Week in Review March 20, 2016 - April 2, 2016

2 Weeks in Review

Woah!  I thought that every once and a while we would have little breaks in the routine here in the office.  BIG FAT LIE!  Hahaha... Sorry I did't respond last week, but there just wasn't time with all the stuff that was going on.  So, this email will involve the items of the last two weeks.  I will try to put it all into order....

Surprise Birthday Party:
This last week it was Elder Comptons Birthday, and of course, we had to throw him a birthday party! Surprise Birthday party, or he wouldn't have shown up.  So, we had President Henderson call us over right before breakfast saying he needed to talk to us, and we had to come over right about now to his house.  Check.  Went into his office and talked about transfers and what not.  Check.  The other Office And Assistants came into the house and decorated it while we were distracted - Check.  Video attached showing Elder Compton being surprised?  Check!  It turned out to be a great surprise party, and the Paneton French Toast prepared by Sister Henderson (Notice her wearing her traditional cholita outfit to celebrate) was of course a big hit.  

Hike up to some unknown peak:  
So, for our P-Day, we wanted to do something fun, but also something somewhat quick, because we had transfers starting that afternoon (those who were finishing their missions showed up in the afternoon with all their bags and what not).  So we went and climbed a hill with the Henderson's.  And boy was that a climb!  I have attached some pictures of our travels along the way.  A cholita sheep herder, hung up birds on houses, tourists from Lima, rain, and local dogs accompanied us along our way.  I will tell you though, that was a really good calf workout...

Transfers:  Oh my.
Start off with Saturday.  This group that came in that were finishing their missions were many in number.  12.  3 North Americans, and 9 Latin American missionaries returning home.  Luckily, they were all traveling for airplane from Huancayo (jauja, 1 hour away from the office) which meant they really had overweight problems.  This lovely airport will ONLY accept (EVEN IF YOU PAY THEM OFF) up to 50 lbs for 2 bags.  MAX:  Nothing more.  And that was because we only sent 4 missionaries on each flight.  So, because of extreme weight limitations we had to send them on 3 separate flights (which meant 3 separate trips to Jauja, including some at 3AM) divided between 2 days.  2 DAYS!  This is the worst airport I have ever had the bad luck to work with!  And they don't even sell snacks! 

We had missionaries that arrived to the mission office with over 15 kilos of overweight baggage, above what we already allow them to do as missionaries!  So much stuff was left behind, it wasn't even funny.  But in the end, on of the best parts was the following...

Keiko.
In our lovely international airport of Jauja, Perú, we transport Presidental Candidates!  As you might remember from past posts, this airport WILL NOT FLY under rainy, thunderstorm conditions.  We were freaking out, because we had these conditions and we had 4 missionaries, of which had connecting flights with this one.  And if they couldn't make it, that would have been the end!  But while we were waiting outside the airport for news to strike. There it came.  Police Force to the rescue!  Then, a few numerous cars showed up, Keiko came out of the car!  Just an FYI, she is the running and winning Presidential Candidate here in Perú, of which the elections are in just a short week.  She steps out of the car, and does a quick interview with a million reporters which came out of nowhere (Remember that Jauja Airport, is literally in the middle of nowhere) - And the interview began.  I might have been caught on camera, considering I walked up right behind her (like 3 feet) and just stood there during the interview, and waved at the camera.  If I find that Video I will send it to you guys!  Then she got into the airport, and got checked in.  Yea!  It was in that moment we KNEW that the flight would take off.  And it did! 

Keiko

But. When Keiko and all of her committee came, it required that half of the plane got kicked off, and postponed until the following day for weather issues.  Ha.  Our missionaries (4 of them scheduled for this day) flew with the Presidential To Be - Candidate on the way back to the Lima Capital.  We knew they would get there.  If something happened to Keiko, that would've been very bad, so it looks like our deals and friendship with the small airport got us through.  Woah, that was a close one!  

I have attached a video below (in Spanish) showing what happened about 1 hour after we left and Keiko left with the missionaries in the small plane.  About 25 people had their flights changed, and were extremely upset, of which our missionaries luckily didn't get stuck in. Whew.  [Click here for video. Keep in mind it is all in Spanish.]

