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.