Whitneys in Peru

Saludos a Nuestras Familia y Amigos

2011-05-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday afternoon and I have a few minute before my next meeting and thought that I could get started with what will most likely be our last installment of “YOU ARE IN PERU NOW’ while we are still in Peru. The time is just flying by and each day we come closer to finishing our time here we become more aware of all the work that is yet to be done.

Since we attend a different branch each Sunday we have been saying our good byes branch by branch, today we were in San Vicente and ten minutes before the meeting started Presidente Macha told us that were to be the concluding speakers. He then went down the hall laughing. I would have thought that by now he would know better, if he had not planned for me to speak I would have made him change the program so I could.

Once with 30 minutes left in the meeting and without prior warning he turned to me and said “Su tiempo El Presidente” (the time is all yours president). I filled the time and then some. He had no idea that the Spirit had been preparing me all week and as I read and studied the thoughts of what I was to teach flooded into my mind, what amazed me was that it came in Spanish.

When I woke up at 6:00 this morning my message was already in my mind. I have come to understand that when the Spirit instructs you what to say or what to do, you need to do it. This is probably what I will miss the most about being a full time missionary. “Que bencidión ser un misionero.”

Not withstanding that we have made many dear friends and acquaintances while we have been here there are a few that are anxiously awaiting our departure in hopes that they can relapse into following their false traditions and practices that they love so much. I think they will be disappointed in their designs as the new leaders are better trained and committed to follow the manuals and the inspired programs of the church.

It is now Monday morning but a week later, wow, time is just flying by and I must get this blog posted or the first thing we know we will be at home.

We have been executing fairly well on our goals for the things we wanted to see completed before we finished. The three weddings came together, eight of the ten baptisms were accomplished, and so far we are on track with the families to the Temple. We will not make 100% but be assured that it is not for a lack of effort.

This past Saturday we hired a van to take a very special group of friends to the Temple; Renee and Jenny Bariento, Sonia Limay, Pedro and Carmen Macha with their daughter Jenny and son-in-law Evis. This was a special day for the familia Macha as Jenny and Elvis were married for time and all eternity and it was exciting to be a part of their big day.

This was also a milestone day for Renee and Jenny and us because for twenty two months we have been visiting, singing, teaching, testifying, encouraging and befriending. They now qualify to hold current Temple recommends and Renee is in the Elders Quorum Presidency. The experience of being with them in the Temple with them was so special that I am not sure if I should write about it as even now my eyes are a little blurry with tears of joy. Jenny, Debbie and I arrived in the Celestial room first and as Renee crossed the room to join us a vision of the picture of the Savior with the oveja perdida (lost sheep) on his shoulders opened up in my mind and I experienced impressions of His joy over the one that was found.

Later we stood with them and Pedro and Carmen in one of the sealing rooms and looked into the opposing mirrors together, friends forever.

Friday and Saturday of this week we will spend in Lima at the Temple as well. Friday with Iber, Chabella and Nicolas (their son) and Hubert, Rosa, and their three children; Giermo, Kiara, and Jean Pier. It is hard to keep referring to everyone as our special friends but I don’t know how else to express how much we love them and what a privilege it is be a part of their lives and them ours. When each of these families came into our lives we said that we wanted to help them become eternal families and as they go to the Temple this week it will be the culmination of our part of the agreement and the beginning or at least a continuation of theirs.

This Saturday the final stone will be in place when we attend the Temple with Juan Carlos, Adriana, and their two boys Octavio and Adrian. They completed their first year in the Church on the 16^th of May and what a blessing they are to the church here.

As outside observers we can also testify as to what a blessing the church has been to them. I know the transition for them has not been without a certain amount of discomfort or out right pain but they have persevered and grown spiritually. To really prove they have embraced the gospel and are willing to do their part, you guessed it, Adriana is pregnant.

Over the past couple of weeks we were blessed to able to participate while Juan Carlos and the missionaries taught the discussions to Juan Carlos’s mother who was visiting from Arequipa.

Juan Carlos is now the Branch President in the Rama de Imperial and is an awesome leader. Watching him assume his responsibilities has really been a testimony strengthening for me as I have seen the mantle of leadership rest upon him and observed the Lord directing his actions and while giving loving counsel to the members.. The Lord really can take a good man make that man a great man.

So it is with any of us, the gospel of Jesus Christ when accepted and lived will improve anyone and given a chance would improve everyone. All the Lord requires is a willing heart and mind and enough desire to believe and he can and will build the rest.

Enjoy the photos, there are a lot of them.

This is the Soyus bus station in Cañete and we were just leaving to meet the other couples in Lima to go on one of our few couples conferences that we were supposed to have every three months. Why I took the picture was the stack of brooms next to the bus and it reminded me of a Halloween joke, by bus or by air!

Los Jones, Los Reich, and us in Ayacucho. We flew to Ayacucho, by plane, which is in the sierra or mountains. It is an impressively beautiful city known as the city of churches because it has 35 Catholic churches more churches per ca pita than any other city. It also has one Stake of Zion. It is also near the place of the final battle for Peru's independence from Spain and is the center for the shinning path terrorists.

One of the main churches located in the Plaza de Armas.

One of the many quaint side streets demonstrating the 400 year history and colonial architecture.

Scorpion we found in the bath room of our hotel the first day we arrived. Needless to say we slept well feeling secure. We showed the picture to the hotel front desk only to get the classic, quite or everyone will want one.

Another Church, we found that many of the older churches are not usable as the structures are unstable because of the many earthquakes they have experienced.

Our first day we took a trip to the battlefield, it is Peru's equivalent to America's Gettysburg.

It was a real pleasure to be in the sierra and experience the fresh air and we had actual rain where the ground gets wet. You can see the greenery and for us it was a real treat as we live in the driest dessert in the world.

A view of one of the typical habitations we saw perched on hillside bluffs.

The Ayacucho river still muddy from the fall rains that caused a lot of mud slides and flooding.

This is an archaeological site along the way. The excavation is of a settlement that dates back 1400 to 1800 years and would coincide with the final 200 years of Nephite civilization

More scenery along the way

The Battle of Ayacucho (Spanish pronunciation: [aʝaˈkutʃo]) was a decisive military encounter during the Peruvian War of Independence. It was the battle that sealed the independence of Peru, as well as the victory that ensured independence for the rest of South America. It is thus also considered the end of the Spanish American wars of independence.

As of late 1824, Royalists still had control of most of the south of Peru as well as of Real Felipe Fort in the port of Callao. On December 9, 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho, or Battle of La Quinua, took place at Pampa de La Quinua, a few kilometers away from Ayacucho, near the town of Quinua between Royalist and Independentist forces. Independentist forces were led by Antonio José de Sucre, Simón Bolívar's lieutenant. Viceroy José de la Serna was wounded, and after the battle second commander-in-chief José de Canterac signed the final capitulation of the Royalist army

At the battlefield are these young boys about 12 to 15 years of age that have memorized the history of the battle and provide guided tours of the area and monument. It was amazing how once the boy was engaged to provide our tour he adopted the persona of a professor lecturing his students. He would change the pitch of his voice and referred to all of us a jovenes much like a teacher saying, now children follow me.

Other children were also part of the locals that make the monument part of their way of life. For a few centamos they would sing and do a little dance. Their parents have little refreshment and souvenir stands.

The local artisans are excellent and make these very interesting adornments and yes we now own one, a very little one.

If you notice the little statues on the roof of this building it is typical of the little monuments that adorn the roof top of every home and building in the the area. They bring good tiding to the inhabitants.

Another dig that dates to pre-Inca times.
The two missionaries in the middle are now serving Ayacucho but both served with us in Cañete. Elder Sardon and Elder Ponciano. We had a great little reunion with them.

Big statues are a big thing in Peru .

Hermana Whitney and hermana Manning in the Plaza de Armas in Huanta which is about an hour and half from Ayacucho. There are two missionaries serving here and they are literally on their own.

Us in the same place.

These children wanted to have their picture taken with the gorgeous Gringa.

With much watermelon clearly we were near the garden of eatin. This tienda is just outside of Cañete on the way to Puente Clarita. A 9 kilo sandia is about $3.00.

We were having some trouble with our bank so we had to make a trip to the big city, Lima, to get some things straightened out so we took advantage of the situation and stopped in at Larcomar for a little Sushi, well a I guess it was a lot of Sushi.

This cute little couple come to church almost every Sunday in Quilmana, we have no idea what they say to us we think they are speaking Quechua. None the less we are glad to see them.

More friends, Elvis and Lucero, live in Quilmana, you would remember them from the blog about a year ago when we went with them to the Temple for their fist time.

Los Ayllon, Marcello and Rebeca, they have been really close to us. They lived 25 years in the States, all of their children live in Idaho. When they retired they bought a little chakra outside of Quilmana. They go visit their family about every year and a half for 6 months. Yes we love them too.

We love this group as well, it was Easter and Hermana Whitney and Hermana Reich made everyone an Easter bag of treats.

Eduardo Acevedo, in the green hat, organized the youth in Imperial to have a Saturday service project and Elders Ewing and Huaman took them to La Florida. The service project was for a disabled woman that had been in bed for 25 years.

Wedding bells rang out for our friends Leonor and Mario. The first time we met Mario we told him that there is a living Prophet on the earth today, he said "I know his name is Thomas Monson I watch him all the time on the BYU channel." Mario had polio as a child, has leg braces and needs crutches to walk and cares for their 4 children at home while Leonor works. He can get the BYU channel for Latin America on his brothers cable TV.

Their clothes were borrowed but their joy was genuine and all theirs.

A random picture that demonstrates the wide desparity in the cultures of Peru, from where cat is meal to this park in Lima dedicated to felines.

This was the next big step in their lives as they were baptized along with Mario jr. and daughter Nicole. Debbie is hold another of thier daughters named China, affectionately know to us Chinita.

Elder Ewings mom sent him a cake mix for his birthday so he came over and he and Hermana Whitney baked the cake. Then we ate the cake.

A little friendly diversion with a game of Kiwi. We were joined by serveral of the San Vicente youth. A side note or point of interest but I discovered that you can not create enough rules to keep the people from cheating, it is in their genes.

Another service in Quilmana building an adobe home. Here Elder Milstead is mixing mortar on the ground, what is unique about the supervising group?

Afterwards we dined on local cuisine prepared by the benenfactors of our labor. The meal consists one serving of carapucra, one serving of sopa seca con pollo and yucca. It was good going down.

The story here is intesting, we were teaching in another home down the street from their home the girl in the white T-shirt knocked on the door and asked if we would visit when we were done. So we agreed and did. The fellow in the orange was in auto accident a few years ago and has a stainless steel plate in his head and has a lot of pain and difficulties. The story is longer but the short of is we gave him a priesthood blessing and made an appoint to have the Elders visit. They are progressing and have a date to get married the 11th of June.

This another part of our extended Peru family, the occaision is Juana's birthday. We did not plan this picture but only one person in the photo is smiling.

Finally after 17 months and 14 missionaries we got Mery and Carlos to the marriage alter and another huge step forward for this family of 6. The story here is long and personal, some day you should ask us about it.

Same day as Mery and Carlos we had Caralina and Willy get married in the Matrimonial Masivo in San Vicente. Again another story worth hearing about but you will have to ask. We were testigos for both these couples and were featured on the local TV evening news in Cañete and our pictures have been posted on the Municipal Office building in the Plaza de Armas. FOR REAL,

Spiritually Elder Ewing is much taller than than real life but after spending his first 6 months in the mission field with us in Imperial we had to say hasta luego. His parents can be proud of him and the work he is doing for the Lord.

Elder Merrill was fortunate enough to get to finish his mission here in Cañete as our Zone Leader and we were very fortune that he did. We wish him well as he returns home with honor.

Elder Rodas also moved on this transfer after spending nearly nine months in Mala and Cañete. He is with out a doubt one of the hardest working missionaries to come this way with a real zest and talent for teaching.

On one of our preparation days we made a little trip to Lima to see the Cathedral de Lima and the Monastery de San Francisco.

Inside the cathedral are a dozen smaller chapels that are dedicated to different groups or guilds like the shoemakers, carpenters, ect. under each are crypts where noteable people from the groups are buried.

This is the main alter area along each side are seats that are built into the wall for the various rankings of preists.

This is us at the Temple with Iber, Chabella, and Nicolas. When we finished the Temple preparation classes with them we took a trip to the Temple just to show them around.

Afterwards we went to Wongs for an ice cream and we had a little shopping cart rodeo with Nicolas

The Gringos in Cañete are in the final stage of this this adventure and looking forward to the next stage in our lives. As this picture depicts we always on the road to somewhere and we should always make sure the road is leading to somewhere worthwhile. No matter what the outcome how you react to it is your decision.

The next and most likely final edition will be from home!

Love to all,

Los Whitney, Gringos in Canñete.

Saludos a Nuestras Familia y Amigos

2011-04-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

Seven weeks, that’s all, nada mas!

Time is flying along and we are running as fast as we can to help our friends meet the goals they have set with us. We still have three weddings to accomplish in the next 60 days with 10 baptisms and 4 families to take the temple for the first time and two families to return after a long absence. What a blessing when it all comes together.

It has been so long since our last blog and time is particularly precious so I will not be overly wordy and will leave most of the history to the pictures.

Debbie’s wounds have substantially healed but totally, she still has one more shot to get, and she is continuing to be cautious around dogs.

We had the youth conference the last week of February and it was a great success. We did learn some lessons about logistics and they should be better prepared for the next time. Like all excellent youth conferences we concluded with at testimony meeting. It was outstanding.

The new capilla in San Vicente was turned over to us in March and we were able to have our district conference in the new building. Notwithstanding the capacity of the new building we still had to put up a tent in the courtyard and seat about 100 people outside where they watched the conference on closed-circuit television. It was a record attendance for district conference.

President Manning gave the dedicatory prayer for the new building which was the spiritual highlight of the weekend. Everyone was touched by the experience and the spirit and it was a life changing experience for several of the investigators that were in attendance. For some of the rest of us as well.

After the conference President Manning and I went to a prison in Penal just outside of Nuevo Imperial to visit a couple of inmates. This was also a life altering experience and gave me an immense appreciation for the freedoms I enjoy. The mother of one of the boys is a very dear friend of ours and she had asked us to visit. Both young are in prison for murder but not the same one. It is forever imprinted on my mind how one wrong turn can ruin one life and take another. Over crowded and unsanitary is just the beginning of a description of what we experienced. We visited in one of their cells, approx. 9 feet by 12 feet, which housed 16 inmates. Fortunately or not we not able to take pictures, we could not take our belts, ties, a pen, or anything in our pockets and were thoroughly searched and screened prior to entry.

Renee and Jenny our friends that we have mentioned many times it the blog are following through with their commitment and have been attending every week, paying tithing, hopefully will receiving a calling this week, and planning to attend the Temple with us.

Asia (Ahseeah) is closed for the season therefore our source for familiar food is gone. We sent to Wongs, that is the super market, on Saturday to purchase enough of the staples to see us through. When we were finished shopping we said good bye to the staff many of whom had remembered us from last year and told them that we are going home to Canada and would not be seeing them next summer.

We went to Asia with Juan Carlos and Adriana in their car which made bring home the heavy load possible. We celebrated the closing by having Jack Daniels Ribs at TGI Fridays and then Sushi at Mr. Sushi. I know it sounds crazy but we did it anyway.

I am not sure if I will get one or two more blogs off before we get home we will just have to see how much time we have. Thank you for following our adventures and hope to be seeing you soon.

Absolutely everyone in the District was invited to the Youth Conference, here they are called conventions, including this young chick. Swimming in the pool was a real treat for our young people. For most of us is sounds hohum but for them it was special.

Talent shows are really big and had for just about every occasion. What passes for talent is questionable but it is always fun. This group of young men are from the Cañete branch all are converts to the church and we have at least a small part in their lives in the church

These are some of the youth leaders that chose not to get in the pool but kept an eye on them from a safe distance.

On the day the OEM turned the capilla over to the members we had an inspection with the engineers and facilities group. Pres. and Sister Manning came and we did a tour of the building and we had demonstrations of how everything worked. After they provided a lunch that was surprisingly good.

This the district Presidency in our new office. We did not tell Presidente Borda (sitting in the chair) that we would have an office in the new building and this was his first chance to see it. The other hombre is Pres. Raul Huarhua. I am still chuckling about the day President Borda called me concerned that the plaque on the front of the church said "visitors welcome."

A group shot of all those that attended the walk through taken in the salon de "sacramental" which we were permitted to take since the building was not commissioned or dedicated.

Elders Merrill and Perez found and activated this brother, David, and his family then baptised his daughter. We were blessed to participate with them. An interesting side note was that David served his mission here in Cañete fourteen years ago.

This irresistible looking pizza was made right in our own kitchen. Helen our neighbor invited us over for homemade Pizza one night, she told Debbie how to make her own dough. Ever since we have been eating delicious pizza in the comfort or our own home. We served pizza to President Manning this last week after his interviews in Cañete.

I spotted this Dear standing on a bridge over the Cañete River and immediately knew I had to take a picture. It is the rainy season in the mountains and the river is running fast. From this point it is less than a mile to the ocean.

The above photo and this one we took on the same day, we visiting a family that live somewhat remotely in the chakra.

This is my arm and the marking that they put on me at the prison. In addition they also fingerprinted us before we entered so that they could positively identify you should there be some kind of a mix up. It was a scary place.

This year for Carmen Villalobo del Macha's birthday Debbie fixed dinner for the family in our home. A traditional Canadian meal of Lasagna, tossed salad, and garlic bread. That is Canadian isn't it?

On the 23rd of March, which is Elder and Hermana Reich's anniversary we went to the Temple with these two couples from Mala. Edgar and Cecilia (on the left) are newly weds and Cesar and wife (on the right) have many years together and three children. Both Edgar and Cesar have been apart of our lives since we arrived in the mission. Thanks to Elder and Hermana Reich they were prepared to receive their Temple blessings.

The Sunday after District conference we attended the San Vicente Branch to supervise the ordination of new Elders. To my surprise all four asked that I ordain them. I took the time to teach the Priesthood about Priesthood Line of Authority and Priesthood Line of Ordination. I ordained Jaime first, then Frolin, next was Santo. Santo is standing on my right and as I finished ordaining him I ask him to ordain his son Alex that is standing next to him. His eyes just beamed and said "for real." We had another little teaching moment and he did an awesome job. The spirit was so strong you could cut it with a knife. Every once in a while you get something right and it feels so good.

Look at the size of those pieces of cake, how are those three going to eat it all. Not even missionaries could do it. They didn't, it was Elder Ewing's birthday and he shared the cake with the whole zone. Hermana Whitney has become famous for her baking in these parts.

Hermana managed to con May and Chantele in letting her hold their brother Walter. These are the children of Renee and Jenny our friends in San Vicente.

Yup!! goofing around again with the worlds shortest fishing rod at Cerro Azul. We had gone to visit a less active member that owns a little restaurant in town, we were early so we took a moment on wharf to enjoy the ocean.

I didn't catch anything but funny looks from the locals. Luckily I did not lose my sun glass again.

They say the fish like these little guys but you can't prove it by me but all the locals were using them. They seemed to be catching fish. Sadly the fish they were catching looked like the fish we use for bait when we are salmon fishing.

Sunday of General Conference none of the missionaries received invitations for dinner and none of the missionaries out of town had a place to eat so they all ended up at our house between conference sessions. The night before I slipped over to our favorite Pollo al Cylindro restaurant and purchased 16 plates of dinner. We have done it quite a few times and they love us there and are disappointed if I only order two dinners.

