Friday, July 17, 2015

Day One: Mountains and Motos and Missionaries

TUESDAY
JUNE 30, 2015


We arrived safe and sound 24 hours ago. It's 11:30 pm Tuesday and we've been on the go since early this morning after going to bed around 3:00 am last night - a midnight arrival was followed by a slow customs experience. Actually it was not too bad but you need to sharpen your elbows to get anywhere. Weather is cloudy and warmer than usual and the sun actually came out today which is unheard of this time of year. We are loving it.

It was a long day yesterday as well as today and will be another long one tomorrow. We do a mission tour conference in the morning and then drive to Ica (about 5 hours) and then do it again Thursday. We worked all day and then went out with the missionaries this evening. Hermana went with Sisters Bond and Gilar and visted some part member families and taught a new investigator how to pray. He accepted the invitation and offered a very sweet prayer. She rode in a little Moto twice. It's what's called a wild ride - squished into the back of this rickety motorcycle. All this was in Spanish. Hermana understood a great deal of it which is pretty awesome.


Traffic in Lima is everything they promised it would be - full on chaos. I'll update some adventures later but suffice it to say there's never a dull moment at breakneck speed. Pedestrians are well down the food chain and one wants to keep their wits about oneself if one wants to avoid being run over.

I split with two missionaries this evening as well, Elders Davis and Vera. After a long and crazy taxi ride in an Austin Mini wagon (4 of us squished in together) which couldn't muster more than 15 mph, we hiked to what seemed the top of the world. I thought I was gonna die. I finally called uncle and told them I needed to stop to catch my breath. 45 degree streets seemed to go up forever. I decided to take a photo more as a delaying tactic but it was a spectacular view of the city close to a huge statue of Christ. The view was amazing and the poverty stunning and this is not even a poor area. We did find their contact home, had a nice chat and set another appointment for tomorrow. After arriving at Ica tomorrow we will split with the missionaries again. They are awesome, powerful teachers and never miss a chance to share the gospel message. They have been well trained.


Hermana is finishing up our family slide show for presentation tomorrow. I hope she is done so she can go to bed at a decent hour. We are both bagged and we're not even half way through the week. It is a great feeling and a happy tiredness and we are having a wonderful time.

The city where we live is beautiful and full of great restaurants. The Douglases took us to a great burger place for lunch and I had a mango smoothie to drink. It was the best I ever tasted. Nothing on the US side can even come close to comparing. Their fries are really excellent as well. We will be back to that place for sure. The Douglas family left us at the office around 5:00 and are now winging their way back home. They were so wonderful and did everything they could to make us feel welcome. They worked like crazy to make sure the mission home was ready. I suspect we will keep discovering wonderful things they've done for us well into the coming months. We miss them already.

Our Vonage number is not set up yet and it will be Friday before it's operational. No time to do it now. Use email until we advise we are ready for conversations.

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