Andes, Prep-Day and Theatre

Hey Mom and Dad,
I finally got the pop tarts requested, and I've been munching on them non-stop. Well, this begins week 5 of 6 on my last change on the mission. Really though, time has flown by incredibly fast. Things are going smoothly here in Ayacucho, but sadly we cancelled our P-Day activity of taking group photos at every single one of the thirty three catholic churches in Ayacucho. I was told that it was postponed until July. Bummer. Together with Elder McEuen, us four missionaries were able to teach 41 lessons with investigators last week. Our ward mission leader owes us a treat for our hard work.

Nobody in the end this week was baptized, but we have one scheduled for this Saturday. Not much has happened this past week either as we are getting closer to the finish line. So instead, I'll send some cool photos I took while we were at Razzahuilka.


I doubt that I will have the option to fly back to Lima. Those decisions are made in the office, and I'm pretty sure that I'll be cooped up inside of a bus, but if it's only once, then I can deal with it.

Yes this is my last week on the mission and it's hard to believe.

Well, my time is about up. Really though, there isn't much else to write. If anything new and exciting occurs I'll fill you in on the news, but for now, I'll see you both later. Tell friends and family that I love them and miss them, and we'll talk to each other next week! Stay safe and take care. I love you both a lot and I can't wait to see you back home.

Ayacucho Zone

Hey Mom and Dad,

Yes, Elder Cucchi and I get along pretty well. He finishes the mission right after I do, so we have two veterans as companions. I know Elder McCeuen was a football player, but I'm not sure if he is a recent convert. I only got to know him for one week. He had to travel to Lima for some heart problems he's been having, but I called him last night and he says that he should be back by tomorrow. No, I didn't get my package yet. Knowing the office, I'll probably get a hold of it when I go back home. Elder Arellano the Peruvian did go back to Chorillos, and he was pretty stoked about it. Now, I haven't seen my twin Elder Martinez since I was in the office typing up documents, but everyone still says that we're related. All of the missionaries here are Elders. There are no sisters. Everyone here is new, so there are no missionaries who've returned to Ayacucho.

Well, like I said before, the rain stopped. Now it's just burning with the sun so close. I can't wait to go back to sea level and see the difference in oxygen levels. I can finally run without tiring out after 10 seconds. Today we plan to go to Razahuilca, which is some place in the mountains with a lake, as I've been told. The post mission feeling is starting to kick in. I'm starting to worry about what I'm gonna do when I get back, but I guess it's normal. I just gotta focus on the work.

Well, thanks for writing me back. I've been giving a real effort to serve others as a missionary, but that doesn't mean my crave for the vidya games has ended, haha. Really though, after all I've learned here on the mission, and remembering what the Papciak told me in high school, I have to go back and develop my skills in art. Anyway, my time on the mail is about up. Any updates on my facebook? Gessika was asking to see the paintings I made, but because I can't go on facebook or any other website, I wanted to know if my art was there to see. Well, I must best get going. I love you both, and tell the family that I still love them, and that I can't wait to come back and see them. Please take care, and I'll talk to you next week.

Elder Emiliano Leon

Service Project

Hey Mom and Dad,

It was great to hear from you both, and I was really happy to listen to what has been going down in Oceanside, even though nothing much has changed. This morning was chaotic non-stop action with moving the furniture into our new room, and a bunch of other small things. I am tired and I haven't eaten anything yet, and we still have to go pick up the room keys, eat lunch, buy more stuff for the new room, and play football. I feel like exploding because I'm in overload mode, but all I need now is just food and a nap, and I'll be a happy camper. Nothing new in Ayacucho as of yet. The weather is getting hotter. Anyway, my new companion is Elder Cucchi.
Anyway, 6 weeks are all that's left before I return home. I can't wait to eat some delicious Mexican food and American food. But let me tell you both, I'm going to miss Peruvian food because it's so good. Tell everyone in the ward that I said hi and I miss them. Same with our family; let them know that I miss them and that I can't wait to see them again. Anyway, we'll see what happens next week. Goodbye and I love you both. Take care.

Elder Emiliano León

Cold Water, Lunch,Natives and Baptisms

Dear Mother and Father in a far away land,

Elder Llontop is still my companion. His first name is José, and any last requests? Well, just the hard cover Book of Mormon in English with a small dedicatory for my companion. Oh, and if you can, Jesus the Christ in Spanish.

This week we again hit 30 lessons taught with members, and we had 3 baptisms. Zenaida, Aida, and Nelida were all baptized and confirmed this weekend. This makes our total baptisms for March 4. We have three more baptisms planned for the 16th of April, and we're hoping that everything will go as planned.

