Girl Power!

Finished another workshop today. This was our first graduating class of all women. They were awesome. But that alone is not the reason I decided to write. When we showed up to the chapel this morning we found it a little wet. Apparently there had been a leak in the kitchen that was never really fixed. But we weren't discouraged. The members of the class all jumped in and within an hour we had it all under control. I'm glad things like this are happening towards the end and not when we first got here. We probably would have had a little panic attack. Last week we had two different workshops where we were locked out of the chapel. Each worked out just fine in the end, but we lost an hour each time. Oh well. I guess that is just how life goes. Well, that's about it. Enjoy the pictures.

I Got Sunburned Again

Sounds like everyone is doing great. Things in Mexico City have been fantastic. On Monday we had the opportunity to go to Teotihuacán. It was the celebration of the Spring equinox so there were a ton of people; many of them dressed in white. We didn't get a chance to climb the pyramids because of the three to four hour wait, but we are going to try and go back before we have to return to the states. The picture is of the Pyramid of the Sun. In any case, we started another workshop this week. There aren't a lot of people, but they are still a great group. They have a lot of amazing incites. Once we finish this group we will have two more workshops finishing up the first part of April. Can't believe it's all coming to an end. I don't think I'm ready to be surrounded by tons of white people again. Well, keep up the good work everyone and I hope to see as many of you as I can on May 5th.

Twelve down, four to go!

This past week we finished teaching our 12th Self-Employment Workshop! 
We've been teaching a ton but there is nothing more rewarding then hearing success stories from people who attended one of the workshops.

Mayorazgo Stake graduates:

Valsequillo Stake graduates:



Tehuacán graduates:


We can't believe how fast the time has flown by! I'm sure we can all agree this has been a pretty incredible experience!
We probably wont be able to make it on May 5th, but we definetly want to get together with everyone when we get back, if one weekend or Sunday night works for any of you....?!

-Jeff and Lauren

This feels like the end even though we haven't had our supposed "half-way" call yet.

Team!! You guys rock! We hope that you are doing well! We are off to our last workshop for the time that we are here. We have taught 9 and we are starting our 10th today and finishing our 11th on saturday. We have loved teaching the workshop and the spanish comes much easier during the workshop as well. Today we are projected to teach 100 people in a place called La Romana, rough translation, (Heaven on Earth). You know, beautiful beaches, Europeans, and lots of fun.

I wish we could post some pictures of our recent adventures in the ocean and with our new friends down here. Alas, you'll have to wait to see the photos (May 5th!!!!).

We recently had to stay at a dirty little hotel in a dirty little place in Azua. There was a goose right underneath our window that honked all night. All night. We almost killed it for breakfast the next morning.

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellowbeings ye are only in the service of your God."

See ya'll soon.

Benditas

Wow. We have done so much in the past four days, don't know where to start. This weekend we were assigned to teach in Puno, which calls home the shores of Lake Titicaca, which is also part of Bolivia. This is the highest altitude we've ever been to. The clouds were so close!


We found out a day before we were supposed to teach that we would be teaching separately for the first time, which meant I had to review/learn parts at the last minute. After a five/six hour bus ride, Jenny was dropped off in Juliaca, a super sketchy commercial town about 40 minutes from Puno, while I stayed on the bus to teach in Puno. 


Puno consists of pure hills with the Lake Titicaca to the side. Beautiful. When I got to Puno, I found out that there would be 60 people in the classroom. 60. We have NEVER had a group this big, let alone, teaching it by myself. Adventure for sure. I felt like I was screaming to keep their attention.. hilarious. Apparently the director had asked for 5 representatives from each ward to come to the workshop, so some people were there and didn't really have solid business ideas, which made things a little more difficult, but fun none the less.


On Saturday, I joined Jenny in Juliaca for some Carnaval fun, and then headed back to teach the workshop. 


Sunday. We went with the employment specialist of Puno, David, to the branch on Lake Titicaca. The Uros people live on these floating islands made from totoru reeds, which they replace every 15 days. They basically live on plants that have been stacked up for years. Felt like I was on another world.


Apparently this branch is only about a year old, and some general authorities from the church  came to dedicate it a little while back. The coolest thing was to see how humble these people are. Their neon colored clothes, both men and women, gave an interesting contrast against Jenny and mine's dark, black coats and tights. Sunday school and Relief Society was in Spaymara, or what I like to call Spanish, and Aymara, the native language of these people. They learn Spanish while in the public schools. This was probably number one on the COOLEST THINGS I've done here in Peru so far. Afterwards, we ate a lunch of locally caught trout, and chuno, which are potatoes that are dehydrated, frozen, literally stomped on, and then served. They taste just about how they sound ;).


