Another one bites the dust

Well, it's that time again.  Every six weeks, a group of missionaries go home and we do our self-reliance training.  I've lost track of how many groups we have done now.  But this was the second time with the new materials and it went better than last time.  We also had a smaller group as well.

They moved the training from Monday to Tuesday due to a decision on the part of church headquarters in Salt Lake, which from where we sit has the drawback of not allowing the missionaries to attend the Lima temple before going home.  Some of the Latin missionaries do not return to homes that are close to temples and that is their last chance to go to the temple for who knows how long.  Before, when they had our training on Monday, they would fly out Tuesday morning, attend the temple during the day and then fly out Tuesday night.  Now with this change they have our training all day Tuesday, fly out late Tuesday afternoon to Lima and then wait for their connecting fly to take them directly home.  They don't have any time in Lima outside of the airport.

In this group we knew the two sisters going home.  They had both come to our English classes for the missionaries while serving in their last area.  The elder in the back, first on the left is Elder Rivera.  He is from El Salvador, so of course he is a favorite of mine.  He served as Inti Raymi zone leader for awhile and then was out in Puerto Maldonado when we made our visit there.  He speaks really good English and scored in the Advanced level on his exit English test.  He invited us to stop in and see him on our way home if we decide to go back to visit El Salvador.  I must say that is VERY tempting.  The North American elder in the back row, Elder Bengtzen, we knew as well as he served as the AP almost the whole time we've been in the mission it seems.

These photos have the missionaries holding up their shoes, a tradition Dave had in his mission when he served in the Gulf States.  I have to say a number of these elders in this group are in the running for the most wasted shoes we've seen.  Elder Estrada's (third from the right) shoes are ready for the trash.  Elder Rhoades learned that Elder Jensen's (who is the first on the right in the back row) father is a retired firefighter down in Arizona.  That caused them to bond a bit.

On our way  home from the training the main artery east & west through Cusco, the Avenida de la Cultura, was shut down due to a protest march.  From time to time this happens and the people march right down the middle of the street.  We climbed up on a pedestrian walkway and got a good view of the procession as it went by.

And lo and behold it was the regional federation of civil construction, Cusco division.  I told Dave that is possibly a group that he needs to get to know if he is interested in promoting his straw-bale construction down here in Peru after our mission.

This was a week of good news.  It felt like payday as we heard about some successes that we have helped facilitate.  They are listed below in the order we heard about them this week.

1- Elder Tandazo, an elder who served here in the Cusco mission and went home to Ecuador at the end of February.  He attended our English classes for about 4-5 months regularly while serving in a sector here in Cusco.  He was on the quiet side and didn't say much.  He sent us an email this week informing us that he had been accepted into the BYU Idaho Pathway program and starts his classes April 18th!  This program allows returned missionaries to study through the internet actual courses taught at BYU Idaho at a very discounted price IF they can test high enough in their English competency and he qualified!  Wow, we were pleasantly surprised.

He sent us this photo of him as he was greeted by his family at the Guayquil airport upon his return home.

2-The Ponce family Part I  - We hadn't seen Nidia and Atilano Ponce for quite some time but we were able to touch base with them this week and find out where things were at with their efforts towards becoming more self-reliant.  Holy cow good things have been happening for them!  They made a trip high up into the mountains to a small mining town where they had heard there were lots of laundry service businesses that needed an appliance technician to deal with their machines.  He spent a week up there and made as much money as typically can be made in one month or more.  It was a god-send to them as it helped them pay off some debts that were hanging over their heads.

3-The Ponce Family Part II - Nidia also informed us that they have found a renter for their store space.  This had been one of the suggestions Dave had given them to consider as a means to generate more income as their little restaurant was not doing well.  They found a member of the church who has signed a three year contract to rent their space for 1800 soles a month (which comes to only about $600 US but here that can be a very comfortable monthly income).  They have another part of their property that is rented out to a shoe store that they are in the process of negotiating a raise in rent as it has been the same amount now for 5 years.  That currently generates 400 soles a month.  She didn't indicate what amount they were looking at raising it to.  But to bring in more than 2000 soles a month is a big improvement for them in their earnings.  We were so pleased to hear this news.  Hopefully, all will work out well for them in the long run.  We think if he were to work a regular job during this time, all of his income could be earmarked towards savings for capital to start their own business, something they have talked about since we first met them.

Piano classes, English classes, and Self-Reliance workshops continue as always.  We finally managed to present the level 2 certificates to most of our students who earned them.  Here are some photos from that.

 Our 7 pm. class above and our 8 pm class below.   Above left to right certificate earners:  Teofila Huaman, Roxana, Rolando Mamani

Below left to right:  Irma Cuadros, Carolayn Dolmo, Gina Pinto, Empe Dolmo (with certificate) Jhonathan Herrera (with certificate), Victor Dolmo and Edgar Aguerre

This weekend we made a trip over to Dave's favorite market, Barrattio.  Of course we didn't make it out without buying some souvenirs.  Look what two cute little granddaughters will be getting, hopefully in time to wear as Halloween costumes next October.

I just hope they will be the right size for them.  Also I bought a typical hat that you see the local ladies wearing all the time and I've wanted to get one for some time.  

It lies flat when you are not wearing it so it should transport easily.  But it does look a bit ridiculous on me, when it looks so appealing on these little campesinas walking around town.

This weekend was a youth conference for the youth in the Cusco stake.  They asked me to play the piano for the choir that would perform at the culmination of the conference on Sunday at their closing fireside.  I've been practicing with them for weeks now.  I had recommended that they learn the EFY medley "As Sisters in Zion and Army of Heleman" so they sang that as well as "Choose Ye This Day" from the I Walk By Faith music of Janice Knapp Perry only it was called "Escoged Hoy" and "Sirvamos Unidas/Ejercito de Helaman".  It went fairly well for latino singers.  Latinos are not the most talented in the area of singing like the Polynesians are.

But here are some photos from the talent show they had on Friday night, the first night of their conference.

This photo is from a skit one of the wards did.  These are two missionaries trying to teach a non-receptive family and the one elder on the left (who comes to our English classes) has a ninja warrior attitude and is threatening to slit their throats if they don't stop talking and listen to their discussion.  A bit extreme I would say, but meant to be funny.

A vicarious Grandpa moment at the Talent Show for Dave

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  "Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal,  fixing that which you broke and cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ...I repeat, save for the exception of the very few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness.  That is the promise of the atonement of Christ."  Boyd K Packer, "The Brillant Morning of Forgiveness"  October Conference 1995.

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