Peru- January 23, 2022

Yesterday we visited a car museum here in Lima – the collection of Jorge Nicolini – and enjoyed an impromptu private tour of the entire facility. One interesting fact about this museum is that Nicolini purchased all the cars on display here in Perú and restored them himself (with increasing help through the years). We got a behind-the-scene look at the workshop where the dilapidated cars are taken apart and then re-assembled. I’m not sure why this was so fascinating, but I kept thinking of how sometimes I feel like those old, broken-down cars … being replaced by newer, more efficient and stylish models. Maybe that’s why I love seeing the renewal process. It reminds me of this scripture:

 

“But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” (Malachi 3:2-3 and 3 Ne. 24 2-3)

 

After the restoration process is finished, the cars look amazing! It was a good reminder to me to keep up my own personal “restoration” process.

 

This week in the office we started gearing up for the next transfer and part of this process includes printing all the documents that the missionaries will be taking with them when they leave the mission. We affectionately refer to these missionaries as the “Walking Dead” (a name likely bestowed long ago by some office elder – I have a “Walking Dead” file on my computer that gets updated each transfer).  

 

Covid (and other sickness) has hit Perú hard. This week Lane got a call from the CCM branch president informing him that the CCM had confirmed its first Covid case and was going into quarantine for 10 days … so we weren’t able to attend the church meetings there this week. Hopefully things will clear up quickly.

 

¡Que tengan una semana fantástica! (Have a fantastic week!)

 

Love,

Lane & LeAnn 

This photo was taken about four months ago, looking out the window of our mission office at the construction site of the new Stake Center that will also house our mission office -- they say within about a year.  

This is an updated photo taken this week of the construction site as it is coming along.  It will be a three story building.

Neighborhood dog hanging out the window looking for excitement.

A couple of musicians in some kind of traditional attire and playing their flute and drum instruments as they walk down our street.

We received our first package ever here, from LeAnn's sister Heidi!  It only took about a month to get here!  Delicious chocolates from Nebraska.

We started off our P-day by getting our third dose (booster) of the Covid vaccination. Fortunately it was a drive-through experience and didn't have to get out of the car or wait.
We really did not want to get the booster, but don't have any choice here.  Peru passed a decree that everyone 50 and older has to show proof of having received three doses to be able to enter any public buildings, including malls, restaurants, and grocery stores.  Peru already had in place the requirement to show proof of two doses of vaccination for everyone, and they have been checking in many of the malls, restaurants, and stores, requiring that you show your vaccination card as well as a personal identification card.  And all that is in addition to wearing double masks, or a single K95 mask, in all public places and even outside!  Ugh. We didn't want to be prohibited from buying groceries, so felt we had no choice but to get the booster.

We then headed to the "drier" eastern side of Lima to visit a museum of history of automobiles of Peru. The tour guide of the museum mentioned that the museum was placed there because it was less humid than where the owner lived in the central Lima area. The barren hills look the same as where we live on the northern side of Lima. And it all feels very humid to Lane.

An interesting aspect of this auto museum is that all the cars were purchased by the owner from in Peru.  They all belonged to somebody in Peru at some point in time. The owner has rebuilt and refurbished all of them (well, he and his team) to their original status.

We couldn't figure out how anyone could fit into these two tiny cars.

LeAnn loved the classic yellow of this 1953 Chevy Bel Aire. 
Lane just loves the photo of LeAnn!

Another interesting aspect of the museum is that the owner takes out and drives each and every vehicle on a regular basis.

This vehicle was a one-and-only of its kind ever made.

We should have written down the details of what it was!

With Jaron in the military, it was fun to see one of the early general purpose "G.P." military vehicles, which later became known as a "Jeep."

Fascinating to see how dilapidated most vehicles are when they are purchased by the museum, and the process they go through to be restored.  They restore each one right there on the museum site in their own restoration shop.

The restorative process is amazing.  They said it typically takes anywhere from 8 months to almost two years to restore each vehicle.

They even have their own chrome plating shop to create all the fancy chrome components and detailed ornaments on the cars.

These are the big electro-tanks into which they dip the components for the chrome plating process.

This entire process of finding an old vehicle, bringing it into the shop, tearing it apart, and restoring it completely to is original beauty, luster and glory, reminds us of the gospel and how Christ is the master that can restore us to become like him if we will let him.  And we are all so unique and different!  But we can all shine because of and through Him.

Finished off our p-day with a celebration dinner for LeAnn's birthday at -- an American Chile's restaurant!  Sorry Peru cuisines.  Something about, "there's no place like home!"