One Of The Wonders Of The World

On December 17th, our daughter Shannyn her husband Greg and their boys, Jake, Nate and Nick came to Lima for Christmas and some traveling. We took a tour of central Lima on Friday. On Saurday the 19th we flew to Cusco. What a beautiful city, very colonial. While in Cusco we visited many Cathedrals, monuments, and saw much of the culture of Peru. The people of Peru are wonderful. The next day we drove to Puno. It was a long drive through many towns and beautiful landscapes. Among other places we were able to pass through Aquas Calientes, the Sacred Valley, Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Puno.

"PeruRail" is the train to take to see the most amazing sight I have ever seen in my life. Machu Picchu! The train is a "vistadome" train. It has windows in the roof so you can see all around as you ascend the mountainside. It took about one and a half hours.

What a astonishing place. Reverent in its magistry. The clouds and rain covered the mountain tops when we arrived, but soon they were gone and we could see all the beauty of the green terraced mountainside and wonderfully built rock walls and buildings. It is beyond description.
Greg had done a great job making all our accommadations, it was a

comfortable trip. Besides all the climbing; which by the way, I did really well. I was pretty scared about my knees, but it was not too bad; well worth any discomfort I had. My Orthopedic Dr., Dr. Tait, will love to hear that. He just happens to be the Bishop of our home Ward in Henderson. The vastness of the area is too incredible to try to describe. So here are Elder W. and I as the clouds and rain begin to lift. It was wonderful to be in such a sacred place. It has

stood from about the 1430's, Hiram Bingham discovered it in 1911.

The surprising fact that I learned, was that when the Spanish arrived to conquer the Inca people of Peru, they abandoned their fortress. So sacred was Macchu Picchu to the Inca people; of such great worth to them, they did not want others to find it. So they just left it and the jungle covered it.

I wanted to give some idea of the scale of this great place. Those are people climbing up the side of one of the terraces. I know I have used the word amazing before in this commentary, but it truly is breathtaking in it's enormous size and engineering marvel. Without mortar, each stone fit perfectly next to and one atop another. In one section are terraces for agriculture, other terraces were built for the urban, or living section. During our driving we were able to see countless alpaca, llamas, sheep horses and cows along with their keepers, usually women.

Our next adventure was to visit Lake Titicaca, or "Lago Titicaca". This lake is the highest navigable lake in the world. It is so large you think you are looking at the ocean. You cannot see accross to the opposite side; which happens to be Bolivia. There are "floating islands" on this lake. The residents live and exist on these islands made of reeds. It is a very ingenious and again an engeneering marvel the way they are constructed. They are wonderful happy people who live on fish and three types of potatoes they grow in a special soil they make themselves.

These are places Elder W. and I studied when we were in school, oh so many years ago. Who would ever have thought we would be visiting and living in there far distant places. I certainly feel grateful to have been able to have spent a short time there.

Greg, Shannyn and the boys have left today for the "Nazca Lines" which are in the southern area on the coast. They will return to their home in California on New Years eve. We have enjoyed them and their generosity in taking us along on their adventure, it was a special Christmas present. I hope someday soon the boys will appreciate all that they have been able to experience. It has been hard for them during the Christmas holidays to be away from their friends and home.

We are so blessed to be able to see for ourselves the "beauties of the earth" as the hymn says. Our Father in Heaven has truly given us what can be called a heaven on earth. It certainly is to some, and it should be appreciated more.

I pray everyone has had a wonderful Christmas season, this is one I will not forget.

Until I write again,

Hermana W.

We Were Able To See The Amazon River

Several weeks ago we were able to do some traveling to the Amazon River area where Elder W. did some training to members of the Priesthood. We had to fly to the town of Iquitos. There are only two ways to travel to this area; plane or boat. It is an isolated area. Our meeting was scheduled in the evening on Saturday, it had been planned by our traveling companion, Elder Loli (Lowly), who is our Area Authority Seventy. While he was tied up during the early afternoon, he arranged for us to travel by "mototaxi" around the area. It was a wonderful escursion. We visited a small somewhat pathetic zoo, a reserve where they are trying to breed manatee in captivity. It was very interesting; there are babies and adults. All the workers are volunteers who are trying very hard to save these gentle mammals.

We drove around for several hours in our motortaxi; the weather was sunny and warm, it had rained the day before so it was very humid. This area is usually very hot. It is in an area close to the Columbian border. So all around the area of Iquitos, it is jungle, very dense jungle.