If we weren't home sick before we certainly were after Thom, Cheryl, and Phoebe Evans stopped over in Lima before returning home to Calgary after vacation. We got permission from Pres. Manning to make the trip to Lima and see them and have dinner. We are very grateful that they took the time and hassle to meet us (and buy us an awesome dinner).

Elder and Hermana Jone de Nazca were passing through Cañete on their way to the Dentist in Lima, since it was preparation day we made a side trip to Lunahuana. They don't see very much moving water in Nazca and it was treat for them to see a moving river.

When you are in Lunahuana it is hard to believe you are still in the driest desert in world.

We went to the hospital to get Hermanas second to last rabies shot and the hospital that we had received all the other shots at said they were out of vaccine so they sent us to Imperial to the maternity hospital. After sitting and waiting for close to an hour in the maternity hospital, imagine two aging gringo missionaries sitting the waiting room at a maternity hospital getting strange looks from everyone, they informed us that they only had enough vaccine for an emergency with a child and we would have go elsewhere.

Thankfully they called around to the different clinics and found one with enough vaccine. One of the nurses gave us directions and off we went. We had no sooner got on the street and another nurse came running after us, she was very concerned. She said the place you are going is very dangerous, she meant for people like us, and for us to be very careful and told us not to walk in the area. She stopped a moto and gave him specific instructions on where to take us, not to leave us in the street, and told him how much we would pay him.

We thanked her, very much.

It was in this clinic de salud that we took the picture of this little girl on the stairs. We became instant friends especially when we took her picture. The clinic was in terrible condition, every door looked as if it had been broken into, it looked as if it had once had a tv mounted on the wall but now is gone, and the concept of cleanliness had long since been forgotten. The staff were surprised to see us there but they were pleased to give Debbie the injection.

When the nurse told us about the dangerous place we were going we wondered where it might be. As we soon found out we were not strangers to this area and have made many visits, both day and night, in the area. We are never reckless about where we go and what we do but more than once we have felt the protection of angels in our labors and boldly testify that the Lord does watch over his servants and all things are done for a wise purpose with the Lord.

Thanks for hanging in with us and until next time remember who loves ya!

Los Whitney Gringos in Cañete

Saludos a Nuestras Familia y Amigos

2011-02-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

We realized just how normal we are as missionaries this month as we waited and expected our letter informing us of our release date. It is the custom, at least in this mission, for the mission office to send a letter to each missionary informing them they have 6 months left and giving them the exact date of release. Technically we are still waiting because we have not received a formal letter but we have received an email from the President confirming our release date of June 10 and permission to spend one week touring as we see fit.

We realize that although we will finish our time here that the work will not be completed and we hope that the Mission Department will find other couples to pickup where we leave off.

We are seeing the culmination of some of our efforts and are excited for the Saints in the district. Next week will have a walk through and inspection of the new capilla in San Vicente. It is beautiful beyond belief not only physical but for what it means to people here. We have been planning a open house (puertos abiertos) to invite the local public officials and members of the community and then on March 20^th at our District Conference the building will be dedicated.

Wednesday we received the written permission from the First Presidency to form the Rama de Quilmaná (Branch of Quilmaná). This was a quest that I started several months ago and now as soon as we can recommend a branch president we will be under way. Hopefully we will accomplish this as well at our District Conference in March.

One of the first things that we were asked to do when we arrived was to start looking for a church building site in Mala. So we started, we found one that we thought was perfect, we made maps, took pictures, and made a little presentation package then took it to the Area office in Lima in Nov. 2009. That is where we started to become educated about the labyrinth known as the Temporal Affairs Department. Not withstanding our naïveté we forged on. We learned about their budgeting process, planning, and most importantly about the qualifying process.

Clearly the Lord wanted the members to qualify for building in Mala because he sent the Elder and Sister Reich to Mala along with the best missionaries he could find. He then helped us find a Branch President that was on fire and full of desire to do things the Lord’s way (you know “in the Manual”).

Although the “perfect” place that we found was not the one the Lord wanted but it did get us in the planning and budgeting process and we are now in the due diligence period and hope to close on the right property very soon. This work has put Mala on the radar screen of the Area Presidency and they are now working with the Mission to advance the building program to meet the growing needs of the members in Mala.

Often (perhaps always) we find that our ability to make progress is limited by things that we actually have control over, that being our worthiness in the areas that are essential to the qualifying process. We have budget approval and construction scheduling for reconstruction of the capilla in Imperial. This would be a program similar to the San Vicente construction and would in essence double the size of the capilla with is desperately needed. BUT! Without tithing worthiness of the members we will get bumped from construction and a unit on the waiting list will take our place if we can not qualify. This week President Manning has asked us to verify the worthiness prior to the official report, we pray that all is in order.

Now for one of my round about stories:

Last Sunday night Hermana and I went to visit one of our longstanding friends in San Vicente, la familia Bariento - Renee, Jenny, Chantal, May, and Walter. When we first arrived in Cañete in Aug. 2009 we met the familia Macha then the familia Bariento, in fact Pedro took us to meet them. We have been visiting them for more than 18 months, we love them a bunch and we even think they are fond of us, but they have had a lot of trouble keeping their commitments to us. We used to visit and come away feeling so fantastic because they would promise to be at church that Sunday, we set goals to be able to attend the temple together, ect, ect. but not much materialized.

Well this month they attended twice. Now you have to understand that we only attend each branch once every 4 weeks so we have to contact some from the branch each week to see who has made good on their promises to us. Sunday night after we confirmed with Pedro that they had attended again we went to their home to share our love for them and share a message as is normal for us to do. It was an awesome experience we left feeling great, better than great, we had had a wonderful day.

Setting the scene:

The area in which they live is not well lit, the streets are dirt and quite narrow and about 50 yards from their home we surprised a couple of dogs which were in front of us and to our right. Since we are in Peru which has 33 million people and 66 million dogs we have had lots of dogs bark at us, charge at us, and that is usually all the energy they have.

The scene:

This time however the startled dogs startled another dog that was behind us and to left and with out a sound jumped out of the dark and bit Debbie on the back of the leg.

Now notwithstanding the situation here is the comical part, Debbie says in a surprised but not too excited voice, “that dog bit me.” Given that she did not show much more emotion than that I was thinking okay the dog nipped at her lets get going. She turned her leg to show me and there was already blood running down her leg. Perceiving that this was not just a nip we started to make tracks to where we could get a ride.

Once in a mototaxi I could see that there were three punctures in her calf and I told her that she needs to go to the clinic. Bless her brave little soul, she refused and said just take me home I’ll be alright. Leaving a pool of blood in the moto we went home.

Now in “la casa” and in the light we see that the wounds were deepish and ugly she decided to call our neighbor Helen, who has some medical experience, to come over and render assistance. Even though Helen thought she needed stitches, brave Debbie declined.

While Helen was still at the house our door bell rang, it was 9:30 in the evening, we don’t have many visitors (we don’t tell people where we live but everyone seems to know where we live). It was a young couple (compared to us) that wants our assistance in getting married. The sister attends our English class each week and we have come to appreciate her very much and we are blessed to be able to help them.

What does it mean:

The source of our joy on Sunday was not just that Renee and Jenny went to church that day but that we had 19 of our less active friends attend church that day in 3 different branches. This is where the rubber meets the road it is where individual people matter the most. Branches, buildings, and land are the necessary white noise but it is the people that we love and they are the reason that we do what we do.

Epilogue:

Someone we know very well now goes to the clinic everyday for a series of Rabies shots which are leaving a nasty bruise on her tummy where they stick the needle.

Although we are saving the pictures and story until next blog we also concluded a very successful district youth conference yesterday. For now sufficeth it to say that you will never know how blessed you are and what favorable circumstances you live in until you have something less to compare it to.

We hope that you enjoy the photo journey!

You may remember Hermano Arevelo from his wedding, then baptism at the beach, the baptism of his wife, then daughter and now another daughter and her husband. He is one of the faithful and it has been a blessing for us wittiness his families progress in the Church. It was also a privilege to participate in his call and setting apart to serve in the Branch Pres. in Mala last year.

Preparation day activities often lead to castigos for the losers. Losers seem to have red lipstick on their faces. The really sad part is that the game required Superior language skills and I can understand the red marks on Elder Ewing and I but the others, I don't know.

When we first shared the notion of a youth conference with Los Reich they wanted us to meet some special friends of theirs in Mala. They have this Olympic length pool (piscina) in their back yard. Don't we look so natural in this setting, if only President Manning could see us now!

And they have this gigantic reception hall between the house and pool. It did not take very much imagination to see that this would be an outstanding venue for part of our youth conference. The owners gave us a package deal for swimming, dinner and a dance. The youth loved it.

We know that it does not look like much right now but this most likely going to be the focal point of all Mala when the Church is built here.

This site is a little larger than is required for a normal capilla and with a little forward thinking who knows what could occupy a site of this magnitude.

On a whim we decided to try the Sushi in Asia and all though real sushi eaters would say that California rolls aren't really sushi but in this part of the world we are not going to eat raw fish.

We frequently see the funeral processions marching through the streets of the towns and have wondered about the customs associated. This time we are not watching but rather we are in the procession. The deceased person is Carmen (Villalobos) Macha's father. We had just been at his farm two weeks ago helping harvest the uvas (grapes) with Carmen and many of her siblings and family.

Taking a cue from Pedro we joined the procession after they got into Imperial. At this point they had carried the coffin and body from his home on the farm 5 kilometers from here. It took three hours to here and they still had an hour to go. It was a hot day, of course it is dusty, and people were expiring from exhaustion. The girl in the black and white checks carrying the coffin is Jeanette Macha one of his granddaughters and one of our friends.

Everyone is placed above ground in one of these crypts and they are stacked six rows high. When we arrived at he cemetery the coffin/body was carried to the tomb of his father where he was presented to father before he could be interred.

This is one of the oxymorons in Peru. A pay toilet. It costs S/.50 to use it. It just so happens that S/.50 is about 1/20 of what a normal person makes a day. So a building like this is handy so that the hombres can go behind to you know what.

Transfer days come and go rather quickly and Hermana Laoyza was only with us one change but we feel very privileged to have got to know her even it was for a short period of time.

Valentines day came and went but not unnoticed. We don't have card stores here because people would't waste money on one but I do have dry erase markers so I liberally used them almost everything I could erase them from.

Yep, the mirrors, the windows, the refridgerator and the desks.

Unfortunately we had to say adios to Elder Hall but we know that he was needed elsewhere as he was sent to Nazca. Only the best misisonaries go there and only the toughest missionaries get sent there. The only way to describe Nazca is, HOT!

We had to get a little fast food in Lima on a quick trip to the big city but the thing that we want to point out is size of the drink. That cup is just down right unamerican. It wouldn't be acceptable if you got free refills. Coca Cola should be ashamed they could barely get their name on it. The chifa was pretty good though.

Sad and funny was when this plaque went up at the new capilla. On the bottom it says "Visitantes Bienvenidos" Presidente Borda called me and exclaimed they must have made a mistake they put this inscription on the sign. I assured him that it was true, correct, and that all over the world it was the same.

We snapped a quick shot in the hall of the new capilla but we will follow with more after accept the building next Friday and get the keys.

Unfortunately this is the best photo I could get by reaching out the back side window catching Debbie riding in the front seat of a moto taxi with the female driver. She looks amazingly at home doesn't she.

This is not halloween make up. This is Debbie's dog bite after we cleaned up on Sunday night. I was to animated to think about taking a picture until it was cleaned but this gives a realistic view of the damage. I don't think she is going to let me take a picture of her tummy to show the pattern of bruises from the rabies shots. (you got that right !)

We visited the Fortress Ungara again with this new group of misisonaries. I only carefully mention the name of the fortress because when I reported our first visit here in the blog our blog now appears like an acredited source of information when you google search it.

Elder Ewing is standing on part of the battlements where Huarco warriors lept to their deaths before they could be captured by the advancing Incas.

From this higher vantage point in the fortress you can see more of the remaining structure. The fortress was huge and the history books say that tens of thousands of warriors were garrisoned here in times of battle.

Although this battle is long since over and the relevance to life today is diminished an effectual battle still rages in this place. Last night as rode home from Mala with the youth from this part of the district we contemplated the future for one of our young friends from Quilmana as she sat across from us on the bus. She is just thirteen years old, we met her a few months ago in the home of her mother. We had gone to there to teach her mother about the law of chastity, of all things.

Our young friend was exhausted from the activities of the convention and had fallen asleep. Barely thirteen years old she is 7 months pregnant. We know that she can not begin to understand where the road she has chosen will lead and how many nights she will fall asleep exhausted trying to provide for her child. We were seeing a glimpse into her future.

Having the gospel of Jesus Christ is not enough, it is only through the application of its principles in our lives that it recieves the power necessary for our personal salvation.

To know and not to do is far worse than not knowing .

This brings an end to this instalment of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW! and we hope that you find it at least a little bit interesting.

Nos vemos mas tarde!

Los Whitney, Gringos en Cañete

Saludos a Nuestras Faimilia y Amigos

2011-01-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

We offer a quick apology to any of you that have been checking to see if we had updated the blog recently only to find the same old story, sorry!

When we last wrote we were in the warm up to Christmas and we mentioned the Christmas project in the pueblocito for the children. The program created a lot of good will in the community and a lot of unity with the congregation in Imperial.

The good tidings were followed shortly by disaster when in the first week of the new year nearly the entire village was destroyed by fire. Constructed of sun dried bamboo, plastic tarps, and cardboard a fire quickly spread from house to house leaving 70 plus families without anything except for the clothes on their backs.

We were very touched as we experienced our people scrap together what they could to provide immediate support while government agencies were being activated. Help poured in from entire community to provide sustenance and shelter.

This was devastating for them to be sure, but contrary to our way of thinking it does not take months to rebuild the homes they live in. The Alcalde in Imperial provided the bamboo mat materials for the walls and roofs and with in a few short hours comparable shelter was erected. Brother Quispe and his family of five, one of our member families that lost their home, through the generosity in the community for the first time ever have a bed for everyone in the family.

Fortunately no lives were lost and life goes on.

As it got into the week before Christmas we got very busy, that is mostly the royal we, as Debbie toiled in our little kitchen with her glorified camp stove and oven baking cookies, squares, making candy and baking cakes. She made a plate of baking for almost everyone that we know. It took several trips to deliver the baking in just in our neighborhood.

We have 24/7 security in our little barrio and we discovered when we first got here that the guards (they are called Vigilantes) and our maintenance staff responded well to us when we remember to respond well to them. So, on Christmas afternoon Adrian, Juan Carlos and Adriana’s three year old, and I walked around to wish all of the Security and Maintenance people a Merry Christmas. We bought them loaves of panetone bread and we stapled an envelop to it with a little $dinero$ inside. Through the year we take them food and other treats.

When we come home late and after dark they always make sure that we get to our home safely and the bicycle patrolman makes sure we are inside the house. It is a simple principle in life, treat people like they mean something to you and they will reciprocate.

After we delivered every thing that we could in the community we packed presents and remaining baking into our giant bolsas (zipper bags) that we use for carring our groceries on the buses. We had some distance to go and a number homes to visit and we were not completely sure about the logistics, we were like Santa’s without a sleigh. We got about a block from the house when Juan Carlos came along in his car and said he had come home early just to help us. What a relief.

We finished our deliveries at the home of the Familia Macha where Juan Carlos left us and we spent the early evening with them and some of the missionaries.

The custom here is to have the big Christmas meal at, or at least close to, midnight and then they open all of their presents in the evening before dinner. It seems like a perversion of the “true Christmas” or a least the traditions that we grew up with. It was not until Christmas Day as we were traveling to Mala, for our traditional dinner, with Elder and Sister Reich and the Missionaries that I realized the practical reason why they have these traditions. As we passed by the tiendas and the Mercado is was obvious that Christmas Day was business as usual for most of the working people. The shops were open, the buses were running full schedule, taxis filled the streets, the markets were full of people, and for the more part it looked like any other day. It is not that they are not believers because they are but rather it is their reality. You work to eat, if you don’t work you don’t eat.

We, those that experience a different reality, often take for granted the privilege that we enjoy and don’t slow down long enough to experience the joy and peace that our lives should afford us. We get caught up in the thick of thin things and use a disproportionate amount of our energy on the things that matter least at the sacrifice of the things that should matter most.

We hope will have the time to enjoy our photo journey and remember if you ever want to ask us questions or make comments you can leave a comment with your email address or email us at dfwhitney@shaw.ca

Talent shows seem to be a part of all the various fiestas and Christmas is not left out. This was taken a the Christmas Fiesta in Quilmana. Hermano Chumpitaz is one of the ones that really has a talent. The other talents were comprised of magic tricks, dance routines, reciting poetry from the Sierra, and singing. All of our visits with the saints in Quilmana it was fun and rewarding (spiritually).

Early the next morning I had chartered a mini bus to take all of our Zone to Lima to the Mission Christmas get together. This year the mission treated us to a movie, president rented a theatre and we watched Toy Story Three with English subtitles for the learning impaired. Last year we got a tie, no one will contest that this was way better.

After the movie and our Christmas dinner, which I hate to be critical was not delicious, we had a few skits which were only slightly better than than dinner. Our skit was about making a movie of the story Ammon at the waters of Sebus. If you missed the movie it is okay.

The best part of all the mission get togethers is getting to see the missionaries that we have served with. Hermana Stocks was with us just a short time in Canete but we are always excited to she her.

Immediately after our mission party we jumped a bus to back to Imperial for their Christmas Chocleterra and Talent Show. This young couple are truly talented and have won competitions dancing the traditional Marinerra (I hope that is how it is spelled). Adrian, the young man, attends our English classes and is active in the youth program. This stage was erected in the cochera at the capilla and Luis and Adriana and their committee decorated the entire courtyard.

Contrary to back home where Hermana usually wears her Christmas outfits to maintain her Christmas Spirit while doing her Christmas baking this is more of a matter of survival in the heat with the window open and fans blowing. It is amazing what Debbie put together in her three and half feet of workspace with her glorified camp stove.

This is her plate staging area at about midway through the campaign.

The finished product, in way that only she can do.

All month long we were able to come home to our tree lit up. It is a little on the humble side but nonetheless it was our reminder of how blessed our home is and how blessed we are and turned our thougth's to our Savior and to our family and loved ones.

Christmas Day all of the Zone gathered at the Elder and Hermana Reich's home in Mala for back home American styled Christmas Dinner that lacked nothing. The missionaries love these kinds of meals, you have to appreciate that they all eat at pensionistas where they are served a plate of food which usually consists of a lot of rice or spaghetti, a little serving of some kind of meat and some kind of sauce and when they are lucky a bowl of chicken foot soup. No seconds. There were plenty of seconds today.

After lunch we had a zone family photo before we left for our areas. In our area we went back to the Christmas baptism (they call them "white Christmas") which we had scheduled for that evening.

A couple of days after New Years we had the heart wrenching "it is time for transfers again" experience and we said good by another group of the excellent missionaries we had grown to love. This one is Elder Salsado.

This one is Elder Tombs from Lubbock Texas. Elder Tombs was in the CCM in Lima with us so we felt like we have know him a long time. He served as a District leader in our Zone, he is type of young man that has leader written all over him. Clearly a credit to his family.

Transfers out mean transfers in and we welcomed our new missionaries, this is at our preparation day lunch was taken in an out of the way restaurant in Canete.

