Our English classes have almost completed the first level. We bumped up the Inti Raymi class to the same class as our classes in the Cusco stake after we forgot to switch out the poster and came unprepared to teach one time. We have decided to hold a celebration with all our students and play games in English and sing songs in English and of course eat American food! We are planning that out and are excited. That is scheduled for November 8th.
One of our most consistent students, Juliane Quispe, left for Lima as she took a job there. We have had a lot of gospel discussions with her as she was just returning from inactivity and her testimony is rather weak. We hope we helped strengthen her testimony and that she will continue her return to activity there in Lima. We will miss her.
Two good things that have come out of teaching the missionaries English. One was orchestrated by David and the other was inspiration in the moment. David invited the zone leaders of the other group of missionaries here in Cusco, the Inti Raymi zone, to come observe what we are doing to help the Cusco zone missionaries learn English. They came on Friday and jumped on the bandwagon and would like us to start working with their missionaries as well. So now we just have to figure out how to fit it in. We may have to do some juggling of our schedule.
The serendipitous occurrence was two of the sister missionaries coming to the English classes are on crutches. They both have had surgeries on their knees. They have been homebound and bored. They have been in a three some and the healthy one asked if I could be her companion and go out to work with her while the other two stayed in their apartment. An idea popped into my head, which I believe was inspiration. I told her yes, but only if the two crippled sisters could come to the center and help us make phone calls. Needless to say the two sisters jumped all over the idea, anything to get out of the house and be useful. They are going to come on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to do phone calls and Wednesday and Friday mornings (the same mornings of the English classes) they are going to stick around afterwards and help in the center. Friday was their first day and we taught them the process members need to follow and had them fill out their LDSjobs profile to familiarize themselves with what the members will need to do.
We met with the Cuadros family twice during the week to help them take an inventory of their products. We thought it would only take one visit but they have a lot of stuff. That seems to be the way they do business down here. They seem to think the more inventory they have the more successful they are being. But instead it just causes them to run up debts, as most do not have the capital to purchase outright the products to sell, rather, they buy it on credit. We have a lot of paradigm shifting or changing of the mindsets to do with the people here. Pray for us, because that sometimes can be more difficult than changing outward habits
We are beginning to work individually with another family that needs help. This is within the Picchu ward where we did our Career Workshop. The Picchu ward seems to be at a much lower economic level than many of the other wards here in Cusco. Even the bishop is struggling to make it economically. This family, the Ponce family, has some good things going for them like their housing is free and they run a small restaurant out of the front of their home so they usually are not lacking for food to eat. The husband has good working skills, but they are still not making it. Much of the problem according to the bishop is the mind set they have. After visiting with them I have to agree with the bishop. I'm not sure the Peruvian people know how to really work hard. Their definition and mine are different. They also don't seem to know how to be pro-active and make things happen.
Another big problem here is capital. Most don't have a single extra dime, let alone a chunk of money they can use to invest in starting up a company. Any ideas of how we can get around this and help these people own their own businesses and become self-reliant is welcome. We are praying for inspiration because sometimes the challenges seem overwhelming.
One thing we have no doubt about. If these people were more diligent in their obedience to two commandments - tithing and Sabbath day observance - things would be very different for them. We are certain that we can talk until we are blue in the face about good business practices and money management, but until they live those two laws, any improvement in their standard of living will be limited.
On a more cheery note....
We made it back to Pisaq a lot sooner than we thought. We had a Self-Reliance/PEF Fireside last Saturday in Urubamba, which is part of Valle Sagrado so we were making a trip out there anyway. Carlos & Javier were nice enough to suggest we go out early and take some time to see some of the sights. We were all for it. It turned out we only had time to see one sight.
