Feliz Navidad

AH Merry Christmas from Peru! Hope you are all enjoying the snow this holiday season. Today I chilled on the beach with flamingos and seals while jamming to Christmas music. But im sure you guys would rather have a white Christmas. :)

Was an awesome week! I LOVE Talara, my area is Talara Alta and Bello Horizonte. It is definitely a change. Going from one really strong ward, to two really weak branches. For example, I had to speak in both branches yesterday haha. I love it though. I am learning a lot, and as the mission goes on I am learning more and more to rely on the Spirit. 

The people here are different. Super humble, loving, and servicial. The people in Miguel Grau too, but even more so here. It is the cutest little town with colorful houses, markets, and donkeys hahaha. Love love love it.

So a couple weeks ago a lady was baptized here, and Saturday we had a baptism for her son. I already love this family, the cutest kids EVER. And always love seeing baptisms. One thing i love the most is that the church is the same everywhere you go. I had to come here to realize it, but it is a testimony to me that this really is the church of Jesus Christ. Im SO grateful to be here during Christmas and to really think about His life and how amazing it is that we have a Savior who lives and died for us. 

We have a lot of awesome things planned for this week, and im SO excited. Feelin the Christmas spirit here in Talara. And im SO excited to see the fam on FRIDAY! Love you all and SEE YOU SOON! :)

La Navidad Blanca

Familiaaaa! What a weeeeeek. 

Tuesday we had the Fiesta de Navidad in the mission home. It was so awesome, I feel way blessed to be in this mission with Pres y Hna Rasmussen. They definitely take care of us. We played games, had an awesome devotional, and watched Its a Wonderful Life. I had never seen it, and dad I know it's your favorite movie, so it was cool to finally watch it. It is always fun to be with a bunch of missionaries. 

And Saturdayyy.. LA NAVIDAD BLANCA. I cant begin to say how cool it is to see so many people at once be baptized. It was awesome to see the work of the missionaries in our stake, and feel the testimonies of these new members. Something I will never forget. Especially because Viviana was baptized. :) It amazes me to look back at where she was when we found her, and see how strong and happy she is now. It is amazing the love that I feel for these people. Awesome day, and awesome way to spend the Christmas season. 

That night, we received transfers. And now im here in TALARA! I was so sad to leave the people in Miguel Grau. I feel like that ward is my family and I LOVE THEM soo much. I feel way blessed to have started in that area, and for being able to meet these people. A member had a little farewell for me last night, and WOW it is hard saying bye to people knowing that it is possible you wont see them again. I think saying bye to Viviana was the hardest, but I know she is going to be an amazing member of the church. And Im so glad to have made a friend like Hna Arce, she is the best! Crazy to think that one of my best friends is from Paraguay. :)

 But i am SO excited to start here in Talara! It is about 2 hours from Piura and from the mission home. We are close to the beach, and the town is so cute. I know I am going to love it here. My new comp is Hermana Alvarado. She is from Ecuador, and I love her! She was in my zone my first 2 transfers, and i had an intercambio with her. It was my favorite intercambio. :) In this area we have 2 branches that we are in. Double the church wooo. :) It is going to be a big change. Im going from one of the strongest wards in Piura to having 2 pretty weak branches. It will be cool to help out in the ward. I know i am going to be learning a lot in this area! I came to this area last Monday because it is Hna Arce's old area, and already met a bunch of the members and the pensionista. Everyone is awesome, Im excited to be here. 

I love my fam! I find more reasons to be grateful for you all everyday and I am so excited to see you CHRISTMAS! Have the best week, and see you all soon. :))))

Hermana Richan

PS im going to start putting crazy Peru experiences of the week. So this week is that I let a member dye my hair orange....Or "Peruvian blonde" Jajaja just so you are prepped when you see me at Christmas mama. Love you 

 Painting

 Turning Hair Peruvian "Blonde"

 Christmas Party

 Hermana Arce

 President Rasmussen - Christmas Party

 Hermana Aida

 Viviana's Baptism

 La Navidad Blanca

 Viviana's Baptism

My favorite family and neighbors in Miguel Grau

7 Diciembre

Hope all is well over in Utaaaah, things in Peru couldn´t be better!