One of the milestones that we are very excited about is our updated and expanded capilla in Canete. When the addition started they discovered that existing structure was not capable of supporting the addition so it was cleared right to the ground and started over. We were starting a progress inspection with the site engineer and president Borda.

This photo is on the second floor where the salon de sacramental will be located. This building is truly magnificent and will greatly bless the saints here. It has sufficient space to organize classes for all of the auxiliaries and quorums, satellite for all of the church broadcasts, ample bathrooms, and a water purification system for the Santa Cena. I guess you have to be here to really know what it means for them.

Elder Ewing, a great new missionary from Las Vegas and his companion, Elder Baylon from Peru, invited us to a service project to move a pile of dirty and debris. The plan was to distribute the tierra over the dirt roadway. So we did.

We were just about finished when city workers came and exhibited some concern about a manhole cover that was now buried. I had news for them, it was buried before we started.

The day of the service was also Debbie's birthday, as an unexpected gift she got her nose in the way of a stone that was being tossed into the stone pile. The missionary that through the stone was very very sorry. I am really glad that there was no lasting damage and in a couple of days you could not even tell it had happened, almost. I was glad because she may never have forgiven me.

We had to hurry home to meet Chabella, Heber, and Nicholas, the familia Pomatay, that were coming from Mala to visit us. We got home and quickly jumped into the shower when the door bell rang, understand that you have to conserve water and lets just say we were both wet, oh no they are two hours early. No they weren't it was Hermana and Elder Reich, they had come down from Mala to bring a cake and birthday greeting to Debbie. AWKWARD! We all had a great laugh and excellent cake. The familia Pomotay arrived later and all was well.

In the late afternoon Elders Hall, Merrell, Perez, and Vera arrived to serenade Hermana Whitney and wish her a feliz cumpleaños, shared some of the cake that Hermana Reich brought and quickly got back to work.

"Mas tarta" earlier in the week Adriana called me and asked what I was doing for Debbie's birthday and I said that was business as usual for us, she said that would not do. She said her children would be very upset if they did not get to have cake with Debbie so she offered to pickup a cake for me.

The next day was business as usual and we were in a little pueblocito outside of Quilmana where we visited Olaga and Anders new litter of piglets.

Monday for preparation day we organized a photo scavenger hunt for the missionaries with a list of about 20 photos that they had to get and bring back to the starting point. When they came back we told them the ones got the photo of four missionaries eating ice cream were the winners. They all said that it was not one of the items on their lists, we told them it was on ours and showed them our picture.

Meet the familia Ayllon. Omar is a return missionary he is married and sealed to Ghemmi and their three children. In a chance discussion we heard about them, they had not attended church for more than two years and asked why, no one had an answer. We have really enjoyed getting to know them and through help of their home teachers, who are now visiting them, are attending church, not quite regularly, but attending.

Elder Vera and Elder Perez with Rosa and Huber's son on the way to another service project. Part of the value of this photo it the orange ground cover in the background. This mais or corn that has been laid out to dry and will later be ground into animal feed.

Rosa and her Sister Juana and their families some how managed to acquire this plot of ground with an old plantation building on it are converting it into habitations for their families. It is not near as good as the homes they are leaving but this land will one day be theirs.

Our assignment; move dirt and debris and distribute. This time we also built a retaining wall with adobe bricks we found in the debris and banked the cleaner fill behind it for a future garden. There seems to be strong back and weak mind theme developing in or service projects. This week we harvested grapes, pictures next time.

We had trouble convincing Juan Carlos that going to the beach on Sunday was not in the spirit of keeping the Sabbath Day and that Saturday would be more appropriate, if for no other reason that the mystery photographers would not go on Sunday. So they went to the beach on Saturday.

The mystery photographers enjoyed the beach, the sun, and good friends.

They also enjoyed the great food in Cerro Azul.

We were having some shoes repaired and found this cat asleep in the zapateros display case and I thought that it was a fitting ending to our photo relato this month. Too many of God's creatures are looking for a safe place to sleep without getting kicked around.

Thank you so much for continuing to follow our adventures here in Cañete and thank you for your notes of encouragement that mean so much to us. We realize that our work here will not be done when we leave and as we approach our final few months we hope that another couple has been prepared to pick up where we will leave off. We love the people here and want so much for them to succeed in changing the generations that will follow them.

Take care until next time and remember that regardless what happens to you in life, what you do about it is entirely within your control.

Los Whitney, Gringos in Cañete

Saludos a Nuestras Familia y Amigos

2010-12-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y UN PROSPERO AÑO NUEVO!

It is the season to be jolly, happy, and thankful and for many of us it is a time to reflect on the many blessings we have in our lives. Often our thoughts lead us to reflect upon our families and loved ones, those that are near us and those that are far distant. How grateful we can be for the birth of the Christ Child through which we have the hope of a far brighter day when distances of all types will be shortened.

We have been touched by the emails that we have received this Christmas Season from our family and friends to remind us that we continue to be in their thoughts and prayers. We are grateful for this sustaining influence in our lives and want all of you to know how important it has been to us to hear from you. We miss and love you all.

We have been getting ready for Christmas, on the first of December Debbie decorated la casa and we put up our tree, unlike the three day process that it was at home, it only took about an hour and that was with a 30 minute break for lunch. We plug in our tree before we leave in the evening and even though it only has one string of lights it is enough to warm our hearts when we get home that night.

It is times like this that I am really glad that my companion really knows how to make a house a home.

We have already had some awesome Christmas experiences and one that I consider to be a real highlight of our mission. The Imperial Branch sponsored a Christmas activity in a very humble little pueblo adjacent to the town. They met with the community leaders and obtained the names and ages of every child in the community then set about to provide presents and a chocolaterra for everyone. A chocolaterra is very rich hot chocolate drink with Panetones (a traditional type of fruit bread that is more a part of Christmas here than Santa Claus). We were very concerned how they would pull it off as many of the members that we were asking to donate gifts and food were in at least as humble of circumstances as the people we to help, but with some sacrifice they did it. (Some picture to follow, but not many as we were too involved in the experience to take a lot of pictures.) We provided gifts for 88 children and refreshments for everyone.

We have had a lot of touching experience since we arrived here but to see some of these precious little children receive these gifts really filled us. The other part was that the gifts came not from the excess of giver but from the sacrifice of the giver.

Yesterday we were in Lima for a very special conference with Elder Juan Uceda of the Seventy. Elder Uceda is a native Peruano, however has been living in New Jersey for the past number of years managing the family business, and is an incredibly inspired teacher. He has recently been assigned to our Area Presidency and is now living in Lima. We first met a few weeks ago at the temple, he has an amazing capacity to make you feel like you have always been friends. I knew who he was but other than our plaques identifying us as missionaries he had no idea who we were. He walked up to us and thanked us for being here and serving the people of his country, he proceed to speak but in very fast Spanish, I said “por favor Elder mas despacio mi español no esta muy bien.” With out a pause he said “then we will speak in English.”

Elder Uceda had some interviews to do after the conference so we were able to spend a little time getting acquainted with Hermana Uceda. As we were getting acquainted she complemented us on our Spanish and said that after nine years in USA she could speak very little English, almost none. I wanted to tell her that it was because she was in New Jersey and that what they speak in New Jersey compared to English is like comparing Quechua to Spanish. But I didn’t.

Subsequent to that meeting we received an invitation to move to Lima and work in the Area Presidents office. The Area President felt that since we have had a few health struggles that we might enjoy working in the office and we would be closer to better medical services. We have some dear friends that work in the office so I called them to find out more about the work and as he started to tell me what we would be doing all I could hear was “you will be working in the office” and I did not hear anything about how we would be meeting with the people. We know that their service there is important and vital but the work we do here is important and vital and real. So many of the office staff have said that their next mission they want to do what we are doing so we could not see why we would trade what we have for what they don’t want.

I couldn’t help but think of everyone back home experiencing the reality of winter as I was applying a liberal layer of sun screen on my face and balding head before we left for the day. It does not seem as weird this year that Christmas in the summer and not in the winter since most of winter here is nicer than summer at home. Honestly I do not miss the cold.

Well, we have a bunch of pictures to help tell our story so we will get on with them.

This fantastic view is from the Tee box on the 6th hole at the Asia Golf course. It is beautiful little 160 yard par 3, seven iron from an elevated tee. What a contrast from the brown mountains where no blade of grass grows. We had free preparation day and managed to play a round.

A couple of months back we introduced Gustavo, Natalie, and their precious daughter to you. Debbie and I had to go to Jesus Maria (a city inside of Lima) to obtain Gustavo's partida de nacimiento(birth certificate) so that we could register for a Masivo Wedding in Imperial. The Masivo saves a lot of money when you can get in on them. The day we went to register we found that they had changed the date for the ceremony and we did not have time to qualify.

After the wedding in Imperial the members in the Quilmana branch put on a reception for them in the casa capilla. This is Gustavo's parents, la familia Chumpitaz (we have know them for a while and have eaten in their home several times). Dancing seems to find it's way in to almost every find of fiesta, and although we did not capture it on film Debbie and I gave them thrill when we decided to cut a little rug with them.

Elder Sardon, whose labor has been instrumental in so many of the positive advances in the Quilmana branch, was transferred just a few days after the wedding. He is missed be everyone especially us.

Carlos and Meri with their four children live in this tarp covered hut which is situated in the corner of their bosses yard. Meri, in the red, is cooking sopa seca for our lunch over an open fire. It is her kitchen.This is Carlos and Meri. We have been working the missionaries for about 6 months to get them into a position where they can be married and them baptized. Some of the situations take a lot more straightening than others

Our service project was to help Carlos prepare his bosses new building for paint. We went back in two weeks and then painted it. Elder Ewing from Los Vegas is standing next to me and not that I can reach almost as high as him, when I am standing on a gas can. This is not an uncommon story here but nonetheless it is still sad, his boss only pays him enough to keep them from starving and never what he owes him.

Meri raises chickens, her hens just hatched a new little brood. They are so cute!

Although their future is not bright the chicks do grow up to a good purpose as evidenced by the delicious chicken sopa seca that Meri served us for lunch that afternoon.

Elders Salcedo and Ewing had a baptizm just before thanksgiving and invited us to participate.

Transfers are an enevitable part of mission service and seems that we are say adios to another special misssionary. Elder Cuque is one of the ones that we consider special and look forward to seeing him at multi-zone conferences.

Helen Tucker, with glasses on, invited us to thanksgiving dinner thanksgiving day. Helen and Juana were busy fixing dinner when I surprised them with a picture. They do not have or celebrate thanksgiving in Peru but since Helen is from West Virgina she invited us to a back home type feast.

Helen with her three children Swatara, Talon and Teric. It was a delicious meal, Debbie brought some of her famous candied yams. After the picture Helen asked me if I would like to offer a prayer over the food, which I did, and then we got down to some serious eating.

The next day we had turkey agian. This time with the Missionaries from Quilmana, San Vicente, and Imperial. This the before picture of our 15 Kilo bird. We had Juana our lady that fixes our weekly turkey sandwiches, cook our turkey and potatoes. Note the head on stutus of the bird. When I went to pick it up I could sense an photo oportunity coming.

Many of the Latino missionaries are not used to a meal where the food is passed around the table. Uusally their meals are served on a plate and that is all you get. Today the all ate as much as they wanted. From the 30lb turkey we had enough left over to make four sandwiches.

Saturday Nov. 26 we had a temple excursion with the Mala Branch so we went up a little early so that we could see one of the Doctors that we have been seeing. The office is just a short distance from LarcoMar so we decided to go for lunch.

After lunch it was to the temple to meet up with the members. Mala only has three endowed males to assist with the vicarious baptisms and with me it made four but they require seven. Once before we were turned away with 16 youth that had traveled 3 hours to get there because we did not have the 7 priesthood holders. Fortunately we had been at dinner with the Temple President and one of his counselors at the Area office earlier in the week and I was able to present our situation to him. With notice they were able to accomodate us.

That evening we stopped at Jockey Plaza to eat and do a little window shopping. To our surprise it was the lighting of the Christmas Tree night which marks the offical beginning of Christmas in the Mall. The Strange coincidence was that we were there for the same night one year ago after we had been to the temple with the Canete Branch. A girl and mall! What can I say.

We have been visiting the familia Bariento for 16 months, we love them to pieces, but they never keep their commitments to us. Renee and Jenny with new baby(Walter) and 6 year old daughter Chantel.

Ya, I know this picture is a little random but if you have ever wondered what an octopus is worth in Peru now you know. About $4.60 USD. I found this in the new Plaza Vea grocery store in Chincha.

I mentioned the Christmas Activity in Imperial, this the gift wrapping factory that the Hermanas in the branch set up to beautify all the regalos (gifts). In all they had about 12 sisters and 5 brethren helping.

On the day of the Chocoltera we travelled to the pueblo. Here you see the people starting to gather. All of the homes in the village are made of the woven bamboo mats that you see here. In the green shirt and red hat is Eduardo Acevedo one of our members and part of the organizing committee.

Inside and out of the hot sun some of the children and parents waited for their names to be called and recieve their gifts. Like I said I wish I had more and better pictures but we were just too involved to take them.

We stopped by the Machas for a visit and the surprised me with a cake for my birhtday.

For my birthday on December 4th Juan Carlos and Adriana took us to this awesome restaurant on the outskirts of Nuevo Imperial. It is a working ranch where they produce everything eat including the cheese, yogurt, everything but the soda pop.

The grounds are meticuously maintained and have lawn games, shade tents, and all of the meat is cooked out doors on a barbque.

Vegatable salad, french fries, and beefsteak. They also raise sheep, pheasant, duck, goose, chancho, and chickens.

The whole operation was spotlessly clean, organized, and the service was the most attentive I have ever experienced, anywhere. They even had women that took the children when they became disinterested in eating. Really I have never experienced anything like it.

Between my birthday and our aniversary we had mission couples conference in Chincha. For our activity day we went on a boat tour of Islas Bellestas. Unfortunately Elder and Hermana Jones wandered off and did not get in the picture.

Elder Jones, President Manning, Yo, and Elder Reich were taking a little break and watching our wives spend money at the little shops on the boardwalk. We had a great seafood lunch, lots of sun, fresh air, and needed a nap.

Sunday morning Dec. 5th Shauna Labeau her mother Nan, and Taeote Tanuvasa came to visit and stayed the night. Taeote and Shauna were two of the missionaries that President Manning hand picked to watch over us when we first arrived in Canete. After we got caught up on all the news we hit the street to make visist, it was almost like old times, almost. We were so caught up in talking and doing that we did not take enough pictures.

This display of Paneton breads in in la bodega Valentina where we have our turkey sandwiches. Paneton is an intregal part of Christmas celebations here and when I tell people that we don't have Paneton back home they can't imagine how we have Christmas without it.

I don't know how to tell them that not having Paneton at Christmas is not the biggest travesty that we have back home. I can't imagine how I would explain that we have allowed governments and special interests to take the Christ out of Christmas and in the spirit of politcial incorrectness we have happy holidays, seasons greetings, merry winter solstice or that we can't have Christmas programs in our schools ect.

They would just say "Gringos, who can understand them."

Take care, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Los Whitney, Gringos in Cañete

Saludos a Nuestras Familia y Amigos

2010-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hola y bienvenidos to another edition of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW. We are glad that you have stuck with us this long and are continuing to read of our adventures and misadventures here in Cañete.

No one likes to hear about how sick you have been so I won’t mention the trips to the clinic in Lima, the x-rays, and the crushed cartilage in Debbie’s neck or her painful physiotherapy sessions. I probably should not mention the three different skin afflictions that the dermatologist says she is suffering with. So I won’t mention them.

Part of my usual morning routine is to get a load of laundry started while the water tank is still refilling (the water comes for two hours in the morning and two hours evening). If I can get the first load done before eight o’clock A.M. it has a zero effect on the water supply for day.

I do this because our neighbor down stairs could care less about how much water she uses; when the tank is empty she turns her tap off. The crazy thing is that when she empties the tank she sits outside and gives me the stinky eye like I am the one that used all the water. Truth be known, I control the valve for the building and on occasion I have turned her water off before she completely drained the tank so that we can flush our toilets that day. I have also plumbed a line so that I can turn off the water to rest of the house and still run my washer. (It does not sound very Christian like does it, but neither is negligently draining the tank.) I will have to tell more about Washer Wars at another time.

This morning I got the wash in at about 6:20 which is just about perfect because a one hour wash cycle takes an hour and 30 minutes, that is another story. I usually have to check the washer at every filling cycle as the timer on the fill cycle usually times out before it can reach the setting level, I know it is complicated.

You probably don’t remember but our washing machine is on the roof where our solar clothes dryer is. So this morning as I hurrying to go to check the water for the first time I quickly pulled the door to the apartment closed behind me only to hear the clicking sound of the door locking and in that instant I knew that I did not have a key with me. We will just say I was in my night clothes but I did have a decent pair of shoes on.

Not withstanding my predicament I did not want to wake up Debbie this early as it was my silly mistake and there was no point in her paying the price for it. I was able to slide open a window on the landing, that looks into the living room, and through the bars I could just reach the back of the chair where my backpack was. I pulled the chair to where I could reach my backpack so that I could get my scriptures and other study materials and enjoyed the early morning on the roof top.

Finally around 8:00 when the wash was finished I went down stairs and rang the door bell only to find that Debbie had been up for a while and was wondering where I had disappeared to.

Life lesson I learned from this: Never worry about being overdressed for any occasion.

I will let the pictures help tell the rest of our story:

This transfer we said good bye to half of our missionaries, this is Elder Anibal. He and Elder Granados used to come once a week for English lessons. Before his mission he was fireman in Colombia and he put that part of his life on hold to come and be a great missionary in Peru.

Although Elder Nova did not finish his mission in our zone we did manage to say good bye to him as he departed for home. It was one of those "who would have guessed it type of moments," we were waiting for a missionary to arrive to leave at the bus station, a bus pulled in to the station and Elder Nova jumped off the bus and gave us all a hug and jumped back on the bus and left. You could not have planned it.

Meet the Tucker Family: David and Helen and their children Swatara, Talon, and Teric (I hope I spelled all the names correctly). They are our neighbours a few doors down. Meeting them was quite a miracle, each time we leave our apartment we have a prayer and on that day Debbie prayed that we would meet someone new that we could speak English. It struck me as odd that she would phrase her prayer that way but look what happened. Two minutes later we met Helen and the kids.

Elder Tombs and Elder Vera had a double baptism two weeks ago. It was tricky but we planned it between the block of meetings on Sunday and they went from the baptism directly to Sacrament meeting to be confirmed. Very efficient.

The Mission President told us we could not have a zone dinner the night before transfers anymore so being the obedient missionaries that we are we now have a welcome to the zone lunch. He made no mention of that.

The president says that every missionary is entitled expect certain things and one of those things is that every missionary is entitled to have a hot shower. It may be his promise but we make sure it happens in this zone. We have some missionaries that have never had a hot shower before they came to our zone, ever.

For this installation I had to run line from the forth floor roof to the second storey bathroom.

Access to the forth level and the storage tank is via this scareway to heaven. Which actually fell over while I was going up.

Fortunately I was able to find a piece of safety(not) rope and lash is to the a concrete pillar.

This is the before my handy work picture.

And this the after picture, complete with a 240 volt therma shower head and water supply that landlord can not shut off at 7:00, which he was in the habit of doing. (Melissa aren't you proud of your father-in-law)

This happy couple have been together for more than 20 years, have 5 children together. They were married on Friday and on Saturday Elder Scofield and Elder Chancafe took them to the beach and Hermana and 4 of the Children were baptized. Hermano Hernan is already a member.

