Life as a Missionary

The last couple of weeks we've had the opportunity to go out with the missionaries quite a bit.  We've also been trying to get to know the members and leaders of the ward we've been attending (Alto Libertad Ward).  We met with the bishop and arranged to do some visits with him.  We were able to catch a couple of people at home.  We visited an active family with a daughter and son.  And we talked with an inactive sister outside her home and set up a time to meet with her family and give them a message later in the week.  After we said goodbye to her, her husband returned home and instead set up a meeting with the bishop because his marriage was in trouble.  Not sure how that went.  We cancelled our appointment so he could meet with the bishop.

We also spoke with another inactive member outside his home.  We set up an appointment to meet with his family in a couple of days, but they cancelled later so they could visit a family member at the hospital.  We still need to try to reschedule that one.

We also went out with Jhon, the missionary leader again.  We didn't have much luck finding anyone home, but we sure got some good exercise walking up a lot of steep hills trying.  I put it down to experiencing what the young missionaries go through many nights when they don't have any luck.  You have to be very careful not to let it discourage you.

Tim and Jhon walking up the street towards Chachani volcano.

We ended the night at the Elder Quorum President's home.  We spent time getting to know him and have since seen him at church and at the temple where he works as a sealer.  His granddaughter was home and was excited to show us her two chicks.

We also went out with two Hermanas one night.  Their first appointment rescheduled so we stopped by to check on an investigator.  We spoke with him outside his home for a little while, while pigeons flew all around us.  The hermanas told us they have both paid for it in the past, but luckily we got away clean this time.

We then went to their next appointment accompanied by a recent member from their ward.  She was very impressive and bore a strong testimony.  We taught a daughter and her mom.  The mom lives with her boyfriend, so until that changes she won't be able to be baptized.  She also had another daughter and son, both too young for baptism, but they were very cute and participated in the lesson.  Your never too young to learn.  The hermanas were late for their next appointment, so they told us they were going to sprint to it and that they'd see us later.  Suddenly they came sprinting back up the street that they had turned down, which turned out to be full of barking dogs.  They decided to run down a different street.  It was a little humorous to see.  We chatted with the ward member while we waited for Javiar to pick us up.

Sometime during the week, President Chipman asked us to go to Tacna to represent the mission at a stake conference there.  It was one of the 3 stakes in Tacna.  There were 3 stake conferences in the mission that week - Zamacola, Tacna and Ilo.  The Chipmans went to Zamacola, the first counselor in the mission presidency was asked to go to Ilo because he lives closer, and the second counselor is not able to travel right now because of his health, so President asked us to go to Tacna.  Representing the mission means we give a talk.  When we've been to Tacna before, we have driven with the Chipmans.  This time they weren't going  to Tacna, so we had to start looking into bus tickets, which we were not excited about, but we could deal with if we rode one of the nicer buses.  I think we were actually happier about giving talks than riding 7 hours on a Peruvian bus.  Before we bought the tickets though, we were asked to go to Ilo instead, which is about a 4 hour bus ride.  Better, but still not fun.  There were, however, only tickets available to Ilo on the economy buses.  So as pampered as we are, the mission hired Javier to drive us there and we made a hotel reservation for him as well.  

In the meantime, I wrote a talk in English, then translated it into Spanish.  I practiced the talk in Spanish and it took me twice as long to give it than in English.  So I tried cutting it down and it still took too long, so Tim agreed to read the scriptures and quotes for me which have more difficult words to pronounce.  I practiced and practiced pronouncing the talk.  At stake conference we sat on the stand.  We were second to the last speakers on the program.  As it got closer and closer, it became obvious that by the time we finished our talks it would be time to conclude the meeting and the stake president wouldn't have any time to speak.  I was kicking myself for not preparing a short testimony in Spanish to give instead.  And I had no idea how to shorten my talk in the spur of the moment since it was in Spanish.  So, because I read Spanish so slowly, we made the quick decision that only Tim would talk.  I spent the next 24 hours second guessing my decision, but what can you do.  I made a pledge to start studying Spanish every day, but I get so busy I've already broken that pledge.

