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!
