Peru- March 27, 2022

March 27, 2022

We don’t have anything exciting to report this week, but wanted to document some of the things we do in the office and some of the things that go on in our neighborhood (See pics below).

 

This morning I was reading in the Book of Mormon (Ether 8:23-25) where Moroni warns us that in the last days there will be secret groups built up to get “power and gain” and to “overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries …” Reading these verses and thinking about all that’s going on in the world today, made me feel very small. We’re warned in these verses to not let these “murderous combinations” to “get above you.” Lane and I are thinking “It’s a little too late for that!” So, what can we do? I turned to the next scripture on my scripture sheet (a collection of scripture verses that are meaningful to me and that I regularly review) which was D&C 10:5 which answered my question:

 

“Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.”

 

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

 

Love,

 

Lane & LeAnn




Surprise!  We actually received a piece of mail!  A wedding invitation for LeAnn's nephew.



LeAnn in virtual training sponsored by the Area office for mission secretaries responsible for immigration and visa processing. The Area is training each mission on how to process new legal documentation for non-Peruvian missionaries that arrive.



Here we are video chatting with one of the key Area travel specialists. He walked us through how to set up an appointment for our incoming American missionaries with Interpol. It's not too complicated once you learn what is needed, just a lot of steps. This screen shows the "Pagalo.pe" site where we have to make our payment for our appointment. Yep, you have to pay before you can even set an appointment! 



One of the office responsibilities is to be sure each companionship has a working smartphone.  Each companionship in our mission shares a phone. This picture is of a bunch of simcards for activating the phones with specific numbers.  The church also requires software on the phone that manages and controls what the missionaries can do or use on the phone. Companionships always seem to have some kind of phone problems, so we are often working to resolve phone issues.



LeAnn spends a chunk of time each week entering baptism records into the church system. The missionaries fill out these forms and sometimes enter wrong information (GASP!). For example, after she filled in the parent birthdays from this record, the system popped up with an error message of "mother was under the age of 12". Sure enough, with a quick calculation, she saw that the mother would have given birth at 9 years of age! After sending a quick message to the missionaries responsible for this record, we found that the mom was born in 1981, not 1991! (WHEW!)  



Our neighbors like to party, which means lots of loud music. On this particular night, we had a concert blasting from the south-side of our apartment. But when the concert would get quiet between songs, we could still hear music coming from somewhere. We looked out our east window and saw this. Apparently the neighbors decided to put up a box-type tent in the street, blocking all traffic, so they could have their party!  Street-blocking seems to be a common event without a second thought. And the music lasted well past midnight! 



A look at the pop-up party tent the next morning.



This street vendor was just outside our apartment.  It's amazing the amount of food and goods for sale the street vendors will pile onto their cars! If you look closely, you can see the megaphone on the front of his truck. As these vehicle drive slowly through the streets they broadcast - very loudly - what they are selling and the price, "Choclo, choclo, papa amarillas, cinco soles, cinco soles!"



Watering truck driving down the road, with the worker on top aiming the hose to spray the plants along the median area of the road. It's so nice to see the green trees and shrubs after all the dust is washed off!



Taylia attended a traditional muslim-faith wedding. Very colorful clothes!


Taylia received a surprise baby shower! She and Izzy are looking forward to their new arrival at the end of May or early June.


Granddaughter turning 8 and looking forward to her baptism!


LeAnn made some "Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffins" but was disappointed in the way they turned out. We think the applesauce was the culprit as it was a very strange consistency, a mix between pureed baby food and maple syrup. It's been difficult to find an applesauce that is made with just apples. Most of them have mango or some other fruit thrown in.


A close up of the sad, flat muffins. They tasted pretty good though!


Corinne and Meredith surprised us with real corn-on-the-cob! Occasionally we can find this in the store near their home. They saw it and grabbed us some. It was soooo good!

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Peru- March 20, 2022

March 20, 2022

We are happy to report that cambios (transfers) went well. We had a net gain in missionaries with only 2 leaving and 7 arriving. We had the opportunity to host 3 Peruvian sisters who flew in Monday night from the Mexico MTC, and it was fun to meet them and feel their energy and enthusiasm.

 

This week we received pictures of some of our grandkids. As I was looking at these pictures again today, I was struck by the fact that in all 3 of these pictures our grandkids are so happy and smiling because of some small and simple thing: going on a run with mom, listening to music, or eating a bowl of fruit loops … nothing extravagant or expensive. So, taking a lesson from our grandkids, we are going to move forward in the new week following Paul’s example:

 

“… I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (~Philippians 4: 11)

 

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

 

Love,

 

Lane & LeAnn



We hosted these 3 Peruvian sister missionaries Monday night. They flew in from the Mexico CCM (MTC) and started their missions here in the Peru Lima North Mission on Tuesday. 



Lots of luggage and good-bye hugs as missionaries transfer to their new areas.



I wish I would have got the picture of Lane carrying the 9 pizza boxes from Little Caesar's! This is as close as he gets to pizza! The new missionaries each get a pizza to share with their trainers on their 1st day in the mission.  



One of the transfer buses. 



Sending the new missionaries out to their areas. They don't ride the transfer buses because they are in training most of the day. They flag down taxis for their ride home.



Sister Packard (pictured) and President Packard like to send the new missionaries off.



One of the new sisters on the left and her trainer on the right.



This was a super fun surprise ... Friday night we came home to no power! The electrician was upgrading the wiring outside our apartment. Luckily we have a gas stove/oven and were able to fix dinner by flashlight!



