Christmas Away From Home

We had a wonderful Christmas!

On Monday the 21st, Sister Casos asked me, Sandy Hartman and Sandie Nield to help her decorate their Christmas tree, they had already put the lights on so we added the ornaments. It was fun.

Monday night the Hartman's were in charge of our Family Home Evening Christmas Activity.  We met in the common area and sang Christmas songs and shared family Christmas traditions.

Then we went to our apartment to play Papa Noel Bingo. The Hartman's read the numbers and we played until everybody got a prize, some more than others. There were some great prizes. The Avocado was a funny first choice.

It was fun to spent the evening with our missionary family here. We have become great friends. We all brought a treat to share.  I made Fruity Pebble treats.  Sandy H. made chocolate cupcakes that were delicious. Sandie N. made some cute wreaths out of Corn Flakes.  Sister Gomez made Picarronis, they are sort of like scones and donuts. Sister Casos made cupcakes with Nutella frosting,  Sister Coacalla brought Chocolate!  We had a great time and appreciate the efforts of the Hartman's for making it fun.

Tuesday we worked at the temple it was very busy.

Tuesday night was a little party with the people who work the afternoon shift at the temple. The Layva's were in charge. We had hot chocolate and panettone cake and little sandwiches.  

This is the Layva's family.  They are great friends.  The kids all speak English so I love talking to them. Stephanie is on the left. She served a mission and graduated from BYU. Juan served a mission and is going to BYU in the fall. Brenda is on the right. She served a mission and is going to BYU right now and will graduate in August. Brother Layva's served as a mission President in Lima and is now in the Bishopric in the California ward. Sister Layva is a coordinator in the temple and she was in charge of the party. They all work in the temple.

Wednesday night we went to the Plaza to see the displays. They were beautiful.

We ate at the McDonalds!  We had a wonderful night. As we walked around there was a little drizzle of rain. I just pretended it was snow falling lightly. I love Wayne for sharing this with me!

Thursday was Christmas Eve!  We had a relaxed morning.  We were happy when it was time to be with our family for the party.  It was fun to see them all and be a part of the party.  We gave a Stuffie to the Grandkids.  We gave the married kids  a Tenzi game and a cheese slicer. I love our wonderful family!!! They are all my favorite people. I miss them all and everything that comes with them. I hope that they all know we love them!

Emily and Natalie did a secret test on Alice and Jayne to see if they are identical twins. Emily had Wayne read the results at the party and now we are all happy to know they are identical. And Wayne told them we will be coming home the end of July for 2 weeks while the temple is closed here. We are excited!

The Fackrell's spent the night here in one of the apartments on Christmas Eve. We visited with them while they made pies for our Christmas dinner.

Christmas morning we went with the Fackrell's to be with the young missionaries for the mission devotional and a talent show.

This is the missionaries arriving. It was so fun to be with all of them. They are great. President and Sister Marler spoke and then the missionaries did their talent show.  I thought this picture was funny because there were a lot of phones and cameras taking pictures.

Jim and Patti Fackrell did a song.

We had Christmas dinner with President and Sister Casos. They made turkey, rolls, gravy, applesauce, and set a beautiful table. We made the potatoes and I did pickles, cheese, and carrots. The Hartman's made Waldorf salad, I loved it, my grandma use to make it for Christmas and Thanksgiving. The Nield's made sweet potatoes and bran bread. They were both great. And the Fackrell's made pie, banana, cherry, and apple. They were yummy.  It was a wonderful meal with great company!  Sister Nield did an activity centered around the birth of our Savior, and we sang a few songs. It was nice.

We had a wonderful day. Thanks to all who helped it to be so.

We received emails from our friends at home and it was great to exchange our well wishes.

Yesterday, the 26th, we went to work at the temple.  It was a good day in the Trujillo temple.

This is a picture of us at the Plaza with President Marler and President Davila. President Davila is a Stake President here. He served a mission here with Wayne 40 years ago. They had a great time talking about old times.  This picture was taken the night the missionaries did their Christmas concert at the plaza. I didn't talk about that, it was great. You can go to the mission blog to see how fantastic it was. Go to Trujillo North Mission Blog

Today for church we went to the Laureles ward. It was good to see our temple friends there.
This is Elder Talbot and his companion. They are both from Arizona. Cornville and Mesa.

I am thankful for my Savior!  His birth is the greatest gift.  One of my friends mentioned in her email some thoughts she shared in her Relief Society lesson. She talked about Mary and how chosen she was. Imagine Mary holding her new baby, knowing he was the Son of God. Imagine her holding his tiny hand with His fingers wrapped around hers.  I wonder if she knew what his hands had done before and what they would do.  I am thankful for Joseph, he must have been a great person for our Heavenly Father to choose him to be the father figure to raise His son. I am so thankful for this Gift, our Savior.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

The Week Before Christmas

We have had a busy week. Sunday we went to the Temple Devotional for the temple workers and their spouses.

