Letter from October 24

I told you a few weeks ago that the dog of our pensionista began to follow us.  Well now he follows us everywhere we go, and I mean EVERYWHERE.  Ha yesterday he went a little too far. We went to pick up an investigator before church, well after passing by her house we continued walking towards the church, well unsurprisingly the dog was right there with us.  When we entered in the church he came in with us.  We had to throw him out many times and finally we had to ask the son of our pensionista to take him back to the house haha!

This week we have been working hard with the investigators to set baptismal dates and we have had some success.  We haven’t had a baptism yet this month, but the good news is that we have at least two for next week, hopefully 3 or 4.  We have had some challenges with some of the investigators but with the help of the Lord we continue to progress.  Some of the investigators that we have been teaching don’t want to accept to be baptized, and it’s really sad
to see, even when they have felt the spirit very strong.  That’s one of the hard parts of the mission, but hopefully one day they will make the decision and be baptized.  I hope that some of the people I taught that didn’t want to accept will want to in the future.

Changes are this week. Can you believe that? I would love to stay because I love this area, it is the best, and we have some baptisms for this weekend.  I really don’t know what’s going to happen, because I do only have two changes here, but I have also had two companions already, so it is possible that I could stay or go. I guess we will see.  We are going to play soccer as a zone today on a turf field. That should be a good time. Love you lots!

Elder Riggs

Letter from October 17

Well this week has been yet another great week!  Although we did have some difficulties and everything didn’t quite go as planned, I still feel pretty good.  As far as Milagros and Sergio, he got back from work on and we did everything we could to excite him for marriage and baptism. He wants to do it, but with some of the problems that he has been having he wants to wait a little bit longer.  It was hard to hear, but we really did all that we could to help him. We prayed, we fasted, we introduced them and taught them to members, but in the end he didn’t want to accept this Wednesday.  I learned that we also need to remember the will of God.  That we can’t always have what we want.  I just hope and pray that they overcome some of the problems and make the right choice and I hope they do it soon. I just worry a little because they were the ones that set the date as this Wednesday.  We will continue to help them. So when we left their house we were a little bit sad, but we had an experience to show us that the Lord is always there to help us.  We went to another appointment and were teaching Jaime who is 19 and his mom, (we recently baptized Jaime and his mom was baptized a little before that)  well after we taught them we were leaving and ran into Jaime’s sister.  About two weeks ago we went to say hi to her and after we said "How are you Sister?¨ she returned with, ¨I’m not your sister¨ then walked off a little angry.  Well the Lord softened her heart and she came to us in the precise moment when we were a little discouraged about Sergio and Milagros and she said to us that she was having some problems in her family. She is a single mom with 2 kids and she wanted us to teach her and her kids, she wants to attend church with them and be baptized as well. WOW, what a miracle!  She is going to travel for a month, but she wants us to teach and baptize her son and when she gets back she said that she wants to be baptized as well.  That was a great experience for me.

Also during the week, we were teaching a girl that recently moved here.  She has attended the church about 4 times, but still hasn’t accepted a baptismal date, but we taught her Saturday night and she felt the spirit so strong.  She didn’t want to be baptized the 22nd of this month because she really wanted her family to be there.  She moved from Italy, and her family isn’t planning on coming here any time soon.  I shared an experience and my testimony about how important my family was to me, and how much I would love them to always be with me too, to see all the great experiences I am having.  I explained that I am really close with my family and that I would always be close to my family. However sometimes I have to be far away from my family, like now, I wouldn’t pass up the wonderful opportunities that i have had and will have in my life.  I explained that you guys have supported me a ton and that her family would support her in this decision as well. I noticed that as I shared the story her eyes began to water and she felt the spirit so strong.  It was awesome.  Its experiences like that that keeps a missionary going.  Love you all!

