Barrio Monserrat & Valentine's Day

It was a beautiful, hot day in Trujillo on Sunday.  We went to the Monserrat Ward.  They have a pianist so I was able to sit in the congregation and sing the hymns for a change.  We always try to sit by an open window or under a fan when possible and hope for a good breeze.  As usual we found many friends to meet and greet from both the Monserrat Ward and the Laureles Ward that meets in the same building.

Diana Guzman and her sweet baby Esmaro.

Herman Silva, Bill & Hermano Nunez from the temple.
Both men are on the High Council.


This building is in the Trujillo South Mission, under the direction of President Rios.
We found six Elders and two sisters serving in these two wards.
The sisters slipped away before we got their pictures.

Elder Maldonado from Ecuador and Elder Ramos from Arequipa, Peru. 

Hermana Mayela Caceda is one of my favorites.
She is one of our coordinators in the temple each week.

Hermano Bustamante with Elder Peterson from Arizona & Elder Price from Boise, Idaho.
Hermano Bustamente serves as a coordinator in the temple.
He loves Bill and always greets him with a warm smile, handshake and bear hug.

Everyone loves Nicole Bendezu.  She works in the temple office some days
and serves as a coordinator in the temple on other days.  Both her parents work
in the temple as well and she is the niece of Juan Uceda of the Seventy.
She is currently serving as the Stake Primary President and speaks good English.

Cristal Sanchez & Rafael Castillo.
This cute couple have been married about 18 months.  Rafael was counselor in the
Bishopric with Freddy Espinosa from the temple. Unfortunately, Freddy and his
family weren't there this Sunday.  Their Bishopric was released a couple of months ago.
Rafael is a great singer and sang next to Bill in our Stake and Temple choir.

Two sweet sisters from the temple, Lucy Huerta & Rosa Perez.

Elders Chalon & Hernandez

Valentine's Day is celebrated in Peru.  I guess lots of holidays are international.  There are only two holidays that are truly American; the 4th of July & Thanksgiving.
Others like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day feel just like at home.  Here are some things we saw in the mall and tiendas (shops).

Bill bought me some flowers and we had a quiet Sunday afternoon at home with Chicken strips and french fries.  Sandy Nield brought us some heart cookies and we watched a Valentine's Day movie on the Hallmark Channel.  

Friday was Sister Casos's birthday but because of everyone's temple schedules, we were not able to celebrate until Monday night. Sister Coacalla took pictures of all of us in our whites and put them in a frame for her.  She really liked it.

Everyone at the party except Sister Coacalla who is taking the picture.

The food table.

Here are some of the poses Sister Coacalla took for the frame of the six couples who live in the apartments.  I don't have the ones of President & Sister Casos and President & Sister Diaz.  

Los Gomez

Los Guevara - our newest couple from Lima.
The arrived February 1st.

Los Nield

Los Haws

Los Hartman

Los Coacalla

We had a sweet experience in the temple today.  When we were at the mercado (open market) on Monday a man walked up to me and saw my name tag.  He asked me in English, how I was doing.  We started talking with him and his wife.  They were LDS and both are from Trujillo but have been living in Provo for 16 years.  He sells real estate. 

We told them we were missionaries in the temple.  He told us they were here visiting her parents and were coming to the temple the next day (today) with her parents. They were baptized a year ago and were coming for their own endowments and sealing.  

We were able to officiate their session and they invited us to their sealing.  Martin asked Bill to be the second witness.  Later his father-in-law, who is from La Esperanza where Bill served 50 years ago, told Martin an Elder Hartman knocked on his door years ago when he lived with his parents. He didn't want to talk to them because of anti-American sentiment. Later Bill showed him a picture from his mission and he said, "that was him."
What are the chances Bill would be a witness at his sealing 50 years later.

Martin Somerkamp (son-in-law), Sister and Brother Rodriquez, Zahayra Somerkamp (daughter).

It doesn't matter how many times we drive through the city, we can always find new things to take pictures of.  

A moto truck.

We think this taxi is delivering flowers to a wedding.

Our first car was a green volkswagen so this brought back some fun memories.

Selling team jerseys.

Selling water on a moto truck.

Washing the temple fence.

Scrubbing the sidewalk outside the temple.

Bill took this pretty picture from the sidewalk outside of the temple.

Here is a new picture of the herd.  Wayne Haws said they needed to look like they were boarding the ark so I had to turn them around for the picture  Unfortunately, I am afraid some will be left behind because they are trying to sneak on more than just two.