Noche Blanca, y FIP Garcia

Lots to talk about, and so little time.. I'll talk fast!  

So, Monday. After Internet, we went back to the room and got ready for the... belaria de Kamerson... (basically, everyone comes to the persons house who died, and lights candles and sees the body). So, we went, and it was seriously awful. I was doing all right, up until the point when I saw his mom, and his grandparents. Boom, I totally lost it. Some of the members were coming over, like, "Dude. It's okay." But yeah. It was rough. It was just really sad. But, we went back to our room that night, and were eating cake and celebrating Garcias birthday... boom, the LZ's call.. Emergency Change Garcia, 9:30 the next morning. WHAT?!?! So, he didn't even have time to say bye to people. And, he left! I cried. It was a bummer. He was like, my best friend, and we've been at each others side for like... 4 months now! So it was kinda a bummer... But, that's the mission! But, he went to Juliaca, and so that's why it says FIP Garcia... Freeze in Peace... hahaha. Poor guy. 

So, the next day was Kamerson's funeral. It was good, the branch came together to help, and it ended up a good experience.. just kinda different for me. I guess I'm not accostumed to Peruvian funerals. But, Tuesday in the night, my new companion, Elder Arce came. He is from Bolivia, but was serving in Venezuala, but they took out all the foreigners from there, so he had to come here! He's pretty cool, but he does his stuff really different than me a little... so we gotta get accustomed to each other I think. But I'm senior comp! Which I think he doesn't like much since he was a zone leader in his other mission... but that's okay haha. We get along well. 

The rest of the week was good, but Saturday, Ximena got baptized! It was good. It was what we call "noche blanca" because there were 8 baptisms in our district! There were like, 16 or something in the whole zone. It was awesome. I sent a few pictures. The branch also is doing better from last week... a lot of the people were willing to forgive and forget.. only a few that we need to go and do a couple of visits.. but that's okay! I'm relieved that it wasn't a lot worse. We just keep on moving forward! Yan still has a date to be baptized, but it's gonna be in like... April.. We're working on it. Karina is gonna be rescued this week too, which is cool. We went with her family yesterday to the cemetary to visit her moms tombstone. It was a good experience, we talked about the plan of salvation a little... it was a good day haha. 

But yeah. I don't have too much to say... haha. Sorry, this week was fast, I'm trying to upload fotos for my family and everything. All is well in La Joya! I'm stoked out of my SKULL for Conference. You guys don't even understand. Seriously. It's gonna be sweet. Oh, I don't have a change too. Today was changes. So... I'm gonna be in La Joya for like, 6 months, if not more.. but I'm stoked. I love it here. Yesterday in church, I got up to speak for a sec about family history, and I just LOVE the way the branch all looks at me, just grinning, cuz they know I'm a goofball. I just love our branch, they are all so friendly and fun, and I feel so blessed to be here! You all should be super duper jealous! Anyways, thats all for this week! Until the next one, keep being awesome, love and miss you all! 

Elder Richman

BOOM!

It's funny how one moment everything can be going so well, and then, BOOM! Everything changes, and not always for the best, eh? Well, that's what went down this week, so I'm gonna let you know all about it. 

So, this week (Monday-Saturday) was pretty awesome! We have been teaching Ximena, and we got her all prepped for her baptism this Saturday! Oh well, the beginning of the week was not awesome. We went on Tuesday for our appointment, and she had disappeared. We were like, wait what? She left Sunday in the night, and wasn't back Tuesday in the afternoon. I was thinking the worst.. but she showed up. It was a long story, she basically got lost, and stayed with her friend, and then was scared to come home.. but she's good, and now she's getting ready to be baptized. Her family is starting to listen to the lessons too, and they need a lot of help, but I hope we can help em with what we can! Hoping everything goes well with that.. Yan is coming back from his work tomorrow too, so we gotta see if he is gonna follow through with his date for this Saturday. Pray for him please!  

Also, Karina and her family came to church again. Kaching! We've been working hard with this family. We actually just came from her house making lunch... but my memory doesn't want to share the pictures with you guys for some reason, so another day... we grilled fish in banana leaves, made balls of friend bananas, yuka, sausage... it was yummy. Karina was making fun of us cuz we don't know how to cook, and so she was having Garcia and I take turns taking care of her baby haha. 

