is hope Ryan and Kelley:) Except that this time it will be Ryan waiting for Kelley.

Austin can't wrap his head around the fact that when Ryan comes home he'll be 8 and baptized. He just refuses to believe me. But when Ryan was leaving for work and said bye Austin freaked out and said "he's going on his mission right now?!?" We are all really going to miss him. I can't believe my youngest brother is all grown up. He is going to be such a great missionary and do wonderful things for those in Piura Peru.

4 comments:

Cameron said...

Awesome write-up Hol, though you did forget to put in a picture of Ryan's soon-to-be-favorite dish Mondogo/Tripe/Menudo.

Mmmmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm

Congrats Ryan!

Ashlee said...

I can't believe he's that old already! I had to do a double take at the first picture with the caption over it.
Well, at least he'll be here for one last Christmas before the "best two years". Peru sounds awesome. That will be fun for you guys to go and see him. If you need someone to watch the wee ones....give me a holler!

Lyndsey said...

That's so awesome for Ryan!! We will have to go out and celebrate!

Shan said...

Peru! I guessed it right! Okay, I just got my ticket. I wrote a note on the Halloween post for the kids. I'm a little shocked Ryan is leaving but he will make an excellent missionary! I'm so proud of him! How are mom and dad holding up? Are they excited?