This week Elder Godoy of the seventy came to speak to us. It was the COOLEST meeting, something I wont forget. He told us that of our mission area with 32 missions (i think), we are the lowest baptizing mission. But the interesting part was that he found that we are actually an obedient mission, but the problem is we are focusing on saving ourselves rather than the people here. So he told us we need to focus on saving the people. He gave us a lot of tips on how we can be better with this. I´m excited to apply what I learned from him and hope to see new changes aqui en PIURAA.

On Sunday, Manuel didnt come to church. We had been fasting for him and Viviana that all would work out for their baptisms, but Manual needed to attend in order to be baptized. But we are happy for how it worked out because we were feeling like he might need more time to gain  a testimony, and this was God's way of letting us know that yes he needs more time. He has a lot of faith, and is reading and praying.  I know he will be baptized down the road, but for now he is progressing and i know he is one of those people that God has prepared!

Viviana is better than ever! I couldn´t love her more and im SO excited for her baptism this Saturday. It is so cool to see the difference in her from when we first met, to now. She is glowing and SO happy! I feel like its been a long crazy journey with her, and FINALLY she can be baptized. I know it is going to be an awesome day.

Meanwhile, Piura has been Christmas preppin! Our street is full of Christmas lights and it makes me SO happy hahaha. I wasn't sure if people would do that here, but they do. Fun Christmas facts for the week: Here in Piura, EVERYONE eats TONS of panetón. Fruit cake. I love the food here, so im expecting to like it hahaha. And for new years, a tradition here is that you make a life sized Muñeco (doll), and you burn it. Usually of someone that hurt you this year, or to represent something bad from the year. My neighbor said she is going to make one of me. ;) hope she's kidding.

Love you all, hope youre enjoying the holidays! EXCITED TO TALK TO YOU ALL in a few weeks :))) xoxox

Hermana Richan

30 Nov

FELIZ DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIAS. Hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving, it sounds like you did. I was thinking about how grateful I am for my fam and how grateful I am to be in PERU. Lots to be grateful for.

This Thanksgiving there was a moto taxista strike in an area called Tambo Grande, so the hermanas had to come stay with us for a few days. Both of them are from Bolivia, so they made us some sweet Bolivian food that night. So yes, I feasted on thanksgiving. :) And for lunch we had my favorite thing here, Causa Rellena. The BEST.

This week was a little crazy, we did a lot of divisions with members, and with other missionaries. My comp is feeling a lot better, so Im excited for a new week. We have two people that we are preparing for baptism 12 de Diciembre, Viviana and Manuel.

I dont think ive expanded much on Manuel, but he is amazing! He lives with his two brothers who are BIEN borracho all the time. When he found us, he was determined to change his life. Because of his drinking, he just about lost his wife and his kids.  He told us a few days ago that he prayed so hard to God to be able to maintain his family, and change his life. And he told us that he heard a clear voice telling him that all was going to be okay, but he needed to keep moving forward. And then he found us, that day we were sitting down in front of his house. When we met him he was at rock bottom. Didnt have a job either. Now he has a job, and he told us that he hasnt been drinking since the first sunday that he went to church. And he is supposed to work sundays, but his boss lets him take the first few hours off to go to church. He reads the Book of Mormon everyday, and even more than we assign to him. It is so cool to see how the Lord prepares people, and how much the gospel can really bless their lives. I am super excited for his baptism, and grateful to see God's hand in everything we do.

Today makes 5 MONTHS a missionary! Cant believe it. It is too fast for me. And tomorrow is DECEMBER. YAY my first Christmas in the HEAT. People are starting to decorate here and im lovin it. In the center of my area there is a massive Christmas tree with a giant Peruvian nativity. It's bien bacan. Yesterday the church launched a new video for Christmas HA NACIDO UN SALVADOR. (A Savior Has Been Born), and it is awesome. Helps us to remember the true meaning of Christmas. I am so happy that I can be here teaching of Jesus Christ during this time of year. 

Love you all, hope life is good in the cold. Meanwhile I am getting tanner everyday and sweating more than I thought possible.:) xoxo

Hermana Richan

Recent Pictures in Piura

Nov 16

Buenas tardes familiaa! Still lovin the mission life, hope all is going good at home.