It really does seem like the missionaries do a lot of eating but you have to understand that they are growing boys. The Elders in Mala arranged for birthday lunch for Hermana Reich

Their pensionista prepared a delicious meal and Elder Reich arranged for the cake.

Moving day, Elders Vidangos and Cuque found a new apartment so that they were not sharing a room with other set of elders. Our only option for moving was to carry everything the 4 blocks to the digs.

Elders Sardon and Flores and us spent our service day sanding and painting the security gates at the new casa capilla in Quilmana

The next week we arranged for this glass store front to be installed and a big and a big new sign for the front.

We don't know anything about this woman other than she is a child of God but if a face ever said I have a story to tell this one does.

We try and spend as much time as possible supporting the Elders in Quilmana and this day we were in a little pueblo north of Quilmana to meet a new family. These bamboo walls house very humble people and not withstanding their humble circumstances have lives filled with hope which is evidenced by this little flower garden I am standing next to.

These cows belong to Anders, Holga, and Anderson(boy) pictured below

I know that we say this about a lot of people, this a very special family. Anderson is has a medical condition that is going to require surgery so we gave him a priesthood blessing and then taught his parents about eternal families. They are one of 5 families that we are working with that need to get married.

This another of the Quilmana families that is investigating the church. The elders have been keeping very busy.

Halloween has got to be one Debbies top three holidays with Christmas being her most favorite. We might be far from home but Debbie's heart in never far from her holidays. Gracias a Hermana Adriana for the wig and clown nose.

Tomorrow we are taking Gustavo and Naty to the Municipalidad to register for the Masivo Wedding ceremony next week. Gustavo phoned tonight to confirm the times with us and his voice cracked with excitement and gratitude because he knows that this step in their lives will open the door to allow them to move forward toward an eternal family. Our lives have been so enriched by the relationships that we have created with so many people here. We can't imagine what we have done to be so blessed, we're just lucky we guess.

Abrazos a todos Los Whitney Gringos in Cañete

Saludos a nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-10-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Shaken all over! Yes, it is a line from a favorite Rock and Roll song and it also describes the feeling that you get from a siesmo.

A couple of weeks back I had an upset stomach, not unusual for me in Peru, and I had sort of fallen asleep sitting up on the sofa. At around 3:00 AM I heard a roaring sound that kind of sounded like big truck was going to come right through the house. That would be significant event because we live on the second floor. As I was regaining my faculties I realized that we were experiencing an earthquake. I struggled to get to my feet to get Debbie, it was a sensation something like trying to walk up an escalator going down, only to find her coming down the hall exclaiming “I think it is an earthquake.”

The big roll finished rather quickly and the first thing that went through our minds was, “was that the little one before the big one or was it over.” Thinking somewhat quickly but not thoroughly we grabbed our 72 hour emergency kit, which we now realize was in a completely inconvenient place in case of an emergency, and placed it by the door for a quick get away if necessary.

Our hearts were racing but the seismic shaking was finished. We looked out our front room window to see most of our neighbors in the street, probably wondering the same sort of things that we were, is it over or is it just beginning?

With our emergency kit ready at door we were discussing the right thing to do, should we quickly get out of the house or what? Some experts say that you should not leave the safety of a good building others the opposite.

In this moment while observing the neighbors I questioned, “do you suppose we should get dressed?”

In that moment we realized exactly how unusual we might appear on the street with our neighbors and everyone standing around in their underwear.

The quake registered 5.9 and the epicenter was about 25 miles away, which in terms of earthquakes is relatively strong and close. The big quake here in 2007 registered 7.9 and leveled buildings for a hundred mile radius. Although strong it was short and that apparently makes a big difference. We have felt several tremors but this was powerful.

We learned a few things about unpreparedness as a result of the little shake up. For one, the first thing to grab is your clothes which should be close and together because there will be no time to make up a earthquake outfit (think like a fireman). Second, there is a difference between an emergency kit and storage. Third, we don’t want to experience any more earthquakes.

We finally found a new “casa capilla” for the members in the family group in Quilmana. We have been looking for several months to not much avail. We are challenged by the fact that as a “Family Group” they are not recognized by the Church as an organized unit notwithstanding that a “Family Group” is recognized in the manuals as the basic unit of the Church. Which makes them an officially unrecognized group, the bottom line, they are not afforded their own budget for physical facilities. They have to be funded through the budget of one of the Branches which means less funding for both congregations. (We have included some pictures in the photo section.)

Several months ago when we started looking for the new casa capilla that the long term solution to the budget problems was to become a recognized Branch and receive funding for the physical facilities and other programs of the Church. My initial inquires about qualifying as a Branch were all turned down on the basis that they said the group did not meet all the requirements. Being told no is not much of a deterrent for us.

As I meditated on the subject the thought came to me, “all of the answers are in the General Handbook of Instructions.” That is what we tell all of the leaders, look in your hand book. Sure enough the answers were there and according the written word we could qualify with a little work.

The next step was to get past the “no sayers” and unbelievers. If it is one thing the temporal church has it is bureaucracy and everyone has some one over them so I followed the instructions in the manual and started making requests for maps and applications for forming a new Branch through the proper channels. The hitch was that I made all the requests in English apologizing for lack of proficiency in Spanish. To our amazement it only took 2 days for our requests to end up in the office of the Area President.

They confirmed that my interpretation of the General Handbook was correct but stated that they Area had established additional criteria with the intent that new Branches have the ability carry forward and grow. However, based on the information that we had provided they would support our application when it was properly presented to them. They further offered suggestions on how to make qualifying simpler.

With that written response we cured all of the nay sayers and instead of red lights we now have green lights.

I have no idea how long the actual approval will take but it does it will make things a better for the faithful saints that have been hanging on in Quilmana.

A few weeks ago we went to interview a brother in Mala that had been told, 25 years ago, that he was to be excommunicated from the Church for conduct unbecoming. He now wants to be reconciled to the Church, wants to be married to his conviviente wife with whom he has 6 children, and his wife and three children want to be baptized. The General Handbook of instructions prescribes the process very clearly. Except, when his leaders, 25 years ago, said they were going to excommunicate him they never did. Twenty five years is a long time to carry that burden.

I have had a few interviews but none as moving as this one and hearing about his journey back to the point where he wanted to be reconciled to the Church. How he discovered that there was a Branch in Mala 700 miles from where was baptized and presumed excommunicated. Tears flooded his eyes when I told him as far as the Church was concerned he was still a member but we still had some work to do for him to be a member in good standing. He asked if he would now have to excommunicated before being readmitted. I answered that I did not know at this point and then asked him how that would affect him if it was necessary. He answered, ”what ever it takes I am prepared. I want to be an active member for the rest of my life.” I told him that was right answer.

Today we had lunch with him and his wife here in Cañete along with Elder and Hermana Reich, and Elders Schofield and Chancafe after they had filed all of the required documents and set a date for their marriage. Elder and Hermana Reich have taken them under their protective wings and are guiding them along the path to marriage so that they can make this first major correction in their lives so they can focus on looking forward and not looking back. (Elder Reich also paid for lunch.)

It is so exciting to be a part of this great work and to be blessed with so many great people around us. We were not really sure what we expected when we decided to serve a mission, we are quite sure that we did not know what to expect when we got here, and for certain we know that we could have never imagined what we are experiencing and the blessings that we are receiving.

This is the familia Cuba at the Temple in Lima, the little girl in the red(Annie) is not part of the family but like a lot of people here when they see someone is taking a picture they all want to be in it. It was a long but important day for them. This photo was taken at about 5:PM and we started this journey at 7:AM

Annie does belong in this photo with her mother and father, the familia Chumpitaz. They are part of large family in Quilmana that comprises the backbone of the family group.

This is Elvis and Luchero, the familia Garcia. Elvis is the Branch President in Quilmana. You can tell how special this day was for them by how Luchero is dressed, Elvis borrowed Presidente Acervedo's jacket for the picture. They have a daughter that is not quite two yet, she is not in the picture, that was sealed to them. She is the poster child for the terrible twos but she likes me.

Although this looks like a prayer meeting at the beach but it is not. When you look at the fire you might conclude that it is some kind of weird sacrifice near the ocean......

Well there were some burnt offerings but as you can see we were having a cookout at the beach for our preparation day. Normal comida(food), hot dogs, hamburgers, and bananas. Okay bananas are not usually found on my BBQ but according to Elder Ponciano, todos bien.

Yes I am happy, I have my fishing rod and I have my line in the water. The fishing rod is the block of wood in my left hand. All the locals use them, it is a block of wood with the line wrapped around, has two hooks, and a lead weight. I did catch something but never saw it as took my hooks and lead.

Penguin

Last week I caught this beauty sitting in a park in Lunahuana, which is about an hour from home. We had been asked by the Elders in Nazca to obtain a birth certificate for an investigator that was getting married.

This statue is in the center of the plaza de Armas in Lunahuana and depicts the harvest of grapes. The are is famous for the grapes which are grown here for making Pisco.

It was elections in Peru last week and this one of the countless/endless political rallies that we observed. This one is in Quilmana, we had gone to meet with the owner of the new casa capilla.

The missionaries wanted to have an international food day where each missionary prepares a dish from his home country. We have had them before and they are always very good. I am not sure of the authenticity as these elders were making crepes and none of them are from France.

Kids and canned whipped cream.

Moving day for Elders Sardon and Jurez. We helped them move, hook up their shower, and left. We could tell that they were not going to clean the place before the set up and we could not stand to watch.

The old casa capilla in Quilmana, the chapel room was on the second floor behind the big sign and the class rooms were on the main floor in the back next the pig pen, no seriously. The sign on the roof was a political advertisement that was big enough to be seen from outspace.

Even though there is a resemblance of a jail cell it is not, is the new casa capilla and we had just started our make over.

This the living room which is now converted to a class room.

Painting here is like nothing you have experienced. The paint comes in gallon buckets and then is mixed with three parts water. They don't us roller trays they just dip the rollers in the tub and start slapping paint or water or tinted water.

Las Chicas came to watch but getting dirty working was not in their program.

This long narrow space is where we now have set up for sacrament meetings and hopefully this week will find the money to order a nice glass front for the chapel. It will be bright and with a smooth surface floor we will be able have be clean. We have seating for about 60 people and we look forward to having full.

In conclusion just a brief thougth about topic that one of our new friends of another faith brought up to us last night. They commented that you people don't seem to be into idolatry. He explained what he meant about images and statues ectera and although we did not argue with him I did cause me reflect on what other types of things we tend to put our trust in.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by the blog and we hope that you have enjoyed this edition of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW as much as we have enjoyed providing it.

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-09-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

This morning as we were careening our way down the two lane highway to attend church in Quilmaná and as we were speeding towards a possible head on collision with a semi I determined that if we lived I would publish another blog to update those that still care to read about our lives. As you can presume by now WE LIVED!

Since Quilmaná has been reopened for missionary work we have been spending more time there supporting the local leadership and missionaries. The president of the group there is very young and hence is lacking in experience and as per normal some of the older members think so as well. His name is Elvis Garcia, of course I like him already because he has the names of two legends that some, myself included, think are really still alive and living incognito. I am of course referring to Elvis Presley the king of rock and roll and Gerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead. I wonder if his parents knew this when they named him.

This weekend we will be going with Pdte. Elvis and his wife and two other couples for the first time to the temple in Lima. Thanks to the encouragement of some really strong missionaries, Elders Sardon, Parker, and Jurez, and brother and sister Allyon. These couples have been prepared and are excited about this important step in their lives. One day, but not today, they will see how really important this step has been not only for their eternal families but for the growth of the church in Quilmaná.

One of the project that we have been working on is to have the Quilmaná group recognized as a branch by the church. When they are, they will be able to receive all of the funding for their local programs and we will be able to get the funding we need to obtain a more satisfactory place to worship. Today after church Debbie and I reviewed with a couple of the local leaders a potential different meeting place and although not fantastic it is better than what we are currently using.

We had been told a couple of time that we did not qualify as a recognized branch there but in my usual stubborn fashion could not accept the answer that was given to us so I started to do the research and network with our contacts. It now seems that we will qualify and we have garnered support all the way up the chain. I am hoping that we will have all of our ducks in a row to make application for branch status in couple of weeks. I don’t know how long the bureaucracy will take afterwards but I do know that once it starts they don’t let go of it.

We are finding that we have less and less time for actual meeting with investigator type of missionary work because of our callings in the district and our lack of great health. Debbie in particular has been enduring the lingering effects of an awful cold for more than 6 weeks. It has been very debilitating and discouraging for her as you all know that she does not like to be limited in her activities.

Yahoo! It looks like we are planning another wedding. In fact it looks like we are planning three more weddings and if everyone keeps progressing they will most likely be in October. Which when I think about it that is spring time in Peru. There were 4 couples but when one sister told her boyfriend that he had two choices because she was going to get baptized with or without him he opted for the other choice and left her and the two kids. The really awful part is that he was a member. Now I guess we will have something new to deal with.

I think we have mentioned our new neighbor Helen, which lives a few doors down. She and her family are from the West Virginia USA. What an interesting story she has to tell. Helen was born in Taiwan, grew up in Iran and Paraguay, and educated and married in the USA. We have a standing Monday night appointment with her to share our message and have fantastic conversations. Her husband is coming this week to visit for a month and we are looking forward to meeting him. This week Helen and her family and us have been invited to Juan Carlos and Adriana’s for family home evening. It is time for one of my observations, “ it is funny how much fun doing missionary work can be when you are doing it the way it teaches you to do it in Preach my Gospel.”

Truthfully, it has not been hard to talk to Helen about the gospel. After we made chocolate chip cookies for them and took them over she said, “why don’t you guys come over and tell me about your church?” We found out that she has friends back in the states that are members but they respected her right to not have to hear about the church and when she was 13 and living in Paraguay her boyfriend was the mission president’s son.

We love the missionary work and working with the missionaries. Doing that work is much easier than the work we do with the people that want to take their own lives, those that took lives of others, and who said what about who first.

As usual we have a litany of photos and we hope that you will enjoy them.

Although Debbie keeps hoping for a transfer I am very content with my companion and assignment here in Canete. However September we were due for some big changes and we had to say good bye to some missionaries that we had been working with for more than six months. For them they look forward to the transfers for us it like having our children ripped away from us.

Our great friend Elder Parker went to Pisco.

Elder Arajo completed his two years with honor and is at home getting used to civilian life along with his twin brother that finished his mission the same day

Anything we could say about Elder Granados would not be good enough.

Hermana Romero transferred to Nazca, they are very lucky to have her.

Hermana Acmac drew the short straw and went to Lima with a great new companion.

For ten glorious days the Canete version of the Calgary Stampede was set up across the field from our apartment. Every night was a concert starting at 10:00 PM and went until 3 or 4 AM and night until the sun came up at 6:00. We were thrilled.

The Ferris wheel provide lots of thrills and screams which we could hear clearly in our home.

This is a picture of our home taken from the fair grounds, looks really close - it was.

Patricia and Jose, some of our other neighbors wanted to introduce us to a restaurant at the Huarco Hotel near San Luis (which is near San Vicente) so they invited the Iruri's and us to dinner. Thursday night is sushi night and Friday is pizza night, we went for pizza. We will leave it as the pizza was okay. The company on the other hand was fantastic. The pizza oven.

The next day I went on a service project with the brethren from Imperial. This is the second time that we have taken down a home and moved it. This time we were turning the casita so that the door you see on the left would be facing the other direction and would be sitting where everyone is standing.

Here we are about half way done. If they would have told me before we started what the object of the task was I would have offered to buy another door and just installed it at the other end of the building. It would have been much simpler.

Here is the casita now facing the opposite direction. The door would not close properly and I could not get my spanish to work well enough to explain how to fix it so they took the door off and trimmed the door to fit the crooked opening. I suppose that it will be good enough until they decide they need our help to move it again.

Elder Sardon and Elder Juarez taught and baptized this family from Quilmana.

Hermano Norberto was on his tenth set of missionaries, or so it seemed, attended church faithfully for months and finally was baptized last week. He was waiting to be baptized on his mothers birthday.

Elder Tombs and Elder Cuque invited us on a service project to meet Fatima and Roxanne. They live on a very small farm on the beach in a place called Playa Hermosa. They have dairy and beef cows, sheep, goats, chickens, cats, dogs, and a parrot. This is cattle feed that they mix and sell to their neighbors that have similar little farms. We mixed and bagged feed for them to sell and use for their own cattle.

The vacas or cows.

The Parrot.

The Sheep.

The service included a very delicious lunch which we all enjoyed, seca cordero. (Lamb)

Playa Hermosa

Friday we visited friends with the Elders in Mala and finally took a picture of this sign that has always intrigued us. Who would not want to go to a blind dentist?

The district Young Women's Presidency was responsible for the annal Oro y Verdi Fiesta, the Gold and Green Ball, as we used to call it back home. I was appointed to be the fashion police to uphold the dress standards for the event, with 3 and a half years as a dance manager I felt uniquely qualified. Like a lot of youth dances it started out with all the girls on one side the boys on the other.

A few moments later it was mayhem. Situation Normal.

RRHHH RRHHR mates. This is a great lesson for all fathers, when you are buying costumes and toys for your children always get some that fit you as well, or should I say when you are buying costumes and toys for yourself get some that fit the kids as well.

The sun sets over Canete and over another issue of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW! This lovely picture of the setting sun is filtered through the smoke of a huge garbage fire to create this beautiful effect.

Remember that all the glitters is not gold, save a little for a rainy day, and you can't always get what you want but if you try, sometimes you will get what you need. Hasta luego

Los Whitney, gringos in Canete.

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-08-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

I know that it has been awhile since the last entry and those that check regularly are probably tired of the old entry, perdóneme por favor.

We sort of pride ourselves in how we have created a routine that we can follow and it gives a certain amount of order to our lives. A certain portion of our weekly schedule is allocated to visiting people that we see regularly for ecclesiastical and missionary purposes, we have a regular meetings for capacitación(training), presidency meetings (Hermana Whitney is now the primera consejera en la Mujeres Jovenes distrito presidencia), noche de misiónals, baptisms, ect. ect. ect.

Not found in the white missionary handbook of rules and regulations we find one night a month for “date night,” on which we do not book appointments. Instead we make some popcorn and sit down in our theater room and watch a movie. Before you get too excited about our theater room it is the same room we do everything else and our movie screen is our laptop computadora and a small set of speakers that we bought for about $30, notwithstanding it is our theater room.

All movies here are pirated movies and cost about $1.20. We get movies that have just hit the theaters in America, that it the good news, the other news is that some of them are video taped in a theater and you can actually see people get up and go get refreshments, ect. You just never know what quality it is going to be until you get it home. It makes it that much more interesting.

I know what you are thinking, “Wow, is that ever exciting. They are really living on the edge.”

Last week we were in Quilmana to support Elder Parker and Elder Sardon and make some visits with them. These two Elders are highly motivated and very motivation missionaries that have been given a big assignment to stimulate this area that had been closed for about 8 months. While we were there we did an apartment inspection to assure that they were in acceptable quarters, comparatively speaking, and we found their electric shower head was not installed. When we asked why it was not installed we found out what we expected and that was that they had the neither the wherewithal or knowledge to get it done. Later we decided that for our next service day we would take care of it for them. So this past Thursday we set out to Quilmana with our tool box, a Book of Mormon, and our good intentions.

A book of Mormon, por qué? Because, we had made an appointment to meet Sandy, who is one of our contacts, at 10:00 in the Plaza de Armas in Imperial to give her the book.