All the missionaries in the end made it home. A few either missed their flights, or had passport problems, which required that I sleep in the office one of the days (brought the sleeping bag) and get those issues resolved.  But it looks like everyone is happy, and made it alright.  Woah.  I hope we never get stuck with plane tickets from landslides EVER AGAIN. But, a plus was I got to meet the President to be of Perú! 

April Fools!  
President wanted to get us good for April Fools, and He did.

First.  President sent us the letter Titled First Presidency Letter.  He had us going!  With the official letterhead and everything.  He had us going for about half an hour!  Told us he wanted to meet with us later in the day.  Then we realized it and began planning our April fools joke to get him back.  

Later in the day Sister Henderson called me to plan her personal flights for when she finishes the mission (when they are in mini vacation mode from Cusco to Lima) but all of that is based off of when the New Mission President and his family arrive to the mission. We have a rough understanding of when the Silvas will arrive to the mission, but nothing official yet.  So, we got right away to making something (official).  I work all the time with Church Travel and flights and fabricated a fake ticket (Identically looking, only fake numbers of flights, and other codes) for the Silvas getting here from Salt Lake City through Atlanta, connections, then getting to Lima.  All, planned for 2 days later (subsequently eating up 2 days of their vacation to Cusco).  Oops.  All I can say, is we had them for about 3 hours, they were very sad, and it got to the point where they wrote the Area offices asking why it was so!  Attached my fake documents and all and sent them to the area, not knowing!  

When we came back in the evening to Presidents house we had a good laugh about their April Fools joke they had played on us, and then changed the subject to the Silvas and how we had received their itinerary.  They were just bummed. Then I said it was good they were bummed.  They asked why.  I said, well... Because today is April 1st.  Gotcha!  

I wish I could've video taped their reactions!  They about died!  A solid 10 minutes of laughing our guts out.  They thought the tickets were the real deal!  So bad, that they wrote the area!  We were awarded for our ingenuity and received brownies. I guess you could say that April Fools day was a success!   

So.  All in all,
We have been having a good time here in Huancayo.  Working like none other, processing documents, Immigration's, Newbies, guys going home, etc... But every once and a while, especially with all the stress you just have to let it out somehow.  

I hope you all had a good few weeks, and that you April Fools day wasn't as emotionally loaded as our was.  

-Elder Holmes
Perú Huancayo Mission

Week in Review - March 13, 2016 - March 19, 2016

[Elder Holmes let us know this past week the day he is coming home.... keep reading to find out when!]

Well, luckily less out of the normal events have happened this week which was a benefit to my soul.  So I will just briefly review some of the stuff that went on this week.  

District Leaders Council
So, about every 3 months we have a Meeting with all the 27 District Leaders in our Mission and have a training you could say. Normally a bunch of problems arise when we have Leadership councils, just because there is a lot of things to do with little time, and the inability to just separate ourselves and do our stuff, we always have to be with a companion... And the harder part of that too is that many times your companion or other missionaries also have many things to do... So it is increasingly difficult to divide ourselves up.  The 25 Large Family Size Pizzas showed up a bit late for the training, but the Burger King Whopper Tejana Hamburgers for lunch showed up at a good time.  It was also fun to see the practice that President Henderson did with the District Leaders of how to conduct a baptismal interview well, and not explode on the investigator when there is an issue with Question 4, how to make them actually leave from the interview feeling uplifted and not drained.  It was really a good training.  

Bus Problem - I can talk about it...
Oh gosh.  Where do I start.  So a while back there was a contracted bus in our mission, full of missionaries heading down from Tarma, Peru to La Merced, Peru for a Multi-Zone Conference.  Well, as luck has it, this bus found itself in a stick situation when it turned a corner, and took out a drunk pedestrian coming around that corner.  And when I say took out, I mean it.  Bus was covered in blood and that guy was kinda just... well, not responding.  Police arrived and took reports and then sent the bus on their way to the Multi-Zone, as which the missionaries where a bit shocked with all that had happened.  
Well, with time I had a feeling that incident would find its way back to my office... And it did.  I received a call from the Zone Leaders in Tarma stating that the company would now like to take a list of all the missionaries that were on the bus and their immigration documentation (passport, foreigner cards, etc) because they had forgotten to do it before (usually they don't even do it on this type of bus) - I told the Zone Leaders directly that they were unable to do it... And put myself in contact with the Legal Department of the Church here in Perú.  Made some new friends, and found out that the church has a wide system of legal advisers and a very set system for problems like this.  We began doing some of the paperwork on our end with the Legal department, but received a notification from the Bus Company that they were just going to put other individuals names (that weren't even on the bus) on the passenger manifest, and they were just going to put to rest the battle because we weren't budging. Obviously there are more details that I have not included to share, but that is the jist of it. Lots of things that are odd come through the office like this, and it requires that I make new phone calls that I have never made before, but at the same time make a lot of new friends!  

