Primavera and so much more..

We had a great time with the Primavera Zone today.

They came in for interviews with the President

and got a whole lot more.

Just a few thoughts...

I came from a very large family.

I have eleven brothers and sisters... 12 of us.

There has always been a lot of love and happiness growing up

with this beautiful mob.

So, I always thought that I would have at least 10 children.

We were blessed with only two. Very different from what we thought.

We are very grateful regardless.

But now our hearts have wrapped around all of these missionaries.

We feel all of the emotions that we do with our own children.

When they have success, we are thrilled.

When they are disobedient, we cry.

When they are sick, we worry.

When they discover and grow spiritually, we are elated.

and

When they truly understand that they are a child of God with all the

responsibilities, gifts, powers, and blessings

then our mission is complete.

We have been blessed to see these missionaries not as they are now,

but we see what they can truly become.

Thank you Heavenly Father for this beautiful gift

of being with Missionaries!

Another day...

Thank goodness for technology that keeps the Mission President

and the Missionaries always in simpatico.

All Elder Andersen wanted for his birthday was a

Quarter pounder with a french fry candle.

We made all his wishes come true.

This personal secretary deserves it!

Elder Garcia was cutting open packages with his

box cutter and got a little carried away...

but he was brave as they stitched up his finger.

Just another great day at the office!

Little News Flash

Elder Uceda and Elder Christofferson

They just called from Lima and told us that Elder Uceda will be touring the mission starting on Tuesday. Wow... we are turning around and we get to see all the missionaries again... Yes! Then they get to come in for our Christmas programs

on the 20th and the 22nd.

Elder Uceda is in our area presidency and the 1st quorum of the Seventy. He just spoke in the last general Priesthood session of Conference. He also set me apart for the mission. We love him.

Something Fishy is in the air.... Chimbote!

This is Chimbote Peru Zone

with Elder Williams and Elder Belaunde as Zone Leaders,

and Yes, part of Chimbote reeks with the smell of processed fish.

I like to wear a little extra perfume on my wrist for the

drive by the fish factories.

You will see that I am blond again.

Not without another horror story.

We will save it for another time.

Why all the hands up you ask... Preach My Gospel Chase!

This is Elder Belaunde one of the Zone Leaders teaching here.

The Zone Leaders, the Assistants and

President Turk all did some teaching and training today.

We have a greater focus on the Book of Mormon

The greatest tool in conversion...

We Love the Book of Mormon.

Those that call it false, haven't read it!

There is a spirit and power in this book that

cannot be found anywhere else.

Around the World Ping Pong...

Great way to release some energy without hurting knees, backs, ankles etc...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Look at this picture... This is how we started our Thanksgiving. We were driving to Chimbote for Zone Conferences and we ended up smack dab in the middle of a major transportation protest that caused hours of traffic back up. I don't have any good pictures because I couldn't get out of the car but if you look closely you will see all the riot police with their shields and helmets and rifles... We lucked out and only had to sit in the car for an hour and a half. It looked like many were going to be stuck there for hours...

We arrived in Chimbote late because of the protest so we started

with interviews and trainings.

Here are Hermana Blake and Elder Erickson searching through

"Preach My Gospel"

to save their cereal box from being taken.

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving Feast of Chicken, Beef and French Fries.

The Missionaries love it.

I am really thankful for all these great missionaries.

Many times we have a dog in the meetings. I think it is so funny,

but nobody else even notices.

He practices with them, Conducts the meetings with them, and

sits next to them for hours.

These are the Faces of the Zones in Chimbote

Oh by the way, if you want to send some dark socks this way for

Christmas it would be greatly appreciated.

Is this your son?

President Turk blogs ~

Because I have been given much

I too must give!

President Turk and I have been given way too much.

We are not talking about monetary things...

We are so thankful for those things too but we are talking about

the things that really matter to us.

We have so much to repay.

But the more we give ~ the more we receive.

We will never be able to repay the Lord for what we are

receiving here in Trujillo, Peru.

Here are President Turks top Ten things he is thankful for

this Thanksgiving...

1. I am thankful for the weather in Trujillo, Peru...it is just about perfect.

2. I am thankful for the food that Lucy prepares for us; it is delicious.

3. I am thankful for our friends all over the world that love and pray for us.

4. I am thankful for our extended family that stay in touch with us and

care for our family.

5. I am thankful for the missionaries of the Peru Trujillo mission...they never cease to amaze me with their love and dedication.

6. I am thankful for the subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost

that testify of all truth.

7. I am thankful for our children, their spouses and our grandsons; and for their talents, patience and testimonies.

8. I am thankful for the love of my life - my wife Janet;

for her beauty, fun and grace.

9. I am thankful for the chance to share my testimony of the

restoration of the Gospel Plan.

