“Tragedy and Healing in Peru,” Liahona, Feb. 2025.
Stories from Saints, Volume 4
Tragedy and Healing in Peru
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Late in the day on June 7, 1990, mission companions Manuel Navarro and Guillermo Chuquimango were walking back to their house. They enjoyed being missionaries—working hard, visiting different regions of Peru, and bringing people to Jesus Christ.
Their current area, Huaraz, could be dangerous at night though. A revolutionary group called Sendero Luminoso, or the Shining Path, had been warring with the Peruvian government for more than a decade. Lately, their attacks had become more aggressive as rising inflation and economic strife beset the country.
To help keep the missionaries safe, the five missions in Peru set curfews and restricted missionary work to the daytime. But this evening, Elder Navarro and Elder Chuquimango were feeling happy and talkative. They had just taught a gospel lesson and had about 15 minutes to get home.
As they walked and chatted, Elder Navarro spotted two young men a block or so ahead of them. They were pushing a yellow car. Manuel thought about lending a hand, but the men soon started the car and drove off.
A short time later, the missionaries approached a park near their home. The yellow car was parked about five feet from where they walked. Nearby was a military base.
“It looks like a car bomb,” Elder Chuquimango said. Elder Navarro saw some people running away, and in that instant the car exploded.
The blast slammed into Elder Navarro, throwing him into the air as shrapnel whizzed around him. When he hit the ground, he was terrified. He thought of his companion. Had he taken the brunt of the explosion?
Just then he felt Elder Chuquimango pick him up off the ground. The park looked like a war zone as soldiers from the base—the bomb’s apparent target—fired their guns past the smoldering remains of the car. Leaning on his companion, Elder Navarro managed to walk the rest of the way home.
When they arrived, he went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. His face was bloody, but he could not find a wound on his head. He simply felt faint.
“Give me a blessing,” he told his companion. Elder Chuquimango, who had received only minor injuries, placed his trembling hands on Elder Navarro’s head and blessed him.
Not long after, at the hospital, Elder Navarro fainted from loss of blood. He urgently needed a transfusion. Saints from Huaraz came to the hospital, hoping to donate blood, but none of them had the right type. Doctors then tested Elder Chuquimango’s blood and found him to be a perfect match.
For a second time that night, Elder Chuquimango saved his companion’s life.
The day after the explosion, doctors transferred Elder Navarro to a clinic in Lima. There Elder Charles A. Didier of the Area Presidency gave him a blessing, promising that he would soon return to the mission field.
After attending to Elder Navarro’s other injuries, doctors turned their focus to reconstructing his injured face. Shrapnel had cut his cheekbone and severed the optic nerve of his right eye, requiring the eye’s removal. His parents, who had come to Lima, broke the news to him.
With full financial support from the Church, Elder Navarro underwent three operations to remove his eye and repair its damaged socket.
While recovering at the clinic, Elder Navarro received visits from Luis Palomino, a friend from his hometown who was attending school in Lima. Although his injuries made it difficult for him to speak with Luis, Elder Navarro began sharing the missionary lessons.
Luis was surprised and impressed by Elder Navarro’s decision to finish his mission. “I want to know what is motivating you,” Luis told him. “Why is your faith so great?”
Six weeks after the explosion, Elder Navarro left the clinic and started serving at the mission office in Lima. The threat of terrorism still loomed, and he was afraid every time he saw a car like the one that exploded. At night he struggled to sleep.
One day, Luis came to the mission office to visit Elder Navarro. “I want to be baptized,” he told him. “What do I have to do?”
Over the next few weeks, Elder Navarro and his companion taught Luis the rest of the lessons at a nearby chapel. Elder Navarro was excited to teach a friend, and Luis eagerly completed all the goals he set with the missionaries.
On October 4, 1990, Elder Navarro performed Luis’s baptism. Although Elder Navarro was still suffering from his injury, the ordeal had made it possible for him to baptize a friend from his hometown—something he never expected to do. After Luis came out of the water, they embraced, and Elder Navarro felt the Spirit strongly. He knew Luis could feel it too.
To commemorate the occasion, Elder Navarro gave Luis a Bible. “When the days get dark,” Elder Navarro wrote on the inside cover, “just remember this day, the day you were reborn.”
Elders Chuquimango (left) and Navarro (center) with a fellow missionary after Elder Navarro’s eye surgery