Now, we have made this trip many times, in fact we would call it routine for us in fact we had been there the night before to talk to a young couple that were to give us a commitment for their wedding date, which we did get.

Trust me this all comes together. Really!

The trip is straight forward we take a combie to Imperial, walk two blocks through the Plaza de Armas, and catch a colectivo taxi that drops us at the missionaries apartment, simple. The combie picks us up at the front get of our community and usually takes about 5 minutes to where we get off, but not today. The roadway into Imperial divides into two one way streets, one coming and one going, and as we were approaching the point where it divides we could see that there was some sort of trouble in the traffic. Some vehicles were stopped, others turning around and scattering. The bus slowed down then suddenly veered up the wrong way on the one way street with the pedal to the metal. As we turned we could see through the side windows that there were mobs in the street throwing rocks and bricks. (This is the part that is just like in the movies)

We got about a block and half up the wrong way where the traffic appeared to grid locked, we could see the trouble and hear the gunfire at the other end of the street and I started thinking that we would be better off on foot and hot foot it out of there. Debbie was in the jump seat in front and I said to her, “let’s get out of here.” She jumped out of the door and about as quick as she got out so did the cobrador and pushed her back into the seat and the bus jumped forward through the traffic.

They took us another two blocks and let us out where there was no trouble.

Now we had a some concerns that we did not have when left home that morning, Sandy was to be waiting for us at the Plaza which was one block closer to the tumult, we had four missionaries that we could not be sure of there whereabouts, and just how much trouble was there going to be?

Oh yeah, our cell phone was not working! Go figure.

We realized that we could pass by the meeting place with Sandy on our way to the missionary’s apartments so we took off on foot. Sandy was waiting for us, grabbed us and the book, and looked straight into our eyes and said get out of here you are white and they are killing people over there in the next block. Dramatizing, she put two fingers to head like a gun and then pushed us down the street away from the trouble. It was okay with us as it was the right street that went straight to both missionary apartments.

We found both sets of missionaries were not in their apartments and one of their landlords told us that they had left for there service project which was out side of town.

At that point we were satisfied that they were likely alright and there was nothing more we could do except a quick prayer for their safety.

We hustled through the streets to where we knew we could catch a combie to Quilmana.

Once on the bus we started to calm down and got back to the tranquilo day we started on.

Elder Parker and Elder Sardon now have hot showers and a shower curtain.

When we got back to Imperial that afternoon things had simmered down, the riot police were still geared up and present, and we discovered that although shots were being fired no one was killed. We also found out what the disturbance was about, construction workers from San Vicente were taking jobs in Imperial away from union member there. I guess we were lucky here because in April or May the miners in the south got mad about the same thing and 16 people went missing, really missing.

Just a comment about our friend Sandy, she lives in Lima but travels around selling gloves, socks, toques, scarves ect. in public squares. She has children that are members of the church, even has a missionary out but because of her common law relationship and inability to get married is not in a position to receive all the blessings that her family enjoys, todavia! The Book of Mormon was for a friend that she is sharing the gospel with. I think I sense a deeper message somewhere in that.

Not every bus trip is exciting in the same sort of way but they can be exciting in a different ways. One bus trip that we took back at the end of July was with 39 young single adults to a conference in Nazca. Nazca is about 6 hours south of where we live and famous for a number of things like the Nazca Lines, if you don’t know anything about them Google it, it is interesting. We did not see the lines as the are best visible from the air and travel in small charter planes is surprisingly against mission rules(which the President frequently points out that I breaks too many of.)

The first known civilization in the area dates back to 400 years B.C. and we are including a few cool pictures of what we saw.

Aside from spending three days with all the YSA in the district we also got to spend some time with Elder and Sister Jones the mission couple from Malad Idaho that serve in Nazca/Marcona district. I marvel at the impact that they are having in their area and they are a real testimony to what a couple can do in the mission field, it is miraculous.

We are a little jealous of the winter weather they have there because everyday is sunny and hot with cold nights but I would not want their summers which are exceedingly hot day and night.

We had another exciting bus ride just yesterday and it was yet another type of exciting but none the less thrilling. A few weeks ago, while skirting around another rule, we met a really great lady working at the G__f Cou_se in Asia. In the course of our time there Hermana shared some of our message and gave her a brochure and asked if she would like to receive the discussions. Friday we went to her home in Mala with Elder Ponciano and Elder Scoefield, who work in Mala.

Gracia and her husband (married) live just a few blocks from the casa capilla in Mala. We had a great visit with her, she has a deep testimony of Jesus Christ and knows that her current church, although good, is missing the mark. She not only had read the brochures but knew them and had researched her questions. Although her husband follows “the traditional church” is less interested in religion he is very supportive of her. What a special experience it was for us share our common beliefs and the message of the restoration.

Now that is excitement!

Here is our photo journey of the past few weeks.

It was a little weird to say to the elders, okay let's get into the bathroom to take a picture but Elder Sardon and Elder Parker were more than happy to show off their new 220 volt shower. (My daughter-in-law Melissa would be so proud of my handy work here.)

Gustavo and Nati are our friends in Quilmana that will be getting married in two weeks. They are a really neat little family and although we will not be here to go to the temple with them in a year we know that they will make it.

Debbie says that my teaching has a similar effect on both the young and the old.

This was at a family home evening (noche de hogar) that we had in a members home. The two hemanitas in the middle are Kati and Nancy neighbors of the familia Taya where we were visiting.

A couple of weeks ago we were waiting for the Sister Missionaries to go to an appointment and we saw these two boys trying to guide this young bull. It was true slapstick comedy, at first they had one rope and boy behind and one rope and a boy in front. The bull charged at the boy in front and then there were two boys behind being drug by the bull. When the bull stopped and the boys dusted themselves off they assumed this position, pulling the bull. A moment later it was the previous position with the bull pulling the boys.

This was the our group of Jovenes Adulto Solteros (YSA) as we were awaiting the bus before our trip to Nazca. Oh how they like to dance!

Valle las Trancas is a valley of tombs dating back to 400 years B.C. where thousands of tombs with mummified remains have been uncovered.

A few of us standing over one of the larger tombs, grateful to be out of the sun.

The tour guide, who is one of the JAS members in Nazca, pointed out that all though they have tried to make sense of all the findings it is just conjecture as there are no records and their are no descendants of this civilization. In this tomb there were many mummified bodies of babies, back left. because of the hot dry conditions they have been preserved very well and on of the things that was most interesting was their hair was still intact. Note on the mummy in the center that male pattern baldness was a problem back then as well.

In some instances their braided hair was more than 6 feet long. One tomb that was of the pre-Inca era had mummies with blond and brown hair leading to some interesting conjecture.

These remains were in a small museum that is on site in the valley.

Elder and Sister Jones took us to see some aqua ducts that were built by the Incas more than a thousand years ago to bring sub surface aquifer water up hill underground to irrigate the fertile ground in the valley. They are still effectively used for that purpose today.

This water comes underground from high in the Andes Mountains. Chains of these duct systems are found throughout the area. It is amazing that they could find the water so far below the surface and without mechanical pumps lift it to the surface. The water is supposed to be as pure as you can find on the planet so we drank it.

And a good time was had by all.

Some missionary mayhem at the zoo park in Quilmana. I made them promise if they would take us lunch I would not show the picture to the President.

What are the crazy people doing now?

Preparation day chillin at the mini Machu Pichu.

When I said out to lunch I really meant it and so they took us to the pensonista where she had prepared a very special lunch for the whole zone. Great food, great friends, and a great work!

Thank you again for taking the time to read about our adventures in our little part of Peru. We continue to be amazed at the experiences that we are blessed to have and for the people we are blessed to meet. Please feel free to drop us a quick note and let us know how you are doing.

Los Whitney Gringos en Cañete

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-07-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy couple of weeks since the District Conference and the last blog entry and I have to admit that some of it has been more fun than work and the work has been more fun than work. The pictures tell the story best so that part we will leave up to the them (the pictures).

In the last issue I mentioned that we were having district conference and our concerns about how it would turnout. To say the least it was a rich out pouring of the spirit and I know that everyone that participated was blessed by it. Oh, that is not to say that we did not have our wrinkles because we did but all in all it was fantastic.

Our concern about the possibility of people not fulfilling their assignments was realized, five speakers did not turn up for their assignments, three of which were assigned to a meeting that I was conducting. It turned out fine as President Manning was speaking and he always needs more time that is allotted. People even said that they understood my talk which was surprising but gratifying.

Saturday activity of visiting members that I had been worried about went very well. The Imperial branch was a little light in attendance but San Vicente was very well represented and a lot of families were visited and some excellent training was given by the mission.

The Sunday session of conference was exceptional and very well attended with a total of more than our combined sacrament meeting attendance. It was great to see the Mala branch arrive on large bus with 68 members attending and a strong contingent from Quilmana. After the meeting Hermana Whitney gathered together a number of the families that we have assisted in one way or another to get married and we have included a photo.

Immediately after the district conference we left for Ica, which is about 2 hours south of Cañete, for another conference with the other couple in our mission. We had couple of very beneficial meetings and lot of fun. (Pictures to follow.) We stayed at a Hotel type of resort called Las Dunas which a beautiful oasis in a huge barren desert. It would not hurt my feelings to stay there again, it is beautiful, many activities, and great food. We don’t want to give a bad impression of us or sound dirty but we were able to have our first bath since we left home. We were supposed to keep this a secret, but I can’t, we even went swimming with the president.

This last week in most of our meetings we have been sharing a message about the crossing of the plains to the “largo salado valle” and bearing testimony of how much we owe to those early saints and sacrifice they made. I have always referenced the pioneers of the church in Peru of which we have a few of in the district.

Notwithstanding I have been surprised by how little of our pioneer heritage is understood and appreciated away from the center of the church.

My heart strings always get a little tight and my vision gets a little blurry when I contemplate the sacrifice of the early saints and my ancestors made. I think of the hardships of crossing the plains, the handcart companies, the cruel elements, scant food commodities, and the hard labor. Not to mention the religious persecution and opposition to beliefs.

Early this morning, while I was doing the laundry up on he roof top, I was contemplating the reasons why the sacrifice of the early saints seemed to be lost on many of the people here. As I look down to the roadway I saw the usual line of Peruano quad X 4’s (four, 4 legged donkeys pulling carts) going to the fields to collect the first loads of yucca and the vendors pushing their carts to the mercado, which they do seven days a week. I then looked out to the field to the south where they were already picking cotton by hand and then to the field to the north where the fields were planted and harvested by hand and ploughed by horse or mule with a single blade plough. Many sleep every night on a dirt floor and/or in an enclosure that has no roof and running water is what is poured from a bucket or bottle. They always have washed their clothes on a scrub board next to the irrigation ditch.

With complete respect for my pioneer ancestors, whom I am forever indebted, it just maybe that their story is a hard sell in third world countries where their experience sounds like just another day to them.

For reasons other than Pioneer Day this week marks a couple of other milestones for us. The first and most important is that it is Mother Gibbons birthday today, she turned 90 years and although I might kid her ask how it was crossing the plans I won’t. I will just wish her a great big

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM”.

After the District Conference Debbie got some of our families together that we have been able to a part of their lives and have get married. We have been the "testigos for all of their weddings." The other point of interest is the banner behind them, this was the greeting sign for attendees at conference. Some habits die hard.

This is Las Dunas in Ica Peru, we stayed here for two nights during our conference in Ica. This oasis is lush and green and is in the heart of the the 4th driest desert in world. This hotel caters to foreign visitors and the rich and famous of Peru.

One of the claims to fame of this region of Peru is the high quality grape vineyards and the making of Pisco Wine. This is wine press that dates back about 200 years. Sure is a lot different than stamping the grapes with your feet.

Monday morning we went riding in the dunes and the proprietor of the "tube buggies" place had a box full new little puppies. Fortunately there is a mission rule prohibiting pets or I think this little fellow would have found a new home. The compound at the dune buggy place serves a campground of sorts and was being inhabited by a group of students from Israel that had been there for week sandboarding (snowboarding only on sand).

We were a little more adventuresome and went riding in this tube buggy. The presidents daughter and friend, Hermana e yo. It was thrill your socks off kind of fun and the operators was a lunatic. No seriously!

This is the lunatic and his enjoyment in life is scaring the daylights out of people. The word dunes does not do justice to these sand mountains where nothing grows and it is sand as far as you can see. We rode down the hills laying on snowboards, you can only imagine where you found sand. By the way, our lunatic will be 80 years old in October and attributes his long life and good health to driving fast, eating well, and loving his work.

Sand, beauty, and beautiful sand!

This is the other buggy that took the scenic more tranquilo route through the dunes. When we left the hotel in the morning it was down right chilly but buy the time we got out in the sandy the sun was intense and the sand hot. Precisely why it is one of the driest places on the planet.

A captive Condor which lives at the Ica Airport and it's wing span is wider than most to the planes there.

I know this looks like a golf course and is at the hotel. It was nine holes of fun but the longest hole would be about 6o yards so since we were the only ones playing we decided that we would play to the furthest flag regardless of which hole it was. We zig zagged our way around and made the most of it.

All good things come to an end and we went back to reality. One of the other benefits to Ica is they have some actual supermarkets and we took our cooler so that we could take home some fresh meats and other hard to get commodities.

Wednesday morning was a national strike and couple a thousand marchers went past our home to the Plaza de Armas where the other marchers were congregating for some peaceful speeches. Nice that it was peaceful for a change.

Thursday we were back to breaking rocks, literally. As a zone we went to Mala to provide service for some families that trying to have a sewer line put into their urbanization. If they can provide the trench the municipalidad with make the connection and install the pipe.

Using pick axes, bars made from 1inch re bar, and hammer and chisels we went to work breaking the granite blocks that we uncovered. Then we carried the excavated material away on rice bags.

The old timer in the upper two pictures managed to use one charge of dynamite to loosen some of the rock before the neighbors came unglued. I understand their point of view since they already have their sewer.

Saturday it was back to the other kind of work and we were back in Mala to a double baptism.

Which means we got to go to the beach again. This is new spot that is much calmer than others we have used for baptisms but we have great news from the Area office this week and we will soon have a new portable font in Mala.

This picture of love birds that we saw at the ocean was too precious not include especially because of the great work they do and example they set for us and the members in the district. Los Reich!

Monday night we had family home evening at the home Juana and Michael and the four children that live at home. Christian and Aylen we have known since we arrived in Canete.

Aylen and Hermana are preforming their castigo for losing the game that we played after the lesson. We have found that fun is a major component of family home evenings, should have discovered it earlier, like 35 years earlier.

Wednesday was a busy day. In the morning and afternoon we were shopping with people from the Area Office for a site to build a new chapel in Mala, regular appointments for training in San Vicente, and in the evening out to Quilmana for noche de misional. This is in the casa capilla in Quilmana.

The program in Quilmana has really picked up since we have Elders there again. Elder Parker and Elder Sardon have really made a difference and when I say a difference I mean a difference to the people that live in Quilmana. We love visiting and support the missionaries and members there.

Juana and Michael(his real name is Florencio, ya me too) on their wedding, which was yesterday. We have really come to love this family and have been so blessed to be a part to there progress and transformation.

We have never been fingerprinted so much, which is a good thing, before we came to Peru. Most legal documents here require your finger print and everytime we do this we get to. In an interesting sort of sense you could say that we are signing away other peoples lives. I hope they never hold it against us.

Not withstanding that is almost impossible to get people to smile these two were honestly excited about getting married.

Tonight we were able to see them baptized taking that entry step toward becoming an eternal family. Tonight Juana bore her testimony about how she became converted and because she was not married could not be baptized and could not take the sacrament until she was. She told how it seemed like it was going to be impossible because Florencio did not want to get married and even if he did they could not manage to finacially. She fervently prayed daily for change and help and how her prayers were answered.

This weekend also marks the midway point in our mission, it does not seem real that we have been here that long and in other respects it seems like we have always been here. Weird isn’t it.

The young missionaries have strange traditions when the reach their halfway point like burning a shirt or a tie, I wonder what their parents who have to buy that stuff think of that? We aren’t burning anything but I have been saving one new pair of trousers and couple of shirts for the second half so that I have a few fresh things to finish with.

We often have to remind the young missionaries that when we are finished we don’t have to go home and worry about who we are going to marry or what school we are going to go to.

But we do have to worry about where we are going to live and where we will work when we do get home.

Thank for reading this edition of “YOU ARE IN PERU NOW” and if you feel so inspired post a message or send us an email and let us know how you are doing.

Los Whitney, Gringos in Peru

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-07-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

It has been so long I don’t know where to start, I think not knowing where to start is why people don’t start things. Think about it, what stops people from starting their family history work, planting a garden, spring cleaning, or blogging.

Proving my point I wrote the first paragraph, above, 6 days ago.

We have been preparing for District Conference for the last week and I had never realized how much should go into those preparations. I was writing the Mission President about the preparations, answering his questions, when it dawned on me how much we need to rely on people to do what they say they will do. That does begin to be a concern for me because culturally people here always tell you they will do something even when they have no intention of following through, they just don’t show up. They don’t want to disappoint you in the moment that you ask them but for some reason it is okay later.

We will hold the Saturday meetings at the capilla in Imperial and the Sunday meetings in Cañete. The Sunday attendance for the conference is usually around 400 people which about 20% more than our combined Sacrament Meeting attendance and in any event is three times what any of our buildings will hold.

In order to seat everyone a large tent structure will be erected on the sports court/parking lot and everyone will be seated outside. It is winter here and it is cool and moist so outside will make it a little chilly. In reality only a little colder than inside as the buildings have neither heating or cooling systems.

Saturday Morning all of the leaders in the district and the Mission are going out to visit menos activos (less actives) and enfermos (sick) members. We have a goal to visit 100 families in there homes in two hours. We hope to have 40 companionships visiting. The math works but the logistics are challenging when you realize that only the Mission President has a car and the rest will have travel by foot or public transportation. I went out two weeks ago at the same time of day with the Elders Quorum President in Imperial and we visited 5 homes/places and managed to sit down with one family and arrange on be-back visit.

By the way I cheated on my talk, I wrote it in English and took it to Adriana to translate it.

Wish us well!!!

Back before New Years we became acquainted with a member that we met at his place of employment, we knew of him and know members of his family. He is a return missionary that had come home and had a few problems and consequently his membership is in abeyance and as a result was feeling bitter about it.

When we met him his job was going to expire in two days and because he would not be working that Sunday we invited him to attend church that Sunday, he did. We have been visiting him weekly for several months now and have really enjoyed watching his progress. Our first goal was to get him to come to church regularly, the second was to get him to read his scriptures, and then stay to the full block of meetings. He has been doing really well at all of these.

By meeting weekly, reading with him, praying with him, and really getting to know him we have been able to see him change. This has been a powerful learning experience for us and we have learned how important it is in these types of situations for these members to have a friend and an advocate. By knowing him well we were able to assess what his needs were for him to continue to progress and return to full fellowship and we were able to have his disciplinary counsel reconvened to consider his improving situation.

We have been able to see what he viewed as a hopeless situation converted to a brightness of hope and anticipation. What a blessing it has been for all of us. (P.S. Debbie is now trying to get him married off. She never stops.)

On the topic of returned missionaries getting married, it is a problem here just as it is at home. We have 7 returnados in the Imperial branch and it is a concern not only the church but of Debbie’s. She is constantly in their faces about it and quizzes them weekly about what they think of this hermana or that hermana. One of these (Raul) serves in the District Presidency with me and I was explaining to him how we served in Young Single Adult ward and that that had been a focus in our lives and it was hard let it go. He now goes around telling the others to watch out that Hermana Whitney is trying to get them married off.

