Welcome President and Sister Marble

Waiting...

 Waiting...

 Waiting...

 Waiting...

 Welcome President and Sister Marble!

 The Marble's were greeted by the Assistants, Secretaries, some of the Church employees,

President and Sister Rios (Trujillo Sur Mission) and of course the Marler's.

 Three mission presidents of Trujillo.

We would like to introduce President and Sister Marble to you all. 

They are amazing, we spent the evening with them last night. 

The Marble's will continue the good work of the Lord, they will love the missionaries, they will have the greatest 3 years of their lives.

As we finish our last day presiding over the Trujillo North Mission,

Our hearts and minds are filled with thoughts of joy, love, concern, prayer, hope 

and maybe a little uncertainty.

Could we have done more?  Perhaps.

Did we do everything we felt prompted to do?  Yes.
Did we meet and love some of the most wonderful people? Yes

Missionaries, Stake Presidents and their wives, members of the wards, branches,
and the Mission Presidencies and their wives whom we served with. 

Could we have loved the missionaries more?  No.

It was like being parents to 618 to the most wonderful young adults, every day.
Worrying about them, leading them and most importantly, loving them.
It doesn't matter if they are still in the mission or have returned home, we think about them every day.

Could we have worked harder?  

I don't think so, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Charla Fogeneras, proselyting, training missionaries at Multi Zone Conferences, 5 Week Meetings, Interviews, Training New Trainers, Training New Missionaries, leading, guiding and walking beside them each day.  Reading 172-276 letters every week and answering them.  Speaking in 48 Stake Conferences, 14 District Conferences, and 8 Branch Conferences, and various Wards and Branches on our "weekends free."
We loved the Christmas and Easter Programs.
Everything we did was with the focus of inviting people to find Jesus Christ in their lives. 

We experienced holding missionaries whose parents, grandparents,
or other close family and friends passed away.
We were held and supported by them when our grandson, Tyler, passed away.

 We watched a temple be built, and helped to put together chandeliers for the temple,
with our dear friends the Fenn's.

We served with our sisters for the Trujillo Temple open house.

We rejoiced with Elder Uchtdorf at the Cultural Celebration for the temple.

We set up a new mission, Trujillo Peru South, and welcomed our dear friends, President and Sister Rios.
We have enjoyed sharing wonderful missionaries with them.

                                                                                                                                                             





We toured the mission, and had training meetings with  2 Apostles 

and other General Authorities of the Church.

Our children and grandchildren visited and shared our mission experience

and our missionaries with us.
For our missionaries, it was a chance to meet and love our family.

We are thankful for the sacrifices our family made,

so we could serve without worries from home.
Stefany and Scott came first, we visited the Sierra, ran with Alpaca, and ate the best Peruvian food!

Brian and Tiffany came with their 4 children.  They loved
visiting La Hermalinda, Chicama, and the Huacas de La Liberated.

Kim and Arnie, AJ and Riley came next, loving every minute of their trip,
especially the Paseo de Caballos.

Jenny and Conor were next, they were here for the Trujillo Temple Open House,
and loved being with the missionaries.

Becky and JJ arrived with their five children right after the temple opened.
What fun it was to visit the beach, the Sierra, Ruins and the people we had come to love.
We also went to the temple together to perform baptisms for family members who passed before having the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

...and of course, I have enjoyed keeping up the Blog, so missionaries,

returned missionaries, parents, grandparents and friends around the world could share in 

this great mission experience.
We have had regular visits on the blog from people from 89 countries,
we presently have about 1500 views each week.
Thank you to all who have loved and prayed for our missionaries.
To those of you who are not members of our Church, we welcome you to learn more, ask someone
in your city, how to find our missionaries, they are ready to teach your about our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Please come, listen, it will bring you great joy to follow the Savior of the World. 

We are thankful for a call from the Lord.

Thanks to all who prayed for us, we felt the strength of the Lord with us every day.

We love you all,

This has been the greatest calling of our lives.

P-day with the Assistants and Secretaries

Sharing an occasional p-day with the Elders from the office is a rare, and wonderful experience.

Saturday, our p-day, we headed to Casa Grande for a "huaca adventure."

 Huacas are temples from past civilizations here in Peru.  Some of the ruins include burial grounds, 

others, were ceremonial areas for giving sacrifices and offerings.

They are literally everywhere in our part of Peru.

 Here you can see some of the dwellings built into the sides of the mountain.

 Up and over the mountain, the huaca was on the back side, with burial sites everywhere that had been excavated years ago by those looking for treasures of gold, turquoise, and quarts crystals.

 Another small habitation built into the side of the mountain.

 Our tour guides were the Rodriguez family from Casa Grande. 

Hermano Rodriguez knew so much history of the area, and could even point out the difference civilization that lived there, by which type of ceramic, stone or clay shard we found.

 Here is an almost complete pot from the Mochica Period.

 Here we have a few femur bones sticking out of a grave.

 Thanks Rodriguez family for a wonderful day.  Thanks for finding the "sun block" plant too, it worked great!

