Feb. 9, 2014

Walking, running, dodging to the office.

One of the most exciting things we do each day is walk to the office. Our apartment is on the corner of two very busy streets. The portion right in front of our apartment has a very nice sidewalk. The only things we have to worry about there are the large heavy garage doors that swing up without notice. We have not had a problem yet, but one of the other missionaries got a good goose egg.  A few steps away, we have to leave the sidewalk and walk on the street. Going to the office isn't so bad because we are facing traffic and can see what is coming. Walking home is a little more of a challenge. 

I tried to take a video of the process and three times it was a wash. The first time, in my hurry I took a wonderful video of my green shirt and ugly neck. The second time, I didn't push start twice. The third time, I got a wonderful video of everything to my left instead of the road. But the fourth time was truly a charm. There was soooo much traffic it made for a spectacular video. We do love the fact that we are only six minutes from the office, though.  Doesn't look like it will let me share the video :(

Last week we had the opportunity to go to Bogotá, Colombia to present at the Missionary Training Center there.  (Our friend Diana's son Bobby was at that MTC a little while ago. Too bad he wasn't there when we were.)

We were only supposed to stay for a day, but on the way to the airport, Elder Grow decided it would be nice for us to present to the Bogotá South Mission zone leaders and missionaries. What a treat! Our first presentation was to about 80 MTC missionaries in the cultural hall of the MTC. It was fun listening to them as they introduced themselves in a new language - English. I love the organized chaos. Val was a hit as he did his best to explain things in Spanish. He says its hard being a bad example, but I tell him that he is the best example of how hard it can be to learn a new language and it is an inspiration to them.

Saturday evening, we did an entirely different presentation in a cramped room to 28 zone leaders. Try getting up and moving around with 32 people, 6 long tables and lots of chairs. It worked! They did a choral reading of Proverbs 3:5-6 (Look it up. It's my favorite). The next day, we gathered 140 missionaries in a cultural hall. The mission president asked us what we would be doing that day and when I told him it would be the same as the night before, he said with concern on his face "To 140?" It went so well. After the first recitation, he had all of the native-Spanish speakers do it again by themselves.  They were great!

I must share a very tender mercy. In preparation for our presentations, we wanted to get some testimonials from former missionaries about the Companionship Language Program. Two weeks ago, we were scheduled to do our very first presentation at the MTC here in Lima. That got cancelled, but the tender mercy didn't.

On Saturday we had planned to go on a tour of Lima with another senior couple. Our trip to Mira Flores was delayed by a very slow bus so we were steps away from the tour bus when it pulled away. That meant going to plan "B".  It's a good thing that worked because there was no plan "C". We ended up going on a tour to Pachacamac - an ancient temple site. That tour took two hours longer than the first. After the tour, we met another couple and toured the Inca Market to do some shopping. It was there that we realized we were going to be late for that evening's stake conference.

We rushed to get on a bus. At one of the stops, a young lady got on the bus, walked past the other two missionary couples ahead of us and started talking to us. She asked us, in Spanish, if we were going to Conference. We were excited to find out that Lilia was a member. Val said he knew just by the way she looked - modestly dressed with a beautiful countenance. We got to our apartment hot, tired and an hour late. We changed and rushed over anyway.

After conference, we met her and her husband, Ronald. I was inspired to ask if they would like to come to our apartment for dessert. Val was less than excited, because we were both tired. However, on our way, Ronald asked what our missionary assignment was. When we told him, he enthusiastically shared his love for the program that had helped to teach him English.

At the apartment, Val was inspired to ask if we could tape his testimony. The result - a beautiful message we have shared in each of our presentations so far and added to our new brochure. We look back and see the Lord's hand in so many things that day, as he orchestrated our day to make it possible for us to meet Lilia and Ronald and collect a strong testimony of the Companionship Language Study program.