Posts From Perú

2012-02-12T14:21:00.000-08:00

Missionary health is always a primary concern for us.

With 200 missionaries you can imagine there are a few tummy aches,

runny noses and in-grown toe nails.

On occasion more serious things happen. When these occasions

occur we have to drop everything that is planned and

make their health our priority.

Elder Heath had to be hospitalized for a week with

with a very high fever. We are glad he is much better.

Elders love good food!
Elder Jenson and Elder Xicara enjoy a treat from Chili's.
Elder Jenson's father has been very helpful in bringing much
needed white shirts, ties, and pants to Peru. We can't thank him enough.
Recently we had a new missionary arrive with only 5 white shirts and ties for his
whole mission. That is all him family could afford.

Elder Riveros, Elder Tax, Elder Emett and Elder Lazo
at zone leader counsel. In our mission we have 15 zones
(or areas where we have missionaries)
Two zone leaders work in each area and are responsible for
10-20 missionaries. They are learning great leadership
skills at a very young age.

Elder Castillo and Elder Clouse are great missionaries.
Each missionary has a different story. Before his mission Elder Clouse's
mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. He gave up his work,
his social life and friends to take care of his mom while she
was undergoing chemotherapy. Her only desire was for him to
serve and complete his mission. He left on his mission not knowing
if she would survive her battle with cancer.

Probably one of the hardest things a mission President has to
do is deliver sad news to one of his missionaries.

The cycle of receiving new missionaries into the mission
continues. This is the latest group to enter the mission. We
received our first missionary from Honduras and El Salvador.

Elder Ojeda and Elder Frost enjoy a ride in
a moto taxi in Tarapoto Peru.

This is the mode of transportation in all the jungle cities.
By US standards these would be declared unsafe and outlawed
The greatest danger comes when you mix motos
with autos on the same road.

Our sisters are great sports about participating.
Recently in Tarapoto, to have a bit of fun we had all the
missionaries put an oreo cookie on their forehead
and try and move it to their mouth by moving their face.
Hermana Arias, Hermana Grow and Hermana Gee
give it a try.

Way to go Hermana Gee!!!

Each missionary comes to us from different countries and with

different backgrounds. Many of them have come to the mission from

broken families. Often times my heart just cries for them when I hear of

their circumstances. There are times when I think no child should have ever

been raised like that. It is so important that we protect the family so children can be raised in a home with both a father and a mother.

These young people come to the mission with a hope and desire to

serve the Lord. As they serve and learn about the atonement of Jesus Christ

their lives begin to change. The hurt and anger they have carried with them is swallowed up in the atonement of Jesus Christ. He takes away their pain and they have hope of having a better life for themselves through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is an amazing thing to see, it a a miracle!

It is a priviledge and a blessing to see this process in

the lives of so many young people.

It is only Christ that can lift our burdens, take away our pains

and heal our hearts.

2012-02-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

Elder Sandoval just completed his mission. He

has served as one of Larry's assistants for nine

months. He is a great missionary and

returns to Arequipa to continue

serving the Lord.

How about a game of Simon Says for a

group of routy litte kids who just

couldn't sit still during a lesson.

Hermana Aria is from Columbia. She always

has a great smile on her face.

Contacting people is truly a challenge

for a lot of our young missionaries. It is all

about taking an interest in other

people and their lives

Here Presidente Blunck takes down a name

of a person who is interested in talking

to the missionaries.

Once again it is the rainy season in the

jungle. Rivers are rising and people are

using their boats to get to their homes.

All fresh water has to be carried and

tranported in each day.

In a small pueblo, Santo Tomas, Elder Essig

stopped to visit some of his recent converts.

The Maricahus family sells art work made out

of balsic wood for a living.

Here is a four foot dolphin he has

hand carved and is preparing to paint.

We fly a lot to meet with missionaries

serving in la selva (the jungle).

I just wish they wouldn't have these broken

down airplanes right by the airport, it is always

a bit unnerving.

Hermana Tayun and Hermana Boyer are presently

assigned to work in Lima. I try and work with the sister

missionaries when ever I can. These sisters took me on my

first combie ride to get to their area. Combies are mini vans

that have been re vamped to cram about 15 people into. It is always

a great experience to work with the sisters. They are great teachers!

Hermana Boyer is new to the mission

These women are working on their

geneology by visiting a local

cemetery in the jungle.

Millions of people live in Lima and I have

seen a few very expensive cemeteries. I have

always wondered where all the poorer people

are buried. Two missionaries took me to

a cemetery where the poor are buried.

It was a hillside of graves.

Sacred and simple.

This man is sharing a moment with a loved one.

Each day he carries water to this grave

keeping the plants green.

Lima near our mission office.

Lima Sunset.

2011-12-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

Let the Christmas Celebrations Begin!These twelve sister missionaries are serving in the

                          jungle regions of Peru. In the cities of Tarapoto
                                                 and Moyobamba.
                                         They love serving together.

Life in Peru!

Most people here do not have personal computers.

So, if you need a document you go to the next reliable source, the
local typewriter man. As you dictate he types.

Our Christmas celebration consists of several things, one is having

lunch together. Bring on the food!. These are hungry missionaries!

We spend a morning playing games with the missionaries.

                          When we hear a lot of laughs and see a a lot of
                            smiles we know we have brought some cheer
                                                        their way.

Elder Araya is from Chile, he is learning to speak English.

Elder Earley on the left and Elder Jacox on the right will

                             finish their missions the end of December.
         They are enjoying their last Christmas celebration on their mission.
                                     They will return home on Dec. 20th.

For you mom's following the blog I hope you see your son or daughter
in one of the pictures on this post.

Christmas in the Jungle.

Each city has a central plaza. In the plaza they put up a
tall tree with white lights.
Each plaza also has a large nativity scene. In the stores
I hear American Christmas songs.

Here 50 missionaries rest after a morning of games.

Shortly they will receive a gift package containing some home
baked cookies, a brownie and a mini loaf of banana bread.
We have baked over 800 cookies to hand out to the missionaries.

Let the fun begin!

All the missionaries serving in Iquitos Peru.

After a morning of games and lunch we attend a
Christmas devotional together.

Presidente Blunck delivers his Christmas message.

Oops, it looks like this Elder just got wet!

Elders loves to compete an any game you play.

Anyone want to get wet?

We had to come up with an hour of games. Our toy of choice

is the water balloon. These balloons if they pop
drench you. We never have one left.
It is great fun!

At our devotional there are few skits.

Leave it up to the sisters to be creative.

I never knew toilet paper rolls had so

many uses.

Amongst all the fun and games we sing the songs

of the season celebrating our Savior's birth.

In November all the missionaries in Lima.

particapated in a day of service in a town called Comas.
Their job, to clean up and beautify.
They started by sweeping and picking up garbage.

They scraped off old paint.

After the scraping was done then they painted. A hundred missionaries helped to clean up over

6 miles of road side. A lot of work was accomplished
in a short period of time.

Thank you for your service.!

Part of this life's journey is to serve others in need.

Thanks for taking an interest in our mission!
Feliz Navidad!

2011-11-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

And I thought eastern Oregon was a desert. At least sage brush grows there and wild flowers bloom. Truly this photo is a desert landscape. This coastal desert region is one of the driest places on this earth. Snakes do not even live here. This was the sight of our mission president's seminar this year, Paraches Peru. Every 6 months we receive training from the area presidency that precides over 5 countries. (Peru, Columbia, Equador, Bolivia, and Venezuela). They receive their training from our church leaders in Salt Lake City. Luckily they found a hotel on the bay of Parachas for us to hold the seminar. We enjoyed palm trees and a beautiful bay. With a little water you can grow anything here.

