Our Final Trip to Nauta Peru

 Time for birthdays for zones Canto Grande, Magnolias, and Wiesse.

Happy Birthday Elders!!!!!

 Elder Robles and Elder Reber we love those smiles,

even if you are practicing.

 Zones Canto Grande, Magnolias and Wiesse.

 On the road to Nauta Peru.  This little city of about 10,000 people is located about an hour and a half from Iquitos Peru.  We have a new

branch of the church in Nauta.  Each Sunday about 150 people attend.  All of them have been members less than two and half years.     

 This magnificient tree greets us along the road. 

Notice the hanging bird nests. 

 These are the typical homes you see along the road to Nauta.

 There is a strong youth program in Nauta.  Here is a picture of

all the 12-18 year old youth.

 Our relief society lesson was taught by Patty. 

The following pictures capture some of faces of Nauta. 

 Patty and Mario were one of the first couples to be married and sealed in the Lima Temple.  Patty is a teacher and Mario is a very talented artist. 

 President with a new church member.

 The future of Nauta lies in the faithfulness of the young people.  

Presently from Nauta there are six missionaries serving and two other young people have received their callings.  

The young women of Nauta.

 Anita is pictured with President and I.  She is perhaps one of the most

faithful young women I have ever met.  Her goal to serve a mission. 

She faithfully attends to church every Sunday.

 This sweet mother attends each Sunday with her family. 

 This little boy was working hard to seal his tithing envelope just right. 

 I have never seen so many hands so eager to receive a sticker. 

 The Pinche family was the first family baptized in Nauta.  They were also the first family to be sealed as a family in the Lima temple.  Here they proudly holding  up

The Family a Proclamation to the World.

This is a document the church has prepared on the importance of the family

 Presently, the missionaries serving in Nauta are Elders Clavijo, Anderson Munoz, and Elder Limon.  Elder Uribe and Elder Anderson the two assistents were visiting. 

 The Cometivos family was also sealed in the Lima Temple.

Pres and Sister Chucos.  President Chucos serves as Nauta Branch President.  He is working hard to get the young people of Nauta to serve missions.  He and Sister Chucos carefully watch over this new flock of the Lord's church in Nauta. 

 Life in the middle of the Amazon. 

 The selva.

Not enough stickers for the hands in Nauta. 



More May Memories

 We continued our May zone conferences in  Lima.  Lima freeway traffic is always interesting and you never quite know what you will see.  Here a local vendor is going with the flow of the rest of the cars down the freeway. 

 

Zone conference with zones Tahyantinsuyo, Independencia,

Comas and Carabayllo.

This piece of pottery is very distinctive to Pucallpa, Peru.   A group of native people outside of Pucallpa hand made this pottery. 

Zona Pucallpa, this is our largest zone in the mission. 



Hermana Ryder, Elders Juela, Romero and Quispe all just finished the first twelve weeks new missionary program. 



Elders Richardson, Truman, Price and Clavijo, and

Hermanas Martinez and Orellana are all fortifying the church in Pucallpa.

When I first entered the mission I could not say nor spell Pucallpa correctly. My Spanish has progressed a little.  We sure love these young people and their willingness to serve the Lord.  They see people's lives change as they accept Jesus Christ into their lives.  Conversion is a modern day miracle.



 Elder Nurminda from Nicaragua.

Motokar flow was light as we traveled through Pucallpa. 



 More native pottery.

A church building in Iquitos Peru.  This church is located in Secada.  In Iquitos there are 16 different church buildings.  This includes three stake centers.  Currently a new mission office is being built in Iquitos in anticipation for the new mission that has been formed, Mission Peru Iquitos.  This new mission will really help the church to grow in the jungle regions of Peru. The Amazon jungle region is about as large as the state of California.



The local lumber yard in Iquitos.   

 Here is our group of missionaries in Iquitos that have completed their first 12 weeks in the mission program.     

 Zone Conference in Iquitos with zones Iquitos, Punchana, 9 de Octubre, and Secada.  Our zone conference this month focused on what real repentance means in our personal lives and the lives of the people we teach. We also taught them that conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a one time event but it is a daily process in our lives.   On a daily basis be are trying to become more like our Savior.  Our actions on a daily basis demonstrate our faith in Jesus Christ. 

 

Our trip to Iquitos concluded our last zone conference we will have with the missionaries.  During the course of three years we have held and attended over 60 zone conferences with the missionaries.  It has been a privilege for us to be able to teach these young  missionaries.  Their lives are changing during their service and and we can see it happening. 

 

 I few sights of Iquitos.

This local vendor has hand woven all these baskets.  Here he is stripping the vine he uses to make his baskets and furniture. 



 Over the course of the last three years I have never tired of the beautiful skies in the jungle.  I have breathed some of the freshest air in all the world and seen some of the most magnificent sunsets and cloud formations.  We have flown into Iquitos about 50 times during the course of our three year mission.  I have never tired of visiting the jungle regions of Peru.  Life is just a little bit slower in the jungle. 

