New apartment

Our lease is up on our apartment July 24th. We are going to move upstairs into this larger apartment. We went up and visited Adria and she let me take some pictures even though she has been sick this week and is in the middle of doing some serious cleaning. The apartment is a 2/3 bedroom with 2 1/2 baths. Very much larger than what we have now. This is looking from the front door into the living room
There is a room that she is using as a study that could also be used as a third bedroom.

This is the living room.

Looking into the kitchen from the living room.

Another view on the kitchen looking from the laundry room,

This is the bathroom just off the Laundry room.

This is the Laundry room with a washer and dryer.

This is the Master bedroom . She was cleaning in this room

Another view of the Master bedroom.

This is the spare bedroom.

P day at Jockey Plaza

Yesterday for our P day we went to Jockey Plaza. A large mall with hundreds of shops. We primarily went to Ace Hardware to buy paint to touch up under our cabinet in the kitchen that had some minor water damage. Karen was also able to buy some make up at Saga Falabella. She also bought a pair of Sketchers shoes. We also ate lunch at a Chineese Buffet which is part of Bennihanas.

As we were crossing over the road to catch the bus on the other side, notice that the trees still have blossoms and we are getting very close to winter.

Starting the day

Each day at the office, we start with scripture study, a spiritual thought and then we kneel in prayer. This was last Friday around the desk of elder Neuenschwander.

Mothers day

On Mothers Day Karen was able to talk to both of her sons and their families and to actually see all the grandkids via Skype. The yellow flowers she received from our Family Home Evening group. The roses came from her son Scott. He called me a couple of days before Mothers Day and I had the office elders go pick out some flowers for him and while he was talking to her by way of Skype the elders brought the flowers to her. It was a very enjoyable day for her to get to see and talk to each of her 8 grandkids and to actually see her newest granddaughter, Chalyss for the very first time.

Karen had made a chocalate chip cake earlier in the day and elders Tito, Neuenschwander, Briggs and Gurr quickly took care of it.

Change week May 6, 2009

On Tuesday we had 11 misionaries go home from their mission and 10 missionaries go back to Bolivia. So we lost 21 missionaries and received 9 new ones. On Tuesday of the change the missionaries going home go to the temple with president and sister Elmer. Then they go to his house for dinner. At 7:00 in the evening we have a testimony meeting with each missionary going

home. Then they all leave that night.

On Wednesday the new missionaries arrive at 8:00 am from the MTC. They have an orientation that last all the morning. While that is going on the president interviews each new missionary. Then at noon we all walk over to the presidents house. Sister Cleverly and I get to go to this luncheon. At 3:00 we go to the Magdallena chapel where all the missionaries come from all of Lima to receive their new assignments and meet their new companions. It is a very fun meeting. The president introduces each new missionary to all the rest of the mission.

Museo del Automovil

These are our favorite pictures. We were not allowed to touch any cars but this yellow pickup.

Saturday the 2nd of May was our P-day. We joined up with the office elders, Elder Gurr and elder Neuendschwander and elder Celiz that is going to Cuzco this change and elder Denker recovering from surgery. Also the presidents two assistants elder Tito and elder Briggs.

The fun part is that sister Elmer joined us. We decided to go to the Antique Car museum. Some of the elders took a taxi and we rode with sister Elmer. We had the address but none of us actually knew where the museum was located. The first taxi driver said he would take them

for about 25 soles. That was way too much money. They finally found a taxi driver for 13 soles. The trouble is he didn´t know where it was located either. The taxi driver followed us. Sister Elmer thought she knew where it was located. We were only about 20 miles off. After several telephone calls we arrived at

the location. Way on the outskirts of Lima at the base of the Andes Mountains. We paid 20 soles a person to enter. After going through the gate there was this large courtyard that had about a half dozen old rusted out 1960´s cars with the tires flat. I thought what a dissapointment. We paid good money to see this.
But down at the end of the walk way we could go into this large building. We were told that it contained over 170 antique autos. They were some of the most beautiful antique autos we have ever seen, several of them are one of a kind or the only one in the world. Many of the cars are from Europe.

