Letter from September 17

I know that I am going home next week, but it still hasn´t hit me completely yet. I can´t believe that I will be seeing all of you in 9 days!  How awesome is that. I am also very, very excited to see you guys and spend time with you!  Thanks for all your support, letters, packages, emails and encouragement that you have given me over these two years!  I have learned so much and have grown so much in my testimony.
 

Saturday will be my last full day to proselyte, Sunday I will be heading to the office.  So I am down to my last days here in the mission.  I just gotta work hard to the end and enjoy these last days.  It’s hard to explain what I feel. I am so grateful for being born in our family, and for the opportunity to serve a full time mission.  The mission really has been the best two years for my life.  Although I know it will be hard to leave Peru, the mission, and all the wonderful people I have met. I will be happy because I know that I have worked hard and although I have made mistakes, I know that I have given my all. When I got to the mission I didn’t have a strong testimony of this church, but now I leave with a very strong, sure testimony that this is the only true church on the earth that will lead us to the salvation.  I know the scriptures are true as well, over my mission I have had the opportunity to read and study the ‘Book of Mormon’ 4 times.  Every time I read it I learn new lessons and principles that the lord wants to teach me.  As I study it with investigators in mind or the missionaries in the zone, I have found special things that the Lord has taught me to help them.  I know that the ‘Book of Mormon’ will help us greatly in our journey through this life and the trials that we can pass.  I have a strong testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that he was called as a prophet to restore the gospel. I also have felt a strong spirit hearing the prophet Thomas S. Monson, as well as the apostles and other general authorities.  I know that they have been called of God to help us know what God wants from us and to show us the way that we should live.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I have learned that without His atonement we would have no purpose in this life.  I am so grateful for what he did for me.  I know that every area that I have had, the Lord has put me there for a reason.  I have learned more in this last area, I have learned to be more humble and trust more in the Lord and His promises.  I know I will be finishing the mission, but I will continue progressing in the gospel.  Thanks for all of your great examples!  I love you all very much!  The next time we talk will be in person!  Get ready!  It will be awesome to see you all!!!!!!!

Elder Riggs

Letter from September 10

I apologize this week’s letter is going to be short, due to slow internet.  It has been a great week though!  On Saturday we had the baptism of Gisenia, it was great to hear the testimony that she shared.   She mentioned that when she was baptized she felt something so special in all of her body.  That has to be one of the best parts of the baptisms, when they share their testimonies and how they felt when they were baptized.  We had a few difficulties with a couple other investigators that were progressing but didn’t come to church yesterday, but I know they will come through and be there next week.  The news of the week is that Elder Mitchell left.  He went to another area to finish, so I am staying here with Elder Rodriguez, he is the man!  He is a really great guy, hard worker and we get along great.  One of my best companions that I have had in the mission!  Oh and the good news is that we are moving into a new apartment, so I will now have a bathroom to in shower and to use.  Can you believe that? I finally have a bathroom.  We should be moving a little bit later today.  I won’t smell now when I come home!  That’s good news for you guys! haha This past week we also had interviews with President Ardila, well I was the last missionary that was planned to have an interview When President finished all the interviews expect for mine and Elder Mitchell’s he realized that his plane would be leaving so he looked at us and said, well I will see you in 15 days for your interviews, it was pretty funny.  That’s about the news for this week.  See you soon!

Elder Riggs

Letter from September 3

I am stoked to fill you guys in with the wonderful news of the week. I was a little worried that I would be leaving Cerro this week and would go to another area because Elder Mitchell and I are finishing together.  Well instead of taking me out of this area we are in a trio.  I now have two companions, Elder Mitchell, and Elder Rodriguez, he is from Trujillo Peru!  He is a stud, it will be great to work with him here in Cerro.  We also had counsel this week in Lima, it was my last counsel.  I´m not going to lie it was weird to think that it will be my last one with President and the other missionaries.  I also got to hear Elder Christoferson, he was so far away that I didn’t get to see him very well or shake his hand but it was a blessing to hear him.  He is a pretty funny guy, very powerful, that is for sure.  I also saw Derek Leishman there, I haven’t seen him for about 22 months. We talked a little about how the majority of our friends are now married, how crazy is that.  He will be going home a couple weeks after me.

