Will this coughing ever cease?

You can forget about any pictures with this post because it is all about being sick in Lima, and no one, trust me, wants to see a picture of me being sick.  Last Friday, I joined a "special" group - the number of area office senior missionaries who are home sick.  For some reason, winter colds and bronchitis are making missionaries drop like flies.  I first started feeling a little bit of a scratchy throat on Friday morning, so I decided that rather than share the wealth I would stay home.  It is now Wednesday and I still haven't been out of the house.  I have the worst case of bronchitis I can ever remember.  The last time I was sick here, it was with stomach problems and that lasted for more than a week.  I think I am in for the long haul again.  I don't know if the constant air and noise pollution add to the problem,  but you know when you have been used to being able to go to bed for a couple of days and have it over with, a week seems like an awfully long time.  Last night I did have a brief respite from all of the constant coughing that doesn't produce anything but a sore throat and aching ribs.  While lying in bed at 12:30 desperately trying to go to sleep and wishing I just had something simple like a cough drop, it dawned on me that I should take a look in my purse on the off chance that I might have one there.  Whoopi, Tender Mercy, there was one.  Ricola lemon and honey how I love you.  It was a little soft because that's what Lima humidity does to everything, but that was okay because it worked and I was able to sleep until about four when I was rudely awakened by another coughing fit and had to get up.  Speaking of the cough drop, that is one of the frustrating things about being here.  You just can't find the things you are used to.  Part of the problem is not having the language to even be able to ask most of the time.  I am getting better but not good enough.  Plus,  I hate to admit that it also just might be that I am not as young as I used to be.  Whatever, I am just so tired of being sick and having to stay home.  It's times like this that help you to realize that a life of leisure really isn't all that fun.  There's just so much reading and so many Netflix movies one can do.

Last night, I saw the doctor and he says I just need to rest and drink plenty of fluids (does that sound familiar).  I am sure he is right, but I really wanted the magic "get well" button or pill.  I did get Elder Bart and Val to give me a blessing so I am sure that will be the most helpful.  But again, I have to rely on the Lord's timing, not mine – and in this respect I am not always very patient.

Val has been staying home with me and is doing such a great job of getting things done even though he is not in the office. As for me, well I am a waste.  All of what I have been working on is on the office PC (yes, we are having to learn how to use PCs).  So all I can do from home is look at email messages.

One thing being home has reminded me is just how much noise we have to put up with.  When you are gone all day,  it doesn't seem that bad.  The worst are the big trucks carrying dirt, bricks, etc.  They always seem to have to downshift in front of our apartment.  The buses are a close second as far as the noise is concerned.  I do love watching them, though.  It always amazes me just how many people you can crowd onto an already full bus.  I have tried to capture that when we have been on the sardine buses, but it just doesn't work trying to take a picture.  I am sure that riding the buses doesn't help when it comes to keeping the germs away, either.   About twice a week, we take the bus for about 20 cents to go to a very nice market.  The market has a deli with lots of yummy offerings.  Well, it took us a couple of months to realize that there was hand sanitizer next to the cashier.  Before that, we rode the bus with all of the other folks, got off, walked across the street, bought our lunch and ate.  Hmmm,  maybe this new sanitizer is making me sick.

Val just said that the only reason people read blogs is to see pictures.  They really don't care about all those words.  So....that said, I am closing this one.  Val will complete it ... with lots of pictures, so read on McDuff!

While the sickie rests ... I will continue this update!  (However, we can NOT figure out the creative tricks in inserting photos the sizes we want, so for the moment, we will start with them relatively small (so we have more than just one to a line).  Just increase your screen size to see the images much larger.  Sorry for our computer illiteracy!)

 

When Julene mentioned the dump trucks, I stepped to the window and took pictures of 6 trucks that came by - literally in one minute.  5 more came in the next 30 seconds.  They are non-stop – even through the night.  This is one of the major routes for trucks involved in construction or mining.  Oh well, it provides people jobs.