This week was awesome! There is always something awesome happening in the mission. Life is sweeeet. In our ward, on the day of La Navidad Blanca with all the baptisms, we are going to do a live Nativity. They all nominated me to be the angel hahaha SO yeah I was looking forward to this awesome day of baptisms until I got assigned to act a part! No, it is going to be good. I am so excited for that day. Viviana is counting down the days til her baptism. She was at church this Sunday, and she is doing awesome. As for our other investigators, no one else came! It is something that we really need to focus on this week. They need to attend 3 times before they can be baptized, and there are 3 Sundays left until December 12. So that is going to be our focus this week. 

Yesterday our ward had their primary program. It was AWESOME. Something that I love about the members here is they make EVERYTHING a big deal. For the primary program, every kid was matching and there were tons of people there. They made invitations, and people have been talking about it for weeks. So finally we had it yesterday, and I loved it. The kids here are the cutest. But I love the enthusiasm that all the members have for every little thing. Every event here for the church is something to get excited about.

It was not a very good week of progress unfortunately, but it just motivates us to work harder this week. We are trying to get investigators ready for baptism on the 12. As of now we have 3 investigatores preparing for this day. I hope we can get them to come to church.

Im now the English teacher in my district, so that should be fun haha. It will be a nice engish break for 15 minutes once a week. Woo. No i am loving speaking Spanish all the time, it is a weird feeling sometimes I dont even notice. I feel like Im speaking English. But life is awesome, and I love seeing what each day brings! Hope you all have an awesome week, thinking of you and praying for you always! Xoxox

Hermana Richan

PS jeaous of your snow! It is getting even hotter here but LOVIN IT because its mango season :))))

November 9th

Holaaa Fam! SUCH a good week!

So like I said last week, my comp is Hermana Arce from Paraguay. And she is AMAZING. Seriously I still dont understand a lot of peoples Spanish accents... But i understand her perfectly! Its the best. She is the funniest person I have ever met, and such a good missionary. I saw a lot of miracles with her this week.

For one thing, we had a ton of people contact US this week! Which is super not normal. Makes missionary work a lot easier haha. But these people are so awesome. One man that has attended the church a lot in his life, but has never been baptized. His name is Roberto, and he came to church this Sunday. And another woman named Claudia contacted us, telling us that she needs God in her life, and she has been looking for us. And she wants to change. We are excited about working with them.

This week we found this panaderia (bakery) with the BEST bread. We bought 2 soles each (like 10 pieces) and downed it in like 10 minutes hahaha. Sooo bad, never doing that again. But it was so good. Anyways, we were feeling pretty sick after that. So we took a sit, and next thing we know, a man approached us. His name is Manuel, and he told us all about how drinking has ruined his life, and he has been losing his family because of it. And he has all the desires to change. So we set an appointment, and told him about the church. And sure enough, he CAME. It is just crazy because it is so hard to get investigators to church here. But After church he was so excited to start taking the lessons. We pass by his house every once and awhile, and he keeps reminding us about our appointment. He is awesome, but with his problems it might take some time to work through them. But the blessings of eating bread until we were sick.

Viviana also came to church with us, and she is doing so well. Still looking forward to her baptism in a month. She has been making friends in the church, learning all the hymns, and inviting her kids to church now. She is awesome.

Ive never been happier! I am learning so much now that I have to speak Spanish all the time. And I feel a lot better, and more confident with it. And I know that is it the Spirit that guides everything we do and everything I say, because I definitely wouldnt be able to say the things I do on my own. Everyday I gain a greater appreciation for this work and I LOVE IT!

Have the best week fam, love you all so much! 

Hermana Richan

Nov 2

FAMILY hope all is well!

This week was a bit crazy, but good. Alwaysss good. Sad not to have Halloween with the fam (my fav.) but we celebrated as a zone with Pizza Hut haha. Mucho mejor.

Tuesday morning, I was praying to know who i should study for during my personal study. Then I got up and started reading in the Book of Mormon, and for some reason my mind could not focus on anything. And all the sudden Viviana's name popped into my head. It was the weirdest thing, but I felt like an overwhelming love for her and desire to help her. So I told Hna. Bazan, I think we need to go see Viviana. We cut our studies short to go see her, and sure enough Jaime was back with her. And it was the week she was supposed to get baptized. Sadly we had to break it to her that she could no longer get baptized this week and she was devistated. She was begging us, and saying she would live with her son, but now the plan is they are going to get married.. So now that is what we are working on, but she is planning on getting baptized on the 12th of December. It is a process, but what is important is that she keeps working to the goal and i KNOW she will be baptized. She is awesome, but it is frustrating when problems like this get in the way.

