¡Prospero Año Nuevo!

Hey errybody! I've contracted a disease this wonderful P'day... driving in on the combis, I always get "flojera".. haha. I just get super lazy after riding the combis to come into Central to get on the internet. I'm sleepy tired. Changes were last night, but Elder Garcia and I aren't going anywhere! However, Elder Lamb is heading out, and a Latino is coming in in his place.. so. I'm thinking, this next change, I'm going to loose a good portion of my native tongue, which is kinda super cool, and a little sad at the same time...

But, this week was super cool! Got to talk to my family! (Merry Christmas to me!) But, Christmas Eve, my companion and I spent all day teaching with our box, and dead serious brought a couple people to tears with our piledriving spiritual power. We're just that good. In the night, went to a members house, ate some really yummy turkey, and then went back to the room. We may or may not have purchased a 3 liter Inca Kola, some paneton (like, fruit cake. It's a Christmas tradition here), and played Monopoly til midnight, BUT it's cuz we wanted to witness a tradition here. At midnight, everyone lights off fireworks, and it is super sweet, cuz it's EVERYONE, at the same time. We were able to look out our windows and just see for miles, fireworks everywhere. It was super cool. Um... Christmas, not a lot happened. Everyone was busy basically, so we didn't do much other than call our families..

Really, not a ton happened this week til the end. Saturday, we had an activity for Christmas/New Years. Like, 60 people came, we (the missionaries) taught the Restoration with some sweet visual aids that I thought of (again... just that good), and then ate some food. It was pretty sweet. Got a couple references, and some of our investigators and less actives came. 

Sunday too was super cool. The goal for members in Sacrament Meeting for this year here in La Joya was 100, and we've been hovering about 90 every week. Yesterday, we had 104! BOOM! It was awesome. We basically talked about families and temple work yesterday, and it was maybe my favorite Sunday out of my whole mission so far. The kids had a big activity that they ate paneton and hot chocolate and got toys, the youth were watching Mormon Messages, and the adults were talking about temples and families, and the last hour, we talked about temples and stuff more. It was just like, awesome. The fact that our families can be together forever is seriously the best gift we can possibly have. It was just a really good time, and was sweet to see the families here who are sealed. The people here really are pioneers, and their kids are gonna be the next generation to lead and direct this church. They rock. I love these people.  

Um. But, I think that's it... Not a lot today. Alex has been coming every week but his dad still wants proof that he's ready. We have planned this week to do everything in our power to get permission to baptise him. Hopefully! Jessica and Gabriel are new investigators that we have that are progressing really well, so I'm excited about that. Yesterday, we met a few new familes that I'm excited about. I'll let ya'll know next week how they're doing. Anyways... until next year! Love and miss you all!

-Elder Richman

Feliz Navidad!

Phew, this letter is gonna be short cuz I have lots of people to write, and I gotta plan my call on Wednesday with my family! Bueno, lets get started.

This week, we had good lessons with Benedicto and his family. He is starting to understand well, and we taught him the box this week. Something that I found out is that, for most of these people, when we read the birth of Christ with them, it is their first time! Crazy, right? But it's been really good to help them with their testimony of Christ. But, with Benedicto, he is progressing well, but still needs a little push. We're working on it.

Maria is doing well too. We also taught with the box, and she liked it a lot haha. We just gotta keep pushing forward with her, I believe she has the potential to progress. 

We're working with another family too, Teddy and Daysy. Their really cool, and they're members, but just a little less active. We went and celebrated their daughters 11th birthday this week with them, and we ate a lot of cake, and my comp puked. I swear, he throws up as frequently as Austin hahaha. It's great.

Um... oh. It's mango season here! So we eat mangos all the time from the trees, cuz there are like a billion. It's pretty great. I do like a good mango. I don't like all the hairs though.

Yesterday in church, we got to help the primary make a bunch of Christmas cards. It was awesome. It felt like Christmas. The kids here are great, I dunno if I've mentioned that. And not just the members, all of them haha. Every time we are in Upis, there is this little girl that comes up and holds my hand, and says "Hermano, cuando vas a venir a mi casa?" (Brother, when are you gonna come to MY house?) It's way cute haha. But, her parents are hardly home so... haha. We're teaching this two kids, Jose and Rodrigo, and I want to share an experience I had with them, that was WAY humbling. I asked them what they asked for for Christmas, and Jose told me, almost, ashamed cuz it was SO much, "Well.. I REALLY would like a new soccer ball." Seriously, I almost cried, straight up. I was his age, asking for a bajillion expensive toys, and he is asking for a soccer ball, and he thinks it's too much. I dunno. I have been able to understand the Spirit of Christmas a lot more here. And, it's really such an important thing. When Christ was born, I feel like hope was born. We have the hope (and surety) that if we follow his example, we can be clean from our sins, and we can live with our familys for forever, and with our Heavenly Father! For me, that's a whole lot of hope. I know Christ lives, and that through him, I can truely live. I'm so grateful for that, and for this time I have to serve him and be his representative here in Peru. Love and miss you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Tengan una Feliz Navidad!

Elder Richman

I'm Dreaming of Wet Christmas!

Holiday Greetings from Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I'm a little tired today, due to the fact that our neighbors in the next level of our building just got a new puppy, and it was up barking nice and early this morning. I ended up actually going up and threatening it I was gonna punt it off the roof if it didn't callarse. It didn't, but I also didn't punt it off the roof.  

So, remember all the appointments we had lined up for this week? Well, the investigators didn't. Haha. This week was kind of a pain, cuz we would go out and work all day long, and we had like 2 days this week that NOTHING happened haha. But, this week has been very very wet. It was raining all the time this week it seems like haha. So, the nice thing is, it hasn't been hot. But, Saturday, it rained really hard. Houses were flooding, and a lot of the streets too haha. I'm not talking a little bit of water, I'm talking, a raging river, complete with big rapids, was the roads haha. Kids were swimming in the road. It was pretty intense. But, with all the rain, my comp and I have been falling left and right. It's been pretty funny. My comp turfed it HARD yesterdayin a ton of mud, and on Saturday, I fell and almost was completely submerged by water haha. My scriptures were saved fortunately, so other than that I wasn't that upset, just laughed.  

