Lane & LeAnn Mission Blog

Peru- April 3, 2022

April 3, 2022

¡Feliz abril! (Happy April!)

On Friday I sent out a reminder via a WhatsApp message to all the district leaders to send in their requests for what is needed for the upcoming week. At the end of the message I “pasted” a spring chick 🐣 and a flower 🌸 emoji in honor of April 1^st. Then I realized that we’re not going into spring here, but maybe autumn? I haven’t studied or asked anyone how the seasons work here; i.e., when they officially start, and how they “celebrate” them. But, one elder included a snowman emoji ⛄ at the end of his request list … so maybe we are headed into winter now!? Regardless, we haven’t noticed a change in season … it’s still pretty hot here.

On Sunday nights we receive all the baptism records from the prior week, and on Monday I (LeAnn) start working to get them entered into the Church’s data base system. Sometimes it takes a few days to get all the records entered … it depends on how many baptism records were submitted and how many errors/clarifications have to be made. Anyway, this past week I spent most of Wednesday entering all the baptisms into the system. I hadn’t submitted them because I was waiting for corrections/clarifications from some of the missionaries. Well, late Wednesday night we received an email from the Missionary Department in SLC stating that a new system for entering baptism records was being implemented and that all records not entered by Mar. 29 at 7pm would need to be entered using the new system. NNNNOOOOOO! My entire Wednesday’s work was for naught!

There is a silver lining to this though … going forward, the missionaries will be entering the information into the system where it is then transferred directly to the ward clerk, who then verifies and submits the baptism record. The middle man (the mission office) is eliminated, making the process more efficient. Hooray for efficiency!

“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)

¡Que tengan una semana fantástica! (Have a fantastic week!)

Love,

Lane & LeAnn

We received two American missionaries this week. Both have been serving in the U.S. for some time but finally received their visas to come to Peru. After the mission president and wife and two assistants trained them, they helped them and their new companions flag down a taxi to take them to their new assigned areas and apartments.

Unbelievably, the four elders and all their luggage crammed into one small taxi!

Lane was washing this dish when all of a sudden it just broke while he was holding it and washing it. The washing motion of his hand caused the plate to cut around several fingers. It's amazing how things can happen so quickly that may cause us physical pain or disability.

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Peru- March 27, 2022

March 27, 2022

We don’t have anything exciting to report this week, but wanted to document some of the things we do in the office and some of the things that go on in our neighborhood (See pics below).

This morning I was reading in the Book of Mormon (Ether 8:23-25) where Moroni warns us that in the last days there will be secret groups built up to get “power and gain” and to “overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries …” Reading these verses and thinking about all that’s going on in the world today, made me feel very small. We’re warned in these verses to not let these “murderous combinations” to “get above you.” Lane and I are thinking “It’s a little too late for that!” So, what can we do? I turned to the next scripture on my scripture sheet (a collection of scripture verses that are meaningful to me and that I regularly review) which was D&C 10:5 which answered my question:

“Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.”

¡Que tengan una semana fantástica! (Have a fantastic week!)

Love,

Lane & LeAnn

Surprise! We actually received a piece of mail! A wedding invitation for LeAnn's nephew.

LeAnn in virtual training sponsored by the Area office for mission secretaries responsible for immigration and visa processing. The Area is training each mission on how to process new legal documentation for non-Peruvian missionaries that arrive.

Here we are video chatting with one of the key Area travel specialists. He walked us through how to set up an appointment for our incoming American missionaries with Interpol. It's not too complicated once you learn what is needed, just a lot of steps. This screen shows the "Pagalo.pe" site where we have to make our payment for our appointment. Yep, you have to pay before you can even set an appointment!

One of the office responsibilities is to be sure each companionship has a working smartphone. Each companionship in our mission shares a phone. This picture is of a bunch of simcards for activating the phones with specific numbers. The church also requires software on the phone that manages and controls what the missionaries can do or use on the phone. Companionships always seem to have some kind of phone problems, so we are often working to resolve phone issues.

LeAnn spends a chunk of time each week entering baptism records into the church system. The missionaries fill out these forms and sometimes enter wrong information (GASP!). For example, after she filled in the parent birthdays from this record, the system popped up with an error message of "mother was under the age of 12". Sure enough, with a quick calculation, she saw that the mother would have given birth at 9 years of age! After sending a quick message to the missionaries responsible for this record, we found that the mom was born in 1981, not 1991! (WHEW!)

