Posts From Perú

On March 21st our daughter Lynette returned from

the Cusco Peru Mission.  Since we are serving in the Lima Peru North Mission she was sent to us in Lima.   

Her dad was given permission to release her from her

mission.  She will stay with us for six weeks before returning to the states. 

Our eldest daughter and her three children flew in  to surprise Lynette.

What a surprise it was!

                      Lynette looked great!!!  What a privilege to have

a daughter serving in the same country as us.  In

all her letters home she referred to herself as

Hermana Blunck II. 

Surprise, surprise  Lynette!!!!!!

She will return to the states the first part of May.

Our daughter Janeece and her husband Dusty and their family

were with us for two weeks.  We all had fun getting re acquainted 

Lynette and hearing about her mission.  This little family

also put on a Family Home Evening for all of the missionaries in Lima and Tarapoto.  It was great fun!!!!  With little kids involved you never know what will be said.  We were trying to help the missionaries learn

how to teach a family with small children.    

Our Family Home Evening gathering in Lima.

New arrivals to the mission.  Welcome  to the Lima Peru North Mission!

Elder Sanchez and Elder Smith recently baptized this family.

There is nothing more important to us than our families.  Our

families tie us to one another, gives us a name and helps

us feel needed and loved.  Having a strong family should be one of

our highest priorities.  The gospel of Jesus Christ helps us

build strong families. 

All roads in this life should lead us to the temple.  It is in the temple

that families are sealed together for eternity.  This is a picture from Nauta

Peru where the new church members are being taught about

 the temple in preparation for their first trip to the temple in Lima.

This is the first group of people from Nauta to

travel to the temple in Lima.  This is the newest church unit in our mission.

All of these members were baptized a little over a year ago.  You have

to be a member one year before you can attend the temple.  During this first year you prepare yourself to attend the temple by taking classes and

preparing your geneology.

All of these members came from Nauta, a jungle city two hours outside of Iquitos Peru.  Many of them come from very humble living conditions,  money is scarce.  They were able to fly to Lima from the generous donations of others to the church temple fund and from the generous donations of priviate individuals.  We cannot thank you enough.      

The Pinche family was the first family from Nauta to be

sealed together for eternity in the Lima Temple.  They were thrilled!!!

Pictured with them are Elder Orellana and Hermana Nelson who both

have served in Nauta for over a year.  Hermana Nelson taught

the temple preparation class to all of these new members who came

to the temple.   

The jungle is known in Peru as the selva.

The vegetation is dense.  The tool of choice in the jungle

is the machette.

In the Tarapoto area we see a lot of rice bogs.  Rice

plants are each individually planted in wet rice bogs.  Slowly

the water dries up in the bogs as the rice matures.  Eventually

the rice is harvested by a machine. It is dried on mats in the sun

then packaged in big sacks to ship to processing plants.

 
Now to the best part of the mission, the

missionaries.  We love these young people. 

It is a privilege to see them mature  

physically and spiritually during our time with them.

They have and are developing great faith in Jesus Christ.

When they return home they have  a better understanding of

the three great questions of this life:  Why am I here, what is this

life all about and where will I go when I die.   

Elder Clouse, Elder Franks, Elder Bahr, and Elder Whiteside


We love the missionary's  great smiles!!!!

This picture is out of place, but I wanted to show everyone

a papaya tree.  Papaya grows here in abundance it is always in

the market and is great in smoothies. 

Hermana Lubomirsky y Hermana Sosa

Hermana Bowles and Hermana Rodriguez

Hermanas Montenegro, Boyer, and Tayun

Elder Parra, Elder Reber, Elder Blanco, and  Elder Baker

Elder Aguirre

Elder Clavijo and Elder McNeil

Elder Martinez and Elder Sepulpea

Elder Fenn

Elder Richardson and Elder Flores

Elder Nurinda and Elder Divis

Zone Leaders:  Elder Sanchez, Elder Smith, Elder

Leiva and Elder McMillan.  These young men supervise

ten to twenty missionaries.  They are learning great leadership

skills at a very young age. 

What a privilege it is to work with these young people.  They love the Lord

and are working hard to help other people find joy in this life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As they share Christ's gospel they become more like Him. It is the greatest miracle of their life, their own conversion.   

Truly it is through the  teachings of Jesus Christ that

we can find great joy in this life.