4 Bits and tidbits

New arrival
John and Morgan (Gail and Lynda's family) had their first child a little over a month ago. Lincoln John Cleverly was born on Tuesday, August 11. He weighed 8 pounds 13 1/2 ounces and was 22 inches long. John and Morgan are currently living with Linda. Their son is Linda's 13th grandchild (of which 7 are grandsons).

When we talked with Linda, she said she is still doing her spices, selling them at farmer's markets and some store outlets that carry them. She also reported that Bill & Kelly have moved down to the St. George area, where Kelly is the manager of the Home Depot down there.

Another new arrival
Pete and Anna Halverson (Dean and Claudia's family) had their first child late Saturday night. After something like 30 hours of labor, Anna finally had to have a C-section. Miles Peter Halverson was born at 11:55 p.m. on Saturday, September 19, in the University Hospital in Salt Lake City. He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces. They are not sure how long he was. Mother and baby are doing fine. He is Dean and Claudia's 18th grandchild (of which 12 are grandsons).

Mission report from Kay and Karen
Edited excerpts from a recent e-mail from Karen in the Peru Lima Central Mission

Monday, September 14 we were invited to go with President and Sister Elmer, their two daughters, President and Sister Manning (South Mission) and President and Sister Leyva (East Mission) on a bus tour of Lima. We arrived at president's house at 8:30 a.m.. We left at 9:00 a.m. and President Manning drove all of us in his new Honda Odyssey.

When we arrived at the bus location, to our delight we were taking the double decker bus tour. We were up on top. The seats were 3 across with a very narrow aisle down each side. Off we went. It was lots of fun getting an almost bird's eye view. The places we drove by, we had already been to, but it was fun seeing them again. We did go by a "Parque de Museos" which is a park of museums that we did not know about and we have added that to a list of fun things we want to do on a p-day, probably with the elders. We stopped at the Catacombs and everyone got off to do the tour. They had changed a few things since we were there before, but not much. There was a Catholic celebration going on and the congregation, who was from Cusco, was singing a song of praise that resounded through the ancient halls below the church. Talk about great acoustics. Wow! Later when we resurfaced into the courtyard, there was a full brass band playing and about 6 men were carrying a very heavy replica of their patron saint beautifully decorated with flowers. The people were taking it to a grand fiesta later. It was interesting in that they carried the saint up to the steps of the church then they would kneel down (did not touch the ground) three times, then back up and repeat it. They did this several times. This could not have been an easy feat as the object they were carrying was very heavy.

We again boarded the bus and to everyone's delight we had a day of full sunshine. That in itself was a blessing as Monday was the only warm sunny day we had all week. We had lots of fun waving to people who waved back and some called greetings. We ended the tour about 1:30 p.m. and all joined at a restaurant for lunch. We ate on a covered terrace. There was a young man outside of the restaurant who entertained us playing a Peruvian flute and at the same time a small stringed instrument a little like a ukulele, only different. President Manning spoke with him in depth and gave him some money. The young man was very interested in who we were and when he explained that we were missionaries he asked to have the missionaries come visit him in his home. Wow! I need to add that when we started the day it was overcast and chilly, however, the sun really warmed things up. That meant that Kay's head and my nose changed colors to bright red.

Tuesday our war on the bed bugs commenced. Kay and I both were armed with our spray bottles of Pounce or permitrina. No mattress was left unturned. We sprayed our clothes, our shoes, the furniture, the carpet, and especially all around the bed. We felt better knowing that at long last we could fight the mangy little blood sucking critters.

Alas, Wednesday morning I had 4 new bites. Yikes! Out came the spray bottles again. Wednesday night when we got home we sprayed the sheets and really sprayed the headboard, which is fastened to the wall. We did not go to bed for about 3-4 hours. We were desperate.

Thursday morning we awoke with NO new bites. We are still a bit leery though, so Kay sprayed a little bit more. We will probably spray the bed again when we wash the sheets tomorrow and then go through the whole bit every three months. Why every three months you ask? They can survive at least 4 months without anything to eat, namely us.

Last night we had an office staff meeting with president until about 7:45 p.m. We were able to finalize the calendar for September and October. Wahoo! October is going to be really busy, especially for President and Sister Tyler. Elder Christofferson is coming to do a Mission Presidents Seminar starting the evening of 18th and going through the 21st. Monday through Wednesday the presidents and their wives have to be there from 7:20 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. This caused a bit of a snag for us since the 21st is our change date. We had to do some juggling of days so we could get our ending missionaries home on the 21st, and still give them their time with President and Sister Tyler at the temple, the ending dinner and the testimony meeting. We have 8 ending their missions on the 21st. Everything is on different days, but it works and that is what matters. We have four sets of parents coming to pick up their missionaries from the US. Most are arriving on Sunday and will be able to attend the testimony meeting on Monday. Our new missionaries will arrive in the mission one day late on Thursday.

We are still in the office as President is coming in to meet with an elder who is here. President has been doing interviews since 9:00 a.m. and he is doing his last one now. It is now 7:30 p.m. We repeat, we believe the hardest calling in the Church is as a mission president, especially in our mission where our mission is split and the areas are so far apart. This president will not be able to stop for 3 years. Sister Tyler will be close behind him at all times. If, by chance, their oldest daughter or son, who ends his mission in October, should get married during this time, Sister Tyler will be able to attend the wedding, but president cannot. Truly, they, as have all mission presidents, bring new meaning to the term "labor of love."

Tomorrow we will clean and I will bake more cookies. I baked Wednesday night and sent 4 dozen cookies to Abancay. I am hoping they will have them for their zone study Monday morning. I need to send cookies to Cusco and Sicuani. Also tomorrow since it is past time for me to get my annual cholesterol blood check we might venture forth to do that. I now know where to go so we will hop on a bus and head out to La Molina. Who knows what other fun things we might find to do along the way.

Sunday is a regional conference satellite broadcast from Salt Lake. We are going to ask president if we can go to the CCM [LTM] to watch it in English. If so, then we will also have lunch at the CCM which is always lots of fun. What is especially fun is that we get to meet the new missionaries coming into our mission.

And that ends this week in our mission. Again we send our love and gratitude to you for your prayers. We, too, are praying for you.