We took this after the Ilo stake conference with the missionaries that serve in Ilo

On our way out we took a photo with Javier (our driver).  Ilo is on the coast of Peru and we wanted to get a photo of the ocean.  It was a little windy.

Then the following Friday, the ward asked us to speak in two days.  And low and behold I had a talk all ready to go that I had been practicing.  So I guess it turned out.  Except that the stake presidency and the Area 70 all decided to visit the ward that day.  It was a surprise, but it turned out alright.

After that we made appointments to meet with the counselor in the bishopric and his wife and we went to a Family Home Evening with a family from the ward.  They fed us pizza and the daughter made us promise to come back and show her how to make brownies, so we hope to do that this week.  She is a returned missionary and her mission president was a companion of President Chipman when he was serving in Bolivia many years ago.  She no longer goes to church, so I hope we can make a connection.  We had a really nice visit with the counselor and his wife as well.

The missionaries showed up.  The girl in front of Tim is who we want to make brownies with.  She and her brother speak some English which is good for me.

Another night we went out with these same Elders.  We visited with a member of the ward who lives above the tienda that they own.  We gave her a message and she asked us to pray for her children.  We then visited the Young Women's President.  She is single and lives at home with her family.  She is a returned missionary.  They were a fun family.

The two girls on each end are twins and are 17.  The one next to Tim is the Young Women's President, church chorister and seminary teacher.  Their brother in the hoody is also a returned missionary.

We also went out with other Hermanas that week in another part of Arequipa.  They also had a ward member join us and, again, their first appointment didn't show up (we found out later he rescheduled), so we knocked on the door of someone they new and the next door neighbor came out.  So we taught her instead.  Then we went to their next appointment and she was there and we taught her a lesson about the restoration of the gospel and showed her a video of the First Vision.  It went very well.

While we waited in the plaza for Javier to pick us up, two hombres chatted us up while drinking their cans of beer.  I finally asked them if they wanted to come to church.  But they didn't take us up on it and Javier arrived right then.

It was also time to take the missionaries here in Arequipa to the temple.  We set up 3 days to take them.  It's a favorite thing to do with the missionaires.

This group was all Elders, so I took the photo.  The group was bigger, but some didn't arrive in time for the photo.

We've had a couple of p-days since our last post.  Here are some photos:

We stopped at a place in Arequipa where they sell Alpaca clothing (sweaters, scarfs, coats, etc.) and they show you how the process works.  They let us feed the alpacas.

Here's the alpaca wool.

This woman is weaving the wool.

We also did some exploring through a neighborhood in Arequipa:

Yesterday, Tim and President drove out to Camana for a district conference.  Lisa and I did not go this time.  There isn't anything to for us to do there and we can get more done at home.  We did however, take advantage of it being p-day and we went to a "bean-to-bar" chocolate class near the plaza.  We learned all about the cacao plant, how they harvest the cacao beans and make them into chocolate and how to identify good quality chocolate.  It was interesting and we made some delicious chocolates.

Cacao plant

After class we grabbed some lunch at one of our go to restaurants and then did some grocery shopping.

I thought I'd end with sharing some of what I have been studying.  I've been studying the use of the word "power" - about binding ourselves with Christ and using that power to receive strength to overcome doubt, despair, fear, frustration, heartache, hopelessness and to overcome sin. We receive this power through the Atonement, the covenants we make, and through the priesthood.  It's very comforting to know I have access to this power.  These are some quotes I've posted in my office:

Finally, here are some random photos of Peruvian life:

Very precarious

More dogs on a roof

English Connect Zoom class

Waiting for the hermanas at the church

Out of the Office

The office couple returned to the mission yesterday, so we are out of the office after today.  We filled in for 2 1/2 months.  I don't need to be there anymore, but Tim is there this morning updating Elder VanDusen on the the financial stuff.  The Area changed a few things financially while they were gone, so they are going over that today and getting the month end done.  