We traveled in our church clothing, (not being told we would have this great tour). After about an hour driving in this open air taxi, our driver Jimmy, asked if we would like to ride in a boat on the Amazon River. We of course were very excited and said yes!

He drove us to the waterfront where all these boats of different sizes were tethered, some smaller than others. We walked on a very shakey dock and climbed aboard a small motorboat. It was just Jimmy (our taxi driver), the owner of the boat and his son along with two gringos dressed for church. As we motored along, they explained to us that we were in an intersection of three rivers. It was interesting, because the water is actually different colors. One of the rivers is named the Maronon, another the Ucayali and the great Amazon. After guiding his boat down one of the tributaries they asked if we would like to visit a tribe of indians. Of course we would! This is the first tribe we visited that day. We climed a very steep muddy side of a mountain with steps carved out. As you can see, Elder Whitaker made a new friend that day. They are the Bora Indians. They live in very primitive conditions with a mud floor, wooden poles that hold up a roof made of thatched palm leaves. As we entered, they asked us for a donation and they would entertain us. They performed five dances; each one represented a part of their culture. During the fifth dance we were each chosen by one of the young people to join their dance. I took many more pictures but I am having a terrible time uploading photos to my blog, so you will have to settle for this one.

We continued our day, visiting another village where one of the young men interestingly told us he was the "elder" of his tribe and the spiritual leader. He blessed us before we left and he thanked us for bringing a good spirit to their village. We then returned to dry land.

After several more rides around in the taxi, we were done!! Take us back to the hotel please. We needed to get cleaned up for our meeting which was wonderful. The chapel was three blocks from our hotel; which by the way was a four star hotel in the middle of the jungle. We walked to the meeting and returned to our hotel about 9 pm. What a long day, it was terrific.

Early the next afternoon we had a flight to another small town "Pulcallpa" about one hour by small plane. We had another meeting scheduled there. It went well, then another flight back to Lima, we arrived at midnight. Two very full days, I will never forget our trip to the jungle.

We are excited our daughter Shannyn, her husband Greg and their three sons Jake, Nick and Nate will be here this next Thursday, Dec. 17th. We will be traveling with them to Machu Picchu. One of the Wonders of the World. We have heard from some of the other senior missionaries, you cannot come to Peru and not see Machu Picchu at some point. We are really glad it will be with our family.

I am researching why it is so hard to post these photos, I have taken so many that I would love to share. Maybe I'll get some answers from the "tech guys" at the office. Not only are they savvy young men, but they get paid to know this stuff!

Christmas is a very special time. We love and miss our family and friends and pray that we all remember the "reason for the season" as is said. Our Savior Jesus Christ is the reason we are here in Lima. I am grateful to be here helping the people of Peru the way Jesus would if he were here. Because of our love for Him and His love for us, we will have the opportunity to be together forever with our family; that is what I pray for each day, to be worthy of that blessing.

We send our love and hope for a wonderful Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year to all!

Until I write again,
Hermana W.

Thank You To All Who Serve

As this is Veteran’s Day in the United States, we reflect somberly on stories seen on the Internet and the television. We, with our family members and our friends are very blessed to live in a country with our freedoms won at the sacrifice of many, many others lives. We are grateful for our great country and the freedoms which really do not come free. In life we have to fight for our rights and freedoms or we may not have them.

I have been thinking quite a bit about the similarities of the living of our life in the mission field as compared to being at home. As we continue to be busy here in Lima each day, we go to the office, complete assignments, attend meetings and maybe even visit with new friends a little. At home (our apartment) the things we do are the same also. There is cooking and cleaning to do, washing and ironing. We study our scriptures, read our lessons, do puzzles, work and write on the computer, we have to do the shopping we even go out for a nice meal now and then, all of the same things we do in Henderson when we are not on a Mission, we are just in a different place in the world.

We are going to be traveling this week and next also. We will be able to see a little more of Peru. Elder W. will be making presentations to 16 Stake Presidents and Bishops in one meeting about how to better help their participants in the PEF program. At this time, many of them feel like the Church expects them to be “bill collectors”. This is not the case at all. We need to change there understanding of their role in this PEF program. There role is one of spiritual guidance. I will have to wait until after the trip to be able to tell you what my role was, as at this point I don’t have a clue.

I will take some photos to share with you about our trip.

We love being in Lima and serving the people of Latin America. We love the Gospel and can feel the hand of the Lord in this wonderful work. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. We know as we continue to serve, our testimonies and those of our children and grandchildren will be strengthened.

So, until I write again,
Hermana W.

I Hope I Remember How To Do This

Well I’m back! I have not been able to blog in about 6 weeks due to the internet not working in our apartment, but it's fixed!

