Pisco Zone

I have good news for you. I received the ATM card today from FedEx. I'm amazed at how fast it arrived... exactly one week from the day you sent it. Thanks for the help with the card, because now I can breathe easy when we fall short on money. I can't believe that nearly a month has already passed and we're going into December. The funny thing is, the tortillas are still edible, but I don't know for how much longer. I still have one box of cereal, the peanut butter and the jelly. The cookies made it but in crumbles. It didn't matter anyway because they were all gone in 3 days.

I owe my companion Elder Dominguez about 50 Nuevo Soles, and I plan on paying that debt today since I got my card. We had a baptism yesterday at the last minute before the Sacrament Meeting. His name is Jaime Chacaliaza, a man around 40 years of age, and on Thursday he said he wasn't too enthusiastic about being baptized because he was supposedly going to Lima. However, on Saturday night he suddenly changed his mind; so my companion and I had to do the interview Saturday night, and perform the baptism on Sunday morning 30 minutes before church started all in a breeze. Generally the baptisms are done on Saturdays, and the confirmation on Sundays, but we had a crazy change of plans, and I got to baptize Jaime... 3 times. He had difficulty submerging himself under the water (or maybe I'm not strong enough) but we managed. I felt a bit embarrassed since it was my first time baptizing someone. I guess practice makes perfect assuming the person you're baptizing isn't heavier than you by a lot.

Our zone has about 18 baptisms for this month, which surprised me. I'm still getting used to the heat in Pisco since I haven't walked this much in my life. Here in Peru the people eat these cakes with candies inside during Christmas. They're called paneton, and all of the Elders in my zone love them. I've tasted one, but I didn't like it that much. That's all I got for these few weeks in Pisco. Now that I have money I'll be able to send the CD with more photos. Tell my family that I miss them, and our friends in Oceanside 3rd Ward that I miss them too and that the emails from the bishopric were greatly appreciated. Can't wait to talk to y'all in Christmas. Love you all, and take care.

Pisco

I got my first cambio, and this weekend I packed my bags and said goodbye to Mala. I left this morning and have arrived in Pisco. Fun fact about Pisco, there was a huge earthquake in 2007 of August that leveled the city. There are a bunch of ruins over here, and a lot of dirt. The cool thing is that the church was one of the first aids to help the people of Pisco with water, food, and homes. I've heard many good things about Pisco, and even that the people here like "los hermanitos mormones porque ellos nos ayudaron." My new companion is Elder Dominguez, who is my district leader; and we live with Elder Pompilla and Elder Malqui, our zone leaders. It's hot over here in Pisco.

My Spanish is getting better, and I can understand about 70 percent of what people are saying, excluding slang, and if they talk slow enough. The office finally called me after 3 weeks and said I have two packages waiting, but I have to pay 33 Soles to get them sent. My guess is because there's something valuable and I have to pay extra because of customs, but I don't see how maple syrup and tortillas could be of any value. Good thing is I have them, but I have to pay, which is lame. I'll find out why soon enough.

Important question, did you receive my postcard with my signature? Hopefully you did and everything went well with the new ATM card. I have sufficient funds for now, and I just need to watch what I spend it on. I burned all of the photos I took in Mala on a CD, and I'll send it to you this week if I get the chance. Then you'll have even more photos to see what it was like in Mala.

Just to sum up the last weeks in Mala, we had a bunch of cool things happen. We celebrated Elder Boulton's birthday with the family we live with, and they surprised him with a real pig's head on top of the table. He was blindfolded and wasn't expecting to see that. We had a talent show in our little church with the members, and my companion and I got the chance to sing (as best as we could) some songs with a synthesizer and guitar.

When you get the CD, you'll see more of what I'm talking about. But right now my time is up. I'll talk to you next week, and don't forget to share the photos on the blog! They are really cool. Hopefully everything goes fine with the card, and I'll email you next week.

Emiliano

Mala Isn't That Bad

It's been hard to keep updating the blog every week, so I'll just update it when I get time. Right now there is a procession going on, and the huge crowd is passing the internet cafe with loudspeakers. A procession is when the people carry these dolls which represent the Saints in the Catholic church, and parade it down the street with music and flowers. It's cool, but sometimes impedes traffic, and the Peruvians in their motorcycles start honking the horns.