New Initiative - Real Video
So, also this week we handed out copies of the New Initiative for the missionaries for this Easter.  I think there was some confusion from last week.  The video we are sharing with the world is not the video of the virtual choir.  It is the following.  All the discs are done, and distributed to the areas.  yea!

Egg Sandwich in the Microwave
As a heads up. I found out that you can microwave eggs once you have prepared them to be scrambled and they will actually come out!  But when they are in the microwave they will expand exponentially, something that kinda reminded me of the oblec project in elementary school. Just a heads up when you are in the office and get a bit hungry.  

Multi-Zone for Huancayo Area
Yesterday here in Huancayo was the Multi-zone for the 4 zones that are stationed here in Huancayo.  It was really nice to be able to just sit down (for the majority) of the multi-zone and just enjoy that.  As you all know my personality, I cannot just sit down for much time without doing something.  I usually need to be part of something or other or else I might go crazy.  So, I helped out with the brownie preparation.  ehehhehe.  I might have also imposed my brownie scooping tax. :)

New House Arrangements - New Contact, New Landlady
This last Monday I took the Henderson's over to one of our potential houses and gave them the tour with the owner of the home.  Once the Henderson's saw the house and also encountered that this house has a steady supply of water, of electricity, fits everyone, was built in 2014, fits everybody, has more ambient lighting, solar water heaters, no pool (our current house has a pool) and costs half of what we are ridiculously paying for our current house.  They gave us the green light and said go for it!  Now Elder Compton and I are working on the contract for the new house, figuring out payments, and what else we will be doing to that house (we want them to add on one more additional room for a little more in rent each month, so we have storage room.  But it looks like all will work out well for that house.  The official, unofficial move in date is April 9th.  And for that, it looks like we will require the services of 3 Zones of Huancayo to help us move out the current owner, move our stuff out of our house, and move stuff into the new house.  Many bunk beds, washers, driers, etc... Should be fun!

Plane Tickets - My Flights Home
One of the odd duties that I have here in the office is that I am in charge of all travel to and from the mission.  And as standing policy it is suggested that we purchase tickets with a window of at least 3-6 months tickets purchased ahead of time.  Well, that put me within my own responsibility to purchase tickets.  Yup, I received my tickets this week.  Mom, you received an email stating that the tickets were processed and sent to your email. [HE COMES HOME ON AUGUST 3rd, 2016 - WOO HOO!] Yes, those are official, and technically all the other moms up until August should have received an email with their tickets as well.  (except a select few which are requiring additional work for special ticket needs) - So yes, those are real.  But don't freak out, still a good amount of time awaits until I can use those tickets.

Trip to Ingenio, Fish Farms, and Climbed a Mountain...
Today for P-Day we just did it as just us two.  Elder Compton and I.  So, we first went over to haircut land and Elder Compton got his cut for a few soles, and off we went in a Combee. About 40 minutes later, and after talking to a few just lovely little ladies that were about 78 years old, and just couldn't get over how ¨cute¨we were.... ha-ha.  We get to Ingenio, had a Cordon Blue Fish meal, which was probably one of the best meals I have had here, or ever. Just really good food.  

After we finished our food, with a touch of BBQ Sauce... We decided to go to the fish farm. Here in this part of Huancayo is where they grow all of their rainbow trout.  I have included a picture which explains the story, but basically what it is is that Gringos came a long time ago, and brought California Trout from Sacramento and began to grow them in various parts here in the main center region.  And it worked!  And it is doing very well to this day!  This was over 80 years ago!  

Once we finished with the enormous fish farm we found a guy who sold Honeycomb.  I finally ate it!  It has been on my bucket list for such a long time to eat Honeycomb straight from the hive!  3 soles!  Nothing!  Was so good!  

After we finished our adventures over there we decided to climb the mountain.  Yes, the large mountain next to us.  We maxed out at 12,600 feet and made it back in time for ice creams.  I have included photos of the trip, the cholitas in the background, sheep poop, rocks, and great views. 

