I just got back from Peru yesterday. Some things are just meant to be, and you don't exactly know why you were supposed to be there until you get there. Before I left, my home teachers came and in their prayer asked that I be able to touch the hearts of the people there. We stayed for several days at the home of my friend Maria and her family. I have known her for fifteen years. She is a very special friend. One day while eating lunch I began to talk to her cook Maria#2 about our church. We had a very spiritual afternoon. Two days later her seventeen year old son came to meet me. What a doll! Dimples just like his mother. We spent the afternoon with the four of us talking about the gospel. All the years I spent in the Spanish branch enabled me to say just what the spirit told me to say. So much love.
Cliff and I spent a week in Cuzco up in the Andes. A totally different climate. The first three nights at our $10.00 per person a night hostel were verry cold. Then we paid $10.00 a night for an oil heater that looked like a little radiator. Big improvement. We went on three tours by bus and had excellent guides every time. We rode bone shaking taxis a lot. We'd walk downtown and take a taxi back up the steep, steep hill where we stayed.
All we ever here about here is the Incas. That was a very impressive civilization and we saw many Inca ruins. But we also some some incredible ruins and evidences of many prior civilizations that predate the Incas by thousands of years. The Europeans might call South America the New World, but it was anything but new to the people who lived there.
I enjoyed my tiny digital camera, so easy to whip out whenever. I'm looking forward to getting to work on my pictures.

Peru

It's off to Peru in the morning. Flight leaves at 8:30 a.m. We'll arrive ll:30 p.m. in Lima, but they are three hours ahead of us. We won't be going to Machu Picchu because the railroad is blocked until April. But there are still lots of adventures awaiting us.

Old Pictures

Time to Trip Again

The next few months will be very exciting. At the end of February Cliff, my stepson, and I will be going to Peru until March 16. We spent an afternoon on the phone with our computers getting in sync.
Then April 20 I will be leaving again with my two good friends Lynna Brown and Maurine Reintjes for Egypt and Israel. We will be touring with Daniel Rona. Everyone says he is the best guide.
Meanwhile, last night I went to my first salsa class. It was great fun, just a few sisters at church. I need to practice my steps because Peruvians love to dance, just about anywhere. My English class with the Buena Vista Ward is helping me keep up with the Spanish.

Great Holiday Season

The Washington weather cooperated this winter, so nothing was cancelled. I had a very enjoyable December attending some wonderful choral concerts from the very modern, innovative type to tradtional.
I spent Christmas Eve at my nephew's cousins. We always have a good time there. Christmas Day with my piano teacher and her family and New Year's Eve with the family of the Bishop of the Spanish Ward.They are from Pamplona, Spain. They are very good cooks, one is a chef. Great food. Hilarious end of the year comedy from Madrid on their large screen TV. Then an early countdown with the TV from Madrid and the traditional eating of 12 grapes for each stroke of midnight. As fast as I could, I still had three left. Lots of toasting, and hugging and Feliz Ano Nuevo.