Our Temple Mission: Rama El Milagro & First Baptism

On Sunday we went with the Hawses to the El Milagro Branch which is in the Esperanza Stake. It is about 30 minutes from the temple and a bit north of La Esperanza. It has it's own building on a very large lot on the Pan American Highway. We stopped here to take pictures when we went with the Gonzalez family to El Brujo but we had never been to church here. They meet at 8:00 AM and we try to avoid early church, especially when it is far away.

This was their Branch Conference and there was rumor that they were going to be made a Ward. However, when the Stake President spoke he said they averaged 240 members at their meetings but need 250 to become a ward He said it still might be a possibility at Stake Conference or in the near future.

These signs were in the Foyer. The 1st one welcomes us to the Branch Conference and the 2nd one tells of the activities they held during the week before Conference.

On Friday the June 10th their branch came to the temple.

The members here take great pride their building. It was one of the cleanest we have been to and everyone was so friendly. The chapel is small and it was filled to capacity. The Stake President said that when they do become a ward they will probably have to make a new Stake because there are 9 units in their stake now. All the wards and Stakes are really growing out there.

The Branch President's office.

The Chapel. The flowers were real and beautiful.

The kitchen / Relief Society room.

Bill talking with members in the hall.

They rode these motorcycles right into the foyer to park.

These two were parked in front of the church.

And these two were parked on the basketball court.

Elder Angulo D'Leon from Bolivia and Elder Mejia from Lima.

Hermano Nunez works in the temple with Bill. He and his wife
thanked us for coming to their branch. The members love us
to visit their wards and they even recognized us from the stand.

Hermano Albuquerque on the left works in the temple. He is
the Stake Sunday School President and has a wonderful
sense of humor. He comes up with the funniest things.
The other brother is the Stake Sunday School Secretary.
They were on assignment for the Branch Conference.

Javier Rojas Tapia and his wife with Jan and Wayne. He loves Wayne
because he helped him when he came to the temple last week for the
first time. He served a mission in Arequipa when he was 19, but when
he was a missionary, there was no temple nearby so he had not been
able to go before his mission. I guess this was quite common
before temples were built in South America.

This young man is Elder Escobar. His father is the Branch President. When young men and young women receive their mission calls, they are sent to the Stake President. Mail service is very poor down here and many people do not get mail delivered to their homes. When the Stake President stood up to speak, he called Elder Escobar to the stand and handed him his mission call. He was able to open and read it to the whole congregation. He did not know that it had even arrived. He is going to Brazil in August. It was a very special moment with many a teary eye in the room.

President Bravo speaking.

Hermano & Hermana Rojas with the first member who joined the church
in Milagro (on the left).

Bill with Elder Escobar. So happy for his mission call.

Jan and me with Elder Males from Otavalo, Ecuador and Elder Bejarano from Bolivia.
Elder Males is from an Indian tribe with Lamanite heritage. Many joined the church years
ago because of the Book of Mormon. The stories from the Book of Mormon had been
handed down for generations so they knew it to be true when he missionaries introduced them
to the gospel. In their tribe, the men do not cut their hair, so when they serve a mission for the
church they can keep that tradition. Elder Males has his hair in a long braid down his back.

The women from Octavalo traditionally wear distinctive white embroidered blouses, with flared lace sleeves, and black or dark over skirts, with cream or white under skirts. Men wear white trousers, and dark blue ponchos.

The special music for the conference was provided by the Esperanza Stake choir. Hermano Albuquerque called them the Mormon Tabernacle Choir of Esperanza. The women all wore white blouses with blue scarves and the men had matching blue ties.

Sweet Hermana Leon in the front and center is a dedicated temple
worker and patron.

The choir came together on the bus. Here they are waving as they leave the church.

These first two pictures were taken across the street from the church. The third one was on the side street. The others were taken on the drive home.

Sunday afternoon, Bill & I went to our first baptism. We met Jeison Reaegui when he picked us up in his taxi one day. He told us he was a member of the church but his wife was not. We ran into him again at his ward, Barrio Tahuantinsuyo in La Esperanza, and recently on the temple grounds. He invited us to his his son's baptism.

We arrived at the church early and the gates weren't unlocked so we decided to take a little walk around La Esperanza.

A moto pickup truck.

We gave some candy to these little kids. Bill always tries to
have some in his pockets.

Landscaping.

There are always piles of sand around construction.

A double tenement.

Another picture of laundry on the rooftop. You see this all
over Peru.

An interesting tree.

We heard music and walked in that direction where we found a parade. Don't know the purpose of it but there were many different groups dressed in costumes.