Peru- May 29, 2022

May 29, 2022

It’s been another great week here in Peru. Now that we have 15 Americans here (that’s close to 20% of our missionaries!) we have much more paperwork and migration appointments to deal with. But, we’re learning the processes and working out routines to make things run more smoothly. This week Lane walked several of our American missionaries to a photo shop a couple of doors down from our mission office to get passport photos taken and LeAnn took their fingerprints for their foreign ID card applications.

 

The big excitement for the week came on Saturday when Elder D. Todd Christofferson and his wife came to Lima. He met with all the missionaries serving in Lima (six missions) and the missionaries in the CCM. It was such a treat for all of us to hear from an apostle. He and his wife were so friendly and greeted each missionary as they entered the building. Both Elder and Sister Christofferson gave their talks in Spanish…impressive! I (LeAnn) am getting better at understanding Spanish, but still don’t catch everything. But, I do understand the “gringo” Spanish better than the “native” Spanish since Gringos generally speak slower and enunciate more clearly than the natives.

 

In his talk, Elder Christofferson reemphasized President Nelson’s counsel on labels. The 3 most important labels are:

1.     I am a child of God

2.     I am a child of the covenant

3.     I am a disciple of Jesus Christ

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Nephi 25: 26)

 

¡Que tengan una semana maravillosa! (Have a wonderful week!)

 

Love,

 

Lane & LeAnn 



We love seeing missionaries when they come to the mission office for meetings or interviews! These missionaries picked up English practice books after meeting with the president for interviews



Our entire mission of sisters and elders waiting for the arrival of Elder Christofferson.  
We have 74 young missionaries.



We arrived at the church around 8:15am where Elder Christofferson was going to speak  Saturday morning. Lane and I shuffled 3 of our missionaries into a side room where we were able to get their fingerprints and signatures on their Peruvian ID applications (these 3 missionaries live far from the mission office and we took advantage of being together to get a little office work done). Afterwards, we made a quick stop at the restrooms and LeAnn was pleasantly surprised to see fresh flowers in a very clean women's bathroom! Well ... when LeAnn exited the restroom, Lane informed her that these particular restrooms had been set aside for the apostle and his wife ... WHOOPS! Oh well, there was no sign on the door and no one had said anything about not using these particular restrooms. 



Six Lima missions, plus the Missionary Training Center missionaries, were all set up for taking photos with Elder Christofferson when he arrived.



Corinne and Meredith lining up our missionaries.



The sister missionary on the right is serving in our mission.  Her twin sister on the left is serving in another Lima mission, and they got to say hi while waiting for Elder Christofferson.



The Lima Missionary Training Center missionaries.



Four North American sisters in the Lima Missionary Training Center are still waiting for their visas to be able to go out and serve! They've been waiting three or four months. We love these sisters and miss seeing them on Sundays ... but we are hoping they'll get to enter their assigned missions soon!



After pictures, everyone lined up to enter into the Stake Center, and shake the Christoffersons' hands as they entered the building.



Every detail of the day was managed very efficiently. We were told where to go and how to get there!



After the devotional by Elder Christofferson, everyone gathered and visited as they all prepared to head back to their missions on their respective buses.



Corinne (Sister Packard) had order Subway lunches for all the missionaries for after the devotional. LeAnn handed them out to our missionaries as they headed to their buses to go back out to their respective teaching areas.



This amazing lady - from our ward in La Molina - picked up all our lunches from Subway and brought them to the church for distribution.



As missionaries poured out of the church, my friend asked, "How will you know which missionaries are yours?" (There were probably around 500 missionaries at the church, and we have 76 of those.) I told her, "Well, I think I pretty much know them all and can recognize them. I've met them all at least once and work with their files and pictures in the mission office all the time." And sure enough, I didn't have any trouble recognizing our missionaries.





On the bus to go back to their teaching areas.


Heading out!


And yes, Corinne ordered Subway for us, too!


Yay! The "ovalo of death" construction is finally finished! This has been under construction since before we arrived last September.


In this pic you can see the overpass that was constructed over the top of the "ovalo of death" (which was basically a super-congested round-a-bout). Now a significant amount of the traffic is diverted over the ovalo, making it much more safe.


The Packards invited us to stay at their apartment Friday night so we wouldn't have to battle the morning traffic to get to the devotional. This pic was taken from their balcony ... a rare beautiful blue sky for Lima.






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Peru- May 22, 2022

May 22, 2022

 

This week brought us 3 new missionaries – 2 Americans and 1 Peruvian – even though it wasn’t a “transfer” week. Our Americans – 1 sister and 1 elder – have been serving in the States on reassignments: the sister in Cincinnati, OH and the elder in Salt Lake City, UT. They have a rough day of it as they leave the states around midnight and arrive here in Lima at 5:15am. They are able to rest in the mission office for a couple of hours, but it’s not like getting a good night’s sleep.