Kimberly is still awesome as ever, and we are excited to see her progress and be baptized on the 12th of December!

Today i got a new COMPI. I was so sad to say bye to Hna. Bazan. I learned so much from her. She taught me how to be patient with myself especially while learning a language. And she taught me how to love these people, but I really love how she learns from every experience. She tries to learn new things everyday and apply them in her life and in her teaching, it is awesome. So i am grateful for what I learned from her but my new comp is AMAZING also. Her name is Hna. Arce, and she is from Paraguay. She does not speak English, but I already feel more confident now that I have to speak in Spanish all the time, its awesome. She is soo funny, and I can tell she is so easy to get along with and love. She only has a couple transfers left, so it is possible that I will be her last companion. But I stayed in the area, so i am hoping everything will go okay without Hna. Bazan! 

Every week I appreciate this experience more and more. I wouldnt change it for anything! Love you all, Feliz Noviembre! Cant believe it is already November. Time flies here. Have the best week!

Hermana Richan

Oct 26

Que tal mi fam? Such a good week, not sure where to start!

I`m pretty sure last week I mentioned that we are doing a Navidad Blanca, and have the goal to baptize people on 12 de Diciembre. And this week we found a new investigator named Kimberly. She is 20 years old, and has a little baby. She lives with her grandma. And she is AMAZING. On the first lesson we invited to baptism, and she said yes. She told us about how she has been wanting to change her life, and we found her at a good time. She came to a ward karaoke activity with us, already has made friends in the ward, and loves everything already. And she talked to her grandma about being baptized, and she is supportive. So we are planning on her being baptized on this day! Super excited about her.

All along we set the date for Viviana to be baptized October 31. She has been living with this guy unmarried, but for some reason I have just felt like it was gonna work out for this day all along. And a few days we got a call and found out they are no longer living together! She has the greatest desire to be baptized, and it is cool to see her faith as she has had to make this decision. So as of now, we are planning on a baptism this Saturday! Hoping everything works out, but there are a few things to work out still. But i'm so excited for her, and feel unworthy at times to teach people who have so much faith for knowing the church for such a small amount of time.

Sooo we just eat here all the time. There was a day this week where we had like a ton of huge meals. One after another. And that night, we had a ward meeting. And yet another big meal got brought out. And i was SO FULL, and it was just funny to me. So of course I started dying laughing, i dont know why. I tend to start laughing sometimes for no reason, and then i cant stop. And it was super awkward, no one knew what was up. And then my ward mission leader started dying laughing, just super funny. But anyways, I made it through the meal! And never wanted to eat again hahah. But also i discovered this fruit called maracuya. And im obessed. It is super sour, kind of like a pomegranite, but tastes like a lemon. Soo yeah new favorite thing.

This is probably my last week with Hna Bazan! Im sad, she has been so awesome. Im not sure what is going to happen, if i will stay in the area or not, but by saturday i will know. But for now, i know we have an awesome week ahead! Love you alllll have a happy halloweeen! Im super sad i cant dress up for my fav holiday, but maybs i will switch name tags with my comp or something. Les extraño mucho! xoxo

Hermana Richan

Oct 19

Hola Familiaaaa. Not much happened this week, but it was good!

We had a Conferencia Multizona this week, and it was amazing. President and Hermana Rasmussen focused a lot on perspective. Everything is in an eternal perspective. Every trial that comes will be for our good. Every companion will teach us something. We need to look at the bigger perspective so that we can be happy in everything that comes our way and keep moving forward with faith. It was fun to be with a bunch of missionaries, and see how everyone is doing. 

Transfers are in a couple weeks, so Im getting sad that i probably wont be with hermana bazan for much longer! We got new elders in our ward, and they are the zone leaders. They are really cool, and really motivated, so it is helping us to be better motivated too. We are doing something called La Navidad Blanca (White Christmas), where on Dec. 12they want everyone in the stake to have baptisms. Should be pretty cool, so we are looking for new investigators to work towards this day.

