Serve A Mission, See the World

What a great week we had.  We started the week off with a visit from the area leadership who came up from Lima to deliver our new computers for our Self-Reliance center.  We now have 6 laptop computers sitting in one of the rooms at the Tullumayo chapel where our office is located.  This will allow 6 people to be working on a computer at a time.  We still have the two desktop computers that are in the other room that makes up our center.  Those desktop computers will be used mostly by the service missionaries and volunteers, not by the members that come in looking for help.

 Dave is sitting on one side of the room used for our office and below is the other side.  We live here 3 hours a day during the week.  We often hang out here other hours as well since the internet connection is better here than at our apartment.

 

The nice thing is these laptops come with a phone system and headphones so we can begin to make the calls to the PEF recipients to stay in contact with them and hopefully get them to be more diligent in paying on their loans.

While the leaders were here, they provided us with some in-service and training.  The part that helped the most was showing where some of the information we need is located in the CRM system used to track the recipients and their status.

One of our volunteers had her baby on Monday, July 21st.  This was her first baby, and she had a boy.  We went and visited her in the hospital.  Just so you realize how good you have it in the U.S. with healthcare, the room she was in had four other ladies and their babies.  There were no privacy curtains between the beds or anything.  Imagine healthcare like that.

Thursday and Friday we spent traveling to Puno and back.  Puno is a city of about 120,000 people on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.  The altitude is 12,556 feet, even higher than Cusco.  Since we are in the coldest time of the year, it was pretty cold at night.  One of the members said it had been -7 Celsius the night before.  I checked the conversion and that makes it 19 F.  Luckily the hotel we stayed in had an electric heating unit in the room and the bed had TWO very warm wool blankets and we were smart enough to bring our thermals with us.

Here are some of the photos we took along the way.  We are in the Andean mountains so we passed a lot of mountain slopes. Dave was fascinated by the terraces built into the sides of the mountains.  We saw that over and over again.

 Can you make out the terraces in the above picture?  They look like stairs carved into the side of the hill.

This mountain side was top to bottom old terraces.  They are not in use any more but we were told they've been there since the Inca time period and were used to grow crops. 

Another sign of the old Inca empire were the stone walls built into the fields.  Here are a few examples of those.

 Here's a photo we were able to take close up since it was right up by the road.

 

 This is my favorite shot.  You can see all the pens made with the stone walls.

Here's a few more of them.

We were surprised to see our first mountain with snow on it.  Even though we are so high up, you don't see snow much since we are fairly close to the equator.   But this mountain is high enough to have snow and even a glacier.

 We also traveled along the altiplano for much of the way to Puno.  Here is a photo we took to try to get a vision of how big it is.  It reminded me of the salt flats. 

But much of the altiplano was grazing land with cattle and herds of llamas.  The towns were small and like stepping back into the 1880's.  Yes, that means no running water and outhouses.

 

Yes, those are llamas, not sheep.   On the way back we were able to get a photo where we had all three types in one photo.  The white is the llama, the black is the alpaca and the brown is the vicuna.  If you click on the photo you can enlarge it so you can see them better.  You can do that with any photo we post. 

Some of the more strange sights we saw along the way were...

 Yes, it is a huge statue of a guinea pig.  They eat them here you know.  Not sure why the entrance to this city had a huge statue of a guinea pig.  Maybe they raise them there?

We were driving through Juliaca when we saw this.  Colegio is school.  Our driver said it is a private  school operated by Mormons.  It was so odd to see that, but cool at the same time.

Here are some of the first views of Puno and Lake Titicaca as we came driving in.

In Puno we stayed at a hotel that was right next to the big main Catholic cathedral.  Here's a cool photo Dave took to remember the name of the hotel.  You can see the reflection of part of the cathedral in the glass windows of the hotel.

We had about a couple of hours to kill before our meeting started that night so we went exploring a bit.  Of course we had to visit the cathedral.

It looked like a wedding was going on inside so we didn't dare take more photos then this one from the very back of the cathedral.  But when we came back from our meeting, we just had to take more photos of the cathedral because it was all lit up and was very impressive.  Here is probably the best shots.

