One of the places that I served was in Ilo, Peru which was a port town where Kennecott had a smelter and from which the copper was shipped. We as missionaries were informed that one of the first chapels built in Peru was in the mining town of Toquepala, Peru (not Arica) but some unfortunate incidents occured. Evidently many local Peruvian laborers were influenced by the Mormon employees from Utah and joined the church because they gained a testamony of its truthfulness, but other Peruvian laborers joined the church because they were under the impression that if they joined the church they would have jobs in the mines. When all of the jobs were filled in the mines, some of those who joined the church to get a job in the mines could not get one. They complained to the government of Peru.

The government stepped in and closed the town to all Mormons. The chapel was taken over and later converted into a recreation hall complete with a bowling alley. Even as late as the time when I served my mission in 1980, missionaries were not allowed in Toquepala. Kennecott could not assign Mormon employees from the United States to positions in Peru (with very few exceptions).

While I labored in Peru as a missionary, the work proceeded rapidly. With about 250 missionaries in our mission, nearly 450 souls join the church each month. I served part of my mission in Puno, Peru on the shores of Lake Titicaca where we had one small branch. There were four of us working there at the time. We rented a building to meet in and performed baptism in the lake. I was suprised to learn from President Hinkley in the past conference that there are now two stakes in Puno. It didn't seem to me at the time like there were that many people in that small town of Puno.