Our area is HARD. It is known for being a hard area, probably because it is one of the richest in my mission ha. But I love it, just feel like not much happens week to week. Viviana came to church this week, and she is still golden as ever. She knows this is the true church, wants to be baptized, but we don't know what to do with her. She either needs to move out from living with Jaime, or she needs to marry him. And she goes back and forth, so we are trying to help her with that.

Not much else happened, but we are excited and motivated this week to find new people and set higher goals. Time flies out here, it is crazy. But i love every second of it! It is the coolest thing being a missionary. Unlike anything else. 

Love you all! BDAY shoutout to Cambam. Have fun in Texasss i'll eat some cake for you because i do that everyday here anyways lol. (cake her is BOMB) xoxoxo

Hermana Richan

Nine months for Hermana Bazan

Oct 12

Such an awesome week!

Today we went to the beach in Paita, so so so pretty. I loved it. But i dont have much time, so this will be short.

But this week we found a man who has a friend in the church, so he already knows a lot about it. We had an awesome lesson with him, and he asked us for a Book of Mormon. So YEAH we brought one to him the next day. And he came to church all 3 hours. Participated in the lessons and all. So awesome. His name is Geraldo, we are super excited about him.

We also found a lady this week named Angela. She had the missionaries about2 years ago. She gained a strong testimony, was going to be baptized, but couldn´t because she isnt married. And the man she lives with was baptized years ago, but doesnt want to return to the church. But we know there is a reason we found her, and we can find a way for them to get married and her to get baptized. We can see her testimony.

Viviana still wants to get baptized more than ever, and she is amazing. Loves listening to us, and always talks about baptism. But Jaime is drinking. All the time. Day and night. They have no money, and she is so sick of it. And it is so sad because he told us at one point he wantedt to baptized too. We are still trying to figure them out, but praying a lot to know what to do.

We have another investigator, Egustaquio, who is super awesome. He has SO many questions all the time, and we are like WAIT we will get to that haha. But we had a lesson about the plan of salvation with him this week, and it was AMAZING. Ive never felt the Spirit so strong. Im grateful to have grown up with the knowledge of all these things, but it is so cool to see how it can affect someones life that didnt know it before. 

I had an intercambio this week, and it was the first time ive had an intercambio in my area. So basically i was in charge the whole time, getting members to come with us. Navigating. Initiating all the lessons. Doing a lot more talking than usual. And it was awesome! It made me realize that I know more Spanish than i thought, and it was cool. Im feeling a lot better with Spanish, and things are starting to click.

So yes it has been an awesome week! The longer im here, the more I love it. Love you all, tengan una buena semana. Xoxo

Hermana Richan

 Our area

  Our area

 Picture of the week

 The usual

   Hermana Bryce

 Hermana Bryce

 conference

 conference

 last week

Here on peoples birthdays, they crack eggs on their head and say something good about them

 last week

 Intercambios

  Beach in Paita today

 Beach in Paita today

 Beach in Paita today

 Beach in Paita today

  Beach in Paita today

 Beach in Paita today

Oct 5

Don't have that much time this week, but it has been an awesome week!

First of all, CONFERENCE. I loved ALL OF IT! I was blessed to be able to watch it in English with a bunch of missionaries, it was awesome. I went in with a specific question, and it was cool to see how every talk added to the the answer. I feel like most of the conference was centered on Jesus Christ, His Atonement, and how we need to put our trust in Him. I really liked how the new apostles mentioned that God choosed the weak and simple to share His gospel. I feel that way with missionary work too. God calls us to do that things that He needs done, not because of the works we have done. Though Him, we are able to do the things that He needs us to do. I am trying harder now to submit my will to His, and have the courage that I can do what is asked of me.

It was kind of a discouraging week with investigators... It is hard in our area to get people to progress. Viviana and Jaime were hard to catch this week because her dad is dying, and Jaime has been having other health issues. We are praying for them and hope we can move forward with them! But we got pretty discouraged this week.. We had a day where we had little faith, and felt like no one is ever going to progress. Then after a lot of prayer, the next day was amazing! We found 5 new investigators, all are awesome. One lady even had the missionaries before, but I think this time she is ready and interested. 

Other than that it has been a crazy week with conference and everything. Loving it here, and love it more and more every day. Learning so much and seeing blessings everyday and I love feeling so close to the Spirit. 

