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