June 20

Ok guys! Last one! I'm all checked in a ready to fly out tomorrow. It still feels
unreal, kind of like how coming here in the first place felt. It's strange, the time
seemed to fly by so fast!! And now here I am I guess, leaving tomorrow.
Anyways, I am happy to report that we finished it. The mural is done!! It took a lot
longer than expected but it was my favorite thing to do here. I am happy with the time I
spent at hogar de cristo painting and teaching, but mostly getting to know and love those
silly boys. They are some special kids and I feel so lucky to have had this time with
them. It was so hard to leave them today. They kept hanging on me telling me 'no te
vayas' over and over again. I have to admit I was having a hard time holding everything
together. It's amazing, I feel like I didn't have to do anything and they just loved me
and the other volunteers. They love and trust so unconditionally. It's hard to think that
I will probably never see these boys again, but I hope I have made some sort of impact on
their lives. If I haven't, at least they have done so for me.
I'm really going to miss it here, but I feel as if my time has been very well spent and I
have learned a lot. I appreciate anyone and everyone who has sent money or prayers or
thoughts on my behalf. I am grateful for all that has made this possible for me, it is an
experience I will not likely soon forget.
Love, Amber


The group and the mural we painted at Hogar de Christo



Victor tried to add his name to the mural!



Me and the boys

June 18

Hello again! Sorry I've missed a couple days! Monday I was on a bus all night and 
yesterday I went to bed early because I didn't sleep on said bus ride, unfortunately. But 
I'm ok now! Tuesday we got in to Piura at around 9ish and then I went straight to Paul 
Harris. It was my last day! I am sad to leave those special children. They are so sweet 
and I feel so lucky to have known them. 
Later that afternoon, even though I was dying because of a lack of sleep, we went to 
hogar de cristo to work on the mural. It is almost done! I really love those boys. They 
are so sweet and just the silliest happiest things. I am even more sad to be leaving them 
behind. If I hadn't had this project this past month, I would not have felt as fulfilled 
about my time here. Because of these boys, I feel like I have made a little bit if a 
difference, and I definitely feel like they have made a difference in my life. I also 
will never ever forget about them. 
Oh if any Boy Scout needs an eagle project or someone just wants to help some people out 
with service, I have the contact information for this orphanage. They need a lot. 
Supplies, clothes, funds, you name it. These boys are wonderful and even though they 
don't have a lot, they are so happy. They deserve as much as any other boy growing up 
today. 
If there is anything I have learned from being here, it's that life is not fair. One 
person's situation in life will not be the same as others. Maybe that's common sense, but 
I have learned that for myself here. Something else along with that, is that your 
situation in life does not matter. What matters is your attitude. The people here, a lot 
of them have very little, but yet they are some of the happiest people I have ever met. 
And these boys are no exception. I am really going to miss them. 
Today we just went to hogar. We went at ten this morning and we didn't leave until seven 
this evening. The mural is almost done! It's exciting! 
Anyways, that's really my life right now, for the next day still. Then I am headed home! 
I am sad but feel ready to come home. I miss everyone! 
Love, Amber

June 14 Machu Picchu

So today was spent entirely in Machu Picchu. It was absolutely incredible. That's
all I can really say about it. I really am just so amazed by the sheer size and
magnificence and genius of the Incan civilization and of the amazing landscape around it.
It's the most beautiful place I have ever been. The mountains are incredible, and the
fact that the incas, without the use of the wheel, who had no written language, created
the amazing structure of Machu Picchu on TOP of one of those enormous mountains just
still blows my mind. Our guide Rolando was really great. It really was very lucky to have
met him and that he was so willing to come with us and show us around. It really was a
unique experience. Rolando is Quechua, and he is a convert to the church, so he knew a
lot about the symbolism and the meaning behind the structures. And it was cool to hear an
lds perspective. Maybe it's a stretch, but it seemed to me that there were many
interesting similarities.  I don't know much about that stuff, but it was really cool to
hear about. It also occurred to me that rolando was a walking piece of history. He told
us that far back, his ancestor was one of the great inca kings. It was really cool to
meet him. A very unique and special experience. So other than being blown away by Machu
Picchu, we just at dinner, met some other people staying here in the hostel, and
showered. It was a vey long day, and I am going to be so sore tomorrow. That's all. I
love everyone!
Amber

Ps. Please say you've been watching the World Cup, or at least keeping tabs on the
scores. Holland?? They beat Spain, 5-1. Rematch from last World Cup final? And they
killed. Anyways, I'm going to miss every store, restaurant, etc having the games on.