Love you all, hope things are all going good! Have the best week. Xoxo

Hermana Richan

28 Sept

3 MONTHS! Crazy how time flies. This week was crazy, a lot happened. This week I have learned a lot about how God works. Before we are able to strengthen our weaknesses, he points them out very clearly. I have been finding weaknesses that I never knew I had, but I know that only through seeing them I will be able to strengthen them, and realize that it is through CHRIST that they can be strengthened. :) Definitely learning a lot here.

This week with Viviana and Jaime... They asked US when they can get baptized! WHAT, that doesnt happen ever. We can see how much they need the gospel in their lives, and they have the greatest desires to change their lives around. We set a baptismal date for mid October, but it will probably not work out that soon. They are not married, and he still needs to finalize a divorce from 10 years ago. But they are willing to do it. And we need to teach them the Word of Widsom. They both smoke, and Jaime is an alcoholic. But it is at the point where he knows that it has kind of destroyed his life, and he wants to change. We briefly talked about it with them, and they agreed. We have a strong feeling that they will agree to live the Word of Wisdom, we are just waiting for the timing to be right. They are basically at rock bottom. He just got fired from his job, and they have no money. We took Viviana to Women's Conference on Saturday, and she loved it! The messages were perfect for her, and she (and Jaime) already have strong testimonies. So we know that they will get baptized at some point, just a lot of things to work through first.

Speaking of Women's Conf., I loved it. I watched it in Spanish, but still was able to learn from it and have a few prayers answered. I'm really excited for conference this weekend!

On Saturday, we were passing by the chapel and saw about 15-20 teenage boys. None of them members. A member was there, and told them that he would let them in to play soccer on the chapel grounds if they would listen to us speak first. So they all piled into the chapel, and Hna. Bazan started teaching about Jesus Christ. She looks at me to start talking, so I did.. And I got about half a sentence out and a few boys started laughing. Then I said about a sentence more and the WHOLE group was just up in laughter. I just stopped talking, and the member started explaining that I was from the states, and didn't speak Spanish. And asked them how they would feel if they had to go and speak English to a group of people.. And i was just standing there like an idiot hahaha. BUT I'm glad it happened, I'm learning how to laugh with the people when I speak, because that's just how it is going to be. Awkward experience, but learned from it.

I loved in Women's Conf., in Elder Uchdorf's talk that we need to be enjoying the moment at all times. And how do we find happiness in everything -- with faith. So this week I am trying to work on having more faith and enjoying every opportunity that comes!

Sounds like it was a cool week for the fam, love you guys! Tengan un buena semana, les amo mucho.

Hermana Richan

Sept 21

Last week of my first transfer, check! Today is the first day of transfer numbaa 2, and Im so excited to get going. Its been the best week so far!

So last week I talked about Viviana and Jaime. And yesterday they came to CHURCH! Our first investigators to come to church all transfer, so it was amazing. They loved it, and all the members were so welcoming. They told us that they are coming to our ward activity this week, and to church next week. And they are super sick, so it is cool to see their willingness to come. Im super excited about them. 

I had an intercambio with Hermana Alvarado this week. I love it when i have intercambios because Im forced to speak Spanish all day, and i end up learning a lot. But their area was SUPER humble, and i LOVED it. Seriously it was so quiet, and the people were all just working around their houses. It is easier to teach with the spirit in these areas. My area constantly has fiestas goin on, so its hard to try and teach a spiritual lesson a lot of the time. Music blasting. But I went to her ward counsel, and all the members there were complimenting my Spanish.. So that was a confidence booster, ha but no my Spanish is no bueno todavia. :) Trying to be patient.

This week a man came up to me, and started talking in English. Hahaha every question he asked, I started to respond in Spanish. I gave him the pamphlet and was trying to talk about the church but MAN im so used to doing it in Spanish, it was really interesting. But yeah I dont think i could be an English missionary at this point. 

The new group of missionaries come this week, so YAY no longer the newbie! We get to go out with the new hermanas tomorrow, so Im excited about that. A lot to look forward to! I finally feel like I know all the members, and I am getting more excited about the work. I love it! I feel like I have so much to look forward to every week. My area is especially amazing.

Love you guys, tengan un buena semana!

Hermana Richan

PS there are rumors that El Nino is coming soon, and basically im gonna drown here