There were around 500 in attendance. By the time it started they even filled the stage in the back.

On Monday, we were invited to the Christmas Lunch for the paid temple workers.

Every day this week we have been to the temple early to help with the special missionary sessions.  I love being able to be around the young missionaries. There is a spirit about them that is very sweet. When Wayne and I get to officiate these sessions I get such a feeling of satisfaction and love as I stand before them as the session starts. I often get a little emotional as I smile and look at them all.  They are great kids.

Tuesday morning when the missionaries came, they brought 3 visitors with them. Elder Haakey was here with his parents.  He went home in September but came back with his parents to see Peru. They are from Bountiful. It was so fun to see them and talk to people from home.

Tonight and tomorrow night they will be doing a Christmas Program at the plaza. We are going to go listen.

The Peruvian Sisters I work with me in the Temple are so loving and kind. I have received some thoughtful Christmas gifts from them.

The sister that gave me this tiny book told me to read it and tell her about it. She has been trying to help me learn Spanish and I have been trying to help her learn English.

Box of goodies. Such a sweet gift.

Key chain. It is beautiful and hand made. I hung it on the Christmas Tree.

President and Sister Marler gave us each a temple pouch to put our temple clothes in. It has the temple on it.

Wayne and I got our gifts to give away ready.  This picture of Christ with the Lamanite children hangs in our temple at the end of the hall, we see it a lot and love it. 

We hope you are ready for Christmas. We know there is snow at home and wish there was a little here. This is a picture looking out Andy's front yard.

We are so blessed to be here in Trujillo Peru, serving in the temple right now. It is a great blessing!  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and we are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ who love us. Keep our Savior in you thought as you celebrate Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!
Much Love!

Fireside

Hello everyone from Peru!
Feliz Navidad!
This is our cute Christmas Tree!

My last post commented on the events of each day. I stopped on Friday, so now I will finish the week.

Friday night Wayne and I were asked to speak at a fireside for the YM and YW but the whole ward was invited. We were asked to talk about the temple for about 20 minutes. We didn't know to expect.  Since I am a simple person, I prepared my talk around the song, "I Love To See The Temple."  I really like this song because it simply says what we do in the temple and why. I incorporated Proverbs 3:5-6 into it and encouraged the kids to have faith and trust The Lord, and to live worthy to go inside the temple and receive the wonderful blessings.

This picture is of the congregation. That is Elder Wright from Arizona pointing.

Because I don't speak Spanish well enough to give a talk in Spanish, Wayne stood by me and as I gave my talk in English, he gave it in Spanish. It took about 5 minutes but I think it was good. I felt the spirit and it looked like they were paying attention. I sat down after my part and Wayne talked for about 5 more minutes.  I don't know what he said but the spirit was there. I think he did a great job.  Brother and Sister Gomez spoke,too, they took about 35 minutes.  Bishop Guzman spoke and the YW sang "You Are The Temple of God by Janice Kapp Perry. It was a good meeting.

Wayne wore his new suit. He looks very handsome!

After the meeting we went in a classroom and they served us a chicken salad on yummy roll, I really liked them. The hot drink was different.

Our friends Gilda and Carmen Leon were the first ones we saw when we got to the church. We greeted each other with the warmest, biggest, loving hugs ever. It was great!  Gilda told one of the girls about Elder Jaden Mecham baptizing her and and she told her I babysat Elder Mecham. This girl spoke great Spanish so that was very fun. We saw a lot of our temple workers there too. We had a great time!

(Gilda, Jan, Wayne, Bro. and Sis. Gomez, Sister Morenos)

(?, Bishop Guzman, Gomez's, Us, Bro. Bustamonte)

(Gilda, Paola, Sis. Morenos, Sister and Brother Gomez, Us, Young Women)

December 13, 2015

We saw this interesting car pull into the temple Friday afternoon as we were going to speak at the fireside.

There was a couple in this old car. They were arriving to be sealed. It was fun to watch. They had several people taking pictures and videos and they even had a drone taking pictures. It was pretty high tech for Peru. Fun to see.

This morning we went to the Los Jardines ward. We wanted to see their Primary Program. This is Jaque. She's a counselor in the Primary and she works in the temple

 

They gave us a HLJ (CTR) pen and a bookmark as a souvenir.

These are some of the kids before the meeting starts. Wayne was standing in the background.
The girls wore pretty headbands, the boys wore bow
ties, and the teachers wore corsage bows all made out of the Primary Colors, Red, Yellow, and Blue. They did a very good job with their parts memorized and they were good singers.

Tonight we are going to a special fireside for the temple workers and tomorrow we are going to a lunch with all of the temple employees. I'll be sure tell you all about it.