Here in Cerro this week we have had some changes as well, our ward was combined with another small ward here in Cerro because neither ward meets the standards to be a ward.  There were 100 people in sacrament meeting, which was a crazy sight to see.  I am used to about 45 people.  We will have a bigger area now, and a lot more members to work with. That should be great! This Saturday we have scheduled Gisenias baptism.  She came to church yesterday and is very excited to be baptized.  We also have a few others that we are hoping to baptized in the coming weeks. 

This past week we had trouble finding new investigators that progressed.  I was wondering what we could do to find the investigators that the Lord has prepared for us.  Well I began to search in the area book, to find many investigators that the missionaries have taught a while back.  I choose three investigators that I thought would be good to contact.  On Saturday we went looking for one of them.  Her name is Vilma, she has three kids that also listed to the missionaries about a year ago.  We talked with them and Sunday two of the 4 came to church and are very excited to learn more.  We have an appointment with them tonight and have the goal to put them with a baptismal date for the 22nd of this month.  It was a great experience for me because it taught me that if we want the Lord’s help we have to do everything that is in our power first.  Then he will do his part and bless us for our efforts.  I may not have much time left here in the mission field, but I will take advantage of every minute, because I know that this opportunity won’t come again.  The mission is like a race, when we get to the end of the race it’s time to sprint, and give it everything we have. Thanks for all your letters and support.

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 27

This week in Cerro has been absolutely amazing!  Jenny and Elizabeth were both baptized on Saturday!  I will tell you what, they are going to be some strong members in the church.  They continue to progress and read the Book of Mormon.  The best part of being a missionary is seeing the conversion of the people.  It is truly a blessing to see people change their lives in 3 to 4 weeks.  We actually had quite a few members at the baptism as well.  We had to tell all the members that the baptism started at 6 so that they would all be there at 7.  Luckily we started at about 7:05 pm.  Jose, Hector’s nephew never showed up this week.  We thought he would make it back to attend church and be baptized on Sunday, but he stayed in the village taking care of the animals.  The good news is that Hector received the priesthood yesterday. Now that we will be entering into September, we have 3 people with a baptismal date.  Gisenia, has a date for the 8th of Sep.  We are currently teaching her and her mom, they are both progressing well, but the problem is that the mom, (Rosa) isn´t married yet.  The bad news is that her husband in a tough guy, he doesn’t want to listen to us, but I know with time he will open up his heart, when he begins to see the change in his wife and daughter.  The other two we have with a baptismal date are Alexandra and Christian.

We were so blessed yesterday because they just showed up to the chapel wanting to learn about the church.  I couldn´t believe my eyes when we taught them after church and they accepted to be baptized for the 15th.  When we do our part, the Lord always comes through.  I honestly think this is the best area that I have had in my entire mission.  All of my areas have been great, but this area is where I have seen so many miracles and I have progressed so much as a missionary and as a leader.  I know without a doubt in my mind why the Lord sent me here to Cerro de Pasco and I know why He sent me here to Peru.  There are people here that the Lord specifically prepared for my companions and me. In other news we continue to work hard with the less actives, our pensionista (cook) has been less active this past month so we talked with her and helped her to see the importance of always being in the church on Sunday. It’s been great to work with the less active members because the majority had a testimony, we just have to help them to find that testimony again and strengthen it.  It is so important that we, as members, work with the less actives to strengthen them.

I also wanted to mention, and I am stoked beyond belief, that Elder Christoferson, one of the 12 apostles is going to be in Lima on Friday.  All the zones in Lima and the Zone leaders in Province have the blessing to meet him and listen to him.  I will meet an apostle this week.  WOW!!  That should be great!  Those guys are so inspired and such great examples.  Talk to you soon!

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 20

I have some great news, the transfers came and went and I am still here in Cerro.  I was a little worried that President might be moving me since Elder Mitchell and I finish our missions at the same time.  I mentioned Jenny and Elizabeth last week.  Well they are progressing wonderfully.  Their baptismal date is for this Saturday.  They both attended church yesterday as well as a fireside in the church.   They continue to read the Book of Mormon and I feel that there won’t be any problem this week in them getting baptized. They are going to be very strong members.  You can usually tell if someone is going to be a strong member by how they complete their Book of Mormon reading.  