So. As far as the crazy changes. First off, yesterday in church, our branch president finally snapped. He is awesome, and he impresses me with the service he offers to the Lord, but the problem is, he doesn't know how to prioritize his life... so, he basically just drowned himself in all the problems, and exploded yesterday. He was chewing out tons of the leaders, 2 of which literally left during the middle of church, and 1 of them MOVED out of the branch yesterday cuz he was so offended, and then was also yelling at the members and offending them... Also, Elder Rivera gave him a bit of "tude" and now he like, hates the missionaries... so. Yeah. I'm just frustrated cuz I saw him blow up like, a bunch of my work that I've been doing here in the past few months cuz he can't control himself. I dunno. We're gonna talk to him this week. We'll get it all worked out haha. 

Also bad news... a family that we've been working super hard to reactivate, and recently is super active, with their callings and everything... their son died today. So, I am really hoping we can rally together as a branch and help this family out. I am putting a ton of trust in the Lord right now haha... Garcia and I are thinking about doing a fast. Satan knew that La Joya was progressing, so he decided to throw a bunch of tests our way to try and stop the work, but as we know, he can't do that. I know that this work is the Lord's work. I don't have a doubt of that in my mind. Even though the problems, and the tests, and the imperfections come, I know that this is HIS church. I'm working in HIS army, and I gotta fight against the enemy, right? So, I'm strapping on the helmet, picking up my sword, and I'm gonna be heading in the battle hard this week errybody. Ya'll better be ready for it. But, really. Hoping and praying that this week goes well, if so, we have a few less actives ready to be reactivated, AND 2 baptisms lined up for this week. Pray for Karina Zeballos, Yan Halamuca, y Ximena Fernandez PLEASE! Thanks everyone. All is well! Love and miss you all. Til next week! 

Elder Richman

Look, a miracle! My USB showed up. So, first, me eating in the room. My comp always steals my camara and takes random pictures of me.. haha. Then we have Garcia with Karina's baby, and then we have pictures from our lunch today. Yummy, right? Anyways, have a good one. 

The Jewel

So... I realized this week that I really really love la Joya. It has it's faults, and its problems, but I love it here. I'm gonna be really sad to leave honestly. But, looks like that won't be happening for a while still, so that's okay.

So this week was cool! My comp and I were able to meet a new investigator who is really cool. The situation is pretty funny too. She was a reference of a less active member who lives in our branch, but has been going to another branch because it's easier. So, the other Elders gave us the reference, and we called to go and visit them. So, Lino Simeon, is the member, and the investigator is named Ximena (I know, right?) But, Lino is kinda older, and Ximena has 14 years old. Anyways, Lino starts telling us that he has been inactive ALL his life, but a few months ago, he was sick, and his buddy gave him some sort of crazy jungle plant, that made him trip out hardcore. He told us he saw colored snakes, and all sorts of stuff. But then he was like, "Hermanos... I saw MARVALOUS things..." My comp and I were like, Uhhhh... anyways. He told us about his drug trip, and he basically had a vision in which he was chastized SUPER hard, and after, he came back to church. So now, he's coming back with a ton of force which is cool. But Ximena is way good, she has already assisted like, 3 times in the other branch, and she came this week. She is already in 2 Nephi 2, and keeps reading and praying and understands real fast. We've put a date with her for the 22nd, so pray for her please!

Guillermo is doing well, still coming to church. He has all the lessons now, we're just waiting on his freaking wife... Yan is still out of town, so we're still hoping that baptism will go down... um..

Oh, fun story. We were walking to our pensh's house this week, and we saw something on the ground crawling. So we bend over, and we thought it was a foot long centipede! But, nope. It didn't have legs. So I was like, "Holy cow, it's a giant worm!" and my comp was like, "Richman, that is a snake dude." I was like, "Nah! Look at it, there's no eyes! It's a worm. Lets pick it up and carry it to show Hno Luis (my penshs husband)" So... we pick up a bag and a stick, lure the "worm" in the bag, and carry it to their house. I walk in, and show Hno Luis, and he's like, "That's the blind viper. It spits, and you go blind. You should probably kill that." So, we killed it. My comp and I were freaking out. I've learned to not touch things in the jungle, because very few animals here are "good." 

