Early Mission Visits

Hola from Lima again, we hope you are all well!  We have enjoyed hearing from some of you, & your comments on our Blog.  There is a new Insurance scheme for the missionaries health, where each missionary will have a Health Card with their name, number & photo on.  These are being given to each mission by the two men behind the scheme, & we go with them to present it to the Mission President, his wife, & the Administrators who work at the designated clinics, which we assess.  Then the sick missionary has to ring the President's wife, who will e-mail the clinic.  All expenses for drugs, equipment, treatment etc will be paid by the Insurance Company & will be considerably cheaper  than what is being paid at present.  It will also save the Zone Leaders running around to buy the drugs, & anything necessary for the sick missionary.

Washing on an incomplete roof is a common sight

A 3-wheeled taxi passes one of our chapels in Chincha

A typical roadside hamlet

Last month we visited Chincha, a town 3 hrs south of Lima, to assess clinics for this purpose, & this month we have been on the first official visits to present the scheme.  

With  President & Sister Chipman in Piura

Teaching stress & how to reduce it

First to Piura & Chiclayo in the North, where the Chipmans made us very welcome.  A church member served us in the restaurant the first evening, and in Chiclayo, when we visited a clinic the Administrator was a member who had recently moved there.  

Lots of building work in the towns

They use wooden posts a lot in Peru

Building a 2nd water tower

We went to the Museum of the Lord of Sipan before catching our flight back, & were shown round by an English speaking guide who was also a member.  Last week, we visited Cusco & one of the men working in our hotel was a member from Arequipa.  It’s great to find so many members here now.

Jane with Hermana Perez in 1975

Wearing the outfit that Hermana Perez bought in 1975

Reunion with Hermana Perez in 2011

When I was in Peru on my first mission, I was in Cusco for my last 6 weeks.  I used to visit the Perez family who lived in an adobe hut with newspaper on the wall to cover the mud.  I was impressed that they had a liquidiser to prepare food for their baby Nauvoo.  He was named after a town in Missouri where our early church pioneers build a beautiful city from swampland.  Nauvoo is a Hebrew word for beautiful.  (It’s also the name of Sarah’s baby girl born on 14th Feb.)  I have a photo of me holding Nauvoo on my back in the traditional cloth they use for carrying their babies & toddlers. The Mum bought me a native Cusco costume, much cheaper than if I’d gone to buy it.  I’ve worn it whilst giving many presentations about Peru.

A doctor in a clinic we visited in Cusco is a Stake President, or local leader of our Church.  I asked him if he knew the Perez Family who had a son called Nauvoo, who would be about 35.  I was so excited when he said he knew them, & gave me the number of one if their Church leaders.  A missionary made 3 phone calls for me, & then I was talking to Lemuel, the brother of Nauvoo. On Thursday night we took out to dinner the Mum, Lemuel, & sister Sariah plus her husband.  The Dad & Nauvoo were away working, but we will be going to Cusco again within the next year, so will be sure to meet up with them all.  We had a wonderful evening reminiscing for 3 hours, & said how never in a million years had we imagined we would be sitting together in Cusco in 35 years, while we were serving a Medical Mission in Peru .  Fortunately they understood my spanish with the wrong tenses etc!!

Famous 12-angled stone in Cusco

Watch out for his whip

Weaving

Who needs a baby buggy?

We saw the 12 angled stone that was part of the Inca Palace.  We also saw 2 men dressed in red jackets with whips.  Every time someone tried to cross the road away from the pedestrian crossing, they were whipped - an effort on the part of the Government to prevent road accidents.  In order to take the photos of the lady weaving, & the one with a baby on her back, selling dolls, I had to give them each a sole (Peruvian money, = 25 pence).

Distinctive costume from Otavalo, Ecuador

Elders from Otavalo

We sometimes get missionaries from the town of Otavalo in Equador.  The sisters are allowed to wear the distinctive costume all the time, while the elders keep their long hair which is plaited down their back, very different from the usual short hairstyles of missionaries.

Keeping Lima looking tidy

Lunch break in her own "chair"

Many of the people here do manual work, & work so hard, especially the street cleaners & gardeners along the main roads.  Some people sell food, gadgets, papers, toys etc to cars waiting at traffic lights, or come round the streets shouting out for people to buy their wares.  There is also noise from the children skate-boarding outside till gone 10.30pm & the frequent car alarms going off, sounding 4 different tones, especially in the night.  Parties at the weekends can go on till at least 4am which is a real pain!!

A typical high kerb

Many of the kerbs are very steep.  I always walk to Church (25mins) in flat shoes, changing when I get there.  I have to be very careful looking where I walk - in the first two months I fell flat 3 times, just saving myself with my hands each time, & grazing & bruising my knees.  This is beause there are so many potholes & bumps in the roads & pavements. 

Senior Missionaries on a City Tour

A while ago a group of us went on a Bus Tour around Lima, this took 3 hours, which included looking round the San Fransican Church & the catacombes below, which held hundreds of bones.

Last week I had a back tooth out.  It had been a problem for a few years, & my Dentist (Hayden Dixon) thought he’d have to remove it.  However, when he took out the back one below it, the problem stopped - until 2 months ago.  I was very pleased I could give the history in spanish to the Dentist, who lives and works 10 mins from our apartment and goes to church where we do.  I was also pleased I could ring Hayden 40 hrs later, about the bleeding from the socket & was reassured it was quite normal.  My Peruvian Dentist had told me to ring him any time, but  it's even harder to communicate in spanish over the phone!!!  Brian & I were very impressed by the standard of his work, but of course hope I don’t have to return.