Hola Familia y Amigos

Each week when I start to think about what we should include in the blog I check the memory card in our camera to see what we have done. Today when I checked the camera I found the card was almost as blank as my mind and I realized that we did not take many pictures but I know that we did a lot this week. We made three trips to Lima, experienced our first earthquake (okay it was a tremor) in Quilmana, had a multi-zone conference in Chincha, gave leaderships training in Mala and Imperial, interviews with the President, had a service project, and a lot of family visits. But not many pictures.

We have had some milestone experiences lately which we are trying not to be too proud of as we know that we do nothing here without the help of our Heavenly Father. One such experience is that Debbie gave her first discorso, talk, in Espanol at a baptism. She was very grateful that they gave her the courtesy of a days notice so she could prepare. Often they don’t announce your participation until you are sitting in the meeting. (planning in advance is not a common practice) She was stressed but amazing.

We also made Friends with one of our vecinos (neighbours). A family that lives around the corner from us speaks a little English and we have been wanting to stop and visit with them other than the usual hola, como esta? So Debbie was on her way to meet Cesar, our part time chauffer, and bumped into them and Debbie invited us over for a visit on Saturday evening. Saturday she baked chocolate chip cookie squares with supplies that Hermana Cleverly, from the Lima Central Mission Office, gave us and we went and visited. We had an awesome time and they have invited us to come every Saturday evening and said that we can alternate languages each week. Funny what happens when we open our mouths and speak, what ever language we speak.

Sister Cleverly is hooked up with all sorts of north American goods that are impossible to obtain here in Peru let a lone in Canete. Three weeks ago she gave us a block of cheddar cheese, real cheddar cheese, which we have been rationing out to ourselves. We are ever so grateful for her thoughtfulness and charity in sharing with us. The Cheverly’s and other missionaries in Lima invited us to a Thanksgiving dinner last Monday evening at the Area Offices. We had many reservations about making the trip, or at least I did, for Debbie not so much. We had a remarkable dinner and met awesome people.

Wednesday night we were in Quilmana in a branch “misional,” which is a gathering like a large family home evening for members and friends. We were having a brief message from the branch president when all of sudden things started to shudder and there was a sound like a train rolling by, there are no trains here. People jumped up and started make their way to the exit as they all remember the earthquake two years ago when so many people died. Then it stopped shaking, people started breathing, and we kept meeting. This was a milestone we hope not to pass to close to again.

Yesterday, Saturday, we had a few spare minutes because an appointment fell through, imagine that, so I decided I would get my hair cut. It is my second hair cut since arriving in Peru, the first one was a scary but satisfactory experience, so I had a certain amount of bravado. Shame on those of you that are thinking, Doug what is the big concern you don’t have that much hair to worry about. Hair cuts are like a good/excellent pizza, once you find a place you trust and like you don’t like risking trying some thing else.

Not speaking the language well has certain limitations and especially in a situation as important as a haircut. The stylist, if that is not too insulting for someone that really is one, realized that we were not communicating very well handed me a magazine and suggested that I find a picture and point to it. Not that it would matter in the end because to have a result like the picture would require a modicum of talent and skill.

The only apparent requirement here to become a hairstylist is that you must have a hair clippers, dull scissors, a tank top, and a Dunlop (a bare belly that dunlops over your low rider jeans). Because this person clearly has none of the other things that one would consider prerequisite to hanging out a business shingle.

I was going to take a picture of myself and insert it here but someone here says I don’t have enough hair for it to show up in the picture. True love.

Here is a glimpse of what pictures we do have this week.

The bonita group of Hermanitas are the Joveneses (Young Women) from the Canete Branch at the Lima Peru Temple. We were on a youth temple trip a last week. We had to rent two vans, since no one owns a car, with drivers for the trip. A couple of the youth had never been to a city before.

These are the young men from the branch. All things considered these are about the best behaved youth I have ever had the privelledge of having a temple trip with. The day was fraught with disaster and was crowned with one of the vans decided not to come back for us and his company just said too bad. We loaded all but two of the youth and one leader in the van that did come and the seven of us that were left over had to find our own way home. We managed to make it a fun experience for those of us that were stranded by taking them to a shopping mall. They had never imagined anything so modern or spectacular, and for some they had their first restaurant pizza.

This was at the multi-zone conference in Chincha. We always have fun at the conferences as our missionaries lie to the other missionaries about how cool we are and the funny part is that they believe it.

Although this looks like an accident it is not. The moto's lift on to two wheels with one hand for servicing or cleaning. In this case we are cleaning Hermano Pedro's and Hermano Cesar's motos as a service project. After we finished Hermana Carmen fed us and sent us back to work.

Perspective: The bamboo leantoo with the blue tarp roof is home for a family of 4 and yellow structure behind is for another family of 4. We love the people that live here.

Every good week ends with somebody getting baptized and Elder Zea and Elder Walker are here with Hermana Vaneesa and her daughter. Luis, also in white is a member of the branch and was preforming the baptism.

Thanks for tuning in to our ongoing adventure and the support that we receive from so many. We really appreciate your comments and notes about the blog, we are finding that it is helping us reconnect with lots of old friends.

Haste luego from,

Los Gringos en Canete

Hola Familia y los Amigos

It has been a couple of weeks since our last entry. Time really seems to fly by when you are having fun or it is hard to get much more than the most important things done when you are under the weather. We have had an extra measure of both occurrences for both of us in the last couple of weeks. I have been on antibiotics and dope for parasites for so long that I am now susceptible to almost everything, I am sure. But enough of that talk we do not want to turn you off before we get started.