Last week was quite busy.  It was transfer week and the office has a lot to do to prepare.  We lost 6 missionaries who completed their mission, 2 missionaries for health reasons and 1 missionary who was visa waiting and left for Ecuador.  We then received 20 missionaries on Wednesday.  7 Latinos and 13 Gringos (only 3 of them were Hermanas - 1 Latina and 2 Gringas).

In the meantime, Hermana Sheely (my English Connect instructor), is taking time off.  Her husband who is the 2nd counselor in the mission presidency (and is Gringo), is having health concerns and they are heading to the States to get medical care.  (I sure hope we aren't next.)  In order to teach the Latino missionaries English, we teach a beginning class on Thursdays for an hour and an intermediate class on Fridays using Zoom for both.  Because I don't speak Spanish, Hermana Sheely teaches the classes (she has about 4 years experience teaching these classes), and I take care of all the technology and administrative part of it.  I do join her during the classes and help out where I can.  Now that she can't teach, I am preparing the lessons (powerpoints) and Tim is helping me with the Spanish when we teach together.  So last week I was taking care of the office responsibilities for the transfers, the teaching responsibilities (teaching and admin) and my usual responsibilities (such as the weekly bulletin) all while fighting a sinus infection.

I share this because I want to express how strengthened I felt during that time.  I know my Heavenly Father is watching over and strengthening us.  I tend to feel a lot of anxiety when I'm under a lot of pressure like that, but this time I never felt like I couldn't handle it.  I did at one point, take time out to realize that I had bitten more off than I could chew, and I canceled classes last week because I just didn't have the time or energy because of my illness to prepare the lessons.  But I felt peace about it rather than failure and guilt like I tend to do.  I'm really grateful for the watchful care we are receiving.  By the way, Tim was also sick, and I know he feels the same way I do.  There were days he needed to be in the office and was able to get there.

Here are some fun photos of some of the missionaries that went home:

These are the 20 missionaries who arrived last week:

Let's see.  What else . . .?

Two of the office elders had a birthday last week.  Their pensionista is also our house cleaner, so she invited all of us over for lunch and cake.  One of the office elders is brand new in the office since the transfers.  We worked for a long time with Elder Quispe in the office and he was transferred out.  He's now a zone leader about 6 hours away.  We'll miss him.  

Elder Bruno's birthday.  He's from Lima.

Elder Collin's birthday.  He's new in the office and from Idaho.

For pday this week we went with the Chipmans on a hike to a waterfall just outside Arequipa.  The drive there was just as much an adventure as the hike.  

Shoe repair

We ended up accidently driving down this outdoor market.  It slowed us down quite a bit.

Then we came upon this, which held up traffic.

We came across a little town with the central plaza and church all cities have.

This was a really fun hike.  A lot of stream crossings.  It hasn't rained in months and we came across a few waterfalls until we reached the largest one at the end of the hike.  We'd like to see how much water there is during the rainy season in February and March.

Now that we are out of the office, we are excited to get back into the field.  Our first trip out was with the Mission Leader of the Alto Libertad ward.  We've been out with him before to visit those who aren't coming to church and those who are being taught by the young missionaries.  We were able to catch a couple of people at home.  We also met with a couple of people who were working in their tiendas (small stores).  We tried to meet with a women who is being taught by the missionaries, but she is being treated for cancer and was at the hospital.  We really enjoy that.  

This is the home of a member who helped us out finding people.

This was the home of a member who couldn't see us, but asked us to return.

This is the home of the women with cancer.

And I had to share another photo of a dog on a roof.

And this is just a fun peruvian photo.  We get these guys all the time driving around and blasting through a megaphone peddling whatever.  I think this guy is actually wanting junk.  It can be very disruptive during a church meeting or zone conference.