Also we are planning the Jose´s baptism this coming Sunday. He has to attend 1 more time before he can be baptized so we are planning for Sunday afternoon after church. He will be arriving tomorrow from his village and will be here for a while.  He is Hector’s nephew as I mentioned last week, but one of them always has to be in the village to take care of the animals, so when he comes Hector goes.  Hector should be receiving the priesthood in about 2 weeks.  He is progressing well, the best part is that he is faithfully paying his tithing, I think that and keeping the Sabbath day are the hardest commandments for the new converts to keep, but he is doing a great job and staying strong.  We also have Elsa, she is a little bit tougher.  She is progressing, but slowly. She has a hard time accepting being baptized but I think here in a couple weeks she will feel the need and make the decision.

A couple of weeks ago with the Stake Presidency we planned an activity to excite the members and receive a bunch of references.  Well it was planned for this past Thursday.  Every ward was in charge of a little activity. There was a bunch of different rooms with different activities like dancing, a movie theater, a store, a room with missionaries teaching, and many others.  Well we were hoping to have around 100 to 200 people show up.  I was a little nervous because the last activity we had in the ward didn’t go so well, about 8 people showed up.  Well to my surprise around 500 people showed up, and to enter the members had to write down a reference.  It was the best activity! We had quite a few investigators there which was great. In the end, the stake President shared a message about the Plan of Salvation.  It went really well. Love you guys!!

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 13

Here in Cerro it has been another great week!  In church yesterday we were able to have a couple of investigators, Jenny, and Elsa.  Jenny is the lady that attended last week with her daughter.  She accepted a date to be baptized the 25th of this month with her daughter.  They are progressing nicely.  Something very special that I have seen throughout my mission and I continue to see is the power that the ‘Book of Mormon’ has.  When we begin to teach people, they always have a lot of doubts and challenges, but when they take the time to read the Book of Mormon that we leave them, they almost always gain a testimony and progress quickly.  I have seen that in Jenny.  When we first started teaching her she didn’t want to accept very quickly what we were teaching.  She mentioned that she was very catholic and that she truly believed that the Catholic church was the true church, because it was the first church here in Peru.  It was a little difficult to overcome her doubts, but when she began to read the Book of Mormon, all that changed.  Now she is very receptive to our teaching and is progressing towards baptism.  She has only read 4 chapters and it has completely changed her.  I have a true testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know if we read it, it will have the same power in our lives, I have seen it throughout my mission.  We just need to continue preparing them for the 25th, her and her daughter.  Also Elsa came to church for the second time, she is also progressing nicely, but hasn´t been reading as consistently, and it is very obvious.  We plan on helping her with that need so that everything turns out well with her.  She really enjoys the church, but needs to understand the importance of reading. Jose, left Cerro de Pasco, so we will see with him.  He is Hector’s nephew, he has the desire, the only problem is that he sometimes has to go to his village to work.  I will keep you posted on him. 

Tomorrow are changes.  I don’t know what is going to happen, but I hope that I stay here.  I love this area.  It is the best!  In other news, the conference with President in Lima was great!  It was weird because the majority of my good buddies that were usually there have all finished their missions, but it was still a great time.  President is a powerful man! I love that guy! He mostly talked to us about the importance of being obedient and giving our time to the Lord in these two years.  It was a great conference. I love you guys a bunch and hope everything is going great!!

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 6

We are about to head off to Lima for council with the President.  I can´t believe it’s already the beginning of another month.  I got a new companion this past week, Elder Mitchell. Believe it or not I am with another North American.  President sure likes to put me with North Americans, because once again there is only one North American companionship in the entire mission and it’s us!  Elder Mitchell is from California, he is an awesome kid!  The bad news is that we have been on the mission the same amount of time, so that makes it possible that I leave Cerro in a few weeks. Let’s hope not though.  I am loving it here!  Yesterday we had great success in sacrament meeting. We ended up having 6 people there.  They all have desire to progress as well.  Only one of them has a baptismal date.  His name is Jose, he is Hectors nephew.  He accepted to be baptized this coming Sunday.  The other investigators that came, came for the first time.  We are teaching a lady named Jenny, she has a daughter named Elizabeth. They haven´t accepted a baptismal date yet, but that is our goal for this week.  Another one is Elsa, she is awesome, she is a reference from a member.  She hasn´t accepted either yet, but we will be working on that this week.  I can´t lie the work is as good as it has ever been.  It’s a great blessing.