I have mentioned previously about our part-time chauffeur Cesar, he drives a moto taxi, I would say for a living, but that would be a misnomer on at least two levels. First of it is a hard living to make working 16 hours a day with heavy competition and high overhead.

It is hard for most of us to understand some of the realities that they deal with here. If he could own his own moto he could possibly make a living. However he rents his moto from someone that has managed to get ahead and has 15 motos that he rents to others like Cesar.

Cesar pays S/28. per day ($10. USD) every day of the year (if you don’t work you still pay) plus fuel, and maintenance expense or damages. In all, it takes half of his work day to cover the costs of employment. Without having to pay interest he could buy a new moto every year. Here is the kicker and this is the reason that all the big banks from Canada and the US are here (Scotiabank, CIBC, TD, HSBC, Interbank, Citibank, BAC. Mortgage interest rates start at 12% with minimum down payments of 20%. Consumer loans are 19+% with a minimum of 20% down. Hardly anyone can qualify for a credit card that actually has credit, they are prepaid debit cards.

I am sure that one day Cesar will have his own moto, because that is the kind of ambition he has, but it will be extremely hard work to do so. We, with our North American perspective, look at it and think, “what’s the problem that is bus change.” But to put together the down payment of S/2,000 ($630 USD) for most is insurmountable.

At least 95% of the people don’t have money to keep in bank but have to use the bank because salary earners must be paid through the bank, because that is how they how to tax you, and all bills for phone, utilities, must be paid at the bank. All at a nominal charge, of course.

We keep a “positive” balance in our bank account in Lima and they have an understanding of our banking relationship at home. Now this part is especially for our two relationship managers at our bank in Calgary, when we come into the branch each relationship manager in the branch stops what they are doing and greets us and our relationship officer gets up and gives us both a KISS, on the cheek, when we arrive and when we leave. Que piensa?

Marriage is also an interesting conundrum here as well. The cost of getting married is very expensive here and the cost of getting a divorce is even more expensive. So if you can put together the money to get married and you don’t make it work and you cannot afford to get a divorce, no problem you just leave, and this happens a lot.

Here is where it gets twisted, because people can’t and won’t get a divorce it is hard to know who is legally married, who can legally get married since you can only be married to one person at a time. So to get married you must prove that you are not currently legally married to someone else. It is a lengthy paper trail of documents that are required and if you have migrated from the sierra or jungle it is almost cost prohibitive to go and get the documentation. Yes, there is no central registry.

Once you have your papers in order then you must advertise in the newspapers in the localities in which you have lived for one week notifying of your claim of legal status for marriage. If you clear you can get hitched. Many just don’t and this is the stem of so much of the social problems in the county.

Because the expense of marriage is so high, on certain occasions during the year, the Alcalde in a municipality will have a cut rate sale on marriage ceremonies but the catch is that you have to have at least 20 couples with their paper work together for “Masivo Matrimonio.” All twenty must be there to begin and you get to sit until all twenty ceremonies are complete.

Meet our dear friends Cesar, Janet and family as we experience our first “Masivo Matrimonio” at Town Hall in Imperial. (I say first because the Hermanas informed us today that we are helping them organize for another Masivo as we have 11 couples in our area that need to be legally married in order to join the church and there are another 5 in Imperial)

Cesar and Janet are two of the happiest people on the planet and we were so privileged to be a part of this day. They asked to to be the "testigos" or wittiness's. As they call us their padrones we could not refuse.

This is part of the extended family including Grandma and Grandpa. The precious little ones are Cesar's and Janet's. Town hall is the back drop.

This is a view of the inside of the hall where all twenty couples and special guests were assembled. The halls outside were filled with other well wishers. The youngest couple were about 17 years old and the oldest couple were easily in their seventies.

We performed our official duties including three sets of finger prints. Everything here has your official finger print, or it is not official.

Skipping back to another big event in our week we traveled to Lima with our Hawaiian (son)/ Elder Tanavasa as we said hasta luego. Elder T. helped us in so many ways and has left a huge void in our lives that we will now have to fill with our other missionaries. Aloha, we love you.

We also said hasta luego to our dear friend Elder Fuentes as he was transferred to his new assignment. Elder Fuentes is a Peruvian missionary and is serving an outstanding mission.

Elder Boulton, on the left, was shipped off to Lima for his new adventures. We miss him as well as we have had the opportunity to share some very special experiences with him.

On Saturday we had two very special baptisms. The first was this beautiful spirit her name is Kiara Lipon. She is the first in her family to be baptised and after the next masivo her parents will follow her.

Guess who, Cesar was able to baptized on Saturday as well. Believe it or not but this is actually the happiest day of their lives, so far. Checkout the precious little girls.

What does this picture have to do with anything? If someone reading our blog knows David Comb in Calgary you have to get him to look at this. This is the typical, actually it is an upscale, tire shop in Lima. It is totally out doors, requires two people to operate, and the business desk is just out of sight. It is a white plastic table with two white plastic chairs. Beautifully simple and simply beautiful.

This is a new family home evening group that we have started. The familia Valbin are in the center of this picture, family of six. We have loved them back into activity in the church and have very high expectations for them and their family

We went on a little excursion on Monday to a zoo in Quilmana. Most of the exhibits were, as you can see, not living. It saves on maintenance and would make PETA very proud of them.

