¡Felices Fiestas Patrias! (Happy Independence Day!)  Peru celebrates their Independence on July 28th and 29th and we loved seeing the festive red and white banners decorating the streets and windows. There were fireworks and concerts and other displays of celebration. But the best part for us was the drastic reduction in traffic! We were able to drive to the other...

 We saw the sun and blue sky today and it felt glorious! Here in Lima we are in the “dead of winter” which still seems so strange to us. It’s not that the temperature is so unbearably cold (57° - 66° F), but because none of the buildings/apartments have central heat it just feels chilly all day… and there’s no easy way to warm up. Even the office elders often keep their jackets/coats...

 We received 6 American missionaries this past week! They’ve been serving their missions in Reno, NV; Boise, ID; Salem, OR; Scottsdale, AZ; Layton, UT; and SLC, UT. All 6 of them flew down on the same flight, which arrived in Lima at 5:15am. On Monday night, we’d set up 6 air mattresses in the “sala” (or conference room) so they were able to catch about 2 hours of sleep before...