This week was the General Conference of the church where the leaders and authorities give talks, but here in Mala we didn't get to see it because we don't have a satellite TV to watch. So instead we had a regular Sunday meeting, but will watch the conference recorded next week on a disc so the whole Branch in Mala can see it. The stake center - which is the larger chapel where people can go watch the conference - is 30-45 minutes away on a bus, so we don't travel to go see the Conference because the people here don't have much money to travel frequently.

On a side note, here in Mala in the past 6 weeks we've had 3 baptisms... in the beach. It's winter over here, so it has been cloudy and cold almost every day. That means the water is freezing, especially when you have the service at 4pm. I didn't baptize anyone, but I was one of the witnesses, which means I got to wear all white and stand in the water with the other missionaries. The baptisms were for Dantol Medina, 8 year-old boy, Jenny Medina who is a mother of two children, and Darlin Mendoza who is an 8 year old boy in a family of inactive church members who haven't attended in quite a while. As of right now in Mala, my companion and I don't have any new people to teach the gospel, so we've been looking all over Mala.

It's difficult when your investigators are almost never home, but we still go looking. I don't need any more stamps. In fact I haven't used any while I've been here because I've been so busy. I haven't sent any new postcards yet, but I promise I will soon. What else is up in Oceanside and life back at home? For me, the mission has been getting difficult trying to teach effectively and find new people. I can speak basic Spanish, but to listen and understand every word, or notice what's going on around me is still a challenge. Anyway, I'm doing fine over here. Haven't gotten sick.

No, there is no pizza here in Mala. They attempt to make it in the panaderias, but it it's like those lunchable ones that aren't tasty. Unfortunately there is no supermarket here in Mala, so all the food we buy is from the mercado. The one here in Mala is basically a giant indoor maze like a swapmeet of alleyways and shacks. Small corridors and no floors, but surprisingly clean. Sister Hemenway is right about peanut butter and syrup. It's all in Lima which is about 2 hours away from where I am... so I got no connections to buy some. Thanks for sending me the package though! Nothing of value was lost. I received the package on September 26, so it takes about 10 days for a package to arrive. I especially liked the stickers of the crosses and la virgen María. The best one was Moroni right next to the virgin... I laughed. Also, the raincoat is great because it gets cold here, and it keeps me surprisingly warm.
Now for the photos... I will probably burn the photos onto a CD and send it home so that we don't risk losing another card.

The mercado here is sufficient. Is mom reading her Book of Mormon in Spanish? I am able to understand it about 70%, and I really hope she reads it because it is amazing. Did you also know the church recently translated and printed their Spanish version of the King James Bible? It's the Rey Valera version. You should check that out because it has all of the topical guides and references just like the English version, and revised language so it's even more accurate with the words because the church took the original texts from greek and hebrew.

Emiliano

Zone Conferences and Packages

Hey Dad, thanks for helping me with the blog. So you wanted to know about where to send packages and where my zone conferences are held? Here's the scoop:

Our Zone Conferences are held at different locations every time, and the number of zones vary every time. I recently attended one last Thursday (Sep 10) at Chincha which is an hour and a half away south of Mala. There we got to hear Elder Nash, a member of the Seventy and the area authority of Perú and Bolivia, talk about his experiences of the earthquake that demolished Pisco in August 2007. He also talked about how we can improve our teaching as missionaries. As far as when the zone conferences occur, I am not sure because we get informed a week before they happen during our zone meetings.

If you want to send me a package, just mail it to that address I sent you last time. What happens is that your package will arrive at the mission office in Lima, and then every week they distribute the mail to the zone leaders, who will then give the mail to us during our zone meeting, which is held every week on Tuesday for us.

Now because we are in Mala and are the furthest away, my district has to take a bus south to Cañete every Tuesday at about 7am (which means we wake up at around 5:30am to leave our home by 6:40am) to arrive on time at the chapel in Cañete. There, all of the districts in our zone hold meetings and talk about our progress, and the zone leaders Elder Tanuvasa and Elder Saalvedra give out our mail.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, you can send food. Elder Boulton who is in my district gets packages of cereal, chips, and snacks. I'm not sure what types of food you can't send, but I believe anything that will survive the trip to Perú is fine. I recommend putting Jesus stickers on the package, and not having it larger than a shoebox. I hear it helps lower the chance of getting robbed.