We also explored the main square and went down a street full of tourist shops.  A word to the wise, if you ever visit Puno, it is a tourist trap.  Watch out for the street vendors.  They were much more aggressive than the vendors in Cusco and we learned the hard way that they are very good at pulling the wool over your eyes.  I should have known better, but we took the bait hook, line and sinker with the first vendor that approached us selling sweaters, hats, & mittens made from alpaca wool.

Dave is shown with the offending item.  We liked it, we bought it, but what we found out later as we checked out some of the tourist shops was 1- it wasn't an original made personally by the vendor and her family as she led us to believe.  We found the exact same sweater in one of the shops.  2- it cost a LOT less than what she claimed it was worth.  The shop had the price at about half of what we spent for it.  We figured we definitely made her day and then we probably also made her week.  This sweater will always remind us to NEVER pay anywhere close to the asking price of any street vendor, something I knew but somehow had a lapse in memory on this occasion.  Dave just better wear this a lot so we get our money's worth!

In the evening we held a fireside for the youth & young adults to educate them on the self-reliance program.  Dave gave his first talk.  He had written it out.  I helped him translate it to Spanish and then he read it.  I have never seen him so scared and nervous in my life!  It was a good message.  I just hope they understood him.  I had been asked to present as well.  I used a power point presentation to give them an overview of the self-reliance program and how it should be organized in their stakes there in Puno.  There are actually two stakes in Puno even though it is much smaller than Cusco.  Then Carlos Hale discussed the PEF program and answered questions.  One of the bishops in Puno also talked.  He was very knowledgeable about the program and we were impressed.  We need more of the priesthood leaders to catch the vision, as he has, about the self-reliance program.  On the drive home we discussed how we can work towards achieving that and came up with some ideas.

The next day before leaving Puno, we took a moment to go down to Lake Titicaca before leaving.  Here are some photos from the marina. 

 These are examples of the reeds they use to make the boats used by the Indian tribes on the Lake.  You have to go out to Uros to see those, which is where the famous floating islands are at.  Before we leave the country we want to go back to see those.  If we have any guests come we can bring you here if you'd like as well.

 The marina had a lot of green growth in the water.  Javier said it was "pollution".  Dave says it was watercress.  Apparently, you can rent these and go out on the lake.  We were there pretty early in the morning and none were being used at the time.

 Here's the photo I posted to Facebook with the lake behind Dave & I.  Off to the left you can see one of the many excursion boats that you can take to get out to the floating islands.

Here's a photo of Cindy with Carlos Hale, our leader on her right and then Javier, his assistant on his right.  They both were bundled up pretty good since they thought it was pretty cold in Puno.

It was a quick visit but we weren't there to sightsee but do some work.  We just took advantage of being there to see a little bit.  It took us most of one day to go and another day to come back.  We did play a bit on our way back.  There are some natural hot springs right along the way and if you know Dave, you know he isn't going to want to pass that up. 

We learned that the Cuzco mission has a number of locations for natural hot springs (aguas calientes).  Does the Lord know Dave or what?  It was a pretty primitive locale, but Dave loved it and it just so happens that Carlos Hale loves hot springs as well, so he was more than willing to let us visit.  Here is a view of it from the highway.  You can see the big swimming pool.

 There were a number of small pools here but no one seemed to be using them.

Here you can see how hot the water was in these pools.  Look at the water boiling in the photo below.

 They had canals or ducts the hot water would go down, some manmade, some natural.

Then they had these individual buildings you could go in depending on the type of water you wanted to go into.  They had aromatic, chemical, a sauna only, a large swimming pool and private bath areas.

We didn't get to stay that long since they started painting the roof of our private bath area with a paint spray gun and the odor of the paint was pretty strong and finally paint started falling through the cracks and was getting on Carlos Hale so we decided it was time to go.

But on our way out we saw a sign saying volcano.  We figured that was the source of the hot water so we wanted to check it out.  Here is what we found (see below)  Not quite what you would expect from a volcano.  Dave says what it really is, is a geyser.