The day is not complete until you go to the Milk Center of Huancayo and buy ice creams. We passed by one of the main processing plants of Boxed Milk here in Peru.  Gloria!  

Hope you guys all like the pictures!  

-Elder Holmes 
Misión Peru Huancayo 

Week in Review - March 6, 2016 - March 12, 2016

Well, this week has been more relaxed.  Just multi-zone meetings within the mission, meaning that President Henderson and his wife went around the mission and handled the meetings.  We didn't have to go!  Yea! I'm tired of traveling!  Especially after doing a quick little trip to Lima.  I'm done for a bit.  

A new sister came into the mission this week, ahead of schedule.  Sometimes what happens is they find out that there is a missionary who makes it to the CCM and they already know something of Spanish, so they speed them up to the 2 week schedule and put them in the mission earlier.  Luckily for us, that landed on Multi-zone schedule.. So we sent her to Huanuco by plane, had a fun time there and then she went with the Henderson's and she did her welcome to the mission training in the car.  

Its been raining pretty good this week here in Huancayo... Oh yea... I forgot to mention.  I went to Huatapayllana again.  There were two more zones that wanted to go from Huancayo so we took them up.  One of the standing rules is that missionaries can only go there if they have a tour guide.  Well, everybody is way to cheap, and why get a tour guide if all the mission office staff knows the mountain?  So Tour Guide Elder Holmes and Tour Guide Elder Compton took them up the mountain.  It was raining a bit though, and because of that I got a bit sick... Just a flu type thing.. It has already passed now, now I'm just messing with the whole nose thing.  

President Henderson passed his birthday this week and we had to celebrate.  I had the missionaries in Huanuco throw him a surprise bash at the end of the multi-zone (which fell on his birthday) and when he got back we made breakfast burritos Mexican Style using Elder Islas´s cooking skills one more time.  And, we acquired the extract to make Root Beer, and surprised everyone with root beer floats.  Wasn't as fizzy as it should've been (finding Dry Ice here is harder to find than a married couple here... I'm not even kidding)  We got so desperate we were even looking at buying CO2 Extinguishers and making mini reactions to create Dry Ice from scratch, but it ended up costing to much.... So we settled and bought Agua con Gas, which basically is just carbonated water.  Added the extract and the sugar, and wam bam.  Root Beer!  

This week we had a rebar fall through our roof with the lovely building that is constructing near us.  I have to say... I might not have exactly spoken to their Boss with the highest amount of Christlike Attributes.. But they understood what I needed to say.  I am attaching fun photos of what falls through our office, and what damage they seem to do on a weekly basis.  Within a few hours I had our Church Legal Council come and visit the premisis and talk to the owners on our side.  A new contract was revised, new forms of security were put in place, and they even put (get this) beds on top of our roof, so if people or things fall on us we wont hear it as much or the rebar will just bounce.  Oh how comforting...

Rebar to the left, looks like an arrow

You can see, very small the rebar on the left

This is the rebar if you were inside the building looking up
to the ceiling

We have received the new initiative for the Church for Easter.  Hint.  Its name is Hallelujah. Already making those DVD'S because in our mission many of the areas don't have reliable Internet access, or the homes in which they want to share these videos don't have computers or Internet access within their house.  So yea, 90 discs later...

This last week I purchased the flights for t​he following groups of missionaries in the next 6 months.  Yes.  I bought my own ticket.  No mom.  I won't share it yet.  Maybe in a few weeks.  hehehe... [I'm thinking he has to wait for the notification of all families first. But it does drive me a bit nuts that he already knows. Maybe if I ask him certain questions, that could narrow down my choices. Like a game of Battle Ship. lol]

It looks like the missionaries going home in this group and coming in will need to come in by flight from Lima to Huancayo.  This is something that we DREAD.  the flights are so darn small that in order to send the missionaries home and make sure all their bags go with them, we will have to send the missionaries in 3 different flights, because the planes wont accept all their  bags or all the missionaries at once!  Ugh!  And the airport is over 1 hour away from the Mission Office City!  And, on top of everything, this dumb airport only accepts 15 kilos per person.  As a rule the church allows and will pay 23 kilos PER BAG.  Total of 46 KILOS.  Yup, we are going to be forking over a bunch of Overweight baggage fees.  Usually we send the missionaries by bus... Reason being... it is way easier, and even more cost affective.  In the end, a plane ticket from Jauja (The only airport) will cost us $120 (Without overweight fees) for a flight of 35 minutes.  A bus, will take 7 hours, and only cost $25 but will work with the rain!  If there is rain, they cancel the flights from Jauja, subsequently causing problems with all their following flights and connections between nations.  A mess I tell you!