The wind always blows here. Most days it blows at 40 mph. You can tell by my hair the wind is blowing. The other interesting thing is; there is cell service here, amazing!!!!

I had to laugh at this group of mission presidents taking pictures, they look just like a group of elders, just a bit older. Each day of the seminar we were instructed by Elder Pino, Elder Uceda and Elder Waddel. Each is a member of the first quorum of the seventy of the leadership of our church. Each has served as a mission president. Each day started at 8:30 am and finished at 7:00 pm with dinner and some entertainment.
These are all the wives that attended the seminar. We love to chat and share ideas when we get together.

One day was set aside for sight seeing around the area. This desert scape is called the candlelabra or some call it the tree of life. It has been here for centuries.

One evening we were treated to traditional dancing from Peru. Each province has a different type of dance. These youth are from a local church. The costumes from each region are always bright and beautiful. In the back row you will notice Elder Pino, Elder Waddel and Elder Uceda.

This dance originates from the Trujillo region of Peru.
These five mission presidents serve in differents parts of Lima. It is amazing that one city can have 5 different missions in it.

Here we are with Lynette's mission president. Presidente Calderon and his wife. We are so thankful he is Lynette's mission president. He and his wife are fabulous people and we know they keep an eye on Lynette. With a daughter serving a mission we understand a little better how parents feel about mission presidents and their wives.

Here are all the mission presidents serving from Peru. There are ten of us. In all there were twenty five mission presidents at the conference. They serve along side and with 3914 elders and sisters. What a sacred responsibility it is to teach, train, serve and love these young people.

Here is one parting photo of all who attended the conference.
We have met many wonderful people serving a mission. We learn from each other, share ideas and love and appreciate each other. Each one of them blesses our lives and makes our lives fuller. What a privilege it is to serve a mission for the Lord. Now it is back to our missionaries and helping them become the kind of person God wants them to become on their mission. We love these young people!

2011-11-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

The first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, solemly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan.

One of the struggles missionaries face while serving in Peru is many couples are not married. Getting married here is a very expensive and complicated process. One way to reduce the cost of a marriage is for people to participate in community marriages.

This is a group of six couples that were recently married in Pucallpa Peru.

These elders were excited to attend this marriage ceremony because many of these couples will be baptized. God's plan of happiness is all about families. Every child needs the opportunity to be raised by both a mother and a father.After the marriages a special dinner was provided for all those who were married. Each couple was presented with a picture of the Lima Peru Temple. It is in the temple that families are sealed together for time and all eternity. These missionaries shared a special song with all who attended.
This couple has four children ages 19, 15, 10 and 1, they have never been married. This community wedding allowed them the opportunity to get married. These missionaries are serving in Pucallpa, Peru, Elder Hughes and Elder Uribe. After he completes his mission Elder Hughes would like to play football for Oregon State University. Elder Uribe is new to the mission from Columbia.

Hermana Lubomirsky is from Argentina and Hermana Miranda is from Columbia.

Hermana Grow is new to the mission, she is from the US. She is working hard to learn Spanish. Hermana Arias is her trainer. Each new missionary is put with an experienced missionary. The light of Christ radiates from Hermana Arias

This little guy attended the dinner with his mom and dad.

When we arrived at the airport the next morning for an 8:30 am flight. At the counter we were told our flight would not be departing until 3:00pm. The president loosened his tie took it off and told the assistents the weather was just right for a preparation day. So off we went to a village outside of Pucallpa called San Fransisco. The people there are known for their pottery and bead work. All these necklaces are made from seeds they have gathered. Some are hand painted and others are the natural color.

The tradition of making jewelry from seeds is pasted down from generation to generation.

The tool of choice in the jungle is the machette. Using a machette this man hand carved a canoe oar in one hour. He was so proud of his work when we asked if we could buy one.

Here he is making sure there are no slivers.

Look how big these pots are! Each has been hand made and is drying in the sun. The technique and skill these native people have developed is amazing. Also notice the palms that are used as roofing material. Amazingly they shed water up to five years before having to be replaced. This hand made oven is what the pottery is fired in.

Freshly made pots drying in the sun before they are all hand painted. The clay for the pots is gathered from a nearby river bank. All the paint is from plant material and the final glaze is melted sap from a tree that when fired hardens.

These pottery making skills have been pasted down from generation to generation.
It was a great preparation day!

2011-10-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

Missionaries walk a lot of miles. In the heat of the day or the cool of the night their purpose is to share with all who will listen the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only by coming unto Christ that people can find true peace and joy in their lives. Elder Heath and Elder Quijano walking to an appointment in Tarapoto Peru.

Sister Winkel, Sister Speroni and Sister Reyes finishing their missions.

When a missionary is finishing their mission we take the departing group to the Lima Temple one last time. They have a final interview with the president and a departing dinner and testimony meeting. All say serving a mission was the best decision they have made so far in their lives.

This has been the largest group to leave the mission at one time.

The most recently organized unit of the church in the mission is in a town an hour and half outside of Iquitos, Peru. It has been one year since missionaries were first sent there. Over 100 people attend church each Sunday in this newly organized branch of the church. Here are the group of Elders who serve there.

Larry or Presidente Blunck always has two missionaries that travel with him to help with the training of the other missionaries. The two missionaries on the left are his two assistants and the one of the right is returning to the field to train a new missionary. They work hard to lighten the president's load so he can spend more time with the missionaries.

Since Nauta is the newest branch to be organized in the mission they don't have a building to meet in yet so they meet in this open air school. They will meet here for about 6 months until a building is remodeled to accomodate the members.

This is a group of youth that attended a fireside held in Nauta. The president spoke about patriarcal blessings. These youth have all been members a year or less but you would never know it by the strong testimonies they share.

Primary (or junior sunday school) is just getting started in Nauta and these young boys just learned about the importance of prayer. They proudly display their colored handout.

All the primary songs are new for these children and primary leaders. It was a delight to hear them all sing. There is no piano to play the music so the CDs of the primary songs are used to help them learn the songs.

This is the first Primary organized in Nauta. Since all the members are new and don't have any idea what Primary is, the missionary Elder Orellana is in charge of Primary. As the adults learn their responsibilities they will take over directing Primary. Missionaries serve whereever there is a need.

Here Elder Orellana welcomes everyone to primary and directs the singing time.

Our newest group of missionaries to enter the mission.

Missionaries find themselves by losing themselves in the work of the Lord. "Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family."

Elder Heath and Elder Quijana share a joyful moment with a family they were able to baptize. "The message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. Because of the restoration we understand God's purpose for families."

We have missionaries serving in a jungle city called Moyobama Peru. Moyobamba is the capital of the San Martin Region. It was the first city founded by the Spanish in the Peruvian Amazon Region. It is known as the orchid captial with over 3500 different varieties of orchids that grow there. Here are a few pictures of some of the plants found in this region. The climate is tropical so many of these plants are found in peoples yards.

This orchid is called a slipper orchid. Notice the shape.

Moyobamba is located in the mountains so the temperatures are milder than most jungle cities. Thus this climate is ideal to grow orchids. All the missionaries that serve here say it is the best place in the jungle to serve. The people are very friendly and climate is ideal. To get to this location the missionaries fly from Lima to Tarapoto and take a two hour taxi drive up into the mountains.

These next photos are for the benefit of our grandsons. We can never pass up taking a few pictures of the local wildlife to to capture their attention.

This boa snake is on the small size. We have seen skins that are over twenty feet long. There are two types of large snakes in Peru, boas and anacondas.

Luckily the missionaries are not allowed to go into the wilds of the jungle.

