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. 

 Elder Schiffman in the area office has started a project called white shirts
and skirts.  He has angels in the US that are donating white shirts, skirts and ties to send to Peru. Many of the young people who come to the mission to serve come from very humble living conditions.   Many of our missionaries have benefited from this project.   We can't thank you enough for your kindness and generosity to help these young people.


We also need to thank the Jenson Family and the Collins Family
for their generous donations as well.   Your donations are so appreciated.

 This young man arrived ready to serve a mission with one pair of shoes, three white shirts, two pair of pants and two ties ready to serve a mission for two years.  He left our apartment with eight new shirts and ten ties, three pair of pants and a suitcase to pack everything in.  Thank you all for your desire to help these young people.  Now he doesn't have to worry about having enough clothes.

We have cousins serving in our mission. Elder Crump and Elder Collins.

They are both working hard to learn Spanish.

 Missionary work is all about talking to people, what better place than at the airport while you wait for your flight.  Here the president and assistants have a good chat with this man about his family and God's desire for them to be an eternal family. 

         We have a great group of sisters serving in our mission right now.
              We love their focus,  their enthusiasm and their great smiles!

 Hermana Boyer and Hermana Tayun

                             Hermana Bowles and Hermana Rodriguez

               Hermana Farias, Hermana Sanhueza, and Hermana Steimle

Hermana Zagal and Hermana Rodriguez

 Often times missionaries are called to a specific mission because they are suppose to learn and grow from that specific mission president.  These are all the presidents that live in the same building as us.  Occasionally we gather for dinner and FHE.  It is our chance to relax and share experiences.  The Tylers on the left and the Mannings on the right will be completing their 3 year service here in Peru the end of June.  It has been a privilege for us to get to know these great people.

 On Thursday we flew to Iquitos Peru to meet with and train four zones.  I walked into the room and had to laugh as I saw all these elders with matching ties.  I wondered who was getting married?  Thank goodness none of them were!  They were just making a statement about their unity as a zone and wanted to wear matching ties.  I told the zone leaders the president would look great in this color of tie as well.  Their comment, "No problema Hermana Blunck we will have one for him at zone leader counsel." 

                                         We love these smiles!

The future leaders in the church.  What a responsibility it is to teach and train them.  We love every minute we are able to be with them. 

                       Learning to be an effective missionary is all about
                             practicing and becoming a better teacher.

                Here I am listening in on a group of elders who are practicing? The big question is how much do I understand.  That all depends upon who is talking and how fast they are talking. 

              Everyone is working diligently to find names and addresses of people  they have written down to visit.  At stake are fresh baked cookies from Lima for those that find the most people to visit. 

There is something special about fresh baked cookies

that motivate missionaries.!!

               We are still smiling after 20 months in the mission.  It is amazing how quickly the time has passed.  In March our daughter Lynette will return from her mission in Cusco Peru.  We are excited to see her and learn about her experiences there.     

                        Nauta Peru is two hours outside of Iquitos, here these men
                             are setting up  internet service for the newly formed     

   church unit. In the middle of the jungle you have cell service

and internet service here.  Amazing!  Sometimes I don't have serve in my

own home in Oregon.  No land lines or cell towers here, everything is done by satellite.

          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.    

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.