Last Family History trip to Andahuaylas and Abancay

Halloween Party at the Mission Home.  Lyle had a presidency meeting then we ate chicken a la Brasa and fries.  Afterward we did karaoke.  No costumes but it was so fun to get together with the rest of the Presidency and their families.

I love working with these sisters.  I will really miss working with them.

Helping a family in there home with familysearch.  We found some ordinances for them to take to the Temple. That is worth smiling about.  

Interesting couple standing under the yellow skylight at the bus station.

The winding roads we drive on.  We took a car to Abancay this time and there were three of us in the back.  I was in the middle and the lady next to me was hanging on to the handle on her side of the car and crossing herself the whole time.  The drivers go so fast.  There is very little traffic, but those hairpin turns are pretty scary.  They had a race along these roads a few weeks back and a trip that takes 4 hours, they completed in 1 and 1/2 hours.  I have no idea how they did that.

Planting season.

This is the typical wonton soup we buy.  It is so good.  Quail eggs, two or three kinds of meat and fresh vegetables in a delicious chicken ginger chicken stock.  There is quite an Asian influence here with lots of Chinese restaurants,

Dinner with the District President  and his wife in Andahuaylas.  What a wonderful couple this is. They are so dedicated and faithful.  

Andahuaylas is the hardest place to get to in the mission.  It is pretty isolated and whenever we visited we get a lot of people staring at us.  I find them just as interesting.  Here is a group of friends visiting at the end of the bank line.

Bank line and yes there is a winding line inside also.

Fireworks were sent off at the park because they were moving the statue from the Church, it was some kind of city celebration.

The moving of this Church's saint.  

Two friends visiting in front of the Church.

Did you notice that the men and women are sitting on different benches.

This woman is washing her hands in a puddle of water.

This is a huge giant holding up the slides in this park for children.

I hope you are enjoying your large, juicy peaches.  These are the peaches of Peru.  The small white fruit on the left.  They are in season right now and the mangoes are starting to come on also - Happy Day!

The markets always have these interesting remedies for whatever aliments you may have.  Those are live frogs in the aquarium and dried frogs in the jar. 

These bags are also full of special medicinal herbs.

There is one that you put on your hands and clap a couple of times and then cup your hands over your nose and breathe. 

Roasted sweet potatoes and a tired boy.

This 13 year old boy came in to do family search with us.  He is the only member in his family.  I wish I could have gotten him to smile for his picture he has such cute dimples and smile. I gave him an animated Book of Mormon stories book and he was so excited.  He is so full of faith.  He gave an amazing testimony at testimony meeting about how praying, reading the scriptures and coming to church brings him so much peace.  He comes to Church  alone, with his white shirt and tie ready to serve in any way he can. He was so fun to hang out with.

 These are pictures from the drive from Andahuaylas and Abancay.

Interesting colored doors.

This is this woman's yard.  she is caring wood to her wood pile.  She lives in the building with the red roof on the left.  I think the cement and the planter boxes look nice.

This is someones yard.  The front of houses face in  away from the street. Those are sheepskins hanging out to dry. 

The Missionaries had a Family History Family Home Evening planned in Abancay.  It was so fun!  They taught a lesson, We talked about how you can put your family tree on family search.  There were abut 40 people there including the children.  We asked them to come the following night and we would set up accounts and help them enter their family trees.  We had singing, prayers, a lesson, activities and treats.  The children played "duck, duck, goose" and the adults played charades with favorite movies.  The people that were invited are new members and those who have been less active that the  missionaries are working with.

Missionaries playing games with the children for the activity part of Family Home Evening.

We watched all these people get pulled over on the main street in Abancay.  This went on for a few hours, they just selected random people - it looked like - we don't know for sure.  Then suddenly all the police were gone.  It was lunch time.  Everything in Peru stops for lunch.  The children are sent home for about 2 hours for lunch.  All the church meetings are early so the members can go home for lunch.  The Churches are totally deserted each Sunday for about 2 hours during lunch time.  Then everything resumes at 3:00 - 4:00.  So, I guess if you like to speed you should do it during lunch time.

Ticket time.

Cute nursery school, I love all the bright, animated paintings on the walls.  

 We got up early and took a nice slow bus back to Cusco from Abancay.  No fast car this time. What a beautiful dive up and down two mountains.  Below are some of the beautiful views along the way.