The big question is; are these crocodiles or are these alligators. You decide? Crocodiles have more pointed snouts. Alligators come with a flatter head and a rounded snout. The sign said alligators so we will take their word for it. These animals live in warm moist areas of the world like the amazon jungle and the everglades in the US.

This pair of macaw parrots were a beautiful sight.

Notice the star fruit this parrot is holding in it's claw. Star fruit grows in trees and is very acidic fruit. Parrots use their strong beaks and claws to help them climb and eat a variety of tropical fruits and nuts.

2011-09-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

A lot of little miracles happen around us all the time. Tender mercies from the Lord is a good way to describe these miracles. Perhaps, you receive a phone call when you are feeling blue, or somebody does a kind act of service for you. The Lord uses others to accomplish His work here upon the earth. Elder Dallin H Oaks has said the greatest miracle of our day is that of conversion. This is when a person embraces the gospel of Jesus Christ and changes their lives to live a Christ centered life. That is what missionary work is all about. Inviting others to come unto Christ.

One of our missionaries, Elder Riveros, recently experienced a mighty miracle in his life. He is celebrating his 21st birthday on Sept. 15th and was so excited to receive his weekly email from his family. When the email arrived he was disappointed because it was a short note that only said Happy Birthday. He was extremely disappointed they didn't have more time to write. Then he saw that there was an attachment that he hadn't opened. When he opened the attachment there stood his mom and dad dressed in baptismal clothing. He just started to cry as he had no idea they had been meeting with the missionaries back home in Chile. No greater present could this young man have received than to know that his parents had accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives. Miracles still happen. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives!

We do a lot of training with the missionaries and we always take them to the source of all knowledge, the scriptures, the word of God. Each day they have one hour set aside to personally study the scriptures. Here Elder Whiteside is participating in training.

Elder Silva is making some notes during a training session.

Many of the eldrs are very musically talented. Music has a wonderful way of inviting the spirit. Recently many of these elders sang at a special musical number at a devotional with Elder Oaks.

Here is Presidente Blunck in action. He loves teaching and training these young missionaries. He realizes he is not just training them while they are missionaries but he is helping to teach them life long principles. Part of his calling is to help them realize and reach their potential.

What a privilege it is have received a calling to serve the Lord in this capacity.

This group of missionaries are finishing their mission and returning to the US to continue their education. Their mission has helped to shape and change their lives. From the left; Elder Anderson, Elder Gomez, Elder Crum., Elder Finch, and Elder Schreyer.
.

We have 6 sister missionaries in Pucallpa Peru. They are fabulous!

They walk down dirt roads, eat a lot of rice and aren't too afraid of big bugs anymore.

Every missionary needs a preparation day, to relax and take care of personal items. Here the office elders enjoy having some fun after lunch in the mission home. From the top Elder Angerbauer, Elder Whiteside, Elder Sandaval, Elder Tunnel, Elder Garcia.

Recently we received our largest group of missionaries. Here we are outside the mission office.

We also sent home our largest group of missionaries. It is a privilege to hear their departing thoughts and testimonies pertaining to how the mission has helped them in their lives. Their own conversion to the gospel is the a mighty miracle.

2011-08-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

Larry just celebrated this 55th birthday in the mission with his favorite desert, pound cake.

Feliz Cumpleanos!!!! Each month every missionary who has a birthday receives a small a loaf of banana bread. They love it!

Shara, our daughter in law had her mom collect skirts for the new church members in Nauta. All of these sisters are new members or investigators of the church. They were thrilled to receive a new piece of clothing.
The sisters had so much fun sorting through the suitcase full of skirts.

This new branch out grew their casa capilla (house chapel) they moved to a new location to accomodate their growing numbers. This group of saints are pioneers in the church. Ten months is the longest time any of them have been members. They have great faith!

Here is a boat load of bananas going down the river to market.

Recently we were given permission to make a trip down river from Nauta, to a jungle city named San Regis. The only avenue of transportation was by river. We were looking for some church members who were baptized four years ago. In the jungle regions of Peru we see some of the most beautiful cloud formations.

River transportation is the primary mode of transportation in the jungle regions of Peru.

When we arrived in San Regis we were met by curious little children. They each gladly accepted an article of faith card. They were our tour guides through out the city.

This man is the mayor of San Regis. He made this fishing net by hand and is doing some repairs on it. He invited us into his home where we taught him a lesson about the importance of families and marriage.

Four years ago these people had traveled to Nauta to be baptized. It took them all day by paddle boat to get to Nauta. After they were baptized they returned to their pueblo. President Blunck hopes to set up a family group so they can receive church materials and meet together.

These misssionaries had the unique opportunity to scout out a new pueblo.

When we arrived in San Regis these woman greeting our boat with all the goods they were trying to sell that day to make a few soles.

Here is the group that traveled to San Regis. It took us about 1.5 hours to travel by jet boat south of Nauta.

You can see the excitement on these missionaries faces as they put on their life jackets to make a river trip to San Regis. We were given special permission to make this trip to find some members that had been baptized It was a fabulous experience!

In Peru many people do not have refrigerators so they go to market everyday to buy fresh meat and produce.

In Nauta since we do not have a church building we use a portable baptismal font to perform baptisms in.

This baptismal service was for two neices that are living with a family that was already baptized.

Our senior couple, the Nelsons look on as this Elder baptizes.

Our daugter in law Shara's dream when she visited the jungle of Peru was to hold a monkey. While out doing apartment checks one afternoon the owners showed us their tiny monkey. Not only did she get to hold her first monkey she also got introduced to their pet parrot.

Stephen, our son acts like he is thrilled to have this bird on his shoulder but he is wondering if his ear will stay intact. Stephen and Shara got to travel with us when we did apartment checks and interviews this last month. They were thrilled to meet our missionaries.

These next several pictures depict some of the animals you find in the jungles of Peru.Karl ( my grandson) this picture is for you. I know you like dragons.

Alligators come in varying sizes.

As well as the bugs.

This jaguar is a magnificent animal. I would not want to meet him in the wild.

Pumas.

McCaw parrots are beautiful but noisy.

Always looking for adventure.

This is a planning meeting with zone leaders and the assistants in Pucallpa. The mission is set up so the assistants help the president with training the missionaries. Zone leaders are in charge of about twenty missionaries. These young men learn great leadership skills while on their missions.

Fresh alligator anyone? Hot off the grill.!

While in Pucallpa we visited a native village called San Fransisco. They are known for their unique ceramic work. This litte girl is holding a piggy bank she wanted us to buy for 5 soles. In US dollors that is about $1.50.

This man is holding a couple of pieces of the pottery he fires in his home made oven.

These three little boys from the village wanted to sing us a song for a sole. When we said yes they belted out a song. How surprised they were when we gave them each a sole for singing us a song.

This native woman has hand stitched this table runner. They do beautiful work.

Here is a native women making a bracelet. She is holding the strings with her toes to make it tight.

Elder Borquez, Elder Lopez and Elder Smith enjoying a moment together at their farewell dinner.

Elder Tunnel and Elder Sandaval. Elder Sandaval is working hard to learn English during his mission. They are great missionaries.

Outside of Tarapoto Peru lives another group of native people. Here this native woman has just harvested a crop of corn which she put in the bag on the horse. Most native people do not wear any shoes.

Here these men are building a casa out of large adobe bricks. They fill this foundation with clay and they stomp it down with their bare feet until it is compacted. The foundation is lifted and the sun dries the clay.

We were passing through this town on a festival day and found these children in their native costumes.

While Stephen and Shara were visiting us we held a FHE for all the elders who serve in Lima. Here we are visiting with a few of the elders after the FHE.

We had a great FHE with these elders and sisters that are serving in Lima. About 100 missionaries serve in Lima and another 100 serve in jungle cities.

