Church in Trujillo

One of the great rewards and pleasures that I am having is meeting people that I knew when I was here 40 years ago.

Last week we went to church at the first chapel built in Trujillo (in 1962).  It is the chapel that I attended when I was here in 1975 and 76.

Here is a picture of Elder Moses, my companion, in front of the chapel (Av Ricardo Palma, Palermo Ward).

Elder Moses in front of Palermo Chapel, 1976

At that time we lived with the Alva Family.  Juan Alva was the branch president, and his wife cooked for us.  When I left Trujillo back then to come home, I gave him my suit and his wife adjusted it to fit him.

Wayne with Brother Juan Alva and Sister Emma Alva

They are still alive.  He is 94 years old, and he still remembers me.   He is perhaps the only person in Peru who could testify that I was really here.

Well, maybe Sergio Bendezú could also.  He was here when we were here.  Chris Feinauer remembers him as a legend in the mission.

He is pretty great even now.  

That is him on the left in this picture.

And his daughter,  Nicole (third from the left) is one of the main coordinators for the sisters.

This is so cool to see these people at this next step (having a temple).  From here they will really prosper.

We went to Stake Conference on Sunday here in Trujillo and the Stake President gave as good a talk as any stake president anywhere in the Church.  And we went with the Temple President and they all treat us like we are important.  I can’t believe we are here.

Jan makes pancakes.  it took us a while to find the ingredients  the small blue package on the left is Polvo para Hornear which is baking powder, such a small package.  The round blue bottle is bicarbonato de sodio which is  baking soda, we had to buy that at the pharmacy, crazy place to find that.  We have flour and syrup and strawberry jam.

It didn't take me long to find the fire panel
here in the temple.

Actually Jan discovered the fire alarm system
first when she saw the speaker strobe in
our apartment, and there are pull stations that say Notifier.

And the fire alarm annunciator at the front door.

This is fruit at the open market. The Hartmans took us there last week.

These are nuts, It is interesting to see how they stock it all up

These are packages of cookies.

A picture at the Mall.  McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, and many more.

We saw these missionaries having ice cream and so we joined them.  
Jan had fun talking to them, the sisters knew English

A pano view of part of the mall.  Where's Waldo?

another panorama of the mall.

I asked Jan if she is homesick.  We really are not.  We live in this beautiful apartment.  We have a mall with a great grocery store a few miles away.  It costs about $1.25 for the taxi.  We drink Tropicana Orange Juice, and fresh milk, and bread and peanut butter and corn flakes and all the things we wished we could have had.  I feel bad for all of us 40 years ago.  We have hot water and we can drink water out of the tap.  We dress in our white clothes and walk 140 feet to the temple, and home for lunch.  We work 6 hours a day. 

Of course we are 300 feet in the other direction from Peru and the houses look like they did 40 years ago.

I can connect by TeamViewer to my home computer and handle all my business.  And we connect to our Dish Network at home and watch KSL and local TV and all of our recordings.

Pretty sad, right? 

Seriously, this is awesome.  I have yet to feel like anything is not perfect.

Tomorrow we go to Lima to get our immigration papers.

We meet all of the missionaries when they come to the temple and then we see them again at the Mall and grocery store.  

This is a picture of Sister Peel and Sister Butikofer.  

I hope you can tell from this that we are enjoying this journey  It has been great so far.  

August 31

This was an email from Jan to Natalie on August 31...

We are flying to Lima tomorrow to get papers for immigration done  it will take all day. They told us to go this morning so we got a taxi and to the airport but when we went to check in it said we fly out tomorrow. So we went to a different store called Wongs. It is a little farther away. They are more like a grocery store and their prices are a little but higher but we were able to buy some frozen lasagna and some Tropicana orange juice. They are kind of expensive but worth it. We went back to the mall after we brought our groceries home and had lunch with the Hartman's. We see them a lot but it was fun to eat with them.   Then we walked around the mall and saw some of the stores we haven't seen before. It was nice to be with your dad. He has been very helpful at getting things like new rugs and moving the ones around just the way I want them to be. I am so happy to be sharing this time with him. While at the mall we saw about 12 missionaries eating ice cream.  Several were Hermanas and almost all if them speak English. We got some ice cream too. It was fun to visit with them and your dad even had fun speaking to them in Spanish. He is very good at it and all the young missionaries think it is so cool he was here 40 years ago. 