El Torro!

We also went of a hike in the hills near the zoo. As you can see nothing grows in these hills, nada, nunca.

This also gives a perspective of the massive size of the hills, and the are just the foothills of the Andes.

What trip to the zoo would not be complete without a picture of the kids riding on a not so real elephant. The zoo did have some live animals but the pictures would not make PETA as happy with the Peruvian Zoo keepers.

Well, this brings us to the end of another chapter of "YOU ARE IN PERU NOW." Thank you so much for taking the time to share in our experiences and we value and cherish your feed back.

Love

Los Gringos en Canete

Hola Familia and Friends

There are two phrases that we hear every day, “poco a poco” and “claro.” Poco a poco (it means - gradually) is what I hear when someone is telling me that someday I will speak Spanish, but today is not the day. Claro (means – is it clear, do you get it) is what they say to me when I have that glazed look in my eyes and I have no idea what they have said to me.

Learning the language is more difficult than I thought it would be and poco a poco is how it is done. There are moments when I think that it would easier to teach 33 million Peruanos how to speak English than me Spanish. A couple of our friends here are trying learn English to see if they can learn it before we can learn Spanish.

Cesar our part time chauffeur tries to learn a new English phrase for every time he picks us up. I respond in English just to show him how it feels to not know what people are saying back to you. He will likely learn English before I learn Spanish.

Remember the picture of the 250 volt shower head water heater and gigantic throw switch from a couple of weeks back? Last week it stopped functioning properly so I decided to fix it, by myself. I took it apart and sure enough it did not look right inside so I tried a certain amount of southern engineering and it worked for another day.

The next day we went to Asia (Awh-see-ah) where there is store called Sodimac, sort of like a Home Depot Peruano style, and I bought a new element for the shower. I fixed it again, myself, I threw the switch and thought for a brief second, hey look this one comes with a built in light, a moment later it was all smoke and ashes. I quickly turned off the switch.

I thought, only a minor set back, I can find another one so I went on the quest for a new element, armed with the old part and my Spanish English dictionario, out I went and to my utter amazement I came home with another element. I was not an exact replacement but with a few minor adjustments from my pocket knife was made to fit in the socket. I threw the switch and it did not light up which by this time I had determined must be a good thing, however the water, although warmish, would not qualify as a hot shower. Since my modifications rendered the piece un-returnable and my confidence in finding a better replacement was shaken I salvaged parts from each and put together my own version and it works.

On the topic of the electric shower, because of the forward thinking in the building industry, homes come wired with about a 10 amp service. There are only 3 circuit breakers for the house which on one hand makes it easy find the one that has blown, conversely there is always one blowing. When the shower is on turning on almost anything else will blow the main circuit which is in a locked box out on the street. When I say almost anything else will cause it to blow I really mean it because when I am in the shower Debbie tries something new and sure enough it blows. To turn it on again you have to go to the Vigilada guard house at the entry to the community and have the Vigilada come with a key, unlock the box, throw the switch, lock the box and laugh at the gringos. Today it was the toaster. She said she was sorry but I still had to dress and go get the Vigilada to laugh at he gringos. Today I also bought a key to the box.

What you would rather have – a problem or a solution!

Tuesday night we had another one of those experiences that we had mentioned before, we don’t know why they just happen. We finished an appointment with a menos activos familia at around 8:00, it had been a awesome spiritual meeting, and we told the Hermanas that we were going to skip the last appointment that night. We suggested to them that they could go with the familia Macha and we head for home.

We were not in the nicest part of town and normally we would not walk here after dark. Notwithstanding we started out and should have caught the first transportation available, but we didn't.

We walked across town, about 2 kms, we don't know why because it cost the same to take the combie(mini van bus costs about .25 US) from where we were to home as would where we eventually stopped to catch the bus. We got to a certain but not specific point on the side of road and just stood there. Deb said, "what's your plan?" "I dun know" She said, "that sounds like a good plan." A minute later we noticed a man crossing the road right toward us, he walked right up to us and began to talking a mile a minute. We explained that we are still learning the language and suggested that if he slowed down it would help us to understand, so he did.

We were able to learn that the fellow is member of the church, served a mission, has a wife and three children, and lives in another town. His aged infirm parents who also are members, who had been temple missionaries, live in a nearby pueblo called Clarita. His mother who is 89 years old has been ill and had not been able to attend church in long time and it seems that no one from the church has been out to visit her. Would we please visit. We had him write the directions for us and we said we would visit. We no sooner said that we would visit and he said good bye and was gone. We don’t know why we were there, we just were.

Debbie commented, "it is funny but when we got to this spot and stopped I felt completely at peace like I had nowhere else to be than right here."

Thursday we gathered the Hermanas with us and we found a combie that would take us to Clarita. We gave the directions to the driver and he knew them by name and said that they have lived there forever, when we stopped he pointed in the direction of the home, told us the color of the house and said we could not miss it. He was right.

We have come to understand that when we have these experiences something very special is about to happen and we have never been disappointed.

The home was not the typical adobe hovel that we are accustomed to seeing but was more of a hacienda style, it was older but the grounds were kept and clean. There is glass window wall that is about 30 feet long that looks up the road toward the highway and as we were walking down the 300 meters from the highway we could make out a tiny figure of a person making their way across the window to the door. With tears in her eyes she cried and said “I looked out my window and saw angels coming down our road. God has brought four angels to my home today.”

