Orphanage Day of Service

Photos:

*Missionaries from the Lima Central Mission along with 4 from the Area office. Elder Merrill and I along with Elder and Hermana Prince were invited to tag along.   

*The Missionaries sang Christmas hymns while the children ate their Christmas snack of hot chocolate and panetone.   

*The children enjoying their treat (3 photos).  

*Missionaries serving hot chocolate to the children.  

*Little girl playing with her new car.   

*Missionaries working to beautify the grounds (3 photos). 

We had the wonderful opportunity to go with a group of young full-time missionaries from the Lima Central Mission to a large orphanage supported by the government. Children up to 18 years old are cared for and educated in this orphanage. Our personal interaction was focused on the 70 preschoolers who live there.

The young missionaries brought panettone (a very popular Peruvian Christmas treat--the grocery stores have aisles that are full of nothing other than different brands and sizes of assorted panetones) that was served with hot chocolate. They drink hot chocolate here during the Christmas season even though the weather is really hot. It is a Christmas tradition, perhaps picked up from Christmas movies.

The missionaries also gave each of the children a small wooden toy car which the children loved. Even many hours later many were seen clutching their new toys. The young missionaries also sang Christmas songs to the preschoolers and interacted with them. Mary was (as always) loved by the little children. Rob spent a fair amount of time on the ground playing with the children as well. They seemed to really enjoy the additional attention.

After spending time with the preschoolers, the young missionaries were provided with garden tools and picks and shovels and they worked to make some requested modifications in some of the landscaped, or needing landscaping, areas.

Rob asked if there were any roses nearby and took his hand pruners and went to work pruning and shaping rose bushes that had not (if ever) had that sort of care. His Master Gardener training has come in handy more than once in Peru and this was no exception. We hope that the roses will burst into bloom with flowers after the encouragement provided by the pruning. He also went to work doing some nipping at the bougainvillea vines to encourage their improved flowering. Having a bougainvillea vine in the small yard at our apartment has been helpful as he has had to learn how to care for it to encourage blooming. Within about 3 weeks the vines at the orphanage should be even more full of beautiful flowers!

More photos from the day

       

 

Senior Missionary Couples

Senior Missionary couples who were invited along--Jerri and Jerry Prince, Area Self-Reliance Missionaries; Mary and Rob Merrill,  Area Welfare (Humanitarian) Missionaries and Terry and Annette Hill, Records Preservation Missionaries in the Lima Central Mission.