¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
This week was missionary transfer week in the Peru Lima
North Mission, which means that things are super busy and a little crazy … at
least for those in Lima. It’s amazing to hear how much the mission President
and his wife do to smoothly roll out mission transfers! We aren’t in the thick
of the excitement, but continue to support from afar the best we can. And this
is the transfer where the newly assigned office elders officially took charge
of the office, and so far, so good! They will be terrific.
Lane and I spent time reviewing mission office system
training videos and “cleaning up” some of the electronic files relating to
housing and service providers. It’s a learning process but we’re making good
headway.
On Friday afternoons, our mission has a mini-training
meeting – the Micro Aprendizaje (MAPZz for short) – and this week President and
Sister Packard had arranged for the Area mission doctor to talk to the
missionaries about health related issues. It was a great presentation which
covered the basics of eating a healthy diet, exercising, drinking plenty of
water, and then outlined remedies for the most common missionary ailments –
stomach-aches and head-aches. Of course this meeting is done by Zoom and our
Area mission doctor is currently living in Idaho. Like us, he and his wife are
waiting for Peru to open up and begin processing VISAs.
On a bit of a sad note, my MTC Spanish tutor got a great
internship/job in the field that she’s studying at BYU, so this week was my
last week with her. It’s a great opportunity for her, but I will miss her! She
feels like family.
As I was looking through my MTC notes this week, I came
across this thought: “God can’t steer a parked car!” which is a good reminder
to us to keep moving forward and don’t fall prey to analysis paralysis.
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
Last week in our blog we mentioned that one of our
sons-in-law had won an Oculus (a virtual reality headset gaming system) that we
were able to try out when we visited them over the weekend. It’s quite amazing
and realistic – even to the point that Lane started to get motion sick when he
played and I got freaked out when our grandson said, “Grandma, it gets really
cool when the zombie comes up through the floor…I didn’t want to wait around to
see that! Right now our mission experience is a little like virtual
reality…super realistic in some ways, but lacking in others. Regardless, we
love being part of the Peru Lima North Mission!
This week we had the opportunity to learn more about the
“missionary health” aspect of the mission. First, I was able to participate in
a missionary medical Zoom call in which an Area doctor explained basic
treatments for four common types of headaches. It was very interesting and
informative. Also, Hermana Packard (Lane’s sister and the mission president’s
wife) walked us through the process for scheduling (online) a medical
appointment for a missionary. Then later in the week, I (LeAnn) was able to
schedule an actual medical appointment for one of the missionaries! When I
logged in to the Lima medical clinic, I saw an option to switch the language to
English. I had walked through the process in Spanish, but thought that it may
be easier in English. Anyway, I switched to English and then looked for the
link to set an appointment. Instead of seeing, “Set Appointment,” the tab
(which I was pretty sure led to the online booking system) said, “Online Dating.”
Haha…bad translation! But I was able to set the appointment.
On Friday we met with our mission’s newly assigned MTC-based
Social Media Specialist via Zoom who trains multiple missions how to improve
using social media for finding people interested in learning more about the
gospel. Lane also handled some housing
situations – smoke/CO detector issues, furniture ordering issues, and mapping houses
on MyMaps issues. It was a great week.
Thought: This week we said good-bye to seven excellent
missionaries. Before the missionaries leave the mission, they get the
opportunity to share (via Zoom) their testimonies in a “Hasta Ver” meeting. It
roughly translates to “until we see each other again.” We love hearing from
each missionary; they exemplify charity.
“And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not,
and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no
evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
~Moroni 7:45
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
LeAnn attends an Area zoom call that taught about improving missionary health issues.
Preparing fruit-kabobs for LeAnn's niece's wedding reception.
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
While we are becoming more and more familiar with the
mission processes, it seems like each week something crazy pops up at the last
minute in Peru. This week it was (1) the changing itineraries of 2 outgoing missionaries
(These missionaries are finally going to be able to enter Ecuador, which was
their original destination pre-pandemic.), and (2) dealing with the changes
brought about by a missionary missing his connecting flight in Miami. These
seem like little things, but it creates a bit of chaos for the office elders
and President and Sister Packard as they scrambled to re-arrange travel for new
airport pick-up times, cancel/change Covid testing times for the incoming and
departing missionaries, and work out the housing situations of all the effected
companionships. This is where we wish we could be of more help on the ground in
Peru. But everything turned out alright and the work goes forward!
