Called To Serve

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Abancay

On Friday Karen and I went with President Tyler and his daughter Rebekah To Abancay. It is about a 4 hour drive from Cusco. We go from 10,800 feet in Cusco to a pass that is 13,200 feet in elevation and then drops down to 9,600 feet in Abancay. Rebekah just came to Peru after finishing her mission in Phoenix Spanish speaking. The altitude didn't bother us one bit.

There are 5-6 peaks in Peru that are higher than anything in North America. This is one of them.

On our way to Abancay we stopped to see this rock that is carved out to represent Noahs Ark.

Rebekah standing next to the stone.

Our room at the Turista Hotel. The decorated walls are not wall paper but painted.

Some of the beautiful flowers in the garden at the hotel.

We are standing in front of the Tamburco branch

The other picture is across the street from the chapel.

On Saturday Karen went with the sisters to their baptism. The Abancay zone has never had more than 13 baptisms in any given month. This month they had 23 and 15 scheduled for next Saturday.

The sister quarters.

The baptism service. While the missionaries were at the baptism the President and I were at a District Conference where I had to speak.

Karen and Rebekah with Sister Nelson and Manacho. Sister Nelson was called from Las Vegas but now her mother has moved to St George.

Before we left to return to Cuzco we met with the

missionaries. All are present but one companionship. We had a very good visit. All the missionaries are working so well that the president doesn't want to make any changes in the companionships other than elder Hildago goes home this change

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sister Ayala

On the 12th of the month
Sister Ayala flew to Lima from Cusco after she broke her foot. She stayed at our place for 9 days. She is a new missionary that came into the mission on the last change. She is from Bogata, Columbia.

She has the cutest smile. She walk to the office on her crutches each day.

The Ramirez

The Ramirez came by our office to introduce their daughter and 2 grandaughters that came to Peru to visit. They had just returned from visiting Cuzco and Puno.

Foot Dr.

Hermana Tello, the mission foot doctor comes to the office and works on my feet about every six weeks. My feet have never been so good for a long time as they are now.

Marinera

Hna. Silva comes to the office each Wed. & Friday to help Karen with her Spanish. She is a very caring former missionary and goes out with the hermanas as a mini sometimes

and used to teach at the Lima CCM for several years.

She invited us to go a Marinera dance competition to watch her younger sister compete. She and her partner placed second overall in their age group of the competition. There were 8 judges that gavethe dancers a score between 1 and 5. Sort of like the gymnastics.

The kids went from ages of 3-4 up to late teenagers. Their costumes were very colorful. the skirts can weigh up to 8 kg.

The music was very loud. I think where I first lost part of my hearing was in Peru when I was a young elder. They don't cheer like we would at a sporting event. They passed out this big wooden noise maker that you twirled around to show your appreciation.

The Marinera is really a dance of love where the girl is playing hard to get. The dancers, even the 3 year olds, are very serious but always smile.

Even kids in the audience were dancing.

Other than it being so noisy it was a lot of fun and very beautiful to watch.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

August 10, 2009

On our way home from the office on Jorge Basadre they had dug up part of the road and the only warning sign was what you see. No lights for at night. But the sign does say peligro. Cars whip down this street as if it was the Indy 500.

Karens English class

Karen teaches some sisters in our ward English every Thursday at the mission office. Rosaria on the left looks quite young, but actually she is 24. The other girl is Frances. They also help Karen with her Spanish. There are others that attend also.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Hna. Milne

Hna. Milne is the last missionary to return to Bolivia. She doesn't want to return but finish her mission here in Peru. She completes her mission the end of October. She has an elder waiting at home for her. He just got home from his mission. They are planning to go to school at Weber St.