I wanted to mention that I met Elder Norris´s parents.  They are going to be in Peru for 2 weeks and passed by Cerro, they are great people!  His dad served in Puerto Rico many years ago, but spoke pretty decent Spanish still.  His mom spoke in English and Elder Norris translated when we were all together in the Pension.  It was so weird to see two American parents.  It has been quite a while since I have seen that. I will be seeing them more though in upcoming track meets. It was also very strange listening to English straight from the states.  I spoke horrible English.  I couldn’t remember the work altitude. Good times!  Sorry I’m running out of time, keep up the great work and we will talk soon!

Elder Riggs

Letter from July 30

Here in Cerro things are great!  I mentioned last week that we had the goal to baptize weekly here in Cerro.  Last Saturday we fasted asking the Lord to help us baptize someone this past weekend.  We had a couple people that were about ready, but they hadn´t made the decision to be baptized yet.  The great news is that during the week we finished Jordan’s preparation and he was baptized on Saturday.  He progressed quickly and was very excited to be baptized.  The best news is that his mom was there at his baptism as well as sacrament meeting the following day.  As I mentioned last week, Jordan´s dad (Isaac) has been a member for many years, but a few years ago he went completely inactive.  Well he is now coming back strong, as well as his son Jordan.  The mom, Susy met with us for the first time yesterday.  It was a very spiritual lesson.  Her dad passed away not too long ago, she mentioned that she has been struggling quite a bit with that.  We explained to her a little bit of the plan of salvation as watched the video ”Together Forever”, which talks about how families can be together forever.  The video really got to her, and she began to cry.  After the video we testified about the plan that God has for our families.  It really is a great plan.  She said that when she felt without a doubt that it was true, she would be baptized.  They aren´t married, but I’m sure that won’t be a huge problem, especially since the bishop wants to help them get married. It’s been a true blessing to see the power of fasting and the progress that Isaac´s family is making.  We finished the month strong here with Elder Norris!  Speaking of, he is heading to Lima tomorrow morning. This is his last day here in the mission field. I have learned a bunch from him and we have enjoyed this time together.  A few members want to invite us to like chicken and pizza since he is heading off tomorrow. I can´t complain.  It will be a little hard to see him leave though, because he has been not only a companion, but a great friend.  As for our area, we have some great people we are teaching. Take care!

Elder Riggs

Letter from July 23

We were so blessed and were able to see 2 baptisms this week.  On Tuesday when we went to visit Michelle, Rubens sister, she told us that she wanted to change her baptismal date for the 22nd instead of the 28th, because she felt prepared to be baptized.  That was great news for us. So this past weekend we baptized Michelle and Judith, which is Hector’s niece.  It was awesome!  Michelle´s family is returning strong to the church.  They have now attended 3 Sundays in a row!  We have been so blessed in our area and we still have a goal to have a baptism weekly.  It’s going to get a little harder, but I know with hard work and the help of the Lord we can do it.  This coming weekend we have Jordan with a baptismal date. We reactivated his dad and they have been coming for 4 weeks straight. His dads name is Isaac, he is a high priest but made some bad decisions and for that reason went away from the church.  He lives with his girlfriend and his son.  The goal is to get them married, and get both the mom and the son baptized, because that is a big reason why he went inactive. We are hoping that this weekend he will be baptized.

This week we also had interviews here in Cerro with President Ardila. They were great! After the interviews President and his wife had a little meeting with Elder Norris and me where we talked about the zone.  As I mentioned before, Cerro de Pasco is the weakest stake in the mission, President said that every missionary that comes here either leaves discouraged and hating Cerro, or they leave very strengthened and loving Cerro.  He said that he knew it was hard, but that the Lord wanted us to be here because we have to humble ourselves before the Lord and rely more on him.  It truly is a blessing to be in areas that are a little harder because I have personally seen my growth in those areas.  I love Cerro and I’m stoked to finish my mission here!  As for my companion, this is his last week.  We are just hoping and praying that he can finish his last week with a baptism. He has been an awesome companion and a great example to me.

Well that’s about it for this week.  Today we will be making Mexican tacos!!!! I have only had tacos once in my whole mission, I am stoked!!!!  I love you all. Keep up the good work.

