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!