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!

Alfombras de Flores (Flower Carpets)

On Sunday morning (April 5), Scott got up early and went outside to take a picture of the Plaza de Armas (central square) where our hotel was located. He was surprised to find the main street of town being filled with "carpets of flowers" as part of Semana Santa (Holy Week) leading up to Easter. Here's a picture of the cathedral, people milling around, and other people creating flower carpets:


Why are they making carpets of flowers? Probably for the same reason that we make parade floats out of roses in the U.S. Many of the flower carpets have a religious theme, as does this one below:


But others have a business theme or an ecology theme, like this one:


The colors from the flower rugs are made up completely of leaves and flower petals, as this close-up shows.

The carpets of flowers probably covered 10 blocks of the main street and no traffic was allowed on the main street. By the time we came back from church three hours later, the carpets of flowers were no longer there and traffic was back to normal:

Many of the carpets of flowers had a picture of the Savior in the middle of them:

Vendors were selling their wares on the sidewalks all along the main street. Scott paid this woman 5 soles ($2.70) for a pair of colorful, handmade, wool gloves, with the condition that she let him take a picture. She was happy to get the 5 soles and to have her picture taken:

These two women were selling flower petals:

The most famous "alfombras de flores" are made in our town of Tarma. We'll find out on Thursday whether the carpets of flowers are better in Tarma than the ones we saw in Huancavelica.

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.

Eduardo's Baptism

Eduardo Alejandro Durand Florián is the son of our best friends in Tarma, the Durand family. On Friday, April 3, 2009, Eduardo turned 8 and was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here he is after the baptism:


We posed with him and his family before the baptism:

This is a special family to us. Unfortunately, Brother Durand's work has moved him from Tarma to La Merced, in the jungle about an hour and a half from Tarma. We will miss this family.

The baptism was wonderful. Just so you know some of the challenges that church members face here in Tarma, look at the dirty tap water, shown here in the baptismal font. The water also was freezing cold:


In spite of the cold, dirty water, Eduardo had the courage to go through with his baptism, as do many wonderful Peruvian people in Tarma.

Eduardo's Birthday Party

After his baptism on Friday, Eduardo's family held a birthday party for him. Here Eduardo (center) poses with two of his friends:

The missionaries, Elders Keel and Santos, help blow up balloons for the party:

The balloons honor Eduardo Durand Florián for his 8th birthday:

The party involved music, friends, balloons, and dancing. We left after being at the party for 2 hours, just as the dancing began (and the music got very loud). When we passed by the restaurant 2 hours later (on our way to the church), the birthday party was still going strong and the kids were still dancing!

This picture shows some of the food at the party (notice the gelatin in cups, candy on round trays, and popcorn in paper cones):

Scott took a series of pictures of the little boys and one girl sitting in a row in front of us. As time went on, the boys got more restless waiting for the party to begin. (We waited for 2 hours.) Other boys showed up and they all tried to sit in the same seats. As you follow these time-lapse pictures, watch the behavior of the boys as compared to the little girl at the right:


Kids are kids everywhere in the world.

Typical Peruvian Street Market

While Beverly was teaching her music lesson at the church in La Oroya two weeks ago, I (Scott) wondered to the nearby street market because no one came for my Book of Mormon class. La Oroya (12,200 ft) is a famous mining and refinery city in the central highlands and is well known for its polluted air. Nevertheless, it has bright, colorful street makets similar to the mercados found throughout the Peruvian highlands.

Here a woman sells her flowers, which come from Tarma:


This stand specializes in fruits, many of whose names I don't know in English or Spanish. I did recognize bananas, mangos, limes, and pineapples:


This woman has fresh fruits and vegetables from the nearby farms. Here you can see tomatoes, red peppers, hot peppers, apples, grapes, onions, and limes:


These women have huge sacks of the numerous species of potatoes grown in Peru:

I chatted with this 69-year-old merchant for about twenty minutes and invited him to church. He was as charming as his face shows in this pictures:

The man's wife is shown here. She looks angry, but she's just trying to get the attention of a fellow worker for some change. Her apron serves as her cash register and the pouch hanging around her neck holds a cell phone:

Farther into town, this colorful market sells everything you can think of---fruits, vegetables, clothing, electronics, hardware, etc.:

I love the sights, sounds, and smells (usually) of these Peruvian markets.

Mi Compañero: Then and Now

We are celebrating the anniversary of two important events in our life: 42 years ago today, Scott and I got engaged; one year ago today, President Monson signed our mission papers. These pictures are of Scott on his first mission in Peru and on his current mission in Peru. Here he is in downtown Lima (in the first photo, Scott is on the far right):

With his mission president and some of the office missionaries in Lima (in the old picture, Scott is on the far left):

With some of the missionaries in his Zone (Scott is on the far right in the first photo):

With his companion (Scott is on the left in the first photo):

His official mission photo:

And other "then and now" pictures: