Letter from May 16

Well the good news is that I am coming to you from the Jungle still! My companion and I are staying together this change as well.  I’m excited to stay and continue to work here in Pichanaki.  The work is moving along great and I did not want to change areas.  Right now we are preparing some people to be baptized.  We have found some good investigators that are very excited to hear the gospel and are progressing very fast.  It makes me very happy because those are the kind of people that are going to strong members of the church.  Here the challenge is less active members, so it’s always good to find people that are going to be strong members and possibly leaders.  On Sunday we had 3 investigators in church.  I can’t lie, for the first time in my mission I was expecting 8 to 10, because we had 12 that said that they were coming for sure, and they were progressing very well, but there always seems to be challenges on Sunday mornings. I was thinking about how my Sunday’s used to be before the mission and how they are now.  Before the mission, I would wake up like right before the sacrament meeting and try to make it on time, only worrying about what I was going to eat after church cause I didn’t have time to eat breakfast.  Now we are up and running, trying to pick up investigators, worrying if some are going to come, or why some haven’t showed up yet.  And at times preparing talks or classes haha. Its a little different.  When I get home I’m going to be lost on Sunday mornings, wanting to go pick up the neighbors to go to church.

Oh how could I forget, the other day in the bathroom... I was busy shaving the man hair off of my face, when I noticed in the mirror that behind me was a huge lizard!  But I (being a strong and courageous man) killed it without even being a little scared... alright time for the real story, I saw it and got scared, I took a picture then told my comp to kill it cause I wasn’t about to get close to that thing.  It was nuts.  A lizard in our bathroom, what will we find next? Love you guys!

Elder Riggs

Photos from 1st and 2nd area

Letter from May 2

This week we saw a miracle in our area!  At the beginning of the change we set a goal of 3 baptisms in April.  We prayed about it and I really felt our goal should be 3.  Well at the middle of this week it was looking as if we weren’t going to complete it.  We had 2, but another investigator we had planned fell through.  I can’t lie, I was worried.  We then discussed an investigator that was ready for baptism.  She has a huge testimony.  I have no doubt in my mind she will be a faithful member.  But her baptism date was set for the 7th of May. Well Friday we went to her house to challenge her to be baptized the following day, Saturday.  We felt very good about it too, she really was ready.  She had all her church attendances, she had a huge testimony of the church and the Book of Mormon.  HUGE!  She’s one of the coolest investigators I´ve seen in the mission. Well we arrived and she told us right off the bat that she had made the final decision that she was going to be baptized on the 7th and she was very excited.  After we challenged her for the next day, we explained the importance of baptism, but also how important it is that we are prepared and ready to follow the example of the Savior the rest of our lives.  And we told her that if she didn’t feel ready we could wait.  Well, she accepted!!!!!!  I am still amazed!  She was baptized and confirmed this weekend! The Lord’s hand was really in it.  It goes to show that with Him nothing is impossible, nothing.  I am very happy.  Last night when we got home, I was soooo happy.  The Lord helped us complete the goal, and it was a testimony builder for me.  It helped me see that with the goals we make in life should really push us, and we should put our trust in the Lord to help us in whatever goal we have.

Chau

Elder Riggs

(Note: Every week before I post the letters from Skylar I edit them, take out stuff he wrote to the family specifically and edit for grammar/spelling. Well I think one of these weeks I won't edit his letter. I figure his Spanish must be amazing cuz sometimes parts of his letter don't make sense haha! I really think he's forgetting English. But it makes the letters hilarious!)