Our Beautiful Temple

I found these pictures online and wanted to post them so we would always have a reminder how beautiful the Trujillo, Peru temple is.  It really is much better in person. These pictures were taken before the Temple was dedicated in June 2015.

Entrance and Recommend Desk

Area between Celestial Room on right and Endowment Room on left

Endowment Room

Hallway

The smaller of the two Sealing Rooms

Bride's Room 

Celestial Room

Back to La Esperanza

We were asked to go back to La Esperanza again this Sunday, but to a different ward, the Indoamerica Ward. There are three chapels in La Esperanza with multiple units meeting in each one. There is also a branch in Milagro (miracle), with their own building, located just north of La Esperanza on the Pan American highway. These units make up the La Esperanza Stake. Hermano Uceda from the temple said his Bishop wanted Bill to come and speak to the members about his experiences of being the first missionary to serve in La Esperana in 1967.  I also played the piano.

Hermano Luis Uceda with Bill.  He rode the bus to the temple in the morning and then rode in the Taxi with us to the church.  He didn't want us to get lost and be late for church. The building behind them houses the Bishopric offices, the Baptistry and classrooms. The parking lot is on the left.

The chapel and courtyard.

The Bishopric.
1st counselor Juan Mendosa, Bishop Jaime Rodriquez, 2nd counselor
Jose Anticona & the ward clerk Manuel Cardenas

Bill & a cute girl named Carla

We found Pedro in this ward, one of our favorite Taxi drivers.

This sweet girl came up to me and wanted to be my translator.
Her name is Nicole and she is 18.  She has been studying
English for three years.

The first two young men on the left have their mission papers in, ready to serve. The next young man is a returned missionary.  Next is Bill and Hermano Uceda.  Bishop Rodriguez is in the wheelchair.  We don't know the man on the right.  He just stepped into the picture.

Two Peruvian Missionaries, a future missionary and a returned missionary.

 Pictures of the week.

This is a pitcher of Chicha Morada, a favorite drink here in Peru.  All the restaurants serve it and the Peruvians make their own at home by boiling dried purple corn with cloves, cinnamon, pineapple and apples together. Then they add lime and lemon juice and sweeten to taste.  We ordered a glass at Pardo's Chicken along with Inca Kola to go with our meal.  It is one of those things that grow on you.  It really is pretty tasty.

A man riding his horse and talking on his cell phone.  He was moving pretty fast and
riding kind of close to us so I had a hard time getting a good picture.

This picture speaks for itself.  

We can never resist taking a picture of a Volkswagen (our first car when we got married) or a "puppy" wearing or not wearing a coat.  We miss our little Max.

We wondered why they sell so many limes in Peru.  Then we found out they use them in lots of of their recipes as well as the chicha morada.  We have been adding them to our drinks as well as putting them in our guacamole.  They sell lots of avacados here as well.

You can see the dried purple corn on the left that is used to make chicha morada.

There was a fire in the apartment where the ladder is perched.  This was near the mall.
You can see the fire truck in front of the ambulance.

We missed the blood moon in Trujillo on Sunday night.  Bill and I were at choir practice.  Daniel Salazar was asked to put together a choir for the Temple Devotional on December 13.  I have been asked to play for the choir.  We would have been home in time to see it but the sky was overcast and we could barely see the moon.  Oh well, there is always the next one in 2033.

Three Months & Counting

This week marked our three month anniversary in the mission field.  Things that seemed odd or tasted strange in the beginning are starting to feel normal.  The Peruvian people are very loving and kind.  They love the missionaries and are excited to see us over and over in the temple. 

We also enjoy visiting different wards each week and greeting all the friends we have made since we have been here. 

This week the Stake President from the Primavera Stake came to the temple.  His name is President Davila.  He wanted us to come to his ward, the Primavera Ward.  He was going to be the main speaker and wanted me to play the piano.

Here we are at the Primavera Stake Center.
This was the second church built in Trujillo.  It also houses the Peru Trujllo Norte Mission offices.

Bill with President Davila and sweet Hermana Rodriquez.
Sister Rodriquez is 90 years old.  She is sharp as a tack and was
the Stake Relief Society President for many years.  
She is a Volunteer at the temple and works in the temple laundry.
President Davila was a missionary in Peru at the same time as Bill's brother, Steve.
He also served in La Esperanza 10 years after Bill.

