Sicuani welcomed us with open arms, thanks to the work of these great missionaries. I took a bunch of pictures to send home to their moms. Some families are following this blog so I am posting the pictures here also.
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| Sicuani Zone leaders |
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| These two Elders stayed right with us. Elder Fincher on the left knew a lot about family search so even though he is fairly new, he was able to help people from beginning to end. I guess his father is a family history consultant. We have worked with Elder Wilde before and so he was great at getting us set up and helping things to run smoothly. |
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4 computers running and people were still waiting.
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On Saturday night Sister Luz (on the right) had a regional family history night. She put so much work into it and Lyle was the featured speaker. Different families displayed their family trees on the walls and talked about them. The turn out was less than expected, they did one in December last year on a Sunday night with about double the people we had. We decided that Saturday night is just a hard time for people to come. The next one is planned for a Sunday.
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| Everyone wanted pictures in this frame and then I took them to our portable printer to print so they could take the pictures home. It kept me pretty busy. |
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| Here we are getting ready for the Family History Event - see all the posters of families on the walls? |
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| These are framed pictures given to each of the participants. |
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| waiting for the bus |
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| 2 kinds of luggage |
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| gathering grain on the altiplano |
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| Town meeting |
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| Typical school, yes school is in session here. It is winter for us. |
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| Country school |
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| missionaries goofing around for the camera |
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| Our Puno Sister Missionaries |
This is a picture of the Elders in Puno, Elder Vance is the tall blonde and is the Zone leader. It was his birthday so we stopped off at Rico Pan and brought cinnamon rolls to everyone. He has a lot of responsibility right now, he was given 5 brand-new Elders last week for his Zone. I was glad we could be there to sing happy birthday to him. Elder Garcia is 2nd from the left, we have worked with him a lot. He is so cheerful and willing to help in any way. Elder Diaz who stands 3rd from the left is an amazing teacher, we have been with him during an appointment. Elder Maldonado who is 4th from the left is fluent in English and Spanish and a very hard worker. The other 3 are just as wonderful and are serving diligently. Elders Luchenka on the right, Elders Pena and Iza on the left are all hard working missionaries. We just love them all.
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| We had a sweet experience with the youth in Puno, we were asked to give a fireside to these young men and young women in the home of a member of the Stake Presidency. |
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| We have discovered Menu del Dia. You get an appetizer, huge bowl of soup and entree, drink and dessert for about $3. at lunch time. It is good food. |
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| Juliaca Zone leaders |
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| A grandma and grandson came to do their family history. |
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| This is one of the many sweet ladies we helped. They are so happy when they see their family tree with all the people they love on it. |
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| We helped this lady with her family history. She just had this light about her and I was glad the camera could capture it. We just love the peruvian people. |
Here are some pictures we took while waiting for our bus.
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| Check out this 4 foot nothing woman. I have seen a lot of women at church just wind their legs around the chair legs because their feet do not touch the ground. Notice the busy street in the background. Juliaca is a booming business center and you can buy about anything here. The missionaries have a lot of success here because the people are a little more open to new ideas than the people in the more traditional areas of the mission. |
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| Stoves and pots and pans. All the stores spill into the street. |
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| I am amazed at the skill level all these women have when it comes to knitting. I love to watch them work. |
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| Begging is all that is left for so many older people. |
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| Beautiful fresh fruits in a wheelbarrow for sale. |
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This is the baked in a stone oven lamb called Kankacho that the Haslers introduced us to. It doesn't come with forks or plates just a plastic bag. Kind of messy but Lyle loves it. Here we are waiting for another bus.
This is a road they are building in Juliaca and there are these electric poles right in the middle of the new road. We have been watching these roads get built since we first went to Juliaca and we just don't understand why they didn't move the poles. This will be a divided four lane road. I could be a little dangerous.
The birds in the water are flamingos.