Happiness is a run with mom!



Happiness is listening to music!



Happiness is a bowl of Fruit Loops!



Lane's mom moved out of her Meridian, Idaho, home this week and is listing it for sale.  They had lived there for 50 years.  That is a long time.  It was a long hard decision to finally make the move.  Lane's dad passed away about six years ago, and now there aren't any of the nine children living nearby.  So she decided to move to the Salt Lake City area to be a little more near some of the children and other family and more central to traveling to visit family.  It felt like a deep up-rooting for all of us, and a little sad in a way for all the memories.  But we're happy she'll be a little closer to some family and we look forward to her making new friends and creating new opportunities to serve. She's still very spry, and still has her piano, so it will be great!



We won't tell anyone that she's 87 and counting!  Still looks and feels 37!



Thanks so much to all Lane's siblings and family and friends who helped plan, prepare, clean out, pack, load, donate and haul away 50 years of "stuff," and help her find and move to a new place in the SLC area.



Boxes and more boxes!
















Ceremonial taking down of the world map.



Enjoying the last memories from the tree swing.



Visiting Lane's dad's gravesite after all was said and done.  Notice his dad's irrigation boots standing with some of the working group.






Moving into the new place in the SLC area. Placing one of the founding family keystones (besides Lane's mom) -- the piano. We hope it made it in working condition.  We'll see how many twonky notes she hears when she plays.



Lots of grandkids, spouses, and one great-grandkid, showed up in the SLC area to meet, greet, and help unload into the new place.



It appears the great-grandchild ousted grandma from the dolly ride up to the new apartment.



2 Strong grandsons!











Alair's family with Lane's mom


































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Peru- March 13, 2022

March 13, 2022

 13 March 2022

 

It’s been an eventful week here in our little corner of Perú (see pics below) and we also received word that we have 3 Americans arriving before the end of March – one flies in this Tuesday! Their VISAs were finally processed while they were reassigned to other missions and we are excited to meet them.

 

Since this upcoming Tuesday is a transfer day, we spent much of last week prepping for that. Of course, our printer would start glitching this week, and the Area office (who schedules the repairs) would discover that they hadn’t renewed their service contract, which meant a short walk down the street to print our documents at a local shop. Oh well … it all worked out!

 

On Friday we “met” over a video-call with the other mission travel secretaries from Perú. These meeting are good and informative, as long as Lane can sit in and translate!

 

This morning in Relief Society, while discussing Christ-like attributes, one of the sister missionaries shared this quote:

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” (~Rick Warren)

Which is a good reminder to me to focus outward. Another good reminder of how to develop Christ-like attributes comes from Matthew 18: 2-5:

 

“And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.”

 

Have a fantastic week! (Have a wonderful week!)

 

Love,

 

Lane & LeAnn




We had the opportunity to stay overnight 2 nights at the Lima CCM (Missionary Training Center), as the "acting adults" on campus (if only they knew!), while the CCM President and his wife were away.



Beautiful grounds view from our room.  



We stayed in a hotel-like room in the same building where all the missionaries sleep and also have classrooms. Our room was at the end of the hallway which was blocked with a locked door between us and the missionaries.  Although the sister missionaries had access to our part of the building because their laundry facilities were across the hall from us.  One of the sisters thought she heard elders making noise from the room we were in, and she was a little bit shocked and embarrassed when we opened the door in our pajamas to see what she needed!



Personalized Lima CCM bath towels.



We arrived to the CCM in the late evening after our missionary office activities in our own Lima North mission.  We were able to stroll around outside for a bit and visit with some of the elders and sisters that were in the courtyard studying.



Another courtyard view. The highlight of our time at the CCM was attending the Tuesday night devotional in the auditorium (wish we'd snapped a pic) where we were able to listen to the live-stream talks of Elder Neil L. Andersen and his wife, Kathy. 



We'd heard that the Lima CCM has an awesome outside exercise facility and that the mornings are really humming with all the missionaries out exercising. So we were looking forward to trying it out. But, when we arrived at the exercise area there wasn't a single soul except us! We couldn't see what all the fuss was about ... it looked like a glorified parking lot with a couple of soccer goals. So we ran a few laps and then started back inside. On our way to the main building, we saw a missionary holding some weights, and then open and enter a side gate ... so we followed him. 



Ah hah! We'd been looking in the wrong place!  Their real physical activities were occurring in this hidden area behind a wall that we couldn't see.  But it was fun to finally find them and see them out getting some exercise.



We were also asked to attend the temple with the missionaries as a witness couple. That was a good opportunity again. Except LeAnn found a caterpiller crawling on the carpet near her seat that caused a little bug-panic. But the sister assisting the session simply picked it up with a piece of tissue and hauled it off.  Back to normal.



This is leadership council at the CCM. The CCM President gives great counsel and encouragement to the district leaders and sister training leaders, then they take their knowledge back to share with their districts.



Saw this bright, fun-colored beetle-bug driving to the CCM.



And saw this minivan loaded to the max, inside and on top, full of whatever things they load their vehicles with.



The fig tree in the parking area of our mission office is looking pretty sad. Not sure if it lacks sunlight because the new stake center being built next door now blocks it, or whether it just needs more water. And we were looking forward to trying its figs (at least LeAnn was!).



On our p-day we loaded the car up at the office with extra blankets and other missionary housing things to take to the central storage area where we keep most housing furnishings until missionaries need them.  



LeAnn had her chance to visit the speedy mutant ninja turtles at the storage facility.












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