So much has taken place, I should have been taking notes, but you know me, I did not. We are settling in and enjoying the personnel at the Area Office building. We have made many new friends and re-acquainted with several others who moved here from Ecuador when the Area was expanded from three countries to five.

Lima is quite different from Quito Ecuador where we have served twice before, but there are many similarities too. In Quito we were able to walk almost anywhere we wanted to go. The city of Lima is so much larger and there are many more cars, traffic is HORRIBLE. Driving each day takes a tremendous amount of faith. After a few days it is not quite so un-settling. It feels and looks like a combination of destruction derby, and the running of the bulls, but with cars. Lima has the European style of intersections that are roundabouts or ovals. We hired a wonderful young man to transport us to and from the office each day; he takes good care of us. His wife is a volunteer in the PEF call center; they are expecting their first baby in February, they just found out it is a boy! Jack and Regina are their names.

There is definitely more wealth here. The people are very amiable and the service in every way and place is far better than any service at home. In each store there are employees everywhere, they probably only work for commission, so they are very eager to make a sale and make sure the customer is happy.

This photo is for our good friend Don, he uses a "Mac" and thinks apples are the best. The first time we went to the mall closest to our apartment"Jockey Plaza" we walked by this store. I, as my usual self, began to laugh and said "let's take a picture for Don" so we did . It is always very busy inside. Apparently other people agree with him.
These are our volunteers in the call center. They are the greatest! They help in so many ways. Elder W. as at the far left and I am on the right. We love these kids. Almost all of them have PEF loans themselves, so they understand the questions students ask. They also do our calling, asking the participants the information we need to have a more sucessful out come in the program of PEF. Many of them travel one to two hours each day to work in the call center.

We had a great conference last week. Elders Christofferson and Clayton with Bishop Edgley and their wives came to speak to the missionaries (young and old) and then held a training for 22 Mission Presidents and their wives for three days. There are 22 missions in our five countries that compose our South America Northwest. It was quite a site to see all the Presidents with their wives and the General Authorities too, the Spirit was magnificent!

This is a photo of Pres. and Sis. Sloan from Quito, Ecuador. They came to Ecuador when we were there in 2008. They have made a great contribution to the mission effort. We loved seeing them! The Mission secretary, Sister Griesmer and I still keep in touch. She has a wonderful blog. It is such fun to read.

Peru to the North goes all the way to the border of Columbia, we found out last week we will be traveling to that area towards the end of November. I do really good in my own little area, but really I am a chicken when it comes to traveling. We have a couple here in Lima, Elder and Sister Lamb. They travel all of Lima and to Bolivia too. They are helping the students to find their "apptitudes". Some students choose a school and they are really not prepared to enter that field of study. They too are doing a great work.

So, I guess I CAN do this. I will try to update in a more timely fashion. It is hard to come home and work on the computer after doing it all day long at the office, but for our family history and the interest our family and friends have shown at home, I will to better. I also hope in the future I can post more pictures from our travels around Lima.

Love to all, until I write again,

Hermana W.

We Are In Lima; Better Late Than Never

As we have written in an earlier blog, we again have been given an assignment in the area of Perpetual Education. For those of you who might be reading this blog and have not heard of this program; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon’s) has a fund; it is called “The Perpetual Education Fund” or PEF for short. The Church makes available loans to students in less fortunate countries and help secure education to better prepare them to take care of themselves and their families.

It was quite the adventure just getting to Lima. We left Las Vegas the morning of September 8th and flew to Los Angeles. Everything went smoothly until our plane developed “technical difficulties”. So, we had a seven hour wait. Actually, it was a good thing; instead of midnight, we arrived in Lima at 7:30 am on September 9th. A driver was waiting for us when we claimed our luggage. He then drove us to our apartment. IT WAS HORRIBLE! We had made the mistake of renting it sight unseen. We could not stay there so he took us to a hotel where we stayed for the night. The next day we moved to another hotel which was closer to the office. We stayed there until we found our apartment. We are now getting settled and beginning to make Lima our home for the next 18 months.

In our office, as before, I do a great deal of paper work. I have not needed to answer the phones yet. We are not the only ones here working in PEF. Another senior couple, Elder and Hermana Lamb have been here for about one year. They have developed a good assessment test for the students. We also work with others who themselves are students and volunteer for several months at a time to work in the "call center". They call and answer student’s calls. They are a huge help. Henry is the supervisor of the call center, he works with the students. Our office is across the hall from the call center and we are there all by ourselves.