We sang her favorite hymns, we visited, we prayed together. It really was a rich blessing to be there, it really made our day to make some else’s day brighter (I think there is a deep moral in that statement).

Not withstanding all the joy I could not help but feel that this was not the only reason that we had been brought there that day, it felt like there should be something more. I have mental inventory that I go through with people so see if their spiritual needs are being met within there circumstances, that did not seem to be it. Then asked, “is there anyone here that we need to teach?” I will use the picture below to finish this part of the story.

Meet the Familia Taya/ Portuguez, Hermana Dionicia and Hermano Gerardo and their granddaughter Pamela and us you know. When I asked if there was anyone that we could teach they could not think of anyone. We asked the granddaughter if she was baptised, guess what, No! When we asked if she would like to receive the lessons she said she had been waiting and already had her own scriptures. We start on Wednesday and we now know why we were standing at the side of the road.

This is a common sight. This is on the Panamericana Highway and one would expect that the guard tower would be protecting government facility or a prison. The towers are strategically placed to give sharpshooters a clear shot to any spot in the vineyard, yup, grapes. Serious business.

Oh, were having fun, it was a full moon and we are howling. This was at a family home evening this week and as our punishment for losing a game we had to stand in the middle of the street and yell, en espanol, NEIGHBORS MY PIG IS DEAD!

We had 32 people out to this home evening, in this tiny little bamboo hut. This girl is performing her penance for losing another game. I don't quite understand this punishment but I can tell you they really get a kick out of it when I have to preform it.

Every time we see a John Deere tractor Debbie says "you have to take a picture of that for Winston Bohne," Nadyne's father. Hermano Winston this Deere is for you!

This week we moved a lot of bricks and concrete from this building trying to get it into shape for use. You would not believe how we started moving the debris. I did not get a picture, silly me, it was three wheeled cart that you pedal. It was a two mile round trip. Fortunately we were able to enlist this truck and its owners help.

All though it looks like the Elders are resting they were really just getting ready to push. Grateful as we were for the truck it does not have a functioning starter and had to be push started all the time.

Preparation day was in our community this week. We played soccer ate pizza and had a going home cake for Elder Tanavasa and birthday cake for Elder Boulton.

This art work was done on the roads in Los Reyes, where we live, to celebrate the coming/or leaving of "El Senor de la Milagros." A procession of floats, bands, and priests toured our streets.

Uno mas!

This is another example of innovation in security. Notice the jagged edge along the top of the walls. It is broken glass that is cemented into the wall as a practical deterrent to stop would be thieves from clambering over the walls.

As I have been finishing this instalment tonight and listening to gunfire and explosions outside maybe it is good things we can't understand the news reports.

Until next time, We Are In Peru Now!

Los Gringos.

Buenas Family and Friends,

I was reading the C.I.A. intelligence report, of nearly useful information, that there are more than 17 million cell phones in Peru with a population of 33 million people. There are easily 500 place to buy a cell phone in our little area and because they are all on a pay as you go plans there are thousands of places to add minutes to your phone. It is actually a career path that many follow, on every corner there are four to eight people with yellow vest that sell minutes for your phone. A person walks up to them gives them 5 bucks, they dial a number on their cell phone and download minutes to the customer or you can pay them .50 centamos and you can make a call on their phone.

Cell phones that are out of minutes can still receive phone calls so many people carry the cell phone without minutes as their mp3 music player and if they want to talk to some one they go to a pay phone and call the person and tell them to call back. Payphones are everywhere, four or five per block, except where we live it is a twenty minute walk to a pay phone.

I mention all of this because in the land of muchos phones I can't get one. Because I don't receive a bill from a Peruvian company they don't believe I will pay.

Ironic, I have a bank account with a balance(most don't), have my legal residency certificate, and I am willing to pay six months in advance(which many can't) and as soon as I bring in my utility bill with my name on it they will gladly sell me a phone. Oddly, we have to pay our utilities in the name of our landlord because the utility company wont recognize us either. YOU ARE IN PERU NOW!

Aside from that we are alive and living large in Canete and having amazing experiences in our service. Some of the experiences that we have happen to us so frequently that we forget to stop and be grateful and give thanks. Frequently we find people and they will ask how we knew to be there then. Usually we don't know how or why either, Dios sabe.

Our second week here we went to a small coastal resort town (Cerro Azul) to prove to ourselves that we could be at least a little independent in our movement without the missionaries protecting us(interpreting for us). We ventured out with a prayer on our lips and in our hearts that we would do someone some good that day. We managed to get where we were going by mumbling a few words and charades. While waking down a dusty roadway we came across a group of men conversing on the side of the road as we greeted them with friendly "buenos dias," which was wrong because it was in the afternoon, one of the men noticed our missionary plaques and ran over to us. He started to talk so fast we had no chance to understand, we explained that we could not speak very much if any Spanish. That did not stop him and he pulled us to his restaurant and sat us down and went to get his book, which thought was to be his Book of Mormon, and brought back a Santa Biblia. We really did not communicate very well, we gave him one of our brochures (it was the salesman in me when in doubt give them a brochure) and tried to convey that we would have some missionaries that could speak the language come back and see him, which we did ask them to do. They didn't.
You will see in our pictures that we have gone back to Cerro Azul and we took all the missionaries for our Preparation Day. We found Marcos and we finally have been able to communicate with him and we now know why he was so excited. He had not seen the missionaries for 15 years, he had joined the church up north as a young man and moved to work in the south where he and his wife (with child on the way) now live. Tonight we will making our 4th visit to them and will be teaching them with the Hermanas in there home in Cerro Azul. I don't know why we just did.