10. And I am most thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His Divine Sacrifice that makes all good things possible.

Who Knew?

Several years ago, President Turk and I started to seriously

study Preach My Gospel for Family Home Evening.

We were empty nesters and thought that this would

be a great focus for us as a couple.

Who knew that it would be one of the greatest

preparations for our calling now?

Who knew that we would be living in Peru

at any time in our life...

or even visit?

Who knew that we would be teaching

hundreds of missionaries out of this

great manual?

Who knew that Preach My Gospel could

bring two people so much JOY!

Who knew that I would ever in my whole

life be a BLOGGER testifying of

Preach My Gospel

with tears as I type?

Life is so unpredictable!

I LOVE MY LIFE.

We had another great experience with the East Zone.

Don't they look great.

Can you tell which one is your son.

We are still on the cereal round...

Preach My Gospel speed search game

Here are their faces... All of them are very handsome

The East Zone is a force to be reckoned with.

(Elders Llatance, Wood, Blas, and Leon not pictured individually

but they are up above)

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We are on a roll... President and I have a jam packed month with no breaks so we thought we would get a jump on the Christmas Season. We pulled out the decorations and started the Christmas Music

We also called a mandatory practice of the special numbers for the big

Christmas Program in the Plaza. They are going to be Spectacular.

I think these Three Kings got confused with the Three Stooges.

We have Hermana Bigler singing the "Lullaby" from Mary and "Heirlooms"

Elder Jones, Pruett and Gricius singing "We Three Kings"

Elder Andersen Singing "O Holy Night"

Elder Tobaco singing "Como Puedo Ser"

Parker and Molly singing "the Prayer"

Elder Bosse playing some glorious descants on the trumpet to the

Christmas Hymns in between the Narration and

Children's Nativity scenes.

Hopefully the city will follow up with a few Fireworks.

We will have some community singing and

maybe a visit from Papa Noel for the littles.

We have beautiful slides and videos on a giant screen...

great for displaying the words for the songs too.

My little grandsons, G & T are going to be sheep in the Nativity! Yes!

The Word of Wisdom

So, President Turk was out teaching with these Elders...

Elder Llatance & Elder Wood - who is brand new.

They started at the home of a woman named Angela.

This was her third lesson.

They were teaching her about the Word of Wisdom.

They were telling her how great the Lord was

to give us this beautiful principle.

The Lord has told us not to put harmful substances in our body...

such as alcohol, drugs, smoking, coffee and tea.

Our bodies are temples that house our spirit.

We have to keep them clean and strong.

She paused and said, I have always believed that.

They asked her if she would keep the Word of Wisdom...

She said,

Yes, starting right this minute.

President Turk taught her more and then invited her to

follow Christ and be baptized.

She said that she could feel the spirit tell her that these

principles were true. And yes, she would follow Jesus Christ.

These stories are happening every day all over our mission.

Missionaries don't convert people to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Spirit does. All they have to do is listen and then ask Heavenly Father if these things are true.

He will answer sincere prayers.

Millions and Millions have received their own witness

that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

PS ~ Another beautiful thing about Peru is that hardly anyone smokes here.

This makes me very happy.

Just a Walk in the Park...

We live in the neighborhood called Urbanizacion California.

There are about 6 or 7 schools really close to the mission home.

When we go walking in the park around the corner, we always run into

one of the schools activities. I love to hear the children through out the day.

This morning they had each made a human rights sign and were marching

around the park. The children love to speak English to us too.

Praise to the Man! Viru Zone

This is the Viru Zone. Their chapel is being remodeled,

so they traveled to the offices for their conference today.

For their opening number they sang one of my favorite Hymns in English!

Every day the Latinos study English for 1 hour and

the Americans study Spanish. It is a great blessing for each.

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah

"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven

Earth must atone for the blood of that man

Wake up the world for the conflict of justice

Millions shall know Brother Joseph again!"

I love the Prophet Joseph Smith & testify that he is a true Prophet!

Mothers enjoy these faces!

More photos below of this great Zone...

You will see that I have dark hair again. I give up.

My stylist assured me that the color that I was getting was

golden blonde. It turned very dark brown with red in it.

So I had to put a drugstore color on to just lighten to this.

Feeling a little Sentimental...

It's our daughter Molly's Birthday today.

May I just say... she is a pure Joy.

She's a fantastic daughter, doting mother, & beautiful wife...

and we're glad she is ours.

We Love You

Happiest Birthday Wishes

See you on Skype!

(Yes)

Melissa, my sister-in-law and her daughter Meg,

also share this same birthday.

They are three of my favorite people in the world.

We love you all!

Melissa, Molly & Meg

Elder Dieguez

Sweet Elder Dieguez left yesterday... We will miss him,

but we will love him forever!

