Holy Week, Easter & Conference all in the same week!

This week is called Semana Santa in the Latin speaking world.  I remember what it was like on my mission to El Salvador & Guatemala when I was younger so I was looking forward to seeing processions, sidewalk art and other activities.  We actually saw none of that.

We heard about some traditions that the Peruvians have that are different from where I served.  One is the blessing of Cusco by the patron saint of Cusco, Senor de Los Temblores.  Apparently that happened on Monday night.  We heard a lot of sirens and they went on for a long time.  I remember wondering what was going on.  Apparently, that was part of the ceremony.  The blessing of Senor de Los Temblores apparently is supposed to protect Cusco from major earthquakes.  Back when they had the last major earthquake in 1950, the Catholic priests rushed out of the cathedral with the statue of Senor de Los Temblores and apparently at that moment is when the earthquake stopped so the people believe this saint was responsible for protecting them.

We also heard about the tradition on Thursday, the day of the Last Supper, of eating 12 plates of food.  Six are supposed to be salty and six sweet.  We were not invited to anyone's house for that but we were told by a number of members that is what they do.  Maybe we'll have to bring this tradition home with us.  Six dessert plates!  Who wouldn't want to participate in something like that?

Friday, the day of Christ's crucifixtion, was a holiday and the city was a ghost town.  No noisy traffic.  The streets were empty of cars and people.  I have never seen the streets so deserted.

But we didn't see one single procession.  Nor did we see any sidewalk art of chalk or flower petals (which they can do it either way).  We did go up to the Plaza de Armas on Thursday night and the churches were packed.  Apparently, a tradition is to visit all 7 major Catholic cathedrals in downtown Cusco in one night.  We went into Saint Teresa's Cathedral there at the Plaza de Armas.  Normally, you have to pay to go in and tour, but we were able to get in free.  Here are some photos we took from the outside before we entered.

Here are some photos from the Plaza de Armas at night.  It is really pretty at night there but our photos didn't turn out too well.

 This cathedral above, San Cristobal, sits on a hill overlooking the Plaza de Armas.

There was a full moon just coming up over the main cathedral.  The Inca emperor tries to grab the moon as it goes by.

I did buy some Easter lillies for our apartment to help get in the mood for Easter.

We spent the weekend listening to General Conference, most of the sessions over the internet at our apartment.  We needed the time at home to do some housekeeping.  During the week, we had a young girl come to the center looking for work.  She brought her young son who is just on the verge of walking with her.  As I worked with her in opening up an LDS account and filling out her online profile for ldsjobs.org, it was hard for her to concentrate on the task due to her wiggly son, so I stepped in and held him on my lap, carried him around a bit and even took him outside to allow his mom to fill out her profile.  That was on Wednesday, I believe.   The day, Dave was finally feeling like he had conquered his stomach bug problem completely.

That evening when I went to bed, I had the worst case of itching around my abdomen and I scratched and scratched.  In the middle of the night, I woke up with my belly covered in flea bites and they stung like crazy.  I counted 18 all over my midsection.  I don't know where the fleas came from for sure, but the most likely culprit is the little boy.  I showered, changed my clothes and sprinkled flea powder on the sheets (I wasn't about to wash them in the middle of the night).

Thursday night I picked up some more bites while I slept since Friday morning as I got dressed I discovered new bites on my right leg and foot.  So Friday afternoon as soon as we finished our morning activities, I was doing wash.  Our bedsheets, our pillow cases, all my clothes that I had worn in the last few days.  We sprinkled down the furniture and throw rugs with a generous dusting of flea powder.  That managed to do the trick as no new bites have been noted since.

These flea bites take about 5 days to stop itching and a good two to three weeks to totally disappear from your skin.  We are learning that no matter how careful you try to be in what you eat, drink or handle, the conditions of Peru are impossible to avoid.  So we just do our best and smile.  It could be a lot worse, you know.

We thought Conference was excellent!  How exciting to hear about the three new temples and to listen to the messages on marriage, families, and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  A number of the talks will be helpful for self-reliance talks to the members.  It did make me a bit homesick to see the conference center and listen to the tabernacle choir.

Between Saturday conference sessions, we visited the Tupac Amaru market.  We ended up buying some more souvenirs.  Dave models them for you below.  Cute, huh?

Sunday, Easter, was Sister Julie Hasler's birthday.  Her husband invited all the senior couples, including the mission president and his wife, to a dinner between the two sessions.  He went all out.  He managed to prepare a Mexican meal complete with shredded beef, black beans, Spanish rice, shredded cheese, guacamole, salsa, even a sour cream substitute and homemade tortillas, as there is not a single supermarket in Cusco carrying tortillas right now.

He also had an awesome birthday cake made for her which we enjoyed after we watched the afternoon session of Conference.

Sister Julie Hasler with her birthday cake, complete with a chocolate bunny on top and jelly beans!

We took some photos this week of typical things we see all the time as we travel around Cusco, so here you go, an insight into life in Cusco.

 It's very common to see street vendors with children.  The one above sells empanadas while her child sleeps wrapped up in a blanket lying in an open cardboard box.  Below, this toddler's mom sells quail eggs.

Dogs lie around on the sidewalks EVERYWHERE.

Here is a photo of one of the main roads in Cusco, Avenida de la Cultura.  We ride up and down this street practically every day, sometimes multiple times as the Inti Raymi stake center and the mission office are located on this street along with two other chapels.

And as we work with the PEF and help youth get into university studies we decided we needed to take photos of one of the main universities here in Cusco, UNSAAC.

 UNSAAC stands for Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco.

Here I am in front of a mural on the building for Medical studies.

We tried to make our English classes a bit fun for the Easter holidays.  We made up a bingo game using the school vocabulary we were learning, but as you can see below, some of the gringo missionaries were having more fun making designs out of their marker beans than playing the game.

Elder Jeffrey and Elder Bird make drawings out of their bean markers.

 Elder Nicholls, the zone leader and Elder Jensen, who is from Spanish Fork called out the words.  They would put them into funny sentences.

As changes are slated for next week, we took a group photo and a lot of the missionaries were asking for photos with us.  I felt like a celebrity.

Cusco & Los Incas zone missionaries at English class.

 Sister Mendez has 9 months in Cusco, half her mission!  She figures she is outta here.

Elder Schumacher has been helping us teach English classes in the Ttio ward.  He goes home this change.  So sad.  He was a natural at presenting the lessons.

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary.  He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world.  He rose from the grave to become the first fruits of them that slept.  We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles - that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God.  He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world.  His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.  God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.  - The Living Christ  2000