What else... oh! This Sunday was WAY good. La familia Bendezu Zeballos came to church! Well, all of them but Jose. But, that's like... AWESOME. Karina, the mom, hasn't come in forever. Everyone welcomed them very warmly. We also taught a Mini-MTC, which went well, and like, 2 of our less actives that we have reactivated recieved callings. It makes my feel goods feel good seeing them here. But yeah. I basically love it here. The branch is progressing a ton, and it makes me really sad that I won't be here to see their accomplishments in the future. Families I've come to love go to the temple, the chapel getting built here, Puerto Maldonado becoming a stake... lots of stuff. But I'm really happy I can be here right now in this time. I dunno. That's about it. Just been a good week all in all. 

Oh. The photos. So some of them are kinda old. The wedding is Patricia and Cesar, a family the other Elders in La Joya have been teaching for forever. They're awesome. The other is when we played "Carnavales" for our mutual activity (the second mutual ever of La Joya!), AND... the third photo is from Saturday. The youth walked from the chapel to a big like.. pool area thing? We had to go to help and support, and they lied to us saying we were playing soccer. Anyways. The Elders were thrown in the pool for a brief moment. It was a very bitter sweet moment, cuz I was about ready to punch some little deacons and teachers, BUT... it was nice to be in the water, if even for a second. Can't wait to get home and do some wakeboarding. I'll start being better with pictures, I've been bad, I know. Oh, another fun thing. Everyone here is starting to ask me how I lose weight. I just tell them, "Go walk out in the sun everyday, sweat like an animal, and you're set." No one believes me, but I'm glad I'm thinning out a bit. Anyways. I need to be better about taking note of what happens during my weeks... I've been bad, so my letters are short and boring. Everything here just seems so normal for me now haha. Anyways, love and miss you all. All is well here. Keep being awesome. Hasta luego. 

Elder Richman

Helado de Aguaje!

So, for any of your Dr Who fans... fun fact.... here in Puerto Maldonado, theres a ton of motokars (a car built around a motorcycle.. pretty ghetto) that go around selling aguaje, that fruit that makes you turn into a girl. But, they have a microphone, and they go around yelling, "Helado de aguaje, aguajina, aguaje maduraaaaaa!" But, it's pretty sweet, cuz the voice always sounds like the Daleks from Dr Who. Fun stuff. My companion and I have also become addicts to helado de agauje... so. Hoping I don't turn into a girl during my time here in Peru. It's just so cheap, and its always SOOOO hot here! 

Well, this week was good. One thing I realized this week... I want to go to the temple SO bad right now. I dunno why. I just really really wanna go. But, this week we spent a ton of time with the leaders of our branch. We were putting together the plan misional for the branch, and we got it almost all done. It's basically my baby, and I'm super excited to get it all done haha. We also had a variety of activities this week. This Tuesday we had La Joya's 1st Mutual, so that was fun. We played a bunch of games with the youth, and I had a good time personally.. haha. I would love a calling with the youth when I get home. We also had a mission night on Friday, and called it "The Fruit Festival". It was kind of a flop honestly, but we did have a few people come and it was fun playing games and having fruit salad. 

We also had interviews with Presdient Harbertson on Thursday which was super sweet. I love talking to our President, I always feel super fired up after haha. We talked about some interesting doctrine and... yeah. It was really good. 

As far as investigators and everything... Ian still has his date lined up for the 19th, BUT, he had to leave and work for a while.. he comes back the 18th... so we just gotta be calling him and strengthening him while he's gone. Pray for him please! Guillermo Yatto is doing well too, still progressing well, came to church yesterday with all his family (except his girlfriend/wife... situation is improving there, but still not perfect). The family of Karina y Jose has been good this week! All of their kids came to the activities this week, AND church. Karina couldn't cuz she is kinda sick (my fault... I was kinda sick, but didn't wanna be lazy, so we still went to visit, and I totally got their family sick... oops). But, they're progressing to come back to activity which would be awesome!

Anyways, that's it for this week. Everything is doign well... it's super duper hot again here haha so that's been pretty crazy, but I'm gonna take advantage of it before they send me off to Puno or some other crazy and cold place in the mission. All is well here, love and miss you all. Until next week.

Elder Richman

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

Starting to get bad making up creative titles...

Hey everybody! I'm starting to get real bad with writing notes in my planner to remember what to talk about in these emails, so theres a good chance I'm going to forget lots of stuff, and it's going to be a little scatterbrained, but you're gonna just have to have some patience with me. Sorry.