We left with plenty of time from Cusco as we left at noon and the fireside was not until 6 pm and it is only an hour drive under normal conditions, but we did not have normal conditions. As we were going up over the mountain, we had to drive through a pretty severe thunderstorm. The lightening was spectacular and the rain came down pretty heavily and then changed to hail and then to snow. We saw snow here in Peru! The road and ground had a covering of white, enough that the car tires left tracks in the snow. We were at a pretty high altitude at that point in the trip. We hadn't dropped down into the valley yet.
We got into Urubamba around 1:45 and had a lunch buffet at a very scenic restaurant. I got to try llama meat. It was very lean, but a bit tough to chew. It had a good flavor, a lot like beef, but a bit different. I also got to try some typical desserts I've seen before but hadn't eaten yet. They also had the best watermelon. Valle Sagrado is at a lower elevation so it is warmer. Not sure if the watermelon was grown there, but it was great along with the papaya.
View looking down into the valley and the city Urubamba. Pretty huh?
The restaurant where we ate lunch was very picturesque. They had these outdoor cabanas where you sat and ate.
We just had to get photos of the Brazilian parrots they had there. Proof we were in a more tropical climate.
After lunch, the rain had cleared up and the sun was out so off we went to explore and we were not disappointed. Get ready for plenty of photos.
The drive to our destination was beautiful. Here are some photos showing a bit of the valley.
The ruins at Pisaq were so amazing it was hard not to take a lot of photos. The terraced hills were just the beginning.
Closer up you can see these terraces are huge. They certainly could grow a lot of potatoes on these mountainside terraces. There were multiple terraced sections all over the mountainside.
The Pisaq ruins are divided into four sections - agriculture, village, a military outpost, and the temple site. Historians believe Pisaq was built to defend the southern entrance to the Sacred Valley
It took quite a bit of hiking to get to the temple site, but it was a very cool hike with awesome views of the valley. Hopefully these photos help you see how high up we really were.. How the heck they got these big stones up to the top to build these structures is mind boggling.
These stairs were towards the beginning, thank goodness, before we had time to get tired out. And this hike would definitely be difficult if you weren't acclimatized to the altitude yet.
At one point the trail took us through a tunnel. You can see into the tunnel behind David and it wasn´t very wide or high. I kept thinking how the grandkids would think this was one of the coolest hikes they'd ever seen.
Part of the trail was pretty narrow and the drop off would have been dangerous. Javier jokes about falling off in the photo below but where we were, at that point, really wasn´t much of a danger, but later on, would have been another matter.
We were a bit rushed for time so we only had time to really explore the temple site. Our guides, Javier and Carlos, believe it is an ancient Jaredite temple site and pointed out how the layout and rooms could represent the different areas of ordinance work in the temple.
The view from the crest looking down on the temple site.
Here they pointed out how the stone masons chiseled grooves into the rock for the next rock to sit in. That was part of the technique for fitting them so perfectly and not needing mortar. Can you make out the indentations?
Here are a slew of photos showing different sections of the temple site.
Below is the entrance to what Carlos and Javier believe to be the holy of holies or celestial area of the temple.The black rock inside is volcanic and they called it the "mother rock" but they believe it was where the alter was.
We felt extremely fortunate to be able to explore these sites. What a great place to serve a mission!
Spiritual Thought for the Week: One of the four spiritual principles of Self-Reliance is Individual Responsibility, which is based on agency. I found this quote in the October Liahona (the Spanish version of the Ensign).
If we follow the Savior's example, instead of saying, "I do what I want," we will declare, "I do what the Father wants." Using our moral agency this way will bring us freedom and happiness.
It seems to be contradictory that giving up our will to His brings more happiness and freedom but when we have faith to act that way, we learn the truth of that statement.
Those Ruins look neat. Some of your pictures did not come on. They are just white squares.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are having some fun as well as all the hard work you are doing with the people down there.
Keep making memories. And David you can learn one sentence every two days. Yes that be in spanish.
I think the problem with the photos is on your end, Merlyn. We are making plenty of memories, no doubt about it. Wait until you read next week's post.
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