I would like to talk about 2 of our investigators that we are working with, just to load em up with prayers from home. Benedicto, Juana, and Alex, and then Rosa are still doing well. Rosa came to church this week, so that was good. But, we have 2 investigators that I feel good about. The first is Maria Martinez and Pedro. Maria is kinda older, but not like, super old, and Pedro is 13. He's from Brazil, so he speaks only a little Castellano. They are progressing well, and we had an AWESOME lesson on the Book of Mormon this week with them. The other is Jessica, she is a young mother, and we're gonna start teaching with her husband this week, but she is progressing really well. She can start to come to church when she finishes up her college this week. I'm feeling real good about the both of them, but we'll see. 

This week, President Harbertson came with his wife and we had a Christmas party! We had pizza and cake (Yup, I put back on all the weight I've lost I think), and then an AWESOME Christmas devotional. I cried. Like a baby. And I'm totally fine with it. It was seriously awesome. But, also on that note, Elder Garcia and I have finished up our Christmas Box. We took it out for a whirl last night, and taught 2 lessons with it. THey were super impressed, and the Branch President came with us for one of the lessons, and afterwards was like, "Elders, that is super dope. We're gonna schedule some family home evenings with our friends and you have to come over and blow them away with the Spirit of Christmas". Okay, maybe not exactly his words, but I think some parts were lost in translation... I'm really excited to keep using it. 

So, President Harbertson gave us a Book of Mormon for Christmas, and a challenge to read it, but to mark every time it says the name of the Lord, and when he is speaking. It actually is quite surprising how much I'm marking! Truely, this book is another testament of our Savior, Jesus Christ! Anyways, I'm having a good time. My comp and I are always laughing and enjoying ourselves, even when we're soaking wet, but we still can teach with the Spirit, so it's great. Loving life haha. I know this church is true! Hope all is well back home! 

Con Amor,

Elder Richman

The pictures are of lots of stuff, our Christmas decorations, our visit to the bridge, our Christmas box, me getting ready to go trapse in the rain.. haha. Enjoy! 

¡Venid, Adoremos!

Hello everyone! I have heartbreaking news... this computer won't let me upload my photos, and I had good ones! That's okay. Next week!

This week was awesome! Seriously, we worked crazy hard, and we saw the results, and I loved it. I'm not gonna go through every day individually, cuz I want to talk about some of the people we are teaching.

First off, Benedicto, Juana, Alex, y Lizbeth. They are a family we are teaching right now. Alex, is like, 10 and he comes to church every Sunday. He has a baptism date for the end of this month, but we're working hard with his family. His family struggles to understand a little, but they always tell us how happy they feel when we come and teach them. I feel like they just need a little push, so we're gonna keep working with them. I'm excited to see where they go. 

Rosa Gregoria. She is another investigator we're teaching. She has a huge amount of faith, but struggles to understand kinda too. She is progressing well, reading her scriptures, but she doesn't seem to understand how important the things we are teaching are, so we have to help her to realize that. We have a member called Brother Valera who has been helping us out a lot with her, so I've seen a lot of the effectivness of the missionary with member team going on. It's sweet. 

We're working with a ton of less actives right now. We have Manuel, Rosa, Saturnina, Americo, Lizbeth, Jimena, Eva... lots. But, this Sunday, Americo, Saturnina, and Manuel came. Manuel is now reactivated (SWEET), and Saturnina and Americo haven't come to church in YEARS. So, it was way cool. Really, we just have a lot of people who are progressing really well.

This week rocked! We had citas almost the entire week for every hour, so it was way busy. There was times that we were running cita to cita, from one end of our sector to the other, but I seriously saw so many blessings for our sacrifices. This work is real. I love it!

I saw a sloth this week! So that was cool. I wanna have a pet one now. I hope my future spouse is gonna be okay with that. My comp and I also were invited to some strong chicha this week. It's like, a drink made from corn, but when it is hot for like, a day, it ferments. So, Juana our investigator invited us to some of her chicha (which is usually REALLY good) and we both took a drink, and almost threw up. It was WAY strong haha. So, we had to tell her that we couldn't drink it. But it was funny. Speaking of my comp, we're getting along really well. I'm having a lot of fun with him haha. We have a good time, but we work way hard, and teach well together. We put up Christmas decorations in our room this week, so that was cool. I have pictures, but I can't send em. We also have planned a big Christmas lesson that we're gonna start giving to people, with a box! We've wrapped up a big box like a present, and inside have built the Nativity. We're gonna talk about "Venid, Adoremos" or "Come Let Us Adore Him" and how we can do that now, through our church attendance, baptism... basically, it's a super well rounded lesson that we can use in whatever situation. I'm really excited about it, and I'll send some pictures when it's done. 

This week, the weather was nuts. We would leave in the morning, start sweating like a couple of animals, and then at like, 12 every day, the rain would start falling. Like... a lot. Since all the roads are dirt, the roads turn into rivers almost instantly haha. I'm not exhagerating(?) either haha. Like, a foot of water running down the roads. Fortunately, we have big old boots we wear haha. So it's sweet. 

Well. Time is a little short today, and I'm not sure what else to write. I'm excited for this next week, we already have lots of citas lined up again. It's gonna be a good one. Thanks for everything, love and miss you all, but I'm having a good ol' time down here in the jungles of Puerto Maldonado. Keep my investigators and the people I'm teaching in your prayers. As time progresses, I'll keep ya'll posted about it. Anyeways, until next week! 

Con amor,

Elder Richman

Sicksgiving!

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving, ate delicious food, and gained just a little weight. Unfortunately, this week, we were all sick! But, I'll let you know what happened haha.

So, Monday, after email, we went to a place called the Obelisko. It's basically this big tall tower that you climb for forever, and then you can look out over all of Puerto Maldonado! It was really cool, and the view was actually really impressive. Afterwards, we went to this place called Copasu. It's a famous ice cream place here in Puerto, and it was actually SUPER good, especially cuz Monday it was very hot haha. 

So, this week, we had tons of citas lined up, and we were ready to work hard. However, Tuesday, my comp started feeling kind of sick, and then got to a point that he was REALLY sick, so we came back to the room. Wednesday he was feeling about the same, so I sat around and read Jesus the Christ (which I finished! It was awesome. I highly recommend it.), and about 2 o'clock, I started to feel super sick. So, we were feeling about the same, but we live with 2 other elders, Elder Bazan (Part Peruvian, part Chinese), and Elder Lamb from Indiana, and in the morning, Elder Bazan got sick too. Basically, all our bodies were hurting, we felt nauesious, and it hurt to move. Friday, we started feeling a little better, so we went out and about to start working again. We happened to find out about a woman here who passed away recently, and they were having a viewing service. So, we went to ask if we could help with anything. The woman who had passed away has a daughter with like... 12 years, and a baby with 2 months. So we asked her widower if we could do anything, and he told us to come back at night to offer a prayer. 

