Ken & Linda Whitney: Elder Montoya, Pulido family's temple sealing, Combis, and more

We thought we'd take a moment to describe the Chao combi experience, the one we ride every time we go to Chao. It's not that far on the map, maybe 15 miles, but the trip takes an hour in a customized Peruvian van. The van has a driver and a cobrador who calls out, "A Chao a Chao a Chao a Chao," as if he's trying to talk people into making the trip with him. We sometimes think that even though we might not intend to go to Chao, he might just talk us into it...not. The driver plays his horn like an instrument all the way there, "Chirp chirp, tweet tweet, wolf whistle, siren," over and over again. It's likely that their horns are connected to both the gas and brake pedals so they automatically sound whenever either pedal is pressed. As we make our way down the main street in Virú to the Pan American Highway, the intersection before the last block has recently been upgraded with a traffic light or semaforo. The traffic only stops in our direction because the arrows indicate a one-way street from that point on. Oncoming traffic, however, goes straight through without stopping. Wait, did i say "Oncoming traffic" on a one-way street? They don't enforce the one-way traffic, only the one-way traffic light. We turn left at the Pan American Highway and the combi makes its way through Virú Puente, San José, Valle de Dios, Nuevo Chao and finally arrives at Chao. Along the way the cobrador announces some interesting stops: mercado, semaforo, segundo semaforo, Etna (at the Etna billboard), llantas (a pile of 3 tires), botica (a store), llantas (a pile of 5 tires), kilometro (like a mile marker...there's lots of those), cruces (crossroad, also lots), escuela (school), molina (mill), banco (bank), Camposol, Danper (Ag companies), Entrada (entering Valle de Dios), Ramada Rosa (restaurant), paradero (bus stop), cemetario, cemento (not a cement plant, just a big chunk of cement), and finally we arrive.
Last week or maybe the week before, we had a visit from Elder and Sister Montoya from the Northwest Regional Presidency. We attended several inspirational meetings and two private lunches together with President and Sister Rios. Elder Montoya often mentioned the subject of his October, 2015 conference talk, "Tested and Tempted, but helped." He also mentioned that he sometimes moves people around within the area. What a delightful visit!
Tuesday was a national holiday, so the Manuel Pulido family took advantage of the time to be sealed in the Trujillo temple. We remember their baptism shortly after we arrived in Virú. They impressed us back then and have continued to grow ever since. This past month we taught them the temple lessons, so what a joy to finally see them sealed. They celebrated the event like a wedding inviting friends and family from near and far and holding a reception in the evening. The whole day was festive, plus an opportunity for the Pulidos to introduce the Gospel to their numerous extended family members.

A Chao, a Chao, a Chao, a Chao! Wait, does that say, Mathias?

On the road to Chao we see all kinds of strange sights. This group is on a pilgrimage from Lima to Trujillo and back to ask for some sort of miracle healing.

We're checking in to the temple albergue where we sometimes rent a hotel room on the temple grounds.

Harley and Casey were in the winning dance group and are going to Trujillo for the advanced folkloric dance competion. Notice their condor wings and masks.