Hola Family and Friends



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

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



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



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



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

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



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



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

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

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

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

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





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

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

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

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

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

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

Me en Mi Casa the little place we call home.

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

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

The master suite comes complete with a bed and closet.

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

Take care, and we are livin large in Canete!

WE ARE IN PERU NOW!

d. & d.

Hola familia y amigos,


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is a picture of our zone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, WE ARE IN PERU, NOW!

Thanks to Cheryl Carse I can now upload pictures to the blog spot. Cheryl has been a great coach in getting us started with the blog. We hope you enjoy the journey along with us.
This is us at the MTC in Provo Utah and where we took our first steps in to the world of Latter Saint Missionaries. If you take a really close look at our expressions you will see in our eyes that we have just discovered exactly how far from home we are going.
This wonderful young couple are Hermano and Hermana Chauca. Jorge was our "tele-tutor" that tried to teach us espanol over the phone. He did a really good job, we didn't.
This picture was taken at the CCM (MTC) in Lima Peru. We took refuge here for two weeks while another group of maestros attempted to teach us espanol. This peaceful tranquillo part of Lima is where the younger north american missionaries receive an additional 6 weeks of language training. We were the first couple to receive training here. Muy agradicido.
This is our Latino crew, they are all from Latin American countries. They were so polite, kind, and helpful to us. They so wanted us to speak espanol.
These are two angels of mercy, Hma. Ore and Hma. Narciso. When they found out that we only got two weeks of language training and then out to the field, not the mission office, they took pity on us and devised an intensive training schedule and worked with us everyday. Hma. Alegria, Hmo. Revellado, Hmo. Carlos and many others were so good to us. We love them all.
Our north american crew, the highest compliment we can pay to these young men is that there is not a mother in the world that would not be proud to claim them as hers. Hemana Whitney, tambien.
I could not resist the opportunity to put a picture of me at the ocean in Cerro Azul. This funky summer resort is in the Canete area so we went proselyting here one day. We had a seafood lunch in open restaurant by the ocean. We paid for it more than once if you get my meaning.
This is baptism in the Canete Branch. A young sister that the Hermanas had been teaching. Other members of her family had previously been baptised.
The mission President came to town to interview the missionaries so we convinced him to by us all lunch/diner. I was not hard as he loves to eat as much as the next missionary. We all love the president he is on high octane fuel all the time.
Most preparation days (our 8 hours off) we get together as a zone and have fun. This particular day we played games, got messy, sun burned, and ate food. What can I say, any day that includes a sun burn is a great day.
That is flour that Elder Leon is taking bite of, some games you just don't want to lose.
We had been walking for about three hour this day and we encountered this little parade of children in traditional dress dancing in the street. They celebrate many things here and this must be one of them.

We were back in Mala this past Saturday for a baptism and took this picture from the 3rd floor window at the Elders apartment. When you look closely at the fore ground of the picture it looks like a demolition site. No, it is just how things look. Some buildings were damaged in earthquakes, some never had a roof to begin with and others were built that way so the could build on top of them. The Church is on the main floor of this building

I don't know how I duplicated this picture because you can only see part of why I took the picture. Look at the crosses, they all lean. They have been leaning for years. This across the street from our chapel.

Here we are it looks like we are waiting for a bus
We were waiting for a bus. There is no baptismal font at the chapel so charter a bus and take everyone that wants to go down to the ocean where we hold our service and have the baptism.
We meet in the shelter of the rocks and have our service. It is really a spiritual meeting, at least at this time of the year when there is almost no one at the beach. The few that were there came and joined our service.


Just as they were baptizing Darril a wave hit them from behind and almost swept him away. It was all that Elder Boulton could do to hang on to him.
This is Elder MacAlister in the middle. He is the Branch President in Mala. He does a great job and the people love him.
This humble church is in Quilmana (Kill-mah-naw). It is also in our district. It takes about an hour to get here from our place in Canete. Words to describe the circumstances here are hard to articulate because the feeling that you have meeting with Saints here eclipses what you feel in any of the new well appointed buildings in north america.
A fond adios to Hermana Cure. Her mission actually end several months ago and when she came home to Lima Peru the asked her to serve anther 3 months as a ward missionary here because they were one sister short in the mission. So last night we had the missionaries from the zone come to our home for cake and to say good bye to everyone that was being transferred today.