The taxis love their horns, and there 
are dozens of buses every day.  
Our bodies are feeling the effects.

 
There is TOO much to cover.
So, this month we'll show you the contrasts of the Lima area.  A few weeks go we went to two very different areas.  1st Gamara, which is one of the Lima's 17 Districts.  We live in La Molina District.  Gamara has dozens and dozens of small clothing shops in an area you wouldn't visit at night.

There were too many shops to show.   This gives you a feel.

I guess the most interesting was the one street lined with herb and food vendors and traditional Peruvian women and children.   Love the hat on this person just sitting on the curb eating. And, we also love the way they carry babies.  Who needs a stroller when you can just grab a blanket and strap them to your back.

But, the fascinating portion was the "farmers' market".  We walked along and saw huge snails for eating, frogs for fertility, snake meat, and a tree whose sap looks like blood.  Julene just had to buy a small bottle of that since it is good for cuts, etc.  The name of the tree is Sangre de Draco (Dragon's Blood).  You put a couple of drops on the affected area, then rub until it turns into a brown salve.  Julene had a spot on her arm that just didn't want to heal and it seems to be getting better. 

      

 Look at all the bees congregating around this sack of natural pollen.  It's a field day for them.  Easy collection.  Who needs flowers when you can go to the Peruvian market and drop in on a bag full of pollen.  Buyers beware:  you just might get stung.

There were lots of seeds, veggies, and fruits . . .

and herbs

This is just a small taste.  You'll have to see the videos when we return.

Next, we traveled on the train two short stops south of Gamara to the contrast.  We got off right beside the Performing Arts Center and walked over to another LARGE mall.

Now the theme 
changes to creativity!!

Two weeks earlier, we were truly humbled when we visited the National Museum of Anthropology, Archeology, and History of Peru.  It just emphasized how little we know.  We were impressed that no matter where in the world or what generation of time people have lived, there has always existed the desire within many to be creative ... to beautify their surroundings, and make themselves attractive.  The technology has progressed, but the people have always had the same needs and desires.

 We are in awe of people who have artistic talents, no matter what era they lived in.

I took over a hundred photos.  This will have to do.

Then out in front of the museum was a piano, for public use.  Note that the invitation is in  English (another great reason for our calling).

 

And, not to be overlooked is the work of another creative person . . . 

Sister Julene's new beautician, Waldo.  (I like his work too!)

Since creative has been a dominant theme of this blog, we have to end with Julene's very creative work - her monthly newsletter that goes to the wife of each mission president.

We found this creative photo of the Salt Lake Temple.  When we return, this will go on our wall to remind us of the beautiful Temple where Julene and I were sealed together as husband and wife, with our children, for all eternity.  What a blessing our kids have been.

Finally, we'll let Heavenly Father's living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson counsel us all:

Celebrating Easter in Lima, Mira Flores, & Palomino Island

We have now been in Peru 3 months. The last month was a mixture of hard work and relaxation — which was greatly appreciated. We enjoyed a "Stay-cation" with another missionary couple, the Cardons from Rexburg, Idaho. We visited in downtown Lima and the coastal community of Mira Flores.  We stayed in a beautiful hotel in Mira Flores; a short distance from the coastline and visited many local sites.  Namely . . .

The three story Larco Mall across the street from the J. Willard Marriott Hotel, and built into the face of the cliff that overlooks the ocean.)



We visited ancient ruins ...

 ... a peaceful park filled with Olive Trees 

 

and in the spirit of being one with the local culture, we visited churches — forgetting the local tradition of visiting all the 7 churches in downtown Lima as part of Easter weekend.

 

 

And, we went to a dinner show featuring 8 cultural dances from different parts of Peru ... until the last dance, which featured dancer-selected female customers who were picked to be taught by one of the dancers.  And, of course, who was the only grandmother picked ...