So, a bit of background on my comp before I tell you about this. My comp is Elder Garcia from Mexico. He is seriously awesome. He is my age, so we get along really well, and we laugh and joke a lot, but I feel like we teach effectively together. But, he cracks me up, cuz he loves Christmas so much, and even though he doesn't speak English, he can sing a ton of Christmas songs in English, word for word, almost perfectly. It's pretty great. So, we go to the funeral that night, and we are just kinda waiting around for about half an hour to say the prayer. This was a Catholic funeral too, and we don't know the traditions of a Catholic funeral, so we were really unsure of ourselves. But at one point, Elder Garcia started singing quietly, "I'll have a blue... Christmas... without you...."  I smacked him and told him to be quiet, cuz I almost started laughing.  He is kinda spacy so he forgot where we were, and just started singing. Cracked me up. But I told him that in the prayer he offered, he had to teach parts of the Plan of Salvation. So, he did the prayer, and was basically teaching Lesson 2 during it haha. Afterwards I gave a quick rundown of our message, and that we were here to share it with all in this time of difficulty and need. It was cool, and we actually got a few new investigators from it. All in all this was with like 30 people. It was cool. 

Unfortunately, Saturday, the pain came back to me like, 3 fold, mostly in my chest. I dunno what I had, but I seriously couldn't breathe without feeling like my chest was gonna explode. It was nuts. Wow, it's raining a ton right now. Anyways. 

Yesterday was better. It was testimony meeting, and it feels really good to be in a branch that everything is running quite smoothly already. It was really relaxing and refreshing to just sit back and listen to the peoples testimonies yesterday, cuz that never really happened in Echarati haha. I just am really excited about the branch that we are in.

Well, I think that's it for this week, I was sick, and even though I was sick, it was good. I did a lot of studying my scriptures and other missionary books, and got to bond a bit with my comp and the other missionaries in our room. Today we have plans to go and decorate our room for Christmas, so that's exciting. But, I'm excited for this week. Yesterday we hit up a TON of houses to get citas, so our week is already almost full, so I'm excited to see how it goes. Wish me luck. Anyways. Can't think of anything else. Love and miss you all, and I'm doing well! Hasta la proxima semana! 

Con amor, 

Elder Richman

I'm Melting!

Well, I'm here in Puerto Maldonado AKA Hell. I mean that in a literal sense, we live on a road called Infierno, which means, Hell. So. Hahaha. But no, it's so stinking hot here it's ridonkulous. Why people choose to live here is beyond me, but that people that do choose to live here are super cool. I seriously love it here! But, I'm gonna let ya'll know about my week. 

So, Tuesday morning, we took off! Loaded up in a tiny combi, with all of our gear, for the ride to Cusco. This was the first time taking it in the day, so I learned what it consists of. 1 hour of driving along the riverbanks, 2 hours of switchbacks climbing mountains, 1 hour of riding along mountain valleys, 1 of riding through Sacred Valley, and then another of riding along valleys. So, it was a sweet ride, got some cool pictures. Got to Cusco, dropped off our stuff, then went and did some touristy stuff because we (Elder Haffie and I) had nothing to do. So, we went to the Plaza de Armas again, and had McDonalds and walked around. Basically, all the gringo missionaries that had changes that day convened in McDonalds, so that was kinda cool. But, it was a cool day. Stayed that night at a missionaries apartment.

Wednesday got in our bus at 10 for our 12 hour drive to Puerto. Not alot to report about that one. Long, but actually not that bad. Stepped off the bus in Puerto and heard "Daniel?!" Hahaha. So, met up with Sister Shanlee Hansen. She's actually with me in the same internet right now. Kinda funny. But, we haven't really had a chance to talk. I gave her a hard time for calling me Daniel though. 

Thursday, it was raining all day, so we had to wear boots everywhere. It was wet haha. Puerto is flat! It's weird not having mountains. But, Thursday was good. Got to know a couple of the people around here. The weather wasn't too bad at least. 

Friday and Saturday, more of the same.. the weather started getting progressively more hot... but, BLAM! Sunday. It was so stinking hot. And to top it all off, we didn't have water. I bathed myself out of a bucket, yesterday and today. We are hoping we have water tonight in the night. But yeah. Yesterday was way hot. I was like, pouring sweat all day. Today is stinking hot too, but it looks like it's gonna rain, so that'd be sweet.

Basically I can't tell you much about my investigators or members, because there is a billion, and I don't remember their names and stuff in these moments, so next week I'll elaborate a bit more on them. But, we're teaching a couple families right now that are progressing well, and we have a ton of investigators and less actives we are working with. I'm very excited for the work here, and I think in December we're gonna see a couple of baptisms.  

So, my sector is called La Joya. It is real big. It consists of a part called La Joya, La Joyita, y Upis. Upis is like, clear the heck in the middle of no where, it's like 30 minutes of walking in blistering heat to go there, but we have lots of investigators there. La Joya is pretty normal, but La Joyita is basically a community of houses made out of tarps. It's pretty poor. All the streets here are dirt. But seriously, the people here are so cool. I'm so stoked, you guys don't understand.  

Um.. oh! We have a branch here, and it ROCKS. Our Branch President is from Spain, so the first time I saw him I thought he was American haha. But he is so cool. He has only been a member for 2 years, but he is so fired up for the work. He helps us out so much, and he's getting the members so involved with the work, so that's why it's progressing pretty well here. I'm really excited to work with the ward. Yesterday I gave a talk about testimonies (20 minute talk, that I prepped at 9 at night the night before I gave it... I'm just that good). The memmbers really liked it. But, yesterday night we had a area conference/training for the members of the ward council and missionaries, so we all went to that, and it was about the members and the missionaries working hand in hand, so that was cool. 

Aguaje. Something interesting from here. It's a fruit that grows here, but it was a ton of female hormones. So. The 13 year old girls here look like.. 17 or 18. It is super creepy. There's also a handful of guys that really enjoy eating it, that literally have started to take on female qualities, like, physically. Super weird.

Anyways, I think that's all. My new sector rocks. It's smack dab in the jungle, and I'm excited to explore it a bit. I'm excited for the people we're teaching, and I think we are gonna see some cool things happen here. I'm stoked about my comp, he actually reminds me a lot of my buddies, so I think we're gonna have a good time. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving this week, and I love and miss you all! Until next week!!

