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