We had another similar experience on Friday in town named Asia (ah-see-ah) which is about 40 miles from our home. Why were we there, we just were.

These are Elders Grossman and Fuentes with a phenomenally intelligent young lady named Pamela at one of our baptisms held that week. Pamela is so afraid of the water that it took ten minutes to convince her to step in to the water then three attempts to get her complete immersed. She really took a liking to Hermana Whitney and was disappointed that she would not be able to attend her confirmation the next day.

Elvis has left.... No he hasn't this is Elvis and we have been very privileged to attend discussions with him and the Hermanas (Lebeau and Mendoza) in the picture. Elvis is 23, a great fellow, and has a desire to go on a mission in one year.

Here we are in Cerro Azul with the whole district of missionaries. Here we at the very end of the pier. Just to our left a pod of dolphins were playing and big waves were breaking behind us. Yes, I wanted to go fishing. There was guy fishing on the pier and not even he wanted to catch a fish as bad as I wanted him to.

We hiked to high advantage point above the town of Cerro Azul. In the summer this is a very active place we are told and there are many surfers. We saw a number of Australian flags flying on apartment balconies and surfboards on the decks. Note long pier at the top of the picture, the ocean end is where the previous picture was taken.

This is the view to the south of the advantage point. Miles, hundreds of miles of undeveloped beach. Desert and beach.

As group we are always on the edge, this time the edge of South America.

Hermana Mendoza and Elder Fuentes whopping up something sweet in our kitchen. We went to the market for this Prep. day activity and bought chocolate (sort of) and nuts and plastic molds to make some Peruvian treats.

The delicious finished product. Note that Debbie did have pumpkin for Halloween. Even though I said no, she said yes, and we carried it back from Lima.

This picture we call love at home!

The favorite security company in Peru is DOG. DOG stationed on the top or you casa is a significant deterrent to would be thieves entering from above.

DOG at the iron gate is also extra security.

The DOG pictures and this one were taken on our recent service day where we went to assist some members by cleaning a pig pen. Which when I heard about it imagined a farm and country setting. This little chancho lives in the house and is more tame than a cat or dog.

This is the pigs roommate the duck which is nowhere as clean as the chancho.

This is the DOG security detail for this street and they are investigating the suspicious disappearance of the chicken that used to live in the chicken coup they are surrounding.

Sorry, fellas, we had pollo for lunch (Chicken).

Have a great week, we are off to a meeting with a new branch presidency for the Mala Branch, then to our discussion in Cerrol Azul and if that is not quite enough we are doing some marriage counselling in Montalban at 8:00. All in a days work. YAIPN!

Oh yeah, if you are following the blog and have not dropped us a line please do so, it is always nice to know who is reading. dfwhitney@shaw.ca

or debbiewhitney7@hotmail.com

Hola Family and Friends,

We have spent most of our day at home today partially because of infirmities and mostly because we are waiting on our driver to come for us. He asked us to be the witnesses for his wedding which means that we need to attend the court house with him to register their intent to be married. After they register their intent the must advertise in the newspaper for a week, just in case some else thinks they are married to the person getting married. Assuming they clear that test they can pay a small fortune, comparatively speaking, and they can be married. Hence many can not afford that privilege.

I thought I would start off our installment for this week with an expert I plagiarized from our friend Betty Ann Armstrong who got it from somewhere else. It helps to give perspective to many of the pictures that we display.
Quote:
I figured out where we live! This is exciting. We live in the Atacama Desert. To quote Wikipedia, “the Atacama Desert is a virtually rainless plateau in South America, covering a 600-mile strip of land on the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world. The………coastal inversion layer created by the cold offshore Humboldt Current, keep this over 20 million-year-old desert 50 times drier than California’s Death Valley”

We are told this desert extends from nearly the southern tip of Chile (furthest point south in South America) to the northern end of Peru. This is a very narrow strip of land, as the Andes mountains define the western coast of South America. The desert is the land between the western slope of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. All of the rain that comes from the east falls on the eastern slopes of the Andes, in the “rain” forest. That completes your geography lesson for today.

Thank you Betty Ann for the quick and enlightening lesson.

This week our service/work project was on Cuy Ranch. Cuy are what we norte americanos call guinea pigs. Meet the Cuy!

There were hundreds of these peaceful little fellows in the Cuy house. They were divided in to clans which had two or three babies in each.

Hi, my name is "Dinner." Cuy is considered a delicacy in many places in South America. It appears on the menu of some of the "nicer" restaurants in town. We were fortunate to be serving on this Cuy ranch so we did not have to buy from a restaurant, unannounced it was in our Chifa rice for lunch.

Hermana Lebeau found this project for us and reported that we would be building a corral. This apparently is a pollo (chicken) corral made of adobe bricks. We carried these bricks about 50 yards up a hill and into this enclosure.

Elder Fuentes and this little helper were making the mortar, water and dirt, to hold the bricks together. While they were doing this Debbie and others were laying the brick and others were carrying bricks.

Hermana Mendoza has an infectious smile and loves to have her picture taken. Other than demonstrating that the Hermanas really carry their share of the load around here I wanted direct your attention to the square adobe brick edifice with the white curtain hanging on it. The curtain was special for us guests. You guested it, El Bano, "What no roof?" that is okay, there is no fixtures either, just an opening in the floor.

