¡Feliz Domingo de Ramos! (Happy Palm Sunday!)
This week sped by in a blur … lots going on!
Tuesday morning, around 3:15am, we received a call from
President Packard informing us that due to the transportation strike and
protests here in Lima, they wouldn’t be able to go to the airport to pick up
our incoming elders from the US. Instead, the Area Office sent a driver (who
lived much closer to the airport) to pick up our elders and bring them directly
to our home. The elders were scheduled to arrive at 5:35am. Thankfully,
everything went smoothly and they arrived at our house around 7:30am.
As far as the protests and city “lockdown” went … we
received an email from the US Embassy in Lima at 4:19pm on Monday stating that
we should avoid the protest areas on Tuesday (mostly downtown near the
government offices). The first we heard of the “lockdown” was when President
Packard called us early Tuesday morning. We didn’t receive the official word
from the US Embassy that we were in lockdown until just before 8:30am on
Tuesday … the day of the lockdown! The Government of Peru issued its “Supreme
Decree” on Monday which imposed a “22-hour lockdown for Metropolitan Lima and
the Constitutional Province of Callao, from 2:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.”
This wreaked havoc with people who had flights to catch and
business to conduct. There were 22 missionaries in the Lima CCM who had
FINALLY, after months of waiting, received their VISAs and were scheduled to
fly to their missions on Tuesday. Most of those flights had to be rescheduled!
But they have now all arrived in their assigned fields of labor.
As for us, Tuesday was pretty much business as usual. We
walk to the office, so no worries about getting stopped by the policia for us.
President and Sister Packard braved the drive to the mission office and arrived
without trouble before 9am. The only real issue was that we had to change our
lunch plan for the missionaries. The pizza shop we usually use for these
training days was closed. So Lane went out scouring our area for
restaurants/shops that were open where we could buy lunch. Again, if we had had
advance warning we could have planned accordingly. It’s insane to shut down a
city with NO NOTICE! Luckily, Lane found some sandwiches, empanadas, and chips
for lunch.
Our 2 new elders were true troopers! We had laid out air
mattresses in the office for them to sleep on between activities, but I don’t
think either of them really got any sleep. In the end, I think they were up for
probably about 41-hours straight, with a couple of catnaps on their flight and
in the office. They stayed at our apartment Monday night, and headed out to
their areas Tuesday morning.
We don’t keep up with Peruvian politics, but we hope the
government unrest and protests are resolved quickly and without further
violence. We haven’t seen any protests in our part of the city … everyone is
just going about their lives.
As we think of Jesus Christ this week with Easter
approaching, we love this scripture:
“And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto
you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of
his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your
faith in him according to the promise.” (Moroni 7:41)
¡Que tenga una bendita Semana Santa! (Have a blessed Holy
Week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
A fun aspect about the hill are the rainbow-colored stairs that start in the housing areas around the hill and lead to the top of the hill.
Cross at the top of the hill.
With its shrine.
A worker was washing away the dust when we arrived, thus the wet, drippy look.
Corinne and LeAnn
Colorful murals painted in the housing district. With plenty of dogs.