Back home to Guatemala... Best wishes Elder!

Captain Crunch the big Winner...

We were with Casa Grande Zone today.

President Turk was interviewing while we were...

Playing Paper, Rock, Scissors...

Practicing our Christmas Program...

We auditioned for a few narrator spots.

We had a 'Preach My Gospel' Speed Search

(like a scripture chase)

for Cereal Prizes.

These are precious to them.

Captain Crunch went first then Frosted Flakes believe it or not

It was fun to add the cereal prizes but we are so thankful for

Preach My Gospel

We love it, live it, read it, and chase with it now.

Preach My Gospel is the greatest blessing for missionaries.

(& everyone)

Then it's time to say so long...' til our Christmas Program

Oh wow, I have so much to do before then. Is it really Thanksgiving already?

It looks like we are all fun and games. Not so, we also

had PMG videos, practicing, teaching, training, & testimonies too.

oh wait, It is all fun.

Peruvian Young Adults are Incredible!

We spoke at a conference last night to over 300 Young Adults

While most youth their age are struggling to find who they are,

what they want out of life, where they should go...

these YA's are strong and moving forward.

They have direction and guidance from above.

Many of the YA's are leaders in their wards.

They are Happy and Successful.

They are beautiful examples to others their age.

These Young Adults are truly noticed here in Trujillo.

Their lives are blessed by living the beautiful

Principles of the Gospel.

Keep the Commandments... in this there is Safety and Peace!

Simple Song.. Powerful Message!

From Freaky Friday to Strange Saturday...

We had an unusual day at the hospital on Friday with one of our Latin Elders.

He is going to be fine, but it was pretty late when we

finally got him home and settled.

Two of the office Elders were with me at the hospital for several hours.

The hospital was running tests and we were waiting for doctors.

Elder Andersen was doing the translating and Elder Jones was

Entertaining the children that were waiting for doctors too.

The assistants took a shift at the hospital and of course got several referrals.

They are unstoppable!

The next morning when we woke up, there was no electricity and no water.

We had a full day planned... President was off and running

but it's a whole different ballgame for a woman.

No shower, no blow dryer, no curling iron...

no toothbrush, no washing the face... what is a girl to do?

I have been a good sport before and just molded a hair doo with bobby pins.

I have used flashlights for makeup and finding clothes in a dark closet.

But I looked in the mirror and it wasn't going to happen.

SO I opened the curtains and started catching up on my

Book of Mormon studies and my Spanish vocabulary.

The neighbors told us the electricity would be out for about an hour.

When noon rolled around and still nothing, I got nervous.

Terry just kept running to the meetings and baptisms for us.

I finally got on my knees and said I really need to go to the next baptism.

Amazing... I got an hour of electricity. When I finished getting ready,

the electricity went out again.

We attended this sweet baptism of Hermana Flor.

Elder Jones and Elder Andersen taught this darling lady.

She and her family have a little shoe factory. They make womens shoes.

Molly and Hali, we might venture over there when you come.

The young man, Arnold, that was baptized is awesome as well.

Elder Samayoa and Elder Bennett taught him.

After, we still had no electricity so we were off to get some dinner.

By this time it was 9:00 in the evening.

This is what 9:00 to 10:00 looks like when you are with

the President and the Assistants on Saturday night.

Freaky Friday and Strange Saturday hopefully will turn into

Sacred Sunday!

Esperanza Means Hope!

A quick look at our Zone Conference in Esperanza...

We have Great Leadership under Elder Butterfield and Elder Martinez.

We appreciate all they do.

There are always bumps in the road and it amazing to watch

these young men rally and help lift each other and serve with all their hearts.

It makes my heart happy. They truly love each other.

Esperanza means Hope in Spanish. These Elders are full of

Hope and Faith and they know all things are possible.

Service in the Cemetery

Sweet Story... Our missionaries and members in Casa Grande

donned the famous yellow vests and went to work on the city Cemetery.

There were about 70 of them working.

They did this a couple of weeks ago on the holiday "All Saints Day."

Many people were visiting the cemetery on this day.

This is Elder Hernadez modeling his yellow vest.

He is one of the Zone Leaders there.

They told us that on that day they took 110 referrals... Awesome!

I will tell you some of the follow up stories soon.

Multi-Zone Conference November 2010

Here are a bunch of photos from our multi-zone conference... they are out of order but if I cut and paste they won't enlarge... I don't have time to redo....

so enjoy!

Cleaning and Singing...

Practicing and Studying...

Eating and Growing...

Loving...

and Learning.

Good luck finding your Missionary.

It's kind of like Where's Waldo...

You might only see an ear or the top of his head...Sorry!

Those not attending, Chimbote Zones, Huaraz, and Cajamarca.