New Area - Yungay, Peru ... Elder Jake Avery

Written by Elder Jacob Avery, serving in the Peru Lima West Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

(Note to reader: Clicking on highlighted words links to additional information. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.)

My new area is sooooo awesome! It's a town called Yungay. It's much prettier, much cleaner, much safer, and much more what I expected Peru to be like. There are donkeys, pigs, and cows that the people just stake down in the street. The pigs scare me a little bit, but I'm getting used to it :) The streets are paved or dirt; no more sand!

Elder Avery and Elder Aldana (from Chile)

My ward is a descent sized ward. We don't have enough members for a chapel yet, so we're meeting for church in an office space. We have land for a church in downtown Carhuaz, but if we don't get attendance to 120 in six months the church is going to sell the lot. My town is the farthest from the church (20 minutes), but it still only costs 1.5 soles to get there by van. My strategy is to get the members to realize how blessed they are to have a church so close.

My new companion was in my old area, so I already know him. His name is Elder Aldana, and he's from Chile. He's really fun, works hard, and we're already good friends. He's only been here for 6 weeks and was actually with Elder Larsen (my companion from the MTC), so they already have a good pool of investigators and trust from the members. The down side is, there are no directions in our city. There's literally nothing but memorization for finding houses. So I really hope Elder Aldana doesn't leave in 6 weeks!

Yungay, Peru

It's a lot colder up here in the mountains, and it rains cats and dogs every other day. I'm so glad I brought winter clothes! It doesn't ever snow in the valley, but we get snow in the mountains. We really don't see the mountains though because there's always an overcast. I'm guessing it's like a really elevated Oregon.

I hope that everything is going well at home. I'm just glad to be in the mission right now. Things might change if I'm sent back to Lima next transfer, haha :P No, I'll go where the Lord wants me. I know I've been sent here for a reason, and I'm ready to get the wheels rolling.

Have a great week. Love you all! Bye!

I Feel Spoiled

Finding Sheep (March 24, 2014)

Yes, it's a little chilly up here!