Again, sorry with all the junk of the universities.  I am currently working it out with BYU Idaho so that I can use my application approved for January to be admitted for also Fall so I can take 3 consecutive semesters in place of only doing 2.  It looks like everything is working out... 

Well, it was nice to have a tranquil week this week.  Hope all is well for you guys at home, that the snow is keeping things interesting and that my emails are still interesting too.  

-Elder Holmes
Misión Perú Huancayo

Week in Review - February 28, 2016 - March 5, 2016

Landslides, Layovers, and Laughs Continues this week.

So, We finally get approval of how we can send the missionaries back to Huancayo Mission, but requires that it stops raining.  Why you  might ask?  Well, the only 2 airports we have in the whole center region of Peru will not fly if there is rain... Luckily for us there were thunderstorms in one, and rain in the other..  But we were able to secure tickets for the 6 missionaries that were stuck in Lima for the day of Wednesday.  But, when the missionaries got to the airport, the airport officials would only accept 3 of the 6 documents for the missionaries... We tried everything.  Area office went over, we had our Local Travel Agencies try and work it out, nothing.  Up until now I am convinced that they sold these 3 tickets and that is why they denied our missionaries entry to the plane to Juaja, Peru.  So, what do we have to do?  The documents they were requesting we send to them were impossible to send rapidly, due to the landslides on the roads.. 

So, Elder Holmes flew from Jauja Peru to Lima, and back from Lima to Jauja the following morning.  

Click image to enlarge. Elder Holmes turned on his GPS
on his digital camera and was able to capture his flight pattern.

Secured their flights and brought enough documents to bring them home..  First wave of missionaries from Lima made it back on Wednesday, and the second set on Friday morning when I came back with them.  I can tell you, they were tired, dirty, but very o so very happy to return back to our lovely mission.  Even with all the landslides, and other weird problems we have, I can tell you they were genuinely happy they made it back to the mission.  Also, the Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's Breakfast I bought them in the Airport might have lifted their spirits too.  ha-ha. The images below are first a map of my to and from (GPS Recorded from my camera) from our Center of the Mission, to get to Lima, where the missionaries were, and the route I used to come back to the mission. 

This two pictures were taken from the companies website.

Here are the stats I pulled from their website,
in case you were wondering. 

Bombardier Dash 8-202
Manufacturing: Canadian
Capacity: 37 passengers
Crew: 2 pilots + 1 crew
Speed: 550 km / h.
Service Ceiling: 25,000 feet
Aircraft STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing)

In the end it was a good week, very busy.. Very stressful, I only slept like 4 hours a night... But when I got back yesterday, I got permission from President Henderson to sleep for a bit. I slept... 7 hours later I woke up... Worked for the evening and afternoon, then I slept like a rock again for the evening.  But I am doing well now.  All is good.

Leave it to Elder Holmes to share a picture of his in flight snack.

I won't say that I hope you week isn't as eventful as mine, because I know that means something else will happen this week.  So, I just hope that you don't have your only main road be told be closed for the following months, grounded flights, and documentation problems.

-Elder Holmes
Misión Perú Huancayo

Week in Review - February 21, 2016 - February 27, 2016

Laughs, Landslides, and Layovers

Well, sorry to hear your week was less than exciting... But here in the office there is always something new every week.  EVERY WEEK.  Let's go through what happened this week.

Starting with Saturday we began with the transfer.  The 4 who were finishing their mission went home (after missing taxis, bus problems, and almost missing their flights - up until I received calls from the Area stating that they received calls from the airport stating the missionaries had not arrived yet.  Yea!) 

The new group came in this week as well, first group we had them come in on Cruz del Sur, a local Peruvian bus company - by far the best bus company in all of Perú.  Truthfully we feel way better that we have changed this company, and it has made our lives way easier too as it is way less coordination that we have to do now.

