Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time - In Peru

 Christmas was different this year!

Instead of 40+ boxes of decorations, I had  two nativity scenes, a Christmas train and a few lights. George took time out from his busy schedule closing out the mission financial records to put together this shelf for me.

I think it looked quite festive!

Rather than a lot of baking for friends and neighbors, I baked a lot of sugar cookies for some very appreciative missionaries.

When I returned from the US in October, I brought back one can of pumpkin but no pie plate so instead of a round pie, we enjoyed a square one. 

 The Assistants to the President, who ate Christmas dinner with us, didn’t seem to mind the shape.  For Elder Vallejo, it was his first taste of pumpkin pie.

 

No winter wonderland here! 

It is summer with the temperatures and fierce sunshine to prove it.

From exactly midnight until 3:00 a.m. Christmas Eve there were fireworks which definitely added to a 4th of July feel of the high temperatures.

A few things were the same..

Santa made an appearance.

William, our driver is so fun!  It takes a special guy to wear a Santa suit in this weather.

He delighted the missionaries we visited that day.

The youth and children at church put on a sweet nativity, which brought back lots of good memories from our years in Barcelona.

Out Bishop invited us to join the ward leaders for a Christmas party at his home.  A highlight was a wild White Elephant Gift exchange which they called an American tradition. At first it was quite tame until Elder Lewis decided to steal an already opened gift.  Then things got crazy!

What a fun group!

Back at home in the USA, our children and grandchildren enjoyed the holiday.

Scott flew over to Boise and stayed with Matt and Cady.

Our two boys went snowboarding at Brundage.

Mary, Mark, Jackson and Trevor celebrated in Harper’s Ferry.

John, Monica and Isabella didn’t go to Paris.  John is a master at AI! 

Christmas in Meridian was great for Isabella!

We missed some of our ‘normal’ Christmas activities but embraced the opportunity to celebrate in a new culture, Truly we are so grateful to be here in Piura to commemorate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the blessings of His atonement and the promise of resurrection and eternal life.

Happy Golden Anniversary!

 50 years ago today!

Happy Golden Anniversary!

October 29, 1975 - October 29, 2025

What better way to celebrate that serving a mission during our 

Golden Years!

First in Salt Lake City

Then in Piura, Peru

With an eternal companion!

Nuestra Casa

 The other Senior couple spent many long hours making our apartment a comfortable, homey place.  They did a great job and we love it. And yes, it is on the 4th floor.  The arrow points to our living room window.  

Climbing up all those stairs several times a day helps us get our daily exercise.  Hermana Malpica lives directly below us.  Almost every time we come home, George says, “If we lived in her house, we’d be home.”  Our Apple Watches have alerted us that the numbers of ‘flights climbed’ over the last few months has increased significantly.  No joke!

An interesting thing to note on stairs here is that some stairs as you turn the corner are triangles and others are squares.  And it isn’t consistent.  For a few days the lights on our stairs were not working and I held on as I made my way up and down.  Don’t want to misjudge, thinking it is a square step and be surprised with the cut off.  

Another interesting thing about apartment here is the security.  We have two keys, one to let us in the locked common area before the stairs and another to get us in our apartment. Here is lock #1.

We have heard of missionaries getting locked out of their apartment but also locked in the apartment outside area.  You would just hope you have your cell phone so someone can be called to rescue you.

On the first floor of our apartment is a living/dining room, laundry room, a kitchen, Elder Lewis’s office, and a cute little under stair bathroom/luggage storage area

Upstairs there are two bedrooms, one of which is my ‘office’, and a bathroom.  The only hot water in the entire house is in the shower.  None of the elders and most of the sisters don’t have the luxury of hot water.  We did just get permission to put instant hot water heaters in the showers in all the sister’s houses.  They are thrilled with that news. 

Here’s the view from our front windows.

I have been amazed at how quickly a foreign place can feel like HOME.  And our little corner of Piura definitely does.