OUR LAST CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS IN PERU!

We have had a wonderful 2nd Christmas in Peru!  The Lima Temple has a lovely white Nativity scene on display all month and white lights draped on most of their trees!  We love walking by the temple each day and night we are out!  We visited the Helen Keller School for the Deaf and Blind, caroled at the CCM and saw the Christmas lighting, presented a Christmas devotional on Christmas day at the CCM, and gathered with friends to share Christmas memories and wonderful foods!

The second week of December, we gathered as senior missionaries to do a service at the Helen Keller School for the Deaf and Blind!

 We loaded on a bus to travel an hour to this school, North of Lima!

 We entered a home that has been converted, the past 18 years, to caring for and teaching life skills to their students!

 We brought in gifts and treats for these sweet students, ranging in age from 8 to 20.

The little woman in white started this school and has been a tireless advocate for these special needs children!  She has truly been an "angel of mercy" for them!

 When we arrived, we were able to see them learning to bake tarts, cookies, and produce homemade pasta that they sold to Plaza Vea to help support their budget!

 I was trying to cheer up this young girl and once I started smiling, she smiled, too!

 This sweet boy had severe autism.

 This boy and caregiver were sealing pastries!

 This is the small pasta factory that they have created and of course we all bought some pasta!

The children gathered to receive their gifts and enjoy the goodies!

 This was Jeremy and he has chronic epilepsy!  

They all had fun opening their gifts!

We all were grateful for this opportunity to serve and express love to these children!

Our Peruvian Christmas tree had white llamas, small hats, mittens, dolls, red gourds, straw hats and candy canes and is only 4 feet high!

 We will miss our little Peruvian pad and have loved living in our neighborhood with our new friends!

The senior missionaries were asked to carol at the CCM and watch the Christmas lighting ceremony!  As soon as we finished caroling the lights started to go on section by section!  We all visited and enjoyed egg nog, hot chocolate, and cookies!

Now, they are waiting for the lights to come on!

We sure love our missionaries!

Ken and Norma Johnson

The Burts, their son and daughter-in-law, and Marilyn Cardon

Dwayne Hoem and Steve talking about the health of missionaries!

Kathy Hoem and Marlene Casos!

Loni and Lauri Townsend!

The Lewis' enjoyed these hermanas.

This happy missionary sprained her ankle and is leaving for the field in a few days!  This accident will not get in the way of her serving her mission!

The Perry twins, Hannah and Gracie, entertained us at the La Molina Ward Christmas party!

 Primary children sang us "Silent Night" and the YM played the chimes!  Love their elf hats!

The Stake choir sang several songs and then added some instruments!

 The single young adults performed the nativity, with the help of one Primary boy!

That week, we also said goodbye to the Deweys who returned back to Salt Lake to finish their mission, because of health!  They served as health specialists for the Lima East Mission!  Elder Dewey grew up in the same ward as the Bramwells in Bremerton!

This is Pardo's Pollo restaurant and just around the corner from us!  We can look out across the street to see the Lima Temple!

We love to gather together as senior missionaries!

Liliana and Juana gave us a Christmas lunch that week and we had a fun gift exchange!

President Ardila and his wife Liliana, invited all senior missionaries to their home for a Colombian, Christmas dinner!  It was a lovely evening for all!

These are the senior missionaries in Lima and we have loved getting to know them, share FHE's together, farewell dinners, travel, sing, attend church, laugh, cry, and help each other!

 Our little Peruvian Christmas tree brightens up our place!  This year we added straw hats and more mittens and Peruvian hats!  Christmas Eve we went to the Talleys for a fun evening of food and games and then the fireworks began for several hours and we watched them from our rooftop!

 You can see the Lima Temple spires!

     On Christmas day, we gave a devotional to the CCM missionaries on "Three Gifts the Savior Gives to Us"!  They were the Atonement, the scriptures, and "unconditional love"!  We handed them a gift that would remind them of these three gifts!  Steve closed the devotional by teaching them how to be good receivers of these gifts!  It was a wonderful way to celebrate the birth and life of the Savior.  We then met the Senior missionaries for a traditional Christmas feast!

On Saturday, December 28 we went to the temple to help the afternoon shift, because of the amount of patrons!  We saw these darling girls waiting for their parents outside the temple.  They really needed help, so we were glad we could be there!  It was the first time the words of the ordinances just flowed off my tongue in Spanish.  One of those ahah moments!

When we left, the temple was very beautiful!

Steve is getting his shoes shined when we visited the North Lima Mission!  Juan is the shoe shiner and we always visit with him!

Then Steve dropped me off to meet Marilyn and Julie at the Inca Market!  Our favorite place to shop!

On New Years Eve, President and
Sister  Henderson asked us to take in their two sons, Sam and Mike, because they had an 18 layover in Lima.  They arrived at our apartment, had brunch and then sleep for about 6 hours!  We then took them to lunch, actually they paid for it, and on a quick tour of Lima.  We first stopped to see these ruins, then went to the parkway at Miraflores and enjoyed the Nazca lines in the park.

We watched the hang gliders and finished off at Parkey Kennedy and Pinkberry, before Graciela dropped us off at the Adams for a New Years Eve party!

 Most senior couples attended and had supper and watched the fireworks display from the 12th floor!  We left before they began, but had a great evening, anyway!  We will miss our friends!

Happy New Year 2014!