¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
To begin…Happy 88th Birthday to my amazing
father! He is the best dad in the world and my hero. He is intelligent, spiritual,
rational, generous, calm, and a life-long-curious learner. I gained my love for
peanut butter, mathematics, and reading from my dad. He and my mom would read
us scriptures and books before bed, and it was the best.
Our week went well…a lot of Zooming with the office elders
and observing the procedures needed to get incoming missionaries set-up. It’s
quite a process: Arrange pick-up and travel from the airport (often the mission
president and his wife do this – especially the 1:00am pick-ups!), arrange
appointments for each missionary to meet with government officials to receive
their Peru ID card and to receive a residency extension (since the incoming
American missionaries’ VISAs will expire soon after arrival), pay the necessary
processing fees (a different site than the government residency site), file the
necessary paperwork for all of this, and now with the pandemic, set up appointments
for Covid antigen testing within 24-48 hours of arrival in Lima. It’s a little
crazy and the government “rules/requirements” seem to change from day to day.
The good news is that two more American missionaries were
able to return to Peru to finish their missions after being evacuated because
of Covid-19 in 2020.
The bad news is that Peru is going into another “lock-down”
from Monday, April 19 to Sunday, May 9. Hopefully, this will help get the Covid
numbers under control a little more.
This week in my (LeAnn’s) Spanish tutoring session, my tutor suggested that keeping a gratitude journal – where I list (in Spanish) 3 things to be grateful for – may be a good exercise. And it is! Acknowledging my blessings in a written format helps me feel better. It’s not “toxic positivity;” it’s a reality check for me.
As the song says:
“So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.”
¡Que tengan una buena
semana! (Have
a great week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
LeAnn's family ~1983. My dad didn't waste money at home or at work. He would pack soda crackers and a jar of peanut butter in his suitcase to eat while on work trips. He worked for the federal government and didn't want to waste taxpayer money on his meals, even though he had a food allowance. Occasionally he would splurge and buy a McDonald’s hamburger!
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello
All!)
Highlights
of the Week:
Apartment checks: We
finished up the missionary apartment checks on Monday and are now working with
the office elder responsible for housing to arrange the collection of broken
items, delivery of needed items, and scheduling of necessary repairs. We wish
we were in Peru to do apartment checks in person and to help follow-up. Hopefully
we’ll be there soon.
Teaching English: The church,
our mission president, and his wife have felt strongly about helping the
missionaries learn and improve their English speaking skills. Having this
ability increases their opportunities in employment and education after their
missions. So, on Tuesday, we began teaching English on Zoom. Thankfully the
church has created lots of great resources for teaching and learning English! LeAnn taught, and Lane assisted with
technical backup!
More Zoom meetings with the office elders: The
office elders are super helpful and such good sports to let us “watch” and
learn what they are doing. It is amazing
to us that there are so many things to take care of in the office to run the
mission, and that there are only two elders in the office right now doing it
all!
American missionaries are returning to Lima: Peru is
allowing American missionaries to return to Peru, if they already hold the proper
visa. One elder who was called to serve in the Peru Lima North mission in early
2020 was finally able to enter the country this week. He’s been serving in
Washington D.C. for over a year. More American missionaries are scheduled to
arrive this week. Now if Peru will just re-open the visa process …
Thoughts: On Thursday evening this past
week, we had the unfortunate experience of having one of our bathroom tub/shower
water valves break, leaving us unable to turn off the water. Of course this
happened right as Taylia and Izzy were packing up and getting ready to leave
for a trip… and it was also Izzy’s birthday! Thankfully, Izzy had recently
cleaned out the bathtub drain so the water just flowed down the drain! We had
water pouring full-force into the tub for over an hour while Lane and Izzy
tried to figure out how to fix the situation, which ultimately required a trip
to Home Depot to cap off the shower head, and then another trip to purchase a
new valve. At the time, this seemed like such a disaster, but now, a few days
later with everything fixed, it’s a mere memory…almost funny. The counsel
President Eyring received from his mother when he was a young boy weeding the
garden has played through our heads:
“The harder I tried, the more I fell behind. ‘This is too
hard!’ I cried out. Instead of giving sympathy, my mother smiled and said, ‘Oh,
Hal, of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be. Life is a test.’”
¡Que tengan una buena semana! (Have a great week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Felices Pascuas! (Happy Easter!)
And happy general conference weekend! We loved
listening to inspired messages from our prophet and other leaders AND
celebrating Easter AND celebrating our youngest daughter’s birthday. However, we
must have passed some sort of life marker … this is the first year, since
having children, that we haven’t bought any Easter candy. The only children
around are too little to really eat candy.
