¡Hola a Todos! (Hello
All!)
Our work continues…but we don’t have anything really
out-of-the-ordinary to report…so this post will be short!
On Sunday evening we were able to watch the recent “Sharing
the Gospel” world-wide broadcast over Zoom with the missionaries in Lima. It
was fantastic! Since we knew our Zoom broadcast was going to be translated to
Spanish, we listened to the broadcast earlier in the day in English … so I
(LeAnn) could understand what was being said. Yes, I’m still struggling to
understand Spanish … and yes, sometimes I want to curl up in a ball and rock
back and forth … but then I remember my kids (and siblings) who learned Spanish
(or another language) for their missions, and they didn’t have a built-in
translator (Lane and Google Translate) and they somehow managed. So we press
on.
We’ve been quite curious about Peru’s recent presidential
election (June 6) but it looks like the results are still being contested. So
no news there yet. We are hearing reports of some political demonstrations …
hopefully things will calm down once the new president is announced.
In my scripture reading this week I came upon this passage
in the Book of Mormon which sums up nicely some of the most basic reasons we
send missionaries out to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ:
“ … that it might go forth throughout all the land, that …
people might be convinced … that they were all brethren, and that they ought
not to murder, nor to plunder, nor to steal, nor to commit adultery, nor to
commit any manner of wickedness.” (Alma 23:3)
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
Working with the missionaries!
Teaching English with one, and coordinating missionary housing issues with the other!
We remember when Alden and Jaron did the same thing when Alden gave his homecoming report at the same meeting that Jaron gave his farewell -- years ago!
¡Feliz DÃa del Padre! (Happy Father’s Day!)
We have both been blessed by excellent fathers and are
grateful for their wonderful examples to us. And we love to see our sons and
sons-in-law being awesome dads to our grandchildren!
We love seeing the missionaries and their apartments during
our cleaning checks and English tutoring calls. One companionship had come up
with a creative solution to solve the issue of not having enough storage and
kitchen prep space (see pic below).
Hopefully, we’re both done being sick for the year! Neither
of us got sick at all during the whole Covid lock-down time, but a nasty cold
circulated through our household last month and I (LeAnn) struggled with its
remnants all week. This is where doing everything remotely is awesome…we can’t
get anyone else sick, but can still “attend” all our meetings.
On Wednesday evening, we came home from the grocery store to
see a strange car in our driveway and thought we had a door-to-door salesperson
at our door…but…we were pleasantly surprised to see our former next door
neighbors from Idaho – Jennifer and Emily Griffin! They had been at a nearby
park and looked us up. It was so fun to talk with them and catch up for a bit.
I’m mad at myself for not taking a pic!
Well, we passed our four-month mark this week! Our mission
has been a very different experience than what we expected, but we are settling
into a good routine.
This morning while I was reading on the back porch, I heard
my grandson scream, “Mom!” I wasn’t sure where “Mom” was, so I decided to go
check what was going on. I came around the corner of the house to see him
standing frozen on a patch of weedy gravel. “I can’t step,” he cried, and when
I picked him up, I could see several prickly goat-heads stuck in his little bare
feet. In thinking about this experience, I remembered many of the times that I
found myself in situations where I needed help – from friends, family, doctors,
and others who could figuratively help me “pull the goat-heads out of my feet.”
We are especially thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate
healer. Gary E. Stevenson reminds us that,
“ … each of us is known by Him and under His kind watchcare.
When we confront life’s wind and rainstorms, sickness and injuries, the
Lord—our Shepherd, our Caregiver—will nourish us with love and kindness. He
will heal our hearts and restore our souls.”
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
LeAnn teaching the weekly English class to the entire mission.
We both continue teaching English one-on-one separately with a few different missionaries.
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello
All!)
On Monday we put the cleaning training from last week to the
test. The missionaries were told that on each Monday (the mission P-day) at
10:00am, one zone would be randomly picked, and each companionship in the zone
would be receiving a video-call from one of the following: the mission
president, the mission president’s wife, the office finance secretary, the
mission secretary, or the Simmons. During this call the missionaries show us
their apartments so we can assess whether or not the apartment is sufficiently
clean. If the entire zone meets the cleanliness standard (which is very
reasonable … we’re not doing a white-glove inspection), then they receive a
treat. Both of the companionships we called had done a great job! They were
proud to show us around their apartments. Sadly, a couple of the other
companionships in the zone hadn’t met the goal. But, this is a work in progress
and hopefully with time improvements will be made.
