Additional Insights from Elder Ramirez

Elder Fisher,

Good to hear from you again. To tell you the truth, it is fun to continue to talk about Peru and our mission. It helps in overcoming the feelings of missing it so much. This transition back to non-mission life has been more difficult than I ever thought it would be.

When you arrive in Lima, you will work an eight hour schedule each day, normally five days a week. There are some weeks when they have a "feriado" or federal holiday, where the temple will be open on Monday morning. On their federal holidays, the members flock to the temple so we stayed open with a last session at noon but that only happens a couple of times each year. Assuming that they will continue with the same schedule they have now, you will work two weeks of mornings, 6:15 till about 2:30 and then switch to two weeks of afternoons, 1:15 to about 9:30. You will alternate with the other English speaking missionary couple. The only difference in your temple schedule and the one we had, is that you should have some study time built into your schedule to study the ordinances in Spanish. However, most of your training will be OJT (on-the-job training) where you will take a card with you to do the ordinance.

As far as general conference, the temple missionaries are normally invited to the CCM (the Peru MTC) to watch general conference in English with the English speaking missionaries. In the past we have had lunch there with the missionaries. If not there, then most of the other missionaries meet at the Area office to watch it on the large screen there and then have a pot luck lunch between meetings. Where ever you watch it you won't have to worry about transportation. I am sure that President Bowman will come by to pick you up in the white temple van, with all the other temple missionaries, to attend conference. He will do that for normal Sunday church meetings, unless he is visiting a stake conference, and for family home evenings, etc. also. The chapel we attend is about a 15 minute walk, or a quick bus ride (cost about 15 cents) from the apartment. The chapel, which is the La Molina Stake Center, the CCM and the Area office are all located adjacent to each other and you will become quite familiar with all of these places.

I would recommend that you concentrate on the veil ceremony so that you can present at the veil and also the prayer you will need to offer in the prayer circle. These are two things that you can't use a card for. As far as our language skills, remember, neither Nadine or I spoke any Spanish prior to our mission but we can bear testimony to the gift of tongues. The Lord always blessed us with the language skills necessary to complete the work assigned.

Salud,

Ron