 

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  To understand self-reliance we need to go back to the beginning, the spirit world.  We had agency and we could choose.  One of our very intelligent brothers there chose erroneously.  He went about turning the hearts of our spirit brothers and sisters to fear - fear that they could never complete well a life on earth because 1-they might make a mistake, 2-another person, even Christ, could NEVER atone for our mistakes, 3- it would be hard.  So he whispered, "I will be your master and you can rely on me!  I will bring you back.  You will only lose your agency but you will not fail!"

So 1/3 of God's children lost their faith and embraced the fear.  They replaced their self-reliance for a Satan reliance.  YOU did not choose fear then.  Do not choose it now!  You had faith then.  You chose wisely.  Do the same here in this life.

-Part of Dave's very first talk in the mission field, given in Puno to the youth, their parents & leaders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cindy had a Little Llama...

(or should we say big llama) who danced around the floor.  And everywhere the llama went, the janitor had a chore.  (Dave's poetry composition)

Warning:  Be sure to read this entire post.  The best part is at the end...and no fair skipping straight to the end.

We know you've just been dying to know how our caramel corn went over with the missionaries at the zone conference this week.  We pretty much hit a home run.  We didn't hear from a single missionary that they didn't like it.  We knew the gringo missionaries (5) would, but we weren't sure how the latino missionaries would like it and they are the majority (21).  We even had a pair of sister missionaries (Latinas) bring in their cook (the younger missionaries pay a pension and it includes room & meals) so she could get the recipe and make it for them.  They just couldn't get enough.  The only problem?  Not sure how we are going to top this in the future.

Our supervisor, Carlos Hale, returned from the states this week.  He and Dave hit it off right away.  They have a lot in common, top on the list is their love for motorcycles and hands-on repairs and projects.  He introduced us to a non-profit organization, Fundet.  What an amazing mission they have.  It was started by a former state side missionary who wanted to help the latino people.  He started in Guatemala and has expanded to Ecuador & Peru.  It is an organization that helps church members by providing totally free technical training and placement into jobs that are needed, such as auto repair, call center positions, refrigeration, and other technical positions.  We were just blown away with the great opportunity this presents to those willing to make the effort.

We had our first trip out of the city this week.  We went with Carlos to a nearby town (2.5 hours away), Sicuani, to train a newly called self-reliance stake specialist.  We pretty much were just there to observe and met the brother who will be working the program there.   Here are some photos from the drive up there.  It reminded us of central Utah.  Remember, this is the dry season currently so there is a lot of brown.

The town made Cindy think of what she remembers her time in El Salvador being like.  It is a much smaller, more rural setting.  The town was swarming with transportation called mototaxis.  See below for an example.

These are 3 wheel motorcycles with canvas coverings.  The driver sits on the motorcycle and there is a bench in the back to carry passengers and then a very small trailer behind to hold packages, etc.  They passed down the street in droves as we waited to get into the chapel to do our training. 

Here are a few other modes of transportation seen on the streets of Secuani.

We also saw our first fire station here in Peru. Hey, Ray, this picture is for you and the fire guys. For such a small town to have such a big station was surprising.

The biggest surprise of all in Sicuani, however, was meeting a teenager who was playing an electrical keyboard in the chapel.  He was probably about 15-16 years old.  He was playing classical pieces by Beethoven all from memory.  It was pretty impressive.  As we visited with him, we learned he has taught himself to play using the internet.  He does know how to read music and can play a lot of the hymns.  He even played a Beatle song when he learned that David liked George Harrison/Beatles.

Cindy is starting to explore the CRM system that tracks all the PEF recipients in the Cusco mission.  There are 245 previous recipients.  Of those only 11 were listed in the Sicuani stake.  Cindy had hoped to get some information about these individuals, as none of them are current in paying back their loan.  This is a major problem here and something we are going to have to work on improving.  She was able to learn a bit more about them, but not much.  We hope as we get to know them and show true interest and concern we will know how to motivate them to keep their promise and diligently pay back the money they used to get an education.

