Tarma Zone Missionary Party at Our House

On Monday (Preparation Day), March 9, the missionaries in our zone had a special activity which included a birthday party at our home for Elder Santos (who was just transferred to Tarma). Scott knew of Elder Santos before he even arrived in the mission because one of Scott's former running buddies, Rob Waite, was Elder Santos' bishop.

Here Beverly lights the "candles" (matches) on Elder Santos' cake:


Elder Wengren (Taylorsville, UT), Elder Santos (Fontana, CA), and Elder Keel (Elder Santos' new companion, Victorsville, CA). These are our Tarma missionaries (along with Elder Illachura):



We also enjoyed the company of Elder Clark (New Hampshire, personal secretary to President Leyva and whom we knew in Lima) and Elder Cook (Logan, UT, our Zone Leader):


The group enjoyed a meal of pancakes and omelets. We love these wonderful, hard-working missionaries! The eight elders are (left to right) Elders Wengren, Santos, Keel, Lima (the other Zone Leader), Clark, Cook, Davis (an Office Missionary we knew in Lima; assistant to the president), and Illachura:

Did they enjoy the food? They ate two dozen eggs, two packages of ham, a red pepper, an onion, and a package of Cheddar cheese; a package of pancake mix (32 pancakes) and a quart of maple syrup; three liters of soda pop, two liters of milk, and a large chocolate cake. We used every dish and pan in our house!

Happy Birthday, Elder Santos! Welcome to Tarma! (Elder Santos gets a portrait photo because his mom is an avid follower of this blog.)

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.

More Carnival: Our Neighborhood Party

Friday night, March 6, 2009, we heard crowds of people and a loud band playing just outside our door. We went out to investigate. It was another stewardship ("mayordomo") party for Carnavales. This one didn't involve colorful costumes, just a lot of people, noise, fireworks, and drinking. Here the big band plays their music:


People were dancing in the street, and soon a man invited Beverly to dance:


Soon Scott joined in the merriment:


The mayordoma (wife of the steward) passed around liquor, which we gracefully declined:

She begged us to drink, was offended that we wouldn't even take a sip, but then was satisfied when Beverly agreed to dance with her:

While people danced, a group of men built a fireworks castillo (castle) of bamboo:

We left the party around 11:00 pm, after talking with lots of people, dancing, and listening to the band. But we couldn't sleep with all the racket, so we stayed up until after midnight to watch the fireworks. Here people from all over the neighborhood assemble for the fireworks (these pictures were taken from the balcony of our house):

The fireworks began at the base of the castillo:

More fireworks:

The fireworks came in waves, with different types, colors and sounds . . .

. . . and finished with the grand finale:

When we chatted with people, we met the mayordomo y mayordoma. They were so friendly and kind. They invited us to all the events of their two-day holiday. Here's the cover of the invitation:

Cortamonte is translated "tree cut" (We're not sure what the term means). Here's the text of the invitation:

And here's the two-day program of festivities. It involves the band and fireworks on Friday night, and on Saturday, a breakfast, an activity and mass at the local church, a grand dinner, and the tree-cutting ceremony:

We would have been tempted to join in the activities, but we are involved in District Conference this Saturday. Besides, we would have been the only sober ones in the entire group. Living in Tarma is an unending series of adventures. And many of them occur right on our street.

Carnival in Tarma

One night, just as we arrived home, a parade of people came down our street. Here at the right are some men dressed up as women:


Scott pulled out his camera and began taking pictures. The costumed people were thrilled to have someone take their pictures:


Even the adults wanted their pictures taken:


Proud parents also encouraged their kids to have their pictures taken:


Two days later, we ran into some more merrymakers along the main street of downtown Tarma. The band was playing loudly and the costumed people were dancing enthusiastically:


Crowds gathered to watch the revelers and to join in the fun:


All of this is part of the month-long celebration of carnival ("carnavales," as it is called here). Carnival occurs each year just before Lent, the 40 days of fasting prior to Easter. The most famous carnival celebrations are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

In Tarma, neighborhoods join together, dress up, hire a band, and walk from their neighborhood to downtown Tarma, where the music, dancing, fireworks, and (of course, drinking), goes on until late at night.

