Survived the Earthquake

Hello Mom and Dad,

No need to worry about the earthquake in Chile, I didn't feel any tremors and everything is going just fine. No I didn't get the sheet music from the hymnbook of Kolob. Thanks for the packages though, I really enjoyed them. I ended up sharing the cupcakes with the entire zone of Pisco, and already ate all of the poptarts. Just be sure to only send one package at a time. Any requests? Corn tortillas, and more cupcakes. That's all.

So L.T. left the chargers? Well, now I'm really worried because what are we gonna do now without L.T.? Oh well, we'll find someone else to help better the team. That's crazy that Brian and Trent already have 6 months left, and I barely have 8 months. Time flies by quickly. I heard the Oscars are going to be this Sunday, and I also heard that a Peruvian movie made it to the nominees. I forgot the name but it talks about the terrorism that was in Ayacucho.Fun fact, Ayacucho is in my mission. Next week please tell me which movies won which awards. I'm eager to know because Up was also nominated.

Well I checked my debit card to see how much money is in my account, but it tells me I only have about 900 dollars. I remember you telling me that I should have about 1400, but my machine tells me I don't. How odd. Anyway, I have about 2,500 nuevo soles with the money that's in my card right now. I just wanted to let you know that I'm planning on buying a new camera since the one I have isn't working that good anymore. The cameras cost about 600 soles, which is about 250 dollars. I'm letting you know in advance so that you both won't get worried when I pull out that big chunk of money.

Well other than that I'm doing just fine. Just need the sheet music, corn tortillas, music CDs, and more cupcakes in the package. If you can't send it all in one package, then separate them BUT send both at different times. Thanks for always keeping me updated on what's going on back home, and giving me support. It really comes in handy. Well my time is almost up and I must close this message.

Emiliano

Hot in Pisco

Hey Mom and Dad,

Glad to hear from you all, and I'm just letting you know that my new companion is Elder Souza, who is from Iquitos, Peru. That's in the jungle, and it's funny that he likes Guns n Roses and that his favorite song is Welcome to the Jungle. He doesn't speak English, but it's funny to hear him immitate what they sing in English, and he likes it a lot.

Haven't gotten my 2 packages yet, but that's normal. The office is usually 2 weeks to a month late with packages. So the Saints won the Super Bowl and I missed out on The Who playing at half time? Well there's always next time. Metallica passed by here in Lima for a concert and it was all over the news. There are floods going on in Cusco from the rain in the mountains, and more floods in Lima. It hasn't rained at all here in Pisco. It just gets hotter and hotter. Since it's February over here, people celebrate Carnaval on Sundays where they toss water at people. We haven't gotten hit yet, but I'm sure Jaime (the man of the house) is waiting for an opportunity to drench us.

Well everything is going fine here in Pisco, and my companion loves to WALK. Not just walk, but walk very fast, and work hard. It's a complete change from my previous companion who was a bit laid back. By the way, I'm glad you started volunteering, Mom. How's the relief society in Oceanside? Have you talked to Sharon Garcia lately? I remember you telling me that you used to talk to her a lot when she was the Primary teacher. Anyway I hope you two are doing well, and that SDNH progresses. I miss eating at Roberto's and In n Out. They have Papa John's, Dominos, and all the big food chains in Lima, but not in Pisco.

Have you hear any news about the missionaries and Abuelito Hector? I'll have to thank Elder Zant for being able to get into his home. Well my time is closing, so I will talk to you later on. Take care and I love you both.

Elder Emiliano León

Hot in Pisco

Hey Mom and Dad,

Glad to hear from you all, and I'm just letting you know that my new companion is Elder Souza, who is from Iquitos, Peru. That's in the jungle, and it's funny that he likes Guns n Roses and that his favorite song is Welcome to the Jungle. He doesn't speak English, but it's funny to hear him immitate what they sing in English, and he likes it a lot.

Haven't gotten my 2 packages yet, but that's normal. The office is usually 2 weeks to a month late with packages. So the Saints won the Super Bowl and I missed out on The Who playing at half time? Well there's always next time. Metallica passed by here in Lima for a concert and it was all over the news. There are floods going on in Cusco from the rain in the mountains, and more floods in Lima. It hasn't rained at all here in Pisco. It just gets hotter and hotter. Since it's February over here, people celebrate Carnaval on Sundays where they toss water at people. We haven't gotten hit yet, but I'm sure Jaime (the man of the house) is waiting for an opportunity to drench us.