Elder W. has not really begun to start organizing his work, he has been really sick, he got bronchitis. He is doing his best, but he did not come to the office until Friday this week. We hope to be up and running this next Monday. We need to obtain supplies and that takes “requisitions” which take some time.

We cannot walk to the office this mission we live to far away. We have been blessed with a young man (Jack) who owns his own taxi. He and his wife (Regina) are students with PEF loans and she works in the call center. They are expecting their first baby, so we can help them by paying him to drive us to and from the office. It is really nice to have Jack.

We have already met some wonderful senior missionaries who have assignments in the Temple and Area offices in Church employment. There are about 12 families living here for one reason or another. It is great.

If we stay inside this weekend; hopefully, Elder W. will get better. The problem is that it is very cold and damp all the time. Our clothes in the closet are even damp.

I will try to keep this writing up to date in a more timely fashion than I did this month.

We are looking forward to making this another great adventure and pray our service to be acceptable to the Lord. We miss and pray daily for our children, grandchildren and friends wherever you may be. We especially pray for our Grandson, Elder Biehahn who is serving in Iowa. We pray he will have success and his testimony will be strengthened by his service.

Until I write again,
Hermana W.

It's Almost Time To Go

It’s Friday, September 04, 2009. We leave in 4 days.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we were in Salt Lake for training. We met with Elders Cook and Carmack and others. They are all very concerned about the fund (Perpetual Education Fund). Peru has the second greatest number of loans next to Brazil. Much of the training was very familiar to us. As a matter of fact; some of the paperwork is the same we worked with while in Ecuador in 2007. It is very gratifying to see the forms are still being used and are helpful to the PEF staff. I have included a picture of Elders Cook and Carmack and Mishael, who is from Mexico and works for the church. He is a great help to the missionaries. We feel a great weight has been placed on our shoulders, we are praying very hard to accomplish this assignment. We would ask for your prayers also.

While there, we took the opportunity to tour the Conference Center. What a beautiful building! Elder Whitaker has a cousin who paints the portraits of some of the Apostles. His name is William F. Whitaker. We were excited to see several of his paintings which hang in the Conference Center. He is now painting President Monson, I can't wait to see it!

We had another very special experience. As we were coming home in the airport in Salt Lake, we had the chance to encounter Bro. Call; who used to be Elder Call in the Las Vegas Mission ten years previous. He now lives in Houston, Tx. We spoke with him for some time, it was wonderful to see him again and discuss special experiences he had in the Mission.

We have the best friends in the world! They hosted a dinner for us last night. There were six other couples in attendance. We had so much fun; we ate, talked, laughed, ate and laughed some more. We certainly are very blessed.

We started packing today; it takes some time to figure out what to take and not to take. Thank heavens Lima is a very cosmopolitan city, we can buy many things there.

We will miss our children, grandchildren and our friends very, very much, but we know this is what we are to be doing at this time of our lives.

I will write again about a week or so when we get settled in Peru.

Until I write again,
Hermana W.

We Are Almost Ready

Here we are just a few weeks from our date to report to Lima. Now it is starting to set in. I feel as if we have been in limbo for a little more than a month. We will officially be Missionaries on August 20th. Our Stake President will set us apart that night. We are training in Salt Lake on September 1st, after that it is off to Lima.

We are excited to know we have secured an apartment. That is a great relief! We will be picked up at the airport on September 8th, very late at night and then driven to our apartment. Our last mission in Quito, we spent the first 8 days in a hotel until we found an appropriate apartment. For seniors; to know ahead of time where you are going to live, is a real nice thing. I am excited; it is close to the Area Office and the Lima Temple. We will be able to walk to both.

We have downloaded the program Skype. We bought a webcam so we will be able to speak with our family and friends for free! How cool is that? We have already called and spoken to senior missionaries in Lima, there is even pretty good reception.

We intend to work very hard but enjoy our time also. Our Spanish is coming along; it is funny at how fast you lose your language if you don’t use it. Practice is good.

As the author of this blog; I pray as you follow you will enjoy our adventures and it inspires you to set a goal of a mission in your “senior” years whether your single or married. It is a wonderful experience!

Until I write again,
Cheryle

Our Arrival Date Postponed

It has been an interesting week! Our Whitaker Family Reunion was held July 3 through the 5th in Utah. Two of our daughters and their families built their homes right next door to each other. What fun it was for all the cousins, aunt and uncles and of course grandma and grandpa to be together. In attendance were our four daughters their husbands and 15 of our 21 grandchildren.
Unfortunatly our two boys and their families were not able to work out the time to come. That would have really been a great treat, hopefully when we return that will happen. Richards brother Greg and his wife Carol were also able to join the fun. It has been a little while since we have all seen one another. We had a great time with family stories of their 3 boys and seeing some of their family photos.

