Some have it and some don't

We started off the week returning from Juliaca.  Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until noon, so we had time to explore a bit of Juliaca.  Here is what we found.

 This statue and fountain (photo above) was across from our hotel.  Such a typical scene for the altiplano of Peru!

 We found a small plaza with this statue of General Bolognesi, one of Peru's famous war heroes.  There was this small church at the plaza as well.

We have flown out of Juliaca before and it is a very small airport with not a lot of traffic.  So we didn't leave ourselves a lot of time before the flight was scheduled to leave.  We were shocked when we arrived at the airport to find the line through security back up quite a bit and the lines for checking in luggage was outrageous.  We are in the midst of tourist season right now and boy were things different!  We truly got stressed.  There was a real possibility we were going to miss our flight.  I made a comment that we should maybe pray that the flight be delayed.  And guess what happened?  The flight ended up being delayed, by more than an hour.

This made me almost late for the piano lessons I had scheduled Monday afternoon, but I made it back in the nick of time.

Since we had no computers in the Self-Reliance center this week, we figured we'd have time to catch up on other projects.  We told our volunteers to take the week off.  We weren't sure what they would be able to do without computers.  It turned out we kept having members stop in asking for information on the Perpetual Education Fund.  That was something we could do without computers.

It did give us a chance to slow down a bit and recharge.  I was also able to work on typing up instructions for all the supplemental activities we have developed to go along with the Daily Dose classes, so the missionaries throughout our mission and in the Arequipa mission don't have to reinvent the wheel and have a number of resources at their disposal when presenting the classes.

We finally found a member with good English skills and who is interested in teaching English to the doctor who contacted us about classes.  It is Joshua & Stephanie Guerra, the adult children of Henry Guerra who helped us get settled in here in Cusco.  Henry speaks very good English and taught his children since they were young how to speak English.  They have very good pronunciation and understanding of the language.  Stephanie is 20 and Joshua is 17.  Dave took them over to meet the doctor on Friday and discuss arrangements for the class.  Finally, things are moving forward with this project.

Lo and behold, when we showed up at the center on Friday morning, we found computers being set up in our office.  The Cusco stake had approved moving over the computers in the Family History center to our office as it is a bigger room and we would share the use of the computers.  As our center is open during the day and the family history center is only used during the evenings and Sundays, it made for a win-win situation.  They have two desktop computers.  So we now have something to work with, but nothing like the 2 desktops and 6 laptops we used to have, but we are not going to complain.

We did have two meetings set up with stake self-reliance committees this week.  One didn't happen and the other did.  The Cusco stake leaders didn't show up Friday night and we were so disappointed.  With the model center closing, it is really important that the Cusco stake leaders step up and get the ball rolling on a stake level and there is so much that needs to be discussed. But the Inti Raymi stake did hold their meeting Saturday night and we were blown away with how productive a meeting it was.  It was a good pick-me-upper after the disappointment of Friday night.

We did take some time on Saturday to tour the cathedral Santa Domingo that was constructed on top of the Inca emperor's palace, Qoricancha, by the Spanairds once they conquered the Incas.  We walk past it all the time as it is only a few blocks from our center but we have never had time to go inside.  It was fun to finally see it on the inside and we were able to walk on the old Inca walls (where they just held the Inti Raymi celebration on June 24th).

 Qoricancha with the cathedral, Santo Domingo.  Below a close up of the original Inca stonework that the cathedral is built on top of.

Spiritual Thought for the Week: "Conversion means consecrating your life to caring for and serving others who need your help and sharing your gifts and blessings...Every unselfish act of kindness and service increases your spirituality.  God would use you to bless others.  Your continued spiritual growth and eternal progress are very much wrapped up in your relationships -- in how you treat others.  Service to others is what the gospel and exalted life are all about."  -Elder Robert J Whetten