The office elders for Mission Peru Iquitos are  Elders Anderson, Carter, Uribe and Crump.   They will be serving with President Gomez from Mexico when he arrives at the end of June.   

 The office elders for Mission Peru North are:  Elders Sepulveda, Hernandez, Oretga and Peterson.  They will be serving with President Erickson when he arrives at the end of June. 

 These sweet children teach me a lesson everyday.  They teach me that the most important things in life are not things.  By American standards these children live in poverty.  Many of them live in homes with dirt floors with maybe one light bulb but despite the lack of "things" they are happy.  They were thrilled that I would give them a sticker that said,

 "Families are eternal."

 



May Memories

 Changes are a good thing in the mission, it keeps everyone excited.  We had our first mission leadership council.   Zone Leader council will no longer be held.  This change is patterned after ward councils that are held at the local church level. 

 Elder Blanco has worked hard to earn his English certificate.  He now talks English fluently.  Elder Cruz and Elder Morales also earned their certificates.  Great job elders. 

 Best friends serving in the same mission?  It doesn't happen very often but it did with Elder Truman and Elder Reber.

 Some of the wonderful sisters serving in our mission are:  Hermanas Vasquez, Alvear, Melo, Mamani, Martinez, Choque, Orellan, Zagal, Aguilar and Taipe

 Our latest group arrived on May 7th, 2013.  Half will work in Lima and the other half will work in jungle cities.



The same day we had arrivals we also had a group finishing their missions. Hermanas Sanchez, Gee, Bowyer and Elders Nurmela, Fonseca, Soto, Paucay, Castaneda, Acuna, and Frost

Andrare' en Rectitud.  Walk in Righteousness



 This month on May 9th and 10th  we attended our last seminar for  mission presidents.  The seminar was held here in Peru.  Twenty five mission presidents and their wives serve in our area which consists of Venzuela, Columbia, Equador, Peru and Bolivia.  We have had a wonderful opportunity to meet many outstanding people.  Our missions are all different  but our call to serve in the missionary work binds us together. 

During this seminar we receive training by our area presidency.  Elder Pino, Elder Uceda, and Elder Waddell.  Every six months we receive training from our leaders.   

 At the end of June ten mission presidents and their wives will finish their three years of service.  We all entered our missionary service together and we will finish together. 

These presidents and their wives will finish their service here in Peru.  Pres. Turk, Peru Trujillo, Pres. Dorius, Peru Lima West, Pres. Hernandez Peru Arequipa, Pres. Calderon, Peru Cusco, and Pres. Blunck Peru Lima North.

 After the seminar we were off to start our zone conferences for the month.  Our first stop was Tarapoto.  When we arrived much to my delight all the ginger was in bloom.  I love the tropical flowers as the colors are always so vivid.

 Zone Tarapoto and Moyobamba.  Our training is focusing on what real repentance is, finding people to teach and the difference between having a testimony and being converted. 

 Bro. and Sister Mayne

 

 Elders Raffagini, Giacoboni, and Oretga

 Elders Vande Merwe, Thompson, Fisher, Flores,Valdez and Malca

 Elders Scott, Murphy, Coburn, Uribe, Soto, Valencia, and Macahuachi

 Elder Turley, Duante, Urrutia, Alvarado,and Carillo

 Herman Simonson, Elder and Sister Mayne and Hermana Vasquez

 Sights near Tarapoto.  Llama is about 30 minutes from Tarapoto up in the hills outside Tarapoto.  To our surprise we found this authentic castle there.  A man from Italy purchased the land and is building his dream castle there.  He has employed all the local craftmen to build this castle, it is amazing. 

 From the castle you look down upon a village where native people have a community.  The Chancas have lived in this area for years.  They do not intermarry and have preserved their culture.  They farm the surrounding country side. On a typical day a man and his son may walk two hours to his farm.   The women stay in the village preparing food or items to sell at the market.  They make and use their own pottery, they harvest cotton and weave it into cloth, making bags, clothing and belts. They also fashion jewlry out of seeds they have harvested. 

 These sweet ladies walked into the village when we were there.  They had just come in from working on their small farm.  The one lady had her bag full of produce she had harvested with her machette.  They walk bare foot everywhere they travel to.   They are wearing their typical work clothes.   

Inside their homes this is what the women cook over.

They harvest seeds to use as their buttons and to make jewlry.

 Their homes are made out of dirt and clay.  They are all constructed by hand.  Until recently they only built them with a door to prevent the evil spirits from entering but poor ventilation promoted respiratory problems in the village. Now the state requires at least one window.  Their homes have dirt floors and the people sleep on hand woven mats or in hammocks.  They use palm leaves to weave baskets to carry their produce from their fields. 

A beautiful view of the jungle near Tarapoto.