Somehow with writing a weekly newsletter, writing in my personal journal and all the work in the mission office, I never have gotten around to working on this blog. Since it is my pictorial personal history, I decided I should share something of our lives over these past months of the mission.
Although our time in Salt Lake was wonderful in many ways, we were extremely excited to finally be on our way to Peru, with 4 50-pound suitcases, 2 heavy carry-ones and 2 ‘personal items’ we were definitely NOT traveling light.
But we were traveling happy!
Salt Lake to Atlanta - 3 1/2 hours
Atlanta to Lima - 6 hours and 45 minutes
Lima to Piura - 1 1/2 hours
What a great greeting party!
On the left, President and Sister Van Alfen who are from our Stake in Eagle. We didn’t know them before but quickly have learned to love them and their spiritual insights and leadership.
Next the two Assistants to the President. Since they live in the apartment below the Mission Office, we get to know them well. They are outstanding young men and it is easy to love them.
Then Hermana Malpica who is a dynamo! Originally from Peru, she has lived for 40 years in the US so she is fluent in both Spanish and English. She handles all the travel and visa requirements for the missionaries. And also arranges weddings. That may sound strange but because of the complications and expense of getting legally married, many people live together for years and raise a family. When our missionaries teach them the gospel, they cannot be baptized until they are officially married. Hermana Malpica does the leg work to make that happen. And it is not a trivial assignment.
The other ‘senior couple’ is the Nyes. Interestingly they are from Meridian, Idaho. They are very young to be considered senior missionaries. When their youngest child left on her mission, they decided to serve also. When they go home they will go back to work until they are officially retirement age. Hermana Nye is the mission health advisor. She spends her time helping the missionaries stay healthy, gives medical advice and also arranges their care if they need to go to the doctor. She is a great mix of a caring mom and a no nonsense nurse. The missionaries love her. Elder Nye is a pharmacist so he is a great help to his wife. Besides that he is a super hard worker, willing to tackle any problem to help the mission, and capable of doing almost anything. He orders supplies for the missionaries to use in their teaching, manages the office, handles packages, technology, various ‘special projects’ for the Mission Leaders….and probably a whole lot of things we don’t even know about.
The other two young elders have been the ‘office elders’. The one behind Hermana Malpica has been handling ‘technology’ and the one on the end has been doing finance and housing. It took both of us to replace him. In the language of the mission, he is our Dad, since he was our trainer. Elder Von is brilliant and created all sorts of programs that have made our lives easier. He stayed in the office to train us for about 6 weeks. President Van Alfen was happy that we came so that these young missionaries could go out and teach the gospel and invite people to come to Christ.
You are familiar with the saying, “It takes a a village”. That phrase definitely applies to a mission. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes to keep the missionaries healthy, living in safe and clean apartments, with money on their debit cards, necessary travel arranged, teaching supplies in the right places, phones working correctly…..you get the idea. I am glad we get to be a small part of all of this.