 We then visited a fortress, above another huaca. 

We could see forever, I know why these people selected this place for their look-out.

The Walls of the fortress.  What a wonderful, beautiful day.
I have loved learning the history of this beautiful land, and I am grateful to those who have shared
it with me. 

Assistants, let me tell you about them.

Not too long ago, I received a message on my Facebook from Elder Dallas Bond, he served as one of our assistants from June- November of 2015.  The note said that I had miss-named two of the missionaries on the blog...I love our Assistants, "they have our backs", they lift us up,

 they keep on giving and serving even after they return home.
This has prompted me to post about all of our assistants.

In January, we spent the day with Elder Jair Castillo, he has been home for almost two years.

He came to Trujillo for some business, stayed at the mission home, and we went to the temple.
 

We rode in the car, sharing memories of my first days in the mission...driving, getting lost, 

him not speaking English and me not speaking Spanish. 

But we helped each other and got along great.

He now speaks English, I speak Spanish and we are great friends.

Elder Michael Zarian was one of our first assistants as well, he served with Elder Jair Castillo. He served with us from July 1- October 2013.

He could memorize the change board in 15 minutes flat and saved us hours of time by answering

questions about every missionary in every area. 

After Elder Zarian went home, Elder Cody Smith became our Assistant.
He and Elder Castillo served together.  It was a great companionship. 

I will never forget Elder Castillo's last day in the mission, Elder Smith was so sad to have
his best friend return home. In April, 2016, Elder Smith returned to the mission for a visit, it was so wonderful to see the two of them together again.

Elder Zavaleta followed Elder Castillo.
This pictures is showing him receiving his English Certificate, he went from not speaking English to
fluency during the mission.  Elder Zavaleta was a great missionary, he taught me how to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He always brought his family pictures into every lesson.
He is a humble servant of the Lord.

Soon after, Elder Antuña became an assistant.  He is from Argentina, spoke magnificent English and I loved having him translate for me.  He was the most organized assistant ever, I think he will run a corporation one day. Elder Antuña was a great friend and example to all of our missionaries.
He was an amazing teacher.

It is always hard to loose an assistant when they go home. They become a part of your family,
you work with them and see them each and every day.
Each Assistant is unique, they bring their own strengths and talents, they will all be amazing leaders.

Elder Brown was the kindest, most loving, charitable person I have known.  He was an example to all. He was always positive and found the best in every moment. He loved having our family visit. Elder Brown also made me put aside the translator and papers and being speaking Spanish. He just had a way of helping people to learn more confidence in the Lord.

 Elder Haake joined Elder Brown as an Assistant.  It was a joy to have his friendship and his talents in the leadership of the mission.  He played the violin and piano, could teach and train and "leap tall buildings in a single bound." I am sure that is partly due to his height, and to his spiritual stature.

His ability to teach, included a violin lesson for our grandson, Gunnar.

Elder Haake always smiled, always shared his love and caring for others.

 Elder Haacke was followed by Elder Bond.  Another kind soul.  Some people seem to have "old souls," though he loved to play and be a fun young man, he also had great maturity.
Elder Bond was another wonderful teacher, I loved teaching with him and some of most memorable moments teaching investigators are with him.

Elder Marshall joined us next, with the mantra, "it's just fine." That young man could calm anyone down.  His love for others and his patience is amazing. He gives full credit to his success, to growing up in a houseful of sisters.  Elder Marshall, as all of our Assistants, is a great teacher, he grasps concepts and can share them in a way all can understand.
He always shares a smile and sparkling eyes with everyone.
He reminds me a lot of my son, maybe it is that houseful of girls he was raised with.

Elder Craft came with a bubbly, fun personality, he keeps us laughing, but at the same time is a powerful teacher, who can reach the hearts of his listeners.  He likes to involve everyone in activities, whether physical (like tennis) or spiritual (like practices for lessons).
Elder Craft and Elder Marshall are the exact same height (as long as they both have their shoes off).
Elder Craft is joyful, and a joy to be around.

Elder Marshall and Elder Craft will be going home at the same time, just two weeks after the new President and his wife come.  So President Marler called Elder Arenas to join a threesome. 

Elder Arenas is from Columbia and lived part of his life in Spain (the last 7 years).

Elder Carman is the newest Assistant.
Elder Carman comes to us from Utah, you would think from Lyndon
from the way he invites us to live there constantly.

Though we have only worked with Elder Carman for the last three weeks
we had the joy of knowing him as a great zone leader.
He is always happy, energetic and pretty entertaining as well.

He walks into a room and everyone notices him, looks up to him and learns from him.  he has such a warm, kind, gentle heart.  He is such a blessing to have as an Assista

We would like to thank each and everyone of you for leading the mission,
teaching, training, loving and advancing the mission during your time of service.
We love each of you.
President Marler has one little wish, to have all of you together in the same room one day,
the Celestial room, with your spouses.
If anyone can make that happen, it is the 12 of you!

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