Stephen and Larry enjoying their first moto taxi ride in Tarapoto Peru. The ride is always refreshing.

Stephen and Shara wanted to experience the jungles of Peru with us, what better way to start the excursion than by being picked up at the airport in this jungle buggy.

2011-07-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

It is official, we have been in the mission one year now. When we arrvied we had no idea what we were getting into. The learning curve has been huge. Time has literally flown by. We can honestly say with 200 missionaires to take care of there has never been a dull moment. Our mission has a lot of diversity. We have 100 missionaries in Lima and a little over one hundred missionaries serving in in the jungle cities of Peru. Sometimes we feel like we live in two worlds. We are grateful for the opportunity we have to travel out of Lima as Lima is a huge city. Driving in Lima is quite the experience. Larry drives and Karen closes her eyes on many occasions. The goal when you drive here is to look for the street least traveled to avoid traffic. Karen descibes some intersections as being in a big knot. Cars are everywhere and nobody is getting anywhere. Going to the jungle is refreshing as it gives us a little tropical landscape. Over this past year Karen has flown to jungle cities 35 times and Larry has flown at least fifty times. Most people only dream of flying to the Amazon jungle regions once in their life time but we have flown there many times over this past year. Jungle cities are a real adventure and we never tire of riding in moto taxis. Each trip is a national geographic moment. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in these cities that is why the Lord has sent missionaires there.

This past year we have seen many miracles unfold in the lives of new church members and in the missionary lives as well. The gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change peoples lives for the better. Our goal is to help each missionary become a man or women of God. We want them to return home with a desire to serve God, their fellow man and to raise a righteous family.

With every new experience in life there are always challenges. It is during these challenging times that we grow and learn the most. The defining moment is deciding if you will just give up or not. One principle we have taught the missionaries this past year is to look for solutions to the problems they face. If you have hope there are always solutions. When we lose hope that is when we give up.

Working with the missionaries is a fabulous experience and we never tire of being with them. They are great young people and it is a privilege for us to serve with them. We are humbled that we have been given this opportunity.

We want to thank our family and friends for your love and support. None of this would be possible without your help. We love you and miss all of you.

Presidente and Hermana Blunck

2011-07-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

For all you chocolate lovers out there this is what the cocoa fruit looks like on the inside. The white pulp contains the cocoa beans which are extracted and processed to make chocolate.

Here is the cocoa fruit. It is harvested when it turns yellow.

This group of missionaries leaves our mission on Tuesday. Each of them are excellent missionaries. It is hard to say good bye to these young people as we have grown to love and appreciate each one of them. Now it is time for them to return home taking with them all that they have learned and build a life for themselves.

These elders are pretty happy to get subway sandwiches for lunch. Recently two new subway shops were opened here in Lima, it is a real treat.

We caught this boy playing in a downpour in the jungle. When it rains, in a matter of seconds you are soaked. The good news is it is always a warm rain.

Nauta Peru is jungle city where a new branch of the church has recently been established. Last October missionaries first visited this town and started missionary work there. At that time there was fifteen people in attendance. Last Sunday a new branch of the church was officially established in Nauta. One hundred sixteen people attended church last Sunday. It is amazing to see the faith of these new members. Many have made great changes in their lives to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Truly the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people.

This is the group of elders and the senior couple that has helped establish the church in Nauta.

It has been a year since we have tasted a donut so Larry and I broke down and took 24 donuts with us to Nauta when we visited. What a treat! The coconut ones were the best. As you can see these elders had not problem eating the donuts. In Peru not many people have ovens so baked goods are a real treat.

This sweet family that lives in Nauta was baptized. The father serves in the Branch presidency. Before he joined the church he earned a living selling beer to the town folks. Once he joined the church he closed his business and sought other employment. For several months he was unemployed. He was offered another job that would take him out of town on Sundays and he declined not wanting to miss church. Still unemployed he and his wife decided to open their own little business. Each morning he arises early and goes to the local fruit market to buy fresh oranges so they can sell orange juice at their stand near the hospital. This is how they earn enough money to buy food for their family. The people in Nauta have so little yet are so happy. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers them hope in this life.

The leaders of the new branch in Nauta. Two of the leaders are missionaries and two are local men who live in Nauta. Since the church is new here the senior couple is helping to teach and train the local leaders. This senior couple brings years of church experience with them. We are so grateful for their service.

The young people love to gather around Larry when we attend church services.

Here is a group of young women that attend church in Nauta. Hermana Nelson teaches them seminary each morning. Their testimonies and faith are strong. Hermana Nelson is also teaching English classes for the community and all these young women attend.

These next three pictures are of our sister missionaries in the mission. We currently have twenty sisters serving. Six serve in Lima and the remaining sisters are in jungle cities. Sister missionaries have a wonderful ablitly to teach families about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They also aid in reactivation work. They serve for eighteen months and can serve when they are 21 years old. During the course of their mission they learn many valuable people and communication skills. Most importantly they learn to love the Lord, His children and to give their service unselfishly. The American sisters also become fluent in Spanish.

Notice the red juice we are all drinking. We only are served this juice in the jungle cities of Peru. It is called camu-camu juice, it is delicious and has four times the vitamin C than orange juice.

Our son Stephen and his wife Shara arrived in Peru the first part of June to spend 8 weeks volunteering at an orphanage in Cajamarca Peru. The children's emotional needs were great and it was hard for them to leave. Stephen and Shara are now in Cusco for a ten day trip. While in Cusco they have been given permmission to take Lynette out to lunch on her preparation day. She is thrilled to be able to see family. When they return they will see Mom an Dad in action in the mission as they will have a couple of weeks to travel throughout the mission with us.

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This is in the Belen area of Iquitos. The rainy season is just finishing and the water is starting to recede a bit where many people live. Belen is an area of much poverty. High water is just part of life for these people. Three to four months out of the year they have water at their doors. If the water rises over the floor boards they just add higher floor boards. The other months their homes stand on twenty foot high poles. People who live here just have a few necessities of life. Living in a third world country brings a totally different definition to poverty. Here "having things" don't define one's happiness.

Walking out on the twelve inch boards they use to make the walk paths was a little tricky. Being out on the water gives you a totally different perspective of life in Belen. Missionaries are allowed in some areas to walk out on bridges to teach people. If there is any question as to their safety they have to make other arrangements to teach people. Yes, this past year we had an elder fall into the water. After we learned he didn't know how to swim he wasn't allowed to walk on the bridges anymore. This water is not very clean.

Two hundred thousand people live in the Belen area of Iquitos. They call it the Venice of Peru.

This past weekend Presidente Blunck was able to participate with this family in their baptism. These two sister missionaries had taught this family. Their son had been a member of the church for the past four years. He has faithfully attended with his aunt each Sunday. After about ten different sets of missionaries trying to teach the father Hermana Reyes was able to make a connection with him. The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ rang true to his ears. The boy baptized his mother on Saturday and Larry baptized the father. The boy cried tears of joy after their baptism. Now they will work to be sealed together as a family in the temple.

This is our latest missionary to depart the mission, Elder Ochochoque. He has been a great missionary. He is a convert to the church and the only member in his family.

In the jungle regions of Peru we see some of the most beautiful cloud formations and some of the most violent thunder and lightening storms. While waiting for the plane to return to Lima it cut lose and poured. The waiting area in the airport started flooding with water. Luckily it stopped raining just in time for our plane to land and take us to Lima. Often time flights get cancelled when it is raining. Coming from Oregon this a little hard to understand. In Pucallpa there is a native village nearby called SanFransisco. This native woman was trying to sell me some of her bead work.

