Another week in Peru!

Hello everyone! Times short, I'm gonna write fast!

First off, I ate a delicious hamburger this week. It was bomb. Just so you all know.

I also guided our branch through building a mission plan this week, so that was fun. We're still in process in a big way, but in the next week or so we should get it hammered out so that we can get it applied. I'm excited. Oh, we also have interviews with President this week. So, it's gonna be a busy one, working around that, and then all the meetings we are gonna be having with the leaders of the different organizations here in the branch.

This Sunday was good! We had 108 people in church, so that's super awesome. Starting to be hovering right about 100 every week now, so that's really exciting haha. We also had 4 investigators there, Lydia, Guillermo, Ian, and Alex. Ian we met with a few times this week, and he had a dream that he was being baptized on the 19th... so, we put him down with a date for this 19th of March, and boom! We're gonna have a baptism! Guillermo is doing well, met with him a few times this week... Alex, the 10 year old that we've been teaching, walked to the chapel by himself all the way from Upis, so that was cool.. and Lydia is the wife of a less active member we've been teaching, and it looks like they are gonna get married, and she is gonna get baptized in the next few weeks!  

We also had the great pleasure of watching one of our less active members recieve his Melquisedec Priesthood this week! That was a super awesome thing to see. He's got his stuff all figured out, now he just needs to stay on the path! Haha. 

Anyways. This is short. I'm doing well, we worked hard this week haha. Hope you all are doing great, and you all have a great end to this month of February! Cuidanse mucho.

Elder Richman

Valentines and Temple Tears!

Happy (belated) Valentines Day! Hope everyone had a good one. I passed it working in the Lord's vineyard, but in the evening, playing Monopoly, with 2 other men.... not the most exciting, BUT, that's okay! Haha. I did encounter my true love this week though... crema de huancaina.... Yum. I've been getting mighty tired of eating plain rice, so this week, I discovered this sauce, and it is the bomb.com with my rice. It's gonna save my life. We also ate some AWESOME broasted chicken, AND tacos this week. It was a good one as far as good goes.

So, I thought this week was gonna be normal again... nope. We were with Rivera again all week, but Bazan did get here yesterday, so NOW, it will be normal. But, we did work... normally... this week. As much as we could. Working in a trio this way is so weird, cuz we have to hit investigators and less actives for the 2 sectors, and it's just a pain. Also, having Elder Rivera in a trio is like tying a 100 pound weight around my neck and doing a triatholon. It's fun. BUT! I did it. 

So this week, we had a dope lesson with Guillermo. We swung by his house, and we find his wife out front, talking with a family member of hers, absolutely RAGGING on Guillermo. We round the corner to knock the door, and theres Guillermo, listening on the other side of the corner, with tears in his eyes. So, we talk to him a sec, and convince him to let us share a few scriptures with him. We talked a ton about the love of Heavenly Father for him, and that his past is in the past, and all this stuff. He was reading a few scriptures for us, and just crying, and I was a little too. It was a really powerful lesson, and the Spirit was strong. Keep praying for him, please. 

We also got back Ian (Patricio). Went well, taught Plan of Salvation, I still didn't understand almost anything. He came to church this Sunday, with a white shirt and tie, thank you very much. It was good. He is just sincerely looking for the truth, and he rocks. 

Um.. oh, because of the buckets of rain that are falling on La Joya right now, the church is starting to grow mold, on like, everything. It's kinda gross. We're gonna be cleaning it up this week, but it's pretty crazy haha. 

Jose y Karina! We visited Karina this week, and I got to hold her baby! I think I'm actually not supposed to do that, but... it just happened really fast. But, AW! He is so cute. But we talked to Karina... turns out, when she was giving birth, Jose was away, having a party, and came back in the morning, drunk AND with a hickie on his neck. She's like, livid. But, she can't do anything, cuz they have no where to go, AND she just had a baby. So we're gonna be seeing what we can do with her. Fun fact, the second counselor of the mission, actually baptized Hna Karina, and he was here this week for a training we had Sunday. It was awesome, cuz ALL the leaders of La Joya were there, and we gave a fake branch council, and it was awesome. Pdte Patiño, the 2nd counselor, was like, "What are the other branches doing?? Everyone needs to be more like La Joya!" Boom. Haha. So that was cool. 

Okay, okay. Last part for this week. So, my penshs family (I sent a picture). They have been converts for just a little over a year, and this Sunday, they got their temple recommend. They are kinda poor, and so humble, but they seriously get it. We were waiting in their house while they were getting their reccomend, and they got back. It was dark, so I couldn't see that well, but Hna Melani came in and said, "We got our recommend!" So, Hno Luis was still outside, and I said, "Wow, congrats! Give me a hug!" (Hno Luis is kinda a big guy) BOOM! Luis came and almost tackled me with a big ol bear hug, and didn't let go for like, a minute. When he like, pulled back, I saw he was just crying, big old man tears. He said, "Sorry. I'm just so happy." Boom, tears again, for Elder Richman. They GET it. I still don't think I get it. But, they understand the importance of the temple, and the importance of this work. It was just a good motivator for me, and eye opening. Anyways, other than that, all is well. Pray for my investigators please! That'd be schweet. Hope you are all doing well, and that you can see all the blessings the Lord gives to you every day! I love you, and He loves you more! Until next week!

Elder Richman

Pictures

Zona Pto Maldonado

Saying bye to Hna Hansen

Elder Garcia and I 

Saying bye to my Zone Leader, Elder Pingo

My penshs family 

6 more weeks!