Another Tarma tradition during carnival is the process of choosing a "mayordomo" (steward). The steward organizes a group, hires a band, holds a parade through the streets of Tarma, and serves a big feast. The following are pictures of a stewardship group walking up our street.


As they got closer, we saw the "mayordomo" (steward) holding the group's banner and dancing with his partner. The women were dressed in traditional costumes with native hats:


As the group paraded up the street, they occasionally twirled around as part of their traditional dance:


This couple strutted and danced to the music as they walked along. The woman wore the customary expression of being in a trance:


However, this woman couldn't resist a smile as she knew Scott was taking her picture:



Here you can see the dancers, followed by the band:

After the parade passed our house, some men on horses joined the group. Their horses pranced and bucked at the head of the procession.

The parade literally stopped traffic on our street, as you can see from the parked mototaxis (the three-wheeled vehicles that we ride in everywhere we go within the city.)

Life in Tarma is never dull.

Our Trip to the Town of Junín

Meet some of the members of the Junín Branch of the Tarma District. They are at the branch chapel for the release of Sister Dora Córdoba (standing between Scott and Beverly) from her service as a missionary in the Perú Piura Mission.

While Scott was privately interviewing and releasing Sister Córdoba, Beverly played a small keyboard and members of the branch sang their favorite hymns. Then the Branch President (front row, far left) conducted a 15-minute devotional he had organized where Sister Córdoba, Beverly, and Scott gave their testimonies. It was a wonderful experience.

The man standing on the far right is our non-member taxi driver who also participated in the services. Scott had given him the first missionary discussion on a previous trip to La Oroya. We have given his name to the missionaries and he has promised to attend church in Tarma tomorrow.

This little branch has its own nice LDS chapel on a large plot of land:


This picture shows the corner on which the chapel is located (you can see the chapel fence at the right):


This shows the street (looking north) on which the chapel is located:


This is a view of the town, located at an elevation of 13,500 feet above sea level, which explains why all the members in the first picture were so warmly dressed:



This picture shows the area surrounding Junín (the Pampas or altiplano). It is a large area of relatively flat land situated in the high Central Andes:

Every day is an adventure for us here in Peru.

Our Tarma Attire

Tarma's temperatures this time of year are around 50 degrees during the day and 45 degrees at night. So what do we wear? Lots! Keep in mind that NO home, apartment, hotel, restaurant, or church (including the Mormon church) is heated. Here at the church, Beverly has on several layers underneath her coat. Scott has on a suit and thick sweater; he took off his overcoat for the picture.

Our Tarma Missionaries

We belong to the Tarma-La Oroya-Cerro de Pasco Zone. Our zone leaders (who live in La Oroya) are Elder Cook (from Logan, Utah) and Elder Lima (from Arequipa, Peru). We had them at our home for a spaghetti dinner after leadership meeting on Sunday, Feb. 22. Here's our picture after the dinner:


Monday night (Feb. 23) we had the Tarma missionaries to dinner. We held a birthday party for Elder Wengren (from Taylorsville, Utah), and served chicken fajitas (made with tortillas, chicken, and cheese we brought from Lima). Here we get ready to cut the cake: Elder Illachura (from Tacna, Peru), Elder Arrascue (from Trujillo, Peru), Elder Keel (from Victorville, California), Elder Wengren, and Beverly.


Elders Arrascue and Keel are the missionaries who work in the area where we live. We hold Family Home Evening with them and their investigators once a week:


Elder Wengren gets ready to blow out the "candles" (actually match sticks stuck upside down in the cake):

We love these hard-working, baptizing missionaries.