Our Work

Just in case it looks like we are only on vacation, here are some pictures of some of the families we have been visiting. You can see our computer out on the top picture.  Lyle brought an Ipad to entertain the children while we work with the parents.  This is the whole house there is a bed on the other side and I think there is a room on the top where the kids sleep.  The floor is dirt. Check out the stove in the corner. It was a hard climb to get up to this house, straight up a dirt path.  The picture below is the family.  She wanted the picture to be taken with the view of Cuzco out her front gate.  We were not able to get her membership number to set up an account, so we will be returning.

 This is Edgar.  He has been less-active for a while and the sisters found him and he told them that he needed to get his father and brother's temple work done. He felt a real urgency about it.  We went to his house.  The first night we could not get an account set up and made an appointment for Sunday.   On Sunday he was all dressed up in his suit and came to church.  That night at his house we were able to get an account set up for him.  (he was able to get his membership number from the Bishop) He brought out all these amazing family pictures that he had collected since we last met. He has an incredible memory and he filled out his my family workbook by memory (including dates and places).  We were able to go back another 4 generations and send in 32 temple ordinances.  I asked him if he wanted to do them himself and he said, no, no send them now.  These were his great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and his brother.  His eyes were filled with gratitude and joy when we left.  He has not been able to sleep because he has been so worried about his family having their temple ordinances done.  It was an amazing experience for all of us (the sister missionaries went with us) We had another meeting to be at so we were packing up the computer,  when he told me he had a sister that died as a baby.  I will have to return to make sure she gets included and I am sure he will have more names for me by then.

Here is the meeting we went to afterward at the ward building.  It seems easy for someone like Edger to come to the meetinghouse to do his family history but it is not that easy.  When we arrived we couldn't get in to Wifi,(which has been a typical experience at the churches).  Only one person had a computer besides our 2.  Someone showed up later with a router box and then we needed an ethernet cable that would reach from the closet where the connection was and luckily we had brought one with us from Utah.  Finally we were up and going.  The older people do not type and so I need to enter everything in for them in Spanish.  That is a challenge for me.  After I get everything  in I ask "Correto" and they look it over and say yes or no.  I was getting all kinds of  record hints and records and green temples for the lady I am setting next too.  She was so excited. Then we entered in her two sisters that died as children and she just started to cry.  I was crying too.  We have had many experiences like this.  The veil is very thin at times and the love of family is stronger than death.

We will be travelling to other areas all next week.  We haven't been in the same ward twice yet. It will be interesting to see how it goes in these other areas.  The Zone leaders are setting up appointments for us.  We will be in each town a couple of days.  There are a lot of people excited about our visits, I hope we can help them.