The Hollands in Lima Peru!

Elder Holland visits Lima

We had the privilege of being able to meet with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife, Patricia Holland. They came to Lima to talk with the 6 missions, the Peru MTC (mission training center), and 4 different devotionals.

Elder Jeffrey R. and Patricia Holland
(This picture was not taken in Lima--from the web)

Our missionaries were very excited. They arrived early. I had one elder that told me that they had gotten up at 3 am to get ready to come. We provided a breakfast bag for each of our missionaries, because most did not have breakfast.

Peru Lima East Mission getting their breakfast bags

We were able to meet with the Hollands and Elder and Sister Mathias Held of the Seventy on Tuesday, January 21st. Elder Held and Elder Holland shook each missionary's hand. (That's a lot of hands to shake about 500.)

Matching Outfits! Hermanas Royal, Estevez, and Hansen

We listened to talks by Elder and Sister Held. Then we were able to hear Sister Holland. She said:  "The most powerful thing I can leave with you is how much God loves you and how much he wants you to be happy and successful. Be all that you want in righteousness."

Elder Holland talked to the missionaries. I think the following can apply to all of us. "You are God’s investigators. He would like you to listen a lot more than you do. He wants you to repent--there’s something to improve--do some soul searching and repent--sometimes it’s the little things that get us. God wants you to study more--a little better than you do. You may have to change habits--change friends--leave family. There is only one direction in this church--forward and up. Stay firm and fast and devoted."

Missionaries after Elder Holland's talk

Mission Tour

This week was also our mission tour. That means that a general authority comes and visits the mission. We met with Elder and Sister Gavarret of the Seventy on Wednesday and Thursday. What kind loving people they are. We were honored to be taught by them. Sister Gavarret told us her conversion story. She said, "The Book of Mormon spoke to me from the dust." That is the book that brought about her conversion.

Sister Gavarret

Elder Gavarret teaching the missionaries.

Half of the mission came on Wednesday and the rest came on Thursday. It was interesting to notice that Elder Gavarret taught something unique on each day. The rest of the talks and training was similar, but what he shared was different each day.

Practicing what they learned.

We had a catered lunch with real plates and silverware.
Not our normal plastic fork and styrofoam box.

More Elder Holland

Elder Holland held a special fireside for the women on Wednesday night. Since it was at the church a whole block away I went to it. One side note, the fireside started at 7 pm. There were sisters that came at 3 pm to get a seat so they could see and hear an apostle of the Lord. I didn't go until 6:30 and had to sit in a room with a TV.

This is just one of the messages he gave that night. Probably my favorite.

"Trust in God’s goodness when you don’t know the answers."

"God LOVES Broken things. There are broken clouds to nourish the earth. Broken ground to plant seeds. Broken grain to make bread. Broken bread to feed us...

"What God loves most of all about us is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The sacrament is symbolism to remind us why things are broken. Whatever is broken is fixed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our only hope is in the atonement of the Savior of the world. He fixes everything."

Group of returned missionaries that Thor did a vocational training for on Saturday.

Plants of Peru

Random Picture of the Week

Sunset! We don't see too many of these.

Quiet Week in La Molina

Big News

My chromebook keyboard is not working. That is why there is a delay in the blog this week. But the big news is that we had "rain" twice this week. Now our rain is not really rain. It is more like a slow drip from the heavens. We actually saw a rainbow, which was very exciting--even if it was only a small one. Other exciting news was an earthquake on the 15th at 4:45 am. It came in at 5.4 on the Richter scale. It woke both of us up. I was up and trying to find my shoes when it stopped.

We talked with a few elders to see if they had felt the earthquake and most had slept right through it.

Some boys riding skateboards!

Senior Missionary Family Home Evening

It was our week to host family home evening at our apartment. It's always a fun evening to meet with the other senior missionaries. We fit 23 people into our apartment! We had to borrow chairs from our upstairs neighbors--Elder and Sister Pratt. It was pretty cosy.

Practicing the song for the devotional

Thor led a great discussion on the Book of Mormon. We also practiced a musical number that most of them are singing in a devotional with Elder Holland. (We are not part of the area office, so we won't be there. Don't feel bad for us because we get to listen to him with our missionaries on January 21.)

So many people in our apartment!

Temple P-Day

This week was great because we were able to go to the Lima Temple with our zone. Our "official" zone is Mayorazgo. It is where most of the office elders are assigned...And us, because we are considered part of the office staff. It is always special to go to the Temple. It was an added bonus to see Elders and Sisters that we know all excited to be there! It was a great day.

The Mayorazgo Zone at the Temple

Hermanas Dunn, Stephan, Santana, and Pozo--The sisters in our zone

Plants of Peru

Random Picture of the Week

The same day we saw the rainbow, we found this lovely scene at the Las Flores Stake.

Back to Work

Long Week of Trainings

We started the week off with our usual office meeting on Monday.

Tuesday we headed to the La Molina chapel to meet with our new missionaries. We received three missionaries this transfer. The sister missionaries had traveled through the night and by lunchtime they were soooo tired! We always wonder how much they really understand or remember from their first day in the mission.

Our New Missionaries!  Elder Lazaro, the Amatos, Hermanas Lenzi and Dunn

Wednesday was a new leader training. I was able to train FIVE new English specialists. (We only have 10 in the mission--so with the transfer I lost five of them.)  The English specialists are responsible to teach a 20 minute lesson in their zone meetings each week. The Latino missionaries are strongly encouraged to learn English while on their mission. This program helps them learn conversational English.