The English class that we teach weekly is going well, even
if it is over Zoom. Last week an elder volunteered to say the opening prayer
(in English) and when he got a little “stuck” it was awesome to hear someone in
the background step in and prompt him. These missionaries are so brave and I
(LeAnn) can relate to how hard and awkward it can be to pray in a foreign
language. And speaking of languages…I have started working with a new tutor,
and he is super helpful!
On Wednesday, we attended the Area Redes Sociales (Social
Media) meeting by Zoom and the meeting host shared the post that has been the
most successful church social media message of all messages worldwide (see the
pic below). He said that the missionaries in Cambodia who created this message
didn’t spend a ton of time of getting the graphics perfect, but sometimes
simple is better. The message is based on Boyd K. Packer’s April 1976 general
conference talk titled, “Spiritual Crocodiles.” If you haven’t heard or read
that talk recently, here’s the link…it’s fantastic:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1976/04/spiritual-crocodiles?lang=eng
Here are a couple of excerpts:
“… spiritual crocodiles can kill or mutilate your souls.
They can destroy your peace of mind and the peace of mind of those who love
you. Those are the ones to be warned against, and there is hardly a watering place
in all of mortality now that is not infested with them.
“… you can learn how to follow the best guide of all—the
whisperings of the Holy Spirit. That is individual revelation. There is a
process through which we can be alerted to spiritual dangers. Just as surely as
that guide warned me, you can receive signals alerting you to the spiritual
crocodiles that lurk ahead.”
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
The benefit of Zoom meetings is that in this one nobody could see that LeAnn was wearing her pajama bottoms as she is recovering from a nasty cold!
Area social media presentation showing the most popular social media message in the world...
The message was based on Elder Packer's talk about spiritual crocodiles in our lives...
Looking at this Cambodian message, we're glad we're only having to learn Spanish!
¡Feliz junio! (Happy June!)
Who doesn’t love spring cleaning?! Well, apparently some of
our missionaries are struggling a bit so Hermana Packard and I put together a
brief presentation on mission cleaning expectations. This project was largely
inspired by one of the missionaries who was transferred into a new area (and
house) and was disgusted by the living conditions. He sent a video of the dirty
house to Hermana Packard and then went to work cleaning. He taught his companion
how to put things in order and do some deep cleaning. Then he sent some after
pictures. The difference was amazing!
In political news, Peruvians voted in their presidential
run-off election today. On Friday, our mission president encouraged the missionaries
to have basic supplies on hand and use caution when out and about in the coming
weeks as political demonstrations (hopefully peaceful) are likely.
This weekend we were able to spend some time in Idaho with family, and at one point ended up borrowing a house key. To make a long story shorter, when we needed to use the house key, we found that it was missing from a certain person’s pocket. UGH! We retraced our steps and searched for the key. No key. The next day, we looked and looked for the key again…pulling off couch cushions, looking under the car seats, and generally searching everywhere we could think of. Although I had personally prayed and asked for God’s help in finding the key, I kept thinking that we should say a group prayer with everyone – kids and all – to ask for divine help. But, every time I thought about gathering everyone for a “please help us find the key” prayer, someone would interrupt or melt-down and it just never worked out. This wasn’t a one-of-a-kind key or anything super special, but I was annoyed that we couldn’t find it.
Finally, just before we left Idaho, I asked if we could say one last
prayer together. In this prayer, I told Heavenly Father that we knew that He knew
where the key was, and that He could help someone find it if that was His will.
After the prayer, we said our good-byes and took off. We both hoped that the
key would eventually turn up. Well, to our surprise, we got a Facetime phone
call from the grandkids before we even left the subdivision. They told us that
the key was found! Apparently, after our prayer, their dad had walked over to
the couch, pulled up the cushions, reached way down into the deep cracks and
pulled out a handful of cereal and THE KEY! We couldn’t believe it. Several of
us had checked that couch. Lane was especially astonished as he had looked
under the cushions of that specific couch no less than four times and he had
pulled off all the cushions and reached into the deep cracks as well. What a
miracle! This scripture comes to mind:
“Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all
things shall work together for your good, …”
~D&C 90:24
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
Weekly Zoom micro-learning taught by missionaries to the whole mission.
Working with Hermana Packard to message the importance of cleanliness in missionary apartments. The messy apartment kitchen. 😢
He stands on his head, upside down, while he watches his ipad! 🤣
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
This week was missionary transfer week in the Peru Lima
North Mission, which means that things are super busy and a little crazy … at
least for those in Lima. It’s amazing to hear how much the mission President
and his wife do to smoothly roll out mission transfers! We aren’t in the thick
of the excitement, but continue to support from afar the best we can. And this
is the transfer where the newly assigned office elders officially took charge
of the office, and so far, so good! They will be terrific.