So. Update with Guillermo and Yenny. Still been teaching them, they are progressing well. Still waiting on a way that we can gently tell them to get married or live in different houses but... we're working on it. Yesterday, we ran into them in the street... and.. they were walking, but like... okay, I dunno how to explain it with just typing. She had her arms crossed, holding his hands, and he was like, guiding her. It was a very... loving pose for a couple who doesn't want to be together. So.. we are gonna teach them today and see what is going on. It would be so awesome if they reconciled, cuz then they are gonna get married. I hope. Gah. haha.

I think I've talked about Jose and Wendy... if not, I am now? Haha. Jose=inactive son of the stake president. Wendy=his girlfriend. So, they have been living together for a while, but recently they've been coming to church and everything. Wendy is a catholic, and we've been teaching her, but this week we had an AWESOME lesson about baptism. We brought our penshs husband, who is seriously THE BEST, and taught, and it was awesome. She's traveling this week to Cusco, but when she gets back, we're gonna be pushing baptism big time. 

Um... oh! Carmen, a recent convert, and semi less active we've been teaching, had some great strides this week. We've been teaching her a lot, but we've been teaching alot about mission work, and now she's thinking seriously about leaving for the mission. That would be super duper cool.

Think that's about it for investigators and such. This week has been a little crazy cuz we've been babysitting Elder Rivera while his comp recovers from his surgery in Cusco. It's been a giant headache for me honestly. This guy has a really really fun rich boy attitude, and acts like a princess all the time. Learning lots of patience, but I can't wait til his comp comes back haha. But, he left a few times with the branch president this week, to teach. Our branch president, if I haven't already told you, like, wants to leave and go on a mission, but he's married, so he can't. But, he is seriously, so gung ho about getting out and doing the work. It's cool to a certain level, but a little frustrating sometimes too haha. But, it's better than having a lazy branch president like in other areas of the mission. 

Um. That's about it. I'm like, out of time. So, I'll try to be better about noting things down to write. All is well here in Peru. Hope everyone there is good, and know I love and miss you all! 

Elder Richman

Welcome to the Jungle!

Hello! So , just for the title of my email today, we went and did a little service back behind our house this week, and we were trapsing in the middle of the jungle. I'm gonna send some pictures, cuz it was pretty sweet. Straight up, JUNGLE. I thought a panther was gonna eat me or something. But, good week! We had a baptism!

I think I mentioned the baptism last week. Victor, the son of one of the less actives members we've been teaching, got baptised! So, that was cool. The best part, his dad baptised him! So that was cool. We also had another family that we've been visiting baptize their daughter, but they were already basically active, so not as cool, but I love their family. They are a lot of fun. I'm gonna send pictures of both families. The service went really well, but at the end, we were cleaning, and some guy from another branch came and chewed us out. His words were, "You didn't inform me that you were gonna to be coming to use MY chapel." So, that kinda, frustrated me, and I was kinda growling under my breath as I walked into the chapel to drop off a himn book, and it was a sweet experience. I seriously walked in the door, and BLAM! I ran into a wall of peace. I've never really, noticed the amount of peace inside the chapel before, but it was a cool experience. I sat and contemplated for a second, and it was good. Sunday, they both were confirmed. We had a good turnout again at church, but not quite as many, but that's okay.Lots of our investigators came, and it was cool. 

Um... dropped Jessica this week. Basically, due to our teaching, she started feeling to need to come to Jesus, but cuz she didn't have time Sundays, she started hitting up a local Adventist church, and boom. Got activated there. We tried to explain to her why that wasn't quite right, but she didn't understand... oh well. I just felt a little sad, cuz I really thought they were gonna progress, but that's okay. 

Oh, we had a meeting with President Harbertson this week. So, that was cool. I translated a part of the meeting for Sister Harbertson, cuz she still doesn't speak Spanish great, but, it was cool. President was laughing cuz Sister Harbertson was using a bunch of vocabulary about cars and stuff, and I was looking at President for help, and he just laughed and shrugged his shoulders. He told me at the end that Sister Harbertson doesn't really think about the fact that the missionaries don't know the Spanish words for car parts. But, it was fun. Learned a lot haha. 

