November Blog - Dancing & Our Neighbourhood
On the Saturday that Brian travelled to Arequipa to bring back the missionary, Elder Brinkerhoff, with the spinal fracture, I went with Graciela & her family to the school where her oldest two children attend. Each class wore different costumes & did a different Peruvian dance. The costumes were beautiful, & quite varied. We all sat outside in the sun (haven’t been able to do that for months!) & there was a real holiday atmosphere. It was good to see the children so happy & enthusiastic keeping up the tradition of their forefathers.
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| Graciela's Daughter, Camila Leads the Dancers |
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| The Boys Danced Too |
As a PS, Elder Brinkerhoff had a successful operation to stabilise his vertebrae. He’d been lying flat for 32 days when he finally was able to get up & walk. His father John, flew down from Utah last week, & we had a meal with them on Monday. We had only once ever seen John and that was during his mission in 1979, so it was no wonder that we didnt recognise him. But he and his wife were grateful to know us, & to know that we were keeping an eye on their son. He is now safely home & has just started rehabilitation physio to improve his mobility. His Doctor was very impressed with the surgery he received here in Lima. His Physical Therapist mentioned that his speciality is back injuries. He has worked with several other patients with the same T-10 fracture, who are often in a wheelhair after this type of injury. All concerned are very grateful for the blessing that he can walk normally.
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| Elder Brinkerhoff & His Dad |
During my first Mission here, I bought a small chocolate bar, called a Sublime every week. This was eaten as a celebration if Brian’s letter came in the weekly package from Lima, or as a commiseration if it didn’t. They came in a loose wrapper, so when buying the Sublime, I had to open it in the shop and inspect it for cobwebs. It there were any, that meant there were maggots in the chocolate, & I had to change it for another bar!! Now, the Sublimes come in different sizes, & all are sealed. They make a good substitute for Cadburys!
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| A Month's Supply of Chocolate! |
We buy our fruit and veg from a churh member who has a stall in a nearby market. We took a few photos to give you a flavour of what we see in the market and our neighbourhood.
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| Bougainvillea |
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| Open Air Meat Stall |
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| Another Meat Stall |
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| Several Kinds of Bananas |
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| Mattress Delivery |
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| Egg Delivery |
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| The Neighbourhood Parrot |
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| Hey Ho! Hey Ho! It's Off to Work We Go! |
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| Work in Progress |
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| Keeping the Grass Green |
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| Delivering Roof Tiles |
The apartments and houses here often have a fenced in area for parking, or childrens swings etc. One time we saw the area, behind a wall, all decked out for a party.
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| Party Time |
On the 26th October we participated in a Teleconference with several other Area Medical Advisors in South America & 5 Doctors in Salt Lake. The purpose was for them to tell us about various health issues, & for us to ask questions and discuss challenges we may have. There is a computer program for AMAs & Mission Presidents wives to enter info about missionaries with health problems. This can be read by the Doctors in Salt Lake too, which is very useful when a missionary had written home scaring the wits out of his poor Mum, & the Salt Lake Doctors can read what is going on, & contact the respective AMA. Often of course, the missionary has said nothing to anyone, causing more problems! Brian asked Dr Doty if he would like the program to be translated, & he could get someone in our Area Office to do it. When Dr Doty asked if I could translate it, I said it was a bit beyond me. Dr Doty said it would be interesting to hear me speak Spanish with my “lovely English accent”, & of course Brian volunteered for me to do so, which I did. I had a round of applause from the Salt Lake Doctors. Also the Doctor in Mexico said he could understand me 100% - I was very pleased, & relieved!!
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| Our Five Star Hotel |
On Monday 31st October we went to the Mission Presidents’ Seminar in Paracus, which is almost 4 hrs south of Lima. Presidents & their wives from the 5 countries in the South America Northwest Area (Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru & Venezuela) were there, plus the Area Presidency & their wives. There were 5 technical staff plus a translator and also the new AMA & his wife from Columbia. In all 65 of us stayed in a lovely 5 star hotel, surrounded by palm trees, & by the beach.
