Nuestra Obra Misional de Lima Norte

Carrots are amazing in Peru  Did we mention the traffic is crazy here? We are 2 for 2 on our missions as far as having crazy traffic. I have been studying to take the exam to get a driver's license. There are laws and for the most part, they are very reasonable (except the one that says you can only have the number of people in your car that is allowed based on the type of vehicle EXCEPT, you are allowed to have more if there are babies in the laps of anyone not in the front row). When we get in taxis I tell them I am studying for the exam and I’m surprised to find out that there are traffic laws here. The response is always the same. Yes, there are laws on paper but in the street they don’t always count. There is a law that says a driver must yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. I have NEVER seen it happen! There is a law that says you must turn left from the left lane it is much more common for someone to turn left from the right lane. It does make life fun and precious.  O...

  This week we had our first honest taxi driver. Most of our travel is either by bus or by walking. We live about 30 minutes from our area when we are walking. We have a few people where we use a taxi to go see them. Taxis are cheap. On average we spent $2-$3 per taxi ride. Some of the rides can take up to 30 minutes. We are not sure how they make any money. We always end up giving a tip because we just can’t figure out the economics. Anyway, the drivers are nice. We try to talk to them and let them know we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We usually preface our conversation with something like, “Estamos aprendiendo español. Claro” (Clearly we are learning Spanish). The typical answer is “Really you have a perfect accent and I can understand everything” Today I got in a taxi and gave him my typical “Clearly I am learning Spanish” and his response was “Yes, clearly” He got a 5-star review from me.  Speaking of buses, last week I mentioned ho...

Waiting outside a new member's house   The Strike! In a mission things are scheduled; interviews with the missionaries happen every 6 weeks, transfers happen every six weeks, zone conferences happen every 6 weeks, Every week there is a district meeting, every Friday there is companionship planning, and every morning the missionaries in our mission get up at 7:30.  Every morning a missionary studies the gospel for an hour and studies the language for an hour. This happens regularly except when it doesn’t. Things happen! “Things” seem to happen more often when you are in a different country.  This week started as planned. Zone Conferences started on Tuesday and were scheduled through Thursday. In our mission, there are six zones. Each zone conference has two different zones, which means two zones per day per conference session. Zone Conferences start with recognitions for birthdays and language accomplishments, after an opening song, prayer, and recital of the missionary pu...

A trip to the Temple A Week of Missionary Work This place is starting to grow on us. I love to live in the city. Hermana Borup is not so much a city person. To me, there’s something about the pace and energy of a big city that I just like. Every corner and intersection is busy and never the same. There are different street vendors and the traffic is constantly changing pace. It’s just fun. Because I’m late writing this I’m going to keep it short. I just want to talk about a couple of our missionary experiences.  When we received our call to LIma our first thought was “What can we do to help the Church in an area where the Church is so strong.”  After speaking to the Mission Leaders we got excited about helping new members stay on the covenant path. It can be hard to change your life and stay on the path. One of our goals is to help new members get to the Temple soon after their baptism. WE INVITE EVERYONE. This week went to the Temple with one of our new friends. He is coming ...

It's not a city without a sign Our next step as Language Specialists is to meet with each missionary and encourage them to use a language learning plan each week. It helps them set weekly goals and keep track of how they are progressing. Our first meeting is simple, we are just showing them how to use the language plan and letting them know we will meet with them once each transfer (6 weeks). We have now met with about 20 missionaries and we can tell already the best part of this will be getting to know the missionaries. They all have a story and it’s fun to learn it. I also started looking for a way to get around. We live about 30 minutes from the area we have been assigned. That means we have to keep things scheduled back to back because it’s not really practical to walk 60 minutes round trip to come home. We think by getting some transportation we will be more effective. Stay tuned! Another exciting thing we did this week was to meet with a new senior couple who arrived here a c...