One of the things that makes us the most home sick, and there are a few, is when we send off missionaries that have completed honorably and successfully their missions. It is hard for the mind not to turn to warm thoughts of home, family, and familiar things. (Not to mention driving a car, sleeping in your own bed, Costco, and fine dining.) So it was as we said adios to our friends Kay and Karen Cleverly who served in the Peru Lima Central Mission. They have been a real testament to how much good a Mission Couple can to do for the mission they serve in and how important couples are to the work. (Even our niece Bridget Lunn who went home Wed. the 7th from her mission in Calif. made us a bit homesick, cuz we know that her mom will be fixing all kinds of delicous food.)

We were the fortunate benefactors of their well stocked pantry of impossible to find food commodities and three sets of Phase Ten Cards. We divided bounty with the other two couple in our mission, everything except the cards.

Not everything we do revolves around food however this night it did. This was our farewell dinner with Kay and Karen at one of their favorite restaurants "La Tranquera." This is a steak house where the prices look like you were buying the whole cow but the steak looked like you were getting it. The penguin in the back is one of the proprietors and is a member of the church. You have never met a more attentive server.

Incahuasi is an archeological site near Lunahuana that we visited on one our prepartion days. It's origin is pre Incan however under Inca dominion it was second only in importance and stature to Machu Pichu.

We all boarded a combi and waited for the rest of seats to sell. When it was taking too long I told the driver that we were all missionaris for the church and he had two choice he could leave right now and we would preach a little or he could stay and we would preach to him a lot. With this eager lot he could have been real trouble.

"Just a second this ain't no ruin!!!"

This is!

The site is divided into three parts. This is a part of the garrison which during times of need housed upwards of 30,000 men. This picture is taken from a top of the adjacent "sacrifice hill" where the alter to the gods other than the Sun God received their offerings.

This is at the Sun God Temple site and this our tour guide and head of the Incauasi preservation society. He clamed and I have no reason to disbelieve him to be a decendant of the Incans.

These are friends Florencio and Juana and their four children. Christian, next to me, and Ailyn next to Debbie, were the first members of the family to accept the gospel. Tomorrow we will take Juana and Florencio to the municipalidad and on July 23 they will be married and the July 24 they will be baptised

Last Saturday we went with this small group of Adulto Solteros (YSA) to the Temple in Lima. I had gone early in the morning on the bus and met Los Reich on the way. Debbie followed later in the car with Juan Carlos, Adriana, and the children so that we could celabrate Adriana's birthday.

This was perhaps the happiest moment Adrian had on this trip.

Birthday lunch was at Tony Romas at Jockey Plaza and whole crew at Tony's got into act.

Jockey Plaza did not have enough shopping for these two so we went to LarcoMar in Miraflores where we were introduced to a whole other side of Lima and Peru. We will definitely be visiting here again.

The mall overlooks the ocean with serval restaurants that have terraces that open to the ocean view. We have seen this dashing couple before. We were left thinking how far this is from where we spend our days and we are not just talking about kilometers.

From another angle.

Mean while back at the farm, or in this case the casa capilla in Quilmana. We had to make an emergency stop at El Banjo at the capilla and Debbie caught this happy church goer trying to break through the back door to the capilla.

This is the backyard at the capilla and this chanchos home. See what I mean about how far Miraflores is from Canete.

Looks like another little piggy making its way up to the trough.

Just like Debbie is putting an end to the mould that was culturing to our living room shades it is time to put and end to this issue of 'WERE IN PERU NOW" and say adios until next time.

Remember, the shortest distance between two points is not always a staight line, sometimes it is just an adjustment in attitude.

Los gringos in Canete

Saludos a Nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-06-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hola a todos! The second hardest part of every task is starting, first is finishing and it is the especially true of authoring an edition of the blog. The next hardest part is uploading the photos to blog spot with an upload speed of .3 megs. The good news in the LAND THAT TECHNOLOGY FORGOT is at least we have the internet, cell phones, skype, magicjack, and text messaging. I guess when you think about it you should always stop to count your blessings before you start to complain.

Today we are stopping by one of our friend’s home, Rosa and Hubert, to drop off some authentic Canadian cuisine. We have been in their home on several occasions and they have offered us Peruano comida(food). The last time we were there Rosa said that we needed to fix them some Canadian food as kind of a cultural exchange sort of thing. So when we were in Lima this week Debbie purchased the necessary ingredients and spent part of yesterday fixing Canadian food for them (I was sick in bed, yeh again). So this afternoon we will drop off some Lasangna!

I ask you, what is an authentic Canadian dish? Buffalo, pemmican, popcorn, tuna casserole. If you know please write and tell us.

In any event we hope they like it and we also hope that they don’t tell anyone else that we fixed a meal for them because there will be no end to the requests for authentic Canadian dishes.

Sunday evening we went to visit a family with the Hermanas and I took several picture that would have been really great if I had a memory card in the camera (I should give the camera back to Debbie shouldn't I). Miguel the father is not a member of the church, todavia (yet), so our visit was specific to him. We have know he and his family almost since we arrived in Cañete and have witnessed how Susana, his wife, and their children have changed and embraced the gospel. In fact Susana a member of less than one year is the president of the Sociedad de Socorro (Relief Society) and is so diligent and faithful.

They could be South American poster family for self sufficiency/reliance. Miguel is an Abogado (lawyer) and works for a branch of government which means that as far as the socio-ecomomic scale they do alright. They have their own automobile, a 1975 Volkswagen Beatle, but they live in house with only three outside walls, grow their own bananas, grapes, and papas (potatoes). They raise guinea pigs (cuy), chickens, and turkey. They own the land they live on and are saving to build a new home (one with all the walls) and will own it when it is done. One of the other things they do to live providently help save money is they live without electricity, not because they have to, because they choose to in order to achieve their goal.

Delayed gratification, what a foreign concept! The world really is not ready for this idea.

We met by candle light in their meticulously clean three wall home and with aid of our minimag flashlight we were able to share a few scriptures and our message of the restored gospel. We feel very blessed to know people like this.

Those of you that are reading our blog that are members of the church will be able to identify with this next relato better than some others but the principle applies to most walks of life:

WARNING – DO NOT GET TOO COMFORTABLE IN WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

Being couple missionaries (we are not senior missionaries) we do not get a lot supervision, which is good because we don’t like a lot of supervision, but rather we are given a letter of priorities that we can work on in our area of assignment. In reality we have to make it up as we go, it is a self starters dream or a management nightmare, depending on the type of person you are. It’s perfect for us.

Anyway, we had become really comfortable in the routine we had created for ourselves and felt completely in control of our little world. We were experiencing a degree of the joy and peace we tell people that they will experience through living gospel principles and keeping the commandments of God. Then it happened.

I had recommended a change in leadership for one of the branches and the Mission President asked for recommendations for who should fill the positions, so had given him my suggestion. So when he called to check if I was still in favor of the suggestions it was not surprising to me when he confirmed that they would make the changes the next Sunday. The surprise came when he said that he wanted to make changes in District Presidency and that I was being called to be the first counselor in the that presidency.

That comfortable joy, peace, and control just went out the window.

The new assignment is causing us to shift our focus and we will not be able to do as much of the missionary work that we have grown to love so much and is putting us in a more hands on position with the members and leaders in the district. Notwithstanding we will still be working with the people that we love, sharing the gospel that we love, and doing it for the Lord that we love.

As usual we have a photo journey to share with you that we hope you will enjoy.

This little lady is so sweet and is so genuinely excited every time Hermana visits her tienda in the mercado in San Vicente. Debbie picks out the same type and quanity of flowers every time and then asks her the price. They always agree on S/ 4. then when she wraps up the flowere she puts in one or two pink roses and says it is for you hermanita. I had always thought she was taking advantage of us but we went to buy the same flowers in Mala last week and they were four times as much.

This Elder Powell clowning around again. He played the Grinch in one of the Christmas plays at our Mission Christmas party this year and was awesome. This particular night we were teaching in the home of Angie la Payaso. Angie is really Cesar and he makes his living as a Payaso or clown. Those are just a few of the costumes that he uses in his work.

This is the family de la Cruz, Cesar and family. Cesar is the Payaso but it is really a family business. Birthdays, holidays, and special occasions are a much bigger thing here than at home and it is very common for people to hire entertainment for such events. I had never considered Clown as a career path but here it is a good way of life. The show must go on!

This photo is taken from the second floor of our casa capilla in Mala but these are not members of our church. The church across the Park, in the picture, has be come very competitive about some of their members changing sides of the park. So, every Sunday while we are have our Sacrament Meeting (equivalent of Mass and Communion) they bring this procession to the front door of our church and the brass band plays and the people pray. I sounds annoying but it is actually better than the loudspeakers that they used to aim at us.

Elder Powell, Elder Arajou, and Hermana Whitney in the Mercado in Mala as we starting a photo scavenger hunt. It was our dia de preparacion and was our last activity before missionary changes.

I was speaking Spanish, thank you very much!

This is the familia Zamora, Juana and Maurizio their 5 children and Juana's Mother and this is their wedding day.They have been together since they were about 14 years old, we met them one day while we were working with Elder Servan and Elder Bearnson in Mala. We helped them overcome the obstacle of understanding the necessity of getting married and working toward an eternal family. Getting them to this point was a great team effort with lots of assists - Great Elders, familia Bearnson, familia Reich, and familia Whitney and the Mala Branch.

And.... Every good wedding helps us to have anther great day at the beach. Not withstanding the calm looking ocean in the picture the waves were ferocious and took both Elder Reich and Maurizio under when he was baptized.

Since it is winter now and there are no people on the beach and so the people don't catch pneumonia we carry our portable change room. We did ask Elder Reich how much would pay us to keep up the good work.

We knew that the day would come that Elder Bearnson would get to move on but that did not make it any easier for us when he did. We have enjoyed his diligence and great work ethic and we were not surprised to find that he was made zone leader in his new area.

We also said hasta manana to Elder Novoa this change so we had a last cita together with Juan Carlos, Adriana and Elder Granados. Elder Granados is a talented musician he brought his guitar and he and Elder Novoa sang for us as parting message for us.

This is another one of our friends, Patricia, and this is her 6th birthday party. She and her family live here in Los Reyes where we live and we were excited when she brought us an invitation to her party. The colorful backdrop is a party tent that covered their front yard, the party was complete with entertainment and food. No payaso but singers, music and magic.

This is our friend Miguelina.

This is Miguelina's neighborhood. All of the little whitish buildings that resemble garden shed are actually homes so are the ones that look like they are made from sticks. This pueblo is built on the side of a hill where nothing grows, nothing. The whitish homes are pre-fabbed kits that they build in about three hours, the sheathing is drywall with nothing more on the inside.

Fourteen members of the Imperial Branch came out on Saturday to level a new place for Miguelina to move her home. At the one end we had to cut through three feet of rock using chisels and sledgehammers.

This picture tells a story that words can't do justice. We took down her home that was around all her worldly belongings which are in the middle of the picture. Lying flat, in the upper left hand corner are all the walls and roof for her home and the level place top back part of the picture is where we rebuilt her home.

After the excavation was complete and the broken rock was packed to level the site we had to bring the flooring in, that is what President Borda is spreading with wheelbarrow. I got a little I excited when one of the brethren said wouldn't it be great if we could give her a concrete floor and I thought now we are talking. But I soon realized that is was more like "I wish we could." Regardless of what it looked like to me this is Miguelina's home where she lives with her daughter, she saved to make a one time payment equal to about $50 US and now she owns the land. She worked and save to buy the pre-fabbed kit so she could have her own home. It has a dirt floor, no water, no sewer, and no power and it is hers.

When I saw this little family of goats huddled nearby her home I could not help but feel that this scene was incredibly symbolic.

Our new Zona de Canete: Front left - Elder Arajou, US, Hermanas Ajmac and Romero. Back left Elders Parker, Vivas, Anibal, Sardon, Schoefield, Ponciano, Granados. Elder and Hermana Reich were not able to make down from Mala for prepartion day as they teach early morning Seminary 5 days a week.

Saturday as Juan Carlos were at the service project at Miguelina's we had time to reflect about our experience that day and commented about how easy it is get so caught up in the thick of thin things and forget to stop and count our blessings and give appropriate thanks for all that we have. As we walked back to town I was grateful for the experience of viewing life throught the lens of anothers persons eyes. I was very humbled when I thought about how thankful Miguelina is for everything she has and realized, perhaps for the first time in my life, that life is not about how much you have got rather it is about the attitude that you have about what you have got.

Les amo mucho!

Los Whitney, Gringos in Canete

Saludos a nuestra Familia y Amigos

2010-05-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

We finished our appointments a little early this evening so I thought I would get this edition of YOU ARE IN PERU NOW ready and get it posted. Every day seems to be an adventure and I muse sometimes that every day would provide great material for an L.D.S. sitcom complete with insider jokes, potty humor, and spiritual antic dotes.

Por ejemplo(for example) yesterday after our district meeting at the capilla in Imperial we took Elder and Hermana Reich (Rich) to the Mercado so that Hermana could look for some material to sew with. The Mercado in Imperial is nice compared to some and it is the kind of place that you can expect to find almost anything, except for 70ish year old gringos. After we went to our favorite sandwich shop just off the Plaza de Armas(sounds kinda cool like it should be in designer district in a European city) which is just a space between two other buildings with a bamboo roof. I remember the first time we ate there, I was sure I was going to die, but sandwich tasted delicioso.

I would elaborate on some of the things I have seen in the shop but then you would be asking “why would we go back.” Anyway, we ordered our sandwiches, pavo on a bun(turkey is the house specialty) and they made a place for us to sit. As we were sitting there I looked at Elder Reich and then Hermana Reich, thought of my first visit to the sandwich shop, I knew what was going through their cabezas(heads) and said “A year ago would you have imagined that one day you would be sitting in a place like this doing what you are doing?”

I really didn’t know what they were thinking but Hermana managed to utter, “no, I sure didn’t.”

Our day was packed with appointments so we had to leave them there with the Elders to finish their lunch and go back to Mala. We sent them an email today to see how they are doing, we are not sure but maybe they are not talking to us because we did not hear back from them. Maybe tomorrow.

We are reopening the area of Quilmana with missionaries this transfer so today we went there to look for an apartment for them and a new casa capilla for the branch to meet in. The Presidency in Quilmana had been scouting around already and had some leads for us to follow up on. We are glad that we are not being transferred to Quilmana. Elder Powell and Elder Arajou were assisting us and after we had viewed one of the apartments I asked them how would they feel about the apartment if they were the ones being transferred to Quilmana. They both responded that they have lived in much worse, we just cringed.

The trip was cute short by an acute attack of “welcome to Peru.”

This last week we visited and taught in a few pueblos we had never been in before let alone knew existed. One is known as San Isidro pequeno (little San Isidro). We had to walk a fair distance down a dusty road through the chacra where the corn was about 7 feet tall on both sides of the road. It was impossible to see the place until you arrived. We had two appointments there the first is a single man, which today committed to baptism in two weeks, and the other was a first visit with a very nice young family. Well we did not finish until after dark and I mean after dark, it was pitch black, crossing overflowing irrigation ditches on wet stepping stones. The walk back to the main roadway was scary, kinda like Sleepy Hollow.

Sunday afternoon we had a very moving experience while we were visiting in Las Vinas. I need to set the scene of Las Vinas, as our new camera person took hardly any photos this week, it is nestled in a valley between two hills about 300 meters high. The hills are comprised of essentially pit run sized stones covered with about half a meter of sand. One side has been excavated to build homes into the hillside and this has been done with absolutely no retention.

This was our second visit with Dehlia in her adobe home with dirt floors and tarp and bamboo roof. As with all of our meetings we start with a hymn and prayer and Dehlia asked Hermana Whitney to pray, almost everyone asks her to pray, so she fervently offered a wonder prayer. When she was finished Hermana Romero in a slightly excited voice says, “Muy Fuerte” (very strong). Debbie said “why thank you.” Just as the ground started to shake again even “mas fuerte” than the first time only this time with a quick look around the table everyone sprang to their feet and ran to the street.

The whole community was in the street and mothers we crying out to their children to gather in. It truly was a moving experience that made our little hearts go pitter patter.

We have several families that we have visited in this pueblo and we have commented on other occasions that if there were ever much of an earth quake the whole community would be buried. Fortunately we did not have to find out if we were right or not.

The other thing that was shaken was Debbie that it was an earth tremor not her prayer that was “muy fuerte” but on the other hand who is to say but what that it was her prayer that stayed the hand of the destroyer for that community that afternoon.

That visit turned in to a lesson on emergency preparedness as Dehlia lost her home and everything in it in 2007 when the big quake hit Chincha and Pisco.

The other thing about Las Vinas is that it is a daylight only community, not safe for gringos and Hermanas traveling alone and it was not after dark. We had been there before after dark but always with Pedro Macha. Not wanting to leave the Hermanas alone we put them on the first moto(not many taxis like to go there) that came along hoping that another would come along soon. We walked to San Vicente before an empty moto would pick us up.

Notwithstanding where we were we knew that we had not deliberately placed ourselves in that position and had the assurance that if we were careful that all would be well, and it was.

Last Friday there was a conference at the CCM (missionary training center) in Lima with Elder Jay Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy and we and the other couples in our mission were invited to attend. This is Los Jones the mission couple serving in Nasca, which is about 6 hours south of Canete, they had been on the bus for 8 hours. At this moment Elder Jones mission was to get some real food. We met them at the bus station so that we could help him fulfill his mission of the moment.

We completed that mission at the Chili's restaurant at Jockey Plaza. It was great for the three couples to get together and share a few war stores and for the Jones to get some real food. Where they live it very difficult to get american type food and they live on rice and canned tuna. Terry hates rice.

When I was relating the story of our turkey sandwich in Imperial I was thinking about this picture that I took of Los Reich at the temple last week. This is more of the setting that you would expect to find this great looking couple.

This couple looks great anywhere, no everywhere.

When ever we are at the CCM we check for misisonaries from Canada just in case we know someone that knows someone. This is Melodie Mathieson, her mother Kasandra, had alerted us to the fact that she was in the CCM. Mathieson's lived in the 8th Ward for awhile when she was growing up and somehow her mother got our blog address had had been keeping up with us. When we arrived at the CCM we directed into the auditorium to be seated and we wondered exactly how we would find her. It was uncanny like a spot light was on her, I walked directly to her and said buenos dias Hermana Mathieson your parents asked us to say hello. Ella esta muy feliz. Hermana Mathieson is one happy, prepared, and enthusiastic missionary. She sends her thanks and love to her family.

This random shot was taken along the highway, of sorts, to Quilmana, where were to meet Elder Powell and Arajou. It is a paradero (bus stop) between somewhere and nowhere.

Later that night we meet in Quilmana with a few members the branch, unfortunately there are only a few members left. Six months without missionaries has just about wiped out this fledgling branch.

This was a visit that we made with Hermanas Romero and Ajmac to meet Banet. Banet is a new contact that they have started to teach but her novio(boyfriend) is not in a rush to get married and it is preventing her from progressing in the lessons. She lives in another little pueblo called Progresso, in this house where she is raising her two young brothers. Both parents have fled the scene. Soon, next month, she will be raising one of her own.

The Hermanas were very late getting to a family home evening apointment on Monday so we decided that they should have to preform a castigo for their tardiness so they danced the "el pato" but before we left we all did.

