Last Goodbye

Last time for treats with David and Denis

The Hermanas came and sang "God Be With You 'til We Meet Again" in English and Spanish and then they took me for my last shopping trip. Hermanas Ortiz, Quintero, _____,_______, Kinslow,_____

Pres. and Sis Herrera and Gabriela and Arielle and the office Elders, Elder Spence, Elder Larsen, Elder Laws Elder

__________

Dominique and Martin Leno and one son they have another son and daughter.  They invited us to dinner a few times.

One last picture of Rosa.  She couldn't join our church because she wasn't married so she decided to join another one after years of coming to church.  I hope she gets to the U.S. with her family.

This was Bevin's barber.  She was in our ward and treated us so good.  She cut Bevin's hair a little short but she was so nice he couldn't dream of going any where else.

We invited the movers and their families to come one last time for Tacos. Only one mover could come the others were working. Their families came just the same.  They have bull fights to the death on Sunday's so they couldn't come to church.

Whit and Tiff

Whit and Tiff and Ethan came to visit over conference weekend it was also Easter.  We had a great time and Ethan and David got along great. Denis and David came to dye Easter eggs.

Whit, Tiff and Ethan and Ollantaytambo
Ethan brought toy cars to give away.

Just a cute little girl asleep on that rock

Welcome committee

But when we got to the St George airport this is what we saw as we got off the plane. It was so good to hug everyone again. My mom promised to wait for me to get home and there she is standing to the right. This is good too!!!!

The Poulsens and Johnsons came to our homecoming talk.  They were so good to  us.

Going away party

Carlos and his wife, Pres. Henry Herrera, Alicia Herrera, Pres. Javier's wife, Javier,
Bevin, Susan, Iryana and QuiQue

The night before we left we had dinner at the mission home with the mission presidency. I got very close because we traveled a lot together. I really do miss these folks.

Some of our Friends

Two of our dear friends in Cusco. We visited Hermana Alicia (bottom) and Hermana Juanita many times. We  also visited Elva and Julio Cesar many times and many more. When we went to andahuaylas and Abancay and all the districts we tried to eat in the pensions of the missionaries and visit as many people as we could in their homes. Looking back we realized how much we loved the people.

 Leaving them was very hard to do. We felt like we were abandoning them. We loved being in the houses of the people. I never got sick when we ate their food. If I go on another mission I am not going to make friends because it is too hard to leave them.

Zone conference

We always tought English in zone meetings but we weren't expecting what what they he'd planned for us. The three zones of Cusco, Inti Raymi, and Sicuani prepared big cards for us and presented them to us with the president. We cried like babies. I love the hermanas and elders so much. We loved the interaction with them. So many of these elders will go home this month and next. I feel so bad that we are leaving them with no English program because so many are progressing so well. I hope they keep it up. The president is becoming so fluent. When we traveled we spoke a lot of English. Im sure he will be a general authority one day.

Last trip to Quillabamba.

We ended up coming home a few weeks earlier than we expected for the funeral of Susan mother.The weekend before we had district conference in Quillabamba so we crossed the tall pass one last time. We were expecting to leave with Elder Valenzuela but we had to leave before him. He is one of our very dear friends. We spent a lot of time with him when he was assistant. He is finishing here in Quillabamba.

Lima Temple

We got permission to go to Lima for a couple of days and go to the temple. We had a great time. It is our first visit to Lima. Probably our last too. The bottom picture is a pano from the window of our temple apartment. The top is in the house of President Herreras sister. He told me his mom was the best cook in the world and he arranged for his Mom to fix us a meal. It was very good. She just cried when we talked about her son. Also in the picture are his sister and stepfather. They are very good people. His mother is a temple worker. It was a great experience to do a session in Spanish. A little rough at the veil but we got through. We managed two sessions. The temple is beautiful and so clean. Also the temple apartments are nicer than anything we have seen here. We met the area doctor at zone conferences and he met us there and took us for a tour of the MTC and the area offices. Good trip.

Saywite

 

Coming back from Andahuaylas a couple of weeks ago I asked President Herrera if we could stop at the Saywite stone. It is not very far from the road. It is very interesting. Javier Caceres said it is a map. Anyway pretty interesting.

Anticucho

In the spirit of the occasion and me thinking I am bullet proof now I snapped and bought an anti cucho off the street. They are really good! But, Four days later a five pounds lighter I have decided it was not worth worth it. Won't be trying that again. I didn't really enjoy  laying in bed moaning. Fortunately I have found a place that sells Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke. It is the only thing that saved me.

Another tasty meal I am sure but we didn't try it.

