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