Things get even crazier

We started the week with a trip out to Sicuani on Sunday afternoon.  We thought we were going to do facilitator training but when we got there we found only one facilitator available, that was our stake specialist, Fredy Corrales.  He is a good man, with a desire to serve, but he has his own agenda and it's a bit difficult to steer him in the right direction.  He has a group of 20+ people in his business workshop, which is great.  However, the groups are geared for a size of about half that much.  He is having trouble controlling the content and the discussions of the class and not getting through the material.  When we were there he was teaching something completely outside of the manual and the topics of the workshop.  So he is a maverick that we have to somehow tame!

We didn't spend the night but turned right around and came back to Cusco.  Two and a half hours out, an hour and a half in town, and then two and a half hours back.  It wiped us out.

With piano lessons, Cindy is trying to plan a recital for her students and she is assigning them songs to perfect and polish up.  The problem is finding a date when the chapel is available and we are in town.  So far, no date has been found in August and that is when she would like to do it.  Earlier in the month, it looked like August was wide open, but that is not the case anymore.

Pretty crazy outfits, huh?  We were walking to an appointment and these members visiting Cusco from Lima hijacked us and insisted on getting a photo with us.  I think this will need to be used for Dave's obituary photo, what do you think?

Dave headed out to do some errands and he learned some sad news about Nilda, one of the members we have tried to help with her laundry business.  He was up in her area and decided to visit her and found out why we have not seen or heard from her in some time.  She has been in the hospital a lot.  They have diagnosed her with lymphoma and are trying to determine if she is stage 2 or stage 3.

What a blow!  Nilda is already struggling as a single mother to 4 children, as she was abandoned by her husband.  One of her children has special needs.  Nilda has worked hard to develop her laundry business and sells clothes on Saturdays in the market.  She has a good head for business but it is hard for her to work a business and be a single mom at the same time and now to be sick with cancer.  She has stayed active in the church through all of her trials.

Here most of the people have no health insurance available to them and they live from day to day.  She has no money to pay for the medical treatments and she is so sick she needs help running her business.  The ward is rallying around her and doing what they can, but she probably lives in the poorest ward in Cusco so there is only so much they can do.

We are looking into setting up a GoFundMe page.  If we feel it is something that will work, we hope our family and friends will support and help us raise some money for her.  It won't take as much as it would take in the states.  With the exchange rate around 3 soles for every dollar, your contribution of any size will go a long way.  Surely, we who have so much more than these people, can raise a sizeable amount to help this good lady out.  Keep your eyes peeled for more info on this.

Dave has gotten permission to use the full-time missionaries as facilitators out in the Sacred Valley district for the first set of workshops to hopefully get things off the ground.  The hope is that once members go through the course, someone from the group can step up and facilitate the next time.  Now we just need to find time to get the missionaries trained!

We took a trip to Abancay on Friday to do some training.  Finally! One of the warmer locations in the mission.  Truly, I think Abancay is my favorite place as far as weather goes.

The spectacular mountain peak that you see on the road to Abancay.  So many of the mountains here in this part of Peru are jagged and rugged, not gentle slopes like other places.

But you pay a price to get there.  The drive is windy with lots of dangerous curves.  On the way out things went well.  We lucked out and got a good, responsible driver.  What they do here is rent out a car with four passengers per vehicle.  You go up to a certain street and let them know you want to go to Abancay and they put you in the next vehicle in line to leave and if you are lucky, you can leave right away.  If not, you wait for more people to come to fill the car.  You take your chances on what type of driver you will have.

We have a pretty supportive leader for self-reliance in the district presidency there.  Out of all the districts, Abancay has the vision of self-reliance best.

We had to deliver certificates from LDS Business College to Abancay so they could present them to the nine members who completed the 12 week business course.  This is the first group to earn certificates!  They have also done their second Mi Camino meeting and are getting ready to start the next group of workshops.  No other area in the mission, has done a second Mi Camino yet.  So in many ways, Abancay is leading the way in the mission.

We also did a training to their leaders on the self-reliance committee approach to administering and directing the self-reliance work in their district.  Unfortunately, not many of the leaders made it to the meeting.  We had the full set of the district presidency, however, and they set a date for a future self-reliance committee meeting in August.  They are going to need to call some members to fill positions on the committee before then, so hopefully the next meeting will go better.

     
 
Abancay is at the bottom of a steep valley so the city is pretty hilly in places.  Your leg muscles get a good workout walking around town.

We spent the night in Abancay and headed home the next morning, on Saturday.  Holy cow, was that a nightmare!  This time we got a driver who thought he was doing the Indy 500 or something.  He took the mountain curves way too fast, he drove too close to the edge of the road (and we are talking deep, steep canyon drop offs), he would talk on his cell phone, open soda bottles, peel oranges, and munch on treats all while taking the curves way too fast.  Did I mention that already?  He would drive in the on-coming lane or straddle the dividing lines a lot.  Even when cars were heading in our direction, he didn't get completely over into his lane.  I started out counting the number of times the on-coming vehicles would honk their displeasure at him, but I lost count there were so many times.

We were scared to death!  We made it to the midway point, Curahuasi, where you can get vehicles to Cusco as well.  We asked to make a bathroom stop and planned to get out and hire a different car.  The driver acted surprised when we told him we didn't like his driving and we no longer wanted his service.  Then he had the nerve to demand we pay the full trip cost, which we weren't about to do.

Against our better judgment we agreed to stay in the vehicle if he would slow down.  He did slow down for most of the way back.  He had a few lapses and reverted back to his irresponsible ways, but we managed to get back in one piece.  We will probably take the bus next time to Abancay.  It takes longer and car sickness may be more of a reality but we figure the bus drivers surely have to be safer than this guy was (but that even is questionable) and when you hire a car you have no way of knowing what kind of driver you are getting.

We learned this week, that we are now under three different self-reliance managers.  Apparently what the church decided to do was divide up the Cusco mission area.  We still get to work with Carlos Hale when it comes to Cusco and the areas in and around Cusco, or the central part of the mission.  But we have a new manager over the Puno areas and a new manager over the Puerto Maldonado areas.  We now have to coordinate with three different people and we are going to have to learn how to work with two new managers!  Hopefully, they won't be too difficult to work with.  We have heard some horror stories though about other managers.

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  I was so touched by Pres. Uchdorf's talk in the Priesthood session this past April conference.  What a great message!  Here are some quotes.

"With patience and persistence, even the smallest act of discipleship or the tiniest ember of belief can become a blazing bonfire of a consecrated life.  In fact, that's how most bonfires begin - as a simple spark.  So if you feel small and weak, please simply come unto Christ, who makes weak things strong."
"God's promises are sure and certain.  We can be forgiven of our sins and cleansed from all unrighteousness.  And if we continue to embrace and live true principles in our personal circumstances and in our families, we will ultimately arrive at a point wher we 'hunger no more, neither thirst any more..For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed us and shall lead us unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes."
"But this cannot happen if we hide behind personal, dogmatic, or organizational facades.  Such artificial discipleship not only keeps us from seeing ourselves as who we really are, but it also prevents us from truly changing through the miracle of the Savior's Atonement.  We come to church not to hide our problems, but to heal them."
"This is our high and holy calling -- to be agents of Jesus Christ, to love as He loved, to serve as He served, to look after the poor and the needy,..."