Monday, November 30, 2015

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

Monday, November 16, 2015

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 :))))

Monday, November 9, 2015

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

Monday, November 2, 2015

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