Looks like we won't make it to our destination today, too much mud. Many of the nearby roads in the jungle become impassible after days of rain.

It looks like the president has been out four wheeling with all this mud. Not so, we are trying to travel to a near by village about a hour away from Pucallpa and with some recent heavy rain the road became inpassible. We will have to try again another day.

Roads and rivers are every one's lifeline in the jungle. Most people do not have a means of transportation other than their own two feet. Often times during our travels we will see people walking down the roads out in the middle of no where. The strange thing is they are going somewhere.

These are our sister missionaries in Pucallpa Peru. Hermanas Sanhueza, Estrada, Yost, and Miranda. Despite the mud and mosquitos on occasion they love teaching in Pucallpa. Peanut butter is a real treat for them. Missionary work is all about talking to people and seeing if they are searching for more in their lives. Here President is speaking with a moto taxi driver.

Missionaries have to learn to make good use of their time each day on their missions. These elders have drawn a sample page from their planner so they can see their plan each time they enter their room.

Being a missionary teaches young people so many life skills. They become fluent in a second language. They learn study skills, people skills, organizational skills and most importantly they learn to love the Lord and His children. We work to help them become men and woman of God. Our hope is that they will take all the skills they have learned as a missionaries and continue to serve God and their fellow man. For some, a mission is one of the hardest things they will ever do. Pres. Uchtdorf says it well, "It is often in our trials and most difficult moments that we learn the most critical lessons that form our character and shape our destiny." Here, Elder Emmet is working on planning his week.

Part of each missionary's day is devoted to planning. Here Elder Castillo is planning with his companion. For most 19 year old missionaries, they have no clue about planning and organizing their day. Every missionary has a pocket calendar to plan with.

Elder Lee has been serving as a missionary in Nauta for seven months. He has helped to establish a new church unit in Nauta. When he first arrived there were about twenty people attending. This past Sunday there were eighty five people in attendance. He has learned first hand all the work and effort that needs to be put forth to establish a new church.

The church leaders in Nauta are Elder Nelson in the middle, Elder Orellana on the left and Bro. Pinche. I want to share some comments made by Elder Orellana, "We had two wonderful baptisms this past week, a father and his 14 year old daughter. Their family is living proof of what the gospel can do for a family that tries to live it and also of how the Lord prepared some of his children here in Nauta to receive His message. We contacted this family two months ago and invited them to church. The next day the whole family walked into the church (the mom, dad and four children). Step by step they have been progressing towards baptism into Christ's church. Two days ago the father and his daughter were baptized. Shortly the rest of the family will follow as they continue to progress. After his baptism the father stood to share his testimony, he was in tears. He said he had been a drunk but after being taught about Jesus Christ he knew he could change. He cried, his whole family cried and I was in tears. The spirit was so strong testifying of the conversion of this man whom I love with all my heart. The miracle of it all is that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ people can change. I love this work".

The sign on the casa capilla (house chapel) in Nauta Peru.

Church members and investigators in Nauta Peru.

2011-04-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is Nauta Peru. Nauta is located about two hours by car from Iquitos. We have four elders and a senior couple working on establishing a new church here. Missionaries initially opened the city last fall for the first time. Our senior couple arrived in Nauta in January of 2011. At that time there were 8 baptized members. As of Sunday April 24, 20011 there were 31 baptized members and 73 people attending church. The missionaries are doing an amazing work here.

Nauta is located on a river. Many towns are located on rivers, as that is the means of transportation for many people. Nauta was a two day boat ride from Iquitos but now you can reach it by car in two hours.

These boys from Nauta were pretty proud of their catch. The biggest fish was three inches long. They were fishing off a bridge with fishing line and hook tied around the end of a long stick.

Many of the jungle cities have high water right now because of the rain. They build temporary walk paths with 12 inch wide boards. For years Nauta's economy was supported by the fishing. Several years ago a company polluted the river and the fish were killed. As a result many people live in great poverty. Children need shoes, school supplies and clothing. They do what ever they can to earn a bit of money to buy food. Most homes have dirt floors and very little furnishings.

This senior couple are doing a great work of establishing the church in Nauta. They bring with them so much experience and they know how the church is to operate. The people love them and they love the people. They are carefully watching over this little flock in Nauta. Each week they account for every family that should be there. After church on Sunday a little boy ran up to Hermana Nelson and gave her a great big kiss on the cheek.

On Easter Sunday Nauta became an official group of the church. This is the casa capilla or house chapel that they meet in. There were 73 people in attendance on Sunday.

The Nelsons were anxious for their church members to hear the words of the prophet during general conference the first weekend in April. So they worked hard to make it happen. This is the group that traveled two hours to attend a satellite broadcast in a stake center in Iquitos.

Elder Nelson worked hard to make the trip to Iquitos possible. What great vision this senior couple has in helping these new converts and investigators gain their own testimonies.

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The Nelsons are our only senior couple serving in our mission. What an adventure they are having in helping to establish for the first time a church in Nauta. They bring valuable wisdom and experience with them and are working hard to help the new members of Nauta learn how to be new members of a growing congregation.

Rain turns the dirt roads into a lot of mud. Many of our missionaries use boots during the rainy season in the jungle. I had to walk about a half mile down this road to get to an apartment our missionaries live in. Nobody told me a I needed boots.

In the jungle areas of our mission there has been a lot of rain thus a lot of mud on the side streets. When it is summer time in Lima it becomes the rainy season in the jungle cities. All this rain produces high water in the rivers so a lot of flooding occurs.

There is an area of Iquitos that floods every year known as Belen. This is the poorest area of Iquitos and many people live here because they do not have to pay taxes and other fees because of the flooding. Many of these homes are built on twenty foot stilts. They use twelve inch boards to make bridges out to their homes.

It takes about three months for the water to recede, then to earn some money for their families they plant three crops. First rice is planted to help dry out the ground, then corn and finally watermelon. Many people live their whole lives here.

Many of the people in Belen have small farms in the jungle that they work. Their crops they bring in by boat into the Belen market. Their living conditions are very primitive.

This man is carrying palms leaves that have been woven together to make roofing material. Many of the homes have roofs made our of palm leaves. These types of roofs keep the rain out and last about ten years. Unlike tin roofs that trap the hot air in, the palm leaf roofs let more hot air out keeping a home cooler.

These two missionaries are working in a town called Santa Clara. When they first arrived there were about 20 people attending church. After four months of work they now have 60 people attending church.

These are the sister missionaries serving in Tarapoto Peru.

This is how rice and coffee beans are dried in the jungle cities, in the hot sun. Once or twice a day you will see people out bare foot stirring up the beans to help them dry.

On a preparation day we had the opportunity to visit a town called Lamas. In Lamas there is a group of native people. They make everything they use by hand. This lady is making pottery that they use to cook and eat with. The men hunt and farm in the jungles around their village.

This sweet lady from the village was selling some pottery she had made. The black beads around her neck she wears in remembrance of family member that has died.

We visited Lamas with the the temple president and his wife on a preparation day. They traveled with us to Tarapoto to speak at a district conference with us. A temple president had never traveled to Tarapoto before so the people were delighted to have them come. They gave out temple cards to all the adults and children.

Lima is not known for its blue skies but our day at the temple with a group of departing missionaries couldn't have been any more perfect.

Our latest group of missionaries to depart the mission. They go home to serve the Lord in a different capacity now.

This missionary couldn't get over the fact he wasn't a teenager anymore. Now he has to really grow up. Not many people have ovens here in Peru, but there are many stores that sell tortas.

Out checking apartments this Elder had some fun with this turtle he found. He is an excellent missionary serving from Bolivia.