In white shirt is the lady that owns the ranch and surrounding chauka(fields) a long with her mother (not in the picture) and sister-in-law and child. Their home is made of panels made from bamboo strips with a mat of bamboo strips for a roof. most of the home is lit by skylights (hole in the roof with a screen covering the hole). Not withstanding the construction and the fact that the livestock passes through at will the home is meticulously clean.

We love these good people and they are so faithful. The yellow pail in the center of the picture is a Peruvian drink made from various fruits grown on the farm. You never know if you should drink or not because you don't know what the water source is or if it has been purified, so you make a value judgement. Guess who drank and who is sick this week.

We change settings for the next series of Pictures.

To start with the spots on the pictures are rain drops, yeah it is desert, but it is so dry that it could rain for week like this and nothing will get wet.

Let me set the scene; We had gone to meet with some families in the hills north of Imperial we started out at sunset and travelled by motto taxi, we had 5 people plus driver in the tiny little motto. The people usually walk to there home as this cost us about what one of them makes in a day. It was pitch dark when we arrived and started to hike up the hill, dirt and rock, to their homes. We stopped at the Relief Society Presidents home where we originally intended to meet. Every on the hill lives in a bamboo panel home, bamboo roof, no water, no electricity, some have a gas stove and a battery powered radio. This home was 10ft by 14ft at best and would be considered the upgraded version as they had managed to have a concrete floor.

We crowded into the area the was not taken by beds. As neighbors found out the company had arrived they desired to join in and we opted to move our meeting outdoors. A fire was fashioned and we called out into the dark that "Noche Hogar"(family home evening) was about to begin.

Nothing and I mean nothing grows on these hills so the fire was made of pieces of bamboo from someones home and some wooden children's toys.

When the word of God is taught in these circumstance by these people the principles of commitment and discipleship takes on a whole new meaning. There were others in attendance preparing a cup of soup to share and some others outside of the picture. There were also others there that you could only feel.

The lady on the end on the right is an investigator(one of four in attendance) and a very special lady. She was amazed at the joy the members and secretly trying not to be noticed as at this point as we were playing charades and she was nervous about having her turn.

This was another nervous but willing participant. What a blessing to be able to be apart of this special evening in a very humble and special place.

At the end of the evening we had to walk home, with the assistance of flashlights, through the Chauka on a well travelled trail crossing irrigation streams and bogs. We had to travel with a group of people as there are spots along the way where people hide to rob those traveling alone. Safely at home we expressed our appreciation for the many blessings that are too frequently taken of granted.

Another change of setting, this time we are on our preparation day, or as we are not supposed to call it "play day." After the missionaries finished their weekly communication home via the internet we boarded a bus for Lunauana (Loo na wana) which I thought was by the ocean, wrong again, it was in the mountains and still in our zone. It might as well have been Lunar wana as the landscape on the way there could have been on the moon.

On the way I snapped this picture at one of the bus stops. Bus stop is a misnomer as the bus stops anywhere there is prospective paying customer. (interesting marketing concept)

However Lunauana is actual a tourist hot spot on weekends and Summer holidays for the rising middle class in Peru. This week it host a famous wine festival as this is one of the places the famous, I am told, Pisco Wine is made. This us with the crew from San Vicente and Imperial in front of a very large and beautiful Catholic Church.

This part of the big draw around these parts, it is this large flowing river which is the life source for the entire Canete valley and provides the irrigation water for the fertile valley. Note the terraces on the other side of the river. When asked how old they are the answer was "really old."

The water flows from high in the Andes Mountains.

The mountains in the background are not the high moutains they just block the view of the high mountains. They white water raft here, we did not as it is against mission rules for the young missionaries. There is also quad riding, horse back riding, and swimming.

These are not the high mountains either. The mountains behind these are and they reach 19000 to 20000 feet.

Here is part of the paradox that is Peru. A bamboo shack and a satellite dish. This is back side of a road side eatery which serves trout from the river and salmon from I don't know where.

We had walked about three miles back down the mountain to get to this point and we found a photo opp for the crew. Finally a bus came along that was not full, it stopped and we stopped walking.

We hope you have enjoyed this weeks edition of Whitneysinperu and until next time, Love from us to You!

Hola Family and Friends



We will start this episode by telling you about the pictures that we don't have that we wanted to show you.

Last week we had to move the Capilla in Quilmana from the rustic location (that we showed you in the previous weeks instalment) to the new location which we will have to show you at another time(because we don't have the pictures anymore).



The members from the Imperial Branch and the Quilmana Branch turned out in full force. furniture was moved cleaned and set up in our new 2nd floor "Casa Capilla." Partitions were manufactured, lights hung, and pictures placed. It was work and everybody helped. While the chapel was being readied the others were preparing to take care of our more temporal need and were preparing a traditional Peruano meal.



The new chapel does not have a kitchen but that would really not make any difference as many of the home don't either and everyone still gets fed. A make shift fire pit was arranged with bricks and quickly a wood fire was burning and water was boiling. Chickens were cleaned in the only sink there, vegetables were cleaned, and lunch was on. We are still debating exactly in what order all the comida was prepared but it was delicious. Oh yeah, all of this was done on the main street of town. Some time I think that it is possible to stand on too much ceremony.



Trust me the pictures would were awesome and told a much better story but my camera, back pack, clothing, scriptures, and other various hard if not impossible to replace possessions had a change of ownership when some crook decided to rob us while on the way to Lima last Friday.