We did get our furniture sorted out on Saturday and we are finally settled. We have created a very comfortable home and feel quite safe in this environment. Outside of our little haven is a bit different and we must be very careful about the places and the times we go.

We have been having an amazing week visiting less actives (menos activos) and investigators. We have sisters in the branch where we live so it is easy for us to do splits. I take a member of the branch and his wife and one sister to interpret and we visit menos activos and Debbie and the other sister visit investigators.I could never have imagined that the Lord could work through us to affect the lives of people here, especially with the pittiful amount of language we have.
We have 4 branches(approximately 1400 members in total) and 12 missionaries in our district that we are asked to motivate, strengthen, and watch over, in a general sense. We are still in the process of getting to know each branch.

If you are interested we have wonderful story, true story, that we would love to share with those that believe in miracles. Write and we will send it.

Love
Elder and Hermana

Peru 4
The Elders and the Sisters that serve in Peru live in places that they can get their laundry done for them and back to them that day. We aren’t close enough to anyone that does laundry. So we went out and bought a washing machine. They do not sell dryers in places like Canete as the power is so expensive, and the people are so poor. They hang their clothes on the line, sometimes for days in the winter as it is cold and takes longer to dry. So I feel very fortunate to have a washer, there is no hot water hooked up to it so I heat water and exchange it for the cold that is running in to the washer. For whites only ! We have a fridge and it is wonderful I may be the only person that has ice cubes. The Peruvian people do not drink cold drinks as they think it will give them a sore throat.
We were supposed to get a closet from the other place we were going to rent from and it seems that we just aren’t supposed to get it. The guy that is coming from Chincha (a small town 45 min. south) doesn’t come or the home owner isn’t at home when he said he would be.
Doug has gone through 2 and ½ tubes of silicone and about 3 bags of DDT and it looks like we are winning this bug battle. Although somewhere there was a pod of fruit flies that are ¼ the size of the Canadian fruit flies they attacked our faces all day. It was quite gross. The funny thing about buying appliances in a different country…you may not know how to work them and the instruction manuals are in Spanish ! Thank goodness for English, Spanish speaking Elders. We found a place to buy spaghetti noodles and sauce. What a treat. To this point we have pretty well been living on crackers, and bread. We do know where all of the burnt “chip ahoy” cookies are sent… Peru ! Really. But then I look at the pkg. and they are made here. I would make cookies, but I have yet to find a grocery store that sells baking ingredients. We are headed to Chincha for a Regional Zone Conf. we have been told that there are stores there. We are excited, even Doug is looking forward to shopping ! We’ll see if he gets brain burn this time.
We had a great multi Zone Conf. Elder Nash and his wife of the 70, our Area President, and Pres. Manning and his wife. That morning while getting ready to leave to catch a taxi to catch a bus for a 45 min. bus ride, the power went out. My hair was still wet and we had to leave. Guess it is a good thing we only have bread in the fridge.
We take the Pan American Highway to Chincha. Along the way is miles and miles of desert, and much of it has been turned into a dump. There were probably over 1000 acres of garbage. Then we came to a beautiful green valley that is full of all kinds of crops, but this is where the water runs off from the mountains and they use every drop.