At missionary training sessions we do a lot of practicing with the elders and sisters. Some have great people skills others have to develop confidence in talking to people. We help them learn how to ask inspired questions and how to listen to what people have to say. These are skills that not every nineteen old has. Many of them have grown up in front of computers playing video games and haven't learned very good people skills. So we do a lot of practicing of all these skills so they can be successful.

A missionary's purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.

These are the missionaries that taught Efrain about God's plan of happiness for His children. This plan is centered in Jesus Christ and His teachings.

Here we are just before the baptism with Efrain's family.

After the missionaries taught Efrain he decided to get baptized and he asked Larry to baptize him. This is Efrain's beautiful family.

Efrain is a police officer that Larry met one night while out working with the zone leaders in the Wiesse area of Lima. Larry discovered that his wife was a less active member of our church so Larry invited both of them to attend church on Sunday as we would be speaking at the meeting. On Sunday about fifteen minutes after the meeting started they both walked in and sat down. Efrain had decided he would be willing to let the missionaries come to his home and teach him about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2011-03-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

It has been our privilege this past month to have a visiting general authority from our church tour our mission. He and his wife served over this mission about twenty years ago. She also served her mission in the Peru Lima North Mission. They are wonderful people and it has been a highlight for our missionaries to receive training from them.

Our other excitement for the month was our daughter Janeece and our grand daughter Rita arrived for a 8 day visit. We were thrilled to meet our grand daughter for the first time. We took a few days with our daughter to discover a little more of Peru.

Papa had fun taking this picture of Rita. Everywhere we went people said,"La Muneca, Que Linda" Which means, the doll, how beautiful.

Here we are at a pottery factory we discovered in Peru. At this factory all the pottery is made by hand.

Janeece and I loved looking at all the finished pieces, they were beautifully painted. We also loved visiting with the owners, they were wonderful people. They sell their pottery to many places in the US.

Each piece is hand painted.

This lady is preparing the clay to form a bowl.

The raw product is mixed with water in the top container. It is hand stirred for 6 hours to separate the clay, then it is strained and allowed to sit in the other two containers for 24 hours to settle the clay to the bottom of the container. After that it is sun dried for a week. The end result is soft clay that can be stored for up to a year.

We are off for a tour of Tarapoto in a moto taxi. This handicapped man was a great tour guide. He took us to all the great sites in Tarapoto including to the chocolate factory. Yes, we got a samples. They sell their chocolate in Las Vegas.

After a twenty minute walk into the jungle we arrived at a university research facility where they rehabilitate animals and do research. This is baby jungle tiger. They also had a bear that mainly consumers fruits, boa snakes, a jungle condor, monkeys and huge jungle turtle.

Not to mention alligators.

They grow fresh papaya and pineapple for the animals.

2011-03-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is a hive of ants up in a tree. It is made out of mud and inhabited by little red ants. It was huge. When you are walking into the jungle you have to keep an eye out for poisonous ants, snakes and other animals. We were taking a short walk into a university research facility.

These tropical flowers were in bloom everywhere.

This fern is over 8 ft tall.

Tuesday we headed to a jungle region to discover this waterfall. As we walked in to the waterfall the tropical foilage is dense and we heard a wide variety of birds .

Enjoying being out doors and the warm sun in Tarapoto Peru.

After we arrived in Tarapoto we headed to Lamas. Lamas is located in the hills so the view of the valley and surrounding area is great. Lamas still has some native people that live there.

This is a boa snake skin that was shed. We were told this was a small one. In Lamas we found a small museum with a small bug collection from the jungle. As you can see some of these bugs are not very small at all. Everything in the jungle grows big.

Early Monday morning we took off to Tarapoto Peru. Janeece wanted to see a bit of the Amazon jungle while she was here. We took Janeece to our favorite place.

Yes, we have a thumb sucker in the family once again.

Babies are so much fun to hold especially when it is your first grand daughter.

Saturday was a day to see a few sites in Lima in the Miraflores area and we also visited the Inca Market.

Just relaxing in Lima

On Friday Janeece had the chance to to see her Mom and Dad in action as we had the Lima mission tour with the Ucedas. Over 100 missionaries were in attendance. Janeece had a fun time talking to several of the missionaries.

Papa couldn't wait to get his hands on her and he held her every chance he could get.

Their first day here we gave everyone a chance to get rested. Then we had fun giving Rita a bath in our kitchen sink.

Grandma is pretty thrilled to see her for the first time.

We were delighted to great our oldest daughter and her new daughter on March 16th. We had never met our granddaughter as she was born last October. When Janeece walked into the airport little Rita was wide awake despite the fact it was midnight..

These sisters are serving in Iquitos Peru.

Recently we have been having a mission tour by a visiting general authority. Elder Uceda and his wife have been touring our mission. He spends three hours teaching the missionaries. Then has a question and answers session with them. His wife was a missionary in our mission about twenty years ago. The Uceda's are thrilled to revisit the Lima North Mission. She served as a missionary here and he served as the Mission president here. It has been a wonderful experience to tour the mission with them.

2011-03-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

Our latest group of missionaries to complete their missions.

These are the elders who help us in the mission office. They are excellent. Most of them serve for six months in the office.

This last month we had zone conferences. Zone Pucallpa was the last zone we visited.

These are some of the beautiful tropical flowers we see in the jungle cities.

Time for planchas (push ups)! We work to build strong missionairies both spiritually and physically. A great way to wake people up after lunch.

One fun way to help our Latino missionaries learn English is to sing hymns.

Missionary work is just about talking to people and being friendly. Something they say will open the door for you to talk about the gospel. Here Larry is talking to a father while they watch a bunch of little boys play soccer.

These two elders are headed out to work. Yes, they are wearing boots! It is the rainy season right now in the jungle regions of Peru so many roads are muddy.

Larry helped the elders teach this family one evening. Peruvians are a very loving and kind and always offer you something to eat. The young man in the striped shirt was baptized on March 5th. Larry gave him a new white shirt and necktie to wear to church.

We have seen some beautiful sunsets from our apartment this past summer.

Zone conference. The missionaries come from different countries and all walks of life but the gospel of Jesus Christ brings them all together.

Sometimes the cloud formations over the jungle of Peru are spectacular.

The mission mom!!!

One of our many jungle trips. Office missionaries always travel with us to work with and help take care of the needs of the other missionaries.

Preparation day, looks like the president out to get someone with those water balloons! Each missionary has one day a week to take care of personal needs. This is called their preparation day.

Preparation day pictures.

President talking to a moto taxi driver.

Preparation day moto taxi ride.

Tarapoto Peru. Missionaries out enjoying the sights.

Litttle boys are always curious.

Zone conference in Tarapoto Peru.

2011-02-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Every house has a clothes line.

This is a pueblo called Santa Clara outside of Iquitos where two of our missionaries are working.

Each Latino elder is paired with an American. They help one another learn a new language. The Latino elders are quite excited to have the opportunity to learn English.

This is one of our office Elders celebrating his 21st birthday.

You can see all the elders were anxious for a break from the training session except one.

This gas station is in Iquitos where the attendant mostly serves mototaxi drivers.

Fill it up, please!

This is a typical lumber yard in Iquitos. All of the wood is coming from the surrounding jungle areas. A lot of wood from the Amazon jungle is shipped from Iquitos.

This is the local car wash in Iquitos. These mototaxi drivers take pride in their vehicles.

This is a mototaxi that has been revamped to be a small size truck. A mom and two children are catching a ride. No child restraint laws here.

2011-01-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

Our apartment overlooks a golf course here in Lima. This is about the best view we have had. In the distance you can see the Pacific Ocean.

This is a recent picture our daughter sent to us. She is shown here with her Latino companion and her district leader. She loves serving in the Cusco area.