Well everything is going fine here in Pisco, and my companion loves to WALK. Not just walk, but walk very fast, and work hard. It's a complete change from my previous companion who was a bit laid back. By the way, I'm glad you started volunteering, Mom. How's the relief society in Oceanside? Have you talked to Sharon Garcia lately? I remember you telling me that you used to talk to her a lot when she was the Primary teacher. Anyway I hope you two are doing well, and that SDNH progresses. I miss eating at Roberto's and In n Out. They have Papa John's, Dominos, and all the big food chains in Lima, but not in Pisco.

Have you hear any news about the missionaries and Abuelito Hector? I'll have to thank Elder Zant for being able to get into his home. Well my time is closing, so I will talk to you later on. Take care and I love you both.

Elder Emiliano León

Happy New Year 2010 in Pisco, Peru

Well it's good to hear from you two, as always. I got the package and all of the Spam is gone, and we ate 1 pack of flour tortillas. We still haven't bought any milk to eat cereal, but we can buy some today. Still have beef jerky and the beans, but I don't know how long they'll last.

New Years was pretty cool. Elder Dominguez and I sewed up a life sized doll with clothes. Here in Peru the people make dolls to burn them at midnight, so logically we did the same. I printed a photo of Jaime, our pensionista's husband, and taped it onto the head of the doll. His family got a good laugh watching his twin dummy burn in flames. We also bought fireworks and lit them up at midnight, and everyone else in Pisco did the same, so all you could hear was a barrage of explosions and see smoke rising into the night sky from the burning dummies. I got a small burn on my arm thanks to my companion, but it has healed.

As for the next package, I don't need the Preach My Gospel stickers. I have the book and it alread has space to write notes. The Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price is good. But do they have the stickers for the Bible? Try to find those, but if you can't, it's fine. Did you happen to get the chicharrones? I don't remember what, but you told me something about them on Christmas.

The Nelsons are moving out of the ward too? Aw man, I'm going to miss his antics. I enjoyed home teaching him. What about Steve Burke? Is he still around? I heard that he was thinking about moving to Irvine because that's where Blizzard is located. That campus is huge, by the way, you should check out their website, last I heard they were gonna do internships and that it would be easier for him to go to work. What about McPhereson? I don't remember how to spell his name, but is he still around working for Sony Computer Entertainment? Well it's good to hear everyone is doing fine in the ward. I'm out of time, so I'll talk to you all next week. Love you all and take care.

Elder Emiliano Leon

Christmas Coming

I can't believe that nearly 6 months have passed by since I started the mission. Over here in Pisco it has been difficult finding people to teach, contrary to what other missionaries have said being easy. I'm assuming the Lord wants me to learn something, but I haven't discovered what it is yet. Aside from that, I'm enjoying the mission, despite the very few occasions when he have found and taught the gospel to someone. The funny thing is that my desire to share the message of the restoration has increased, and I regret the fact that I didn't talk about it with my friends back home, because now I have this urge to tell them and my family. It's great to hear that you're a temple worker, dad. I never would have imagined my own father would be one, but that's really cool.

About Christmas... Here's how it goes. I asked the other Elders and they told me all we do is just buy an international telephone card, and then we just follow the directions on the card to call home. The time limit I hear is 45 minutes for us missionaries, but my companion has called his parents for 3 hours last Christmas. If you you're going to buy unlimited minutes for December (assuming it includes international) I could just have you call me back in Peru so we can talk for an hour or so. The only thing is, we have an exchange the 21st of December, and I don't know if I'll be staying in Pisco or going somewhere else. If you prefer to call my pension where we'll be staying, or have me call you, let me know.

I sent a CD with photos of Mala to your PO Box, and it should arrive around the 20th of December. You can say that'll be my Christmas gift to you two so you can see more of my adventures. Thanks for filling me in on what has happened. I look forward to calling you on Christmas, and your prayers for me are appreciated by leaps and bounds. There are tons of ruins and destruction over here, not to mention dust in the wind every day. I love you all, and tell everyone in the ward that I miss them.

Elder Emiliano Leon

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