Elder Nash gave Doug and Elder McAllister (who is serving as a branch pres. as well as serving a mission) a plan. That is to have one strong and worthy person(couple) in our branches take one couple to the Temple. If it takes a year, it takes a year. But then those 2 strong people take a worthy couple to the Temple. So we will are to teach this concept to the branch pres.
After our meeting our little district went to a store called “sodimac” it is a very simplified version of Home Depot. They sell duct tape ! They also had some other household items that we had been looking for. Like a rug. There are no rugs, or carpets. There is way too much dirt. But we bought one for the kitchen and one for in front of the couch, as a treat for our feet. Then we went to a grocery store. They had brown rice, rolled oats, canned tuna in water, and canned beans. These beans really want to be pork and beans, but they used the wrong kind of beans, but they are fine. I found brown sugar too. But no baking soda, and no cookie sheets or loaf pans. They did have zip lock baggies. Now that was a score as we have not even seen plastic wrap. Our Elders were really weighted down with carrying all of our stuff. Still no veggies or meat. Only one other problem, we have nothing to put food or dishes or pots and pan in! Houses don’t come with cupboards ! The next day I spent washing the windows in our new place. Now the glass is so very thin that you can crack it very easily. They have used a putty to put the glass into the frame and it is dried out and falls out when you wash the windows. So the windows are about as clean as they are going to get. Doug made screens and used the duct take we found at “sodimac”. Then Doug ran across the street to look at cupboards. We both go look and we think we have made a deal to buy one and it will be delivered in ½ hour. So we wait, and wait, and wait. Oh we still are waiting for our closet to get here as well. Finally Doug goes back across the street and puts a bit of a fire under the guy to get it delivered. Soon we have a cupboard. Wow, we have a place for our dishes and food. It is coming together. Although we are still living out of suitcases. It is fun to have the Elders drop by and visit to see if they can help us with anything. They have been so very helpful and kind. It will be sad when they go home or are transferred. All the homes are built of cement or bricks, if you are lucky. Others are built from dried woven strips of bamboo, and dirt floors. There are no furnaces. And right now during the winter it is cold. O.K. not Canada cold, but it is colder than I thought.
Tonight we had rice and beans for dinner. I fixed it on our new little gas stove. They use natural gas so they don’t need regulators. Oh, I forget to mention that we meet some one from church that is from Drayton Valley, Alberta. His name is Reese Woolsey. And he is the father of David Woolsey that was in the single adult ward when we were serving there. He is working here on a gas pipeline.
We had a missionary activity and after watching a church video we played a game. Then everyone got a pkg. of soda crackers and a cup of pepsi. The turnout was fair. They sell crackers and cookies in small pkgs. of 4 - 6 or 8.
Doug is having some stomach troubles. We got some medication, but it just keeps hanging on. We have not been able to figure out if it was something specific that he ate.
Or because he hasn’t really been eating much more that rice, beans and bread. We found some cereal, it does not go soggy in milk, which is a bit frightening. We decided that we needed a meal so we went to a restaurant and had chicken!
There is an older man that has a fruit cart. The front of the cart is a large metal basket 3x5 which sit on an axel with 2 wheels and is propelled by the business end of a bike. He walks through our neighbourhood and we buy fruit from him. Although we are still pretty new at this and don’t know if he is ripping us off. We have been pleased to have this special delivery of fresh fruit. I am still looking for the avacaods.