So, another family that we started teaching this week.. Patricio y Giovany. Patricio is from Brasil, and he has family from Zach's mission! (Maybe I can get a reference for him. ) The problem is, he speaks a mix of Portugese and Spanish. So, while teaching, I get a fun flashbacking feeling of my first weeks in Peru, listening to people, and feeling like a deer stuck in the headlights. Luckily, my companion understands whats going on. He isn't a member, but his wife is. He has had some bad experiences with the church, but he has some super strong desires to follow Christ. He came to church again this week, so I'm excited to see what happens with him.

Okay, another family this week. Guillermo and Yenny. Guillermo is the guy who last week cried when we talked about the Atonement. He is seriously, AWESOME. Every time we come over, he is studying the scriptures and the pamphlet that we left with him, and making notes. When we were teaching him 2 times this week, it was just with him, and his wife just passed through a few times, so Saturday, we invited her to come in and stay with us. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it went way well, so I felt like I should challenge him. Boom, I ripped out Doctine and Covenants 39:7-10. Lets just say, I was feeling pretty manly ripping that scripture on them. It's basically like, "I know you. I know you've been a little stubborn in the past, but here is your gateway to the good life:Get up, get baptised, get blessed." My comp was looking at me like, "Dude...." But, I felt prompted to use it. After, Guillermo was like, "You know what, in the past, I have slammed the door in the face of the missionaries. and now... I feel like I can't lost this opportunity." I was dancing the happy dance in my head. So, boom. they want to be baptized, but... they aren't married. So. We then proceeded to ask them to start thinking about a day to be married.... and then it all blew up in our faces. In a good way really. Yenny basically spilled to us everything that had happened... and yeah. Left me and my companion a little drop jawed. Not gonna go into a lot of detail. But, basically, they live in the same house now, but, not together. They both have seperate rooms and all their stuff. So, they're deciding now if they are gonna get seperated for good, or get back together. So, we have a very, very, very delicate situation, that if we play our cards right, we can really be an instrument in the hands of Christ to bring a lot of happiness to this family again. Pray hard for this family please. They have all the desires, but, we gotta get past a few things. 

Um.. okay, now a little less serious, something funny that happened this week. So, above our beds on the cieling, there is a support that runs right about where our heads are. This week, my comp and I were laying in our beds at night, talking, and a spider was crawling on this support above my companion. I pointed it out to him (and it was a big ol`scary lookin spider), and we were laughing and joking that it was gonna jump on him. Seriously right after, the spider took a running leap and jumped down toward my companion. I'm seriously dying remembering it hahaha. My companion FLEW out of his bed into mine, screaming, "RICHMAN!! RICHMAN! WHERE IS IT? WHERE'D IT GO?!" I was laughing SO hard. The spider only jumped down like, 3 feet, so it was just dangling in the air above my comps bed still, so he, in his rage, jumped up, knocked it down, and mashed him to a pulp. I hope you can all imagine how funny it was. Maybe it doesn't translate well in email. Oh well. Haha. 

Well, that's all for this week. All is well. Well, mostly. Our district leader is going to Cusco this week cuz he's sick. I think he's ill due to all his apostasy, but that's just me. Anyways, so my favorite missionary in our room, Elder Rivera (GRINGO!!!! Remember?), is going to be our companion too this week... I'm seriously learning lots of patience here. Other than that haha, all is well. This work is true. I know that I'm here as a servant of the Lord, and that I'm doing his work, and I'm being very blessed. I hope that I can keep getting better, and that I can help more and more of these people here in Peru. Thanks for all your love and support! 

Until next week! 

Elder Daniel Richman

Summary of the fotos:

Banana Split at Copasu. Be jealous. 

Our disrict last change, at the top of the Obelisk

Elder Garcia and I enjoying "aguita de coco" at a members house

Basking in the jungle (while the mosquitos ate my face off)

The family of Tracy (the girl who got baptized Saturday)

The family of Victor (the boy who got baptized Saturday, and his family who we activated. Boom! )

The last one is Elynor. She is the daughter of the Relief Society President here, and she cracks me up. She likes to play Hide and Seek with me haha. 

I'm Gonna Scream...

Phew. I just literally had my whole letter typed up, and I clicked something, and it got deleted. So I guess I'm gonna start over.  

This week was good! We've been filling up our chapel the past few weeks, and this week we broke a record with people in church (124 people)! So, if that's not a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is! Another great part is that we've been filling it with a lot of our investigators and less actives that we are currently teaching. So, that makes me feel good too. So, funny story. Our previously less active, now active Americo was sleeping a little in Sunday School yesterday, and the teacher was talking. The teacher said "Christ woke up super early every morning of his life, served other people, and did good all his days. What did he gain for his service to us?" and then asked Americo for the answer. I think he was just daydreaming, but he was like, "Um... They killed him?" My Lance side of me busted up laughing. I wanted to say, "That's my rescued member! Yeah!!" 

