A Visit from Elder & Sister Zaballos
A week ago Saturday, President Chipman and I traveled to Tanca, Peru. It was a 6 ½ hour drive through high mountains and vast desert valleys to a fertile city located near the border of Chile. I’m finding the stark contrast beautiful, in spite of the lack of vegetation along the way. Even dirt can have pretty colors when it is mixed with a blue sky and sunshine!
Not only did we have a Stake Conference to address, we were scheduled to have a Mission Tour start in Tacna on Tuesday evening and last through Friday in Arequipa. For this big event, missionaries were bussed and housed from the far corners of the mission to attend one of two conferences scheduled as well as a leadership meeting.
The mission tour was presided over by Elder Jorge F. Zaballos who came with his wife, Carmen Gloria. They are both originally from Chile, but they flew in from Lima where they live and serve from. Elder Zaballos is the president over the South American Northwest Area and ours is one of more than 30 missions that he oversees besides all the stakes and districts in the countries of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Columbia, and Venezuela.
Our missionaries were bussed in from Moquegua, Ilo, and the Coastal regions to stay the night for the large conference and tour. It was so fun to see them gather and when we saw them they seemed like long-lost friends! It was a great conference, and we learned so much from Elder and Sister Zaballos.
While we were having our conference in Tacna, back in Arequipa our assistants welcomed four brand-new missionaries at the Airport. They had traveled from the USA to finally join our mission after serving in reassigned areas during COVID. Two actually came from the same mission in Kentucky, one from Alabama, and one from New Hampshire.
On Friday and before their flight, Elder and Sister Zaballos joined us for a tour of Arequipa’s historical sites. The first place we went to was Molino De Sabandía, which is a picturesque attraction featuring a 17th-centruy flour mill in a tranquil and natural environment. We were amazed to see the working stone mill that was being powered by the diverted water.
We then went to La Mansión del Fundador which was the 1500s colonial estate and home of Arequipa’s founder, Jacob Hunter. This was really perfect timing because August 15 is the Anniversary of Arequipa and there were celebrations all weekend.
After taking the Zaballos to the airport, we took a walk down to the plaza to check out the anniversary festivities, and we were not disappointed!
We learned that these people love to celebrate on Sunday morning at about 7 am. President Chipman and I decided to take a walk through the deserted city streets in the morning light. We were really surprised when a huge military band the size of two city blocks came marching towards us playing full board music. There was no reason for this, and we were the only spectators, so we took pictures and enjoyed the music. We love how this place never stops surprising us!