Our neighbors like to party, which means lots of loud music. On this particular night, we had a concert blasting from the south-side of our apartment. But when the concert would get quiet between songs, we could still hear music coming from somewhere. We looked out our east window and saw this. Apparently the neighbors decided to put up a box-type tent in the street, blocking all traffic, so they could have their party! Street-blocking seems to be a common event without a second thought. And the music lasted well past midnight!

A look at the pop-up party tent the next morning.

This street vendor was just outside our apartment. It's amazing the amount of food and goods for sale the street vendors will pile onto their cars! If you look closely, you can see the megaphone on the front of his truck. As these vehicle drive slowly through the streets they broadcast - very loudly - what they are selling and the price, "Choclo, choclo, papa amarillas, cinco soles, cinco soles!"

Watering truck driving down the road, with the worker on top aiming the hose to spray the plants along the median area of the road. It's so nice to see the green trees and shrubs after all the dust is washed off!

Taylia attended a traditional muslim-faith wedding. Very colorful clothes!

Taylia received a surprise baby shower! She and Izzy are looking forward to their new arrival at the end of May or early June.

Granddaughter turning 8 and looking forward to her baptism!

LeAnn made some "Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffins" but was disappointed in the way they turned out. We think the applesauce was the culprit as it was a very strange consistency, a mix between pureed baby food and maple syrup. It's been difficult to find an applesauce that is made with just apples. Most of them have mango or some other fruit thrown in.

A close up of the sad, flat muffins. They tasted pretty good though!

Corinne and Meredith surprised us with real corn-on-the-cob! Occasionally we can find this in the store near their home. They saw it and grabbed us some. It was soooo good!

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Peru- March 20, 2022

March 20, 2022

We are happy to report that cambios (transfers) went well. We had a net gain in missionaries with only 2 leaving and 7 arriving. We had the opportunity to host 3 Peruvian sisters who flew in Monday night from the Mexico MTC, and it was fun to meet them and feel their energy and enthusiasm.

This week we received pictures of some of our grandkids. As I was looking at these pictures again today, I was struck by the fact that in all 3 of these pictures our grandkids are so happy and smiling because of some small and simple thing: going on a run with mom, listening to music, or eating a bowl of fruit loops … nothing extravagant or expensive. So, taking a lesson from our grandkids, we are going to move forward in the new week following Paul’s example:

“… I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (~Philippians 4: 11)

¡Que tengan una semana fantástica! (Have a fantastic week!)

Love,

Lane & LeAnn

We hosted these 3 Peruvian sister missionaries Monday night. They flew in from the Mexico CCM (MTC) and started their missions here in the Peru Lima North Mission on Tuesday.

Lots of luggage and good-bye hugs as missionaries transfer to their new areas.

I wish I would have got the picture of Lane carrying the 9 pizza boxes from Little Caesar's! This is as close as he gets to pizza! The new missionaries each get a pizza to share with their trainers on their 1st day in the mission.

One of the transfer buses.

Sending the new missionaries out to their areas. They don't ride the transfer buses because they are in training most of the day. They flag down taxis for their ride home.

Sister Packard (pictured) and President Packard like to send the new missionaries off.

One of the new sisters on the left and her trainer on the right.

This was a super fun surprise ... Friday night we came home to no power! The electrician was upgrading the wiring outside our apartment. Luckily we have a gas stove/oven and were able to fix dinner by flashlight!

Happiness is a run with mom!

Happiness is listening to music!

Happiness is a bowl of Fruit Loops!

Lane's mom moved out of her Meridian, Idaho, home this week and is listing it for sale. They had lived there for 50 years. That is a long time. It was a long hard decision to finally make the move. Lane's dad passed away about six years ago, and now there aren't any of the nine children living nearby. So she decided to move to the Salt Lake City area to be a little more near some of the children and other family and more central to traveling to visit family. It felt like a deep up-rooting for all of us, and a little sad in a way for all the memories. But we're happy she'll be a little closer to some family and we look forward to her making new friends and creating new opportunities to serve. She's still very spry, and still has her piano, so it will be great!

We won't tell anyone that she's 87 and counting! Still looks and feels 37!

Thanks so much to all Lane's siblings and family and friends who helped plan, prepare, clean out, pack, load, donate and haul away 50 years of "stuff," and help her find and move to a new place in the SLC area.

Boxes and more boxes!

Ceremonial taking down of the world map.

Enjoying the last memories from the tree swing.

Visiting Lane's dad's gravesite after all was said and done. Notice his dad's irrigation boots standing with some of the working group.

Moving into the new place in the SLC area. Placing one of the founding family keystones (besides Lane's mom) -- the piano. We hope it made it in working condition. We'll see how many twonky notes she hears when she plays.