Last Sunday in Peru

It seemed fitting that we should go back to La Esperanza for our last Sunday, a place where it once began for Bill 50 years ago.  When he opened this area as a young Elder there were only 2 small branches in all of Trujillo.  Today we witnessed history in the making as we attended the Los Robes ward.  This has been the largest ward in Trujillo since we have been here and they split the ward today.

  
Over 300 people attended this ward every Sunday.  It was so big they had 2 Relief Societies, 2 Elder's Quorums, 2 Gospel Doctrine classes, 2 Teacher's and 2 Deacon's Quorums.  They created a new ward, Nuevo Trujillo.  There were so many people there it felt like a Stake Conference.  

Earlier today at 8:00 AM they made the Milagro Branch a ward. Now there are 9 wards in La Esperanza and the Stake President, President Bravo said they would soon make a new Stake in Esperanza.  President Brovo acknowledged Bill from the stand and said he "turned the soil". President and Sister Marble were also there.  President Marble served in La Esperanza 5 years after Bill.  President Bravo said he "planted the seeds."  President Marble spoke about living in La Esperanza where there was no electricity.  He taught many people at night by candle light.

It was a special and emotional day for many of the members.  We felt it was an honor to share this day with them.

A sister from the temple with her daughter and grandchildren. 

Three future missionaries.

Sister O'Brien from Idaho and Sister Tobar from Ecuador. 

Wayne with Elder Spencer & Elder Delgado.

Bill with Elder Lingua & Elder Herde 

Bill with Hans Poma. 

The flowers were beautiful. 

Elder Alcarrz and Elder Thompson. 

Hermano Alburquerque and Hermano Uceda, from the temple.

Elder Dorado & Elder Logan.
Elder Logan has been in the office for about 6 months and
was just transferred to La Esperanza to be the Zone Leader.

Part of the choir.  They sang "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".
It was great hearing a Christmas Carol.

Sandra on the right works in the Distribution Center.
She is with her husband and mother.

The entire Poma family.  Hans is on the left with brother Jeffrey, wife and baby;
his mother, brother Jorge, wife and baby, and brother Carlos who just
got home from a mission 2 months ago in Uruguay.

Another picture of Hermano Alburquergue.


Some last pictures around La Esperanza as we were walking to catch a taxi.

How did this one slip in there?

We had to start walking in the street because someone parked their
car on the sidewalk.

One last selfie with the Hawses after we arrived back at the temple.

At 1:30 we were invited to the Gomez's apartment for a farewell lunch.  She served a pasta dish with salad, peaches, watermelon and Chicha Morada. It was a good last Sunday in Trujillo.

Last Day at the Temple

Yesterday was our last day serving in the Trujillo, Peru Temple.  It was a bittersweet day as we had to say goodbye to so many people we have grown to love.  Today we have been trying to sort through things and pack for our journey back home.  Where did all this stuff come from?  We have been giving stuff away and still had to borrow one of Wayne and Jan's suitcases they say they won't need.  I can see extra baggage fees at the airport in our future.  I hate to admit that Heather and Robert took two suitcases home with them for us and Wayne and Jan took two with them when they went home in August.  Too many llamas, I suppose. We only had 4 big ones and 2 carryons when we came to Peru.

After the temple on Thursday we went with the Hawses back to Casa Andina to eat.  They had never been there before.  We stayed in the Casa Andina Hotel the first 4 nights we were in Trujillo since the visiting General Authorities were staying in all the apartments.  They have very good food and we all enjoyed our Lomo Saltado, a favorite Peruvian dish.

Frozen limonada.

This is one of the walls.  It shows some of the tourist
attractions around Trujillo.

Bill found a big gourd.

Casa Andina is in the El Golf area of Trujillo.  There are nicer homes here as well as the Country Club and Golf Course.  Bill tried to talk them into letting us in but they wouldn't hear of it. They didn't even like us taking pictures.

I copied this next part from Jan's blog.  I wanted to save it on my blog because the sentiments are mutual.  Thanks Jan for your kind words.  We will miss you too but look forward to your return home to Hooper so we can continue the adventure.

November 17, 2016

These are our friends Bill and Sandy Hartman.  

Monday night they will leave Trujillo and this place they've called home for almost 18 months.  They have finished their temple mission and will return home to Logan, Utah with honor.  They are wonderful people!  We have had many fun adventures with them. 

There are a lot of little things we'll always remember about them, we call them out Hartmanisims.  Inca Cola, Sublime, speaker phone calls, ext 216, FHE, Bingo, the elevator, key to gym, "only in Peru", Monopoly, "slug bug", Chili's, chicken fired chicken, frozen limonada con granadina, Tottus, Wongs, Squalos, Dan Lac milk, sharing pictures, blogs, emails, text messages, "Bill can't have any", young missionaries, playing cards, "stop talking", tush, smiley, bathrobe, bigger apartment, going to church, shared taxis, middle seat, station wagons, yellow taxis, movies in English, recliner seats, una mas foto, estadados desnudos, the temple, special sessions, spare change, step child, Church News, BYU football, birthday cake, Deal or No Deal, the circus, chocolate caramels, candy to little kids, sharing, their smiles, their laughs, their generosity, and their love.  

