Saludos a Nuestras Familia y Amigos

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

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

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