The Huancavelica District

Our mission has two member districts: the Tarma District (where we live, and which has 10 branches) and the Huancavelica District (which is 6 hours south of us and which has only three small branches). This past weekend, we traveled to Huancavelica so Scott could interview the current district leadership (a new district president needs to be called). Scott also interviewed some of the members and held a leadership training meeting.

On our way to Huancavelica, we stopped in Huancayo, where Scott hosted a luncheon meeting with the two stake presidencies and the high counselors over missionary work. His purpose was to get feedback from the stakes on how the missionaries in our mission can support the local leaders and visa versa. The leaders in Huancayo are wonderful and competent, and the meeting was successful. The two stake presidents invited us to return in two weeks to give a multi-stake fireside.

Our trip to Huancavelica was filled with several mini-miracles. The first miracle was that we arrived safely, no small feat considering the many miles of winding, steep roads through high mountain passes. After six hours of travel, our car broke down and would not start. Our second miracle was that we simply got out of the car and walked the last block to the church, arriving in time for Scott's interviews. When we finished the interviews, we walked three blocks to our hotel.

The driver could not find a mechanic, so he had to rent tools to fix the car so it would be ready the next day when we wanted to leave for Tarma. Our driver is still investigating the church. He and his family are progressing, but very slowly. He is such a wonderful man and takes excellent care of us. He is an extremely experienced driver and has taken us all over the central Andes. Here he is in front of our hotel in Huancavelica:


The Huancavelica branch is small and meets in a "casa capilla," a rented building (situated behind a big green door):


The church building has a courtyard, from which you can see the mountains in the background:


Scott had wonderful interviews with the district leaders, men and women, and their spouses. As with most places we go, the members of the Huancavelica district wanted their pictures taken with us. Of course, we were thrilled to get pictures of them. The Huancavelica branch president is the man standing on a ledge behind Beverly. The Lircay branch president is the man with glasses on the back row, two people to Scott's right. The first and second counselors in the Huancavelica District presidency are the two men on the far right. The district president isn't in the picture because he now works in another town and was unable to attend:


One of the youngest members of the Huancavelica branch is Abinadí, shown here sleeping. He is the one-year-old son of the second counselor in the district presidency.


Our third miracle was that, in addition to interviewing the district leaders and their spouses, Scott was able to help a man whose membership privileges had been suspended. The man was confused about some doctrine and after Scott explained it to him, he realized he wanted to come back into full fellowship in the Church. He and his wife were so happy, they left sobbing.

Perhaps the biggest miracle of all was that we made it back to Tarma safely. What a trip!

Scenic Trip to Huancavelica

Our recent trip to Huancavelica was a wonderful treat. This post is about the spectacular scenery that we saw as we traveled along the spine of the High Central Andes from Tarma to Huancavelica, the southern-most town in our mission. Scott snapped over 300 pictures and could easily have posted 100 breathtaking views. But he showed constraint and only posted six representative pictures. If you want to see more, check our Picasa Web Albums.

All along the 6-hour trip, we encountered farmlands and villages like this one:


These high valleys, at altitudes of 12,000 to 15,000 feet, included huge tracts of sheep pasturelands:


Nearly the entire trip consisted of tight cutbacks as we climbed up above one valley and then dropped back down into the next valley:


During our journey, we saw hardly any land that was not covered by farms:


Many farmhouses clung to the sides of mountains:


We got dizzy looking from the tops of the mountains down into the valleys below:


Both of us were worried before our trip because we had heard so many stories about how dangerous the road was with its numerous curves and steep climbs. But the highway turned out to be in excellent shape, and the beauty of the vistas took our mind off the danger. We look forward to going back to Huancavelica next month.

Teaching Institute in the Tarma District

While Beverly is teaching music (see her previous post), Scott is teaching Institute classes. He teaches a class on the Doctrine and Convenants (Doctrina y Convenios) on Thursday evenings. Here are his students from the second week of classes. The district president and his wife are on the far left.


Here's the members of the Book of Mormon class that Scott teaches on Friday evenings. Some of the students are the same as the Thursday night class.


On Saturdays, Scott and Beverly travel to La Oroya (altitude 12,200 ft), where Scott teaches Book of Mormon (El Libro de Mormón) and then they travel to Junín (13,500 ft), where Scott teaches another Libro de Mormón class. The first group of students from one of the classes is shown here. The young man on the left is putting in his papers to go on a mission. The man next to him is the Junín branch president. His wife is second from the right.


One of the students (shown in the previous picture) is this wonderful sister. She is 72 years old and is about 4 feet tall. She has been a member of the Church for about 1½ years, and is excited about learning more about the Book of Mormon.

District Conference in Tarma

Usually General Authorities don't attend a member district conference, because they are assigned only to stake conferences. But we were privileged this past weekend to enjoy the company of Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the First Quorum of Seventy. He is from Brazil, speaks a fascinating mixture of Spanish and Portuguese, and is a dynamic, entertaining, inspiring speaker. During the conference, Elder Godoy challenged the members of the Tarma District to work toward becoming a stake.


His attendance at our Tarma District Conference did cause Scott some consternation, however, because Scott was in charge of developing the program (the topics, the speakers, the music, etc.), and didn't get confirmation that Elder Godoy was coming until the day before the conference. In fact, Scott didn't know for sure if President and Sister Leyva were going to be at the conference, so he had to develop several versions of the program to be ready for whoever showed up.