We are learning that the internet service is not very reliable here.  That is part of the problem as regular contact with the PEF recipients has not been happening.  Regular contact and communication is crucial to keeping the program moving forward.  The ideal is a once a month contact to all the PEF candidates.  Sounds like working for Craig Swapp doesn't it?  However, keeping the records current is a struggle.  So many change their telephone number frequently and email is not too reliable either.  We are praying for inspiration and help in reaching as many as we can as often as we can.

We have the materials printed for the Daily Dose English classes and it looks like we will be starting those up at the end of the month.  We need to get the word out and students signed up.  Our plan is to offer three classes to start with all on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  A 9 am class, a 7 pm class and an 8:15 class.  Each class only goes 20-30 minutes with a maximum of 10 students per class.  There seems to be a lot of interest.  Commitment and actual attendance may be a whole different story.  But we are excited to begin.

We had some spare time on Friday afternoon so we went exploring and found some pretty interesting sights.  Here are some of our photos.  We first explored some smaller passages that were lined with the Inca stone work and discovered an archeological site right in the middle of town.

 Cindy is standing next to the Inca stone.  On the other side is Spanish colonial stone.

 Here you can see where the inca stone ends and the Spanish colonial stone starts.

 The Spanish often times would build right on top of the Inca stones.

 Here are photos of the archeological dig sealed off from trespassing, but with glass walls so you can look at the ruins.  Below is another example of the inca stones on the bottom with the later stones built right on top of those.

We found ourselves at the main historical plaza, the Plaza de Armas.  We had seen it from a car at night but this was the first time we had walked around it.  It is really quite beautiful.  Multiple catholic churches from the Spanish colonial era, balconies with fancy woodwork, a large park area with a large fountain in the middle and a great view of the surrounding hills.  Here are some of the photos we took.

 You can see one of the churches behind Cindy and the other church behind David and the main central square.

Here are some close up shots of the architecture from the churches.  These churches are huge and tower above everything.

 

Here are some photos showing the picturesque balconies lining the square on the more modern buildings.

These buildings are filled with tourist shops and restaurants.  KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks are some of the names you would recognize that have shops here.  Off the plaza the older side streets are cobblestone and continue up the hill.

 

Here is a view from the high end of the plaza

 

 

 

We're pretty much sticking to in town sites since we learned that as soon as we have our DNI cards showing we are not tourist but religious representatives we will be able to enter the tourist sites at the same price they charge Peruvians.  Apparently, they even jack up the entry prices for tourists.

 

Here is the highlight of the week.  Saturday evening, the Cusco stake put on a dance festival, first ever.  They really went all out for this.  Each ward practiced and prepared two folk dance numbers, a regional dance and a national dance.  They rented the costumes for the dances and used this activity as a missionary tool to bring non-member friends and investigators to.  We danced with our ward for the regional dance they did, called Llameritas.  The fact that we were gringos dancing a folk dance of Peru apparently was a big hit.  So many people wanted our photos and to have their picture taken with us, it really surprised me.  I promised a video of the dance  but wasn't able to get it to post.  If interested in watching, send me an email and I'll see if I can send it as an email attachment. 



 

The different dance costumes were gorgeous.  Here is a sampling.

 

Dave & I in our Llameritos costumes.



These were my favorite dance costumes.  I thought they were so pretty.  On the right is the stake president's wife and next to her on the left is one of the members of the stake relief society president.  She has been a big help getting the news out about our English classes.

 

 

 

 

Here I am with one of the ladies from our ward.

This was my favorite regional dance.  Los Alamos ward is dancing.  They meet in the same building as our ward.  This dance reminded me a lot of square dancing, particularly the Virginia reel.

You can see the stake center in the background and they have a big cement area that is used for basketball and soccer.  We danced outside and it gets pretty cold here at nights.

 

 

This is Javier Caseres with his wife.  Javier is a service missionary in the Self-Reliance Center.  We work with him a lot.

 

This is Gladys Machado.  She is a volunteer in the Self Reliance Center.  She also teaches early morning seminary.  We really like her.  She works hard and has a great spirit about her.

 

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  Comes from a thought David shared with the missionaries in the zone conference we attended at the beginning of our week.

 

What we love, determines what we seek.  What we seek, determines what we think and do.  What we think and do, determines what we become.  - President Uchdorf.