Monday, April 7, 2008

About the Peru Lima East Mission


The Peru Lima East Mission:

  • Is about 50,000 square miles in size. That is about the same size as Alabama or Louisiana. Utah is 85,000 square miles in size. The map of the mission is shown below.
  • Has 15 stakes: 10 in Lima, 2 in Huanuco (which had one little branch when I left Peru 42 years ago), 2 in Huancayo (over which I was zone leader before it even had a branch), and 1 in Cerro de Pasco.
  • Includes the Cerro de Pasco Stake, which is the highest Stake of Zion in the world, at 14,200 feet above sea level! I didn't specifically read that it was the highest stake, but I did read that Cerro de Pasco is the highest city in the world. I couldn't confirm the latter. Some online sites say that Potosi, Bolivia, is the highest city, but Cerro de Pasco is 1000 feet higher than Potosi. (BTW, there is a Bolivia Potosi Stake, which a friend of mine says has its headquarters upon on a high plateau over 1000 feet above the city center, making Potosi the highest stake in the world. Whatever.)

  • Covers an area of Peru in which the rate of poverty is about 60%. I'm not sure what constitutes poverty in Peru, but I'm guessing it's lower than the poverty level in the US. And I can't even guess what the rate of poverty is among members of the church there, but I'm guessing that among active members of the church, the poverty rate is low. (I'm not saying this as a positive thing. I'm guessing that poverty-striken members don't stay active.)

  • Includes all eight natural regions of Peru. the major ones of which are the coast (including Lima), la sierra (the high Andes mountainous area), the high jungle, and the low junge or rain forrest of the Amazon basin.

  • Includes (on its border) the mountain Yerupajá (locally called El Carnicero, which means butcher, and refers to the sharp-edged knife shape of the mountain), which is the second-highest point in Peru, at 21,758 feet above sea level. (The highest point in Peru is El Huascarán, at 22,204 feet, but it is not in our mission.)

  • Got a new mission president in July 2008. Surf around this blog for information on Pres. and Sister Leyva.

Map of Peru, with the area of the Peru Lima East Mission marked in red. Each area on the map is a Region (analogous to a state) of Peru, of which there are 25 regions. Our mission includes the regions of Huánuco, Pasco, Junín, and Huancavelica, as well as a piece of the Lima region and the city of Lima.



1 comment:

Alex said...

Hi, my name is Alexander McRae. On thursday I received my mission call and will be called to the Peru, Lima East Mission and I am way stoked. I got online to find out more about the mission and just learn as much as I could. Thanks for putting up the blog it has helped alot and it is fun reading about where I will be serving the Lord these next two years. I am from Idaho and I report to the MTC in provo May, 19th. I am so excited and again want to say thank you. If you have any advice or would like to contact me my email is amcrae91@hotmail.com