June 13 Continued

Hello again! Now I am in Aguascalientes at the base of Machu Picchu! Tomorrow we 
hike! I am really excited but i am also super exhausted. All we have been doing the past 
two and a half days is traveling. It's so tiring. I love it here though. The sacred 
valley really is a sacred place. It feels like a little piece of heaven. At the base is 
the river urubamba and it is flanked by enormous mountains on the two sides. Traveling 
down it today on the train felt like I was guarded from the outside. It feels like a 
completely different world. I wish I could just spend days here hiking around the entire 
valley. It is beautiful. It feels magical! I can definitely understand why it was and is 
considered sacred. So today, we left cusco in a comvi to ollantaytambo with a friend we 
met at the fireside. He is a tour guide here and offered to come with us for free. His 
name is Rolando and he is full Quechua! He learned Spanish when he was 14! He definitely 
looks it too. He is probably only 5' tall. I feel like I tower over him. But he is really 
nice and he is a member of the church! Dad, he served his mission in Trujillo! We are 
very lucky to have met him, so we can learn as much as possible while we are here. The 
one problem is that he doesn't speak English super well. But I have been able to 
understand and translate almost perfectly so far, which I am pretty proud of. He has also 
been teaching us a little Quechua too. 
In ollantaytambo we ate lunch, rice and pork and chicken soup, as per usual here, then 
hiked to some ruins. They were apparently the storehouses of the incas in that area. They 
would store their food and it would keep for years because there was limited farmland in 
the area to feed the people, because it's at the bottom if the valley. After that was the 
train then our hostal in Aguascalientes now it's bedtime because I am super exhausted. I 
love you all! Have a great day!!
Amber 

Kiley and Amber K. with Ronaldo

Ollantaytambo

The Ruins

June 13

Hola from Cusco! The past day has been just a lot of traveling. We took a bus from 
piura to Lima that was 14 hours. Then a plane from Lima to cusco! We are almost to Machu 
Picchu! I am so excited! 
Fun story, our flight was apparently overbooked. So we had to get switched into a later 
flight. We got a voucher for free lunch in the food court at the airport though, so 
totally fine with me. But along with that, when we were heading to security, we ran into 
elder oaks and an area authority elder grows and their wives! They were headed to cusco 
as well for a YSA devotional there that they were speaking at. It was really wonderful to 
meet them and talk to them. Their wives are the sweetest ladies I have ever met, 
especially sister oaks. We were able to talk to them for a while as we were waiting for 
our flight. They asked us all about what we had been working on with help and even asked 
us what we felt the members here in Peru needed to hear most! Talk about trust! But it 
was really wonderful. I don't think it was a coincidence that our flight had to be 
changed. They invited us to the YSA devotional as well. And that was really wonderful. I 
know it was for a reason that we met them. 
Anyways, Cusco is beautiful! Cobblestone streets, little Quechua people with colorful 
embroidered skirts and babies tied to their backs, tall mountains and white people! This 
is definitely a tourist trap. But I love it. 
It has been a lot of traveling but I think it's worth it. I am really getting to know 
these girls I am traveling with and I love them. We need each other right now! It's 
wonderful! 
Love you all! 
Amber

With Elder C. Scott Grow and his wife

With Elder Dallin H. Oaks and his wife

Cusco!

June 10

Today was super busy, but nothing different than what we have been doing lately. I 
went to Paul Harris this morning, it was really hard today. The kids decided to all act 
out today, at once. I had my hair pulled, a girl kept stealing my ponytail holder right 
out of my hair, I got head butted in the face, and one of the boys kept setting a car 
alarm off, on purpose. One of the teachers cars is always parked inside the complex, and 
he knew just where to hit it to set the alarm off. That is something I will not miss 
hearing so much. Car alarms go off so much here! I realized that is one of my pet peeves. 
That sound just gets under my skin. After Paul Harris finally ended, we went home and had 
a couple hours to kill before hogar de cristo. We taught English for the first half an 
hour then worked on the mural. It's coming, but it's a lot slower than I was hoping. It 
probably won't get all the way done tomorrow, but at least part if it. I will send 
pictures as we finish. 
I have really come to appreciate growing up speaking English. I have realized as I have 
tried to teach it, how hard it really is to learn. There are so many complicated rules in 
English that aren't really rules because they are broken all the time. And there are so 
many sounds that these Spanish speakers just don't have. But I still am impressed with 
how much these boys want to learn, some of them. Also, leaving hogar de cristo is always 
a very long process. They don't let us leave very easily! And we want to stay most of the 
time. I love those boys! I will be so sad to leave them. 
Tomorrow is the day! We leave for Lima around 5pm then the morning after we fly to cusco! 
Saturday is Machu Picchu! And Thursday the World Cup starts! That's irrelevant but still 
exciting. 
Anyways, that's all! I love you all! Also, I probably won't email tomorrow night, since I 
will be on a bus. 
Love you! 
Amber