Then we celebrated the anniversary of Julene's 40th birthday by taking an excursion to two Islands.  The first had a few small penguins; the second had hundreds of sea lions.

Then we finished off the celebration at what has become our favorite place to eat . . .

El Hornero, an Argentina Steak House. The head waiter has a son attending BYU.
(There are half-a-million members of the Church, in Lima alone.)

Finally, since so many missionary couples had used the long Easter weekend (it's a national Peruvian holiday) to go out of town, we created a flyer and invited all of them to attend a showing of our favorite movie . . .

Oh . . . and I did mention it has ALSO been a very busy, and exhilarating month at the Area office.  We are now sharing with 3 missionary couples material on how to teach English, because they have received that assignment – or local missionaries and members have requested it.  Two of the couples were with us in the Provo MTC. The Thelers are in the Philippines, the Reeds in Russia, and the third, our very close friends the VanWagoners, are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We shared with them a tool we had just created called a "Magic Weave" Language Card. 

It is very helpful in memorizing words or phrases related to a person's specific needs.

And finally, two weeks after we started our mission we made a presentation to the missionaries in the Bogota South Mission.  Very few of the native Spanish-speaking missionaries had been involved in the Companionship Language Study program to learn English, which they had been encouraged to do. We had tried in our presentation to help them catch the vision of the great blessings that would come to them if they did.  Two weeks ago we received the following photo. Our joy will last for months!!!

We think that is enough for this post.  We'll tell you the details, in the next post, of the incredible blessing that has come to non-English speaking missionaries around the world — because of the inspiration that came to my faithful wife, and her dedicated follow-through.  It will be one of the highlights of our mission.

Until then, we send all our love and prayers for your safety, happiness, and guidance from our Heavenly Father.  Love ya!

Feb. & March - A blur of activity!

Julene just shared some of our activity in the past 6 weeks.  We are working as hard as we did fixing up our yard before we left for this mission.  We are exhausted by the time we get home.  But, it is very satisfying.

To clarify what we have talked about in our last post, the missionaries who speak English often are sent to a country where they have to learn a second language.  They return home with life-changing spiritual experiences from serving wonderful people, and they return with the gift of an additional language they can use in work opportunities.  The General Authorities of the Church have recommended for years that the non-English speaking missionaries should also use their study time to learn English.  The Companionship Language Study program was created to assist them to do that.  However, most of the non-English speaking missionaries have not made the effort to do that.  It is hard; I know.

As one of the earlier posts showed, we are trying to help motivate those missionaries to give the effort.  We have gathered stories of missionaries who have done the program and seen important changes take place in their lives.  Every two weeks, we give a presentation to the new missionaries who have arrived at the Lima MTC.  Julene created a fun, interactive activity that shows them that learning English can be done in a fun way.

However, we have learned that it all starts with the mission president.  If he places great emphasis on the missionaries using part of their study time to practice speaking English, it makes a great difference on the young missionaries willingness to try, and to stick with it.  They will be the future Church leaders in their home countries.  So, this last month we created the following emailed flyer to help encourage the 30 mission presidents in this Area.  However, just as we were getting ready to send the flyer, we received an email from the Martinos in the Philippines, to whom we were divinely guided by our friends the Thelers.  The Martinos story HAD to be our cover letter to the flyer (all these materials were sent in Spanish and English):

We then sent this 2 page flyer:

We then attached Elder Uchtdorf's challenges and blessings from learning English:

Julene and I have been a great team.  She created the Excel document, that automatically totals the test scores in the right hand column.  The missions love it!  I took some photos and captured web images to create the flyers.  The prompting that led me to Elder Uchtdorf's experience with learning English was very clear and undeniable.  We are learning completely new lessons about what "having faith" means.

Then last week, the Area Presidency had a strong impression that the way to get greater faithfulness from some members in the Area, was to have families read the Book of Mormon starting right after General Conference.  They decided to create a sheet of bookmarks to encourage each family to read daily.  I was asked to be the graphic designer.

