A Girl Should Never Be without Her Camera

The South America Northwest Area president's daughter, a BYU sophomore, has been here in Lima since April with her folks. She has been a great help in the office, translating the missionary applications into English before they are sent on to Salt Lake City. The secretaries presented her with this elegant, decadent black forest cake on her last day. The cake was even better than it looks--pure chocolate ganache icing, non-waxy chocolate roses, marachino cherry centers, and Peruvian chocolate layered with chocolate ganache and manjar (caramel) and sprinkled with marachino cherries.








This picture of the inside of a bus we rode home from the office is hardly a good picture to sandwich in between two food fotos, but I deleted one picture.






This bus is not unusually ragged. Most of the buses look ragged inside and out. The ride is as ragged, jerky, bumpy, and speedy. Sometimes we laugh because the ride is so wild--think The Wild Mouse ride at Lagoon. Other times we are grateful to get off with our lives and in one piece. There are a few newer buses, but we aren't about to wait for one to come along.

This dessert is just heavenly, a typical Peruvian layered torta--chocolate cake, strawberry yogurt mousse, white cake, and dense gelatin. The despedida, with wonderful foods like this torta, was given by a US Embassy couple for the Area comptroller and his family (North Americans) who have spent the last fifteen years in South America. We knew them in Santiago and were excited to hear they were in Lima. They are headed to Moscow, Russia, for a few years. We will miss them.

Juana, the Area president's secretary, came into our office last week and asked me if I would take pictures (She knows I always carry a camera.) of the Area presidency, the 10 new mission presidents and their wives, the Area secretary, the DTA (director of temporal affairs for the Area) and Dad who is standing in the right corner. I wish someone had taken a picture of me with twelve cameras hanging from both arms. It would have made for a fun foto to include on this Blog.

Dad missed this picture because he was on the phone. The event was the despedida or going away party for Elder Nash's daughter who is in the center standing next to her father. On my right is Liliana Silva the Area president's professional secretary. Behind her is a special service missionary. Our friends Jack and Kay Beals, Area secretary and his wife, are next to him and behind me. They were in our BYU student branch in the 70s. He was one of Dad's counselors. On the other side of Elder Nash are Juana, Elder Nash's personal secretary and Katty who is a special service missionary in her spare time. She also works in the Area offices and the CCM, a traveling secretary, so to speak. She is also my tutor! She speaks excellent English. To her right is another special service missionary. He and his wife come in twice a week to help with phone calls.