22 July 2018
Our final day in Peru was Friday, 20 July. We were packed up and prepared to leave Peru after 18 months of humanitarian service.
First order of business was a visit to Dr. Alejandro Morales, my dermatologist, who removed the remaining stitches from the basal cell surgery he performed 2 weeks ago (getting the surgery in Peru only cost about $275 compared with the $1,500 it would have cost in the USA - better to get the surgery before leaving Peru).
We later finished a 12-mile walk one last time to Miraflores just to remember the many happy long walks we had taken around Lima over the past few months. In total, we completed 260 miles of walks in Lima on our days off since the first of April 2018.
Shortly before we were to leave for the airport, Alex Principe, our Area Welfare Specialist, dropped by our apartment with his family and Gloria Cornejo to give us a going-away cake. What a special goodbye!
We left our apartment at 6:30 p.m. and got to the airport by 8 p.m. in plenty of time for our midnight flight. However, our jet was delayed leaving from Miami due to thunderstorms, so we ended up with a flight delay of several hours and didn't leave Lima until 3:30 a.m.
In the mean time, our friends Michael and Nadia Trejo showed up at the airport to bid us farewell. With the extra time on our hands, we decided to have a final dinner together at the airport - Pollo a la Brasa (Peruvian rotisserie chicken, a national favorite).
It was now time to pass through security and head to the gate. We bid a final farewell to Peru after a long and fruitful mission.
We arrived in Albuquerque at 2 p.m. on Saturday and were greeted by our kids and grandkids in a joyous reunion. They had even made a banner they all held up to welcome us home.
And so our humanitarian mission to Peru is now completed. We are left with what seems like a decade worth of experiences and memories that were compressed into 18 months, and our lives have been deeply affected by this period of intense service.
We are glad we endured (and survived) this chance-of-a-lifetime experience, and we give the Lord thanks for this opportunity that we had.
Our final day in Peru was Friday, 20 July. We were packed up and prepared to leave Peru after 18 months of humanitarian service.
First order of business was a visit to Dr. Alejandro Morales, my dermatologist, who removed the remaining stitches from the basal cell surgery he performed 2 weeks ago (getting the surgery in Peru only cost about $275 compared with the $1,500 it would have cost in the USA - better to get the surgery before leaving Peru).
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| Last visit to Dr. Morales to remove stitches from my skin surgery. He is a really excellent dermatologist, still in practice at age 84. |
We later finished a 12-mile walk one last time to Miraflores just to remember the many happy long walks we had taken around Lima over the past few months. In total, we completed 260 miles of walks in Lima on our days off since the first of April 2018.
Shortly before we were to leave for the airport, Alex Principe, our Area Welfare Specialist, dropped by our apartment with his family and Gloria Cornejo to give us a going-away cake. What a special goodbye!
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| Alex Principe and family with the going-away cake his wife had prepared. |
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| Farewell delicious carrot cake with Peruvian and American flags. What a kind going-away treat from the Principes. We all ate the cake before leaving the apartment to go to the airport. |
We left our apartment at 6:30 p.m. and got to the airport by 8 p.m. in plenty of time for our midnight flight. However, our jet was delayed leaving from Miami due to thunderstorms, so we ended up with a flight delay of several hours and didn't leave Lima until 3:30 a.m.
In the mean time, our friends Michael and Nadia Trejo showed up at the airport to bid us farewell. With the extra time on our hands, we decided to have a final dinner together at the airport - Pollo a la Brasa (Peruvian rotisserie chicken, a national favorite).
 |
| Farewell dinner with friends Michael and Nadia Trejo at the airport before our flight home. |
It was now time to pass through security and head to the gate. We bid a final farewell to Peru after a long and fruitful mission.
 |
| Bidding farewell to Peru as we headed into Security. (We were able to check six pieces of luggage, so our carry-on was light as we went through the doors into Security.) |
We arrived in Albuquerque at 2 p.m. on Saturday and were greeted by our kids and grandkids in a joyous reunion. They had even made a banner they all held up to welcome us home.
 |
| Welcome home to Albuquerque with kids and grandkids. |
And so our humanitarian mission to Peru is now completed. We are left with what seems like a decade worth of experiences and memories that were compressed into 18 months, and our lives have been deeply affected by this period of intense service.
We are glad we endured (and survived) this chance-of-a-lifetime experience, and we give the Lord thanks for this opportunity that we had.
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