Wed. the 15th Doug and I went on splits. Doug went with Bro. Pedro, his wife and Hermana Lebeau. She is from Logan, Ut. I went with Hermana Cure. She is from Lima and doesn’t speak English. So she and I head off. We are not 30 feet from the others and she is asking for directions from someone. Then we get to the Pan American Highway and we need to get a ride south about 15 min. But we start walking north, I don’t know why, I don’t speak Spanish. Then she asks another person for directions, now I am getting a bit concerned. We walk back to where we turned north, walked across the street and tried to get a combi. Well combi’s can not go on the highway they are too slow and could easily be crushed by buses and semi’s. So we go back across the street where Hermana Cure asks an old man about how to get to our location. He says stay here and catch a bus. So we wait, but a taxi comes and the old man says get in. So we get in. We are let off at where Hermana Cure believes we are supposed to be, but it has gotten dark and as we approach some houses there are men sitting around and they start to whistle. She grabs my arm and says, let’s go. So we start walking on the Pan American Highway which at this point is really just a 2 lane highway with little shoulder, and no street lights. In my mind all I can think of is a TV show called, “Without a Trace”. Hermana Cure says at the next settlement is the place we are looking for. So we walk. The man that is standing there says no, not this place, there is a phone at the next place so on we walk. Hermana Cure calls the people. We were at the right place to begin with. So we trudge back and have a very nice visit with the new members and encourage them to keep coming to church. Her husband has not yet joined the church as he has a word of wisdom problem but is working hard to overcome it. We say a prayer and are thankful for our safety and head off to out next appointment.
Doug’s visits went very well they challenged two families to come to church and gave 5 priesthood blessings.
We still have no closet for our clothes, but it is supposed to be here on Thurs. the 17th for sure ! Doug and I can’t leave our home on Thurs. as our closet is supposed to come at 10 a.m. We get a phone call from the Elders, which is funny as we have no phone. But there are inactive members behind us that have a phone and the Elders call them, they run over with the phone and then we wait for the Elders to call back. You can call to a phone with no charge, it cost the person calling. So the closet isn’t coming until 12. That is fine we can study. Then we get another phone call it isn’t coming until 3 p.m. At 4 the Elders come to our house. They are quite upset. The owner of the house did not let the technician in his home to take the closet apart. So we have made arrangements to have it delivered Sat.
We found Kanapali ! That is actually the name of a place in Maui. But Doug and I went to the resort town of Cerro Azul (Blue Hill) and there was a sign over a door that said Kanapali. This resort town is supposed to be a hot spot, in the summer. Right now it is a quite town. As Doug and I were walking down the street a man sees us and asks us something about, el Libro de Mormon. So we kind of ask him if he is a member, but he just waves us on to a restaurant and asks us to sit down. So we sit and he goes and gets a Bible. We tell him it isn’t a Book of Mormon, and then we get his name and we give him a pamphlet. We will send the Missionaries over there to find him. He was pretty excited to see us. So even with limited language skills we can still do some good. We ate in a restaurant by the ocean. We had sea food. It was so very delicious.
It’s Sat. and we are staying home as our closet is really going to come today, I just know it is. And it does. What a blessing. We can hang up our clothes and put things in drawers.
It seems that every time it rains, my dryer breaks. Which actually just means there is no sunshine to dry our clothes. When it rains it is just a fine mist. With all the dirt you would think there would be a lot of mud. But the moisture just gets absorbed into the ground. We are starting to feel a lot more settled.
We would love to know how you and your families are doing. It may take awhile to answer, but you and your families are important to us.

