The Mission Presidents' Seminar

Every six months, we are privileged to attend a seminar for the mission presidents of the North America Southwest Area of the Church.  There are now thirty such presidents, and two presidents of the Missionary Training Centers in Bogotá and Lima.
The seminars consist of several days of instruction by the presidency of the Area, which includes Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.  In addition, General Authorities of the Church often attend and give instruction.
Of course, you can't get there from here, so we have to catch one of the two daily flight in small planes to get over the mountains and down to Lima.

Lima is, well, Lima.  There is very little charm to the place, and clouds cover it for 8-9 months of the year.

Whenever we fly to Lima, and we have numerous times over the last three years, as the plane descends in to the soupy clouds covering it, I am always reminded of Luke landing on the planet Degobah to meet Yoda, and.... you get the picture.

The traffic is famous for its congestion, but is far more organized than in Huancayo.

In addition to the instruction, we saw many old friends among the presidents and their wives, several of whom are finishing their three-year assignment on the 1st of July.

 But, back to reality.  We caught the plane back to the hills and watched the sunrise from 25,000 feet.

 We knew we were back home when we saw the snow-covered mountains.

In all, a welcome recharging of the batteries, but now back to work.

We hope all your trips to foreign cities and planets go well also.

Dave & Paula