2 Months :)

Heyy fam :)

It's been an awesome week, especially because ELDER BEDNAR CAME! He talked with us for about 3 hours, and everything he said was so awesome. One of my favorite things that he said was about how we find our testimonies in the bearing of it. It made me want to share my testimony more, but also encourage investigators to share their testimonies with us. They will feel of the truth of the gospel as we give them an opportunity to tell us what they know to be true, rather than us always taking over and sharing what we believe.

After the meeting it was fun to see everyone in the mission. CCM friends and all. Everyone seems to be doing good, but wow I don't know how I got so blessed with the best trainer! I feel like she has made the transition easy, and I love being here.

People are contantly partying here, it's insane. A different fiesta on every street. It makes it hard sometimes when we are teaching lessons, and trying to bring the Spirit, and fiestas are over powering us. CRAZY, but love it here. 

Sooo this week... We were teaching this kid named Boris, and we were teaching lesson 1. And I have been trying to better participate in lessons with what I actually know how to say. And they encourage us to invite to baptism on the first lesson.. So of course, I invited him to be baptized... And Hna. Bazan leans over and whispers, "Um he has already been baptized." UGH he was a less active. Hahaha I felt SO stupid, and just looked down for the rest of the lesson. It was a good for me though, I need to actually get to know the people we are teaching before teaching them. Hahaha it's just hard sometimes when i don't understand them!

Okay, so the investigator I talked about last week ended up moving back to Lima. Without telling us. We were sooo sad, but think we planted a good seed for him.He was really interested. But we found another good investigator named Junior. He is also very interested, and recently had an experience with God in his life. But is not very religious other than that, so he found him at a good time. He is the type of person who puts his mind to something, and does it. So we hope to make progress with him. Other investigators are awesome, but they do not go to church! We do everything to try and get them to come, and they don't. It doesn't help that it is at 8 am... We work a lot with less actives and recent converts though. There are tons of less actives in our area.

The food here is SOO GOOD and people feed us SOO MUCH! I seriously feel myself gaining weight hahaha. But i can't tell them no. :) It's a problem though, Hna. Aida (member who I love), told me that my face looks bigger than it did when I came. AHH. Its only been 3 weeks. I'm glad she's honest though. If I could only see how much rice I have eaten over the past 2 months.... It would probably fill my room.

Im excited for another week ahead! I have 2 exchanges this week. One with Hermana Parks from Medford (from Julee's ward). I love her, she's soo nice! Hna. Bazan is a sister leader which makes my schedule kind of crazy. But it's awesome, and I love it! The language is hard, but I'm learning to force myself to talk to people and I can see improvement. Love you guys! Have a good week.

Te extraño mucho.

Hermana Richan

Hola Fam

It's been an awesome week! 

I love everything about this place! Honestly the people, the food, the city, its all awesome. I aready never want to come home. :) But the best is teaching and watching my Spanish get better everyday. I still can't say much, but I have mastered acting like I know what people are talking about. Haha and when I talk, they usually just applaud me and say "good try!" Its alright though, the spanish is comin. 

This week we found the most golden investigator! We were knocking doors, and decided to take a detour through the park.We started talking to this guy from Lima who was vacationing here. He already knew a little bit about the church, but wanted to know more. SO a few days later we went to visit him, and he wasn't there. We started to walk away, and then I felt like we should stay and wait for him. Sure enough like 15 minutes later he pulled up. We went in and he had SO many questions and was so interested. He told us that he decided to live here in Piura for awhile, and that we found him at the perfect time in his life because he has been trying to get closer to God. When he prayed at the end of the lesson, he prayed that he would be able to join the church. It was AWESOME, so we are excited to see where he goes from here.

Other than that, it is just really hard to get people to come to church. That is the one major issue. And a lot of our mission is rescuing less actives. Everyone is super nice and willing to listen, but commitment is hard. 

Today we went to Tamble Grande with our zone which was SO PRETTY. Its a river with little waterfalls and mountains and trees. So pretty, but very different from the area im in right now. There were goats running around everywhere. Lovin it.

Remember that big yellow cathedral that pops up everytime you type in Piura on google? That is in my area. Its way pretty here and I LOVE IT. Seriously I already never want to leave.

I love everything about the missionary life! Its hard but so awesome and i am so glad i decided to serve. Love and miss you alllll xoxoxo

H

 My Peruvian Family

 This is the street I live on. The left with the yellow and red squares is my house

 

 Elders Harris and Aluya

 On splits with goats

 Church

 Tamble Grande

Tamble Grande

MADE IT TO PIURA

Hola fam! Wow i dont know where to start.