This is the Palamino family that we were visiting that night. Samuel and Jesusa on the left and Daisy on the right are members, the other daughter whose name eludes me and her daughter love to meet with us but favor another flavor of religion. After left their home I found out the reason for the Hermanas being late, they had to walk a long distance to get there because they had run out of funds before the end of the month. I felt bad, they can ride now.

Like we said, everyday is an adventure; we are doing and seeing things that would never have imagined a year ago. It is ever clearer to us that all of our experiences in life have been preparing us so that we could do what we are now doing and we are glad that we are not wasting our life’s experiences by doing the easy things. It is an interesting musing to me, but what are these experiences are preparing us for?

Thanks for reading this edition of our blog.

Les amo mucho!

Elder and Hermana Whitney

Los gringos in Canete

2010-05-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Saludos a nuestra Familia y Amigos

We have just finished one of the busiest and most fulfilling weeks of our mission, so far, and the thing that I find most interesting is that I am at loss for words to describe the experiences that we have had. Partially because some of it you would had to have been there to appreciate the story and some because the experience is so very special to us that sharing all of it would diminish the sacredness of the events.

The most important thing/news that we have to share we are saving to the end of this installment with the pictures. It is nice to be the editor of my own blog/newspaper and I can put the headline story anywhere I want.

It is always such an epiphany when the final piece of one of life’s puzzles drops into place for you like this one; We have been wondering what the main reason for so many motorcycles on the roads here. Clearly they are more motorcycles than cars but what is the real reason. Safety can not be the motive because traffic rules are not rules at all they are merely suggestion (my personal two favorite traffic rules, one way streets which are which ever way your moto is facing regardless of the direction of arrows, and the other is the concept of lanes, the number of lanes depends on how wide the vehicles are and who yields first in the game of chicken). We thought maybe it was the economy of a motorcycle the lowest cost per man mile – I call it lowest cost per man mile because we see 4 and sometimes five people (including nursing babies) on one cycle. Another aspect of cost was we see hosts of cycles that are almost as old me, Honda S90 (has not been made for 40 years) Cub 50’s and 90’s that went out of production in the 70’s. Maybe other things like cheaper insurance, ease of storage (as most people park them in the house so that they are there when they want them). Many of them don’t have lights of any kind so maybe they don’t need safety inspections. It was just hard to say for sure.

Well today one of our friends, that owns a motorcycle shop, saw us walking down the highway stopped in his car to give us a ride and I told him we had been thinking of buying a motorcycle and I wanted to know how to get a license. Now I already knew that getting a car drivers license was really difficult and that you have to go to Lima to get it. He said don’t worry when you want one I will take to the town office and you can buy one, it is cheap. All the pieces fell into place and it explains where all the lousy motorcycle drivers are coming from. Mystery solved.

Just as a footnote, many of the operators to these cycles are women.

Two weeks ago we notified by the Assistants to the President that our zone was to attend a special Multi-Zone conference in Lima, events that we always enjoy but wish we would get more notice of. These conferences always work well for the missionaries from Lima because it has little impact on their schedules but for us we need change and cancel our full day. In order to be at the bus station at 5:00 am to make a meeting for 9:30 in Lima means a wake up at 3:45 in order to get ready, find ride to town and the bus station at that unholy hour, and wait for the rest of the missionaries to arrive. Considering it is a trip to Lima and a spiritual recharge it is a small inconvenience.

It is all good unless when you arrive you find your name printed on program for a 10 minute presentation on the restoration. What a shock to have the first person to greet you be the Mission President thanking you for willingness to participate in the program. In reality it was not much of shock for me because it was Hermana (Debbie) Whitney that the Assistant to the President forgot to call and invite to participate and whose name was on the printed program. (Those two will have to think twice about turning up at her door hungry hoping for a meal at 8:30 in the evening as they did the week before.)

I would have had trouble doing it in my native tongue let alone in Spanish but she did it and did it well in Spanish and she points out that she did it with our crying.

All in all it was an amazing meeting with some incredible music provide by the Presidents family that were visiting from the USA.

The zone meetings and conferences are a great diversion from our daily work and sometimes a change is as good as a rest but it is meeting with the people that warms our hearts and touches our soles.

We have a few photos to share, and oh yeah, the big news!

Two Saturdays ago our scheduled activity got rescheduled so we found ourselves with some bonus time so we went to Lunauana with our Peru family to sample some local food. Debbie commandeered the camera and took lots of pictures.

Pictures of trees at the resort we stopped to eat at.

Pictures of point setter plants that are really trees.

And more lovely flowers.

Alright, no more flowers give me the camera.

Finally, pictures with people. After a lunch of Camarones, which the locals catch in the river in the first picture, we took a walk through the resort to the river. They call them Camarones and they are prepared whole and all though they translate Camarones as shrimp they are Texas crawdads. This is Juan Carlos, Adriana, Octavio, and Adrian walking the lush forest. Just for the record I did not fare well on this local delicacy.

I recovered and on the following Monday we went a zone to the beach for a cookout. Elder Bearnson and Elder Ponciano arranged for Aravelo to pic us up in his combie in Buhama and take us the beach.

The picture you saw of Aravelo was also at the beach but he was dressed in all white. The picture before that was at his wedding.

The neat thing about the beach at this time of the year is that it is like a private beach, we were the only people there. Yes, that is the YMCA they are doing in the picture and on the make shift grill there is prepared meat in form of patties but no one was going out on a limb and calling them hamburgers.

Later that night we went to Rosa and Hubert's home for "noche de hogar" (AKA family home evening). When we arrived Rosa and Hubert were at the hospital with the little fellow on Rosa's lap and only Kiara and Jean Pierre were at home. We told them it was there turn to give the lesson, at first we were just kidding, but they said sure and pulled out some books. Kiara taught about the creation and Jean Pierre about the Book of Mormon form Predicad Me Evangelio. We were blown away by them.

What is there not to love about people like this. Then again when they love you it becomes very easy. We are working towards a temple with them in November of this year. Jean Pierre with the white beard was the winner or loser of the game we were playing and had to use his tongue to find the prized candy in the dish of flour.

Nicolas was just to cute to not put his picture. We up in Mala on Friday visiting his parents Iber and Chabella. We took them a copy of the booklet "House of the Lord" as we prepare them the temple as well.

This is big news that we have been dying to tell everyone about. Saturday evening Juan Carlos and Adriana were baptized and Sunday they were confirmed members of the Church. Believe it or not but I don't have the words to fully express how we feel about this marvelous event. Simple stated, we love them.

What a privilege it has been to see the hand of the Lord in the lives of our friends and watch and experience with them as they began to conform their lives to cast off the natural man and begin to be spiritual people. Good happy people recognizing that they can be better and happier.

We continue to be amazed by the blessings that we receive as we serve here. We marvel at the words that come out of our mouths and the things that we understand that are normally beyond our comprehension. The Lord truly takes weak things and makes them strong for his own purposes. I know that in D. & C. 4 it says that if ye have desires to serve ye are called to the work and that faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify you for the work, but I am convinced that the Lord will take it one step further with us and if we just show up He will qualify us for the work.

I don't know why we have been so blessed, we just are.

Until next time!

Les amo mucho

Los Whitney

2010-05-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

Saludos a nuestra Familia y Amigos

It still seems funny or odd to us to be thinking that winter is coming when everything we have ever known tells us that May is spring and that summer is coming, well not in the southern hemisphere. Winter is on its way and we have noticed the change in seasons with cooler air and a little moisture. I call it moisture and stop short of calling it rain as it has many of the characteristics of rain but the ground never gets wet.

Winter temperatures here are generally in the 60’s F or mid teens C which is a far cry from the -40 F/C that we have experienced back home. Not withstanding it is humid and the cooler temperature feels cold or colder than one would expect. The upside to the change in weather is that we can close the window a bit, put away the fans and cut down on the dust that continuously filters through the house. I even think there are few types of insects around to vex us.

Last weekend marked the closure of the stores in Asia(Ahseeah) which also marks the end of easily available, store bought, supermarket type comida (food) and various other types of fun diversion such as TGI Friday’s, Papa John’s Pizza, Ripley’s department store. It is all gone until next summer, which starts Dec. 23 – things really are upside down on this side of the equator.

Saturday we went with our Peru Family to Wong’s for the last grocery experience of the season and we loaded up on non perishables and heavy things that are a challenge to carry home on the bus from Lima. We had hoped that Friday’s would have stayed open until the end but sadly, no, so we went to Cerro Azul for lunch. Juan Carlos took us to a Cerviche restaurant facing the ocean where experienced the local delicacy and house specialty, Cerviche, it was delicious. Sushi eaters beware, this raw fish is the bomb.

On the upside it gives us a reason to visit Lima more frequently and gives us something else to look forward to.

Last week was transfer week which is always one of those bitter/sweet experiences when we say good bye to someone. This time it was last transfer for Elder Walker and Hermana Mendoza. Elder Campos got transferred to the mission office to serve as one of the Assistants to the President, it did not surprise us as he is a great missionary.

Elder Walkers parents and sister came to pick him up and have been touring a little before they go home. We were fortunate to have them visit us in our home on Saturday and they attended a baptism with us in the evening. Elder Walker had been the zone leader here since his arrival and had set an excellent example for all the missionaries in the zone. The Walker family is very blessed to have him as part of the family. It was very difficult to say good bye to him twice in one week.

A lot of the work we do here is with the leaders of the church in our district. Our weekly schedule involves meeting with District Presidency, individual branch presidents, and occasionally auxiliary or quorum presidents. In addition we attend the regular presidency and council meetings in the various units. We also attend the full time missionary meetings as well as find, teach, and strengthen members.

For the last couple of weeks we have been trying to teach the District Presidency the real value of the reports in MLS, how to conduct a more effective leadership meeting, and how to help the branch leaders set goals that are not just wishes. I am not going to pretend that we are being extremely successful but as they say here “poco a poco.” Old habits die hard and the work of the kingdom is “work.”

We continue to have marvelous experiences with the people that we visit, teach, and ultimately become friends with. Last Friday afternoon we went up to Mala to visit Iber and Chabella (and little Nicholas), it is amazing how the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed their lives and as a result they are improving their circumstances. It was thrilling to see the light in their eyes as we talked about attending the temple together when they have been members for a year.

Sunday we attended in San Vicente for the first time in many weeks where Cesar and Janette and girls sat with us in church. The girls, Hilary and Shari, sat on my lap and I could not help but think how blessed we have been to have been touched by so many lives since we arrived here. Whether in Mala, Imperial, or San Vicente we have special friends that we have seen come back to church or be baptized and they have become like our family away from home.

Speaking of our family away from home we have an amazing experience that we are going to save until next blog when we share the big news about the family Iruri (Juan Carlos, Adriana, Octavio and Adrian)

We have some pictures and picture story to share, we hope you will enjoy it.

Our pictures from our last installment ended with wedding pictures for Arevalo and Sylvia so I thought we would start with our trip to the beach to baptize Arevalo. Everything looks muy tranquilo how ever the waves were awesome on this day.

Many members of their family and members of the branch turned out to show their support.

It will appear that we have an eating theme this installment however I assure you it was not intentional. Although it looks like a stampede breakfast note that one companion in each group has a blind fold. It might make for a fun stampede breakfast idea.

We won, it was not really fair as we have had years of experience feeding each other junk and keeping each other in the dark.

It was not until I looked at the picture that the significance was not just that their faces were white but it raises the question of how they got that way. In this game the losers had to find a candy with their mouth in a cup of flour.

This sour puss was balancing a lemon on a spoon when suddenly some yelled, "mira el esta Popeye." I had to agree that Popeye has certain handsome characteristics that makes him look like me.

Adriana was serving Oreo cookies to the missionaries but no one was closely monitoring Adrian and this picture was too cute to pass up.

The occasion was one of our weekly discussions with the missionaries and our Peru family. One has to admire the missionaries for their ability to keep to the task in stormy waters.

On one of our last trips to Asia we decided to indulge ourselves and bought a small carton of Hagen-Daze ice cream and sat and enjoyed. We will really miss Wong's and Asia.

On Saturday we went on a road trip with the Familia Iruri and while in Lima we decide to visit the Lima Temple to walk around the grounds. What a peaceful spot in such a busy city and a perfect place to talk about things that matter the most in life.

Meet Yawney (spelled Johnny) and his nephew Raul, that is right his nephew they are about 9 years apart in age. We had the privilege to teach Johnny and his aunt in the home their mother.

Another picture involving food and missionaries. This our, now, customary Cena del Zona (zone dinner) that we have the evening before transfers. Tonight was cylindro pollo con papas y maiz.

After dinner our zone and district leaders entertained us with selection of hymns. They are very talented and I have to say that I am disappointed that they did not share their talents with us before now.

This is a road side tienda on the Pan Americana Highway a few miles outside of San Vicente and is operated by member. She cooks meals, tomales, pollo, ect and sells confectionery to travellers and field labourers.

Yep, the out door bano. I am not sure what Elder Novoa is checking out and I don't want to know. The wind, which blows constantly, blew the off (at least I am hoping it was the wind). So applied all of my skills as self proclaimed southern engineer to repairing the broken parts.

Mean while everyone else carried timbers to a safer location.

When the work was done the Hermana put out some pan (buns) platanos(bananas) and gaseosa(soda pop) for everyone. She then told the missionaries that she had fixed a meal but it was just for los Whitney. We felt awful but decorum dictated that we accept. All I could tell the Elders was that it was delicious.

Saturday in Cerro Azul we ate again. Really when you think about it you have to eat everyday so we don't really eat a lot we just eat everyday. Today we ate a lot, cerviche, mariscos, camarones.

Elder Walker, his parents, and sister stopped to visit on their way back from Ica and Pisco. This week they are off to Machu Pichu and then home.

That night we went to another baptism. This is Johnny's aunt, Lady, in the white, between Debbie and I, the other person is her mother.

Elder Novoa and Elder Granados taught Lady and we were able to help them over come a couple of obstacles that Lady was having understanding and progressing through the discussions. We are blessed to have a close relationship with this family.

FIRE -FIRE -FIRE. This fire is on top of Elder Araujo's birthday cake which Hermana Whitney made and served at his birthday lunch. A lunch which she also made.

Notwithstanding the little trials that we have we are happy, enjoy serving, and short of a little time with our family we can not imagine anything in the world we would rather be doing.

Gracias por tu amor, les amo mucho.

Los Whitney

2010-04-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

Saludos a nuestras familias y amigos

Well it has only been 24 or 25 days since our last installment of our adventures which brought me to the point of trying to decide if I should keep trying to keep up the blog or let it go. When I suggested that to Debbie I found out that I was really more committed to the blog than I had thought.

We have had a very busy 3 weeks with our usual missionary activities, assisting our new friends Elder and Hermana Reich (the new mission couple from Bountiful Utah) get adjusted, and in our left over time acquiring the things we need to make our new apartment home. I know that Debbie really loves the work we are doing here but nothing quite lights up her ojos(eyes) like shopping for and decorating la casa. We have had some fun.

The move has not been without it’s hassles but all in all we are very happy that we made the move. The physical move was quite smooth and was effected somewhat quickly. The Elders Walker, Campos, Nova, and Granados showed tremendous care breaking absolutely nothing as did our amigo Juan Carlos and our new landlord Luis. Juan Carlos brought a pickup truck from work and Luis brought his truck and things moved swiftly. Pictures to follow.

Telefonica the company that has the monopoly on telephone and internet service here is everything that you would expect of a monopoly and if you did not know better you would think that it was run by a government (it’s not but one would think). A couple of weeks before the move Adriana called and asked for our service to be transferred, no problem, it will take two to three weeks. That is where the problem started.

At the two week mark I asked Adriana if she would mind following up with Telefonica as we had heard nothing from them. To make a long painful story short she spent about 10 hours on the phone over the course to three or four days battling with them. First the installation was not available, then it was, then maybe it was but it could not be a transfer it had to be a new installation…… Finally after countless phone calls it appeared that we would have internet and a phone but it was going to take another three weeks.

Last Monday morning, which was only the first week of the three, before we left to go to Lima with the Familia Reich to sign them up with Telefonica for their internet we said it would be just our luck to miss Telefonica while we were out of town. We told Adriana that we would leave the key with her that day just in case, she said don’t worry it wont happen it has only been three business days since they said three weeks. We left the key anyway and guess what, they came. Anyway we have internet again.

We do not have satellite pickup at the church buildings in our district, yet. So we did not receive the General Conference broadcasts for the churches semi-annual conference and as we did not have internet for that weekend we have had to wait. We receive DVD’s of the conference and play them the week after for the members. Fortunately for the members here we get the DVD’s in español and the converse is also true for us that still have trouble following in español. Through the blessing of the internet we were able to view all of conference in English which made it easier to follow the español broadcast.

I said that we do not have satellite “yet” in our district but one of the things that we have been able to see accomplished in our time here is the approval for construction for an addition to the Cañete capilla. Starting June they will take the roof off of the existing building and construct a second floor. The actual Salon de Sacramental will be on the second floor and will almost double in size. The main floor will contain class rooms and slightly enhanced office space. A much needed “improved restroom” will also be on the second floor.

With a little convincing we will now have a satellite TV pickup and will be able to have live broadcasts from Salt Lake, hopefully starting with the Christmas Devotional in December of this year. The renovation must be complete before year end for budget purposes.

Yesterday was one the real highlight days since last entry as we went with one of our couples from Mala to the Salon de Matrimonio to be their testigos to their wedding vows. R. & S. (because I forgot to get permission to use there names) have lived together for more than 25 years raised a family and have 8 grandchildren and because of the expense never felt a great need to get married. We visited in their home with the elders about five weeks ago “R” had a lot of questions and at the time of our visit told us and the elders that he was pretty much not interested in our message. Elders Servan and Bearnson persisted and he allowed us give our message. Debbie and I gave our message about eternal families, answered a few of his questions, and bore our testimonies. At the end of the meeting he prayed and made an appointment to meet the Elders again.

Following up on the meeting the Elders dropped by a copy of the old Gospel Principles manual that the branch was discarding and left it with him. He read almost the entire book and within a matter of a couple of days he met them in the street and told them he wanted to be baptized. He told his wife that marriage was important step for them and he was prepared to take that step in order to be baptized. She agreed. “S” is not ready for baptism this week but is striving, “R” will be baptized on Saturday.

We meet so many couples that the missionaries teach that need to be married in order to progress. We have 6 couples in the teaching pool that we hoping to see make that important next step. We are fortunate that in May the municipality will hold a day for free weddings which will reduce the cost by about a third.

One last note as a follow up to the last blog; We mentioned the experience that we had in finding hermano Mariano Jesus Franco, the prospective missionary, from the Cañete branch and how he really found us. Well, that experience continues with more happy news. (Picture to follow.)

We have a lot of pictures to share, we hope you enjoy them:

Thursday morning President Manning called and ask if we could leave right away and meet him and the physical facilities manager for the South America West Area at the Casa Capilla in Mala. While there he gave me the Mission Call for Mariano and asked that we deliver it directly to him. Friday night I called him and told him that I had his mission call and ask when he would be available to get it. He said, "are you at home? I'll be there in 5 minutes meet me at the security gate." What a privilege and what an excited young man. He will be serving in the Columbia Callie mission.

This picture represents the sum total of Debbie's Christmas decorations, a far cry from the 22 box in storage in Calgary. All packed and ready to move.

Moving day and the moving help. Finely tuned chaos.

Moving nightmare, bags, not boxes. Box are quite a premium here you can't go to the grocery store and ask for them.