(Pictures! Got some of saying bye in Quillabamba, eating in McDonalds.. yum... some of the drive, and then some of my new zone. One of the less active members we have been teaching has a parrot, so that's what that is. And the big building is our room. Our room is like, legitly one of the best in the mission, it is so sweet haha.)

-Elder Richman

Me Voy!

Bueno, recibí un llamado ayer a medianoche... Elder Quispe, el lider de distrito me dijo... "Elder Richman, tienes cambio a Puerto Maldonado!" Como??? De todos las zonas en la misión, voy a estar en las dos donde hacen demasiado calor... jaja. Esta bien, estoy muy animado para ir! Quiero saber si Hermana Hansen esta allá todavía, seria chevere a hablar con ella. Bueno, voy a escribir in ingles ahora. Lo siento.  

Okay, for you who don't speak Spanish, I have a change! I head out tomorrow for Cusco, then on Wednesday for Puerto Maldonado, in Madre de Dios! Like, NOW, I'm legitly going to the jungle. I'm pretty stoked about it, but I'm not looking forward to sweating even more... the one nice thing, is I'll lose more weight? I hope. Haha. 

Monday, we went to Mondor, a big old waterfall! I have a few pictures of that for ya'll. It was really cool. Got a great picture there of Elder Nolan my zone leader/brother... haha seriously, I'm gonna miss him when I go to Puerto! 

Tuesday we did a mutual, but since there wasn't power, we were forced to play games and stuff, rather than watch the church movie we were planning on... but it was really good! Made me happy cuz a couple of the youth that weren't coming, are coming now. I feel like I have helped the youth here at least a little bit. One of them, Sunday, when we were saying there might be changes, she looked kinda startled and said to me, "Well I hope not, cuz you're someone real cool!" She is like 13, so it's not anything weird, but it seriously made me feel so good. It's nice to know I made a good influence on someone. 

Did splits with Elder Haefelmann again on Thursday, so that was fun. At the end of the day, we said bye to Elder Mendez, cuz he went home yesterday. I sent a picture of him to  ya'll too.  

Ummm... Oh! One of the families that I have helped activate, the familia Medina, is now officially activated! So, that makes me happy. We did a family home evening with them yesterday, and I'm super glad we did, now that I'm leaving especially. 

Got my package! That was nice, thanks for that haha. This week I had the opportunity to work in a restaurant. One of the less actives we are working with has her restaurat, and we went to teach, and she was super busy, so we helped for like an hour serving people haha. It was fun! Also, got my bed this week, so I was no longer sleeping on the floor! 

Well, today we emailed late cuz I packed everything and said bye. I almost lost it saying bye to the pensh cuz she started crying, and I was like, "AWWWW!!" But, I kept it together. I also was able to say bye to the family Quispe, which made me super happy. I hope they can keep progressing, and finally get married!  

Sweet. I think that's it for this week. OH! Yesterday was our penshs birthday, so, I ate Cuy! It's a little guenia pig! It was interesting. Not gross, but not my favorite food. But, I like the picture I took. the other picture is with Hno Pascual, the guy who walks 2 hours every Sunday. He's the best.  

Well. Now that's it. I think. It was a good week overall, and I'm excited to go to the jungle, even if it feels like sitting in an oven. I know I'm here for a reason, and I know that someone in Puerto needs me, and that makes me excited! Thanks for the love and support, hope all is well at home. I'll let ya'll know about Puerto Maldonado! Until next week!

Les quiero mucho! 

Elder Richman

Hello Everybody!

All right. How's everyone doing? I hope quite well. This week was perdy good, although our numbers were wayyyyy low. Kinda frustrating. Basically, we hardly taught investigators this week. Which is frustrating, but there's only to hope for better next week, and keep... uh... esforzándome? I honestly don't know how to say that in English. Like, keep getting beter and strengthening myself? I dunno, it makes sense in Spanish haha. Anyways, let's dive right in.  

So, first off. My package, FINALLY GOT HERE. I'm going to pick it up today from the Zone Leaders place. So that's pretty exciting. It was a lot of drama, but I think from now on my packages will get here faster cuz I have my carta de poder now. 

Oh, also, if I didn't tell ya'll, my bed broke like 3 weeks ago, so I have been sleeping on the floor for like 3 weeks haha. My new bed came today, so I'm excited to sleep on that again.  

Soooo... Monday was spent in Quillabamba for Pday. We made pizza and macaroni and cheese. Tuesday we met with some members, and with a few investigators. Wednesday, we came to Quilla, and the gringos did divisions and the latinos did divisions. So, it was a fun filled day of teaching, speaking in English, and eating American food for all our meals. Sadly, the numbers from that day didn't get to count towards our numbers... haha. Thursday, my comp was suffering from some different problems, so he refused to go out and work, so that was a fun day....Friday...um. We worked with a bunch of members that day, and got stuff ready for an activity on Saturday. 

Saturday we had an activity, that basically lasted all day for us. We started out with a service project in the morning with a member, then came to the chapel and cleaned there, then we ate lunch with the members. It was pretty good, we had a decent turn out, and we took lunch to some of the members who couldn't come. But, doing all of it ended up taking up most of the day, so there went a lot of potential for numbers that day... Fluuuussshhhh....

Sunday was good! We're climbing with our numbers that are coming to church, so that makes me super happy. We have some less actives that are now considered active, cuz they have come a lot and are participating again, so that makes me happy. Although we maybe didn't have a lot of lessons with investigators, we are definitely strengthening the group here. I really don't care that much if we have lots of baptisms or not, but it makes me happy that these people are starting to find or refind their testimonies. We taught a few people in the evening, so that was good.

All in all, it was a good week, but our numbers looked perdy bad, which is a bummer. But, we're seeing progress here, and that is what is important to me. Fun story for the week... I was going to put gel in my hair this week, and I picked up my gel bottle real fast (it was laying on it's side on the counter, in our outdoor bathroom). When I picked it up, I saw something brown fall behind me, so I looked behind me and didn't see anything, so I turned back to the mirror to put the gel in my hair... and I saw a HUGEMONGOUS cockroach running up my shirt trying to climb on my face. My comp ran out of the room cuz he thought someone was trying to kill me.