So tuesday morning we landed in Piura at about 8 am. I was pretty nervous, but the second I saw the city out the window i felt so much peace and i loved it instantly! Its so much better than Lima. The sun is always out, and the people are so happy and humble. Love it here. The second we got off the plane, our mission president and wife were there with a few missionaries including ELDER HARRIS (friend from school). SOOO good to see him, and he is actually in my zone which is awesome.
My trainer is Hermana Bazan from Lima. I LOVE HER. She lived in Virginia for 10 years, so she is a fluent English speaker. Blessing for sure. We have so much in common, and she is so sweet and patient with me. My Spanish is still no bueno, but she helps me a lot. I couldnt have gotten a better comp for my first transfer.
My house is on the cutest little street in Piura. My area is called Miguel Grau. Im only like 5-10 minutes from the mission home which is awesome. Jaja at least for now i like it. Im lovin the cold shower life. If i was smart like my comp, I would boil my water and shower with it, but nah im gonna embrace it here ha.
The members here are awesome. I already feel like I have a Peruvian mom (Hermana Aida), and she loves me despite the language barrier and all. It has been a HARD week, but i dont think i could keep doing this if it werent for the people. The people are all so nice and make me feel comfortable here although it's hard. The days have a lot of ups and downs but they always end good. And the up moments are awesome.
Yesterday we ate at a member's house. They live in the poorer part of our area. Muddy, dirt floor, no furniture besides their kitchen table and a couple mismatched chairs. When they brought the food out, they gave my comp and I chicken and rice, but they only had rice for themselves. It just makes me sad, I want them to have the chicken over me! But they are so giving and humble. It's really cool to see.
Today i went to Chili's which was bomb. Shoutout to my friends, honey chipotle for vida. Chili's is all i need, i could live here forever.
So being the only one among all Spanish speakers is a really humbling experience. I feel like i am just praying 24 hours a day because i have no one else to talk to. Its good for me, but it is so hard. I have to continually remind myself to be patient. I am living by the scripture Jacob 4:7. Look it up, its my new favorite! I know i will be able to learn Spanish as I look unto God for help.
Love you all and miss you so much, but life over here is amazing! Have a good week! And to Madi and Abbi, have fun at school. ;) xoxox

Hermana Richan

 President and Sister Rasmussen and companion Hermana Bazan

 Elder Harris from Alpine

 Hermana Bazan, my cute companion

At Chili's Restaraunt 

Last E-mail from the CCM (MTC)

August 5, 2015

Hey fam!

 

It´s been a great week, and I am ready to head to the field. This is my last P-Day in the CCM, which gets me soo excited! I am nervous about the unexpected, but so excited to be outside these walls. I think I will miss P-Day next week, so plan on an email a week from Monday.

 

Not much is new, but I had some way cool experiences with the scriptures this week. I have been reading in Spanish, and it is cool to see the different wording they use. As weird as it is, the way the Spanish is worded sometimes makes more sense to me than English! I have learned so much and i love it. They also use different footnotes, so it is cool to look at the differences and learn more.

 

I head out on Tuesday morning! I'm so glad that I get to go with my whole district. I love them all, and we have so much fun together. Today all of the hermanas in my district made chocolate chip cookies with Hermana Gonzalez (the CCM president´s wife), and it was good to get a taste of home. As much as I love the compota de fruta they serve for dessert here every night (ITS AWFUL), it was good to have cookies for once.

 

So unfortunately, the temple is still closed. I was hoping to go today for the last time, but looks like next time i go to the temple will be in 17 months!

 

We got to watch a devotional live from Provo this week, and i saw so many friends! AH I loved seeing that they were all doing the same thing. Missionary work is amazing!

 

We found out that a couple weeks after we arrive in Piura, Elder Bednar is coming to speak. I am SO excited for that! Any chance we have to hear from general authorites here is awesome.

 

I dont have any bad language mess ups this week, but Im sure i will next time after I have been in the field for a few days. Im so excited to get there and see what im getting myself into for the next 17 months! I know it will be hard to adjust, but I'm ready for it!

 

Love you guys, dont have too much fun in Lake Powell without me :(( :) xoxo

 

Les amo,

Hermana Richan

 Matching Scripture Cases and Jerseys

 My district

 Making Cookies