“Go and Help Them”

In the late 1960s in Lima, young Latter-day Saint Gregoria Elvira Vasquez had a dream in which she received a letter from the prophet. A few months later, her bishop told her that he wanted her to serve a mission. Gregoria did not want to go, but the bishop asked her to take a month, read the entire Book of Mormon, and return with an answer. She decided to serve, despite her fears, and her mission call arrived in the form of a letter from the President of the Church, David O. McKay.

At this time, Gregoria worked at the Catholic school, Our Lady of Consolation, with Mothers of the Augustinian Order. “They taught me what not to do and what to do, how to teach, how to love my neighbor,” Gregoria said. The nuns knew she was a Latter-day Saint and supported her desire to serve in the Church. “We read the Book of Mormon together,” Gregoria said. “The missionaries came to visit me there with them.”

Gregoria told the Mothers that she planned to serve a mission but had no money. “We are going to support you and we are going to save your job,” they replied. They paid the cost of Gregoria’s mission to Bolivia, and she resumed working at the school when she returned.

In 1971, Gregoria was approached by leaders of the Church about the position of director of a Church-owned school in Lima. She fit their requirements that the director be Peruvian, have a degree in education, and be a returned missionary. “I loved the Augustinian Mothers very much. I owed them a lot,” she said, “but because the Church needed me, I was conflicted.”

The Catholic school superintendent convinced Gregoria to accept the offer. “You love your church; how can you turn them down?” she said. “I know that you are not ungrateful. Go and help them.”

From 1972 to 1975, Gregoria worked as the director of the Helaman School. Around the same time, she also served as the Primary president of the Andes Mission, traveling throughout the country to teach and supervise Primary leaders. “I did not have time for myself. Everything was dedicated to the Lord, but I liked it. I liked it a lot.”

Gregoria worked with parents, local leaders, the Peruvian Ministry of Education, and regional representatives from the Church to ensure that students received a quality religious and secular education in a loving environment.

The school included both Latter-day Saint children and those who were not members. This distinction did not matter to Gregoria. “My mind had already accepted the children as equal,” she said. Each morning the school held devotionals to help build students’ faith. “Now we have many leaders because of this effort,” she said.