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!)

Sept 23, 2014

So.. yeah. This week was the bomb DOT com. Seriously. And ya'll have the special priviledge to hear all about it. Buckle up! 

So, I'm gonna talk about Palma Real real fast. So, we went again, and taught Lea. She was doing well, but she wasn't able to come to church again this Sunday. It's just hard to go so far. I understand, but still. But, our lesson with Maritza was really cool. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and she was really interested. But, because of lack of time, I'm gonna talk about the end of our lesson. As we were wrapping up, she stood up to make us hot chocolate, and she was telling us that her knees have some problems and they always really hurt her. So, we told her that through the Priesthood (which we had taught that day too), we could give her a blessing, and through her faith, she could be healed. So, we gave her the blessing, and afterwards, she stood up, walked around, and then turned to us, and said, "Hm. They don't hurt anymore." It was a pretty cool experience. I hope they keep progressing. Oh, also while we were out there, we were walking, and we heard someone yell, "¡Elderes!". So, we went and talked to this lady who called us, and it turns out that her son is serving a mission in Mexico, but she's not a member. So, we are gonna start trying to teach her.

La familia Quispe. Wow. I seriously LOVE them. This week I'm gonna take a picture to send ya'll, so you can love them too. But, remember how I had a lesson with them a few weeks ago about how they needed to read and pray every day? Well, we met with Yhoseli this week, and she has been reading and praying, like, every day! So, she is excited for baptism again, and she had questions about the Book of Mormon that we could answer, and it was super good. But, I think my favorite was with Rony. We were talking to him the other day, and we asked him, "Rony, do you think that this message has helped you?" So, he sat, and thought for a sec, and then said, "...Yeah. Yeah. I think so, because I have seen God blessing my life more and more since you have started coming, and since I've started doing the things you have taught me." Basically, that's the most rewarding thing you can hear as a missionary. Oh, but at the end of that lesson, he gave the prayer. It was like, a super long, beautiful prayer, that brought me to tears, dead serious. Not because it was such a good prayer, BUT, because the last time I heard him pray, he had to use a contact card to remember how to do it, and now, he's having a full blown conversation with Heavenly Father. They are gonna get married soon, and baptized after, and I can't wait. They seriously are the best. 

Okay. The other investigator I want to talk about. We got her as a reference from the sister missionaries here, but we haven't been able to get in contact with her. But, last Sunday at the conference, we finally met her, and got an appointment. This week, we met with her Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (2 times), and Sunday. I'm 100% convinced that this girl is a paid representative from the church to see if I got trained right. (Just kidding, that is not how the church works at all, but it's just a joke). Her name is Rosa Nina. She has 17 years, and she is studying Civil Engineering in Cusco, but this semester she took a semester off. She is CRAZY smart. But this is what happened. I guess she was in Quillabamba, and she saw the chapel there, and she said, "Hm. I'm gonna go check that place out." So, she went, we got the reference, and now she's investigating the church. So, she's really curious too, and just loves to learn. So, we started teaching her. Her questions are always super well thought out, and fun to answer, because I have to think about scriptures I know, and all that I have learned in the mission to help teach her. So, after lessons with her, I always have a headache, but I feel super happy, cuz I feel like I have learned a ton haha. But seriously, she is the perfect investigator. She has been reading and praying every night since we taught her, and she is progressing SUPER fast. We think we'll baptize her this Saturday. But, due to lack of time, I'm gonna summarize what happened on Saturday with ya'll. So, she has a hard time understand the Holy Ghost, and that it helps her to know if these things are true. So, really, it comes down to a bit of lack of faith to know if she can recieve answers from the Holy Ghost. So, Saturday, we taught the Holy Ghost and faith, and after, watched Finding Faith in Christ. Afterwards, we asked her what she thought. She sat and thought for a minute, and then asked us a little hestitantly, "Do you think people can receive like... revelation in dreams?" So we told her that it was possible. Then she said, "A little while ago, I had a dream that Christ came to me. When he came to me, all he told me was, 'I am preparing something for you to learn about me, and you need to find it.' And... I think maybe I found it." And THEN, in her closing prayer, she said, "Thank you Heavenly Father, because I know that I have felt something today, and I know it was the Spirit." My gosh, the heavens split open, and the heavenly trumpets began sounding right then and there! Okay, not really, but it was a SUPER cool experience. Because, like 2 days before, she told us she didn't believe that the Holy Ghost could help her feel something to know that these things were true. 

So, this week has been full of blessing and miracles, and I know it has been because I have been focusing on the Lord, and being more obedient. The blessings TRUELY come when we are obedient. I could see that this week. It gave me more motivation to be a better missionary, always. It's a beautiful thing, that even though I'm not perfect, if I'm trying my best, the Lord makes up the rest.

