Hearts touched and forever changed

At the churrascaria

Torrential storm

Tambopata River banks

Ausangate

It's high

Illegal miner town, La Pampa

Pueblo Viejo on the Tambopata

Lunch time

Ausangate

We were all dressed and ready to go to our district meeting Monday night when we received a call saying it was cancelled. We were happy to have an unexpected night at home. It was cancelled because of the zone meeting that would be held on Thursday. 

We worked hard Monday -Wednesday and we’re down to about 1.5 shelves of books to take photos of. We packed for the trip to the jungle/Puerto Maldonado and left early Thursday morning. We rode with the Harbertsons and Vicki Rojas. She works for the mission home and also trains the pensionistas who cook for the missionaries.

We have heard about the drive from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado for years and have always wanted to go on that adventure. It did not disappoint! We drove south out of Cusco and then turned east out of Urcos. The climb begins there and continues for about three hours until we reached the summit at 15,545 feet. For a good portion of the trip we could see the summit of the huge nevado (the term for perpetually glacier covered peaks) Ausangate, 20,945 feet above sea level. The road climbs up and around it. When we lived in Tintaya we could see this massive mountain from our backyard. It is truly something to behold and we had incredible views of several glaciers on it. It is absolutely breath taking!

We were all feeing pressure in our heads and somewhat headachy and nauseous so we were happy heading down the other side. The vistas are spectacular up above the tree line and it was fascinating to watch the vegetation change as we dropped lower and lower. Puerto Maldonado sits at 600 feet above sea level, in the Amazon basin and is hot and humid year round. 

Rich had a meeting Thursday night and had to leave just after we checked into the hotel. Julie relaxed on Friday while Rich had more interviews to do. We and the Reáteguis and several others went to lunch at an outdoor churrascaria. The food was good and we enjoyed the ambience and the company. Rich and Brother Reátegui went back to the church for more interviews. 

As part of this they went to visit some families who have been receiving church assistance to make sure that it is being done correctly. In one of the homes, a brother had requested a blessing. It was so very humbling. This man is 44 and was hit by a car or truck twenty-one years ago. He is a quadriplegic and  lives with his brother and mother in a shack across from a slaughter house in Pueblo Viejo, on the banks of the Tambopata river that has flooded these houses before. The walls are horizontal planks separated by about an inch. It has a corrugated tin roof. There are two beds, a couch and a chair. They have electricity and a refrigerator. The poverty is like nothing Rich had ever seen before. When they laid hands on his head, Rich said that it marked him and his life can never be like it was before.

We are so grateful for the ability to pay into the sacred fast offering funds in this church. It avails us of the power to know that what we donate actually reaches people in these conditions. Having said that, we came away feeling that the local church leaders can and need to do more for this man. Sometimes they don’t fully understand what all they can do. We have to teach that.

His situation, is incredible. For 21 years, he has lain on that bed under a makeshift mosquito net. He is totally atrophied and his family does the best that they can. Still, his suffering is beyond imagination. People need to know what a powerful thing it is to be able to actually do something where you know it gets to the poor. I can donate all that I wish to the fast offerings with the absolute surety that it will do some good. 

When we lived here before we were made aware of the big “humanitarian” groups that shall not be named. Many of them actually got less than 50% to the poor. The rest got eaten up in “overhead.” We have seen fast offerings and church humanitarian donations work absolute miracles, at home and abroad…

Rich’s meetings began at 8am Saturday morning and Sisters Harbertson, Reátegui, Rojas and Julie walked to the plaza and then took moto-taxis to the open market. They had a lot of fun looking and shopping. All the sisters went to the church for lunch with the men at 1pm. We had grilled chicken, rice and a “tacacho.” The tacacho originated in the Amazon rain forest and is made from boiled or grilled plantains, then mashed with salt, lard and some times bits of pork. It is then formed into a baseball size ball and served. The plate is served with a delicious spicy sauce made from cocona and the roccoto chili. Cocona can look similar to a persimmon but is more like an apple when cut. It has a lemony/tomatoey flavor and also makes a delicious juice. 

The afternoon conference meetings began at 4pm and we got back to the hotel at 9:30pm. We were all ready for bed!

The Sunday morning conference session began at 8am for a couple of reasons. First, the air-conditioning was not working in the chapel and second, we had to drive eight hours back to Cusco. There were about 620 attending and the ceiling fans didn’t do much to circulate the air. It was soooo hot and humid! Never-the-less, it was a wonderful conference and we will miss our dear friends in Puerto. After about an hour of picture taking with members we left and began the climb back to cooler air.

We have loved being able to visit with the members in the six districts in this mission. There are so many faithful and devoted people and we love hearing of their conversions and their sweet testimonies. We will miss them all.