June 9

Today was a very long but very productive day. In the morning I went to Paul Harris 
again. I really enjoy working there. I feel like I am getting to know the kids really 
well and the teachers are becoming more open. Before, we were the white kid volunteers 
who barely spoke Spanish, but the few words I've spoken to the kids has shown that I know 
enough to hold a conversation. And that has opened up a lot of opportunities to speak. My 
Spanish has improved so much since I've been here. I may not remember all the rules for 
grammar that i learned in high school, but I definitely know enough to talk to the people 
and get my point across, and that is really all that matters, and it helps me realize 
that I can do hard things. I was so scared to speak before, but now it is so much easier. 
I've learned that it is better to try and then be wrong than not try at all and never 
know how much you know, and so never get better. I use Spanish so much that I'm starting 
to speak to myself with it. I haven't started dreaming in Spanish yet, I don't think... 
But it's only a matter of time, right? 
I was so excited the first time I realized I could fully understand what people were 
speaking to me. 

Something that has really helped is talking with the boys at hogar de cristo. They are so 
eager to talk to us and learn English that I have to pay really close attention to what 
they say. And we explain things to each other in both English and Spanish. There is an 
understanding that we won't always be able to understand each other, and so we are 
patient with each other. I like it. I like them. They are awesome. That is where I went 
this afternoon. We were there for almost five hours working on the wall. I took pictures 
this time! We are almost done with the base coat of paint! It's a hard wall to paint. 
It's huge and is made of uneven brick. I would've preferred a smoother wall for the 
mural, but this is the one Luis wanted us to paint, so that is what we are doing. It's 
getting done though! Little by little. Tomorrow, while Talmage and the boys fill in the 
last cracks, I will start on the under drawing for the mural design. I'm so excited! I 
hope it turns out ok. 

Anyways, that's all for today, besides some of us did some push-ups and abs and played 
just dance on YouTube tonight on the roof. I wonder what the Peruvians think of us :)
Oh funny story, on the way home from hogar de cristo on the bus, we went over a huge bump 
and we flew about two feet in the air, no joke. It startled me so what did I do, I 
screamed slightly. It was more of a squeak, but it made everyone I. The bus turn back and 
look at us... It was so embarrassing, especially since we were already covered in paint, 
and so looked even stranger... Haha oh well, we already stick out so we might as well 
take advantage of it. 
Anyways, love you!
Amber 

These are the youngest boys. Noe on the left and Victor on the right.  They are pretty funny.

This is Neibar.  I call him Vecino.  And Wilson is the one with his shirt over his head.

The wall, where it was at around 5ish today.  We didn't leave until 7 though, so this is not the latest progression picture.

Us and almost all the boys, I think.  It's hard to tell who's in this picture, unfortunately.  I will have to get another group picture before I leave. Luis is on the far right.

June 8

I decided that since I told you about the most adventurous part of this weekend's 
mini vacation, I would just send more pictures. 

The tiny sea town of mancora. And a mototaxi. 

June 7

Yesterday was definitely one of the more eventful days that I have spent here. We took a comvi to mancora, a little beach town in the north of Peru, four hours from Ecuador and two from piura. I finished a really good book on the way, mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I highly recommend it to anyone, I really enjoyed it. We spent the evening on the beach. Kiley, one of the girls here, my roommate, and I got to ride horses! It was so fun! I even got mine to gallop! It was so amazing. We got dinner at a real Italian restaurant, served to us by an Italian. Then walked around the town a little bit. This place is the most touristy place I have been so far. There were other white people which was strange. We saw these kids performing Peruvian dances for their school and that was really cool too. Later we went to the place we were planning on staying, our neighbor offered his house complex thing he is developing out here. We got a ride from some guys and we fit all nine of us in the bed of their truck. When we got there, half just grabbed their stuff to go back to town to stay in a hotel. For good reason. The other five of us were going to be tough and stay, since it was free. But, when we got there we found rat poop on the beds and there were tons of spiders and we found a scorpion! Needless to say we left after that to go find a hostel back in town. It was 11:30 at night though so we had to walk down the dark stretch of highway and that was freaky. Along the way we saw giant frogs and a tarantula! Eventually and nice mototaxi driver came by and  offered to take us into town. There were five of us though so two of us had to stand on the back of the moto, which was pretty fun. The driver helped us find a hostel and stayed with us until we were certain that's what we wanted. He was very helpful. By that time it was midnight and we were all exhausted! Our hostel has wifi though, this morning is beautiful and sunny, barely a cloud in the sky, we went on a run down the beach and then cooled off in the water, now we are going to meet everyone else at noon then spend more time just on the beach. I think today is going to be a wonderful day!  Love you all!  Amber Kiley and I with our horses Our roommate, the scorpion The sunset was gorgeous

