Here is Elder Reina, one of the assistants. I am blown away by his knowledge, his training skills, his motivational skills, his organization etc.... We are going to be really sad when he leaves us in a couple of months. Ecuador is lucky to have him.
Hey, and you know what goes really well with a day of training and interviews...
Chicken and French Fries! They bring all kinds of sauces to go with it ...Yum!
Over the river and through the woods is nothing we have seen... But we did go through the desert and through this tunnel.
Here is the chapel in Chimbote... notice the huge security wall around it. They are around every church building here in Peru. Every time we arrive at a church they open the big gates to put the car in safely. You do not park your car on the street ever! They strip them very fast.
But this is all they had to ramp our car up unto the church property. They crumbled very easily. We brought the mini van for more room but boy did we need the four wheeler. After a hundred different ideas and tries.. and a few close calls to a disaster, they decided to ...
Park the car at this sweet members home a couple blocks away.. She opened these two giant gates into what I called the secret bat cave. (Why don't I wear a helmut camera.) I was too busy herding her chickens and rooster and dogs back into her property to take pictures. I am not kidding. I loved it. Then when we came back to leave... her big double gates were blocked with about 10 cars all jacked up with no wheels. It turned into a mechanics shop right out in front of her door. So we waited to get the car out after they finished with a couple of tire changes.
You have got to love Peru... We do!
During the lesson he was telling us about his experiences with these missionaries. I asked Terry to ask him why he hadn't been baptized. While he was telling us... President Turk invited him to be baptized and he said YES! The missionaries about fell over. This was not expected tonight. Alfredo then went on to bear a strong testimony about the promptings he has felt from his Heavenly Father.
There was much more sharing and a few tears were shed. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. All we have to do is ask, and our Heavenly Father will answer sincere prayers. This is His work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man... We feel so Blessed to be here and to be a part of His work!
Elder Reina and Elder Hunsaker will baptize Alfredo a week from Thursday after we are all back from our road trip.
We ordered beautiful appetizers... these sweet morsels are filled with mozzarella cheese...Yum
And then Terry took a bite of his chicken and ouch.. he bit into a bone... no, it was a piece of his tooth! Oh, not really!
What the heck... We are in Peru. We have a road trip scheduled for a full week to the outer regions. No dentist there. We will have to wait until a week from tomorrow when we fly to Lima to finalize our immigration and we have to claim our shipment that is sitting in the warehouse there. Now we will add a trip to the dentist too.
These are the wives of Terry's counselors. They just told me that I have to teach a one hour training session today for the Relief Society leadership meeting in the district. I did shed a few tears and then got to work. I am also speaking tonight at the adult conference meeting.
This is the dining room we set up for the party for the stake presidents, area presidency, and the mission presidency and their wives. Too bad I forgot to take pictures of the actual party. I was too worried about speaking to these people than flashing photos. Sorry! The food was muy rica!
Our missionaries eat well here. They each have pensionistas that cook for them at their apartments. They tell me they eat alot of chicken and rice but they vary it up and they love it.
We just finished a Multi-zone conference in Trujillo. It was amazing. These missionaries carry a powerful spirit with them that is so contagious. We love being with them! We Love Peru!
Here the missionaries are listening to President Turk and they are like sponges. They all love to participate and they are sharp. They keep Terry on his toes.
I am looking a little rubia (blonde) in this picture and yes, my family... I do have big hair here too! I have got to tone it down. This is about 130 of our 200 missionaries. We see the rest this next week as we travel for about 6 days to 3 different areas.
Here we are in Casa Grande... The chapel is small but always very clean. We were there to meet the missionaries and Terry did interviews while the Assistants did training.
Here the Elders are practicing what they learn... they are diligent and they know their scriptures... Especially the Latinos, most of which have been members less than 3 years.
Here is Elder Mikesell from Morgan Utah. His trainer is Elder Lopez. His first flight in an airplane was from Utah to Lima Peru.... A little culture shock but he is going to be fine! And yes he knows Veva's family!
Here is the whole Zone in Casa Grande. Only two Hermanas but they are wonderful!
Our sweet office Elders... regardless of what this picture might say, they are competent in every way and we can't believe how much we love them already!
A trip to Viru to do training in the District... and we met President Mendez, Terry's 2nd Counselor for the first time. He is excellente. The saints in Viru are outstanding and are trying to build up their District to make a Stake soon. They have set some great goals.
Here we are looking up to our front door.... Our house is levels, levels, levels!
Here are our two cars... these are considered giant cars here in Trujillo... There are hundreds of tiny taxis everywhere that dart in and around our cars like little minnows around a giant shark.
This is our backyard... Not really, but very close. I took these pictures for Isaac, look at our pets! They are not llamas but alpacas. We named them Isaac, Griffy, and Tillman
I want to buy one of these so that I can take the missionaries from appointment to appointment. Our missionaries are all on foot, no bikes, no cars.... I could really buzz them around quickly.
We just had the sweetest evening ever.... 2 different baptisms... One on each side of town.
They waited for us at each one. It was great. They asked us to bear our testimonies...
And I said YES! I couldn't believe that I said that. I bore my testimony in both services in Spanish. The Elders in the back were so proud of me. Tomorrow we speak in a district leadership training. I just have to jump in and do it.... regardless of the outcome, Right?
Here we are in the center of Trujillo at the Plaza de Armas.... Very fun, Very colorful!
This large center statue is beautiful.... I think all cities should have a big plaza like this...Come on MESA?
President Turk is busy on the Blackberry while I enjoy the sites... This is what makes Team Turk so great... I do the fun, he does the work! I love it!
We have found our Sacred Grove. The Cemetary! It is right next to the new Temple site. Terry and I would bike every day to our Cemetary in Mesa. We were nervous that we were going to miss this but maybe we can drive our bikes to the cemetary here and take them out and ride. It is a crazy traffic city.... no room for bikes on the roads.
Presidente and his board of Missionaries... Time to get around to meet them all!
The office Elders sang for President and me and they sounded pretty good... maybe I'll post the video. There is nothing better than missionaries singing the hymns... Always brings the spirit!
First meeting with his office Elders and the Assistants
Here is a sweet story... Elder Hunsaker was set apart by President Turk as a stake president over a year ago. In his setting apart his mother reminded us that he told him that he would have a special relationship with his Mission President. Guess who President Turk's assistant was when we arrived... Yep, Elder Brent Hunsaker.
This is President Fernandez's son and he was ready to leave his home and go to Arequipa as soon as he had a nametag like his father... there is much sacrifice for these young families.... This family had 4 young children.
It is always great to have people with you that know exactly what you are going through and what you are feeling.... (the Bluncks and Dorius's are both in Lima missions)
Well, it's for real.... no backing out now. We are on the huge map in the Church Offices in Lima
These are the sweet new mission presidents and wives in our area. Elder Nash, Elder Pino and Elder Gavarret are in the Area presidency here.