I forgot to tell you both, but Elder Llontop and I aren't bathing with hot water because we have no water heater. Every morning at 6:30am, we bathe with COLD water. Now, because we are in the mountains, the water is 100 times colder than Oceanside. Well, maybe not 100 times, but it's definitely uncomfortably cold, and we've been having the hardest time installing una terma para la ducha. First attempt, the water canals exploded in Ayacucho and there was no water for almost 5 days, and we lived off of bottled water. Second attempt, there was something wrong with the electricity. So as of now, we've been bathing in cold water.I love you both and we'll see each other again!

Elder Emiliano León

Cuy - Guinea Pig

Hey Mom & Dad
Sorry for not writing you guys on what's been going on here in Ayacucho. I figured since you've been craving for more photos, I'll just send photos with short updates on what has been going on.

Well, a bit on what has been going on. Here in Ayacucho, the rain continues to fall hard, and every day my shoes or my pants get wet. Yesterday as Elder Llontop and I were walking towards a cita, some crazy people threw a water balloon at me, and my pants were instantly soaked. Here in February, it's Carnaval, which means people throw water at each other.

The only thing I can think of that would be super awesome for you to send would be blueberry poptarts. Elder Arellano received pop tarts in the mail, and instantly my craving for hot pop tarts consumed me. Unfortunately, sending stuff here to the airport won't be that easy. Mejor mándalos a la oficina de la misión. That's my only request. Love you both very much and I miss home, but not too much. Take care and say hello to everyone.

Elder Emiliano León

P.S. About the man with the guinea pigs, I call his shack the Cuy Machine. He raises them to be eaten.

Beautiful

Hey Mom and Dad,

Right now I'm in Huanta, which is about 40 minutes from rest of us.
The ride had a bunch of turns and twists, and we all got a little sick
from the ride, but it passed. All of us are here for our P-Day.

So how are you liking the Peruvian food? Everyone says it's one of the
top cuisines in the world, though I'm not sure how accurate that
statement is. Either way the food is freakin amazing. How many
Peruvian restaurants did you find? I'd recommend you both try out some
Arroz con Pollo, and make sure the rice is green. Also try out some
Aji de Gallina, and if they have pan chapla, eat it. It's the most
delicious bread you can ever eat, and it's from Ayacucho. Some people
call it Jesus bread because it's similar to the unleaven bread.

The waiter from the restaurant, is he a member of the church too? Inca
Cola is delicious. At first I didn't like it, now I love it. Our
bishop's name is Jose De la Cruz Quispe, barrio Mariscal Caceres. I'll
see if I can dig up more infor on him. That's cool that Leissy posted
a message on my missionsite. I didn't baptize her, but I taught her
little brother, and she tells me that now the missionaries are
visiting her older brother and father. Before her house and family
were like, WE DONT LIKE MISSIONARIES. I guess things have changed.

That's too bad Van Dusen's health declined. You should pay him visits,
and then pray for his safety. Something the bishop here taught me was
that if we pray for something, we have better done our part. Faith
without works is dead. If we pray for someone's health, but haven't
visited them or talked to them or served them, it will be almost in
vain, because we didn't demonstrate our faith.

Well, that's all I got for now. When I get back, show me all of the
Peruvian restaurants, and I'll tell you which one is the best. I don't
recommend you try out Cuy, because supposedly only good Cuy is from
Ayacucho, and man it's delicious. The meat is a bit stringy, but good.
My time is running out so I'll talk to you both later. Take care and I
love you both. Say hi to everyone for me!

Elder Emiliano Leon

Ayacucho

Hey Mom and Dad,

Words cannot express how surprised I was that I got an emergency change to Ayacucho. Don't worry about the emergency, it's just that Elder Simmons was pretty ill from the altitude, so president had him go take my place in the office as the secretary of registros. My new companion is Elder Llontop, and he is from Chiclayo. He's another greenie, so this makes my fourth mark of training new missionaries. In realidad, Elder Simmons was his trainer, but had to leave after 3 weeks. I'm now the new trainer, which means I'm his stepfather. Oh, fun fact. I flew on a plane solo to Ayacucho. The ride was only 35 minutes long. In bus, the ride is 11 hours, so I got lucky to fly in a plane. My first lunch in Ayacucho was Cuy... in other words, GUINEA PIG. I ate a breaded and fried guinea pig for lunch, and I could see his little hands, feet, and head with rodent teeth. To my surprise, it was pretty tasty. I wouldn't mind eating cuy for a second time. People here say that you can only find good Cuy in Ayacucho.

