New Temple Announced for Peru

The Church has announced plans to build a temple in Trujillo, Peru. The temple (the 146th temple and the 17th temple in South America) will serve more than 88,000 LDS Church members in the region. Although Trujillo isn’t in our mission, we are thrilled for the Church members in Trujillo who currently travel 9-10 hours by bus to attend the temple in Lima. Church members have been praying and hoping for another temple in Peru for many years.

Here are pictures of the many busloads of people who come to the Lima Temple every Saturday. People travel for many hours to reach the temple and then they have to sit outside the temple for hours waiting for their turn. The temple in Trujillo will relieve some of the crowding at the Lima temple. We hope many more temples will be built in Peru in the future.


Members arrive from all over Peru in tour busses.


Members line up an hour or two before the temple opens.


Members walk around the grounds, chat with their friends and family, as they wait their turn to get into the temple.

FHE with the Dinklangs

Last night during Family Home Evening, Scott taught the 2nd missionary lesson to the Dinklang family. Sister Dinglang's mother who is not a member of the church was there, so it was our first time in Peru to teach the Gospel to someone who is not a member of the church. Lesson #2 is on The Plan of Salvation. It teaches the following basic principles:

• Our pre-earth life and God's purpose and plan for us


• The creation


• Man's agency and the Fall of Adam and Eve


• The purpose of our life on earth


• The Atonement


• The spirit world


• Resurrection, judgment, and immortality


• Kingdoms of glory

Scott prepared a diagram and cut it up into little pieces of paper, and then had Sandro Dinklang and his cousin put the pieces in order. As they did so, Scott explained the doctrine of each one. Here's a picture of the sheet he used to make the little "puzzle."

After the lesson Beverly helped Sharela Dinklang complete the final requirement for her Young Womanhood award. We were touched when the Dinklangs asked us to do the temple ordinances for Sister Dinklang's grandparents (Guillermo and Teodora Yarihuaman and Pablo and Teofila Raya). Sharela was among the members of the ward Mutual who had done baptisms and confirmations for some of Beverly's ancestors earlier in the month.

Then Sister Dinklang served Papa Rellena, an old and traditional Peruvian dish. Basically, it’s mashed potatoes stuffed with ground or minced beef, eggs, and some spices, all deep fried. It was yummy!

Our Trip to the Lima Peru Temple

Today we went to the Lima Temple because Scott had to interview and sign the recommend for a couple from Tarma who were being married. While we were there, we performed the sealing ordinance for some of Beverly's ancestors: 29 women, 46 men, and 11 couples.

It was an amazing experience to hear the ceremony in Spanish (the Peruvians actually did a good job of pronouncing these English names) and to be assisted by several wonderful Peruvian ordinance workers. When we finished the names for her family, Beverly was proxy for a daughter who was sealed to her Quechua parents, with the last name of Yapanqui. (The Quechua are the native Peruvian Indians. One of the most famous Inca leaders was named Tupac Yapanqui.)

Here are some pictures of the beautiful Lima Temple and grounds.

The Lima Peru Temple, dedicated January 10, 1986. Here is Scott's picture taken December 5, 2008:


The reoccurring architectural motif of arches, and arches within arches:


Scott by the temple.



The beautiful arches and flowers of the temple:


Here are a few of the 86 people for whom we did work today. Their ordinances have been done in Germany, Nauvoo, Arizona, Utah, and now Peru. They are from England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, and the US and are from both Beverly's father's family (Byington) and her mother's family (Hood, Winmill).


After the session, the sealer said, "I'm going to write these numbers down so the Lord will know how much work we did today."

My Companion, the Scriptorian

During our mission, we have had marvelous insights into the scriptures, through our studies and through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. In a later blog, I'll share some of the "mysteries of the kingdom" that we have discovered.

But I want to give credit where credit is due: Mi compañera.