Thursday was the Leadership Council meeting for the entire mission. During the meeting they were encouraged to share why they came on a mission and what was their purpose for being here. It was a blessing to hear their testimonies and their love for the Savior.

Our office elders enjoying snacks at the Leadership Council..

Guess which ones got to pick up the food from Burger King!

Friday was the vocational training for missionaries that will be going home in three transfers. Thor and Brother Miguel Serrano lead the training; a part of which is a vocational test.

Taking the Vocational Test

All smiles because the test is over and FOOD is on the way!

By Saturday we decided to take a break.

Walking Tour of Lima

Our break was a walking tour of Lima. It was a 6 mile hike by the coastline in downtown Lima. We went with two other couples, the Michelsons and the Everetts. It was a fun day to see different sights in Lima.

Lima

Armistace Park in Barranco

Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa

Miraflores Central Park

We fell in love with this painting! It was in Miraflores Central Park.

The fun people we went with--Michelsons and Everetts

View of the Pacific Ocean

Plants of Peru

Random Photo of the Week

We found this interesting sculpture in a Random park in Barranco, Lima

Trip to Trujillo

The Perks of Being a Senior Missionary

On December 26th we headed to the Lima airport for a short flight to Trujillo. And yes we had permission to leave the mission. In fact President Amato encouraged it. (Plus there wasn't much going on during the holidays.)

We landed at a small airport (compare it to Ogden). We took a taxi to the Trujillo Temple.

Trujillo Temple

Thor enjoying the grounds of the Temple

The Trujillo Temple is a beautiful temple. The grounds surrounding it are really amazing and filled with different plants and flowers. We were able to stroll around the grounds for a while. We met some really nice temple workers and temple missionaries when we went inside.

Outside the entryway to the Temple

Trujillo Temple

After the Temple we headed to downtown Trujillo to meet with the owner of the Airbnb that we stayed in. It was a very cosy apartment. We are definitely very spoiled with our apartment in La Molina!

We headed down to the main square. It was filled with people and Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes. We were able to go in the main cathedral. It was open for Christmas mass. It had really pretty murals on the ceiling.  Everywhere we went there were manger scenes. When we went back to the square at night it was all lighted up.

Cathedral on the Main Square

Murals on the ceiling of the Cathedral

View of the main square in Trujillo

The view at night

On the 27th we went to the ruins of Chan Chan. These ruins cover an immense area. Our guide was very knowledgeable (It was in Spanish, so I only got bits and pieces.) Chan Chan was a large city in the Chimu civilization. We were in a small tour group with Diana and Idelso. We spent much of the rest of the day with them as we went to several other ruins and then to the beach. We had lunch with Diana and Idelso. It was some very yummy cerviche. Then we parted ways and we spent the afternoon watching the waves, the pelicans, the surfers, and the boaters.

Chan Chan --The people did a lot of their relief work in Fish, Birds and Nets

Chan Chan--the honeycomb represents nets

This was larger than an Olympic swimming pool-- where they had their water storage.

Notice the size of the walls at Chan Chan

Huaca de Arco Iris--Can you see the rainbow?

Our new amigos--Idelso and Diana at beachside cafe in Huanchaco

The beach at Huanchaco

The next day we headed out to Huaca de la Luna or Temple of the Moon. This is the main religious temple of the Moche people. We had an English speaking guide named Ricardo. It was interesting to learn all the grisly details of human sacrifice in the Moche culture.

Huaca de la Luna--the Moches

Painted murals at Huaca de la Luna

A large area with many different murals on different levels--Huaca de la Luna

In the afternoon we wandered through downtown streets. We finally made our way to the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo where it has one of the longest mosaic murals in the world. They used 30,000,000 1 cm x 1 cm for this project. It covers the walls on two really long blocks. We loved the brightly colored murals depicting the history of Peru. 

Mosaic at the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo

This mosaic show the beach town of Huanchaco

Sunday we went to a church that wasn't too far from where our apartment was. We then revisited the main square and took some diversions to look at old churches.

Monday, the 30th was another plane ride back to Lima.

Old church in Trujillo

Happy New Year

We spent the night playing games with three other senior missionary couples on New Years' Eve.

With the Pratts, Michelsons, and Grahams

When it was midnight we went up on the roof of our apartment building. Then the fun began. There were so many fireworks going off all over the area. We could also see sky lanterns floating up in the sky (think of the movie Tangled). It was really noisy and then it got really smoky. After it got smoky it was difficult to see the fireworks that were in the distance. This lasted at least 30-45 minutes.

Back to Work

We had two trainings this week. One on Tuesday for the Doce Semanas group. Translated that means the missionaries have been here twelve weeks. They have completed their missionary training which includes reading the Book of Mormon. 

Graduates of Doce Semanas

The second training was  on Friday. We traveled to the Lima Peru Central Mission. Their mission office is in downtown Lima in the San Isidro area. Thor and Brother Miguel Serrano did their first vocational training for the missionaries in that mission. 

Lima Peru Central Mission with their first vocational training.
Sister Strong, mission president's wife is on the left.

Plants of Peru

We found these lovely trees in Trujillo.

We noticed that they didn't have fences around their neighborhood parks in Trujillo.
There are fences around most of our parks in La Molina.

Random Photo of the Week

Picture takers of the graduates at doce semanas.
They all have cameras and are clicking!