Zone Conference/Pensionistas/English Connect

 This week we were able to get English Connect underway, we visited more pensionistas and zone conferences are already here again.

I am writing from Tacna (south Peru, near Chile).  Our second trip here.  The first trip we visited pensionistas and went to zone conference.  This time we stopped in Moquegua and spent the night so Presidente Chipman could get a head start with interviews for the Tacna zone conference.  These missionaries will bus into Tacna today for the conference tomorrow.  Lisa took us into the plaza area and cathedral, but it was night, so we didn't get many photos.  Here is the inside of the cathedral.

Moquegua is a valley in the middle of a lot of sand and dirt, but there is a river, so the valley is green.  The contrast is striking.  Here is a photo I found on the internet that shows the contrast.

In the morning we drove an hour and a half to Tacna.  Presidente got started on his interviews here and we checked into our hotel and got to work.  Tim contacted a new pensionista here and the one we weren't able to see last time and arranged for Socrates (the mission driver in Tacna) to pick us up after lunch.  We ate lunch near a cathedral in Tacna.  We met Dave there during his lunch break.  Here is a photo at the cathedral that makes me think of Mary Poppins.

I then did some work on the computer for Lisa and after lunch we headed out to the pensionistas.  It went really well.  We enjoy visiting and getting to know them.  After dinner we went out with some sister missionaries to a lesson.  They also brought along their pensionista who is a return missionary.  We had met her on our first trip here.  The lesson was on prophets and that there is a living prophet on the earth today who receives revelation for our time.  It was good timing with General Conference coming up.  This is a man whose 19 year old daughter was baptized two weeks ago and he is set to be baptized a week from tomorrow.  We'll be back in Arequipa and will miss it unfortunately.  We really enjoyed him.  He was very engaged and excited about the gospel.  He gave the hermanas a gift:

Recognize Taylor Swift?  He's a fan of country music as is one of the hermanas.

Here we are after the lesson.  We are all gringos except the pensionista.

So back in Arequipa earlier this week, we visited several pensionistas there.  We went over the new contracts with them as we did in Tacna.  We are trying to keep the missionaries from getting sick.  We found one didn't have a filter and has been boiling the water, so we made sure to get them a filter.  It's really fun to hear their stories and see where they live.  One thing that strikes us is how humble their homes are, but how clean they keep them.  They take great pride in their homes (a good kind of pride).  Here are photos of some of the pensionistas:

We are in front of a potrait of her late husband who died in an auto accident a couple of years ago.  Sorry about the bad selfie.

These are some pensionistas with their grandson

This was a fun couple for me.  They could speak English.  He has lived in Utah and she learned English on her mission.  Their son is learning both Spanish and English.  He was super cute.

Javiar drove us around to the pensionistas.  He is one of the drivers for the mission.  He brought us to one pensionista, who we found out had moved.  So he put the new address in GPS and took us on a wild ride up a mountain.  These photos don't do it justice.  It was quite the adventure.

This is Javier trying to figure out where the address is.  For those who don't have a car they have endless stairs going up.

This was steeper than it looks.

We eventually got a hold of her and met her at her restaurant down below.  Turns out she lives at the bottom of those hills.  We kept saying - no way the missionaries walk up here whenever they need to eat!  

For lunch we went to a mall we'd never seen before.  It was very modern and the three of us got Papa Johns pizza.  A lot of the missionaries were there doing the same thing because it was pday, so that was fun.

The next day was zone conference for the Pichu Pichu and La Costa Zones.  Tim went to the conference, but I stayed in the mission office and got prepared for the English Connect classes later in the week.  I needed to sort out the materials and get them to the right missionaries.  The conference is all in Spanish so I wouldn't understand it anyway, although many times I try, because I really want to learn the language.  

After the conference, Javiar took us back out to finish up the pensionistas.  We were able to visit 2 more during a rain storm.  One pensionista had two boys, a toddler and one about 9 or 10.  She had just gotten home with her kids and led us to a metal ladder type staircase to get into her house in the rain.  She carried her toddler up the stairs while holding an umbrella.  Tim offered to help but she said she was fine.  I guess she has to do it everyday.  It was coming down on the wet steps that was a little sketchy.  

This is the family with the metal ladder stairs.

We also came across this statue of Jesus during our pensionista tour.  It's up on a hill and can be seen as you drive into Arequipa from the west.

Finally, this week was English Connect.  I had prepared a powerpoint to present to the whole mission.  We planned a zoom meeting last Friday at 10:00.  All the missionaries showed up and then, of course, I couldn't share my screen.  Luckily I was at the mission office, so the office elders helped get us on track.  The presentation went alright after that.  Hermana Sheely did most of it since she speaks Spanish.  The first class for Level 1 was yesterday and Level 2 was today.  The classes were very encouraging.  The missionaries seemed very engaged.  So far so good.

Another highlight of the week, was Lisa and I went to lunch at the main plaza of Arequipa after the zoom meeting.  We had a nice view of the cathedral and it was fun to take a minute away from all the busy-ness.

This is getting long, so I'll finish our trip in the next post.