Now, the fun part.  There is a word in Quechwa which is Huaico.  It means landslide.  How fun!  Luckily the landslide happened AFTER the transfer, but not after when we sent some missionaries to Lima.  I will tell the following story chronologically so it will make the most sense.

Tuesday Morning:  We send two missionaries from Huancayo to Lima to have a small operation that would be best carried out in Lima, due to medical staff, training, etc.  No problem.  They get to Lima safe and sound and are with the Area Offices for a good amount of time between Temple Trips and Medical Visits.  No problems here.

Wednesday:  Today was transfers in the mission... Missionaries all over the mission are carrying out their new transfers, which can easily include transfers from one end of the mission to another, which cold take about 14 hours in a car.  How fun!  

Thursday:  2 Missionaries are sent to Lima for immigrations purposes.  One from Huancayo and the other from Huanuco.  Both leave in the morning.  Both arrive in the Huaico (Landslide) in a rural part of the Main Highway between our mission and those of Lima. One missionary makes it to the landslide, the bus stops and says they will not be able to pass for 2 days, and lets everybody off the bus and allows them to find their own way to get to Lima with their own money.  I receive a call from this missionary and give him instructions on how to get to Lima (a 4-5 hour additional journey from where he was at the moment).   The area offices are informed and agree to meet the taxi in a special terminal in Lima and pay the taxi fees that I was unable to pay from here.  Missionary from Huanuco is done. Made it to Lima well.  Tired, but well.  

Now, we have the missionary from Huancayo.  He got stuck in the landslide.  I put myself in contact with the bus company (Cruz del Sur) and basically what it came down to is that the bus would either stay there for 3 days and wait it out, or this missionary would have to either find a car back to the mission (and pay super high prices) or find another car and take it to Lima.  His phone was dying, and didn't really have the desire to stay there for 3 days in the middle of nowhere.  And I do not blame him.  So... We sent over a few missionaries from the farthest corner of our mission in this area.  La Oroya.  We assembled a mini (rescue team) haha to see how this Elder was doing in the Landslide.  Sent them with a good amount of money, food, water, and a phone battery.  After about 5 hours they met up with the missionary and assisted him to find a taxi to Lima (still has to go to immigrations) and when the missionaries from La Oroya get there to the taxi, after passing through the landslide, they inform me it would be less than safe to return through the landslide at that hour..

So what happens next?  Well, President Henderson and everyone else was super out of cell phone range... So, I gave them permission to leave and go to Lima with everyone else. Best for their safety.  So... Lets see what we have got now.

2 Missionaries that have been in Lima for a while for medical reasons.  1 more that made it safe and sound passing through the landslide from Huanuco... and 3 more from the other side that also are now in Lima.  With help from the Area representatives in Lima we got the whole group of our mission together in Lima, and they will be working and being together in Lima until further notice.  Most probable for Monday Afternoon is when there will be the way to return back to Huancayo.  Poor guys, but i'm sure they are loving every bit of it.  Rescue teams, landslides, emergency temple trip, the works.  In the end, they are all good, and deep down, I think every single one of them has really enjoyed what has been happening in these last few days.  

And so, en fin, my phone has no joke been ringing non-stop since Thursday Afternoon from 5PM, all night, until Friday, 8PM.  Non-stop. But we got them all, everyone is happy, safe, but maybe the only thing they are missing is an additional pair of clothes.  But truthfully I believe they are happy.  And who wouldn't be?  Temple trip!  

So, I am sleeping again, President is still out and about in the mission, and I just ate pancakes.  Not sure what we will do for P-Day today, and I don't care, as long as I am not in the office, it is ok with me. I have just heated up one of the hot chocolate packets... thanks!

Also, I have attached a photo of me with Top Ramen and my Mini Parm Cheese when I was stuck in the office with the Landslide. It made the night go a bit better...

When we heard that Elder Holmes was in need of
Parmesan Cheese, we sent some over

I hope your week is not as fun filled as mine, and that when it rains, the whole main highway for your nation does not collapse.  