So, now that I've brought you all to tears with my awesome stories, I'm gonna make you laugh. Remember that rat thing I talked about a few weeks ago? This week, we were visiting with that family again, and we asked about it. The mom started laughing, and pulled up the woven basket thing... and this rat thing had eaten a HUGE hole out of it, and gotten out. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of that thing running around free... 

Anyways, I gotta go! We're going to Waterfalls! Until next week, love and  miss you!

Elder Richman

¡Purificándome!

Hey there everybody! It's time once again to hear all about the life of Elder Richman here in Peru! I hope you're excited. 

This week was good. Learned a lot! On Wednesday, we went to Palma Real again. To help relieve some amount of stress, I'm not going to talk about the drives there, or back. Let's just say... we made the hour and half trip... in 40 minutes. But that's all I'm gonna say. But! The families out there are... pretty cool. The first one we visited was frustrating, cuz we asked her (Ana) if she read the pamphlet, and she told us, yes. Okay, cool. So we started trying to talk to her about it, and she wouldn't answer. Basically, after 15 minutes, she finally told us she couldn't read. So, we taught her in very simple terms, and I think she started to understand. I think she has a learning disability of some form, cuz her father walked in and said she never really understands things properly. So we'll see how she goes. 

The second family was like, YES! Their names are Jacobo y Lea. Lea went to a church here called Peruanita, but now she doesn't go, and Jacobo is Catholic. They have a little baby boy. Anyways, we started talking to them about the law of Chastity, and Gallego challenged them to live the law... they seemed sort of hesitant, and I felt like I should talk about... familias eternas. I can't think how to say that in English. Families Eternals? That doesnt sound right. Anyways, I told them about that, and bore my testimony about how I knew that after this life, they could live with together, and with their children. After that, they were really interested, and before we told them about church, they asked, "Do you have a church we cuold come to attend?" YES! Haha, it was a really good lesson. We challenged them to be baptized, but we can't set a date until they're married. 

The other family, Maritza y Antonio were good. They're devote Testigos de Jehova, but they want to get our lessons... so yeah. So, they have a crazy amount of knowledge about the Bible, and it's awesome. So we taught them about the Restauracion, and challenged them to pray. We'll go back to Palma in Wednesday, so we'll see.

Franklin y Judith! They are a less active family that we found. He served his misson in Trujillo Peru 4 years ago. So, we went and visited them, and taught about the temple. It went well, and I think they're gonna start coming to church again. 

Rony y Yhoseli (la familia Quispe) are doing well. They're still crazy busy right now, so we can't teach alot, but we visited with them last night. They have been reading and praying a little more, and now they seem a lot more interested in being baptized again. So, that was good. I really hope they keep it up. 

Um... la familia Velasco! They're some investigators we've had for forever here. They're son and daughter are members, but the parents aren't. But, right now, they really are having some tough times, so they are trying to turn to the Lord, which is great! So they're starting to progress a lot faster than in the past, so that's good. 

Well, other stuff this week.. we had a meeting with the mission president and the assistants! It was really good. We talked a lot about obedience. It is really the way that we can see the blessings here in the mission. So, they challenged us to do an activity, and I'm gonna do it this week. It's called Purificándonos, or Purifying Ourselves. Basically, we start out with a fast, and during the fast, we write down a few things that we think we aren't being perfectly obedient. Then, for 40 days, we do everything in our power not to do those things. Basically, the idea is to turn our thoughts always to the Lord. So, I'm excited. I want to see the miracles that come from obedience, and I know that if I try to be obedient, the Lord will bless me to have success. So, I'll keep ya'll posted on how that is going. 

Saturday and Sunday was District Conference here, so Saturday, we had a priesthood meeting, and then a general meeting for all of Quillabamba. There weren't a ton of people, but it was still good. I actually went with our Zone Leaders during Priesthood to visit a less active member here. His name is Boris, and he served his mission in Italy, and he made us some bomb pasta. But, Sunday was a broadcast for all of Peru from Robert H. Hales, and David A. Bednar. and some other people. It was awesome. A ton of people came! And they were good talks. They talked a lot about the importance of the youth here, and the value of women, and how they are the most important creation of God's. Pretty cool. But it was a cool experience.

Um. I think that's it for this week... Just something I want to say in closing. Something that the President talked about with us that really hit home. I'm a represantive of Jesus Christ. I literally, have been called to say the things he would say, act how he would act, and do the things he would do. It's pretty powerful, and it reminds me of what kind of person I have to be while on my mission. I hope I can live up to it, and I know that with His help, he'll help me to live up to it Thanks for everything everyone. Until next week. 

Elder Richman