Beverly played the piano for all the sessions, except the priesthood leadership session in which Scott played. Here she is playing the piano during one of the several choir rehearsals for the conference:


The conference sessions were all held in the Tarma chapel:


Scott gave a 40-minute training presentation at the priesthood leadership session (to about 65 men) and then an 10-minute talk in the adult session Saturday night. Beverly gave a talk in the auxiliary leadership meeting (to about 50 women) and then bore her testimony in the adult session. About 700 people attended the Sunday morning of the conference.

Scott spent the weekend in interviews (the district presidency was reorganized and members with special needs came from the outlying areas to attend conference and have interviews). Scott also attended training meetings for the new district presidency with President Leyva and Elder Godoy, and then later he gave training at the first presidency meeting of the new district presidency.

What a relief it is to have the Tarma District Conference over. And, more importantly, how wonderful it was to feel the Spirit in all the meetings, to have wonderful attendance at the conference, and to see the members excited about the prospects of eventually becoming a stake.

Tarma: Pearl of the Andes

The mission president sent Scott (and the other counselor in the mission presidency) to Tarma (at 10,006 ft.), known as La Perla de Los Andes (The Pearl of the Andes), to interview priesthood leaders for the reorganization of the Tarma District. We were excited because the Area Presidency has asked us to live in Tarma.

This was our first glimpse of Tarma during the daylight, as we descended into the city. In the foreground you can see the small farms on the outskirts of town, and in the bottom of the valley (to the right) you can see the city, which appears as a brown cluster.



During our stay in Tarma, we visited the home of Hovita Oscanoa, a church member who is an artisan. She makes beautiful tapestries. Beverly is shown walking with the daughter, Luz Karina Tinoco, on a path near their home.


The town center is in the valley, but many people live in the hills surrounding the city. This picture shows one of the dirt paths lined with homes, located about 200 feet above the city.

Tarma is a town of contrasts. The following picture shows an elderly woman near the central open-air market. She is wearing the traditional native dress of the Tarmeña women, but most people wear regular clothing.

We were in our hotel room one morning when we heard a band playing sad music. Scott leaned out the hotel window and captured a picture of a funeral band, with the men dressed in black, walking on a path on the side of a hill.


Leaving the city, we drove through the picturesque farmlands on the outskirts of town. Here are some of the farms at the bottom of the valley. (This and the other subsequent landscape photos were taken by Scott out the window of a moving car.)


This is a closeup of some of the farms. Click the picture to enlarge it, and you'll see people and sheep.

During our ride back to Lima, the taxi ("colectivo") that we had rented overheated. We were stranded for an hour out in the middle of nowhere (at 13,000 feet), but Scott got pictures of sheep, shepherds, donkeys, and high mountain hills. This woman lives in a nearby village. Scott gave her S/. 1.5o (about 50 cents) and asked her to pose for him. The bag she carries is full of wool, and she knits as she walks along.

Here's a close-up of her weather-beaten face.

Going over Ticlio Pass (15,800 feet) always provides stunning landscapes. Here's the picture Scott took this trip.

Our trip to Tarma was a spiritual and cultural treat.

Visiting a Man I Baptized 43 Years Ago

Words can't describe the joy I felt today as Beverly and I visited Blas Alvarez, a man I baptized 43 years ago. We took a taxi to San Martín de Porras (a suburb of Lima). I was one of the first missionaries in that area. This picture taken in 1965, shows me with Blas (on the left) and his family.


Through miracles that I won't describe here, this family accepted the gospel, and I had the great blessing of baptizing them. Sister Felícita Alvarez (in the middle of the picture), was one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the church (I do not exaggerate; please read Alma 26:1, 4, 11-12, 22). She was instrumental in directly bringing more than 1,000 people into the Church and indirectly in bringing in untold others.

Sister Alvarez died of cancer in 1981, but Blas, age 82, still lives in the very house where my companion and I taught him the gospel, and he is still active in the church today. Amazingly he remembered my name and that of my companion (Elder Vance Dunn). Here's how he and I look today, January 2, 2008.


To my astonishment, when Brother Alvarez showed us his photo album, we found this page---containing a picture of Beverly and me (ages 24) and our year-old son Stephen, and a picture of me when I was 8 years old that I had sent to Brother and Sister Alvarez! Also in the album there was a picture of me as a missionary, along with dozens of other missionaries with whom Brother and Sister Alvarez worked between 1965 and 1981.


After a long and wonderful afternoon of conversation, Brother Alvarez bid us farewell. We are going back on Sunday to meet his son Blas, Jr.

The Paúcar Family

We have been visiting the Paúcar family regularly for about six weeks. They are members of our ward and live about a 10-minute walk from our apartment. Hermano Oscar Paúcar is a successful businessman, who, among other things, is the procurement officer for the motor vehicle pool for the municipality of Ate (pronounced "ought-eh") in Lima. Hermana Violeta Paúcar is a stay-at-home mom. Their son Oscar is a college student and personal trainer at a gym, and their daughter Katherine is a junior in college studying economics.

We love this family and feel their love in return. What a blessing it has been to have them respond with enthusiasm to our invitations, prayers, and spiritual messages. They have attended church the last two Sundays and have set spirituality as their major goal for the upcoming new year.

They invited us to their home the day after Christmas to celebrate the holidays with them. We chatted, snacked, laughed, took photos (see above), and shared spiritual thoughts and prayers.