Has Christmas really come and gone already? We had so much to look forward to, and now it's all just memories. We celebrated three Christmas missionary devotionals: Huaraz, Chimbote and Trujillo. We watched videos from home with teary-eyed missionaries, and I guess we shed some tears too. How emotional to see the video our kids put together for us! We were ready to pack up and go home after watching it. We came back to Virú Thursday to attend two chocolotadas with chicken & rice, chicha, hot chocolate and Paneton. Friday Distrito Virú put on a Christmas talent show to outdo all talent shows with traditional, Spanish and modern dancing. People kept asking me to video their dance, so I videoed several and posted them all on Facebook. The missionaries acted out skits, and my favorite was about the angel who came late. They acted out various scripture stories including Abraham sacrificing Isaac, Daniel in the Lion's den and Laman & Lemuel beating up Nephi. Each time the saving angel arrived just a minute too late, so Abraham wound up killing Isaac, the lions ate Daniel and Nephi died. Sounds gruesome, but it really was cute to see Elder Weller the angel look sheepishly at his watch and go, "Oops!"
Saturday, Christmas Eve, Noche Buena, we attended a baptism for a family of three in Chao. They performed the ceremony at a chakra outside of town. Pretty cool to be out in fields of fruit trees including bananas, oranges, mangos and ciruelas. The baptismal font had cows on the edges and kids waiting to jump in for a swim. A most memorable Christmas eve! Sunday we enjoyed a one-hour Church service, then skype calls from all our kids, plus a visit from two missionaries to use our Internet. Meanwhile we coordinated various messages between moms and missionaries to help them connect for their Christmas calls. Also we called a few missionaries who had no one to call home to, and wished them a Merry Christmas from their Grandma and Grandpa Whitney. What a fun Christmas!
Monday we gathered our missionaries in Virú for a Christmas picnic. We made them meat pies with beef and barbeque sauce, veggies with ranch dressing, and brownie ice cream sundaes. Fun & yummy! When they left to play soccer in the hot sun, we opted to go home and crank up the air conditioner. We're counting on our little a/c to help us survive the next three months of summer.
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| We're on our way to a baptism! |
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While I led the music, it seemed like a perfect time to take a picture.
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Can we go swimming yet?
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Elder Velasquez baptizes one of the three.
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Day after Christmas picnic in Virú
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It doesn't take much for us to have fun!
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Elders Rokovitz & Alarcon eat dessert first.
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Happy Birthday, Hermana Navia
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Feliz Cumpliaños!
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Oops, the angel arrived late.
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Raul is such a skilled dancer!
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All styles of dancing
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Everyone loves the costumes.
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Charming dances
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And beautiful dancers at the talent show!
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Andre looks so handsome dressed up.
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They danced their hearts out!
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| Imagine dancing in such heavy costumes in the summer heat. |
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Cutie!
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| Little girls everywhere love dressing up. |
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Guillermo's delivering all this Paneton to his special shop in Virú's Christmas street mall.
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Hey, we're both wearing shades...Selfie!
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Talented missionaries perform at the devotional in Trujillo. Peruvian Santa costumes are interesting.
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Hermanas in Trujillo
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Pollo a la brasa
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Finger lickin' good
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They sang their hearts out!
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We're on our way to the devotional.
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Bring on the Paneton!
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Paneton comes from Paneton trees, right?
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| Elder Velasquez didn't make it to the devotional in Chimbote. |
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So much talent on display!
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Hermanas in Huaraz
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| Children perform in the Plaza in Huaraz. |