Anyways. Keep on keeping on everybody! Love and miss you! Gona see if I have a change this week.. part of me wants one, and part of me wants to stay... guess we'll see haha. Until next week!

Elder Richman 

Día de los Muertos

Hi guys! 

So, just to start off. The fact that it is now November, and that I am going to hit my 5 month mark tomorrow is crazy. Seriously. It goes fast. Haha. 

Also. This week was superdy duper slow as far as the work goes. 2 of the days, we were super sick, 2 of the days everyone was drunk, and another day we were doing service. Forunately, the lessons we did have, were pretty powerful, and it was cool. But, I'll let ya'll know all about it.

So. Tuesday, one of the inactives here invited us to eat. Yeah, cool, so we go eat lunch. All I can say is I feel really bad for her husband. I dunno what happened, but that food like, poisoned both of us on Tuesday and Wednesday. So, we basically would leave the casa capilla for a bit, see if we could contact anyone, and then sprint back home when we needed to make a... ahem... trip.  

Thursday was good, we were feeling good so we worked all day, pretty hard, but still a lot of people weren't home. Friday was... uh. I don't know what the holiday is. Basically, it's like, "Get together, drink a lot, eat some pig, and don't let missionaries into your house" Day. We didn't have a single lesson that day haha. So, that was kind of a bummer, BUT, we did eat good (even though we couldn't eat the pig. ) That day we also saw a giant bug with these massive pincers. It looked like a super mean Pokemon.

Saturday was Dia de los Muertos. So, everyone and their dog went to the cemetary to drink to their friends and family who have passed on. So, that was another slow day haha. We had a few lessons that day at least. 

Sunday, was pretty good. We had a decent number in sacrament meeting, but not any investigators, or the less actives we've been focusing on, but there were a lot. I bore my testimony, and later taught the youth and single adults about the vision of the tree of life, which was a lot of fun. Later that day, we went to a party! Okay, let me explain. We went to visit Rony and Yhoseli (la familia Quispe) and they were prepping for the birthday party of their little boy. So, we went and started helping them prep for it and everything. Like, 10 minutes before they started, Yhoseli was in tears, cuz they had invited and prepped food for like, 40 people, and only 7 were there, and her poor little baby was absolutely terrified of the clown. So, we stayed a little longer cuz we felt super bad. It was actually really good, cuz we ended up gaining a lot of the trust of both sides of their families, and we're gonna start trying to teach them. But, we really have the trust of the familia Quispe. Seriously. I can honestly say that I am going to remember them the rest of my life. I seriously love them haha. 

We decided to eat breakfast in our room this month, and not in the penshes house. So, that was scary to tell her, but she didn't care, and now we get to eat real good food in the comfort of our house, while we study! I'm down with that.

Okay. So, sad news. This week, Rosa Nina Mamani, my convert, left to Cusco. It was sad. Now I just gotta trust that she'll keep staying active and progressing. I think she will. She's a good one! Haha. 

There are 3 people I'd like to talk about today. 2 of them are less actives, and 1 is active, but he is the biggest stud in the world. First, Yellin. She was baptized about a year ago, and drifted from the church a little while after. She has come a long ways, but still isn't convinced to come back, but we are SO close with her. We had an AWESOME lesson this week about the talk from the April conference by Elder Holland called "Lord, I Believe." It was super good. She didn't come on Sunday, but I think we're gonna see her in church soon. Medalid, also was baptized about a year ago, but recently stopped coming. She's been sad cuz her grandmothers health is failing, so basically, she is locking herself inside her suffering, so that's been a struggle. We've been trying to help her turn to the love of Christ, and we're making progress, but her also, didn't come. Both of them fill us full of a billion excuses. 

Now I'm gonna tell ya'll 'bout Pascual. So, the irony in this situation is that Medalid and Yellin live like, around the corner from church, and they don't come. Pascual lives over 2 hours away, walking. He comes EVERY Sunday, in his white shirt, and dress pants (which no one does here). He always comes early, and he always comes into the chapel and starts cleaning up. He can't read, and he is super old, but he has like, a simple faith, and he always acts on it. He's seriously the best. That guy keeps me going through the week, I'll tell you what haha. 

Anyways. I like being real descriptive in my emails, or at least a little, because I feel like all of you have helped me get to where I am now, and I want you to have the priviledge to know these awesome people I know, to know my joys and sorrows, and to feel like you're a part of my adventure here, because to me, all of you are! Thank you for everyhing you've all done, and I love and miss you all! Until next week!

Elder Richman

Eyes of Christ

Hey everyone!

Hope everyone is doing great. I don't think this letter will be too crazy long, but I always think that and then end up writing a lot. So, first off, the pictures. The first picture is me on a bridge with an awesome view, the second is Elder Rojas and I, and the third is Miguel, Edine, and I. The fourth picture, FINALLY, is the familia Quispe. Okay, are they not just like, the most loveable looking people in the whole wide world? They are. Finally we had a chance to sit down with the both of them yesterday and talk, and it was good. We're really gonna start hammering them to get married and start progressing, cuz they're ready. 

Just random tidbit of information I never let you all know about my comp. He is 26. Haha. Fortunately, we get along really well, so it's not a problem, but it just is funny.

So, I guess starting in October, starts the rainy months here in the jungle. So, like, every night, it POURS now. And then, sometimes in the day. When it's not raining, the sun is roasting the water off the ground, so it makes a nice sauna effect, and we have the pleasure of sweating like a couple of pigs. Hahaha it's really cool though, I like the rain a lot, it makes it a lot fresher here. I also don't know if I told ya'll, we are washing all our clothes by hand now. That's a really fun time. It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be, and my clothes seem cleaner now, so I like that. But, I think we need to ask the President for an iron. Haha. 

So, this week, again, worked a lot with less actives. We are starting to do an English class! Thursday we had the first one, and 3 people came, one of them an investigator named Christian. (I'll talk more about him in a sec.) But, it was a lot of fun. We learned the basics, and they liked it, and they are gonna invite their friends. We have one planned for Tuesday, and another forThursday. 

We also had Mission Night on Friday, and have another one planned. We watched The Testaments, ate popcorn, drank Inca Kola, and then we shared our testimonies. We had a bunch of investigators come, but we'll see how/if they progress. 

I have hit 1 year since starting writing in a journal, so I've occasionally been reading what I was doing a year ago, and by golly this year went fast. Wow. But, it's cool to remember. I like journals. Write in them if you're not!  