There is only one stake for the whole department (or state) of Ayacucho, and one zone of missionaries. Elder Timothy is in Huanta, which is similar to Mala in that it's about an hour away from everyone else in the zone. Elder Allen is my zone leader, and he's in my group with Elder Timothy. We came to Peru on the same flight. To be honest, I don't know how far Macchu Picchu is from here. All I know is that I'm 9,000 feet above sea level, which is TWICE the height of the Sierra mountains when I went camping with the Guinness family. The air runs out quickly, so you can tell Brother Guinness where I'm hanging out.

People here speak Quechua, but it's not the pure form found in Cusco. Here in Ayacucho, it's like a tainted mix with Spanish, but I still have no idea what they're saying. I only know a few phrases like:

Imata Sutiki - Cual es tu nombre?
Ñoja kani - Mi nombre es
Ima Naya kashkamki - Como estas?

My companion knows more than I do, but you want to know something crazy? WViracocha means God. To the ancient Incas (look this up on Wikipedia, you'll be freakin amazed), Viracocha was their main God, whose myth has some crazy similarities. Such as forming humans and giants from the dust of rocks, and he destroyed them all with a flood. He left across the ocean to some far away land and reappeared as a beggar teaching humans a better way of life, scattering or regathering of lost tribes in the north and other far away lands. He was dressed in white and had a beard. He's a parrallel to Quetzacotl, the Aztec version of Jesus Christ.

What's even crazier is if you look at one of the ancient drawings of Viracocha, he's holding two sticks, and President Kimball said those were intepretations of the Stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph. The stick of Joseph has two heads, and supposedly represent none other than Ephraim and Manassah.

There are beautiful landscapes in Ayacucho, and we're in raining season. One minute it's sunny, the next it's raining. My time has already ran out, but I'm assuming there are a bunch more cool myths lingering around here. There are 33 catholic churches here in the city of Ayacucho alone. I'll be sure to keep Tio Jaime y Tia Laura y Abuelito Hector in my prayers. If you would please include the names Leslie Quispe Contreras and Cesar Quispe Contreras in the temple prayer list, I would appreciate it a lot. One has cancer and the other has a brain tumor. Well, it was fun talking to you both. I'll be sure to load my camera with photos of Ayacucho, and I'll talk to you both next week!

Elder Emiliano León

Life in Office

Hey folks,

First things are first. I am horribly sorry for not wishing you a happy birthday, Dad. Really though, I was in the thick of a bunch of movement because that Monday I arrived in San Isidro, the really rich part of Lima. Tuesday the new missionaries arrived, so I was booked until 10pm. I was so tired I couldn't remember even the small things. It was quite lame.

Other than that, life is good in the office. It's not so bad as everyone else makes it to be. Imprisoned and all that. We really hardly ever go out to proselyte, except on weekends. Even then, it's not that effective at all. It's nothing like being out in the field, because in the field, you're worried about your investigators. Here you're worried about everything else, and you kind of get rusty on your preaching skills. It's normal when you're in the office from 8am to 9pm. Us office elders planned to make rotations on leaving early during the week to proselyte. Us office elders are myself, my companion Elder Granados (who is from Chimbote), Elder Schofield from CA, and Elder Almonacid from Chile.

So now that we are in the money side of Peru, the preaching is like the USA. People don't see a need for the gospel as much now that they have dough in their pockets. We're gonna have to work through the members, which is ironic since we're almost never there in our area proselyting, and the members know that. I get all kinds of phonecalls, actually. From the MTC, the church missionary department, and other missions. I'm waiting for a phonecall from the General Offices of the church. Just so you know, President Manning has some crazy ties with the First Presidency. I think it's for all mission presidents. Here's an example; we had a missionary become very ill to the point where he was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. President Manning called the First Presidency, and the whole Quroum of the Twelve Apostles, and the First Presidency prayed for the missionary in the temple. He's alright now and doing perfectly fine. I'm sure anyone who would have those men praying for you would feel secure. Another fun fact, President Manning interviewed a man for baptism who shot someone and left him for dead, and doesn't know if he is alive or dead. This baptism requires the approval of the First Presidency. It just amazes me how many people are living on the earth today without the light in their eyes and don't know where to turn for peace.

Anyway, I got to help Elder Souza with his package. I got my third package. Office phone number is the same: 222-4445. Our schedule is basically being cooped up inside all day managing the mission. Can you imagine a mission of 217 missionaries being ran by 4 twenty year-old kids? Didn't think so. My companion and I contacted a Jewish lady, so that was cool. She was interested, but didn't accept a folleto or Book of Mormon because she's real faithful to her ancestors and their faith. If I were just two seconds quicker, I would have given her a family history pamphlet or tell her how the Book of Mormon talks about the tribe of Joseph. But we'll have to wait another day.