-Élder Holmes
Misión Perú Huancayo

Week in Review - February 14, 2016 - February 20, 2016

Well, this week was pretty calm, just a bunch of routine things to do.  The Tour of Elder Godoy finished technically on Sunday afternoon on his way back to Lima.  I got a call from President Henderson informing us that they had made it safely to Lima.  Woo!!  After that we were able to send off Elder Gutierrez, one of the Faithful Assistants to the Mission.  If I am not mistaken he served as an assistant for 10 months, so we made sure he had a good send off.  Normally with the groups that go home, they have a final dinner with the Henderson's in their house.  Well, he was the only one in this group based on timing for his schooling...So as Elder Gutierrez last request he asked that we in the office could eat with them for their last dinner.  Yumm!  

We ended up taking Elder Gutierrez to the airport that is nearby (over 1 hour by car, and driving at President Henderson Speeds) we got there pretty quick.  It was pretty cool too, usually we have to pay a pretty significant amount of overweight charges with this airport to get us to Lima, because they only allow 1 bag of 15 kilos.  Well... Missionaries go home with 23 kilos in EACH Bag, so the church (meaning us the mission) covers their overweight.  We get to the counter and I am processing his overweight fee, we get to the counter to pay it, they look at us... Back at the computer... They had problems with the computer system to pay the overweight.  Being here in Peru I thought they would have told us we couldn't take the additional bags (its a small flight, and they will do that a lot if you come later in) so they just told us... Na... Don't worry about it, we will wave the fees for overweight today.  Woah! In flights here in Peru all the prices are in dollars, and we saved about $150 just without having to pay for that overweight!  It was fun, we stayed at the airport until his flight took of, which was a plane that looked something like this...

While at the airport we found ourselves with a few gringo visitors... Sister Henderson did the usual Local Greeter and welcomer to Peru and helped them get a taxi.  Then we were off, back to the Pension to start the day...

One other day was worthy of mention... usually I have to go to the National Bank to make immigration payments so that we can do the paperwork to keep the missionaries legal here in Peru.  Well, of this many times I have to go to the lovely bank lines which look something like this... On a regular basis  .

So, once you actually get through the line outside, there is another large line inside the building... Once you get to the counter it is another story.  I had to process 30 payments of immigrations, of which can take a while to do, especially with people who arent accustomed to making these payments (there is no immigration office in Huancayo) I make it through the line... Get to the front... Then, I am on payment number 5 and what happens  The national bank system fails.  Stuck in the line.  I have 25 more immigration payments to make, and then suddenly everybody in the line behind me (there are about 8 lines within the building) are yelling, hey!  Gringo!  What is your problem!  What is taking so long!  I had warned in advance those in my line that I was going to be making 30 payments, and they all split up and went to other lines... But these guys were less then pleasant...  Luckily I have made friends a few times in the bank, and they defended me saying the whole system was down and we had to wait... Ya, the system came back within 20 minutes of working on it... And ya quickly we finished... It just wasn't that fun to do.  I really don't like going to the bank... I usually have to go at least 1 time each week.    

And to finish the week off, I called the landlady of the house we rent for the mission and told her goodbye.  We are working on the paperwork a week from today.  I really do not look forward to that, because the house has damages that are equally our and their fault... And a good number of them that aren't the cheapest types of repairs... Maybe we can invite Extreme Home Makeover Edition - Peru to take a look at the place.  I'm sure they would just run away though once they see the house.

That should be it for this week, hope all is doing well at home.. Love you all and will write next week...

-Elder Holmes
Huancayo Peru Mission

Week in Review - February 6, 2016 - February 13, 2016

Elder Holmes and his companion!

The Tour - Huatapayllana - The Tour - Elder Godoy - Traveling

Well to say the least, this week was extremely loaded with things to do.  To start off, we begin with Monday...

Monday:  We went to Huatapayllana.  Again!  Wooooo!!! And guess who I found there!  The Lego Mini-figure that I lost over 2 months ago, was found still waiting on the same rock I left him there...A little weather damaged with all the rain and ice and snow, but it made it through!  I will admit, the trip took a while, and we decided for the weather that it would be best if the two zones would stay together in ONE GROUP.  It was painful for those who wanted to go fast, to go slow and take many breaks, but in the end it was worth it.  We had a bit of snow for a few minutes fall, rain, beating sun... it all came out on us for that day of travel.  But in the end, it was great!

Tuesday:  Today was the Tour Preparation Day.  Elder Godoy of the First Quorum of the 70 is set to come to our mission within 48 hours and we were just running all over the place. Food, transportation for first 60 missionaries, then 36 missionaries, combie transportation, cars, the works.  Hotels, extra rooms, need for beds, Sisters in another house, more rooms, more beds, it was a planning nightmare.  Then, when I wasn't looking, Tuesday turned into Wednesday..