Lane and I spent time reviewing mission office system
training videos and “cleaning up” some of the electronic files relating to
housing and service providers. It’s a learning process but we’re making good
headway.
On Friday afternoons, our mission has a mini-training
meeting – the Micro Aprendizaje (MAPZz for short) – and this week President and
Sister Packard had arranged for the Area mission doctor to talk to the
missionaries about health related issues. It was a great presentation which
covered the basics of eating a healthy diet, exercising, drinking plenty of
water, and then outlined remedies for the most common missionary ailments –
stomach-aches and head-aches. Of course this meeting is done by Zoom and our
Area mission doctor is currently living in Idaho. Like us, he and his wife are
waiting for Peru to open up and begin processing VISAs.
On a bit of a sad note, my MTC Spanish tutor got a great
internship/job in the field that she’s studying at BYU, so this week was my
last week with her. It’s a great opportunity for her, but I will miss her! She
feels like family.
As I was looking through my MTC notes this week, I came
across this thought: “God can’t steer a parked car!” which is a good reminder
to us to keep moving forward and don’t fall prey to analysis paralysis.
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
Last week in our blog we mentioned that one of our
sons-in-law had won an Oculus (a virtual reality headset gaming system) that we
were able to try out when we visited them over the weekend. It’s quite amazing
and realistic – even to the point that Lane started to get motion sick when he
played and I got freaked out when our grandson said, “Grandma, it gets really
cool when the zombie comes up through the floor…I didn’t want to wait around to
see that! Right now our mission experience is a little like virtual
reality…super realistic in some ways, but lacking in others. Regardless, we
love being part of the Peru Lima North Mission!
This week we had the opportunity to learn more about the
“missionary health” aspect of the mission. First, I was able to participate in
a missionary medical Zoom call in which an Area doctor explained basic
treatments for four common types of headaches. It was very interesting and
informative. Also, Hermana Packard (Lane’s sister and the mission president’s
wife) walked us through the process for scheduling (online) a medical
appointment for a missionary. Then later in the week, I (LeAnn) was able to
schedule an actual medical appointment for one of the missionaries! When I
logged in to the Lima medical clinic, I saw an option to switch the language to
English. I had walked through the process in Spanish, but thought that it may
be easier in English. Anyway, I switched to English and then looked for the
link to set an appointment. Instead of seeing, “Set Appointment,” the tab
(which I was pretty sure led to the online booking system) said, “Online Dating.”
Haha…bad translation! But I was able to set the appointment.
On Friday we met with our mission’s newly assigned MTC-based
Social Media Specialist via Zoom who trains multiple missions how to improve
using social media for finding people interested in learning more about the
gospel. Lane also handled some housing
situations – smoke/CO detector issues, furniture ordering issues, and mapping houses
on MyMaps issues. It was a great week.
Thought: This week we said good-bye to seven excellent
missionaries. Before the missionaries leave the mission, they get the
opportunity to share (via Zoom) their testimonies in a “Hasta Ver” meeting. It
roughly translates to “until we see each other again.” We love hearing from
each missionary; they exemplify charity.
“And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not,
and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no
evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
~Moroni 7:45
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
LeAnn attends an Area zoom call that taught about improving missionary health issues.
Preparing fruit-kabobs for LeAnn's niece's wedding reception.
¡Hola a Todos! (Hello All!)
While we are becoming more and more familiar with the
mission processes, it seems like each week something crazy pops up at the last
minute in Peru. This week it was (1) the changing itineraries of 2 outgoing missionaries
(These missionaries are finally going to be able to enter Ecuador, which was
their original destination pre-pandemic.), and (2) dealing with the changes
brought about by a missionary missing his connecting flight in Miami. These
seem like little things, but it creates a bit of chaos for the office elders
and President and Sister Packard as they scrambled to re-arrange travel for new
airport pick-up times, cancel/change Covid testing times for the incoming and
departing missionaries, and work out the housing situations of all the effected
companionships. This is where we wish we could be of more help on the ground in
Peru. But everything turned out alright and the work goes forward!
Thought: Reflecting on these last-minute, sometimes-chaotic changes
reminded me of the following passage:
“Do not rely on planning every event of your life—even every
important event. Stand ready to accept the Lord’s planning and the agency of
others in matters that inevitably affect you. Plan, of course, but fix your
planning on personal commitments that will carry you through no matter what
happens. Anchor your life to eternal principles, and act upon those principles
whatever the circumstances and whatever the actions of others. Then you can
await the Lord’s timing and be sure of the outcome in eternity.” (Dallin H.
Oaks –from an address given at Brigham Young University on 29 January 2002.)
¡Que tengan una semana
súper fantástica! (Have a super fantastic week!)
Love,
Lane & LeAnn
