Avergonzados But Back in the Blog Saddle, We Hope
It has been so long that I suppose some might have thought we gave up and went home. Far from it. We have extended our mission to coincide with our mission president's termination. We will now return home at the end of June, 2025. We were able attend the dedication of the Los Olivos temple, a truly wonderful experience and we have since been able to attend there. What a beautiful building and feeling..
We have definitely struggled to keep up with our posting a blog to be sure. We will not even attempt a recap. Suffice it to say, we have kept so busy.
Two weeks ago, we had a wonderful visit from Glenn, Jenae and their kids. They flew to Lima and we all went up to Cusco together. They came during Spring Break so it was a bit of a whirlwind visit. We made it to the critical sites around Cusco and then went to Machu Picchu.
Our trip there was eventful. This is the end of the rainy season and that poses challenges. The night before we left for Machu Picchu it poured. That resulted in a landslide that covered the tracks and took three hours to clear. To be truthful, the kids were so well behaved that many adults could have taken a lesson.
The visit to the ruins was brief but satisfied the children and because of the morning delay, the return trains were also delayed resulting in another three hours sitting in a train station.
It was a marvelous visit and we were sad to see them go.
Julie did great marching around all of the ruins, never a moments problem. However, the following week, while literally, walking in the park she was overcome by a sharp, crippling pain behind her knee. The pain has now subsided and we attribute it to some overuse on unequal Inka stonework…
Later that week, we learned of a missionary sister who needed to be accompanied home. Reluctantly, the president asked Julie if she was up to accompanying her home. With not a second's hesitation, she accepted. We both love this sister and Julie had yet, another whirlwind trip, this time, to Utah.
Once the sister was in her family's care, our niece April White picked Julie up and ran her to the vital Costco, Walmart and JCW hamburger joint. She then went back to the hotel and slept until her flight the following day. She made it all without and bit of difficulty.
When we accepted our assignment to Lima Peru, it was not without some hesitation. Lima is famed for its crowded population of nearly 15million, horrific traffic, smog, uncomfortable climate and rampant crime. None of that is an exaggeration. We wondered if we were crazy to accept this assignment. Doubtless, others thought/think the same.
We have come to love the many sweet people we have associated with here. Many, are people we knew before but we have met so many others. The missionaries we have come to know and love have truly blessed us. We love our opportunities to help them in many different ways. We feel truly blessed to be serving this mission.
The first time Rich came to Peru was in 1996 and there were no North American missionaries due to the conflict incident to the ongoing terrorism. Yet, the church was growing. Over the years we have seen great growth from our small branch in Yauri/Espinar in the altiplano of the Cusco Department. Here in Lima we are in awe of the strength and ongoing growth. We love Peru. We imagine that one day, we will get the answers to why we have been so connected here. For now, it feel sufficient to say that we love it and consider ourselves blessed.
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