Moreno Cristo

Being Holy Week they bought out the Moreno Cristo and have been parading it around. This is the biggest thing all year. The plaza mayor is solid people. It was strange to go out on the street and see everything closed. It is nice to see so many families walking around together. Its a pretty big deal here. We had to see it on the screen because they were moving at a snails pace and a couple of seconds of watching is enough for me.

Lake Titicaca

Not sure I'll get a chance to stand on the shores of Lake Titicaca again. We were there to do a zone conference and do English interviews. we had a little down time so we walked down to the lake. We have one more round of English interviews and zone conferences and four more district conferences. I think we will have the chance to go to every zone in the mission one more time. No new seniors are coming to take our place yet. The president has asked but none have been assigned. A lot of missions don't have senior missionaries now. Seems a shame to have all this nice furniture and no one to use it.

Missionaries cleaning our house out of food.

We had some Hermanas and Elders over last Monday. (Not together) The Hermanas came over and Made pies with Hermana Johnson. It was good to have some giggling girls in the house. The Elders came over at night and ate pancakes. Elder Bolter is heading out this week so we kind of had a party for him. These boys don't think they have done a good job unless they eat over ten pancakes. We have to whip a whole bag of whipped cream and make a whole batch of maple syrup. Plus enough juice and milk to wash it all down. Not much food left in the house after they get through. We would do it every day if we could.

Roxana

Don't have a picture but I just wanted to write about what happened tonight.I don't know how many remember Roxana that worked in the garage at our old apartment. Anyway we have kept in close touch with them and about a month ago I asked her if we could bring the missionaries by. She never hesitated and said yes. Tonight they accepted a baptismal date on the 5th of may. We absolutely love them. David is such a special boy, so kind and caring and always wanting to help his mother. Denis is just flat out cute. They are  our grandkids away from home. The father is on board too but his fear is he will slip back into sin. She and the boys have attended church the last three Sundays. They live close now and are actually in the Inti Raymi ward.

This is David in his new suit Whit and Tiff brought and Denis all dressed up for church.

The doctors came to Abancay to help the midwifes learn how to save babies lives.  Some of the people who came with them went to the orphanage to play with the kids.  Nicki Dowdle and her husband are coming back as the mission doctor.

Carrasco Family

After stake conference we got the Carrasco family together for this family photo. This father should be very proud. All church leaders and so strong in the gospel.They all treat us so good. Our dentist is in this group as well as the mission doctor.

Branch president in Talavera

 

In Talevera we visited president Richard Hurranca. (Top picture on my left) They fed us cuy and then he wanted us to visit his mothers home up on the hill. They are a wonderful family. His father died a few week back and we went to the funeral. We got very close to them. It is the rainy season and we got involved in a little mud. No worry, It washes off. The Brother on the bottom is his counselor and his family. I love going into peoples homes and visiting them. On another note we are finally changing President Duque in the San Jeronnimo branch in Andahuayls. We now have a new district presidency and will have all new branch presidents in Andahuaylas. We have hopes things will improve there.

colonial bridge

On the way to Andahuaylas down a dirt road there is this colonial bridge. I asked the driver about is and he volunteered to take us there. I'm not exactly sure we should have been driving on it but we did.

Dentist

Susan had a tooth get a little sore so she went to Dr Carrasco. She ended getting the cap taken off and is waiting for a new one. I know going to the dentist is a real gamble but he really works hard to do a good job. He is one of the famous Carrasco brothers. Going into the office is like going back in time 50 years.

We have been trying to visit branch presidents when  we visit areas. This is president Flores of the Patibamba branch in Abancay. We were there when he was taking bread out of his oven. It was so good hot. I only wished I would have had some butter and home made jam.

Funeral

Saturday night I got a call from the branch president in Talavera and he told me his father had died and he was in Cusco to bury him. He was very shook up so we went to support him. President Huarancca is a very humble and sincere man. He doesn't know much about church organization but he is willing to learn. I explained to him about dedicating graves and he wanted to do it.They are in the poorest cemetery in town in huancaro. They kind of just dig a hole and then the family covers it. Anyway I kind of expected him to come back and dedicate the grave but right in the middle of all the catholic stuff he stepped forward took charge and dedicated the grave. Afterwards he sang Mas Cerca Dios a Ti. It was a very spiritual moment. It brought tears to my eyes. I felt then that Talavera is in good hands. By the way we will be changing Presidente Duque in the San Jeronimo branch in the next week of two. He is a good man but he has been in a long time and is tired.

Road to Quillabamba

The road to Quillabamba was so beautiful last week I had to put a few photos. There was water in every gully and wash with waterfalls everywhere.