I keep a little book with me to write on when I have a thought I want to remember. Here are some random thoughts from my book and some random pictures:

The next 3 pictures are from one of the many downtown destinations in Lima. This one had some beautiful architecture. It is called Plaza de Armas.

Peanut Butter costs $19 soles for a small 16 oz jar of Peter Pan creamy, which is about $6.33. Gotta have it for when Carter gets hangry!!

June 20 – Our taxi got a flat tire on the way home from a concert we attended. We paid the taxi driver anyway, felt bad for him,  and walked the rest of the way home, about 25 minutes. We could have just flagged down another taxi but decided to walk with the other couple we were with. It was a nice night, 11:00 pm,  and it was rally nice to experience La Molina with hardly any traffic, all the stores closed down and hardly anyone on the sidewalks. It was refreshing to walk with no traffic fumes.

June 28,  3:00 am – Woke up suddenly, felt the bed shake a bit and the building make some creaking noises. I thought to ask Carter about it in the morning and went right back to sleep. I forgot about it that morning. I was reminded when getting into work and someone asked if I felt the tremors last night. Then I remembered! She said there were 3 of them, the last one being the biggest. Maybe that’s the one I woke up for? Carter didn’t feel them and no one else in my office felt it. They all slept through it. I learned there was no damage anywhere.

June 30 – Took a taxi and went grocery shopping all by myself. First time! Liberating!! Carter is happy I can do that. He was very good and patient when we first got here. He is not a fan of any kind of shopping.

It is winter here. Temperatures range in the 60’s and low 70’s. All the locals bundle up with coats and scarves and we are loving the coolness.

Sunday, July 2nd, at the MTC, I wrote down some things the missionaries  said: “I’ve never been so happy to be so tired.” “It’s such a gift to work so hard.”  “I love this work, I can’t wait to keep going.” “This is a happy gospel.” After the meeting, I told Hermana Moore, wife of the MTC president, “What a blessing to be here with these new missionaries.” She said, “Wouldn’t their mothers love to be here.”

I love missionaries!

Carter brought one suit with him and realized he needed to wear suits more often than he thought. It is very inexpensive to get a suit made here. He and Ron Asay, the other Area Medical Advisor, both had a suit made out of the same brown fabric. Here they are modeling their new suits after meetings at the MTC.

July 3rd – We have a devotional every Monday morning at 8:0o at the area office before everyone starts work. We have a prayer, sing a hymn and someone gives a spiritual thought. The man giving the thought said, “It is a blessing and a privilege to work at the area office.” I agree. It is such a blessing.

The Peruvians can sing. Most sing on key when I listen at church. I don’t hear much harmonizing. Once when we were downtown, we heard some singing coming from a  beautiful old Catholic church. We walked over to listen and a saw young woman singing during the mass. She had a beautiful voice.

There are some tiny woman here. They are usually older ladies. They are adorable. I look straight down at them and they look straight up at me. I am only 5’6″.

Some sweet ladies peeling potatoes at a downtown kitchen that feeds an orphanage and seniors. Notice the cute one in the pink hat. I asked if I could take and picture and she started giggling.

When Carter was working at his medical office in Benson, he would go around the office and greet everyone personally when arriving in the morning. He has started doing that here. It’s fun for him and it’s fun for me to watch. I think others like it too. He can’t greet everyone because there are maybe 100 employees/missionaries there. He just greets the ones we walk by on the way to our office. Everyone can hear his, “Buenos Dias!” down the hallway. He sure is a kind person.

July 8th, 8:15 pm – Had another little tremor. I was packing up for Bolivia. My hand was on the kitchen table getting some books to pack and felt some motion. I thought… is that the dryer? The dryer wasn’t on. Then the building shook for about 3 long seconds. Carter was on the phone in the back room and came quickly up the hallway ready to go out the door. The shaking had made our doorbell ring. All was well after that. I learned that a few blocks down it lasted a little longer and everyone quickly came out to the street. No damage.

Sunday, July 9th – We had a little fuga, flood, in a spare bedroom one Sunday evening from the apartment upstairs. Carter was wringing out wet towels and said, “Take a picture.” It was just water, not sewage. Thank goodness! We never made it to the devotional at the MTC that evening but we got to know our neighbors better.

You can get a bucket of chicken at McDonalds here! Lima is all about chicken.

July 14th – I almost have the chorus memorized in Spanish to the hymn, “Called to Serve”. We sing it a lot at the MTC and at zone conferences. It is called, “Llamados A Servir” in Spanish and there are 4 verses instead of 2 like the English version. The missionaries love to sing it.

This is John & Susie Boswell. They just finished their 3 years in the Lima East mission a few weeks ago. They came over to give us some goodies from their pantry and chat for bit the last week they were here. Carter and John served in Venezuela together as missionaries. Good people!!

Sunday, July 16th – I love watching the President of the MTC watch his missionaries give their first talks in Spanish. He smiles from ear to ear and I can see his love for them.

More missionary quotes. I learn so much from them: “Today’s trial is tomorrows testimony.” “This is not our time, this is the Lord’s time.” One elder said in a prayer, “We pray that we can learn to love to obey.”

Did I say I love missionaries?

I would loooooove to find a hairdresser that speaks English!!!!!!

Written by Faye