 

Our Peruvian missionary – a sister – flew in on Monday night and stayed with us. In the past when missionaries have flown in the day before the transfer, they arrive very late, but this sister arrived at our apartment around 8pm. It was fun to visit with her and learn a bit about her life. She is 26 years old (a little older than most of our sister missionaries) and has been studying law. It’s amazing to see the sacrifices these young adults make in order to serve.

 

On Wednesday, on our short walk to the mission office, we came upon a “police document trap” … at least that’s what they seem to be. Several police officers set up cones on the side of the road and just start flagging people over. Motorcyclists seemed to be the focus of this police operation and there was what looked like a dad, mom, and little girl standing beside their motorcycle while a police officer was looking over their papers. All of a sudden the little girl – who looked to be about 5 or 6 – started to throw up! It was so sad! Her mom started moving her towards the edge of the street, and held her beautiful, long, black hair out of her face while she vomited. Oh, I remember those days with little kids puking in the most inconvenient of places! We wanted to help, but weren’t sure what we could do. Then I realized that I had wet wipes in my bag … so I pulled those out and handed them to the mom. She gratefully took the small package and said, “Muchas Gracias!”

 

About an hour later, as I was reflecting on this experience, I realized that I could have helped more. I wish I would have grabbed a water bottle from the office and taken it out to them. Our office was less than 30 seconds away. Why didn’t I think to do this small thing in the moment? Too often I get caught up in my routine of doing good (and important) things, but not necessarily doing the BEST thing. I need to remember this verse from the Book of Mormon:

 

“For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.” (2 Nephi 32:5)


And this quote from Reyna Aburto helped me feel a little better:

 

“… let us not underestimate the marvelous work the Lord is doing through us, … despite our shortcomings. Sometimes we are givers and sometimes we are receivers …” (To read/listen to her full talk, click here.)


¡Que tengan una semana maravillosa! (Have a wonderful week!)

 

Love,

 

Lane & LeAnn


This new Peruvian sister missionary had been studying law before her mission. She flew in from Tacna, Peru on Monday evening and stayed with us overnight.


Our 2 new sisters! The American on the right had been serving temporarily in the Cincinnati, OH mission and flew in early Tuesday morning. 



Our new elder! He had been serving temporarily in Salt Lake City, UT and flew in early Tuesday morning.



Our mission office is in a three-story building. Our offices are on the second floor, and there really isn't anything on the first floor except a large hall-way foyer-type area, and access to the open garage parking area out back.  The entire time we've been in the office the third floor has been empty.  But recently that changed, and the landlord rented part of the third floor to a tenant that teaches students to prepare for getting accepted into college. So now down on the main floor the students come in and hike up the stairs past our floor.  Not really any problem, but we are sad to lose full control of our useful first floor foyer-type area where we always stack our boxes of Books of Mormon, place and receive loads of mission laundry, place many items that are being sent out to the missionaries for the weekly packet, and temporarily stash missionary suitcases that are arriving into the mission or leaving the mission.  We now need to be a little more careful so that we don't lose any of those things to others that may be passing through.



A typical trailer being pushed along a major road. It seems crazy and dangerous to us, but so common here.




Driving down one of the "alleys" in Lima. 




On Saturday, upon returning home from running errands, we found this being set up on our road. It's a portable "party" room that people use when they need extra space for parties. The problem is that it blocks the entire road!




And here is the party room in action.


And here is a taste of what we heard all night. Most of the music sounds pretty traditional - like Mariachi music - but at 1:38am we could hear John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.




Every time Lane goes to the storage unit where we store some mission housing items, this giant turtle always greets him with jaws snapping, and dragging himself along to attack or defend his environment as best he can.
Sometimes we feel like this turtle.  Hiding under some protective hard shell of our own personal comfort zone, feeling like we are moving as fast as we can to accomplish our responsibilities, although in reality it may be slow relative to what others can do. And at the same time we make dismissive or threatening gestures at those around us who wonder what we are doing or may be asking why we are doing what we are doing. It reminds me of the saying, "Why do we do what we do when we know what we know?"



Lane's morning jog through the neighborhood often finds scenes like this. The three-wheeled, white bike-cart on the left is a fellow selling bread (certain types of hard rolls typical for Peru, but definitely not sliced bread). The car in the middle is passing between the bike-cart and a woman slowly pushing her piled-high cart of stuff down the middle of the street.



The white bike-cart selling the bread.



The woman pushing her personal cart piled with who knows what.



Same woman and cart - seen several blocks later still pushing.



Another vendor rolling through the neighborhood on his three-wheeled motorcycle cart selling fruits and vegetables, announcing their sales with the huge loud-speaker protruding above the cart.



Other bread vendors with one honking his bicycle horn to announce his sales.



School across the street from our apartment. The kids all wear bright yellow colored shirts as part of their uniforms.  You can see a few through the windows.  We can't figure out which days they actually hold class.  Seems random.  But generally starts around 7:30am and goes to maybe 2:30pm or so.



