It's been two weeks since we were in Tacna. While there Socrates (the mission driver in Tacna) took us to about 14 pensionistas. It took us a couple of hours on Thursday after we arrived and all day Friday during zone conference. We took a lunch break and ate with the missionaries.
We finished up the pensionistas on Saturday morning. I've probably mentioned before, but the mission pays the pensionistas to feed the missionaries. The pensionistas sign a contract stating that they will follow certain guidelines in order to avoid the missionaries getting sick. For example, they don't feed them pork, lettuce, strawberries, and unpasteurized milk and cheese. And we give them each a water filter for their kitchen sink. We did our initial visit 6 months ago and wanted to make contact and see how things are going. Some pensionistas had changed as well, so they hadn't been visited at all.
This couple is a new pensionista. He told us he is 80 years old and she is a little younger. It's a lot of work to feed three meals a day to the missionaries. Although they do have sister missionaries.
Another dog on the roof during our pensionista tour
We also ate dinner at the hotel with the Chipmans and the Oteros on Friday night. The Oteros are the senior couple from Lima who have been assigned to Tacna, so we don't see them very much. They are going gangbusters down there though. They are fantastic missionaries!
Chipmans, Oteros and Tim and I
The next day, Saturday, was Peru Day. It's like Independence Day in the States. The stake there was holding a celebration, so we stopped by. A lot of dancing and food. We are a little wary of eating potluck here, so we ate lunch at the hotel.
The next day we went to Stake Conference in Tacna where the Chipmans spoke. Tim, Lisa and I arrived early (President was already there), so we waited outside where it was sunny and warm and played with this stray dog. He liked to chase the reflection of the phone around on the ground.
After the meeting we left for Arequipa and made it home safe and sound after a 5+ hour drive. I don't remember if I have described what it's like to drive on the roads here between cities. They are all 2 lane roads (no freeways) and you can go as fast or as slow as you want. There is a lot of driving up steep hills behind slow trucks and then straight aways where you can floor it and pass all the trucks you need to. The drive to Tacna is 230 miles and it takes 5 to 6 hours depending on the traffic. It would take more like 3+ hours on a freeway.
Here are photos of the last zone conferences:
Zone conference for Pichu Pichu and Misti Zones
Zone Conference for La Costa and Chachani Zones
Zone Conference for Tacna and Ilo Zones (we were out visiting the pensionistas)
I failed to mention that a couple of weeks ago we hosted a Family Home Evening at our home. Something we've been wanting to do. The Elders brought a family of 4 over - a mother, son and 2 daughters. The Elders taught a lesson and Tim and I shared our testimonies. Then, of course, we served a treat. They were about an hour late (Peruvian time + traffic), so we couldn't do much more than that because the missionaries have a curfew. It was a lot of fun and we hope to do that more.
Anyway, the week was a lot more of working in the office and teaching the missionaries English. Last week Hermana Sheely couldn't teach, so Tim filled in to help translate for me. I thought we made a good team.
We feel pretty tired after a day at the office, so we haven't been making an effort to go out with the missionaries in the evening. We missed it so this last week we toughened up and arranged to go again to the La Joya branch about an hour and a half away to the Branch Family Home Evening . Javier took us again. The President has been concerned about the baptismal font they use out there so this is us checking it out:
They fill it with a hose and its pretty awkward to use. Also on the other side of that wall is a very far drop which isn't safe for children. Sometimes they get special permission to baptize in the river nearby which is pretty cold, but very cool.
This is Elder Orben giving the lesson
Here is the game we played. Again, it required Spanish so I stepped out and took photos
I got another good video of Tim though:
This is Tim's version of the Chicken Dance.
We also tried to go out with the Hermanas last week. Just before we left to meet them, President called and asked if we could fill in for a missionary that was sick. We told him we had already committed to the Hermanas. Then the Hermanas called and said their appointments had cancelled, so we told them not to worry, that President had asked us to help the Elders. So we called the Elder who was sick and he said all their appointments were video calls, so he could do it. So we struck out all the way around 😢. Tim then went back to the office and got some more work done and I worked from home.
Somewhere along the way we went for a hike with the Chipmans down below the temple on our day off. We ran into some sheep:
A house built upon a rock
This is the river that runs through Arequipa
Inside during sacrament meeting
The building where the branch meets
On our last p-day we met Bryan and Alicia for lunch. She is our friend who was recently baptized and Bryan is her fiance who is a returned missionary. I believe I've written about them before. We try to stay in touch and are excited for their wedding. They were going to the temple after lunch to do baptisms. We got caught up on some things and then went to dinner with the Chipmans and played cards after.
A couple of other things I failed to report - we have felt 2 1/2 earthquakes since we have been here. One was about a 7.2 out on the coast of Peru, south of Lima. It was an unpopulated area and didn't cause much damage. We are on the 7th floor so our building sways. It was the middle of the night, but
we happened to be awake enough to feel it. We felt a smaller aftershock later on that night. Then we felt an earthquake about the same size in northern Chile. It also didn't cause much damage because of its location, but those are good sized earthquakes. A faraway volcano has also erupted, but nothing serious.