This week was filled with more apartment check video-calls,
Zoom trainings with the office elders, learning more about the church’s
internet mission office system (IMOS), and language study. But our big event
was getting our second Covid shot. Hopefully this will help open the door for
us to actually go to Peru. So far the only missionaries entering Lima are ones
who already had their VISAs before the Covid shutdowns. Fingers crossed that
things open up!
Spring is here bringing new life and hope!
“… he is risen, as he said.”
~Matt. 28:6
¡Que tengan una buena semana! (Have
a great week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
Now just waiting for Peru to open up and give us a travel visa!
A large marshmallow in the center melts during baking to create the empty tomb.
Elizabeth made him a deal that if he would do an extreme haircut or extreme color, she'd start running with him for two months. And if he did both, he could train her for a 5K or 10K run, even though she hates running. He did both! You think they are both having second thoughts??!! 😂
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
Highlights
of the Week:
Apartment checks: We started
off the week doing more apartment checks. It’s really quite amazing that we can
video-call missionaries in Lima, Peru and they can “show us around” their
homes. The calls have been pretty clear – decent internet connection – for the
most part. But there have been a couple of times when the call drops. These
calls have been a great way for us to start to get to know some of the
missionaries.
Zoom trainings with the office elders:
We love our Zoom calls with the office elders. Each day they show us what they
are working on and help us understand the process. We’ve watched as they record
financial transactions, deal with the migration office, arrange incoming and
outgoing missionary travel, pull together the weekly packets for all the
missionaries, arrange for temple visits for the new missionaries (it looks like
the Lima Temple will be opening up March 29 at 20% capacity), … Lane is doing
great with the language!
Tracking down lost orders:
The pandemic has slowed down some of our mission’s supply orders, and I (LeAnn)
spent a bit of time trying to figure out where things were. This was one
assignment I was happy to help with since I was able to speak English with the
church’s online store!
Hearing Audrey speak in her sacrament meeting:
Our daughter Audrey did a wonderful job speaking in her sacrament meeting this
week on the topic of following the prophet. We were able to watch her
remotely…that’s one upside of having “home” church and technology that allows
us to virtually attend meetings.
Thoughts: On
Monday, we received word that a loved one had suffered a severe and shocking
loss. This loss was not like last-week’s-broken-watch loss, but a real
devastating, irreplaceable loss. We struggle
to understand why this event occurred, but find wisdom in Jeffrey Holland’s
article in the April Liahona
magazine:
“Life will challenge you. Difficulties will come.
Heartbreaks will strike. Loved ones will die. So, wherever you are going, make
your way to Jesus Christ first. Remember that His suffering and Resurrection
make possible our victory over difficulty and death. Make your covenants with
Him and keep them as you journey on.”
¡Feliz Semana Santa! (Happy Easter Week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
Highlights
of the Week:
Doing apartment checks via WhatsApp: The
mission president and his wife want to ensure that the missionaries have
everything that they need, and that broken items – desks, wardrobes, fans, etc.
– are fixed or replaced. To this end, we will be video-chatting with each
companionship in the mission and having them show us around their apartment so
that we can see what needs to be fixed. We started this process on Monday and
had a fun time meeting with six companionships. We try to keep the calls brief
so we don’t suck up too much of their p-day time.
Attending Zoom meetings discussing social media
tools: Our missionaries are doing a fantastic job using Facebook to
share messages and find those interested in learning more about the gospel. On
Wednesday we attended (by Zoom) an area meeting where a church technology rep
in SLC discussed how to more effectively use social media in missionary work.
We’re not sure exactly what countries/missions are included in our area, but we
heard from missionaries in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia, as well as Peru. The
technology that allows us to share ideas and connect with others is amazing!
Seeing parents and family: My
(LeAnn’s) niece had her bridal shower on Saturday, and Taylia and I planned to
stop in quickly to drop off a gift. (I left my coat on the entire time thinking
that we were only going to stay a few minutes.) However, we ended up staying
the entire time and loved visiting with lots of family members. My parents even
made the trip to Utah at the last minute and it was so good to see them and
everyone else!