This is the new place, not the whole building just the second and floor. The second floor is all new and fresh.

This is our second floor covered Lanai with our designer plastic table and chairs.

The living area and dinning room are a little more spacious than the old place but has way more natural light. The wicker blinds we picked up in Lima. They work great during the day but at night the are pretty much transparent.

La cama.

The new, larger, clean El Bano.

This is the roof top Landry room. The white tienda is practical, at times of the day, to keep the direct sunlight off the washer when it is operating. The dryer (aka the clothes line) is where the shirts are hanging over in left corner of the picture. I am really proud of it as it is my best handy man work I have done in Peru. The big black tank is for water storage as the main water line in the city is only turned on for an hour in the morning and again in the evening.

We had enough new missionaries that we went to Cerro Azul for our preparation day activity this week. Hermanas Mendoza and Stocks are with Debbie. This was our only P-day activity with Hermana Stocks as she had a quick transfer.

The wharf was closed for repairs so we were not able to have our traditional end of the wharf jumping picture.

Assuming my favorite position at the beach.

I caught this stork as it was about to takeoff. The wing span of these birds reach 7 feet (two meters approx.)

Elder Bearnson is from Colorado and says he can't get enough of the ocean.

From the top of lighthouse hill you can see this Inca ruin. We were not able to find out anything about this place other than it was from the Incas. It is in a unique place as on the other side of the hill is the fertile Mala valley.

Multi-zone conference in Chincha. It was a nice change to usual as we played sports, had a bar-b-que visited and left.

The family Quispie needed our help reclaiming plot of ground that had over grown with weeds and wild plants. The plant growth was so thick that we could actually roll it like round bales someone went in front of us and chopped it with a machete. *Note the practice hat someone is wearing.

Hermana Romero found this little friend while chopping in the chalkra. Elder Nova dispatched it.

Back row left side is Hermana Suzanna Quispie, she is a recent convert and it was her field that we came to clear. The two ladies in the middle are neighbors that also had a piece of ground that needed to be cleared. When they saw us working they came to help so we cleared theirs as well.

Close to Easter these little chicks started turning up in various places in the house.

Our next project was to do a construction clean on the second floor addition that Alex, another recent convert in Canete, and sister are going to be living in. It does not have a roof or windows and probably wont for a long time. They will run a few cable to have some electricity, stretch a blue vinyl tarp over the top and that will be home for the time being.

At the end of the job a long walk home along the Pan Americana Highway.

This week we started our activity off at our favorite sandwich shop in Imperial. This lady makes some of the best hot turkey sandwiches on the planet. Elder Zea got us hooked on them and so we have been here more than once, now the lady tells the Elders that she is my sister.

We rode combie bus out into the back hills south of Imperial to Ungara Fortress. This fortress was built by the Huarco people and they inhabited the Canete River valley until about 1400 AD when the Incas conquered them. The Huarco were led by fierce and intimidating woman warrior and resisted the Inca for many years. This fortress was considered invincible by both the Incas and Huarco so the Inca prince tricked them into a treaty. While the were celebrating the treaty the Incas captured everything and everyone except for the fortress and garrison.

They held out for five years but when defeat was inevitable many of the soldiers defiantly through themselves off the fortress cliff to their deaths. The Inca prince was infuriated by this and ordered the remaining survivors to hung from the fortress walls.

Judging by the size of many of the passage ways we observed we will not accuse the Huarco of being overly tall.

The fortress also housed a temple and was religious center for Huarco worship. In the valley are remains of twelve pyramids that have significantly deteriorated over time. This was a very interesting outing and gave us an appreciation for the genius and industry of the ancient inhabitants of this part of Peru.

Feliz cumplianos to Hermana Mendoza.

Keeping tradition they arrived separately at the Salon de Matrimonio "R" was just a little late but when he arrived in his "bien vestidos" (best clothes) it brought a tear to every bodies eyes.

Here again with one of their daughters and two grandsons that they are helping their son in-law raise.

Well another happy ending to another installment of "WERE IN PERU NOW" and a happy beginning for our happy couple.

Remember that miracles have only stopped for people that don't have the faith to see them!

Until next time, les amo mucho!

Los Whitney

2010-03-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Saludos a nuestras familias y amigos

Well it is late Sunday afternoon and I am getting my first chance to write a few words for the blog and we have an appointment tonight at 8:00 in Imperial. My father always said that the road to hell (infierno in Peru) is paved with good intentions and based on that my road must have two lifts of intention on it by now. When I wrote the last blog I was determined that I would write one smaller issue each week and in the long run it would save me time, so much for good intentions.

Many of the people that read our blog will be familiar with the church hymn “I stand all amazed” and that is exactly how we feel much of the time about the experiences that we have here. Some of the experiences are extremely positive and some not so much, nonetheless we stand all amazed.

Two weeks ago the Mission President sent a late Saturday night email telling us that mission application papers had been sent for one of the young men in one of the branches we are assigned to and that he had not completed the necessary medical requirements and asked that we track him down. We were not sure we new him and if it was who we thought we had not seen him for months. The next morning we met with the District Presidency and asked them about the young man and we were surprised to hear them report that Mariano was not going to serve, he was not attending church, and was not keeping his interview appointments.

We were disappointed to say the least because we new that his mission had been paid for by another person from Canada. Notwithstanding we sent a response to president and advised him of the same. We were troubled by the report but did not know what to do, there were obstacles, like we were not sure we knew him, the always present language thing, we did not know where to start looking for him and if his leaders could not find him how could we?

The next morning was preparation day, the day we have for recreation and fun with the missionaries, so as we left the house with a prayer on our lips and in our hearts that we would find some way to contact Mariano we started out. It takes a couple of minutes to walk out of our community and then we usually have to wait for a while until we find a ride in a combie, moto, or taxi. This day however, as we walked up to the gate at the entrance to the barrio, we immediately waived down a moto that was empty and passing in our direction. It was unusual for that time of the day to catch a ride that quick unless….

You guessed it, we found Mariano, he was driving the moto. What are the chances of that? We did not know where to find him but someone did.

We got his phone number and told him that we were looking for him and how blessed we were that he stopped for us that morning. We put the President in touch with him that day and we now have a young man back on track, what a joy to see him in church today.

We wish that everything turned out that quickly and that well.

This week was transfer week which is always an exciting time for the missionaries as a transfer means new companions, new adventures, and a change of scenery. For us, we never have a change of companions, we know that we are not changing areas, and we will have to say good bye to the friends we have made when the missionaries move. I think Debbie really was hoping for a change this time because she decided we should move apartments (then said it was all my idea) so this weekend we are moving a couple of blocks away but in the same barrio. (Pictures next issue.)

Two missionaries that we have really grown to love were on their last transfer and have gone home to resume civilian life. Hermana Labeau went home to Logan Utah and Elder Servan went home to Peru.

Hermana Labeau, who we can now call Shauna, was with us for our first three months of our mission and helped us through many of our early challenges and taught us many lessons. Most importantly she demonstrated how to care about people. It is a trait that eludes most men and comes more naturally to the sister missionaries. I really notice it in my companion as well and not as much with her companion. We were excited that we could go to Lima and see both Shauna and Elder Servan at the Temple and wish them well in the next phase of their lives.

Going to Lima is always an adventure because once you are of the bus you are at the mercy of taxi drivers or pickpockets on the combies. When it comes down to it they are about equal. The taxi drivers always give us the gringo pricing to see how much they can rip us off for. On the bus if you have to stand you are luck to still have your pants by the time you get off. I prefer the taxi because I know that it is my hand in my pocket giving away my money.

The funny/sad thing about the free market taxi system is that often we walk away from sever gringo pricing and the driver will go 10 or 15 more minutes without a fare. (Fare, funny name for a transaction that has nothing to do with fairness.) Not that integrity is even in the lexicon of the majority of the taxistas but often they are willing to trade it for what amounts to a buck and a half. Tuesday I had a driver quote an amount (you always settle on the price before you start or you will be sorry) that was two thirds of what we normally pay for a ride that we have taken several times for a moment I thought the pendulum had swung the other way and I was on the winning side. When arrived I paid him the customary fare because he had either treated me fairly and I did not want the crooks to be better off than him or that we had always been treated fairly and he made a mistake that would cost him in the end. Either way it was fare/fair to me.

The other big plus in going to Lima is our visit with Elder and Hermana Cleverly. They have the inside track on everything in Lima and this time they took us to a new restaurant discovery just a few blocks from their home. Chifa food (Chinese) that was outstanding. Good food, good friends, who could ask for anything better.

Our photos storey tells a lot of what we have done in the past two weeks. You will see that we have been to the beach a couple of times and partied with our friends.

We were passing the Plaza de Armas in San Vicente one afternoon and saw this group of traditional dancers. It was very colorful but the tall dancer in the middle had makeup that gave us nightmares for several days. We stopped thinking that they would perform for a while but they started around the park, then, down the street and off into the sunset.

This one of our trips to the beach. This is one of our special families in Mala that are waiting for the opportunity and ability to get married so that the whole family can enjoy the blessings of the gospel together. Five of their children have accepted the gospel. We continue to work with the missionaries, Elder Bearnson and his new companion, and the parents.

We have developed a great friendship with Zulma since we met her with Elders Nova and Garey a couple of months ago and were delighted when she accepted the invitation to be baptized. We had a very special experience assisting her through challenging questions that she had.

Elder Nova is getting ready to bite into this hamburger. This was on our preparation and we all went to Asia to have lunch. This is at the TGI Fridays restaurant, we had to bring our own Dr. Pepper but they supplied the Jack Daniels burgers, Heinz ketchup, and french fries. No pollo and arroz today.

Good food, Good friends, and the good Dr. what more could we ask for.

By now you should recognize Iber and Chabella and this is their wedding day. They were two happiest people in Canete at this moment. (Maybe not when they find out that this is the only picture that turned of their wedding.) We consider ourselves fortunate to be a part of their lives and see them taking this important step in their lives.

The next day we went to the beach with them and took another important step with them.

Elder Servan and Elder Bearnson are the next happiest people on the planet as they experience the fruit of their labors. This past Friday we visited Iber and Chabella and Nicholas and we taught about eternal families and we set a date to go to the temple one year from that day.

Most people don't know this but Debbie is a magician, she can make 5 Kilos of spaghetti disappear. She just needs to invite the Zone over for diner the night before transfers. This has become a tradition in our zone and is one of little things that we do to give something back to the missionaries that share so much with us.

Elder Servan with two more sleeps before he sleeps in his own cama(bed) after two fantastic years.

Hermanas Mendoza and Huertes. Hermana Huertes is temporary misionera from a ward in Lima and was with us for about 5 weeks. Although she is not planning a full time mission she has a plan and it is to get married in just a few months.

We managed to get this picture with Hermana Labeau at the Lima temple taken prior to finding out that we weren't to take pictures in this spot. She has been serving in Ica since December and we had a great reunion.

That is a slight look of fear on Elder Servans face as it sinks in that he will be home in Chiclayo for dinner that night. He has been "un misionero ser obedientes" it has been an honor to be with him.

In between the trips to the beach, the weddings, and lunches at TGIF we always manage to find meaningful service to perform. This was a rather large stack of adobe bricks that we moved from the from of this home, through the home, to back of the home.

Our group photo with the benefactor of our service day in front. This wonderful 80 year old sister was so very gracious for our help and went and purchased a little package of soda crackers for us and while we were carrying the bricks should stood at the door and told some relato (story) that not even the Peruvian missionaries could follow.

Saturday night we invited to Juan Carlos and Adriana's for a Peruano meal fixed by Juan Carlos' mother, sitting between Juan Carlos and I. We even had Peru Cola to go with it. It was delicious and fun. I am not sure how it was Juan Carlos' mother as the conversation flipped from Spanish, English, Spanglish, and bad Spanish.

One thing is for sure she will not have any doubts as to whether we are crazy or not. After dinner we all played a civilized game of UNO. Okay it was cut throat UNO and anything but civilized.

They did not take me seriously when I said that after such a good meal I like to take a siesta but you just have to ask my kids what dad does after Sunday dinner.

Every day is a new and interesting experience for us and most of the time it is a wonderful experience. We have learned that we can expect the unexpected. We have learned that things are only as difficult or easy as we choose to make them. The hand of the Lord is revealed only to those that look for it.

We enjoy hearing from each of you so feel free to drop us a line.

Until next time, WE ARE IN PERU NOW!

2010-03-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

Saludos a nuestra Familia y Amigos

Thank you to those of you that wrote and expressed concern as to whether we were near or affected by the huge earthquake in Chile. Gratefully we are sufficiently far away from the destruction that ravaged that part of Chile. Since the major event on Saturday morning there has been more than 20 aftershocks ranging from 4.5 to 6.3 and yesterday there was a quake of 4.5 in Peru about 450 kilometers north and east of where we live. Again we did not feel anything here.

Saturday morning we went to Mala for a baptism and as soon as we arrived two mothers in the branch were waiting to ask if we had news about the missionaries in Chile. They both have sons serving in Santiago, which was essentially the epicenter of the quake, and were understandably concerned. All we could do was to assure them that the mission president there would be on top of the situation. And he was. By noon all of the missionaries, save two, had been located and through the emergency channels of the Church all families were notified by there respective priesthood leaders. It is amazing to see how effective the leadership network is inside of the church.

Our work here continues, one step forward two steps back(or at least it seems), but it continues. Traditions and habits are difficult to change with the leaders and they easily revert to the old practices. We frequently tell them that we are sure that at the time that whom ever started doing what ever it is that they are doing it seemed like a really good idea, to them, however we now need to adjust to the prescribed way as we find it in the general handbook of instructions. All we can do is love them and try again.

We had heard about the “Norteamericano” that owned the casa next door and we wondered who, what and why they would have a home here, well we found out. A couple weeks back our neighbours, John and Carmen, came to visit their Peru home here in Cañete. They live in Houston Texas now and spend a few weeks here every year. They met here, some years ago, when John was working in the Peace Corp. Carmen was born in Cañete and much of her family still lives here so a few years ago they decided to build a home with a view to perhaps spending more time here in the future.

John and I were sharing some ideas about water purification and water quality. I told him about some information that my sister, Marilyn, had sent to me and that she had said that bleach (here we go again another bleach story) has saved more lives than almost any other chemical. John is an engineer and he concurred and said that he pours a half a bottle of bleach in his water cistern every time he arrives here just a precaution. As I thought about it I thought that it sounded like a pretty good idea.

The water cistern is an 1100 liter tank that sits on the roof of the casa and as I thought about the formula for purifying water with bleach it would take 4400 drops of bleach. With that, theoretically if not actually, the water would be pure enough to drink. How tedious would it be to count out 4400 drops of bleach, in the scorching sun, if you made a mistake there is no way to start over, but John said, “half a bottle.” Instantly that seem like the right thing to do.

On the weekend we started to experience and infestation of ants and the trail lead to the roof so while I was on the roof spreading the lethal dose of DDT and other toxins I decided that today was the day to bleach the water cistern. I called down to Debbie to toss the bleach up to me so she did. I added about half a bottle of bleach to the tank. Regretfully John and Carmen left for home last week before I could ask him what size of bottle he used.

My eyes are stinging, the house smells like a swimming pool, my tan is gone, but our shirts are really white.

We have a few picture to share which tell more of the story of what we have been up to.

Remember the familia Chambergo/Libon? They are one of our special familias in Canete that we have come to love very much. Kiara, front next to me was taught by the hermanas and I baptised her in November. This picture is at the baptism of her half brother, Jean Pierre, Rosa's son. We have visited in their home many times over the months and have experienced the change that they have gone through. You will see more of them in this issue.

But first a little divertido (fun) with our mission familia. Note the kid in the middle with the long blond (rubia) hair. Where she fits in best, in the middle.

It is hard to tell the missionaries apart from the statues as all of the colors mix well. This is our preparation day and we have taken the combie to Quilmana to the Zoo. It is always great to have a little time to relax, visit, and get to know the missionaries outside of there role as missionaries. We really have a special group.

Elders Novoa, Bearnson and Walker taking a walk on the wild side as the four of us went scrambling in the rocky hills next to the park. From the top of these hills which feel like mountains we can see where the real mountains are, the Andes, with peaks surpassing 19,000 feet.

This group of elders love to play football (soccer). It is played on a court like basket ball and is about the same size. Debbie in the middle of this play although she is usually picked first to play goal because they know that the other team will be afraid to drill the ball at her because she will likely kill them.

Thursday is our service project day and today we are assisting the familia Chambergo/Libon level an area at the bank of the canal that passes there home. Rosa wants to plant a garden and with our help she will reclaim an usable piece of ground that has a built in water source. It is interesting to see how as the gospel changes lives it changes the desires and wants of people and they want to better themselves, proving that all motivation comes from within.

Our group photo, missing hermana Whitney as she is the photographer, in front of one of the piles of fill that needs to be moved to build up the bank. We used the fill to make sand bags retain the earth as we built up along the canal. We then placed concrete chunks and rocks to tier back from the sand bags, then back filled the retaining wall compacting with water as we went. Project manager and leader, Debbie, was in charge. The heat was sweltering and everyone kept asking how she managed to keep working.

The project was not quite finished as we ran out of fill but we managed to raise the bank about 4 feet and moved about 10 yards of fill and carried a couple thousand pounds of rocks and concrete.

Later that same day we went with Presidente Huarhua to visit less active members of his branch where we met Vincente and Angelina. We asked her when the last time she bore her testimony was and she answered that she has never had the confidence to get up in church to do so. She then bore a sweet powerful witness. It moved her husband that has not been attending church with her. It was a powerful conclusion to the day.

Earlier in the week we met Rosa and Hubert(Chambergo/Libon) at the Civil Registry in Canete to do the paperwork and application for them to be married. As their padrones we were also the "testigos" (witnesses) which meant that we needed add our fingerprints to the documents before they could be approved for marriage. This is one of the small milagros that attends every thing we do. In order to be the witnesses we needed to have our government ID (Carnet Tarjeta), which they have required of us every time before, which was in the mission office in Lima getting our annual approval stamp. We had nothing offical for ID except for a photo copy of our passports so we took those and with a prayer we went. The first thing they asked for was our carnet so I handed them the photo copies and as the registrar was looking at them the other lady in the office says, oh, they are okay I know them they live in my barrio. Well, we don't know her, never met her. But that was all it took.

Friday at noon we joined the familia Chambergo/Libon at the salon de ceremonies and witnessed them take a very big step toward realizing one of their new dreams.

Huberts parents joined us in this picture with their familia. They were very happy for them and one day I believe the will find out how this blessing will have a big impact on them.

The next morning, Saturday, we attended baptism at the ocean with the elders from Mala. I know that it looks like we got caught not watching and a wave hit us but in reality Elder Bearnson and I were witness and we had to go out to where the baptism was done which meant that we had to go out to waist deep water with Elder Servan and Harold.

After the baptism in Mala we had to catch the bus back to Canete where we had a date with the familia Chambergo/Libon. What a rich experience to culminate the week by baptising Hubert and Rosa. This was also a first in Canete, the meeting started on time, you will never understand how significant that is to have a meeting start on time until you experience it life here.

I know that this picture looks like it should be post scripted with "And they all lived happily ever after." This the end for this family but it is the front end and they are now on the path to happily ever after.

I know that I have said this before but I can't help but to say it again. "I don't know why we are so blessed to have the experiences that we are having, we just are."

You will never see the hand of the Lord until you look for it.

Les amo mucho!!!

Los Whitney en Canete