There are always lots and lots of activities that happen at our ward and at the mission offices.  Below are just a few of them.

This is our ward:  Deseret.

There are lots of baptisms and getting ready for them.  Sister Breppe from Argentina knows what needs to be done.

After the baptisms there are always some light refreshments.

At the Mission Offices there is always lots and lots of training for our missionaries.  They are the best!

Another activity that happens once or twice a month are "mass marriages".  This is when couples who have been cohabitating get legally married.  We have had up to 15 couples all get married at once.

It's always nice to find some time to eat together with the office Elders on their preparation day and to get to know each one of them individually.  What a treat.

The Elders have a ceremony for sending off one of the office Elders who has been reassigned out into the mission field.

Someone inevitably turns down the air conditioning so that Elders Villagrán and Sánchez from Uruguay and Colombia have to wrap up in nice, warm blankets.  It really isn't that cold, but being from warm, humid climates it feels freezing to them

The sunsets have been absolutely spectacular the past couple of weeks.  Even with the power lines, trees and traffic they are beautiful to behold and enjoy as we walk home.  For us these sunsets are just a small part of our Savior's handiwork given to us to enjoy and for which to be thankful.  If we were to continue walking straight toward the sun, we would walk right into the Pacific Ocean!  We are that close to it.

We love to see the sunsets that shoot forth sun rays right directly toward us.  The noise, traffic, heat and humidity seem not to exist as we watch the sun set little by little.

There are a variety of tropical fruits that grow in the tropical jungles of Peru.  One such fruit is called "guaba" or "pacay".  It is brought into Lima and sold on the streets (not in any store) by people who live in the jungle.  It grows as a large, long pod about a foot or so and is about 3 inches wide.  It is dark green in color and is really cool looking.  Please click on the following link to see what the tree and pod look like.  The guaba tree and its fruit pod.

Here are some pictures of a guaba I bought yesterday walking to the Mission Offices.

When the pod is ripe it starts to open up slightly.

You pull out pieces of the fruit that look like white cotton candy but are moist with a sweet nectar taste. 

Inside the white fruit are seeds, most of which are black and which you spit out as you eat the fruit.

Here you can see the seeds embedded in the fruit.

Here.  Do you want a bite?  Absolutely yummy!

One of benefits of working in the mission offices is enjoying the church art that is there.  We see lots of church art when we go to the temple or conference center or some other prominent church building.  Our offices are really small but we have about seven really inspiring pictures that we can enjoy everyday.  The offices can really get hectic, noisy, busy and just plain crazy with all the missionaries coming and going, plus every thing else that goes on.  It's so nice to be able to view, contemplate, meditate and gaze upon these pictures in the morning and before we go home at night.  To us they are very, very inspiring, uplifting and sublime. 

This is my favorite portrait of Joseph Smith.  This is how I have always visualized him, and not like the formal paintings of him that portray him very somber, resolute and statuesque.