Thoughts: I (LeAnn) had a bit of a
disaster when my beloved watch slipped off the bathroom counter and fell onto
the tile floor – face down! Boo! I loved my watch and had had it for many
years. It’s the 1st thing I put on in the morning after my shower
and I feel naked without it. It wasn’t fancy or expensive, but I was attached
to it. I found myself glancing at my “watch wrist” all week, and would
experience a pang of sadness. It makes me realize how small habits – like
looking at my wrist for the time – can become almost unconscious behaviors. I
love this statement made by Becky Craven in October’s general conference:
“We can adjust our habits, alter our thoughts, and refine our
character to become more like Him.”
¡Que Tengan una buena semana! (Have
a great week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
14 March 2021
Our second week of remote mission service (serving from home
until we can get to Peru) has provided us with plenty of learning and growth opportunities,
as well as related learning struggles – more than we ever imagined. LeAnn loves the learning. Lane says he’s feeling his age in not being
able to keep up!
The big news for this week was that we were able to get our 1st Covid vaccination (Pfizer). Hopefully this will get us closer to going to Peru. We’re scheduled for the second dose March 30.
It was also good to hear this week that Lima opened up just a
little bit, relative to the Covid quarantine they’ve been having, and is now
allowing 20% in-person church attendance.
Every day this week we virtually video met, via Zoom, with the elders responsible for running
the mission office. They patiently walk
us through their different responsibilities and how they accomplish their tasks. The Zoom meetings usually last about 2-3
hours each day. Then after the Zoom meetings,
we spend another couple of hours reviewing together ourselves (without the office
elders) what we learned, including many new Spanish words, in an effort to better
understand what the elders showed us. And finally, we have our individual
assignments and language study.
Since our training sessions with the office elders are almost entirely incomprehensible to LeAnn (I pick up a word or two here and there), she is especially excited to inject her “good-bye” in Spanish at the end of each call. However, on Thursday when we were finishing up our Zoom call, LeAnn blurted out, “¡Hola!” instead of “¡Adios!” (Insert eye roll…even Lane had a good laugh!)
Sunday we were able to “Zoom” into Lane’s brother’s (Craig’s) ward
in Spokane to hear him, his wife (Nicole), and our nephew (Rylan) speak in
their sacrament meeting. Rylan has been called to serve in the Santiago Chile
mission and will be starting his remote MTC training soon. Hearing them speak
about the Plan of Salvation was inspiring.
We love this scripture reminder:
“For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet
God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.”
~Alma 34:32
¡Tengan una buena semana! (Have a
great week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
Well…we suppose the big question in everyone’s mind may be,
“What are you going to do now that you have completed your MTC training and
don’t have travel plans for Peru yet?” We were wondering the same thing, but it
turns out that there is a lot of work that we can do remotely. This week we
started “Zooming” with the mission office elders in Lima and they began
training us on their office procedures.
Highlights:
Meeting and working with the office elders: Lane and
I were both pretty apprehensive and wondered how well remote training would
actually work. We weren’t just worried about being trained over Zoom, but also
knew that our Spanish language skills would pose a significant challenge.
Luckily, Lane’s Spanish skills proved sufficient (Yay for his mission to
Bolivia and his mad translating skills!) and we were able to start learning the
mission office processes. The two elders that we are working with are
fantastic…so patient, enthusiastic, and willing to talk slow and repeat things!
Reconnecting with MTC Language Tutors: While Lane is able to study Spanish independently, I have been very thankful that the MTC language tutors are available to help me one-on-one. My tutor is fantastic!
Scheduling our Covid vaccinations: Our
state opened up the Covid vaccines to those ages 50+ and we are now scheduled to
receive the vaccine. Although we feel somewhat like guinea pigs in this
process, it’s going to be necessary to get the vaccine to go to Peru.
Lane’s broken tooth update: He had
his broken tooth extracted and the implant process started…and he’s still alive!
Visiting Utah Lake: On
p-day, we decided to do something a little more adventurous after we did our
Saturday cleaning, so we hit the donut shop and drove to a park that borders
the north side of Utah Lake. We walked out to the lake’s shore and along the
sidewalk that borders the lake. We’ve never really been “down to the lake” in
the 5+ years we’ve been here.
Thoughts: We hit a bit of a snag this week when our internet went down on Wednesday. Apparently a construction crew accidentally cut the cable that services our neighborhood. We are so dependent on having a good internet connection that it becomes a real problem when things don’t work. We are thankful that we don’t have to rely on an internet cable when we need to communicate with Heaven. If we keep our side of the “prayer line” open and in good repair, we can always access God.
“Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all
things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the
covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.”
~D&C 90:24
¡Tengan una buena semana! (Have a
great week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
Making banana nut bread after Sunday dinner!