June 5

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I forgot to write yesterday! Things have been super busy here! 
I am so worn out. Yesterday we taught English at hogar de cristo again. This time to the 
younger boys. I am making some really good friends there. These boys are so great, so 
very silly. I enjoy spending time there with them, one planned hour always turns into 
two. There were five boys that we taught yesterday, victor is 8 and just the sweetest. 
Michel is 9 and he has the hardest time sitting still and writing in his notebook but he 
loves to answer questions we ask. Gabriel is interesting, he is 10 and is always asking 
what certain words mean in English and they usually have nothing to do with what we are 
teaching. Fabian has a really hard time paying attention when we teach but he loves the 
games we play, I think he is 9 as well. Aravel just turned 12 and he definitely acts like 
he knows he is much older than the other boys, and he is sometimes unwilling to 
participate, but he can also be very helpful without having to ask. There is also Noe who 
is 8 as well, and the older boys are Jhon, Wilson, Nelson, Neibar, Jose, and Simon. These 
are the ones who helped us start painting today. I was told there were 19 boys living 
there, but those are the only ones I know so far. They are all pretty great. I love 
teaching them and I love getting to know them even better. They are so eager to learn and 
they are all so happy all the time. I think it's incredible that they all live together 
so well. They also are pretty responsible and obedient to Luis who runs the place. I 
think it's really impressive. So yes, today we started the mural! We cleaned the wall, 
which was really dirty, then started on the base coat, a light blue color. We only got 
about a third of the way done when we ran out of paint. So we will return on Monday with 
more paint. I am hoping we can get most of it done before I leave for Machu Picchu! Next 
Wednesday! This time next week I will be in cusco! It came super fast, I can't really 
believe it. 
Anyways, that's all, I'm sorry I can't send pictures. They are all on my camera, but I 
will definitely show you all when I come home! 
I love you! 
Amber

June 2

Hello again! Nothing of extreme consequence has happened the last couple days, so I decided not to write. Yesterday we went to a meeting in chulucanas to work with another nonprofit here in Peru. It was an hour away so it was a lot of traveling for one morning. I really liked chulucanas, it was a lot cleaner and better kept up than all the other cities we have been to. The town is straight east from piura so we could see mountains! The Andes! I saw them! They were huge! It was from pretty far away, but I could still tell that they were giant. It was a sight for sore eyes.
Later yesterday we bought paint! For the mural at hogar de cristo. We will hopefully start it either tomorrow or Thursday depending on what Luis (the manager of the orphanage) will let us do. The sooner the better, because I don't have a ton of time left.
Today we went to both Paul Harris, the special needs school, and to hogar de cristo. At Paul Harris we worked in the youngest class. There were five kids in there and it was crazy with three adults. I can't imagine how it must be with just the one teacher! The kids, however troublesome, are really very sweet and just plain cute. Francisco is the hair puller, he has Down syndrome and is a silly one. He has this sly look out of the corners of his eyes he gives you when he knows he is doing something he isn't supposed to. But he also has the biggest grins. My favorite (only by a little bit) is Matteo. He is also Down syndrome and he is 3. He is so little and can't walk very well. But he is just so even keeled and pleasant all the time (probably why I like him so much). He also has big grins and he is really cuddly. I love all the kids there though. They are all wonderful in their own way.
At hogar de cristo we taught the older boys the human body in English. I drew a picture in the board and we labeled it, then erased it and had them fill it back in. The class slowly dissolved into a game of futbol/tag/tickle. Those boys are all so silly. They are the greatest. New best friends here :)
Last thing! We are going to mankora this weekend! It's the best beach here in Peru!
Anyways, that's all that's going on here! I love you!
Amber