Here we are with a sister missionary outside the Lima Temple, she is just completing her mission and will be returning to Bolivia.

We have two sister missionaries serving in Pucallpa Peru. They love serving there. They have brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to this man in the photo, he was baptized on Saturday. He repairs shoes for a living.

The sister missionaries serve in a ward in Pucallpa and this is a picture of them with their bishop and another ward member.

Last Tuesday we received a group of 17 new missionaries. Only two are from the US the rest are from countries in South America. This is a day filled with excitement as they have finally arrived in their mission after several weeks at the language training center.

These three missionaries are all from the US. The two on the left have valiantly served the Lord for two years. They go home a changed person. Along with converting others to Christ they have also converted themselves. The elder on the right is an assistant to Larry. He serves in many capacities. He is an exceptional teacher.

This is the latest group of missionaries to complete their missions. The Friday before they depart we take them to the Lima Temple.

Lima is a coastal desert so if you want green space you have to water. Most everything here is done by hand, that includes watering the grass. Big tanker trucks can be seen out watering the green spaces about Lima.

Many people outside of Lima move to Lima in search of a better life. They establish their first home on these foothills of Lima. It is quite a humble start for many. This is how the city grows. Once they obtain good employment they move to nicer housing or upgrade the house they live in. The well established parts of Lima have nice homes. As the city grows up these hill sides they build staircases so people can go up and down more easily. Yes, these are some of the areas our missionaries work in.

This is one of the hillsides that people have developed. In the US we have no concept of poverty.

This is a new area people have started to build in. You can tell because the city has not built any staircases yet. From these pictures you can truly see that Lima is a coastal desert. Our mission consists of two very different parts, the jungle areas and part of northern Lima. The missionaries serve in both areas.

Many times I have comments how everything here is done by hand. At the airport in Iquitos I caught this young man hand painting the stripes in the parking lot. He was thrilled that I would take his picture.

This elder on his preparation day was visiting a family that had a baby pet sloth. An experience of a life time.

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This is a senior couple serving as missionaries in Nauta Peru. This city is about 60 miles south of Iquitos. Nauta has never had missionaries so they are working hard to establish the church in this area. They bring much valuable church experience. What an adventure they are having. She speaks Spanish and he is learning Spanish.

Don't these church members look sharp in their white shirts and ties.

This is the new house chapel in Nauta. When the church is established in a new area, houses are used as meeting places until there are enough members to be able to build a chapel. Our senior couple has worked hard to restore this house so it can be used as a meeting place. We only have one couple in our mission and we could use many more. The need is great and they bring so much experience with them.

This open air room was the original meeting place in Nauta. Attendance has now outgrown this meeting place so the senior couple has found a large home that will serve as our new meeting place.

Sunset over the ocean in Lima as seen from our apartment.

2010-12-28T11:35:00.001-08:00

Traffic in Lima can be quite a jam at times. Needless to say it is a test of Larry's patience to drive here. His agressive nature comes out on the road in Lima.

Here are some sister missionaries loading up their luggage after receiving their new assignments. Each American missionary is paired with a Latino so they can learn the language more quickly. It is amazing how fast the American missionaries become fluent.

Larry always has two missionaries that are his assistants. They help him with everything and anything. One is always a Latino and the other if from the United States. This young man is from Columbia, he has been a huge help to Larry, he loves dunkin donuts.

The latest group of missionaries to enter our mission.

Time for a lunch break.

These two young men just completed their missions and returned to Guatemala.

This group of missionaries just completed their missions. The young women serve for 18 months and the young men serve for two years.

We tried to take a bit of Christmas to our 180 missionaries who are far away from home. We flew to three jungle cities for celebrations and had three different celebrations in Lima too. The missionaries had prepared skits, we sang Christmas songs, played games and enjoyed a meal together.

Merry Christmas!

We have twenty one young women serving as missionaries in our mission. These four are in Iquitos Peru enjoying our Christmas celebration.

Recently we introduced an English speaking program to our Latino missionaries. They are encouraged to learn English while on their missions. It will greatly aid them after their missions in obtaining better employment. Here is a group of them singing a song in English. We are so proud of them for trying to better their skills.

We visited this family one hot afternoon and they wanted to offer us a drink to cool off. We were all treated to fresh coconut milk. Their son climbed the ladder and batted the coconuts out of the tree so we could all have a drink.

Once he batted the coconuts down from the tree he took a machette and hacked off the outer husk to get to the inside nut. A hole was punched in the nut and it was ready to drink.

Nothing like fresh coconut milk to cool off.

We flew to Pucallpa Peru for some training and also spent a preparation day with this group of missionaries. They were excited to have us participate in a water balloon activity as it was a hot day in the this jungle city. They also had another surprise for us as well.

Yes, Larry is about ready to pop this three inch grub into his mouth and give it a try. What can I say, this is what the young men do when they serve in the jungle. I think it has something to do with proving that you are a man. Larry couldn't disappoint them so he gave it a try. You will have to ask him how it turned out.

Grubs anyone? These grubs feed off the bark of dying palm trees. It seems everything in the jungle is always growing, thus these three inch grubs.

Zone conference with a group of missionaries. A zone is a group of missionaries that serve in a specific area. In our mission we have 16 zones. We hold meetings every three months with all the zones. At these meetings they are given language instruction, health instruction, doctrine instruction and instruction on becoming better teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here I am with a group of our sister missionaries. The high light for me is to go out with them when they are teaching people in the evenings. Many people here are very open minded and willing to listen to our message about Jesus Christ.

Here the sisters are with a family they have baptized. The mother had spent five hours preparing the sisters special food for that evening. I asked the young man in the front of this picture if his life has changed since he joined the church. Tears came into his eyes and he said it had completely changed. He use to go out each weekend and drink with his buddies. Now he knows he has a purpose here on this earth and that God loves him.

Another family that the sisters had baptized. The mom, Clara, is in the middle she has read the Book of Mormon three times and loves to sing hymns. When we knocked at her door she was reading from the hymn book.

Here we are after a zone conference in Iquitos Peru.

Almost everyone has a clothes line in Peru. Only the wealthy have dryers. I decided it would be fun to take pictures of the different clothes lines I see.

Zone conference in November.

2010-11-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

These ten missionaries just entered our mission on Tuesday.

Lynette and her companion as they prepare to board the bus to the airport. Lynette had a one hour flight to Cusco from Lima. Cusco has an elevation of 10500 feet. Lynette will return home with lungs of steel.

The last group of missionaries to depart our mission after two years of service.

Fresh bananas anyone? This pictures was taken on our way to Moyobamba, one of the jungle cities we visit.Up in the mountains outside of Lima we saw much poverty. We are a very blessed people to be able to live in the US.

In the Cusco region everything is made out of adobe bricks that are handmade and drived in the sun. In a months time they can make about 900 bricks.
Here is a batch of bricks drying in the sun.

These are all of the new mission presidents and their wives from Peru, Columbia, Equador, Boliva and Venezuela. We all started our missions on July 1, 2010

Here we are overlooking Machu Picchu with Lynette's mission president and his wife. They are very warm and loving. We are glad Lynette will serve in their mission.

Machu Picchu!

The Inca stone work is incredible. You can't even slip a knife blade in between the stones.

One day of the mission president's seminar we traveled to Machu Picchu. Don't you love the hat?

In the sacred valley of the Incas you see many Inca ruins.

One evening at the seminar we had a group of youth come and perform many of the native dances of Peru. After the last dance all of the girls grabbed mission presidents and had them dance. It was the highlight of the evening. Here we are trying on some of the hats they wore.

