Mission Health Visits

Before I start writing about what we’ve been doing in the last month, there are two up-dates from previous months.  In September, Brian escorted an Elder with an unstable fracture of his vertebrae, from Arequipa to Lima.  He had surgery in Lima & then went home for physio etc.  In January he was able to return to his Mission in Arequipa, to the delight of him & his family.  

Recovered from his fractured spine

In December I wrote about our visit to the Uros Islands in Lake Titicaca.  Here is the link to a write up about them in the Liahona, our Church magazine.   http://www.lds.org/liahona/2011/07?lang=eng.  

Scroll down till you come to Islands of Faith, & click on that.  To get the photos, please click on the photo beneath Photo Gallery.

Near the end of last year, all the Senior Missionaries went for a cuy supper - this is guinea pig, which is a real delicacy in Peru.  We could have steak as well if we wished.  Cuy tastes good, but there is so little meat on the animal, it is quite a fiddle getting it off to eat.  I won’t be bothering with it again! 

Guinea Pig (Cuy)

Happy eaters

Just after midnight on Monday 30th Jan, I awoke & felt the apartment shaking.  Then the things in the adjoining shower room began rattling on the selves that are on a stand over the loo.  I woke Brian & told him there was a tremor.  (He slept through the last one!)  We found out later there was a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in the coastal town of Ica.  145 people were injured by falling walls, as they tried to flee their homes.  6 houses were destroyed and 1023 homes were made uninhabitable or damaged, which affected 3256 people.  We know none of the missionaries were injured, but don’t know any more details.

Bricks drying in the sun

The biggest bread basket we ever saw

Fruit in abundance

It may seem to you that our Mission is nothing but a run of trips here & there, but our Mission Health Visits (MHVs) as we call them, are only a small part of our work.  The majority of the time we are working in the Lima Area Office.  Also, when we do go on a MHV it’s very tiring.  On Tues 24th we were up at 4am, flew to Piura in the North of Peru arriving at 7am, & were on the Stand at 9.15am as part of a Multi-Zone Conference for missionaries.  We stayed in the Mission Home with President & Sister Chipman,  & really enjloyed our time with them. 

Guests of the Piura Mission President

During 4 days, the whole Mission were able to receive training from the Chipmans, & ourselves with our Health presentation.  On Tuesday & Thursday there were sisters present.  At one point the Elders split & went with President Chipman & Brian to talk about men’s topics & the Priesthood, while the Sisters came with Sister Chipman & me to talk about coping mechanisms & women’s topics.

Teaching relaxation

Teaching another group to relax

Jane teaching how to avoid diarrhoea

On Thursday we drove 45 mins for the days meeting, & on Friday we drove 4 1/2 hrs north to Tumbes for the last days of training.  Our presentation only lasts an hour, but we were involved a little in other things.  The temperature there was about 32C so we had to talk about taking extra fluids to avoid dehydration.  Near the end of the day, I was so tired, I found a carpeted room & lay on the floor with my bag as a cushion & slept for 1/2 hour - it was great!!

Yes, it is a Ping Pong table!

We met a missionary who comes from Huanuco.  The only member in his family, he used to walk 90 minutes each way to Church before he came on his MIssion.  What an example of sacrifice!

The "walking" missionary

Along the road to Tumbes we passed through varied landscapes:- sugar cane plantations, oil fields, banana groves and dessert and mountainous areas reminiscent of Judea.  We also saw rice fields, & rice drying in the sun, & then bagged up ready to sell.  The time passed quickly, fortunately! 

Planting rice

Rice growing

Foreground - Rice drying in the sun
Background - Black bags full of rice

Oil rigs

Banana do grow on trees!

I’m writing this on the 31st Jan during a 4 hr layover in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, bound for Cochabamba for more Multi-Zone Conferences with President & Sister Dyer.  We don’t plan when we will go on a MHV, it’s totally at the discretion of the Mission Presidents.  We were looking forward to some ‘down time’ next week, but are now booked to teach at Multi-Zone Conferences twice in Lima, & then three more in following weeks in the Lima South Mission.  The obvious advantage about Multi-Zone Conferences is teaching so many at one time.

We had a very enjoyable time with President & Sister Dyer in Cochabamba.  It’s the third largest city in Bolivia, and sits at 8,390 ft.  We felt the big difference in altitude when we walked arouund the edge of the Temple site, opposite the Mission Home, each morning.

Workers waiting for start time

Typical Bolivian attire

The Dyers usually go round 6 times, but I could only manage 3 times on our first morning.  The next day we met some of the Temple missionaries who also walk around the grounds when they aren’t working early.  It was a great time for socialising, but of course we couldn’t walk so fast or so far!

Some temple workers out walking

We gave 2 presentations, to 5 Zones, & they included the importance of avoiding injury to joints, which seems to be very common in that Mission.  We adapt to the needs of each mission we visit.  It was so good to see missionaries we had known in the CCM at the beginning of their missions.  I always underestimate when I try to guess how long ago we saw them.

Cochabamba Temple

We were able to visit the Cochabamba Temple.  It is much larger than Lima, and very beautiful against the mountains.  We also visited a home built by Simon Patiño, the richest man in the world (at the time) who owned tin mines.  Materials were shipped from different parts of the world & assembled by craftsmen from France & Italy.  Sadly, he was so busy he never had time to actually live in it, or see it completed!   He died age 85 & the home has been used as a Cultural Centre, run by his family.  We enjoyed the beautiful architecture & gardens. 

Simon Patiño Cultural Centre

Hibiscus

Each day we were able to see missionaries wanting medical advice, suggesting what they could do to get better, or just reassuring them, thus relieving Sister Dyer a little because as “Mission Mum” she is responsible for their health.  With each Mission Health Visit, we are very impressed with just how much these amazing people do.  They are responsible for their approx. 200 missionaries, & never know what the next phone call will be.

The Mission Home in Cochabamba

We think the climate & scenery of Cochabamba is the best we have yet seen, it’s beautiful.  Being cooler than Lima made it much more enjoyable & they have rain so all the countryside is green instead of brown.  We had almost forgotten how lovely it smells after a rain shower. Flying to Lima, from Santa Cruz, it was interesting to see the lovely snow-capped mountains  glistening in the sun as they peeped through the clouds.  I saw tiny isolated communities, dry river beds, and Lake Titicaca, which is between Bolivia & Peru.  I’m just sorry the photos I took weren’t worth printing!!