Wow! What can I say in a couple paragraphs to describe the convention? Starting is always the hard part.
It was partly special as it was the first international we've ever been to, but also because it was just an amazing convention this year. I don't need to tell anybody how impacting the drama was, you already know. To me, the best part was when the main character (it was David in Spanish) had gone to the city, was with his "friend" and the 2 girls and they were arguing and the "friend" had been drinking, and they're pressuring David to get more money from his dad. Suddenly all the glitter is gone and you see the life for what it really is. I also really liked the symposium on the 9 prophesies that still are going to be fulfilled, in order.
Over 500 people got baptized at our convention. 6 from our congregation. Peak attendance was about 20,800. For the most part, foreign delegates went to Lima, but we did have delegates from Ecuador and Uruguay, and all the missionaries and need-greaters from the assigned area. So all the time between sessions we were standing with a never-changing smile, while all the brothers took pictures with us. Whew! We were in more pictures than on our wedding day.
In the last talk Sunday the brother had the delegates and all us other foreigners come out onto the field and we waved and they waved their handkerchiefs at us. I took a video... {watch the video}
One of the best memories was from Monday, the day after the convention, though. Some of the brothers from there in Trujillo arranged to make a very elegant lunch for everyone in the circuit or district work, missionaries, need-greaters, and any foreigners who happened to be visiting. They arranged for some really talented brothers to sing and do typical dances. They lined up for a lot of the guests to perform things from their countries also. Daniel and Ronni did the dance from Daniel's tribe in Nigeria, 2 sisters from Spain performed the typical Spain dance with the twirling hands, and the 3 Japanese couples sang a Japanese song. With everyone so comfortable and happy and bringing cultures together, it really felt like we'd just stepped into a picture of paradise. And now that I've been there I know I want to live there and it's worth anything to get there!
This is a typical Peruvian dance...
And this is a Trujillo dance, done with horses! As soon as the music starts the horses know how to move their feet to the music.
With a little time I'll be fixing up and organizing my pictures and videos, so check back later!
