Becoming Peru's tenth mission, the Peru Chiclayo Mission will be organized from the Peru Piura and Peru Trujillo Missions. The new mission will include the two Peruvian regions of Lambayeque and Cajamarca with a combined population of 2.5 million. The realigned Peru Piura Mission will retain the regions of Piura and Tumbes with a combined population of 1.9 million and the realigned Peru Trujillo Mission will retain the regions of Ancash and La Libertad with a combined population of 2.7 million. The Peru Piura Mission was once headquartered in Chiclayo and was known as the Peru Chiclayo Mission until relocated to Piura in the 2000s. The new Peru Chiclayo Mission will have eight stakes and the realigned Peru Piura Mission will have five stakes and two districts and the Peru Trujillo Mission will have 10 stakes and four districts.
Notwithstanding the large number of full-time missions administering Peru's population of 30 million, dozens of cities between 10,000 and 30,000 remain unreached by the LDS Church and many are located in northern Peru in areas affected by the mission realignment. Several previously unreached cities now have groups and full-time missionaries assigned (such as Morropon, Tambo Grande, Huamachuco, and Huarauaos) and additional cities will likely open to missionary work as additional mission resources are allocated to the soon-to-be three missions (such as Bambamarca, Chota, Cutervo, La Arena, and Tambo Grande). Peru's native full-time missionary force more than exceeds the number of full-time LDS missionaries stationed in Peru, which has likely contributed to the announcement of an additional mission. As the number of Peruvian Latter-day Saints serving missions continue to rise, we may see additional missions organized in Peru in locations such as Huancayo, Ica, and Iquitos.
For more information on the Church in Peru and challenges, opportunities, and prospects for growth, visit the Peru country profile.
10 comments:
My first area was Chiclayo in 1983, in the Peru Lima North Mission. There was one stake in Chiclayo, and 6 or 7 wards. Amazing to see how quickly the Church as grown in this region.
I thought the Peru Chiclayo Mission sounded familiar. Thakyou for the details on Chiclayo.
On a barely related note, does anyone know how things are progressing with the Trujillo Temple?
John, they're preparing to break ground on it. Rick's site, www.ldschurchtemples.com, has great updates on it & all other temples in progress.
I served in Trujillo about 3 years ago and my companion and I along with our President drove to Huamachuco to determine if it could sustain Elders. Its exciting to read that Elders are now working there.
Hey Col what's your last name? I'm Elder Harvey and served in Trujillo too, probably know you!
I had the opportunity to serve in Chiclayo and Piura during my mission from 1978 - 1980
I served in the Peru Lima North Mission from 1981-1983. I never served in Lima, but spent all of my time in Chimbote, Piura, Trujillo, Barranca, and Chiclayo. At that time there were no missionaries in most of the smaller cities, and even some of the larger ones. It is very gratifying to discover how the work has progressed to bless the lives of the people there.
Late to the party on this one, but for one who served in Peru in the mid-1970s before the 1978 revelation on the priesthood, the growth of the church is absolutely mind-boggling. When I served, there was one mission, one stake, and very few native missionaries in all Peru. And while we had quite a few women in the church, our problem was the scarcity Peruvian men who could hold the priesthood. Hence, our focus was finding someone who could hold the priesthood, which was hard since none of them seemed interested in the church. One of the earlier Peruvian missionaries of my time was Elder Benites, who came from Breña, Lima. I got to know him in Chimbote. Then there was Agustin Vasquez. I knew him in Rimac, Lima, my last area. He was in college at the time and said he wanted to serve a mission but that he would have to wait till he finished college about 7 years later. Before I left, he said he might go on a mission in a year, if he could swing it. He was one of the first members of that area to help us with a street exposition near Puente La Piedra, on the backside of the government palace and above the River Rimac. Augstin did a fantastic job and we kept trying to coax him into serving. A year after I came home I learned that then-Elder Vasquez was serving in Chiclayo! For those of us who knew him, that was tremendous experience to share in. But to see the growth now, it’s almost bittersweet. There’s great joy in seeing how the church has grown, but I sometimes wonder how anything I did was ever part of it. (Sounds defeatest, I know, but after working six months in one area and then being the one under whose watch the missionaries were pulled out & the church shut down and now to see there's a stake there, one is sometimes left to wonder!) But the growth is miraculous and I’m both amazed and grateful.
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I was a missionary 1973-75 in the Andes-Peru. I served in Rimac, Lima Central, Piura, Ica, Cajamarca, and Lima 3. We set the ground work and the spirit for lots of growth. With only a few baptisms each year in many of the Branches. To this day I dream of the people and the lives I had the opportunity to touch in the short 22 months serving in Peru. I totally agree with R.E. Alexander.
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