Peru 3

Doug and I were picked up from the Peru MTC on the 4th of Sept. after 2 short weeks of Spanish lessons. We felt a wee tiny bit better, but still not conversational. Sister Manning took us shopping for items that we would need in Canete. We then went and picked up Pres. Manning and headed off, but not before we had a treat of ice cream. I now know that was to soften us up. It is about a 2 hour drive. The highways are very interesting here. There may be a 4 lane highway but there are 7 cars & trucks abreast at any one time. There are very few signal lights used and you pretty well go at your own pace, but if you don’t keep up…watch out. There are 2 toll booths along the way. On the other side of each one a handful of police officers stand. If they think they can give you a ticket, they pull you over. We got pulled over twice. The first time was because of the tinted glass on the SUV. You must have a document that gives you permission to have tinted windows, the Pres. had all papers in order. The next toll booth we were pulled over again. This time the officer said we were speeding. The Pres. asked how he knew we were speeding and what about all these other people that are driving by really fast right now? The Pres. speaks Spanish very well. Then he had to show him the papers for the tinted windows. Then the police man said, that he just got a call from his captain saying that we we speeding. So the Pres. said, you are discriminating against us because we are North Americans. This went on for about 20 minutes. But there was no ticket issued. We got to Canete and it was dark. It get’s dark here about 6. So we went up to our new apt. to find that pretty well nothing had been done since we were last here. The owners had decided that the kitchen would be outside and had a brick layer come and start to fashion a laundry sink on the other side of this outdoor kitchen for the laundry room. The Pres. was concerned as to how this outside kitchen was going to really work. It is just a small ledge off the back of the house. The stove is a 4 burner glorified camp stove with an oven. The stove did not have a gas regulator so Doug went downstairs to their kitchen to see how their stove is hooked up. We were concerned about cooking with gas in a room with no ventilation. We sat in this apt. trying to think of how this was going to work. The idea of preparing and cooking food outside really was not sitting well with me. The owner suggested that we just have our meals with them, no problem. The Elders and Sister have pensionista ( a place where their meals are fixed for them) . When Doug heard this he called for a private meeting without the homeowner. Doug said that there was no way he would be able to eat there having seen the state of the kitchen. I had also just disclosed the fact that I have colitus and was suffering at this very time with a flair up. Yet we sat and waited for something to happen. And finally 4 angels appeared. Elder Tanuvasa, a Hawaiian from Oregon and Elder Groosman from Lewiston, Idaho Elder Saavadra from Bolivia, and Elder Fuents, Peru. They had come to help carry the fridge upstairs to our apt. There was no fridge. It was on it’s way from Lima. But not really. We told them that we had serious doubts about being able to stay here, even after all the work they had done, cleaning, painting and hauling furniture up the stairs. They had even hooked up electricity to heat the water in the shower. They have no hot water tanks. Most people in Peru have never had a shower with hot water. Elder Tanuvasa said, I think I know where there is a place for rent. So the 4 of us hopped into the Pres. car and the 4 of them jumped into a taxi. Taxi’s are everywhere. I think they hide under the dirt. We drove out of town a short way and into a gated community. We drove to this quaint little casa (house) there was a piece of paper on the window with a phone #, the Pres. called. The owner was here is such a short time it has made us wonder what the rest of Peru is thinking. We got in and looked around. It has all of the essentials for living, a kitchen, bathroom, living area and 2 bedrooms. The Pres. made a deal with the man about the rent and we looked at each other and said, this is the place. We agreed to meet the man the next day to pay the rent and get the key. Now we needed to get some furnishings. So off we went to town. It’s about 10:00 p.m. Electra is just closing it’s doors, this store is similar to Leons (on a much smaller scale). Has a bit of everything. We tried to get in but they were just closing. There were a couple of people that we tried to let us get in just to have a quick look. No luck, but they did bring out a couple of flyers for us to look at, and told us to come back tomorrow. Not knowing if the people that we were going to rent from would sell us any of their furniture we needed to get prices for everything. The Elders headed off to their apt. in Imperial and we went to look for a place to stay. But the question was, do we stay or go back to Lima and come back tomorrow with the Pres and his wife. They decided to leave us in Canete. ALONE ! And thus the reason for the ice cream ! The Pres. found a place for us to stay. Although this place has a no star rating because they don’t rate in the “ – “ side of the scale, the bathroom was…better than I had thought it would be. The Pres. did take us for some dinner. We were tired, hungry and just a bit in shock. After dinner we were dropped off and told, buenas suerte ! “good luck” There was a casino below the room, and some kind of fiesta going on in the town square just ½ block away. I am thankful for earplugs. Although we slept on the least amount of the bed as possible, they were twin beds, there wasn’t much sleep. The next morning we got up showered and packed our stuff and put everything on the beds. We decided we could do this and went out to look for breakfast. We did a lot of walking. Not too many places open for breakfast, that looked real safe. So we found a tienda (store) and bought 2 – 4 pks. of ritz with cheese and 2 bottles of water, went to the town square where Doug had his shoes polished and