It all happened incredibly fast, since the Area Presidency has many things to cover before heading to General Conference tomorrow.  A sheet of 5 bookmarks, under a message to read the Book of Mormon daily, will go to every family in every ward and branch in the five countries.  They will be handed out on Sunday, April 13th.  That is hundreds of thousands of sheets being printed.  It is a big gamble to go with a volunteer amateur designer.  My Heavenly Father is teaching me even greater lessons in learning to rely on Him.  Below is what we just finished this afternoon.  (We originally created the attached sheet for our family, so you'll have to increase its size to be able to read the information on the sheet.)

Finally, a few of the sites where we live:

Our apartment is the one on the top floor —

The sidewalk in front of our apartment.  Hundreds of buses, cars, and dump trucks pass by each day.  We have to pass through the "narrow neck" of road (no sidewalk) each day on our way to the Area offices.  See the "narrow neck" in Julene's earlier post.

And, a portion of downtown Lima — near a "VERY" large upscale shopping mall.

Well . . . if you've stayed awake this far, don't stop now.  Read Julene's post below!

We will try to be better at updating the blog more often.

We love and miss all of you, and hope you are doing very, very well! ! !

Who said a mission was easy?

And who said it was easy to keep up a blog, especially when you are not very good at writing. So my goal of getting on and writing down experiences at least weekly was quickly shot down. So how about if my new goal is whenever I can. I like that kind of commitment.

Life at the area office is crazy! It is a continual round of deadlines, changes, more deadlines and more changes. Val has especially been busy creating stuff. You saw a lot of the things that he did for the Companionship Language Study program. We were able to present the material to all of the mission presidents in a training session. We hope that what has been created will help them to implement the English program. We feel like with the support from the Area Presidency and the General Authorities, the mission presidents are really trying to put more emphasis on getting missionaries to do it. We have also been reaching out to the wives because they are the ones that are tracking the missionary progress in learning English. I am currently trying to put together a Newsletter - what am I thinking when I can't even do a little blog. I want it to be a place to share what is working among the missions and to celebrate the successes that are happening there. I also want to share stories from missionaries who have finished the program because so far they have good stories about how it has blessed their lives. We recently got a testimony from a returned missionary who basically told other missionaries that they needed to do it because they had been asked to by their leaders and because it had really helped him in his life. That's just one of the tender mercies.

While we were in the MTC we were in a district with two other couples. One was going to Russia and the other to the Philippines. The couple going to Russia was doing member support and the other couple was going to be working in the mission office. We have kept in contact with the couple in the Philippines. They recently sent an email saying that she had been asked to be in charge of the CLS program for their mission. Coincidence? We don't think so! So we have been sharing what we have been doing with her. We asked if she had any stories to share. She said no, but that she had heard of a mission that was having really great success so she put us in touch with Sister Deannie Martino, wife of the president of the Philippine Angeles Mission. She had some great stories of the success of the program in her mission. We got her information in time to share with the mission presidents. For some, I think it made them feel like we felt they were not doing enough. For others, we hope it will inspire them to know that they can do better. We really feel that if the mission presidents are behind this, then the missionaries will do it.

In the meantime, the area presidency, in an effort to support the goals of the work of salvation, decided to institute a scripture reading goal among all the church members in the area. That's over 400,000 heads of households. To encourage the members in reading the Book of Mormon, they wanted to give every member a book mark and reading chart on April 13th. So, I think you can guess who got the job of making the bookmark. That's right! The person that Elder Grow calls the area graphic department. He got the assignment last Friday and after about 15 revisions the final product was ready today. My job was to create a monthly reading chart on Excel which in and of itself had 10 revisions. Here's one of the tender mercies. We have had multiple people checking this, but at about 5:30, a worker found two spelling mistakes on my calendar. That's what happens when your Spanish is not too great. But the blessing is that someone found it in time before it went to press in five different countries.

