Dedicating graves to temples; subteranean to sublime

New Mural

Cusco Fair Booth setup

More Cusco Fair setup

Icaro

Icaro

Cusco Days Celebration

Rich had a call this week from a branch president who explained that he had to move the cadaver of a loved one from one crypt to another. This is common enough in many lands since plots are only rented for a period of time… long enough for the cadaver to become nothing but bones. Sometimes, folks just take them home here, hence “skeletons in the closet” aren’t always just a saying…

So his question was; should one dedicate the grave to where the remains are transferred? The thing is; this is a question that we would never in a million years have been asked at home in the United States…

Rich spent Wednesday releasing missionaries that are on their way home. We also realized that Julie’s carnet (foreign visa) runs out the day after we get back from the states, the middle of July, and we can only renew a month in advance. We called a friend who runs the visa office for the church in Lima. That stirred things up and they called the mission office in a panic, perhaps due to our abuse of power. The mission communicated back to Lima who said the correct papers by plane would be in Cusco by Thursday morning. 

Then, we also discovered that Rich’s new passport didn’t have an entry stamp and it would cause big problems traveling on Monday. When he received his new passport the church office in Lima should have taken care of the entry stamp, but they didn’t. Phone calls were flying back and forth and the Travel and Visa office in Lima was scrambling and urging our office elders to do the same. 

The mission secretary and his companion here in Cusco went to the airport Thursday morning and picked up the necessary papers for us and we spent the morning in immigration. All was in order and ready to go but the paper work had to have a check-mark from the jefe (boss) and he wouldn’t be back until Thursday afternoon. Everything hinges on one man putting a tic mark in a box…..we can’t even discuss this rationale……..

We spent the afternoon at the fairgrounds helping to get our banners hung and setting up for the big Huancaro fair that begins on Saturday. When we finished there, with promises and promises that the electricity would be connected we took the Elders Olsen and Yorgesen to Papacho’s for lunch. They were so funny, they haven’t eaten anything like these hamburgers their whole time in Peru, they really thought they were in heaven. 

And we didn’t get one picture taken. There’s always tomorrow….

Friday was just as crazy a day, lots of running around and taking care of last minute things and Rich spent part of the morning in immigration again and everything was signed, stamped and finger printed for Rich’s passport and once again, the jefe was nowhere to be found to put his check mark on the papers, Grrrrrr! so there was nothing more to be done. Immigration closed in the afternoon for a meeting and never mind that we were flying out the next morning. The immigration minion promised that it would be ready by 9am Saturday morning.

Elders Olsen, Salazar and Yorgesen are true angels, they were at immigration before 9am, got Rich’s passport and were at our house by 9:40am to help us with our bags and get us to the airport on time! Ah…living on the edge…..

The fair opened Saturday morning and we received and email from Elder Johnson who is overseeing our booth. We love the Johnsons and the Rhoades, the other senior couples serving in Cusco. Where would we be without their willingness and savvy? Saturday afternoon and Elder Johnson wrote the following:

“Don’t worry; you can sleep peacefully at night    .    .   .   the Peruvians will never take over the world.  I could start out by saying “you’ll never believe this", but I know you’d believe anything by now.

No electricity this morning.  By 12:45 they had the wires strung (there’s a long story here), but the next question I asked Sr. Farfán was:  when are they going to turn the electricity on?  I could tell it was never going to happen (and it didn’t), so I called Elder Rhoades to pose a solution and he had a better one.  One inverter and car battery later, and we had video by 2:00, and it ran perfectly the rest of the day.  I am now in a scramble for a battery charger, and we will run on our own power through the Feria.

The first day of the Feria was really “setup day” for everyone else, and it was chaos til about noon.  They finally laid carpet down our street and banned trucks, cars and buses from driving down, and the people really started to come about noon.  The missionaries were superb, and if the traffic continues at today’s rate, we will use up our 1,000 Mi Familia folletos.  The word is that tomorrow is really a big day, I don’t know what the weekdays will be like.” 

We are so grateful for the Johnson’s and Rhoades who so capable of figuring out workarounds in Peru! 

Saturday evening we enjoyed watching the Cultural Event via satellite from Trujillo for the temple dedication. There was beautiful dancing, singing and sheer jubilation, what a night.

Sunday morning we attended the dedication via satellite of the Trujillo Temple. President Uchtdorff presided and Elder Bednar conducted our session. Elder Uceda, the area president gave a seminal talk on the power of the temple in the lives of our children. He is an amazing influence and example in the country. He speaks with pure authority as a Peruvian who has it all figured out and he is so dynamic. It is a true privilege to have been able to meet and associate with him on a social and personal basis.

The dedication was an incredible experience. We have such a connection to Peru and the wonderful people here, despite our whining about petty functionaries and bureaucratic frustrations. We can’t begin to describe the overwhelming manifestation of the Spirit that we felt while we joined with members throughout Peru to participate in this momentous occasion. How truly blessed we are as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We know the gospel is true; we love our mission and our Savior.