Scenes of the Peru Lima East Mission

The following pictures, taken by Elder Scott Zimmerman, provide a brief pictorial overview of the Peru Lima East Mission. To see an enlarged view of any pictures, just click it; and then click the Back arrow button on your browser to return to the blog.

The Peru Lima East Mission includes not only the mission office but also the South American Northwest Area Offices:


The Lima Missionary Training Center (Lima MTC) [also called the "Centro de Capacitación Misional" or CCM] is also located within the boundries of our mission:


Near the Lima MTC and within our mission is the Lima Temple:


Lima has large shopping malls and department stores, but it also has open-air markets:


The Pacific Ocean forms the western border of Peru, although the beach is not in our mission:


A view of the Pacific at sundown:


The mission also includes the High Central Peruvian Andes. This picture shows the terraced farmlands on the south side of the city of Tarma, shown down at the bottom of the valley:


Two women load milk to take to the local market in Tarma:


The dirt road that winds its way up the mountain between Palcamayo and San Pedro de Cajas:


An LDS member of the San Pedro de Cajas (13,300 feet above sea level) branch:


An LDS member of the Junín branch (13,600 feet):


A wild vicuña, relative to the domesticated llama and alpaca:


An open-air market in Izcuchaca, Peru, between Huancayo and Huancavelica:


Farmlands built on the edge of cliffs in the High Central Andes near Huancavelica:


A common site throughout Peru: Catholic chapels. This one is located in Huancavelica.


A Quechua-speaking member of the Huancavelica branch:


High mountains and meadow (13,500 feet) with a shepherd and his dog:


Lake Junín, the second largest lake in Peru (Lake Titicaca is bigger), located at 13,500 above sea level, in the cold, wind-swept Pampas (altiplano) of Junín:


An 18,000-foot peak near Ticlio pass:


To see more of Scott's pictures of Peru and the Peru Lima East Mission, click here.

Peru Lima East Mission (Misión Perú Lima Este)

The Peru Lima East Mission (Misión Perú Lima Este), from which we recently returned home, covers the east side of the city of Lima (on the coast) and also the High Central Andes of Peru.

The mission is one of seven missions (as of October 2009) in Peru, as shown in this map:

The Peru Lima East Mission, the Peru Lima North Mission, the Peru Lima South Mission, and the Peru Lima Central Mission, each cover a section of Lima as well as several regions (state-like politcal areas), as indicated in the above map.

The Peru Lima East Mission includes the following regions: Lima, Huánuco (with the city of Huánuco as its capital), Pasco (with Cerro de Pasco as its capital), Junín (with Huancayo as its capital and includes Tarma where we lived for seven months), and Huancavelica (with the city of Huancavelica as its capital).


To travel through the Peru Lima East Mission involves more elevation changes that any other mission in the Church. A typical tour of the mission starts in Lima (sea level, where there are 10 LDS stakes), goes up from there over Ticlio pass at 15,807 feet above sea level, drops down to La Oroya (12,200 feet; 2 LDS branches), passed through the town of Junín (13,600 feet; an LDS branch), climbs up to Cerro de Pasco (14,200 feet, the highest stake in the Church), drops down to Huánuco (6,200 feet; two stakes), returns past Cerro de Pasco, drops down to Tarma (10,050 feet; four LDS branches), drops farther down to La Merced (2,600 feet; an LDS stake), returns up to Tarma, goes over a pass of 13,600 feet, drops down to Huancayo (10,600 feet; two LDS stakes), travels on to Huancavelica (12,100 feet; an LDS branch), and returns over the Ticlio pass and back down to Lima.

For more information about this fabulously diverse mission, read more of this blog.

Death of Our Daughter; End of our Mission

It is with heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of our daughter Sheri Lynne Zimmerman Klein (age 33), on Sunday, August 30, 2009, due to complications (eclampsia) from childbirth. Her newborn (second) daughter Ava Lily Klein was taken by C-section and is healthy and strong. Sheri's first daughter Abbey, age 3, and husband Eric are doing as well as could be expected.

We were released from our mission by the mission and Area presidents. We left Tarma on Tuesday, September 1, and flew out of Lima that night, arriving at our home in Orem on Wednesday. On Thursday, we attended a memorial service for Sheri in Lolo, Montana, where she was living at the time of her passing. We held a viewing on Friday in Orem and her funeral and burial on Saturday.

Picture of Abbey, Sheri, and Eric, taken July 2008:


Thanks to all of you who followed our blog during our 11 months as missionaries. We will of course miss our daughter but we will also miss the wonderful people of our mission and the many friends we left behind in the High Central Andes of Peru.

What Tourists See in Peru

Our mission president and the Area presidency gave us permission to travel around Peru with Scott's sister and her husband. We saw many amazing places and people. Thousands of tourists visit Peru every year. If you were to visit Peru, what might you see?

