We are in Peru!                        April 30, 2017

The first few days, Carter and I said that to each other quite often. Sometimes I would say it emphasizing different words:

We ARE in Peru! We are IN Peru! We are in PERU!

We had been here only 5 days when we had to pack our bags again to ride across town for the Mission Presidents seminar, held in downtown Lima over a 3 day period. I am sitting by Carter in the back of the room. I have headphones on to hear the English translation.

Here’s part of a journal entry:

“That was fun!

That’s exactly what I said while walking into our hotel room tonight. We had an amazing day at the Mission President’s Seminar.  It is Friday, April 28, 2017, 8:45 pm. We had been sitting at a table with all 4 of the Venezuelan mission presidents and their wives. Just like our son Jordan can sniff out a Korean anywhere, Carter can find a Venezolano, and we had 8 of them all to ourselves for about an hour. We had a great time telling about our families, where we were from, showing pictures and Carter exchanging contact information so they can reach each other for medical purposes. As part of his duties, he is responsible for the 4 Venezuelan missions. He served his mission in Venezuela and loves anything and anyone from Venezuela. Much of the day consisted of instruction from the area presidency, Elder Falabella, Elder Godoy, Elder Montoya and too much food! The night ended with dinner at the Venezuelan table and a group of Peruvian dancers.

Venezuelan Mission Presidents

This Mission President’s Seminar takes place every 6 months and the Area Medical Advisers are always invited too. We need to connect with the mission presidents and especially their wives who are responsible for the medical care of the missionaries in their mission. If anyone has a missionary serving in the South America Northwest area which consists of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru or Bolivia, your missionary is in good hands. These mission president couples work non stop almost and I was glad to know they get a break from their duties every 6 months. They work hard taking care of their missionaries. The area presidency gave some inspiring instruction and teaching. I felt that I was surrounded by very good people. I found myself saying, ” I believe that,” and “these are good people”  quite often.

We are now listening to the testimonies of the departing mission presidents and their wives. There’s a sweet spirit here. This is His work. I know that. I feel blessed to be here with these mighty servants of God.”

We love it here in Peru already. It’s humid and we walk everywhere in it. We don’t have central air conditioning, but I love the whole experience. I promised myself that I would love whatever is here for us. The area office where we work is air conditioned. What a blessing! We got lost walking to a grocery story yesterday afternoon, but we were rescued just in time when a fellow missionary couple called to see if we wanted to go to the same store with them.

Our air conditioned office with the Asays

This past Wednesday, the travel office took us to get our Peruvian ID cards. They picked us up at 6:45 am and we got done at about 12:30. We stood in lines the whole time, but Carter found some Venezuelans and we had some great conversations with them. I say “we”….. I understood a lot but didn’t say much. I can smile in Spanish!! We got a dental exam, got fingerprinted and will get our ID cards next week. We won’t have to carry our passports around once we get those ID’s.

We ate in our first Chifa, which is Peruvian Chinese food. There’s lots of Chifas here. The food looked like American Chinese food but didn’t have much flavor. I added some of their “aji” hot sauce and it was better.  I loved the experience though! There used to be a lot of Chinese people here in Peru, but I don’t remember how they got here.

Before dropping us back off at our house, the travel guys helped me get a Peruvian sim card so my phone would work here. I now have a working phone with a new number. Carter was issued a mission phone a few days after we arrived. If you want to contact me, use Facebook Messenger or email.

I got my first Peruvian haircut later that afternoon. Lets just say that 2 centimeters is a lot more than 1 centimeter. I held up my fingers measuring 1/4 inch. She said, “One centimeter?” I nodded yes. Before she started really cutting she said “Two centimeters?” I nodded yes. It couldn’t be that much more , right? It’s short! But my hair grows fast. I think I will ask some of the other missionary sisters to get a recommendation for my next hair cut. I still loved the experience. Carter got a great haircut!

Today is Ashton’s birthday. He is 25. I miss him… when I miss him, I miss the rest of my family. I bought some raspberries and read a few chapters in my book, with a fan close, last night in his honor. Candace’s family is having a birthday party for Ashton at 4:30 today and we are Skyping in. She is home base now for our family. Thank goodness someone has a stable household within our family. The rest of us are all over the place, but that’s OK. We are all doing what we need to be doing.

Con Amor….. Faye