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

14 Sept

Helloooo FAM!

First off, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS MAMA! Hope you have a good day on Sunday, you deserve the best. Love you and miss you mucho.

This week we had Cinco Semanas. Basically we got together with our MTC group and talk about how the first five weeks went. It was fun to see everyone, and hear about everyone's experiences. 

I had another intercambio this week with an hermana from Bolivia, named Hermana Orellana. She's the sweetest, and it was helpful to have a full day with someone who only speaks Spanish. I learn so much more when I am constantly speaking it, and focusing in on what people are saying. And i FINALLY feel like I am understanding a lot! Everyone says understanding comes first, and the speaking. So I'm getting there.

We had stake conference this week, and Pres. and Hermana Rasmussen spoke. It was AMAZING, and I understood most of what they said. Gringo Spanish is so much easier to understand lol. I love seeing them and hearing from them. I can tell they are so inspired and called of God, and i love THEM!

Still no investigators coming to church, but we have some awesome newbies! Viviana and Jaime. They are both having health issues, so they are basically home all the time. They are always home so we can teach them and they are SO receptive. They asked US about church, and what time and details. Which never happens, so we know they want to come. And this week they went to the hospital, and called us later telling us they wanted us to come teach them there but they didn't have the money to get us to the hospital. It is cool to see their desires to learn more, so Im super excited about them.

My Spanish is coming along and I finally know the area, the members, the investigators, etc. So i feel like I am able to contribute a lot more now and it feels so good. I love this place and I'm convinced I have the best area in the mission. I even live close to the mission home, so perks, got to make cookies today with hermana Rasmussen.

Lovin life, hope things are good in Utah! AH i miss the cold! Haha didn't think i would say that, it is so hot here. Anyways life is so good, but miss and love you guys so much!

xoxo

Hermana Richan

PS i sent a package home hehe YAY

Tamble Grande

 My Bedroom

 Outside the Balcony

 Cinco Semanas

 Stake Conference

 Member that comes with us to everything. Ana Paola. She is moving to Lima this week and I'm so sad

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sept 7

Hola familia!

Hope all is well at home! Im loving it here and learning everyday. Its hard but soo so amazing! The weeks keep getting faster, and i can already tell its gonna be over before I know it. 

So last week I talked about Junior... And yeah he seemed awesome until we saw him getting chased by the cops and we have no idea why. We saw him later, and set an appointment but he wasnt home. Just when we think we have someone good, something happens :) But we do have an investigator, named Linda, with a baptismal date on October 2nd. She´'s awesome and has a great testimony, but does not go to church. So we are gonna work on that. This week we had three more people commit to baptism, and they are awesome and are so excited about attending church. Which is a FIsRST because no one likes to go to church here. So that should be good. 

Honestly not much more happend this week because my life is crazyyyy. Hermana Bazan is the only sister leader in our zone, and she is training me.. So I am constantly having exchanges and going other areas while she is in meetings. It's fun, but sometimes hard to make good progress in our area. I am loving getting to know all of the hermanas in our zone though.  This week I had an exchange with Hermana Parks, and she's awesome! Seriously she only has one transfer more in the mission than me, and she was amazing. I learned a lot from the way she taught and cared for the people. I ended up getting sick that night too and she was like a mom taking care of me hahaha. Im good though i think it was food poisoning or something. Anyways, this week is going to be crazier because tomrrow I get to go to the mission home and see my CCM group again and im super excited, and 2 more exchanges. So i will only have 3 full days in my area this week. I like being busy though, time feels like it is flying! Every P day comes so fast. I bore my testimony in sacrament yesterday, and i got a lot of compliments on my spanish hahaha. The problem is, thats really all i can  do in spanish. But idk what it is, I wasnt nervous to bare my testimony in spanish but i always get so nervous in English. And i would rather be teaching lessons in spanish. Kinda interesting, but im loving it! 

Every night from 6 to 8 we knock doors. It is really interesting.. Most people are willing to listen, but arent actually interested. And every so often there are those men that start letting us in before we say who we are hahaha, that's when we know NOT to go in. But we have been finding some awesome investigators this way. 

Not much time, but love you guys so much! Love being a missionary, and love these people. Im honestly so happy that i was called to Peru! Piura es la mejor mision en todo el mundo! xoxo Tengan una buena semana! 

Hermana Richan

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