we ate our crackers. The Elders came to the Hostel to help us get all of our stuff to our new casa. We got to the new place and waited about 20 min. and the wife of the owner came. She was mad, and raised the price of the rent. We could not figure out what she was so upset about, then I figured it out. She thought that all 6 of us were moving in. She would not honor the agreement that her husband had made the night before, this took 2 hours before she would give us the key. We finally got it all worked out and they wanted a contract, we said no, but we want a contract saying you will not raise the rent again. We got that. In Peru once a landlord has let a tenant into the rented property they can not evict them. It’s a law. The owner has no rights! So we pile all of our stuff into the house and we are off. One set of Elders have to go to the place we were going to rent and ask them if they would be willing to sell any of their furniture, and then meet up with us at Electra to let us know. No cell phones for the Elders here. (or us) We got shopping and found out that these people do not want to sell anything. They have a couple of houses that they rent and it was just extra furniture. So we need a bed, couch, kitchen table, stove fridge. Great this place sells it all. It takes well over 4 hours to get this transaction accomplished. Will they deliver it, yes. Today? Yes. So a truck pulls up some time later and takes the couch from off the floor, the kitchen table from off the floor and a fridge. The stove comes later. Carmen who is the sales clerk form last night looks at Doug and I and tells the Elders that she heard us talk 2 weeks ago at the fireside. She is a member. (inactive, probably due to the fact that she was at the fireside!) Our first contact with a member. We all jump into a taxi and head for our place. There is a wardrobe at the other apt. that needs to be dismantled and brought over to our place, but we have to have a man from Chincha 45 min. south of Canete come and do this. He comes to town on Wed. So we get all of this stuff delivered and they really don’t care that they have put a hole in the furniture or scratched it all up. It got delivered. So all this happened Sat. Doug and I had been able to get a loaf of bread from a store somewhere but had nothing to eat all day. The Elders left and said, your bed has to come from Chincha it will come tomorrow after 4. Great. We can sleep on the mini version of a couch and love seat. Things are smaller in Peru. The next morning we get ready for church, take a taxi and get lucky, he knows where the capilla(chapel) of the Mormones is. We get home after and waited for our bed. We had some toast for dinner. The bed didn’t come. We slept on the couch again. If I were to lay down on the couch I would be too long to lay between the arms. Monday, it’s preparation day, so the Elders come into town to discover that we have no bed. We all go into Electra and after 2 hours they say that the truck it was coming on broke down and they sold our bed to someone else. But it will be here tomorrow. The Elders went to help us get some supplies, like food. So we go to the “Pibe” market, it is a very sad and small version of walmart, oh who am I kidding it isn’t even close but it is all there is. We get some milk off the shelf, cereal, spaghetti and a couple bags of spaghetti sauce. They sell nothing fresh. We then go to the market. This market is well, it is hard to describe. There is a lot of stuff for sale here. This market is huge, it is outside and it is far from “Costco”. They have meat and meat “parts” but no one knows for how long they have been hanging around the flies and the dogs, and the dirt. I think you get my picture. Although Doug was getting so hungry he actually asked if I would consider buying meat from there. (hunger does funny things to your mind) We do not buy any food from this market. There are insecticides for killing all of the living things in our house that moved in. We do buy that. Doug bought some silicone and he is going to fill in all of the gaps around the windows. Hey, I am happy we have windows. No bed, but we have windows. Building standards in Peru, do not exist. We took the Elders to lunch because it was their preparation day and they really were not having fun and did not get to e-mail home. We felt really bad about that. We know how important it is to have internet access. Tues. the 8th David and Erica Herrick, Doug’s cousin and his wife were in Lima. They were on a tour. We really wanted to go to Lima and visit with them. But we knew that our bed would be coming and we also had a zone meeting. We are very sad that we did not get the opportunity to visit with them, and our bed did not come. The member that works at Electra felt very bad, she called a friend and asked if they would lend us a new bed they had just bought. That didn’t happen either. So we made our bed again on our mini furniture. Speaking of the internet. We tried several different applications and then found a guy that came and installed a receiver on the roof Friday morning, it is all very suspicious as we pay our neighbour for our internet. Who knows this is Peru. It worked great that day and then nothing. We tried leaving notes with our neighbour that hooked us up with this guy, but no response. We hit the internet café, for a brief check on our e-mails. The cost, 1sole for 1 hour, that is .33 cents. Wed. our bed came ! It was advertised as a queen size, which are the size sheets that we had bought, it is a double. Well, as Elder Tanuvasa says: “ You Are In Peru NOW !!!” That statement is so true. We are in Peru now. This is the real thing. This is a week late and I have so much more to share, but just one last item for tonight. The neighbourhood we were going to live in that was supposed to be safe. An educated well dressed woman was attacked, her hair cut off everything stolen and worse before help came. There was a reason that apt. never came together. We are being watched over. I have another week that I want to share with you, but it is late and our days start early. May this find you and all of your healthy and happy.