Welp, changes were today. Nothing happened, 6 more weeks here, with Elder Garcia. That's okay. I have a lot of fun with this kid, he's a good one. I just am concerned cuz during this change... the heat is coming back. I was kinda hoping I was gonna get changed to one of the cold sectors this change, but apparently, the Lord wants me to sweat. And thats okay. Haha. 

This week was... a little crazy again. :/ I think this week things are gonna get back to normal cuz Elder Rivera is getting a companion again. We've been wasting a ton of time "babysitting" him, so I'm glad things will be normal in that department again.

So, Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the days in Upis, cuz we haven't been able to go over there much since it's been raining so hard, and I've been sick. We spent the days basically just setting up a ton of appointments for Thursday, and then visiting a couple random assorted families, giving them a boost. Unfortunately, Thursday, we had to make a trip to the doctor... yup. For those of you who know me well, you'll remember a few memorable doctors appointments I've had in past moments in my life. Sadly for me, this trip wasn't too different. Turns out, heat+sweat=chaffing, and chaffing+wading in nasty water doing service projects=Elder Richman has to go to the doctor. So, the doctor recommended me some antibiotic meds, and I got a shot too. Fun fact, 90% of the shots here... they don't do in the arm. Elder Birchett isn't alone this week.  

But, I'm fine. Like, don't be stressing, I'm like, already 100% again. But, Friday, we went and visited Jose and Karina again. I think I talked about them a while back, but we haven't been able to go and see them, cuz the bridge going to there house fell, and we can't leave our sector to enter for the other way haha. But, we went, and Karina was like, "I'm going today to have my C-Section!" "Whoa, what?!" So, we helped around the house for a couple of hours getting things cleaned up and ready. But, it was super cool! I gave her a blessing of comfort before she left. They didn't check the gender of the baby cuz they wanted it to be a surprise... but, in the blessing, I said, "him". Like, a couple of times. So as we were leaving Elder Garcia tells me, "Welp, it's a boy." I was like, "Why?" "You said so in the blessing!" We laughed about it, but the next day, we went to the hospital to visit them... and it was a boy! Coincidence?! Quite possibly, but still. I felt pretty cool. 

Guillermo is doing well this week... taught him a few times, and he is still reading and everything... but he didn't come to church yesterday, which concerns me a little, but we'll be meeting with him today at night to see whats going on. Patricio and Giovani, we haven't been able to see them for a few weeks, and we finally got back in touch with them this week. We found a Book of Mormon in Portugese for Patricio, and he was really excited. They both came to church yesterday, and I think Giovani is going to be getting a calling soon, which would help a lot I think. She really has the desires to get back into the church, and Patricio really just wants to find the truth. It's perdy cool.

Um... who else this week? I dunno. We really need to start finding new investigators, we've been kinda bad with that. Things are going good though. Just hoping this week will be normal finally haha. The work keeps on rolling forward, and it's fun to be a part of it. Hope everyone back home is doing well. Don't have much more to write about this week...? Oh, Carnaval started this past week. We've been drenched with water once, and then a bunch of like, 10 year old girls sprayed us with silly string. It's actually kinda fun haha. Peru is crazy... Love and miss you all, have a great week. 

Con amor,

Elder Richman

The rains came down...

And the floods came up! Phewie! This week was.. kinda crazy. I was sick for a good chunk of it, so we lost a lot of appointments and stuff, so that was a bummer. Just gotta hope that this week will be better.

So, it was raining like crazy this week. Tuesday, we went and did a service for Pueblo Viejo, a part of Puerto close to the river Tambopata. It was crazy. Peoples houses were flooded up to my waist. We were moving out their possesions and putting them in the chapel here. But, it was super sketchy, cuz it was water that was like, slightly mixed with waste water, so that was super super sketchy. To top her off, I was sick that day a little, and by the time we were done, I was like, dying. Really not the smartest idea, but my Zone Leader doesn't really understand sicknesses. Oh well. Threw in a few pictures from the service.

Oh, but Monday, we went to the zoo! I'm sending a picture of me with a snake. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately, my camera died in like, 10 minutes... so. I'll have to take pictures another day. Haha. That night we did a family home evening with a family, and they gave us "carne de la selva". Basically, jungle meat! It's some big old wild pig that lives in the jungle that this guy hunted for us. It was DELICIOUS. 

Okay, but... Wednesday, and most of Thursday, I was lying in bed with a fever, feeling sick to my stomach, and, yeah. It wasn't a lot of fun. But, we were able to go teach Guillermo and Yenny. We found Yenny's records this week... turns out, she's already a member... but, yeah. Still gotta work with Guillermo, and her too haha. But they've been good this week. I had to laughyesterday at church, because the deacons were passing out tithing envelopes yesterday during church, and they gave Guillermo one. He came over and was asking us, "Okay, if I put money in this slot, do they give it to you?" "...uh... no." "Oh... here?" "Nope." "Here?" "Nope. We don't get paid, but if you're determined to give us money, we're not gonna tell ya no." (We said that jokingly of course.) But, he's awesome. Love teaching that guy.

Carmen is doing well this week too. She is still thinking hard about leaving on the mission, and this week she introduced us to a few friends, so we maybe me teaching them in the coming weeks. We'll see. 

Basically, the end of the week we were just doing service projects for people, cleaning up houses, trying to harden up the ground where it's flooded and their motocycles get stuck, pouring water out of houses, digging ditches to reroute water.. but it's been good. I like working like that actually, so it's been fun. I like hacking up the jungle with machetes.

Um. I think that's about it. Hoping we are gonna be able to have a week a little more.. normal this week haha. All is well here. Hope all of you can say the same! Love and miss you all, until next week!

Elder Richman