During that few days Richard (Dad or grandpa) became very ill with a heat stroke. The reunion went on and the grandchildren continued to have a wonderful time, they probably did not even realize grandpa was AOL, but in fact we were just upstairs listening to the fun. The food was great and there was so much of it. In all there were 25 of us altogether so there had to be a lot of food!

Richard has been to the Dr. and apparantly, along with the heat stroke, he has a staph infection.
So, we have felt it wise to postpone our arrival time in Lima to Sept. 1st. After a skype call with Elder Earl from Lima last night, he agreed it will be better also for the Area Officers who will have just arrived themselves Aug. 1, that way they will have a better handle on what they are looking for in the way of our calling.

I am relieved, I have always thought September would be our time to report to Lima. I am also very glad to receive the confirmation from the Spirit that this is better timing for everyone.
So......this will continue a little more in the future.
Until I write again,
Cheryle

The Reason For Our New Call

Well dear friends, here we go again. This is a summary of how this new mission call came about.

In April, we received an e-mail from Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen asking if Cheryle and I would accept a special Area assignment in Mexico City. We said yes and the process began. We completed our paperwork and scheduled the interviews with Bishop Tait and Ivan Holland, our stake president. During the week preceding the interview with our stake president, I was contacted by Elder C. Scott Grow, First Counselor to President Mickelsen and advised that with the change in the Area President, and with Elder Mickelsen being reassigned, the assignment we discussed had been eliminated. He then asked where we would like to serve in Mexico? Guadalajara would be nice, I thought. While pondering this, we had our stake president's interview on Sunday, and then on Monday another telephone call, this time from Elder Richard E. Cook who asked if we would be willing to fill a special assignment in Lima, Peru instead of Mexico. The Spirit verified that this was what we were to do, so we accepted the assignment.

The week of April 19, I expected a call from Elder Grow, It did not come. I later received an e-mail from him telling me he had been traveling. Elder Grow and Mickelsen were notified of the new assignment and were thrilled for us.

On Thursday, May 7, I was involved in a long conference call which also included Elder Nash and Elder Cook. During this call, the following information pertaining to the assignment was explained: Under the direction of President Monson and Elder Christofferson, the Perpetual Education Fund has been requested to develop a pilot program in Lima that would basically rescue and then retain a sample group of participants who have experienced difficulties while involved with the PEF program. That will be my role; to develop that pilot program that will “Rescue and Retain” the sample group. I have been requested to work closely with the participants and priesthood leaders and stress the importance of making and keeping sacred covenants while also teaching and stressing priesthood correlation.

We will be assigned to work under the Area Presidency and a core group of nine stake presidents and approximately three hundred participants. Initially, I will be involved with one of the four coordinating counsels in Lima. When the program begins to see results, this involvement will expand to the other areas. As I was told by the Brethren, this has never been done before and it is the desire of the First Presidency that once developed, the program be implemented throughout the church. To say that I am humbled would be a vast understatement. However, I know that “Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.”

On Monday night, May 18, we received a telephone call from Elder Cook and he confirmed that the assignment to Lima was firm and we would receive the official call letter this week. The next day, Tuesday, May 19, we received a second telephone call from Elder Nash. He called to confirm our assignment and talk about his vision of what he would like to be accomplished. He talked; I listened, making only singular comments.

Both Cheryle and I are humbled at the confidence the Lord and the General Authorities have in us and continue to marvel that the Lord would take a tough street cop and use him to assist in building the kingdom. This will be our fourth mission together; third to South America in nine years and my fifth which includes the five years spent as a full-time counselor in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission Presidency. Both Cheryle and I have expressed to the Lord the desire to serve on a full-time basis dedicating all our time, means and talents to the building up of the Kingdom of God upon this earth. We are richly blessed to have the desires of our hearts granted and are fortunate that circumstance allows for this to occur.

To each of you who has followed the last two missions to Quito, Ecuador, if you so desire, we will keep you in the loop which takes us on a "Journey to the Land of the Inca."

May the Lord bless you and I want to personally thank you for your continued love, support and prayers.

Faithfully your companion,
Elder Richard B. Whitaker

Of course, that is Richard's contribution to "my blog." We are deep in the throws of getting ourselves ready to depart. I will keep this as up to date as possible, of course we will add pictures along the way. We will be in Lima on August 1st.