Oh I forgot to tell ya'll about some dude I met last week from Cuttinshoot, Texas (he told me it's called that cuz you either get cut or shot there). He is here looking for gold in the mountains, but it was an interesting conversation. Apparently ALL of his family is Mormon, except him. I gave him a contact card and taught a short lesson in the street, but WOW is it weird to teach in English. Seriously. I slipped into Spanish 3 times in the 5 minutes we were talking haha. I can talk in English about normal stuff, but when I start teaching, I slip into Spanish haha. It's weird. 

So, Christian is a young man here who is really interested, but, his dad doesn't like our church. So, we are gonna go try to work with him. Shaber is another young man, who yesterdaycommited to be baptized, so we're working with him. Both of them are really sincere, and I think they can progress a lot. 

Okay. So, let me prelude this with, this week was good, and I'm fine, but I had 2 interesting experiences this week, that I'd like to share. First off, we were teaching a less active member who fills us FULL of excuses as to why she shouldn't come back to church. Her name is Yellin. Anyways, we were teaching her on Saturday, and I was bearing my testimony to her, and I told her, "Hermana, yo SÉ que estas cosas son verdaderas. Yo lo sé." And, BLAM! Obviously, I knew this things were true before, and all that, but I just got a super powerful confirmation that they ARE true, and that I do KNOW that they are true. So, it was super good. Unfortunately, Sunday, she didn't come. A lot of the less actives we have been working with didn't. So, I was a little frustrated, but I was thinking of a way to kind of jokingly, but seriously, let them know that we were waiting and that we really do want to see them in the church. I was talking about it with my comp, and he was like, "Hey. I don't want to like, offend you or anything. But, some of these people, the problem is... they just don't care." AAAAAAANNNDDDD... I got a lil teary eyed... haha. Okay. So, before you all start stressing that I'm sad, I'm not! It was interesting, and I'm going to share my thoughts with you. 

I got emotional, because it's true. There are some people, who just don't care. Thats all there is to it. And the reason I was emotional, is because I do have such a testimony of these things. I know that this isn't just something cool to do. This is the salvation of these people. When they reject the message, the are rejecting Christ. I was reading my scriptures last week and was reading 3 Nephi 17. Go read that, and you'll understand the thought I want to share. So, first off, Christ had compassion on the people, and decided to stay and bless them. So, here we see the love of Christ for the people. Later, it says that Christ groaned within himself, and he pleads to Heavenly Father because of the wickedness of the House of Israel, and starts to pray. When he finishes his prayer, he sees that all of the people are overwhelmed by joy, and then tells them that they are blessed, and that his joy is complete in them. But then, he cries. Now, this is the thought I had yesterday after this happened. Christ saw the faith of these people, and he loved them. But, he also loved the people in Jerusalem, who rejected him, spit upon him, mocked him, and ultimately, killed him. I believe Christ in this moment, Christ was crying for 2 reasons. One, because of the utter joy that he felt in seeing the faith and joy of the conversion of the people, and two, because of the hardness of the hearts of the people who rejected him, and who will reject him. 

Okay. I don't know if you all understand where I'm coming from here. I just thought that maybe, Christ was crying for his joy that he felt seeing the conversion, and the sorrow for the people who could never feel that. That's not a bad cry, is it? That's how I felt yesterday. I sorrowed for the people who don't care, who don't want to make the effort. But, when I remember the people who walk 2 hours in the rain to come to church, when I remember the people who have recieved their testimony through their faith, those whose lives have been blessed through the gospel of Christ, I joy for them. I feel like this week, I have seen a little through the eyes of Christ, and I understand a little more His perfect love that He offers for each and every one of us. Everyone can choose to embrace or reject the love, but He offers it nonetheless. What a beautiful knowledge.

I know this church is true. I know it. I know that Christ truely lives, and that He loves us, more than we can comprehend. We can read and learn about His love in the scriptures, and we can express our gratitude for that love through prayer, and our actions. I'm so grateful to be here, teaching these wonderful people. Whether they accept the message or not, I'm here to love and serve them, so, that's just what I'll do. Thanks for everything. Love and miss you all! Hope all is well! And I hope my spiritual thought made some amount of sense. Haha. Until next week!

Elder Richman

¿Que tal?

Hello loved ones.

First off, I’d just like everyone to know how much my patience is going to be improved upon, only using this internet here in Echarati. My goodness. Anyways. This week was good, but PHEW. Tiring. We worked our tails off, seriously. But, it paid off… more or less. I’ll explain. J

So, basically, this week we worked a TON with less actives. We had 16 lessons with less actives this week, which was pretty impressive I think. But, it paid off. This week in Sacrament Meeting, we saw a lot of them come to church, some of them with more than a year of inactivity. It was awesome. I felt like we’ve really had the  Spirit with us, and they are starting to really open up to us, and we have been able to tie in Gospel Principles to help them with their problems. It’s actually really awesome, that they can say some trial or something that they have, and immediately, the way the gospel can bless them in their time of struggle pops into my head. I know that it’s the Spirit helping guide our lessons. It’s just really cool.

We did work with some of our investigators this week. We did the service project for Edgar and his family, and they were really grateful. Before they went to Cusco for the operation for his daughter, we came, offered a prayer in their home, and gave their daughter a blessing. They were both sobbing, and were super grateful. They’ll be coming home this week, hopefully with a healty daughter, and we are going to start working with them hard, because right now, I feel like they are prepared. We saw Yhoseli a few times, but this week we are going to have a pretty hardcore, “Marry yourself and get baptized” talk, because they know these things are true.

But, yeah. This week, we worked a lot with the family of our pensh. That family is chock full of crazy problems, so we’re working on that. But, something we started doing this week, is having family scripture study with them every night after dinner. I’ll tell you what, after we’ve been working all day, and then after I have some warm food and matte in my tummy, it’s a struggle, but it’s been super good. Ma, the other day, told us with tears in her eyes, “Elders, I read my books today for the first time in 8 months. Thank you.” I almost started crying too! It was super happy. J We also bought Ma a flower this week. Just a rose. It was pretty funny.

Umm… ah. I’m about ready to flip one with the leaders of the branch in Quillabamba that we pertain to here. Seriously. Please fulfill your callings, cuz if you don’t, so many people suffer. That’s all I have to say. Blah.