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| Beautiful ride home. |
An Added Assignment
Our trip to Juliaca was cut short when Lyle received a call while we were in Puno. He was asked to fill the position in the Mission Presidency that was left by Elder Hasler. Not only is Elder Poulsen wearing the hat that Elder Hasler left for him, but now he is going to fill his shoes. It is a tall order, Elder Hasler was an incredible missionary here. He not only speaks Spanish fluently, he also knows Ketchua and the people just love him.
So we had meetings with the district leaders on Saturday. The areas of the church that are not included in Stakes are called Districts and the Mission President presides over those districts as well as presiding over all the missionaries and their work. So his counselors help him with the district work, which means travelling to these small out-lying towns. You can't just jump into your car and get to these places, it is combies, buses, taxis and whatever else you can find. It also means over night stays because the towns are so far away and usually the work includes Saturday night and Sunday.
We are excited to be working with the Mission President so closely and learning new things. We will continue our work with the Missionaries and hopefully be able to piggy-back our visits with the missionaries with the visits in the Districts. There are 6 Districts in this mission and Lyle will be working closely with three of them. Here are some pictures of the district leaders and the mission Presidency in front of the Mission home.
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| What Wonderful Priesthood Leaders! They provide so much service. |
Every time we see a new post, there are fewer missionaries we know, and more that we don't. We love Elders Mann, Vance, Wilde, Guevara, Garcia, Hna Corsetti, and the other "veterans" of the mission. The places you go, and members you meet are familiar to us, and it brings back such wonderful memories. We had a feeling that Elder Poulsen would get called into the Mission Presidency - he will be wonderful. As you know, there will be a lot of travel with this assignment, but that dovetails with your Historia Familiar assignment, and you will get out more to the far-flung regions than we were able to. Remember: go to the warm places in the mission during the cold season, and cold places during the warmer months.
ReplyDeleteWe are still schlepping along with Family History work here. We are between Farmington and St. George frequently, so we are able to dodge "callings", but we troll for opportunities to work with the members everyhere - specifically the "mature" members who aren't really proficient in negotiating the intricacies of familysearch.org, or computers in general. We now get much benefit out of www.woodenvillage.org to search for "cousins" who need temple ordinances. I did a HP lesson last week, and before Sunday, I did "tests" with several quorum members, and found between 17 and 139 people in their family trees whose ordinances weren't done. As long as we can keep our fingers in this work, we will be happy.
Didn't see any mention of your s-l-o-w apartment internet this post. Hope you are able to find a solution. We really enjoy the "food" pictures, you're trying several things that we didn't, so it looks like my motto of "every day in mision Cusco is a new adventure" still holds. We think of you and pray for you, the missionaries, and members every day. Con amor, Los Johnsons
My technical ineptitude is showing and I posted a comment somewhere that is not showing up here. None of my kids will be surprised by this. We love you and think/talk of you often. What great work you are doing!
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ReplyDeleteI forgot my username was Grandma H, I changed it so you wouldn't wonder who on earth is Grandma H!! Big hugs :)
DeleteCongratulations on the new calling! What a wonderful experience you will have. We miss the people and both of you! We love your blog and your wonderful pictures. Rich and I have been called as ordinance workers in the Albuquerque Temple, we will work the two Spanish sessions/month and two English speaking. We have been asked to oversee the Spanish ordinance workers to make sure they're doing everything correctly. We will also be mentors in the Spanish Branch, not sure yet what all is involved, but our records have been moved and we're official members of that branch. We will be making lots of trips to the big city!
ReplyDeleteWe survived our "adventures in babysitting" with all the grandkids and are now making the circuit to visit kids and family. While we were in Houston visiting our daughter we bought a car, a Toyota Rav4. We also bought new phones so we are slowly getting back to life here in the states.
We love you and pray for you and missionaries, lots of new ones! We look forward to your next post. Abrazos grandes!! Los Hasler
Great photos and loved hearing about your adventures. How is your Spanish coming, Nancy? The new mission president looks awfully young! We still recognize a few of the missionaries that are showing up in your photos. Elder Mann, Elder Garcia, etc. It is hard to believe we have been home for 7 months now. Stay busy and the time will just fly. It's a good thing you two are down there holding down the fort so there are at least some senior missionaries in the Cusco mission.
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