Once a year mission presidents attend a training seminar to receive instructions from leaders. This year the meeting was held in the sacred valley of the Incas about an hour outside of Cusco. This is a beautiful valley that goes for miles. There are acres of crops planted in this valley by the native people that still live here. All of the crops are planted, tilled and watered by hand. It is like you go back 100 years in time. We traveled to this part of Peru in the middle of October.

Meeting Lynette at the CCM for lunch.

We met Lynette at the airport when she returned to Peru. Our missionary tags have helped us get to see her on occasion. She calls herself Hermana Blunck II.

2010-09-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

The beautiful flowers at the Lima Peru Temple. We take all the missionaries that are leaving the mission here so they can go through a temple session one last time. Many of the Latinos leaving the mission have to travel hours to their nearest temple. It is a highlight for Larry and I to attend the temple with them.

The Lima Peru temple where families can be sealed together forever.

This group of missionaries will be departing the mission this coming Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010. In a short amount of time we have grown to love these young people. They have valiantly served the Lord for two years.

These two little boys are learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ with their mom and dad.

Macaw parrots are covered with brilliantly colored feathers.

Posts from Peru

2010-09-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Macaw birds are native to the rain forests of South America. We saw this beautiful bird at a zoo outside of Iquitos. They eat nuts, fruit and insects. They are the largest parrot species.

Larry was excited to get a kiss from this python.

On the other hand Karen was anxious to get rid of this python around her neck.

These pythons mainly live submerged in the swamps in the jungle.

We visited a manatee preserve and Larry was able to feel this baby manatee. Often times babies are brought to this preserve because their mothers have been killed. They are hand fed and raised on soy milk for two years in holding tanks before they can turned out into ponds. Manatee live in the Amazon river and feed upon the plant foliage in the river to help keep the plant growth under control. It is illegal to hunt them but many females are killed leaving their babies behind. They must drink milk until they are two years old and are able to digest plants.

These buses are made out of wood on old truck bodies. The interiors are completely out of wood and tin covers the outside of them. They have no windows and a wooden bumper.

We had a little time to play soccer on a preparation day in Iquitos. It was only 95 degrees outside with 100 % humidity. Everyone lasted about 45 minutes before they were completely exhausted from the heat. What can I say they had a great time.

These little boys were excited to learn about Jesus and to have their very own pass along card. They were also fascinated by my camera, they had never seen one before. They loved seeing themselves after I took a picture of them.

Larry with his two assistants and we get ready to board our flight home. These are great young men who help Larry teach and train the missionaries. They are tremendous help to us.

These little children were fascinated by my blue eyes. I don't think they had seen a woman with white skin and blue eyes before. Each one of them told me their names and how old they are.

Posts from Peru

2010-09-19T12:59:00.001-07:00

Zone counsel conference. This is the leadership of the mission. All of these missionaries are in charge of about twenty missionaries.

Zone conference in Tarapoto Peru. The mission is broken up into zones by areas the missionaries serve in. All of these missionaries are serving in Tarapoto. We flew to Tarapoto to give them one day of training.

Moyobamba Zone Conference. Moyobamba is a two hour car drive outside of Tarapoto. Larry has been there to visit and it is one of the most scenic drives in the mission.

A church building located in Pulcallpa. Notice the electrical wires. It is pretty amazing anyone has electricity, but they do.

This young man just received a interview to serve a mission. You can see he is pretty happy to have received several white shirts and neckties so he can serve a mission. A BIG thank you to Matthew Trone and his Eagle Scout project and all of you who donated white shirts, ties and suits.

Downtown Moyobomba during a rain storm.

Scenes from the drive to Moyobomba.

Daily tropic rain showers keep this river flowing.

Two missionairies catching a ride on a moto taxi.

Zone conference in Pucallpa. These are great young people devoting their time to serving the Lord.

Posts from Peru

2010-08-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is our first group to depart the mission. Every six weeks we have missionaries arriving and departing.

Larry loves working with these young missionaries in the Peru Lima Norte Mission.

These are some of the sister missionaries serving in our mission. Many of them are from South America.

This is one of our four day leadership training sessions in Lima. There are about 100 missionaries serving in our area of Lima. We did another four day training in the jungle, where about sixty of our missionaries are serving.

The middle missionary is proud of his new suit. He selected it from the suits that Mathew Trone gathered and shipped to Peru for his eagle scout project. This missionary was thrilled to have a new suit. His old suit was literally thread bare. The missionaries here have been astounded by all the suits, shirts and ties that were donated in Oregon in their behalf. Thank you all for your generosity!

The Lima coastline. It is not far from where we live and on a clear winter day we can see it from our living room window.

These are our neighboring mission presidents and wives.
We wives are always comparing notes on our new finds at Peruvian grocery stores.

Our downstairs neighbors threw Larry a surprise birthday party. They have brought two children to their mission, a six year old boy and a nine year old girl.

Post from Peru

2010-08-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here we are with the office elders headed home to Lima after four days of training in Iquitoes. We arrived home about 1:00 am. Time was short so we grabbed some cookies for dinner. We are true missionaries now.

These are a group of young women I became acquainted with in Iquitoes. They were having fun playing volleyball.

When mom is busy all a big brother has to do is tend the baby in the pot.

This is one of the many church buildings that we see in the jungle cities.

Here we are with the office elders after our first trip to the Lima Peru Temple.

In the jungle we see many beautiful flowers.

These men are loading palm leaves that will be used for roofs through out the city of Pucallpa.
Amazingly these types of roofs shed water just as well as the tin roofs.

Of all the places we have visited in the jungle Tarapoto Peru has been our favorite. We call it our rustic Hawaii.

More From Iquitos!

2010-07-18T13:32:00.001-07:00

This is the sun setting on the bank of a river in a pueblo we visited just outside of Iquitos.

As we drove out of Iquitos the housing conditions became more and more rustic. Despite these conditions the people are very happy.

All side streets are made of cement. Digging out the road and mixing the cement is all done by hand. Then sand is laid over the new cement to protect it from the elements while it cures.

Much to our amazement, some people actually live on the river in houses like these.

Our First Few Weeks in Peru

2010-07-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Larry has always been known for his perfectly combed hair, but the mototaxi ride magically ruffled it without him noticing.

Here is the view of the outskirts of Iqitos. We saw many homes with tin roofs or palm branches for the roof.

There are no cars in Iquitos so this is the mode of transportation, a mototaxi. The whole town is like a big moto cross adventure. Fifteen thousand of these mot0taxis provide the transportation throughout Iquitos. It was quite the adventure, but we loved every minute of it.

As we flew into Iquitos Peru we looked out our window to see the Amazon river twisting it way through the jungle.

Here we are in Iquitos Peru. This was our first trip to la selva, (the jungle). We walked off the plane and it was eighty degrees outside. We were surrounded by tropical foilage and you can find all kinds of tropical fruit here. These are the faithful elders that are serving there. The coveted placed to serve in our mission is in the selva.

This is a view of downtown Lima from our apartment. We live on the 21st floor of an apartment building. Big-city life has been an interesting adventure for us. Traffic is always exciting.

Larry and I had a two hour meeting with the outgoing mission president, and then he left. This meant that Larry and I were now responsible for 150+ missionaries. We thought, Here we go! Fortunately, there are several very capable missionaries who work in the office, and they have helped us with the transition.

After flying all day, we arrived in Peru on June 28th at 11pm. We stayed in a lovely hotel for a few days before moving into our home in dowtown Lima.

Elder Nelson was present at many of our training sessions.

Here we are at the missionary training center in Provo, Utah. It was an incredible experience to be instructed by living prophets. Our charge is to help the missionaries become better teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that more people will come unto Christ. Here we met couples who had been called to serve all over the world.