Thought: Reflecting on these last-minute, sometimes-chaotic changes
reminded me of the following passage:
“Do not rely on planning every event of your life—even every
important event. Stand ready to accept the Lord’s planning and the agency of
others in matters that inevitably affect you. Plan, of course, but fix your
planning on personal commitments that will carry you through no matter what
happens. Anchor your life to eternal principles, and act upon those principles
whatever the circumstances and whatever the actions of others. Then you can
await the Lord’s timing and be sure of the outcome in eternity.” (Dallin H.
Oaks –from an address given at Brigham Young University on 29 January 2002.)
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Feliz día de la madre! (Happy
Mother’s Day!)
Highlights:
English Class: Each week we continue
to teach English through the “English Connect” language program. All the
missionaries participate (through Zoom), and several of them are advancing
rapidly. It’s rewarding to see their progress!
Area Travel Meeting: On
Thursday, one of the office elders invited us to sit in on a travel meeting that
the Area office was hosting. We thought it would be a training meeting, but it
ended up basically being a sales pitch by one airline which was presenting all
the reasons we should book missionary travel through them. It was interesting,
but probably not too relevant to our duties. The actual purchasing of
missionary airline tickets is typically handled at the Area level (or through
SLC).
Micro-Learning Meeting: Each
Friday afternoon the mission has a “micro” training meeting – it only lasts
thirty minutes and focuses on mission and life skills. President Packard asked
Lane and I to present last Friday’s training on the topic of “Personal Finances
for Self-Reliance” as outlined in church resources. Lane did an awesome job
presenting and I supported by smiling.
Happy Birthday to my Mom! My
(LeAnn’s) mom’s birthday was on Saturday and she is amazing! Her smile lights
up the room and she has a genuine love for people. I gained my love for
cooking, sewing, and ballet from my mom (and no, I’m not particularly
accomplished in any of those areas, but I enjoy all of them). My mom is a huge
“extra-miler” and I remember her taking me to see “The Nutcracker” as a little
girl. Afterwards she took me backstage so I could say “hi” to Clara (or more
precisely, the girl dancing as Clara). I loved that!
Thought: Today, in reflecting on our
mothers’ influence and all the help and support that they’ve given us over the
years, we could modify the following scripture to read:
“And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon [Lane and LeAnn] were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them [with the help and influence of their wonderful mothers] that they could bear up their burdens…”
~Mosiah 24:15
The rest of that scripture talks about bearing up our
burdens with ease and submitting “cheerfully and with patience to all the will
of the Lord”; we are still working on that!
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Feliz cumpleaños élder Simmons! (Happy Birthday, Elder Simmons!)
Through the wonders of technology we were able to fulfill
our mission responsibilities this week from Lane’s mother’s home in Idaho. We
wish we could have stayed longer and seen more family and friends, but we’re
back in Lehi now.
When we were called to be office specialists missionaries,
we were informed that it was not mandatory (just recommended) for us to learn
Spanish; however, I (LeAnn) don’t think we could do even half the things we are
doing now if Lane didn’t know Spanish. It is so helpful to have at least one of
us understand what is going on in meetings! Lane not only served a mission in
Bolivia, but he also spent a year living in Argentina with his family when he
was 12…and having that Spanish language background has been invaluable.
We still don’t have a set departure date for Peru, but 3
more American elders entered the mission on Friday (they had been serving in
Lima before the pandemic) which is a good sign.
Thought: While we
were in Idaho, we were able to look at some old photos of our parents and
grandparents. We love seeing these old pictures and hearing stories of their
lives. In his 2017 RootsTech presentation, President Nelson stated:
“It’s wonderful to turn the hearts of the children to their
fathers by telling important family history stories in ways that are accessible
and memorable. Perhaps having family history documents, stories, photos, and
memorabilia always before our eyes can strengthen our testimonies … As we place
them on our walls, our tables, our computers, our iPads, and even our cell
phones, maybe we will be prompted to make better choices and draw closer to the
Lord and to our families.”
¡Que tengan una semana fabulosa! (Have a fabulous week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
Bisbee,
AZ High School where Lane's mom graduated in 1953.
Jerome,
AZ where Lane's dad was born in 1933 and grew up in his younger years. Lane's
grandpa Simmons was a mining engineer in Jerome.
Douglas,
AZ, on the border of Mexico, where Lane was born.