Well my time is up and I gotta run. Don't get freaked if my letters come late, because I have almost no time now for anything, believe it or not. Love you both and wish the best. Say hi to all my family, and work on that family history! Please!

Elder Emiliano León

Miraflores

Hey Mom and Dad,

Sorry about the late reply, but ironically, although I am in front of the computer every day, I had no time to write you both an email. I was able to squeeze in one hour for today.

So you both went to Quickwok? That's cool. I didn't think Liz, AJ, or Abe would still be there. Tell them that I miss real chinese food, because over here in Peru, it's basically many different combinations of fried rice. It's really good, but it gets old when you don't have that much variety. I will definately send you recent photos of the mission, so don't worry about that. The time just does not give me space.


So we have a new Stake President? What's his name? I can't believe that I'll be reporting back to a different face. Although I am here in the office a lot, President Manning only comes in Mondays. Speaking of President Manning, us office bums and the assistants went bowling with him... in a ridiculously beautiful rich place called the Larcomar in Miraflores. Holy Moses that was a beautiful shopping mall / restaurant look out over the ocean on a cliff. After walking in relatively poor areas, I felt unworthy to set foot in such a gorgeous location... much less as a missionary.


The office elders are cool. I get along with them just fine. We started a new schedule where we rotate days to go proselyte. On Sunday we ate dinner with, I kid you not, a neurosurgeon. He showed us X-Rays of a recent patient he had to operate on, who was a 2 year old boy with a tumor a third of the size of his head... only it was inside. It turns out it was an intestine. You might be wondering what is an intestine doing inside of the head of a 2 year-old boy? When someone has cancer, the cells divide and multiply uncontrollably. So normally the cells that would be brain tissue, suddenly decide they want to be intestine tissue, and worse is that they would be in the wrong place. Crazy stuff that really you don't see every day.


I do have a favor to ask of you both. I've had quite a few families that I've met on the mission add me on Facebook, but it turns out I need to accept their "Friend Invitation" in order for them to see my photos and contact info. I was hoping that you both could enter my facebook account and accept the many friend invites that I may have received. Just go to www.facebook.com and look for "friend invites" or something similar.


Well my time is shrinking, and I must get going. Thanks for emailing me. Tell everyone (family, friends, ward members) that I said hello and that I still remember them. Oh, and Mom, Happy Birthday. I'm sorry I couldn't send you a birthday card, but I just want you to know that I do love you a lot. Even though I might forget some things, like birthdays, it doesn't change the fact that I have a great mother, and that I love you. Take care and we'll talk next week.


Elder Emiliano León

Whoa! Lima, Peru Downtown Missionary Office !

Whoooaa !,

Hey guess what? I got an exchange. Can you believe it? I can't believe it either. I didn't want to leave Pamplona because the people there are amazingly cool. I was sad to leave, but fortunately, this time I got to say goodbye to everyone I wanted. I didn't leave Pisco unstatisfied. Oh, by the way, Tessy got baptized, and was confirmed on Sunday. I am very happy for her, because now when she smiles, it isn't fake like it was the first time we met her. There's true happiness in her eyes now, and it was worth every minute of it. It was sad though to leave her, but no worries, she is in good hands with Elder Hesselgesser, and the rest of barrio Pamplona.

So you might be asking, where in the heck did Elder León get changed to? I got changed to the freakin office. I'm now working as the Secretario de Registros. Basically I'm in charge of Baptism records, Immigration, and Medicine ( the guy you call when you're sick). I'm going to be in here getting super bored, as what I've been told... and not be leaving to go proselyte as much. My companion is Elder Granados, who is the Finance Secretary. It's funny because all I've heard about the office is "Oh no! So boring! Wasting time blah!"

Well, at least we eat super good, super nice rooms, and a super nice rich area, so I won't be going up cerros all day. The mission has flown by so quickly. On New Year's Eve, in barrio Pamplona, la familia Cajahuaman lost their son, George, of 28 years. The parents are old, and their 7 children are all active in the church, but they lost their second son in an accident at work, so all of the New Year's activities were canceled, and the funeral service was held Saturday night, and they buried him on Sunday after church. It was quite sad, and alas, I must be going. Finally got to send you both a message, and I want to tell you both to take care. Love you both and I hope the best for you.Tell everyone I said hi.

Elder Emiliano León