I've made it to Peru!  In fact I've been here for just about a week now.  The plane flight was long, but it had its good parts.  I got to see Mel Mendoza during my stop in Houston, as well as Elder Richens.  He is just about to finish, and still looks the exact same.  I also saw my mission president who seems to be just about the same as well.  I think he is working pretty hard with all the new missionaries.  On the flight to Lima I experienced the typical Peruvian generosity from the man I sat next to on the flight.  He lives in Japan, is married to a Japanese Lady, but is full 100% peruvian, and is flying back to participate in a Catholic festival in his city, Cuzco.  He invited me to come see Machu Picchu with him and his family in June, and he said he would pay for all the transportation.  I was pretty overwhelmed with the offer and we will see if I will make it down then.  I might go with some kids from HELP international, who live about a block away from me (or I from them because they were here first).
Contrary to my parent's wishes I slept in the airport while I waited for my 6:30 A.M. flight.  Thankfully starbucks has free internet even in Peru.
In the morning I got to Chiclayo and it was like I stepped into a James Bond movie.  You know those parts where he is chasing someone in a foreign country through the crowded streets on a motorcycle? The streets are unlike anything I have ever seen.  There are more mototaxis than cars, and less paved roads than unpaved, with people walking in and out of the streets whenever they want.  It was my third day in Piura when I noticed the first traffic light.  Before that I thought that everyone did whatever they wanted!
The taxi driver that was sent to pick me up took me to the stake president's house and from there to the chapel to do our first screening.  The chapel was full of mom's with their children, waiting.  I met Diana, the coordinator, and she told me what was going on, and then we just started.  The hermanas helping out, and Diana, are amazing.  I think most of them are nurses, so they have actually have a clue what to do, which definitely helps.  They took care of everything.  I just helped measure and gave out stickers.  I was so impressed with how under control they had everyone, and the way they answered peoples questions.  They are truly invested in the project.
After a quick lunch I took the three hour bus ride to Piura and met the Stake President Gomez, and he took me to a screening that was already underway.  The volunteers from HELP International were helping (no pun intended) as well as a few other volunteers.  They had screened over 200 kids that morning, and we still had two wards to do the following day.
That night I stayed in the President's house.  It felt good to sleep.  I took a shower and then came the moment that I had waited years for.  I flushed the toilet.
Let me explain. Ever since I was a kid I had heard that when a toilet flushed in South America, the water spins the opposite way, because its the southern hemisphere.  Well, I made sure to video which way the toilet flushes in Utah, so I could compare it to here.  What are the results?  Well, I was disappointed.  The toilet water spun the exact same way.  Myth busted.
The next day we did two more screenings and looked for a place to stay for me.  I found out that the Stake President knew someone that lives close by the HELP International volunteers, so we went to check it out.  The house is pink and it has wireless internet, so I was sold.  The following night I moved in and I even had a bed and a TV.  I have yet to use the TV, but I have definitely used the bed.  I've adopted the custom of taking siestas whenever I can, even though it isn't an actual Peruvian custom.  Maybe they will adopt it as well.
One morning I came downstairs and Jose, the 84 year old grandpa that lives here with her daughter and her husband, says "hola gringito, como estas?"  I cracked up and we have gotten along pretty well.  He tells me stories whenever I see him, but I only understand about 20 % of it, but from the parts I can get they are usually pretty graphic or politically incorrect.  Or someone always gets hurt or dies.  He makes me laugh.
Today I saw they had a bunch of old bananas so I told the Sra. that I would teach her to make banana bread.  Jose looked like he was in awe as he ate it.  He asked his daughter, "can you teach Cindy to make this?" Cindy is the lady that comes during the day to clean and cook.  She is a good cook.
I helped with one more screening in Chiclayo before working on the university projects.  This one kid came in carried by his mom.  He did not look good.  He was probably close to average hight for his age, but was way underweight.  He was pale too.  His mom looked desperate, she told us that he just doesn't eat.  He probably has a bunch of parasites as well.  I think most kids, or at least a good amount, suffer from parasites.  He was kind of a shock for me because he was the first kid that I saw that you looked at and didn't need a scale to tell you he was malnourished.
The work with the University of Piura has been going alright.  On Friday I had my first meeting with them, and I had a series of meetings with about every bathroom that was close by.  They took me out to eat after the meeting but I just wasn't feeling it.  I might have offended them by not eating very much, but I was more worried about offending my stomach.
On Saturday I took a well needed rest, then tried to work a little bit during the day.  The young single adults in the area are helping as volunteers with the project, and are doing a lot of the paperwork that needs to be done for the children.  We took a break from the paperwork and went to a stake YSA activity in the church.  They had a bunch of games, which was of course, followed by a dance.  One of the games was one where you answer questions underneath a balloon filled with chalk.  Their is a person that blows up the balloon until it pops.  The faster you get it right the sooner you are away from the balloon.  When it was my turn the balloon was huge.  The lady looked at me, then asked me what the independence day of Peru was.  I laughed.  The questions up until that point had been, "Who discovered america?" or, "Which book comes after 2nd Nephi?"  Then the balloon popped.  It wasn't too bad, I thought it was really funny.  She said that she just had to ask me that question, she couldn't resist.  For those who are interested, July 28th is the answer.
On Sunday I went to La Union.  Its about a half hour away from Piura, and they were changing it from a branch to become a ward.  The meeting was really wonderful and everyone was so excited.  The bishop is a 29 year old guy, who seems to be really awesome.  The stake president can't be more late 30s.  The members here are really cool.
A lot of people came to me as well to talk about the project.  They all seem really interested, and the youth really want to be involved.
Right now i am working on entering the information in the computer so we can get started on the actual distribution of supplements.  I will keep y'all updated from here on out on what goes on.  Stay posted and remember to visit liahonachildren.org if you want to know more about the foundation.
Ciao,

Sean