I have been studying hard to learn the temple ordinances in Spanish. I have memorized the new name and I almost have the veil memorized. I think that is pretty good for 2 weeks. I will keep working at it. 

The Peruvian sisters are so loving and kind. They always give me a cheek hug and kiss in the air. They really do care about me and even though we can't talk to each other I think we understand the sisterhood we share. It is neat. And I love Pres. and Sis. Casos. They have been very good to us. Pres. Casos asked us to go with him to Stake Conference yesterday because it was at the first church in Trujillo and he knew Wayne served there. It was so kind of him. They even mentioned us and welcomed us as part of the meeting. Wayne said he hasn't felt so important. It was a sweet meeting. 

So this afternoon I cleaned the bathroom and hemmed a new shower curtain by hand. It is hung up and looks much better than the white one.

Give everybody hugs for me. I miss you all but I am happy here. I couldn't want for a nicer place to live and there isn't a better companion in all the world. 

Training in Salt Lake

Prior to coming to Peru we spent 3 days at the Salt Lake Temple
along with 16 other couples going to temples around the world.

At our home the morning we left.

On the plane in Salt Lake

Welcome friends to our mission blog. We are safely in Trujillo and tomorrow will begin our second week as workers in the temple.  

We left home on Friday August 14 and flew to Atlanta and then to Lima and then to Trujillo, arriving here Saturday morning.  

We were met at the airport by President and Sister Casos, our temple president and matron. We were happy to see them and to finally be here.  They have made us feel very welcome and at home.  They showed us our beautiful apartment, It is a very wonderful.  President and Sister Casos, and the other couple missionaries were so kind to put some food in our fridge and on our shelves so we would have something to eat until we were able to go to the store on Monday.

Saturday afternoon President Casos set us apart as ordinance workers and gave us a tour of the temple It is a small temple but it is very roomy and very beautiful  You should be able to find pictures of the interior of the temple online. 

Our first breakfast scrambled eggs and toast

Saturday night at the temple

Monday is our day off from work at the temple. We needed to go to the mall to get some food  and there was a lunch planned for the senior missionaries at the mall  The Hartman’s invited us to go with them so we rode in a taxi to the mall.  The mall is similar to many malls in the US.

Sister and Elder Nield, Sister and Elder Haws, President and Sister Marler, Sister and Elder Hartman, Sister and Elder Fackrell, and Sister Vaughan and Sister Angell. 

The Couples Nield, Haws, and Hartman serve in the temple.

Elder and Sister Fackrell serve as Member Support Missionaries in The Casa Grande Zone.

Sister Vaughan and Sister Angell serve in the office as Secretaries.

Our first day working at the temple

It's getting close

Missionaries?

This is the first official mission post. The time is going by really fast.  Eek!  Our list of things to do is getting shorter but there is still a list.

We will be speaking on Sunday August 9th at 9:00 am.  The church is at 5000 South 5900 West in Hooper.  Wayne will give tours of the tree house and we will have a party after if you would like to come to our house. Adios!

Peru

 

A call was delivered in ‘74

The place he would go, he had never heard of before

A globe was consulted, the location was found

A new language to learn; and of that, he liked the sound

 

He arrived in Peru, excited, fresh, and green

He would never know what to him this place would mean

He served, he loved, he prayed, and he grew

After two years, they marveled at the man he’d turned into

 

He came home to his family, corn flakes, and peanut butter

But along with Peru, his heart grew to love another

She was kind, cute, and sweet, and he found her divine

And together those two became a family of nine

 

They raised all those kids, and watched each one grow

But what was in store, they just couldn’t know

For the place he had loved would soon become theirs

And sooner than later, came an answer to prayers

 

So again he went off to this strange land he adored

With her hand is his, they’d both serve the lord

Together they worked, laughed, prayed, and their love grew

And the place for so long he had loved, she loved too

Written by Natalie (with edits by Emily)