Sept. 3, 2009 CCM/MTC Lima Peru

Here it is our second week in the MTC in Peru. The menu has not changed, rice, potatoes, bread, although one day you may get a bit more potatoes than rice. yea, not really. Every lunch they serve jello in small dessert bowls. 2 nights ago we had chocolate cake for dessert. Last night, molded jello with all the leftover jellos of the past 2 days and...the chocolate cake! Nothing goes to waste here, except to my waist. Our hardcore schedule for learning the spanish language did change. It had to or they would be carrying out 2 body bags. We were dragging everything. We no longer have class with the young missionaries, which I miss as we sing hymns in spanish at the opening and closing of our day. Doug and I, not so much. We have a tutor in a classroom to ourselves. We were under the impression that we would be leaving Lima to go to Canete which is where we will be living. It is about 1 3/4 hours south of Lima. It was shaken quite badly 2 years ago by an earthquake. And a lot of the rubble is still waiting to be gathered up. The MTC Pres. and his wife went down there on Sunday and took pictures of the area, and our apartment! It still has no hot water tank, stove hook up or a kitchen sink. It did get a lovely leather couch.(really) We are still not sure if we will leave Friday as had been previously arranged as we have to come back next Tuesday to go to Interpol to get our resident cards. Now I don't know about you but when I hear the word Interpol, I think James Bond. An office that is high tech, clean, bight lights, roomy with a lot of really important people just waiting for you to look at them wrong and they push a button and you fall through the floor, never to be seen again. Well, in Lima that is not even close to what you see. This office is on the main floor of a building that is at least 90 years old. (not well preserved) there is a guy sitting at a desk looking a a computer screen, probably playing frogger. You step down into a room that has a few desk type chairs in it, not enough for everyone to sit down. It has windows but they are covered with blinds that have never been opened, and the only other light is from 2 ceiling lights with 10 watt blubs in each one. Not that you would want too. Here your escort (someone has to help you apply, the church as a young lady that works for the Church that does this) First you wait, and then wait because you are never the first person there. Then, you get your teeth checked. This is in case you are incinerated while in Peru they can identify you. A man has you lay down on a chair that at one time about 6 centuries ago could have been used by a dentist. You open your mouth, he does not use any instruments, he has a piece of paper with your name on it and he marks a X on a diagram of upper and lower teeth, he puts a mark on the paper that looks like it may be a tooth that has a filling in it. Then you stand and wait to be called again. This same man... now is going to finger print you. But not just your fingers, your whole hand ! You then get to have your photo taken, and you can smile, if you know that before the picture is taken. I, of course look like I just robbed a bank. Our transportation while in Canete will be our very own, legs. Which is fine, I can work off some of the total starch meals we have been getting. But if we need to come back up to Lima we have to take a bus. Now we have heard about the buses in the city and of course we have seen and heard them. These are 2 of teh very most important items on any vehicle in Peru, the brakes and a horn. If you are walking down the road every taxi driver honks to see if you want a ride, not just the ones going your way either. Or they honk because you have slowed down to turn a corner or they just got their horn replaced because the other one wore out. Driving in Lima, no thanks. Almost every car we see has some kind of dent in it or has patches of bondo where it got hit.Our adventures continue. We are thankful for all of your prayers and well wishes.Tune in next week...love to all, whitneysinperu.