As far as the list you provided me, I don't need the deodorant. They sell it here way cheap. However, send me some flour and corn tortillas! Peruvians do not sell them here at all and I am dying for them! If you can, please send Jack Links Original flavored Beef Jerky, cereal (like cheerios, wheaties, or smacks), peanut butter and maple syrup (they don't have that either). We basically are always responsible for our breakfast, and I discovered that the meals I could make for breakfast included a lot of ingredients they don't have here in Mala because it's such a small town. Don't worry about me having to use my card to buy a steak, we have restaurants here that have good food and are cheap.

Well that's about all I have to say. I'm glad to know that you can send food, which means you can send the salsa from Little Diner too, and the chicharrones (if the salsa will survive). Just remember to send it to that address and follow my consejo, and I'll receive it. If I remember more types of food to send, I'll pass the word. Thanks for your care, and I'll talk to you again next week!

Emiliano

Flashback of Perú MTC and on to Mala

These past six weeks in Lima flew by really quickly. The Perú MTC ( also CCM) is way smaller than the one in Provo, and not nearly as many people. There were probably only about 47 missionaries total. My first compañero was Elder Zárate, who was from Huancayo, Peru. I quickly learned that everyone at the CCM spoke Spanish with the exception of President Groeberg, who was in charge of the CCM. Fun fact about President Groeberg; his brother wrote the book The Other Side of Heaven. It turns out that the movie was based off of his book, and President Groeberg’s brother was the actual missionary who went to Tonga, and the movie was about his experiences. All of that was possible because Pres. Groeberg brother published the writings in his journal and made it into a book, which became a movie.
Well, enough about movies. Every day at the CCM we would eat chicken and rice every day, which got old fast. My first latino companion, Elder Zárate, was the only member in his family, but he knew a lot about the gospel and had a strong testimony. In the CCM, we did many “enseñanzas” where we taught other companionships in a pretend situation, and the teachers would listen and teach us on what we can improve on. When we weren’t doing enseñanzas, of playing football with the latinos, the latino missionaries and North American Missionaries would split into different classes. My district with Elder Timothy, Allen, VanDuyn, and Schofield would have Spanish classes every day, while our latino companions would learn the missionary principles and lessons. Every day was rather monotonous, but also fun because we learned so much Spanish with great teachers.
The most intense part of the CCM was on Saturdays where all the Elders would go to different church stakes and go teach the inactive families. This was Proseletismo, and was scary at first, but eventually got the hang of it. Every time my companion, Elder Zárate, and I went out to visit the families, I had to rely on him because the families spoke so fast, and I barely understood what they were talking about. I was nervous too because I was afraid I would say something silly or offend someone. It turned out not to be so bad after all, even though we were only outside Proselytizing for 5 hours. The rest of the time was spent inside the CCM sitting down learning Spanish and teaching pretend families.
My second companion was Elder Silva, and was part of the second group of missionaries that arrived. Every 3 weeks a new set of Elders arrive at the CCM, while the North Americans wait 6 weeks, so they get two sets of companionships.
I’m out of time again, but that’s pretty much my experience at the CCM. Today I enter the mission field in Mala, Perú with 3 other missionaries. My newest companion, Elder Juárez, tells me the place is a small agricultural city, and we have a lot of people to help because the church over there is rather small.

Emiliano

Doing Fine in Mala

Everything is going just fine over here in Mala. I was going to upload my photos over here in the Internet Cafe, but my companion Elder Jorge Juárez tried doing the same thing with his USB and a lot of his photos were deleted. He thinks the computer had a virus or was corrupted because before he tried uploading photos, everything was fine... and now he lost about half of his photos. It looks like I'll upload from the home, or find another way that's quicker.

Great news though, I have the mission address where you can send me letters or packages. The mail for the mission is actually pretty reliable because Elder Boulton always got his packages. The address is:

Elder Emiliano León
Misión Perú Lima Sur
Av. Jorge Basadre 592 Of. 604 "A"
Edificio Torre Azul
San Isidro, Lima Csa. 14-0293
Perú


Almost forgot, the names of the other Elders are Nick Boulton, Tyler McAllister, and Jorge Juárez. Last Saturday we had a baptism for a boy named Dantol in the beach, it was at sunset, and the water was freezing. The other 3 missionaries went into the ocean, and I was the one taking photos. Dantol is a rascal, and is always causing trouble wherever he goes. He's a good kid though. Thank goodness for Advil for the headaches he's caused me. I promise when I get the chance to get my photos up I will. Just give me time, and next week I will post more on what has been going on in Mala, Peru.

Emiliano

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