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| The Swimming Pool |
Our days were busy attending the different presentations to instruct and rejuvenate the Presidents & their wives both spiritually & physically. Between them they act as the parents of 3,964 missionaries, so it’s very important to look after their needs as well. Brian spoke for 15 mins about several medical issues, then before, during & after meals we met with each President & his wife to discuss individual matters in their Mission. It was very busy & very enjoyable.
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| Traditional Dancing |
On Tuesday evening about 10 youth from the nearby Pisco Stake came & danced 4 of their National dances for us, each one with it’s own national costume. We know it took some time to reach their high standard of dancing, they were so good, & looked so happy.
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| Imitating Llamas |
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| Marinera Dance from Trujillo |
On Thursday 3rd November, after 2 full days of presentations, we went on 2 tours. The morning one was to the Ballestas Islands where we saw millions of birds, including pelicans & one-eyed cormorants, a few penguins & lots of seals, basking on the rocks. It was lovely to be able to see all these birds & animals, in their natural setting, as opposed to the Zoo. The tour lasted 2 hrs & Brian was pleased he didn’t come when he heard sea-sickness had affected 3 people, he’d have been the 4th if he’d been with us!!
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| A Sea Lion |
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| A Party of Pelicans |
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| One-Eyed Cormorants |
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| Penguins and Cormorants |
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| Sea Lions Basking in the Sun |
On Thursday 3rd November, after 2 full days of presentations, we went on 2 tours. The morning one was to the Ballestas Islands where we saw millions of birds, including pelicans & one-eyed cormorants, a few penguins & lots of seals, basking on the rocks. It was lovely to be able to see all these birds & animals, in their natural setting, as opposed to the Zoo. As you can imagine, having so many thousands of birds, the whole island is covered with bird poo or guano. There is a fertilizer company on the island that makes good use of it.
The tour lasted 2 hrs & Brian was pleased he didn’t come when he heard sea-sickness had affected 3 people, he’d have been the 4th if he’d been with us!!
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| Guano Gatherers arriving for work |
In the afternoon we went on a 2 hour bus tour around a National Reserve & saw the wonders of nature close at hand. The Candelabra, shown below, is over 1,000 years old, & can be seen from a boat 12 miles away. It is near the Nazca lines but is made differently.
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The Candelabra on the Hillside |
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| With Our Mission President (Lima East Mission) |
There was a final session on Thursday evening, & we all returned to our Missions on Friday morning. We felt it a real priviledge to be a part of the Seminar, & enjoyed meeting all the Presidents & their wives. Now they’ll be more inclined to phone Brian about health issues, & we can put names & faces together. .
I hoped to post this last night, but was too busy. Then this morning we got up at 5.45am to be ready for Graciela to take us to the Airport to catch a flight to Tarapoto with President Blunck (Lima North Mission) his First Counsellor & the two Assistants. President Blunck was in Peru at the same time as me in 75/77 & his Counsellor President Cavero was companions with Marvin Harper (Ruth's Dad) so we had plenty to talk about. Tarapoto is in the jungle, & we were then to drive about 2 hrs to inspect two Clinics, in and near Moyobamba also in the jungle.
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| Arriving Back With Presidents Cavero and Blunck |
Our flight was delayed 3/4 hr due to rain, & then when we approached it was still raining too hard for us to land. Graciela was very surprised when she received a call from us asking if she could come & pick us up from Lima Airport & take us home. So, instead of seeing the delights of Moyabamba & it's orchid farms, we enjoyed lunch at Dom Maminos, a favourite restaurant before shopping & coming home to catch up with washing etc. The good thing is, that I can now post this today. We hope to have a proper visit to Moyabamba in Jan. or Feb.
The shops here are full of Christmas goodies even though we aren't yet mid-Nov. I will write another Blog before Christmas & already have lots of good things to write about.