She has taught me that:

• The scriptures are filled with symbols of Christ (2 Ne 11:4) and every verse should be interpreted as testifying of Him.
• "Christ is both the messenger and the message," as she often tells me.
• All the prophets are types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ (e.g., Moses, 3 Ne 20:23), so that by studying about their lives and reading their words in the scriptures, we can learn about Christ.
• The words in the scriptures have great symbolic meaning, and to find out the full meaning, we need to look up all the occurrences of that word in the scriptures.
• All the modern scriptures relate back to the Old Testament, so that we shouldn't ignore that great book (or the Pearl of Great Price).
• There are many scholarly studies on the scriptures that can add insight and testimony of the divine calling of the prophet Joseph Smith and of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Her book of scriptures is a veritable gold mine of knowledge, which is why I strongly encouraged her to bring her quad, even though it was heavier than all of her skirts and blouses combined. This picture shows you what I mean. Her margin notes contain profound information on virtually every scriptural topic. I wouldn't dare give a talk or a lesson without consulting her and her scriptures first. Her constant study of the scriptures is an example to me.

La Molina Plaza: Our Local Shopping Center

As noted earlier, we live in an upper-middle-class area of Lima. Such areas didn't exist when I was a missionary here 42 years ago. The rise of the middle class is truly an amazing (and to me, surprising) development in the Peruvian economy.

Here's where we buy most of our household items and groceries, about a 10-minute walk from our apartment. Plaza Vea is a large chain of stores like Macey's in Utah.

The mall (plaza) has a Starbuck Coffee shop (look carefully at the green sign in the middle left), Pizza Hut, KFC, and Burger King (look carefully at the red sign in the middle right), among many other restaurants and store. The man in orange in the lower right is a parking lot guard.

Another store where we shop frequently is Wong, another big food chain. Both Plaza Vea and Wong have lots of American foods--but not brown sugar (or molasses), cream of tartar, baking powder, shortening, root beer, and a few other common American things.

Wong employees are all decked out in red, like the man here loading groceries into the trunk of a car. The employees are clean, neat and almost overly helpful . . . and they do not accept tips.

Our neighborhood gas station. I took this picture to show the prices. The lowest price listed is 11.34 soles per gallon, which comes out to almost US$4 per gallon! So please don't complain about the price of gas in the United States.

A Little Tour of Our Beautiful Neighborhood

Here's the street where we live. You can see garbage bags out in front of the houses, right? That's because every day is garbage day.


Some people put their garbage bags in a little metal basket to keep the garbage off the ground.


The garbage truck comes by and then men dressed in green uniforms (with face masks) run and pick up the garbage and throw it into the truck.


Most upper-middle-class neighborhoods like ours have one or more uniformed guards who watch the area 24/7. Some of the guards ride around on bicycles.


Our area is kept extremely clean. We pay 180 soles (US $60) per month for garbage, security, park maintenance, and yard work. One of our yard boys washes the sidewalks, metal fences, and walls. People who have cars pay someone to come and wash their cars regularly. Our gardener keeps the flowers and lawns in tip-top shape. It's really a clean place, in stark contrast to most places in Lima and most cities in Peru.

Our neighborhood "Chifa" (Chinese restaurant) serves delicious food in huge quantities and at very low prices. There is a Chifa in every neighborhood in Lima.

Here is our neighborhood "panaderia" or bread store/convenience store. We stop here for bread (rolls), juice, milk, chicken empanadas (similar to calzones), and other snacks. There's a panaderia on nearly every street in Lima.

Here is the wonderful little park across the street from our apartment building. There's a park like this one every 2-3 blocks in our area.

We walk past this tree, and many like it, every day. This tree has been shaped for looks and for the needs of the family (one side has been trimmed off to make room for the metal garbage basket). Notice the beautiful flowering shrub in the background. Our neighborhood is filled with these shrubs.


Our yard, just inside our security fence. The landscaping is always kept very nice.

You've just had a little tour of our beautiful neighborhood. Now you know why we love it here.

Missionary Lesson #1: The Restoration of the Gospel

New investigators are taught four lessons before and after their baptism (there is also an additional lesson given after baptism). We recently reviewed the first missionary lesson (on the Restoration of the Gospel) with Brother Dinklang, who was baptized last month.

Missionary Lesson #1 covers the following fundamental principles:

• God is our loving Father.
• The Gospel blesses families.
• Heavenly Father reveals His Gospel in every dispensation.
• Jesus Christ is our Savior and He established His Church during His earthly ministry.
• After the death of Jesus Christ, there was a universal apostasy.
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through Joseph Smith.
• The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.
• We can pray to know the truth of the Restoration through the Holy Ghost.

We are in Peru to share the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We bear witness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We testify that the Book of Mormon is true. We have received this witness as a result of our prayers. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what matters most in life.