Our motto here in our district is "You are in Peru, NOW!" and this was just another one of those moments.



We are having some really great experiences as well as we immerse ourselves in serving other people. Our Spanish is coming but not as fast as our impatience would like it to. We have the other missionaries come and tutor for and hour several times a week when they can.



Last week, on preparation day, we went with the missionaries from Canete and Imperial to meet the missionaries in Mala for a fun activity of a photo scavenger hunt. It only took a couple of hours and was a fun diversion from the labors of everyday. We down loaded pictures of that before our unfortunate turn of events. Here they are with our commentary.

This was our starting off point and the little blue and green mottos in the picture are our most usual form of transportation. We sometimes think that there are two of these units for every person in Peru, unless you really need one then there are two people in very one.

This is Elder McAllister, and the first item on our scavenger hunt. This is also the typical pollo (chicken) vendor. Who says you need to refrigerate chicken.

Fish did not live in fridge before they died why after. These fish are caught about four kilometers from Mala in the ocean.

These are exactly what they look like and a considered a real delicacy here in Peru. Which is good because the eat everything except the hair. Nothing goes to waste. More open air marketing, they say that nothing ages the meat more than hanging in the heat for a day or two.





The smiling police officer was probably the trickiest picture to get as they are hired for there ability to not be nice. However, when Debbie stepped up next to him he was all smiles. The picture of us, we are standing on top of a house that is built in to a hill overlooking the city of Mala

I guess it easy to tell who was taking the pictures as here is Elders Boulton, McAllister and Hermana at the gate to a cemetery. I must tell you about Elders McAllister and Boulton, they actually live in tent like the forts we all used make as children made of blankets and clothing. It is on the roof of a building and if you look at the positives, it allows them to have a sun deck, fire pit, solar clothes dryer, and view to the ocean on the west and mountains to the east. Elder Boulton said to me the other week, "if you consider that being in Peru is like a 2 year camping trip, you just have to tough it out, you will be okay."

This was not part of the scavenger hunt but I could not resist taking this picture. Look carefully at the 3rd floor upper left of the picture. It is an ingenious structural feature, a cantilever. You just use long bamboo poles extended of the side of the building and then pile heavy stuff on them.

This is where we had lunch together. Note the sign on the roof. Pollos al Cilindro. The chicken is cooked in a cylinder.

Here is the cylinder out front of the restaurant. Consider the convenience of this, this restaurant is attached to the Chapel.

Pollo and papa fritas for all. From the left: Jurez, Leon, Zea, Boulton, McAllister, US, Tanavasa, Mendoza, Lebeau, Fuentes, Grossman. These missionaries are the cream of the crop and very deserving of a little R.&R.

Me en Mi Casa the little place we call home.

Yes "la decorator" lives here too. Note the splash of color (bowl of candy) and art on the walls.

This is the more practical side of our home. I know it looks like a stove but it is much more than that, it is also our water heater for our clothes washer, hot water for washing our faces and dishes. It also functions as furnace, and towel dryer. By the way if it looks like there are bars on the windows, there are and no, not to keep us in.

The master suite comes complete with a bed and closet.

Check out the huge electrical switch in the bathroom. Building inspectors take note. This is a 250 volt power switch for the electric shower head. The first time I used it I made the mistake of moving the shower head while the switch was on. Shocking, note to user don't do again. The positive side is, it is instant hot water and only runs out when the water does or the power fails.

Take care, and we are livin large in Canete!

WE ARE IN PERU NOW!

d. & d.

Hola familia y amigos,


We are only a week late with this instalment of our adventures in Canete Peru. In Peru we are actually early as nothing happens on time or on schedule. Even Mormon Standard time is early, if you get my drift.


This group of people are very important to us. We are very fortuneate to spend a lot of time with the Hermanas Labeau and Mendoza and the Familia Macha. We really love these four people. Pedro and Carmen and I visit families every week and until this week Hermana Lebeau went with us as my interpreter. Debbie, Hermana Mendoza(or Hma. Cure) and Jessica Macha would visit investigators.

Mi casa es su casa! This welcoming picture is Debbie at the door of casa familia Whitney. This is one of the nicest places in Canete and when you consider that we call it home it is the nicest place in Canete. Truthfully there are not many like it out side of our little enclave. Take note of the object on the top our home on the left side.

Here is a close up of nerve central. This high tech instalation is my internet access point. It is fastened to a broom handle and wired to a piece of scrap metal that the installer found on the roof. The protective coating is the plastic bag that the device came in. I know that this sounds a little flimsy but I have reinforced it with black elecricians tape and a very secure basal wrap of precious duct tape. The cabling is spliced together extension cords and a single 30 foot run of cat5. Not in view are the five bricks that are providing balast and holding it in place. I buy my internet from a neighbor for the equivalent of $17 USD per month.

This is us saying goodbye to Hermana Cure who just completed her three month extention to her mission. She lives in Lima, loves the gospel, and is a fantastic missionary.
Elder Saavadra was transferred to week to become a trainer in Lima. He and his companion have provided many hours of service to us and although we had a little language barrier we communicated spirit to spirit very well. We miss him but know that he continues to serve well.

Elder Martinez and his companion (below) were the missionaries in Quilmana and were moved to new assignments in Lima as well. These are two fantastic Elders.

Elder Lopez was the branch President in Quilmana. He and his companion (Above) were sent in different directions. We loved working with both of these young men. Their families can certainly be proud of them.