But really, I have loved working with the less active families here. We have "rescued" like, 4 families here now, and yesterday, a good number who haven't come in a while  came, which was great. One of them is the familia Calderon. They have a daughter who cracks me up. She is 5, and she is called "Maria", but she likes to go by, "Maria Marimachi" cuz she's a tomboy. She lives on the street, so she already knows lots of fun words and signs... But we always pass by her house and she is outside playing, so we always yell, "Oye! Maria Marimachi!", and she always lifts up her hand like shes gonna hit us, and gives us a death glare. She's fun. But her family came to church yesterday for the first time in a long while, so it was great!

My comp had a near death experience this week! He has a fungus that has gotten real bad on his foot, so he has been working in sandals (that's a fun site!).  But, we were walking home the other night, and I saw something crawling REAL close to his foot, so I hurried and crushed it's little head. It was a little baby snake, but we didn't know what kind it was, so we snapped a picture, and took it to our pensh's husband. He was like, "Oh yeah. You would've died in like 5 minutes." Needless to say, my companion and I were dancing around and screaming like little girls, and walking back to the house afterwards was even worse. But it was a fun experience.  

Investigators are going well. Nothing huge to report, but we have a good number of new investigators. One of them, Guillermo, we met yesterday. He came to church with his family, and only his son is a member. His wife wants to be baptized, his son wants to go on a mission, and Guillermo wants to change a few things in his life. But like, for real. We went and taught a short lesson on the Atonement yesterday, and WOW. He was bawling and the end, and the Spirit was seriously so strong. I'm excited to get back there and teach em some more. But yeah, we got a pretty good week lined up I feel like. I'm excited. Anyways, I think that's about it. Until next week! Love and miss you all! 

-Elder Richman

2014?!

2014. Crazy. Also, I have 7 months now! WHOO! Time flies when your preaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to a bunch of Peruvians! Well, it was a decent week. I'll let ya know what went down. Listos? Listo!

Bien, so the first part of the week, we were with Elder Bazan, cuz his companion had a change. And... his method is teaching is.. different than that of my companion and I. So, we went to our appointment with Jessica and Gabriel with him... and seriously almost lost them. His way of teaching is almost attacking the people with scriptures and basically like, "IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO ME YOU ARE A DUMBIE!" We were like, "All right, so, we basically can't visit any important people this week until he leaves." So, we basically wandered around town for 2 days, visiting less actives that we haven't had time to visit, and doing everything in our power to keep him away from our progressing people. We were able to meet some new people that we're gonna be visiting this week, so I'm excited for that. 

So, after he got his new comp (Elder Rivera, from Piura. My patience is already wearing thin with him because every time I enter into a room, or he enters the room, or really in whatever time, he yells, "GRINGO!!!!" Pray for patience.) we went out and started teaching again normally. Gabriel and Jessica are progressing GREAT. Jessica already believes this is all true, and this Sunday they have commited to coming to church. We worked a ton with less actives this week, and met a few new families that I'm excited about. We had a super powerful lesson this week with a recent convert family, and almost the whole family was crying when we finished. Basically we were burning them a bit, cuz the dad has turned to drinking again, and the rest of the family is kind of inactivating, but it was good. Hoping to see some change with them.

Really, it was kind of a boring week. I also don't have my new planner, and so I usually write things to write you guys in that, but I don't have it, so I didn't write anything, and I forgot everything about this week. We did have a cool experience this week when it was pouring rain. There was just a TON of water in the streets, so my comp and I left in street clothes to look to see if we could help anyone. We helped a few people dig trenches to protect their houses, put there was a motokar stuck in a river/road, and my comp and I ran behind and just gave it a huge push, and got it unstuck. It was just interesting, because the guy driving, literally didn't notice. He just thought he got out. It was just interesting, cuz in that moment, I felt like an angel! Haha. No, but it was cool. Anyways, I'm excited for this week. I have a good feeling that there is a storm of spiritual goodness brewing for this week. Anyways, sorry I'm boring today, but I hope everyone is doing well! Love and miss you all! Ciao!

Elder Richman

¡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