So, something Elder Rojas and I have done this week was talk a bit about people here who could accept responsablities or callings here. We made sort of a commission with 3 of the more active young men this week. Edine, Miguel, and David. They are super cool haha, but basically, we’re using them to help us strengthen the young men here. Yesterday, Edine and Miguel came with us all day to visit people, and it was really cool. But, we walked like, halfway to QUillabamba. Okay, not really, but it was far. I was tired. Haha. But yeah, we’re gonna keep asking people specifically to help us out here, because people want to have a responsablitiy. I feel like this will help us to help the group here advance.

Ummm…. I got a haircut this week. I was/am not impressed. Sigh. Oh well. It’ll grow back.

Oh, church was awesome yesterday. We had a bunch of members come, inactives, and then the school here had homework to visit another church, so like, 10 youth came for that. So, we taught a super good lesson on The Restoration, and like, 3 or 4 seemed pretty interested. But, it was good.

In other wonderful news, I’m wearing my jeans today. I almost had to put on a belt cuz they were falling down! The same pair of jeans that in the start of my mission, I had to suck in a big breath before I could button my pants. Needless to say, pretty stoked about that.

Um. Yeah. The work is moving forward here, albeit slowly! It’s cool. I’m so grateful to be here, and I feel like I have really started feeling the love of Christ for these people this week. Which, is almost a little frustrating, because it seriously is the worst when they don’t come to church or progress, but that’s why we have agency. But, when they do progress, and fulfill with their covenants… the joy that you can feel, really is something special. The mission rocks. I’m not here just cuz. I have a sincere desire to help these people come to Christ, and realize the blessings they have available. I know that this gospel blesses people. I have seen it in my life, and I can see it in the lives of the people here. I love this gospel so much, and I am so, so blessed. I love and miss you all, but… I’d rather be here… Sorry! Just kidding, but seriously, I am so happy to be where I am, doing what I am doing. J Til next week!

Elder Richman

I don't have a witty title this week, but please still read me.

Hey everyone! I'm gonna bust this letter out real quick for ya'll. 

So, I got my new comp this week! But, in Wednesday. Monday night, we came to Quilla to ship off my comp. It was quite possibly the best night I've had in the mission. You can see a picture of why below. But, I found Dr. Pepper. So. Yeah. That was a sacred moment for me that I'll never forget. 

But, I hung out with the zone leaders til my comp came. Basically, we just did  zone leader stuff, so we didn't teach a lot. But, Elder Nolan and I are basically brothers now. Haha. He's a boss. It was a really fun couple of days. His comp, Elder Mendez, goes home this transfer, so he is super trunky, but it was still good,and he's a great missionary haha. 

Anyways, so my comp got here and we went to Echi. Wow. Not to brag, but just seriously, the past couple of days it was like, BAM! We come rolling into houses, bringing the Spirit like a piledriver, and then bring them to repentance. Seriously, we were killing it this week. It was super awesome. I'm stoked for the next change. I like my new comp a lot, and I feel like we're gonna work real hard and real effectively together. 

So, Friday was a talent show here in Quilla! So, that was really cool. All the missionaries did a sketch, and lots of other people did stuff. So I threw in a picture of that as well..

This Sunday, not a lot of people came, but we had testimony meeting. Wow. I dunno. Never in my entire life have I felt so spiritually uplifted from a sacrament meeting, and onlywith like, 10 people. It was really cool. The church is true.

As for our investigators, all is well. Rony and Yhoseli are just waiting on the money, and we went and visited with a family again this week. His name is Edgar. His daughter was just diagnosed with a problemwith her brain, so we're helping with a fundraiser this week for them. That'll be good. I'll let ya'll know.

Um. There was something else. Oh! Yesterday was Alessandra's birthday. So I put in some pictures of that. One you can see basicallyall the family of my pensh, and where I eat all my meals haha. The other is with Alessandra and Eva. Eva is the one on the left, and Alessandra is the other one. Also, the picture of me with a roller and an apron is from last week when we made tacos. Yum.

Anyways, all is well down here. Hope ya'll are good. The church is true! I'm super duper stoked for the next few weeks, cuz I think we're gonna see lots of improvement here. Wish me luck!

Les extraño mucho! Cuidase! 

-Elder Richman

I'm a Real Life Missionary Now!

Well, I finished my training, so now I'm like a real life missionary! It's pretty cool. We had changes yesterday, so I'm staying here in Echarati, and I'm getting a new comp tomorrow, named Elder Rojas. So, I'm excited for that. This week was really slow, but went really fast, if that makes any sense. Basically, the entire week was focused on less actives and the other members to get them pumped up for conference. 

Fortunately, internet is much faster today, so I should be able to send these pictures. I hope all of them are gonna send.  

So, this Tuesday, we did a family home evening with the youth here, and it went really well. The people that came had a lot of fun. We watched a Mormon Message, talked about it, and then played a game called, "Habla Chancho". It was fun, but I lost, so I had to do my first "Baile del Pollo." That was interesting. But, it was a sucessful activity and I want to keep doing it to motivate the youth here. 

Things with Rosa are good. We are still meeting and teaching her new stuff. She is going to go to Cusco at the end of the month to go back to school, so it'll be good that she can go to an area that's really strong like that. But she keeps learning fast, it's been good. 

So, this week we worked a ton with members, so it was a good week. We ended up having around 20 people come to conference, which we watched in Quillabamba. I watched it in English with my zone leader, so that was a lot of fun haha. But, I was super stoked how many members came. It was worth all the work we've put in in the past little while. 

As far as conference goes, it was awesome. Really, the leaders of the church were just like, PLAM! No beatin around the bush, just nailed the points. It was awesome. I got lots of revelation for myself and my investigators. Seriously, conference for a missionary is like a constant stream of revelation. It's awesome.

Um. Oh. I'm not gonna go into too much detail about it because I don't want to have problems. Just, if ya'll have a position of leadership in the church, PLEASE, DO it. The inorganization and lack of support of the leaders here sometimes is really frustrating. But, we hope things will start to change.

Yeah. That's seriously it for this week. Sorry, I'm boring. I'm super stoked for my new comp and to keep working with him this week. I'll let ya'll know how it goes. Thanks for your love and support. Until next week!

-Elder Richman

:D

Yeah. I’ll get to all that in just a sec. Sorry I couldn't rotate it. 

Anyways, how’s everyone doing? I hope well, and I hope, once again, you’re all ready for an awesome email.