Chau,
Elder Riggs

Letter from October 10

It’s been another wonderful week here in the City of Pilcomayo.  As I told you last week we have people we are teaching and hoping to baptize in this week.  Well we´ve made some good progress.  Milagros and Sergio are doing well.  Unfortunately Satan is working very hard and trying to discourage Sergio.  He is currently working in the mine and won’t be home until Friday, but at the first of the week when we went to visit the wife she was a little bit in doubt, and said that he was too.  Not because of the church, because they have both received answers to their prayers and felt the spirit very strong.  The only problem is they are a little afraid of commitment since they were having some problems before.  This week Milagros told us that things weren’t going very good in their relationship and they were having some struggles, so they came to an agreement to separate for some time.  She was going to buy her bus ticket Sunday, and that just happened to be the day that we ran into them.  Coincidence? I think not!  That night when we visited them, she said all their problems and troubles went away.  They found what they were missing and what would help them overcome their problems.  I know they will be married. We are staying in contact with Sergio by phone and he seems excited, there were a few difficulties but we are overcoming them.  He wants to wait and get married later but we know that now is the time, they can´t wait longer or Satan will continue to work very hard.  Saturday we will be getting together with him and his wife when he arrives to excite him and with the help of the spirit help him understand that now is the time.  Then we will be having his wedding the next Wednesday and his baptism the same day, with a little party in the church.  Thanks to the members they are helping us a lot and are going to make a lunch, a wedding cake, and put together a little party in the church after their baptisms.  They are awesome!

My pensionista told me today that Flor (the lady we baptized with her girls) and Mari were talking and said that when I leave they are going to cry.  It made me feel good to hear that, even though I haven’t been here that long, I have made friendships here and met people that I will never forget and have had a huge impact in my life.

As missionaries we always offer our help and service to people, sometimes people accept, but when we ask them if we can help them by washing their clothes or cleaning the house they usually just laugh and say no don’t worry about it (they must know how I clean)  Well this week without thinking twice I offered to wash clothes for an older lady in the ward.  Well without thinking twice she said, of course, that would be great. We ended up going to her house and we really washed the clothes.  I can’t lie the first time I have done it by hand, it’s much harder, and to add to all of that we were washing the clothes of a 1 year old, and boy did that little sucker make a mess in his pants, and there a lot of pants. Unfortunately i seemed to grab all the clothes that had crap, I’m not sure if my companion set me up of what, but after about one hour of hard work, we finished! That’s about it for this week!  Things are still going good, just praying for Sergio and Milagros!  And enjoying the mission.  Love you all lots. Good bye

Elder Riggs

Letter from October 3

I have some great news!   Milagros and Sergio have accepted to be married and baptized the same day.  They even set their own date, for the 19th of October.  HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!   They are so excited too!  They have told us that this is what they have been searching for the past few years because they were having some difficulties in their relationship.  Well things are all going great now.  He went to work for a 14 days, but Milagros came to two sessions of conference she said that she felt like the scriptures were speaking to her.  She has felt the spirit so strong that whatever we teach she accepts. She has such a strong testimony.  Although her
future husband doesn’t have a testimony quite as strong he still has a very strong one and is accepting everything as well.  This is a miracle family!  I am so happy and feel so blessed to have been able to find them.  Continue to pray for them, we know there will be challenges but there is nothing that we can’t beat.

I love conference.  That might come as a surprise since when I was home I enjoyed doing other things or ended up asleep starting the first talk, but now I get so excited I couldn’t possible fall asleep.  I have gained a special love for conference here in the mission that is unexplainable.  I remember my buddy Chase once said that in his mission they were waiting for the conference with as much excitement as waiting for the Superbowl.  Those are true words.  My favorite speakers are the Prophet and Pres. Eyring.  He is the MAN!!!  I was literally a little sad when conference ended, my goal is right when I get back get tickets to go in live to one of the sessions in the upcoming year.  I would love that!!!

Last P-day I got to fish, and I don’t know if you heard but I’m kind of a big deal!  Let’s just say out of all the missionaries that fished, including the sisters, I was the last to catch a fish. But I did catch a fish, and let me also add that I tried some fried fish, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought, it’s not my favorite that is for sure, but I enjoyed it!  I am coming over my fears and eating things I thought I would never eat in all of my life. Hasta Luego!

Elder Riggs