(now from Debbie)
Slip slidin’ away, slip slidin’ away… thanks to Paul Simon for that little bit of a song. It fits perfectly. Not like our sheets. We had believed we were getting a queen size bed so when we bought our sheets we bought queen size. When we ordered our bed from Electra we still believed we were getting a queen size bed. \e got a double. These sheets were not going to stay on this bed. So I got out my straight pins, needles and thread and went to work. I put a large pleat down one side of the bed, and hand stitched it on the top and then the bottom. It took me the better part of one day to do that. There will be no pictures as it is not pretty. Well, that helped a bit, but it was still coming off the mattress. So today I got busy and stitched elastic under all 4 corners. I want to thank Marilyn (Doug’s sister) for making me skirts for my mission and leaving a lot of elastic on them. I brought the extra elastic with me, and I am happy I did.
We had done laundry one morning and the dryer was broken so that night Doug and I were ironing our sheets so we could make our bed. Now that is a first, we all know how much I like to iron.

Here is a picture of our zone.

Back Left : Elder Grossman, Lewiston, Idaho, Elder Saavadra, Bolivia, Elder Fuents, Peru, Pres. Manning, Hermana Manning, Hermana Nash, Elder Nash, Hermana Cure, Lima, Hermana Lebeau, Logan, Ut, Hermana Whitney, Elder Whitney, Calgary Alberta, Elder Tanavasa, Hawaiian/ Oregon,
Front Left : Elder Bolten, Riverton, Ut. Elder McAllister, Las Vegas, Elder Martinez, Calif. Elder Juarez, Lima, Elder Leon, Calif., Elder Lopez Guatemala.

Elder Saavadra, Elder Martinez, and Elder Lopez were transferred this past week and Hermana Cure has gone home after serving a 3 month extension on her mission, so we could have Hermanas in our area. We purchased a huge cake and had a transfer/going home get together with the zone on the Sunday evening.

We love all of our missionaries. They have been so good to us helping set up our home, getting internet, showing us how and where to get stuff. They tell us where to go and where not to go and what not to eat.

WE have asked the missionaries to spend one hour 5 times per week tutoring us and practicing Espanol. On Thursday the Hermanas came and gave us our first, of many I hope, Spanish lessons. Our new Hermana, Hermana Mendoza is from the jungles of Peru. Her pronunciation is different than some other Spanish speakers.

After our zone meeting last week the Elders from Mala told us about this really, really good restaurant that is very busy during the summer when everyone comes down from Lima. So we went with them after the meeting. It is very good. I had stir fried rice with shrimp. Doug had a mixed sea food plate. There was so much we both took home enough for another meal. This week we received an e-mail from Doug’s cousin and his wife, David and Erica, with a picture of them coming out of this very restaurant two weeks before. They were on a Murdock Travel tour of Peru. Go figure.

When we attended church in Quilmana (picture in last weeks blog) we met this awesome retired couple that live there, the Ayllon’s. Brother Ayllon was an aircraft electrician and they lived and worked in the USA most of there lives. Ten years in Burbank California and fifteen years in Boise Idaho and when they retired they moved home to Peru. They bought a farm and live very well here. Their children all live in the Boise area and they travel frequently to see them. They are one of only three families we know that own a car or truck and they even gave us ride. They are wonderful strong members of the church. Peru is their home and they love it here.

Along our way we see things that I sometimes wish I had taken a picture of and then I think, well, maybe it is better that I hadn’t. We were in a bus one day and in front of us was a moto, Doug says, “don’t look” well who is he talking too? Really, if you want some one to look at something for sure, just say, don’t look. Well in the basket behind the moto are 2 huge hogs, just flopping along, they were on their way to market, and who knows how long they have been in this state of death and how long until they get to where they will be …well, you know what I mean, processed. Then several days later we are on our way to Imperial and there is a truck in front of us, one cow standing the other down, for the count. The transportation of livestock to the butcher is not a matter of concern for anyone living in Peru, except me.

Here is a picture of a moto, like the one the hogs were in.

Through various means we asked our landlord to come and pick up the rent a day early so we could go. He came Tuesday evening and we paid him, we didn’t have exact change for the electric bill, he said he would bring it back on Thursday when he brings the lock smith to fix the lock to the front door, that doesn’t work properly. So we do the “Peru” wait and wait. Thursday evening there is a knock at the door, and we look at each other like, it’s about time. Doug opens the door and one of the security men is standing there and hands Doug a piece of paper. It’s in Spanish. Thank goodness for google and ‘Spanishdict.com.”

Doug translated it and it said, your water will be turned off on Tuesday the 6th of Oct. because the landlord is four months behind on the account, $430.00 soles past due.

There goes the trip to Lima, we have a new priority.

So who do we call, not ghost busters? Elder Tanavasa. If you recall he is the tall one standing by Doug in the picture above. Wouldn’t you call him too?
He says don’t worry, be happy and YOU ARE IN PERU, NOW. He says that a lot. We know he will get to the bottom of this but we don’t know if we need to start looking at another place to live? The landlord has this months rent plus a months deposit. Who knows what this guy is thinking?

We could not get in touch with the Elders until Friday morning and it took them until Saturday morning to get something worked out with the home owners association that controls the water for our home. We have our fingers crossed and are praying that it is really been taken care of. Remember, YOU ARE IN PERU, NOW!

Until next time, WE ARE IN PERU, NOW!