Good things always seem to end, but our friendship will be for eternity.  We've talked about how it will never be the same, and it won't be, but we'll always have the memories and the photos of the wonderful time we've shared together as missionaries in the Trujillo Temple! 

We love you Bill and Sandy!  Thanks for the adventure.

We will miss you.

Barrio Laureles & Despedida (Farewell)

We went to the Laureles Ward for church on Sunday at 8:00 AM.  They were having their Primary Program.  This will be the last Primary Program we will see in Peru.  We love to watch the Peruvian children.  They are so enthusiastic, love to sing and speak from the pulpit like they have been doing it for years.  

They gave out these cute little Books as as a "recuerdo" or
souvenir from the program.  Also all the children and teachers wore
these little flowers with the Primary colors, red, yellow and blue.
Hermana Hulga Leon gave me hers.

Hermano Bustamante greeted us as we arrived at the church.
Wayne is in the background.

Hermano Bustamante and Hermano Nunez from the temple.

Laureles Ward is in the South Mission.  We don't know these
missionaries as well as those from the North Mission but it
is always fun to interact with them.
Elder Johnson is from Logan, Utah.  He went to Mountain Crest High School.
Elder Juarez is from Lima. 

Two sisters from the temple. Hermana Centurion on the left
has been working at the temple as long as we have.
Hermana Hulga Leon is in the Primary Presidency.

Bishop Guzman and Bill with his little son, Esmaro.

The Bishop with his mother.  We didn't get his wife Diana in the picture.

Cute little Esmaro.

Two cute sister missionaries, Hermana Espinola & Hermana Asher.

This ward had lots of cute Elders.
Elders Velasquez, Willard, Millett, Johnson, Peredes & Juarez

Saturday was our last Saturday in the Temple.  I left without saying goodby to Cynthia Garcia.  She was sad.  When Jan told me about it, we decided we had to leave the  Laureles Ward after Sacrament Meeting and get to Cynthia's Central Ward before their meeting started at 10:00 AM. She was so happy we came.  We were there to greet them when they arrived.  We were able to take some pictures.  We sure to love her and her fiancé, Antony Apolinario.  Bill gave Antony one of his white temple ties.  They will be getting married in April.  We are sorry we won't be able to go to their wedding.

A selfie with Cynthia and Jan.  You can see Bill giving
President Diaz a hug in the background.

Another selfie with sweet Cynthia. 

Hermana Avalos, Cynthia and Antony.

Friends from the temple.

Elder Reyes from Lima and Elder Babbel from Idaho.
They are the Zone Leaders of the Central Zone.

Antony took this picture of the four of us.
Wayne and Jan have been a source of strength and support for us here in Trujillo.
We sure do love them and they will be our friends forever.

Monday was our last P-day.  We went to the mall and had lunch at Subway with the Wayne and Jan.  We played Deal 0r No Deal at Coney Park one last time, and went to Tottus one last time to get just enough groceries to last us for one more week.

We know it is getting close to Christmas when Tottus has all the varieties of PANETON in every aisle. Paneton is a special treat the Peruvians traditionally eat at Christmas time.

Bill took these pictures in the produce section so we won't forget the interesting kinds of fruits here in Peru.

Monday evening Sister Casos planned a special "Thanksgiving" turkey dinner for us as a going away party.  The Temple Presidency and Temple Missionaries were all invited.  Unfortunately the Guevara-Castros were not able to be there. Their 19 year old granddaughter died of an aneurism and they had gone to Lima for the funeral.

Sister Casos even made pumpkin pie. She had to use fresh pumpkin and grind her own cloves since you can't find some of the ingredients down here.  The Peruvians had never had pumpkin pie.

We will really miss this special group of people we have come to know and love.  A great time was had by all.

Sisters Casos, Gomez, Guevara-Magan, Me, Cocacalla and Jan 

Sister Diaz brought pizza for Bill.

With the Guevara-Magan's. We call him "Smiley". He is
always so happy.  He always hugs Bill when he greets him
and calls him "my brother" in English.

President and Sister Coacalla

Another picture of the Jose & Luz. 

President and Sister Diaz

The Gomez's

President and Sister Casos 

We will be going home in 6 days, arriving just in time for Thanksgiving on the 24th and my birthday on the 25th.  We are starting to see signs of Christmas around Trujillo.  They have decorations in the stores and the big Christmas tree is up in the mall.  I even was able to help Jan put up her Christmas tree. This year is rapidly coming to a close.

Missionaries from the Trujillo South Mission came to the temple today.  They were sure happy to be there.  They ate in the Comedor and spent time taking pictures around the grounds.

Two of the tallest missionaries in Trujillo.  They are even taller than Wayne.
Elder Herget and his trainee Elder Rotweiller.
Elder Herget knew Wayne and Jan's daughter, Emily, when they
lived in Connecticut.

And here they are jumping for joy.

A missionary selfie.  The blond sister is from Evanston, WY.


Supermoon 2016
A record supermoon rose last night on November 14th.
It appeared bigger and brighter in the night sky than it has in nearly 70 years.
The moon is closer to the earth than usual.  The last time the moon sailed this close
to Earth was on January 26, 1948 and the next time won't be until November 24, 2034.

And lastly, we saw this poster for a lost puppy on the bus to the mall. They are even offering a reward.  Hope they can find him.  It is hard to lose a pet.