This week was seriously WAY fast. Faster than any other week in the mission honestly. But, it was super rewarding, and although our numbers didn’t look fantastic, I feel like I gave it my 100% and it paid off in the long haul. Also, I’m writing this letter from Echarate today, not Quillabamba. Our President changed some of the rules, so now we don’t go to Quilla every P-Day. Which is all good, but the internet here is slower than cold tar, no one here can wash our clothes, AND there is just about 0 things to do here. We’re gonna clean today.. I’ll let ya’ll know how that goes. But yeah. There’s that.

Well, last P-Day, for our last P-day together as a zone, we went to see some waterfalls. It’s called Siete Tinajas, which means like, seven bowls. It’s just a big waterfall with 7 different tiers. It was pretty awesome. We played for a while, and I’ll put a bunch of pictures so ya’ll can be real jealous. But, after we played soccer (like always) but it was our zone leaders birthday, so at the end, we cracked eggs over his head and threw flour at him. Peru knows how to wish someone happy birthday.

Oh. Just a fun story. On the way home from Quillabamba that night, some girl in the bus was trying to hit on me. We’re all going home, and we have 4 people in the back seat of a minivan, and she fell asleep. Later, she fell over on my shoulder, which happens a lot because we’re all so crammed in the back. Anyways, so I was wedging myself into the window so I could try to make some space for myself, and this girls hand started walking toward my hand. I was like, “Whoa whoa whoa whoa! What are you doing? Stop! Are you serious?” And then I went into my “I’m a missionary, representative of Jesus Christ” all that fun stuff that we are supposed to say when someone tries to bust a move on us. She then continued pretending to be asleep, and fell asleep the other direction on her friend. It was pretty uncomfortable. My comp thought it was pretty funny though.

Another fun fact for all of you back home. In the internet café I’m in right now, some kid is looking over the shoulder of his friend while he is using the internet, and this kid is like, just chilling against me like I’m a chair. All righty.

Um… this Thursday we had divisions again. I went to Quillabamba with Elder Hoefelmann. It was pretty good. Taught a few people some good lessons. But, while we were at lunch, some dude came and tried to sell us some candy, and we told him we didn’t want any. I guess he insulted us pretty hardcore, cuz my zone leaders (who eat in the same spot in Quilla) were fuming hardcore. But, later in the day, we taught this lady named Hermana Luzmila. She is like, the oldest member here, and she is THE sweetest old woman I have ever met in all of my life. She has a pretty tough life honestly, but we went, she made us hot chocolate, and we shared a scripture. She then proceeded to start crying and telling us how grateful she was for the missionaries always coming to her house to keep her company, and that she thinks of us as an answer to our prayers. It was really cool. I think she MIGHT know Roger. Oh, and for dinner that night, I ate tongue! It was actually really good. This week I ate tongue, intestine, and stomach, and ALL without puking.

However, I did get super close to puking the other night. So, we were visiting with a member here, and we stood up to leave, and his mom came out with two MASSIVE plates of pasta and rice. Like, seriously, the same amount of food that would feed my family, on each plate. She was like, “Hermanos, please, eat! But, you have to eat it all or I won’t ever feed you again.” Straight up, I don’t care if she feeds us ever again or not. But, you do not leave food on your plate here in Peru. So, we ate it all. Holy cow. By the end, I was dry heaving, and dying. But, I did it. Be proud.

Another great story before I get into the good stuff. So, this week, Elder Gallego and I were walking along a dirt road out in the jungle, so there’s big trees all around, right? Anyways, we’re walking, and all of a sudden it started raining! We looked up, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. So, we were really confused, and were looking around to see what was going on, when I heard Gallego go, “UGH! Look!” So, I looked. So you guys know those big ol’ bugs that sit in trees and make super loud noises all day? Yeah, those. The tree above us was full of HUNDREDS of them, and they were all PEEING! I have absolutely no idea how such little critters could hold so much water, but yuck! We ran away and then showered afterwards. It was pretty funny, but pretty gross too. Haha.

OKAY. Now the good stuff. This week, we kept working with Rosa Nina, and we kept challenging her to get baptized this Saturday. Every time, she told us, “No creo..” which means, “I don’t believe so…” But, we kept encouraging her to read and pray. Basically, she kept getting a stream of answers, through dreams, and through feelings she felt while reading and praying. In the end, she said she would get baptized! So Saturday rolled around, and we went to talk to her. She told us she didn’t want to do it now, because she had talked to some lady in Quilla who told her she shouldn’t do it. So, we talked for a while, shared some scriptures, and reminded her of all the answers she has gotten. In the end, she realized she should get baptized. It was interesting to see that in reality, the adversary works hard to keep people from being baptized. 

BUT! So, we went to Quilla and got everything ready. She told me that I could baptize her, so I was stoked. She got in all the clothes, and we were going to enter the font, and she had some black slippers. We told her she couldn’t wear them, to which she responded, “No, like this is okay.” So, we talked for a while, and she was super super close to not being baptized because of her slippers… but, she did it! Afterwards, she was super happy. She told us that she was nervous, but she was glad that she went through with it, because she knows that is what Christ would want of her. 

Yesterday she was confirmed, and also at church, we had a lot of people, and less actives who haven't come in a while! So, it was a great week. We had to focus a lot in less actives, and in Rosa this week, so we didn't get to visit the familia Quispe much this week, but this week we are gonna focus on them a lot. But, it was a very rewarding week. The feeling of baptizing someone is something very special, and sacred. The feelings and happiness I felt, I can honestly say I have never had them before in my life. What a blessing to be here in Peru, helping bring these people the blessings that can be found in the gospel. 

I know that this church is true. I know it. I know that Joseph Smith, in reality, saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and was called as a prophet to restore this gospel on the earth. I know that he translated the Book of Mormon, and I know that it is the word of God, written for us in these days. Through obedience, we can receive more blessings than we can imagine. For those of you that don't have this knowledge, I extend to you the same challenge I extend to people here every single day. Read the Book of Mormon, and pray with faith to know if it is true. God is not going to lie to you, and I know that he can answer prayers. This isn't a promise I am offering you, this is a promise that God offers. Try it. 

Until next week. Thanks for everything. Love and miss you all! Crazy that I'm gonna hit my 4 months this week, and finish my training! 

Elder Richman

Gah... this internet is super slow, so I don't know that these photos are going to send. If not, I'll send them another week. Sorry! I have some from our meeting with the President, some of the baptism, and some of Siete Tinajas... I hope they load! (Nope, they didn't want to load. Super sorry. I really wanted to let ya'll see the pictures! Next time!)