We go to Church

at the MTC.  Well in Peru it is called the CCM and that is where Lonny goes to Church each week as he serves in the branch presidency.  Emily goes to church next door at the La Molina Ward and I go with her sometimes.  The other Sundays I attend church at the MTC and teach relief society to the sister missionaries.  We all eat lunch every Sunday at the MTC which is the BEST not having to fix Sunday dinner.  Well if you like Peruvian food:(

One Sunday in the La Molina ward a tall blond American missionary spoke in Sacrament meeting in his fluent Spanish.  I thought about how my tall, blond, American missionary son served a mission in Peru and it was such a mystery to us.  We didn't know much about where he lived or how he lived and we missed him so much.  Emily was three years old when Justin left on his mission.  One day while he was gone Emily laid down behind the couch and and said she was not coming out until Justin came home.

So how weird is it now that we are the three in Peru and learning everyday what living in Peru must have been like for Justin.

Since we live here, sometimes there have been people we know at the MTC.  Emily has seen her EFY counselors and friends in the stake at the MTC.  This photo has a boy from our regular ward that Emily was friends with before he went on his mission. (back row, second from right) When we first started attending church at the MTC there were about 50 American missionaries.  Two of those were sister missionaries.  It is never predictable though, sometimes there are no sisters,

and sometimes there are many.

Sometimes the sisters are still outnumbered.  There are more American missionaries in the USA summer than in the winter though.  It is reverse for the Latino missionaries.

These are the past MTC presidents and their wives.  The weird thing here is that President Crayk, (top row, far right) was our stake president when we lived in Sandy, UT.  

He was the president of the Cochabamba, Bolivia Temple until recently and Lonny spent the day with him once last year.

This is the outdoor area today.  The missionaries always ask us where we live and we tell them about two blocks past that far wall. 

The Lima MTC use to take all the missionaries that would serve in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador.  The American missionaries would spend 4 weeks in Provo and 5 weeks in Lima.  Now they come directly to Lima and stay 6 weeks total.  The Latino missionaries stay 2 weeks so every 2 weeks there are a completely new group of Latino missionaries.  The Americans come every 2 weeks as well so there are always three different groups that are overlapped in their time at the MTC.  The American branch also includes English speaking missionaries from Canada, Europe, Australia, South Pacific Islands, etc. that will serve in Peru or Bolivia.