Hard to see inside the class rooms, but the students sit on classic hard wood desks or benches with tables.  Somewhat reminds Lane of the school he and his siblings attended in Argentina when they were young.



Mother with the dog dropping of her daughter at the school.



Father walking his son to school. It's amazing how families are so similar around the world in that family love and support is so important.


Another vendor walking through the neighborhood.  This is a knife sharpener fellow who, when sharpening a knife, pedals the sharpening wheel with his foot. Interesting how all the vendors have their own specific "sounds" they play or horns that they honk (many are just bicycle horns that they squeeze to honk with their hand) as they announce and advertise their services walking through the streets.


Yes, LeAnn gets excited about nuts. Some friends brought these back from the States and gave them to us as a surprise! We haven't found these here since our first trip to the grocery store back in September (and then all we found was those little, tiny cans of almonds).



Happy Birthday to our son-in-law, Kevin, who is an amazing husband and father!


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Peru- May 15, 2022

May 15, 2022

 

It’s been a busy week here in the Lima Peru North Mission. On Monday (the missionaries’ p-day), we went to the “Parque de las leyendas” which is translated as “Park of Legends.” It’s a big zoo here in Lima. President and Sister Packard had arranged and bought tickets for all the missionaries to attend as an activity. We thought we’d just pop in and out, but it was amazing! The park contained not only animals, but a botanical garden, archeological ruins, a small lake for motor boat rides and paddle boats, and an amusement-type park with bounce houses and rides. So … we ended up staying over 2 hours.

 

Then it was back to mission office reality! We’d been out of the office since the prior Tuesday (due to our Cusco trip) and we had lots of office catch-up. We are receiving more Americans, which is awesome, but it also means more migration procedures & paperwork, Interpol visits, and additional housing needs.

 

This week we also had another random power outage, and when Lane couldn’t get a response from our landlord, he went down to the main power box for the six-story building and started throwing switches. Luckily he flipped the right one and our power came back on … and thankfully he didn’t electrocute himself! (In his defense, he said he had watched the electrician do this several times.)

 

On Thursday, just as we were leaving the office, everything started to shake. We looked at each other and ran for the door frame … even though we understand that door frames really aren’t any safer than anywhere else. It’s hard to describe the feelings these earthquakes bring … we wonder if the shaking is going to intensify … should we run and get under the desk or stay put … or find a “triangle of life” area. All these thoughts are running through our heads and it’s just surreal. Lane read that the earthquake’s magnitude was 5.4 and centered about 35 miles south of Lima. But we lived to tell the tale!

 

Having a “natural disaster” type experience makes us more aware of the transitory nature of life. None of us really know how much time we have here.  We don’t like thinking about death, but it’s a reality. The phrase that keeps running through my head comes from the ancient prophet Nephi:

 

“… I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” (1 Nephi 11: 17)


Like Nephi, we certainly don’t know the meaning of all things, but we do know that God loves his children … all of us. And we love all of you, our family and friends!

 

¡Que tengan una semana maravillosa y recuerden que Dios les ama! (Have a wonderful week, and remember that God loves you!)

 

Love,

 

Lane & LeAnn


We were able to visit the Lima zoo (Parque de las Leyendas) with half of our missionaries on their P-day. The other half of the missionaries went the prior week. It was a great zoo with many animals and geographical presentations from all around Peru.


Waiting in line.



The missionary on the right is in our mission. His brother is in a nearby Lima mission. And it looks like they coordinated a little meet and greet at the zoo!



So interesting to see this zoo keeper cleaning the dirt road with this huge palm branch.



Lane practicing growing a palm tree out of his Cusco-Machu Picchu hat.



The lake in the zoo with paddle boats and motor boats.



We see these trees occasionally here in Peru ... the ones with the upside-down, trumpet-type flowers.



This section of the zoo felt very "jungle-ly" with all the tall bamboo-type plants.







Vulture picking meat off a bone.



Had to throw in this pic of a huge anaconda ... LeAnn is NOT  a snake fan.



This is one of the several archeological sites within the zoo, showing ancient adobe walls, rooms, and formations.



Back at the office and assessing the emergency backpacks brought in when we changed houses. The missionaries are NOT supposed to get into their emergency backpacks unless there is a true emergency (which we haven't had in the past year). But somehow all the food has disappeared! (Note that LeAnn is wearing gloves here. When Corinne checked out the last couple of emergency backpacks that came into the office, several cockroaches had scurried out ... so LeAnn was prepared for the worst!) 



Two motorcycle-food-delivery guys picking up food at KFC.  It's amazing how they carry those huge boxes on their backs as if they were normal back packs.


And a photo from loved ones at a nephew's wedding - LeAnn's parents, Alair and her son, and Izzy and Taylia (yes ... she's about to pop!). We love getting pictures from family!

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