A fourth visit from an apostle - Elder Jeffery R. Holland

 

Karim Batallanos with Rich 

Edmundo Luna  (Junior) and his daughters 

Rainy season means spectacular cloudscapes

Patient dog 

Some kinda braids!

The possible reason why crackers are always smashed in their little packets

Street sewing

Cellphone

Back to school sales

Missionaries awaiting Elders Holland, Godoy and Costa

Waiting for Sunday conference

We had a good week! On Monday Rich took 3400 photos! We received the report back on all our pictures including the Cusco census and they passed! We’re very happy that we don’t have to redo the “census beast.”We’re working hard every day because in the next months there will be several days when we will be traveling for conferences. We’re determined to finish the Cusco project. 

We started working on books from Madre de Dios, the jungle. It’s strange because it is not part of the Cusco Department. We figure that the records were moved here for safe keeping during the terrorist years. It’s really interesting because there are books from some of the Native Communities. 

We visited with some old friends from our Tintaya days, Karim and Junior. Julie taught her English classes and we enjoyed lunch with the Poulsens on Wednesday. Our friend Quique brought friend from the Ukraine to visit. She speaks Ukranian, Russian, and a smidgen of English. Quique speaks Russian since he had been married to a Ukrainian. A Peruvian speaking Russian, pretty fascinating! We managed to visit, with Quique translating from Spanish to Russian and back again. Rich even threw in the his Russian vocabulary which amounted to “Я говорю на русском плохо,” stating the obvious (I speak bad russian). Quique is the mission secretary and such a great guy. We enjoyed meeting Irina and getting some insight into the challenges in that part of the world. She and her family are strong members and face real threats of war and potential famine every day. 

Rich is helping a member here with his English doing the online Pathways course. From the Pathways website at BYU-I : 

What is Pathway?

Designed to give students the confidence and skills needed to succeed in college, Pathway is a low-cost educational opportunity that combines online courses with local gatherings. Students earn college credit that is eligible for transfer to BYU-Idaho and other universities. The program takes three semesters, or one year, to complete and can lead to professional certificates and degrees.

It’s an incredible program and several of the missionaries here are taking the courses. The mission really stresses English speakers to help their companions learn to speak and of course vice-versa. We have seen remarkable progress in some of the missionaries.

The highlight of the week was Saturday when all the missionaries in the Peru-Cusco mission came to town to spend two hours with the Apostle Elder Jeffery R. Holland. We had an outstanding meeting with him, Elder Godoy and Elder Costa, the area representatives. It was such fun seeing missionaries that we hadn’t seen in a long time. Elder Holland makes four Apostles who have visited us since our mission began.

Of course, what can one say about spending that much time with an Apostle of the Lord speaking directly to us as missionaries. It was absolutely inspiring and such a blessing to participate in the meeting. There aren’t sufficient adjectives to describe the feelings, inspiration and comfort we received. Elder Holland is so tender hearted, what a thrilling experience.

Rich spent four more hours with Elder Holland and all the stake presidencies, bishoprics, district presidencies and branch presidencies for a leadership training meeting. 

The Poulsens and Julie met Rich after his meeting and we had dinner at Uchu’s to celebrate Elder Poulsens birthday. The dinner was delicious and we had a great evening together. 

Elder Holland spoke in the Inti Raymi stake Sunday morning. We attended a special conference where we heard Elder Godoy. He’s from Brazil and has such a funny sense of humor. His Spanish is excellent with a heavy Portuguese accent. It was a lovely morning!

We love this gospel. We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve here with these remarkable young missionaries and the marvelous Peruvian people. We feel the time accelerating and scramble every day to get the things done we need to. We don’t want to leave anything undone. Likewise, we are confident that we can.