This is Bishop Mendoza with me.  Would you believe he was the Stake
President before President Davila.  After President Davila was put in as Stake President
he call President Mendoza to be the Bishop of his ward.  I don't think I have ever seen
that happen before.  These people are really committed to the Gospel.

More pictures of familiar faces we see at the temple weekly.  This is Luciana Alva Gonzales and her cute daughter Mariana.  She calls Luciana her milagro (miracle).  When she was first married she was told by the doctors she couldn't have children.  Her patriarchal blessing said she would have a child.  Her husband was called to be a Bishop and she became pregnant.  He was a bishop for ten years.  

Joel Ventura and his fiance Danela.  Joel works in the temple and is the ward clerk.
They are getting married in January. Joel went on a mission to Bolivia.

These two sisters come to the temple weekly.  Sister Sofia Abanto in the picture above works in the temple as a Volunteer.  Sister Solis in the picture below will come and stay all day.   Her daughter led the singing in Sacrament Meeting and her granddaughter gave a talk.  She is 18 and preparing the serve a mission. The piano I played is in the background.

This is our favorite little Taxi driver.  His name is Edder and he will take us to church and  be waiting for us when we get out of church.  He will also drive us all over town and wait while we shop, etc.  Of course we pay him well for being so sweet and dependable.  He will ask for $2.00 but we give him $3.00. We are all happy.  It also helps that he has a newer, more comfortable car. He is very proud of his
new Hyundai. It's cheaper to ride in Taxi's than to own a car. 
And believe me, you wouldn't want to drive down here.  They don't follow any
traffic rules or regulations.  Just honk and drive.

Before shopping on P-day we went out to lunch with the Senior Missionaries to T.G.I. Fridays.  We had our first hamburger and onion rings since leaving the USA.  It was yummy!

You never know what you will find in Peru: Shortbread from Canada, Pickles from Germany, Peanut Butter from the US and Cookies from England.

And these two Minions filled with instant chocolate for milk, managed to find their way South of the Border.

Another Monday in Trujillo

Every Monday morning we wake up to the sound of mowers and weed whackers as the crews set out to clean and beautify the temple and grounds.

Every three months they get on top of the temple steeple and clean.

Tomorrow is Hermana Gomez's birthday.  She loves to cook and wanted to fix lunch for our temple family.  We set up two tables with leaves in the Hawes apartment since it is the biggest.  The temple presidency was there as well as the Recorder, Pedro Miranda and of course the temple missionaries.  Fifteen people enjoyed good food and company.

President & Sister Casos 

Elder & Sister Gomez light the cake.

On Sunday we attended the Florencia de Mora Ward.  The Baitas and Hermana Tapia attend this ward.  They are some of our favorites.

This husband and wife played the piano and led the singing.  They were very good.
She had a beautiful soprano voice and he played very well.  It is unusual to find
musicians in the church in Peru.

The Sacrament cloths. 

Bill found one of his friends from the temple, Hermano Bocanegra.
He is in the Stake Presidency.

And of course we always run in to missionaries.  It's so fun to see them and feel their enthusiasm.

Hermana Rosa Tapia with Sandy and below with her little granddaughter, Alhessa.
Hermana Tapia's husband is a Stake President.  He also works in the temple
from time to time.

Hermana & Hermano Baita

The Baita daughters.

The Baita son, Juan taught the Gospel Doctrine class.  I doubt you could
find a better teacher anywhere in the church.  He did an excellent job and
I even understood most of it.  He is studying to be a doctor.

Last week was a good week.  Now that we are on shifts, we have more free time.  We worked the morning shift last week and were home by 1 or 1:30 PM.  One day we went out to eat before grocery shopping.  President Diaz recommended the Squalo's Restaurant.  It was very good.  

This was taken outside the restaurant.  We met Fernando.  He is not a member
but we know his aunt from the temple.  She is Peruvian but lives in France with her
husband and family.  They were here for a couple of months after the dedication.
We posted pictures of his aunt's family in an earlier post.

Inside the restaurant.

Waiting for our food.

The house across the street from Squalo's
Check out the front door below.

They have a lot of chinese cars down here.  We saw this one in the mall.
It sells for $13,490 US.

More scenes around Trujillo.............................

A pretty bird on our balcony.

Our favorite bush outside our apartment balcony.