We are learning how to get around in the big city. We are getting quite excellent at taking the bus. We know what to ask to get to where we need to go in most places. And we can hail a cab and get a pretty good price and tell them where we want to go. I even had a conversation with one cabby as we went across town to a party. I told him that I only speak in present tense so I hope he understood what I was saying. He acted like he did. We are settling into life here learning how to shop, get where we need to go, and safely walk to the office without getting smashed by a bus. Well, that's just a little bit of our lives. Okay, so it looks more like a book instead of a little blog.

Life is great!

We have been greatly blessed.  We have gained a deeper conviction that the Lord is directing our ways.  Since our calling is to Teach English to native Spanish-speaking missionaries, mission presidencies, and Church employees – and since I do not speak much Spanish, yet – I had assumed that this was Julene's mission call, and I would be her junior companion.  However, when our Stake President put his hands on our heads to set us apart as missionaries, he felt prompted to say that this call was to BOTH of us, in ways that neither of us would anticipate.  I had no clue how the Lord would be able to use me effectively until I learned Spanish.  However, He didn't waste much time in letting me know.

Julene mentioned how we were led to Ronald, and I was able to record his testimony about the Companionship Language Study program (and edit out 4 car horns) because of audio recording and editing software I had on my laptop.  If the important steps that Julene mentioned hadn't taken place that Saturday, we would not have been able to meet and record Ronald.  We felt it was a blessing from our Heavenly Father because we used it 3 times in Bogota and numerous times in Lima.  It has inspired many missionaries. 

When we got back from Bogota, we felt we needed to start putting together a brochure for the missionaries and mission presidents that would assist them in using the CLS program.  We first did a survey of all 30 mission presidents.  Only 37% of the native Spanish-language missionaries were using the program.  A very small percentage actually pass the English Proficiency test that is given at the end of their mission.  It takes hard work.  I understand their challenges to learn a new language.  We were able to gather 3 other testimonies, besides Ronald's, that were put in the brochure in both Spanish and English.  This is how the outside and inside of the brochure turned out (final version):

What a blessing my iPhone camera and links on the internet were on this project.

The next week, we met with Elder Grow of the Quorum of the Seventy to receive direction on what we should present in the meeting to be held the next day with the 15 Area Seventies who work directly with the 30 mission presidents.  When I shared with Elder Grow a thought that had come to my mind, he was very supportive and asked me to proceed.  So starting that evening, I was immediately led to find some critical visual elements on the internet that made it possible for me to put together an overview of the various members we are trying to help learn English.  That resulted in the following piece:

It has been very inspiring to both of us, as we have felt the guidance of the Holy Ghost in helping us learn how to do the things we were called to do – even when we didn't know originally what needed to be done.  Our testimony is even stronger that Heavenly Father knows where we are needed, even when we and those who call us don't have a clear picture of how the Lord intends to use us.  We have been guided and directed into new opportunities to stretch our faith and be taught.

P.S.  Even though it wasn't critical to our calling, another subject I was immediately pulled into was the creation of a phone directory for all of the senior couples like ourselves who are serving in the South America Northwest Area offices.  Below are the outside covers, which show the Temple and Area offices, and the map of the area.  Our apartment is located where the green circle #10 is indicated in the middle on the right side.  (I haven't shown the pages containing the photos of the couples.  We all look the same – grey haired and old!)

We are very grateful for all the ways we have been guided so far.  We love this mission!

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.

Blog Novice still learning

Okay, so still trying to get used to this whole blog thing. I went to the blog the other day, and couldn´t find a way to add anything. So, I checked with my daughter and here we are. It doesn't look like the home page, so I am not sure.
I am at the office right now, just doing my first check it out. So I will write something short. Tonight I will add our amazing tender mercy story. We are getting acquainted with things here. Val is working on a directory of senior couples and, of course, he added a map so he is feeling much more confident about getting around. We took our first bus trips Saturday and yesterday. Great experience. We are feeling much more confident about getting around this big city.
That's all for now.