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| We Cover A Large Area |
Brian is the Medical Advisor for the South America North-West Area, which covers Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela. Another doctor based in Columbia is Assistant Area Medical Advisor, and looks after the missionaries in Ecuador, Columbia & Venezuela, reporting to Brian each month. This leaves Brian with the personal care of about 3,000 missionaries in Peru & Bolivia. If unwell, they report to their Zone Leaders, & if necessary, the wife of the Mission President, the ‘Mission Mum’ who will then decide if Brian needs to be involved. With modern technology, Brian can enter details about a sick missionary, that leaders in Salt Lake City can access if an anxious parent rings about their missionary who has e-mailed home that they’re sick. Brian has access 24/7 to doctors of all specialities in Salt Lake City. They provide expert advice on any medical problem. One Elder needed surgery. He felt unsure of the quality of care in Peru so he elected to go home to Salt Lake City for surgery. The next day his surgeon rang Brian for details of the investigations done so far. The Church does it’s very best for missionaries that are unwell, whatever the cost. There are five missions in Lima & we visit them each week if they have sick missionaries for us to see. I can translate some of it for Brian, if it is a Latino, but get their companion to help if necessary.
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The Latinos
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| Jane Teaching Them About Safe Water |
There is a new intake of missionaries every three weeks in the CCM (the Mission Training Centre), & we visit them after a week & teach health principles, to the Latinos (anyone from South America) first, over 100, & then to the Americanos currently a group of 18. Most of it is done with a power point presentation, with some acting along-side, which causes lots of laughs. We call in the CCM every day, to see if there are any sick among them.
Another part of our work is to assess new Missionary Applications. Brian does the medical bit & I, along with a few others check the rest. I then adjust the Google translation into spanish, because Google does it literally, which is often near but rarely correct. We love the fact that our work is so varied, we aren't doing the same thing every day. We have a lot of laughs which help us get over frustrations & learn to develop patience.
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| Brian Teaching How To Reduce Stress |
We have given power point presentations on health principles, to Zone Leaders, who then go & teach the missionaries in their Zones, & today to a Sisters Conference to celebrate Mothers Day, which is tomorrow. We try & vary it, & always include some acting which makes everyone laugh.
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| Can You Spot Jane? |
Now I’ll tell you some of the fun things we’ve been involved with in the Community. My first Saturday here, I joined 22 ladies who attend La Molina Chapel, which is by the CCM & Area Office. They had been busy making 150 baby blankets. We took them to the Maternity Hospital, split into 5 groups, & gave the blankets to the new mums, some of whom looked very young. I was concerned to see a few babies lying on a bed alone!
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| In A Water Tunnel |
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| One Of Many Ornate Fountains |
That evening we went with some other missionaries to a Water Park, where there were fountains of varying shapes & sizes. Once dark, the music began & the fountains projected their water in time to the music. They even had a laser light show onto the fountains, I’ve never seen anything like it, fantastic!!
Once a month the senior sister missionaries go with the wives of the American Embassy, Bank & Church workers to someone’s house & have a pot-luck lunch. It’s called the Lunch Bunch, there are 16-20 I think, & it’s great fun meeting lots of people of different ages & backgrounds. We also have Family Home Evening for the Senior Missionaries twice a month, where a couple give a presentation about something, then provide dessert afterwards. The last one was a quiz about the life of our ninth prophet, David O. McKay. We’re trying to decide what to do ours on when it’s our turn at the end of June.
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| Acrobats On Stilts |
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| Another Acrobat |
On the 23rd April, we went to a Circus owned by a member of the Church. It was an acrobatic show with young people, not animals. Some of the people he had taken off the streets, where they did somersaults etc at busy intersections to get money. He trained them to perform many outstanding routines. They were so talented. He was an amazing clown who conveyed so much with only gestures & with a whistle.
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| Peru National Children's Choir |
We have a lovely driver, Graciela, who takes us to the Lima Missions to hold clinics. Her son of 14 sings in the Peru National Children's Choir, & on 26th April we felt privileged to be able to go to a performance, where they sang among other things, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Pie Jesu’, & John Rutter’s ‘The Lord Bless You & Keep You’. We loved it.
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| Senior Missionaries About To Watch The Wedding |
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| Let Them Know We're British! |
We were equally impressed with the singing last Friday, when we were able to watch the Royal Wedding highlights on YouTube. We had a party at 4pm in the Conference Room, where we gave all the senior missionaries a printed Union Jack to clip on their clothes. We ate goodies, & watched the wedding on a huge screen used for video conferencing with the US, & other parts of South America. We just loved it, & felt very proud to be British, & joined in singing Jerusalem!!!
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| A Floral Display For A Wedding (Or A Funeral?) |
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| Can You Spot The Dog? |
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Standing Room Only
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We see some very interesting things as we travel to the Lima Missions. I don't know what sort of condition the flower display display was in when it reached it's destination! I nearly died laughing when I saw the little dog sitting nonchalantly on top of mattresses or whatever they were as his owner sped along. Not long after I saw a large dog standing on the back of a motor-taxi, with 3 people inside it, & the driver on the motorbike in front. I just don't know how the dog didn't fall off! I've seen a families of 4 riding on a motorbike, no crash helmets of course! If you look carefully you can see many people standing on the bus, but it's not as crowded as the little buses we travel on.
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Note The Yellow Staircase |
This photo shows the yellow stairs I mentioned in the last Blog. They are the only access to the houses which have no running water or electricity.
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| Our Peruvian Carnets |
On Friday 15th April, we went to Immigration for 2 hours & came home with our Religious Visas. We are now officially here!! This was 5 weeks after we arrived. It has now become the normal routine, for missionaries to enter on a Tourist Visa & then change once they are here, thus saving weeks of waiting in their own country.
