We are in the mission office today. The office couple needs to go home for a few days, so Tim is learning the finances from Elder Van Dusen. I will probably need to fill in as well, but I'm not needing to train right now, so I thought I'd take advantage and catch up on the blog.
The Chipmans were in Tacna with Elder Pino for a mission tour and zone conference. Members of the church may remember Elder Pino from his talk in General Conference in 2022 about trying, coconut with chili and avocado with sugar. The Chipman's other daughter Megan and her husband Ethan arrived in Arequipa a couple of weeks ago (two days after Alli and Jacob left). So Tim and I went to dinner with Megan and Ethan and the Chipmans returned from Tacna about the time we returned to the mission home.
We began p-day (our day off) on Monday by touring the Santa Catalina Monastery in Arequipa. We frequent a couple of restaurants across the street, but hadn't taken the time to visit the monastery. The monastery was built in 1579 and housed nuns. There are still some nuns there today, but in a part of the monastery that is away from the tourists. It is very large. Here are some photos:
This piano was built between 1798 and 1814
These old time kitchens were found off of most bedrooms
This was an indoor well in the large kitchen
El baño
Bath tub
While at the monastery, the Chipmans invited us to go to lunch with them. While at lunch, they invited us to go to Puno/Lake Titikaka with Lisa, Megan and Ethan. President Chipman wasn't able to go (he had just been with Alli and Jacob) so they had room in the car. We figured we better take advantage while we had the opportunity. I have a lot of photos, but we were only gone from Tuesday morning to Thursday night.
We arrived in Puno Tuesday afternoon. It took 5 hours to drive 180 miles. The highways here are only 2 lanes with many very slow trucks and buses. We stayed on one of the many man made islands on Lake Titicaca made of reeds. We went to a demonstration of how they make and maintain the islands. The islands are roped down in the lake, but they can move it to another location if they want. About once a year they have to lift up their homes and replace the reeds underneath. We also took a ride in a boat made of the same reeds. They fed us fish from the lake and duck eggs, which is what they live off of.
Waiting for our ride to the island:
Heading out to the island
An island next door
Waiting for dinner
Learning about the islands
They had us dress up. The little Peruvian girl was adorable and wanted her picture with us.
The Primary School House
Inside our hut
Outside our hut. Those stairs were a little sketchy.
How we got from out hut to the dining room. You walk on the reeds.
Going for a ride in a boat made of reeds.
Back side of our hut
Trying out some reed. You can peel and eat it.
Heading off the island
View of Puno and Lake Titikaka. The boarder of Peru and Boliva goes through the middle of the lake.
Next, we took Megan and Ethan to Chivay/Colca Canyon. Tim and I had been there already with Claire, the Chipman's niece, but we love it there and we were happy to return.
We arrived in the evening and happened upon this ceremony where they danced with yoked bulls. There appeared to be a judge there. We happen upon little parades and celebrations a lot in the little towns:
These two crashed into each other
All of a sudden a whole flock of condors appeared:
Road block!
Ethan put together this video of their trip which I wanted to share:
Then it was time to get back to missionary work. Since the trip, Tim went to Camana for the Camana District Conference and presented the work they have been doing to make Camana/Mollendo a stake. I sat out this trip because I came down with the Peruvian stomach issue. My second time, but this lasted longer than the first.
During the week we attended district counsel meetings, a ward missionary council meeting, and went out with some missionaries. Tim met a returned missionary at the ward council meeting who had recently returned from the same mission Tim went to as a young missionary, so he was excited to get caught up on the latest there. He found out his little branch in one of his areas is now a stake.
The missionaries we went out with live in a super hilly area with lots of stray dogs. The roads were so steep the taxi refused to drive down or up them. We ended up getting out and walking up the street to meet the missionaries. One of the missionaries has been bit by a dog twice. Luckily, the dogs we encountered that night were friendly. We knocked on doors using a list the bishop had given them and had some luck contacting people. They were able to set up a couple of appointments for later in the week.
We had a nice view from up there:
We also did our usual tasks this week working on things to help the Chipmans stay on course. I did English Connect Thursday and Friday. Today we have 12 missionaries finishing their missions and heading home. We get 7 new missionaries on Friday. So there are things to do to get ready for them.
View of Pichu Pichu Volcano
Finally, yesterday was p-day. We went into the Centro and toured another old church. Our tour guide gave it the old college try and spoke in English, but we couldn't understand him, so I don't have a lot of information about this church. There was something to do with the monk San Francisco.
View of Chachani volcano from the bell tower
This is Pichu Pichu
The bell tower where we were at above
Afterwards, we accidentally ran into the Chipmans while we were shopping. They went with us to our favorite store and then we went out to lunch. We tried to visit a free museum, but it was closed. We'll have to try again next p-day.