You might visit the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas (central square) of Lima:


... where you would see statues of Mary with her robe in the shape of a mountain--a ploy the Spaniards used to convince the Inca people to worship Mary as they did the mountain Gods:


You might visit the San Francisco chapel, with its catacombs in the basement:


Not far south of Lima is the archaeological site of Pachacamac:


You might visit the museums in Lima filled with wonderful examples of pre-Inca and Inca pottery:


Or you might travel 3-4 hours south of Lima to see the Ballestas Islands and the National Preserve at Paracas with wildlife of many types:


On one of the Ballestas Islands you could see the huge "candelabra" drawing. To us it looked like a "Tree of Life":


You could take a plane ride over the mysterious Nazca Lines, enormous drawings in the desert rock. The lines can only be seen from the air:


Most tourists travel to Cusco. Here two young women pose in the ceremonial costume of Cusco:


On a hill overlooking Cusco, you could visit the mammoth archaeological site of Saksawaman:


You could see women wearing their traditional hats and sweaters selling produce and souvenirs:


An amazing Inca site you could visit is found at Pisaq:


Here, a saleswoman and her daughter pose above the Pisaq terraces:


On the way to Machu Picchu, you could stop at the ancient Inca site of Ollantaytambo:


And of course, most tourists visit this Wonder of the World, Machu Picchu:


Machu Picchu is on the edge of the Peruvian jungle on a high mountain top:


On the train back from Machu Picchu to Ollantaytambo, you might be entertained by Peruvians in native masks and costumes:


You would probably want to visit Lake Titicaca. We stopped at various tourist sites, including this one, where Peruvian women sold their wares:


Some interesting Inca ruins are found at Raqchi:


You might get a close-up view of llama, alpaca (shown here), and vicuña:


Once in Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, it's a short boat ride out to the floating islands of Los Uros. The islands, homes, and boats are made of reeds, which grow in the shallow western bay of the lake:


The Uros travel from their islands and to the mainland in small rowboats:


... but they also travel in reed boats:


Not far from Puno are the ruins at Sillustani, a pre-Inca and Inca burial site, with stones of granite (light colored) and basalt (dark colored):


A woman who lives near Sillustani posed for Scott:


Such are the amazing scenes and peoples you might see if you were a tourist visiting Peru.

Our Fifth Huancavelica Trip

We left for Huancavelica on Saturday morning, August 15, and as usual, drove up to the altiplano between Tarma and Huancayo. This is the scene we saw at 13, 600 feet:


As we passed through Huancayo, we saw hundreds of people in all styles of dress, from modern to traditional. This woman, in traditional attire, was walking along one of the main streets of Huancayo:


As we drove into the high mountains south of Huancayo, we could see that the farmlands had dried out:


This is the same view from last April, at the end of the rainy season:


Another example of a dried-out hill with farmlands:


... and the same view from last April:


When we arrived in Izcuchaca, we stopped to take close-up pictures of the picturesque Spanish colonial bridge:


On the city side of the tower, we could see the steps that Spanish solders climbed to watch for enemies from the bridge:


On our way back from Huancavelica, in the mountain town of Ccaccasiri (a Quechua word prounced Hah-hah-see-ree; the double-C has a hard H sound), we passed through the middle of the Sunday market:


People gathered at the market to buy many different kinds of things: yarn, clothing, detergent, soda, dishes, soup kettles, etc.:


We spent the night in Huancayo. At dusk, we had a bird's eye view of the cathedral dome from the hotel roof near our room:


We noticed the contrast between the ancient cathedral and the modern high-rise office building in the background:


At various locations on our route, we saw adobes (bricks) stacked and waiting to be used for making houses and other small buildings:


Because it's the end of harvest time, we saw many farmhouses where the straw had been stacked to feed the animals until next year's crop.


... and fields where the straw was still waiting to be harvested:


We are now at the beginning of the "burn season," when sheep and cattle herders burn the dried hills so that more nutritious pasture grasses will grow next season:


Even though we've been to Huancavelica five times now, we always see new things as the seasons change. We never tire of the trip.

The Huancavelica Branch

This past weekend, we attended the Huancavelica Branch Conference where Scott met with the branch and district presidencies, spoke in sacrament meeting, and gave a 75-minute training session to leaders and other members. It was a special time to be with the many friends that we have made during our four previous trips to Huancavelica.

Here are some of the wonderful members who attended the conference.

The Medina family with Beverly and Scott (the two little children in front are not part of the family; they just wanted to get into the picture):


Beverly with some of the Primary children:


... and with some of the Young Women and other children:


Scott with the full-time missionaries (Elders Paredes and Huamán) and some young boys:


The wife of the branch president (President Huamaní) and their baby:


Beverly with three generations of the Ramírez family (daughter, granddaughter, and wife of the district president):


President Ramírez, the district president, as he leaves the conference to go home:


And a young man who is sending in his missionary papers:


These Huancavelican members hold a special place in our hearts.

More Missionaries and Members

On Monday (P-Day), we invited the young missionaries to our home for lunch (pizza). We recently found ready-made pizza crust, mozarella cheese, and mushrooms in a nearby store, and we found English ham and black olives in Huacayo (2 hours away):


Scott also made garlic bread with rolls from our nearby bakery, garlic salt, Parmesan cheese, and parsley flakes:


The missionaries--even the three Latinos--loved the food. Elder Winn (on the left) especially liked eating "American" food; Elder Chochobot (on the right) from Tacna, Peru, also devoured the pizza and garlic bread:


Our two Guatemalan missionaries, Elders Castro and Per, ate their share:


On Tuesday, Scott took a "colectivo" (a taxi with a set route), traveled an hour and 15 minutes to the town of San Pedro de Cajas (a town with no bank, no 'landline' telephones, and no Internet service---but with a nice LDS chapel) to give temple recommend interviews. Four members came: the branch president and these three wonderful women. They were so loving and appreciative. Two of them requested a blessing from Scott, which he was happy to give:


We love the missionaries and members in the Tarma district.