I only saw one Thunderbird and it was a 1964 that is waiting to be refinished. There were no Corvettes but many Mustangs. I saw a 1967 Dodge which I used to own one of. I was hoping to see a 1957 Dodge similar to what I drove when I was in high school but the closest to this was a 1958 DeSoto. The elders here are with the owner of the cars.

There were several model T´s and Model A´s

Karen remembers her family having a car like this.

There was another large building That housed antique cars that were waiting to be refurbished. There were 20 to 30 cars, pickups etc.

A guy working there told me it takes at least 6 months to finish a car. Some times even up to a year.

We all had a very enjoyable time and were glad that we went.

Trip home

After going through the car museum we decided to all get in sister Elmers SUV. We had 3 elders in the very back, 4 including myself in the middle and sister Elmer and sister Cleverly in the front. Of course the elders wanted something to eat so we stopped at Papa Johns for pizza.
We then went to the museo de oro. Karen and I had been there before. Maybe that explains why I didn't take any pictures.

The elders seem to enjoy it but we wondered as we looked at all the gold how much was real and what was fake. We had seen on TV just a week ago that that people that worked at the gold museum had stolen several pieces of gold and replaced it with fake.

Water

About once a month this fellow comes to our apartment and delivers to. us 3 bidons of water or 3 large bottles of about 5 gallons each. We don't dare drink water from the tap. Each of these large bottles cost about $4.00. This same fellow delivers to the mission office. Notice his mode of transportation.

Chabuca park

The reason that we went down town with the Andersons was to go to Chabuca park. Actually it is a park down in the river bottoms of the Rimac river. It used to be a slum area and very run down. As they got their equipment in to excavate they discovered these old walls of Lima. So these ruins became part of the park. I didn't take any pictures of the park. We stopped at a restaurant to get a drink and then it got dark on us.

Its a beautiful park next to the Rimac river and the railroad tracks that goes up into the Andes mountains.

Post Office

This is the main Post Office for Lima, Peru. When I was a young elder I would make a trip to the bank down town (New York City Bank) and then go to the post office to pick up the mail. It was in this very building.

As you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can see Karen with George and Rochi.

Osambela mansion

On Saturday the 25th of April we decided to spend our P-day with George and Rochi Anderson. Our snowbirds from Cananda as they are going back to Cananda for 6 months on the 4th of May. After having lunch at a Peruvian restaurant not far from our apartment we walked to the calle Salaverry and caught a bus for down town Lima. It was our intention to go to a nice park by the Rimac river and close to down town. As we were walking over towards the park we went

thru the printing district. We saw hundred and hundred of little shops with their printing presses going to full capacity.

We walked down this one street quite by accident and came to this old blue building that was the Osambela mansion. A man was standing in the doorway and ask George and I if we would like to tour the mansion. It was free and we said yes. The four of us were the only people there plus this mans teenage son. We found out that the mansion was constructed in 1790 and took 10 years to build. We have a picture of the guide that incidently lives with his wife and child in the building. He is standing next to a model of the mansion.

The original owner was quite wealthy and had a tower built on the

top so that he could watch ships come and leave Callao. He could also watch smaller ships come up the Rimac river from the ocean.

There are three large court yards and
the rooms all open off of a courtyard. In the main courtyard there are two large staircases, one on each side.
The one on the left was used only by royalty. The one on the right was for effluent people, but not of royal descent. We went up the royal staircase.

In one of the rooms he showed us a bookcase that had many old books. Books that were much larger than normal. The book that he let us thumb through was printed in 1540. It was a medical book. We were quite surprised that he let us touch it and turn the pages.

We took pictures of some of the paintings that hung on the walls.

There were several large rooms that could have been used for conferences or councils.

There was one room where I counted over 100 chairs.

He even took us up on the roof of the building. To get up there we had to go up this very narrow stairway. I barely fit.

We had a view of the city from the top. We could see how dirty it gets because of the lack of rain that kind of keeps everything clean


We were also told by the guide that there are underground tunnels to various location throughout the city. One goes to Cathedral, the presidential palace and another to the convent plus others.