Wednesday:  Elder Godoy showed up today, but not after many prayers that all would work out.  The weather has been quite rainy these last few days, and it has gotten to the point they have canceled a few days of the flights from this airport that we have here in our mission.  And this lovely (international airport) doesn't have runway lights.,  So.... Bad weather means they cancel all of the two flights they have scheduled for the day.  But, he got through... I get the call from Sister Henderson... The´re here.  OK!  Lets get to work!  First all the  missionaries from the Jungle side of the mission had to be sent from their areas (max distance 6-7 hours from Huancayo) to Huancayo for the Multi-zone.  They all stayed the night in our rooms, or in the hotel next to our house, because the plumbing in our house is not sufficient for 30 Elders.  The house infrastructure would collapse.  So, we sent over a majority of the elders from our house to the Hotel telling them I would rent additional rooms just so we could shower at 5:30AM.  He went for it!  30 Soles later!  

Thursday:  Today is the Multi-zone for Huancayo and the Jungle Side of the mission (Don't forget they all came over here)  The Conference was really great, Elder Godoy and his Wife both Spoke, and you can definitely hear their Portuguese Accent when they are talking, and many times words in English and Portuguese just slip out.  Today we had the opportunity as the office staff and President to meet with them and talk about the mission and our responsibilities.  It was a nice meeting which really got down to some of the nitty gritties of what we should and should not be doing... Really great experience.  Also, after the Multi-zone finished, we split paths.  President Henderson and Elder Godoy went down to Tarma (3 hour distance) to give a few devotionals to the Members there.  They stayed the night, while we were traveling from 3PM on to go to Huanuco.  But, for weather reasons it took to long, we just stayed the night at 14,400 feet in Cerro de Pasco about 5 hours away. Man. Was that a cold hotel.  I can tell you though, we rented a cheap heater for 10 soles for one night.  Totally worth it.  Totally Worth It.  

This is an altimeter that Elder Holmes purchased while in Peru.
It shows that the elevation in Cerro de Pasoc (the hotel he stayed in) is 4,110 meters.
If you convert that to feet, 13,484 feet. No wonder he was a bit cold.
That is why it is the highest elevation mission in the WORLD!!

Friday.  We set out bright and early to go down to Huanuco (about 2 Hours from Cerro de Pasco) to get everything ready.  Why?  Because in Huanuco they were going to have the same type of meeting that we had, the multi-zone... but with a twist.  After their multi-zone, we would have all of the mission leaders miraculously show up for a Mission Wide Leadership meeting, in one of the corners of the mission.  Woah!  First time in the history of the mission that was done.  About 70 missionaries were there from Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Sister Leaders were in attendance.  We had to send them from all parts of the mission, which we actually just ended up doing was putting the majority of them in 2 combies and shipping them around the mission.  Then, when they got to Huanuco, we had them go to their hotels, (i had to rent about 20 rooms (2 hotels) for all the visiting missionary leaders)  - They all got there safe and sound, and the meeting in the Huanuco Amarilis Stake Center began.  it was great.  Really great.  In email it is hard to describe how or what went on, but just know that it was all really good.  And it is quite interesting to state and notice how each conference was different, even if they were (planned) to be the same. haha.  Sisters Henderson's Brownies were a hit, and everything just worked out.  

Saturday:  Time to head out!  Missionaries assigned to be at the Huanuco Stake Center at 6:15AM to eat breakfast, so they can get to their areas before nightfall.  What an adventure here in the Peru Huancayo Mission!  Combie Rides back to the main centers of the mission (Tarma and Huancayo) then cars to get to the outlying areas which could be another 5 hours of driving.  I just got back within 2 hours ago, so I am just relieved to be here... Back at home... Ahhh... I am just not a fan of traveling in the back on Peruvian Streets... It is just nice to be home...

Yup!  So thats the week.  Madness, Meetings, and more.  Elder Godoy and his wife enjoyed their travels here (as he leads us to presume) and we are here just giving thanks that we were able to make it through the week.  Hope you week is less eventful then ours, and you find yourselves traveling where you need to and will be able to get there before sun fall. 

Elder Holmes
Peru Huancayo Mission