Nuestra Obra Misional de Lima Norte

Things can get steep in the neighborhoods of North Lima It Rained! When we received our call to serve in Lima, I first looked at the street view on Google Maps.  There are 7 missions in Lima alone. (There were 6 until our mission was nearly split in half on July 1). On street view, you first notice how dirty and dry it looks. It’s dirty everywhere. If something is left outside for just a few weeks it is covered in dirt. When we first arrived and looked out the windows of our apartment they were covered in dirt. I went to wash them but quickly discovered I only needed to wipe the dirt off them. There was too much dirt to wash them. Using water just made it muddy. Anyway, you get the picture… lots and lots of dirt! It’s Dry! I have read that Lima gets 0-2 inches of moisture a year. Yep I said moisture because rain would not be the right word. It makes me chuckle a little when members of the church in Utah are “grateful for the moisture” that we just received from the down pouring rai...

The work continues We had another great week in the Peru Lima North Mission. We are still trying to get used to the crazy schedule in Lima. People like to stay up late. They tend to get home from work late so they like to meet late. If you ask for an appointment on a given night and ask for their preferred time so far it has always been 8:30 pm. Hermana Borup’s response is “Can I come in my pajamas?”  We haven’t figured it out because things still start in the morning at regular times. School begins at 7:30 a.m. Because of the later schedule, in most of the world missionaries need to be home by 9:30 pm but in the Lima area, all missionaries can stay out until 10:30. ( at home Hermana Borup is usually sound asleep by 10:30) When we are walking in the streets at 8:30 it feels like things are just getting started. The street vendors are just setting up, by 10:30 most of them are taking things down. We’ll figure it out. We have found our way back into doing some office work. Well, real...

Transfers Are Like The Sacrament Well, we saw the sun this week! Lima is known for its mild climate. We didn’t realize that means the sky is always cloudy. In the 3 weeks we have been here the sun has come out about 4 times. When it does it’s not all day, it’s usually just an hour or so. But it is appreciated. We don’t know what summers are going to be like but one of our new friends said it’s mostly the same just warmer. Warmer will be good if you ask Hermana Borup. This week was transfer week. The mission received 24 new missionaries, 14 from the MTC in Provo, 3 from the MTC in Brazil, and 7 from the MTC in Lima. Everyone got here when expected except 2 from the MTC in Lima. One of those Elders was in a dorm with a bedbug outbreak and the MTC thought it would be better to give them another day to sanitize. The other is a visa waiter assigned to our mission until his visa for Ecuador is approved. He didn’t get here until late into the evening because someone in the Area Office thought...

 Life Change is Hard Sometimes things change in our lives because of life changes. Sometimes we change things in our lives in an attempt to improve our life situation. However it happens, willfully or circumstantially, change can be hard! We see our missionary assignment as helping people with change. When someone chooses to follow Christ (repent) and join His restored church they need to change their life. Did I say change is hard? There are new habits to learn like going to church, studying the scriptures, health codes, serving others, and even a new vocabulary (free agency, Stake Center, Primary etc...).  We have started to meet the people who have joined the church in the last year. We are going to help them start making friends in the Ward, accept callings, and go to the Temple. There are some great resources that the church has created to help new members take control of this change process. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/my-covenant-path?lang=eng) Thi...