The Haslers in the Peru, Limatambo Mission 2023-

Miles Joseph Bower, Star Player in this week's blog Our week had a fair amount of administrative activity. We made a trip to immigration and got into a line that seemed to stretch to Ecuador. Our appointment was for 8am and we thought, no way we'll be out of her before noon. Somehow, they did it and we walked away at 8:15am! This is the second step in getting our residence visa. It went very smoothly. The very next day, Rich got a text in the night asking him to take a group of young missionaries to Interpol to begin their residence visa process. Things went haywire because of traffic. Have we mentioned that Lima has the world's worst traffic? They arrived late and barely got in with the help of the good-old-boy contact from the Area Office. Julie is getting trained in the processes of the office in order to smooth out the process for the replacement elder and to provide some oversight going forward. We made many medical appointments and ancillary arrangements. We had the o

It is unbelievable how time flies. On Sunday evening we went for a walk to the park before our Sunday night devotional that kills us. We have to stay awake until 10PM! People were gathered in a mass dancing to Salsa music in the arena of the park. The park is full of cats normally but it was so busy that they were all in hiding. On Monday, Rich took missionaries to get their residence cards in downtown Lima in the immigration office. It pretty much looks like pure pandemonium but they seem to move things right along.  It will be our turn soon. We went to the Interpol offices on Thursday and lost the whole morning there. We waited in lines, got photographed, fingerprinted and our dental records checked. This is preliminary to getting a residence card called a carné de extranjería. As near as we can guess, the Interpol requirement is simply so that they can identify you, if you turn up dead. On Wednesday, we attended district meeting up in San Gabriel. This is where we went when

Solange's baptism This was a crazy week so please forgive the length of this blog. We began it with an invitation to go and visit a family. Before that we went to teach with the sisters with whom we usually go and had a wonderful time. Their friend Solange had already accepted to be baptized. She is the sweetest woman. This was on Sunday night. It was really a remarkable experience and one of the last for the sister going home. Lima is not uniquely laid out in South America. Those who have, live down in the coast, plains or valleys, while those who have less live up in the hills. It is sort of a reverse of North America. Anyway, these high-up places here are referred to as "pueblo joven" or "young villages." They usually begin lacking infrastructure but with time get actual brick and mortar structures, running water, sewer pipes, electricity and so forth. They are also considered dangerous, especially at night. Add to that, it is a 30 minute drive on a Sunday

  Sister's P-Day After being so sick last week, in the words of Monty Python, we "got better…" We were back on task full time on Monday. We helped prepare for a Sister's P day at the President's home. Julie and I got there early on Monday morning and helped cook eggs, cut up fruit, prepare everything for crepes and set up for the sisters to come. There are 21 of them and it’s a special day for them. It is always wonderful to spend time with these young missionaries. As we mentioned last week, each missionary is to have a well stocked backpack to use in case of emergency. On Tuesday Rich and a driver made the rounds to 9 missionary apartments. They delivered noodles, rice, candy, tuna and other necessities to all of these missionaries. That night we went with two of the sisters to teach their friend Solange. It is truly the special thing we get to do. One, we see these fine missionaries teach and we get to help out a little bit with our perspective. Second, we get

Rich served his first mission in Italy where interest was difficult to generate, to put it mildly. Here, we almost have to do nothing to get contact information. We start talking about why we are here and how long we plan to stay and the rest is tantamount to falling off a log. Rarely, we run into a person who is not interested when we talk about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and modern prophets. On Saturday alone, we had three serious connections who gave us their phone numbers, and addresses and asked if someone would come and explain the church to them. It was bound to happen. We have been in and out of cars and meeting with countless people on so many levels that we had to catch something. On Sunday, Rich came down with a fever, stomach, head and body aches. Julie followed suit about two hours after he got sick.  We thought it was passing and got feeling well enough to go out and help with some of the purchases for much needed emergency backpacks. Every missionary is supposed to