I finished the workshop that day, with the group a little bit smaller than before. Awesome learning experience. Puno has been the most organized in terms of being on the ball and wanting to continue the workshop compared to all the other places we have visited.


Loved visiting with a Quechan family. I feel like the grandpa and I were soulmates in another life.


Monday was our P-day, and we traveled around with our workshop friends to some interesting ruins. Check out Facebook photos coming soon.... let's just say pictures say a thousand words. By far the most interesting ones we've been to so far ;). Jenny and I were lucky to get back home in time before it got dark when we went to some other ruins, Sillustani, which are tall funerary towers built by the Incas, which we got into for free. Don't know how. Got back home to Arequipa at 3 this morning! 


We're here for another three days, living on a fruit diet, and then we travel to Tacna on Friday, which is on the border of Chile. Whoop whoop!

"Elay Pue"... El (esta) ahi pues

Oh my goodness, I can't believe we only have a month left here! With seven workshops down and five to go we  are feeling much much more confident than we did our first week here. I think the workshops have been my favorite part of the day and it's been really fun getting to know our participants and what their goals and dreams are. Something really fun: When we first write the rules for the class we ask them what penitence they want for people arriving late, cell phones ringing, etc. In our second workshop one of our participants suggested that they sing and since then we've made the same suggestion to our other workshops. It's been a hit. And we all get a good laugh. :)

We're off to Cochabamba in a couple of days and we're excited because we'll get to see the temple!! We'll be teaching three workshops there and we'll go to La Paz for a few days to visit. And we finally got to hold a monkey (few weeks back). It was awesome. Peace out!

Singing time!

A Super Amazingly Original Title

Well, we did it. Our monster of a group has come and gone. I think we finished with around 70 graduates. That sounds about right. It was a lot of fun when we did the graduation. We brought both classes together. Sure, it may have taken a little longer, but it was interesting to see how different the classes were and how loyal they were to their teachers. It was a great experience. Now, I'm not saying that I want to teach another huge group, but it definitely made our following group of 30 seem like a breeze. We finished Cuautitlán Thursday evening and then Friday morning we got up early to take a two hour bus to Taluca. But oh has it been worth it. We have just over 30 students and they are amazing. They even show up on time. How great is that. To make it easier on us, we staid in a hotel Friday night. It was a lot of fun to walk around a new city and see what there was. We even came across the showing of an independent film. I didn't really care much for it, but Nathan seemed to like to. I guess I'm just not artistic enough. Anyway, things are good. This other picture is of our lemonade market analysis. We had one person from each group represent their business, at least one from each group act as a potential client, and the rest of the people went around asking questions and gathering information. I think they had a lot of fun with it. We talked about what they learned and a lot of them came away with an idea that they need to practice it. You can't just know what your business is, but you need to be able to present it. Anyway, life is going well. Don't really have any complaints. Hope you guys are all living it up.

Mexico City

Steven and Nathan

"Como te va Nene?!?"

That came from a nino that is with us right now in the center, he is really funny, he was baptised on saturday and his name is Alvieris. Sweet name no?

I can't remember the last time that we blogged, its been a long time. We have been to several beaches now. Samana was that last one we told you about. We have been to three others now on our days off. We went to a beach called Playa Caribe and we were tossed around like pumpkins that fall out of a big Dominican truck. Okay, that was a horrible analogy but the waves were like 8 feet tall and were super uneven. We would dive underneath one, come up for air quickly and have to dive again to save ourselves from being overcome with sea water! IT WAS AWESOME!! Then we went to another beach, much more tranquilo called Juan Dolio and I, Tyler, got SO BURNED!! (Lindon is now super tan) I didn't put on sunscreen and oh did I look like shrimp for the next week. Then a few days later we went to the beach the entire day with some friends of ours, the Rappley's. He is in charge of CES for the whole Caribbean and knows Lindon's Dad so they have been kind enough to take us to several places here on the island. We went to Bahaibe, probably the most gorgeous beach I have ever been to in my entire life. You know those wallpapers that come on your computer already there with the beach, the palm trees, blue water, sun, white sand...Eric and I can officially say..."Yeah, I've been there!" :) It was GREAT!

Then my family came last weekend and we went to a new beach and side of the island that we hadn't been to yet. It was a place called Cabarete, a gorgeous little surfing town on the northern part of the island. We stayed the weekend with my parents and went to the beach, also to 7 waterfalls where these huge Dominicans pull you up these waterfalls and then you either jump or slide off, it was RADICAL!!

We are going to the Camila Concert this weekend which is going to be incredible! We are going to try to be close enough to get the drumstick whenever the drummer throws it!

Oh yeah...the workshops! ;) We do work! A lot actually, we have taught 6 so far and are currently teaching 3 more right now. We love the people and they all are super ready and prepared for the class. Lindon and I have had a blast traveling and meeting tons of people!

We miss you guys!