Elder Riggs

Letter from July 16

As you know I was in Tarma last Monday when I wrote you getting ready to head to Lima.  After emailing you, we went to buy some souvenirs.  We got a call from the other missionaries telling us the bus was there that we needed to catch to get to Lima.  We quickly headed to the bus station.  When we arrived I realized that I had forgotten my Book of Mormon (on the mission we always have to have the Book of Mormon). We asked the bus driver how long it would be before he left.  He said 5 minutes.  We ran a few blocks, found the book, Elder Norris also bought another souvenirs and we took off sprinting for the bus station.  While we were running we received a call from the missionaries that were on the bus telling us that the bus had left the station and was on its way.  About 20 seconds later we arrived to the bus station, looked down the street in the opposite direction and saw the bus about 3 blocks away.  We were already tired, but the only thing we could do was run.  We took off again, but this time breathing pretty heavy, because it’s not too easy to run with a backpack and stuff in your hands.  It was definitely an experience seeing the bus slowly advancing as we were just dying trying to keep up.  At last we saw the bus come to a stop where it was waiting to make a turn. We picked up the pace just hoping to catch it before it made the turn. Happily we made it to the bus right as it was making the turn.  I pounded on the window of the bus driver as he was making the turn.  He looked at me a little confused, but pulled over and opened the doors. We stepped on like we had just finished a marathon, but we were pretty stoked for catching the bus.  Well after the bus continued for a couple blocks more, it made a stop where people got on for a time period of about five minutes.  In other words, I don’t know if the running was necessary haha!

This week we baptized Ruben.  He made the decision to be baptized and his whole family is now coming back to church.  We have been working a lot with inactive members, one of the families that we have activated or we are in the process of activating is Rubens family. They are a family of 7 that have been inactive for quite some time. The good news is that the whole family came to church for the second week in a row and they were all in Rubens baptism except for his older sister.  Activating hasn´t always been my favorite thing to do as a missionary, but I am really starting to enjoy it, because we have seen some great success and we are seeing some baptisms from it. We have Judith with a baptismal date for this Saturday, she is the Hectors niece. She is 17 and is excited to be baptized this coming weekend.

I wanted to let you know out of about 200 missionaries in the mission, Elder Norris and I are the only Americans together.  I have to say it is pretty cool. He will be finishing his mission here in about 2 weeks, can you believe that? Well that’s about it for this week. Things are going great here!  I think with more and more experience and more and more time the mission gets better.  Every day that goes by I seem to enjoy it more.  I hope you are all doing well. Take care!

Elder Riggs

Letter from July 9

My birthday was awesome. My pensionista made us good food and surprised me with a little party and a big cake!  We enjoyed it with their family as well as with another family of members. The best gift that I received though happened in the afternoon.  Elder Norris and I were proseliting and it seemed like all of our appointments were falling through.  We started to knock a few doors with the hopes of finding someone. If you remember Hector, he is the guy that was going to be baptized about 3 weeks ago, but left the city the day before his baptism without informing us.  For the past three weeks we haven`t been able to call him because he has been in a village where there isn`t any service.  Well we passed by his house hoping that he was home and to our surprise he was!!  He invited us in to the house and we began to talk with him. He apologized for leaving without telling us and said that there was an emergency in the family. Later in the conversation we asked him how he felt about being baptized and he asked us if he could be baptized the following day.  The next day Hector was baptized!! It was such a huge blessing to be able to receive such a great gift like that on my birthday.

In other news, I am currently in Tarma.  Last night we travelled to La Oroya to baptize Sebastian.  I can honestly say that yesterday was the best day in my entire mission!  I am sure of that!  We arrive at the chapel in Marcavalle excited to see the family of Dina and Abraham. To my surprise there was a ton of members there!  They had all come to the baptism of Sebastian and some of them heard that I was going to go to baptize him.  I went around the room shaking everyone’s hand with a smile on my face that only a kid in a candy store would have.  I saw so many of the members that I had worked with for months. I got to baptized him and let’s just say that it was a full house.  There were about 60 people there, which is more than I have seen at any baptism in my entire mission.  At the end of the program Dina and Samira were crying with tears of joy!  I got pictures with the members afterwards and got to speak with most of them for a few minutes. There is not a better feeling in the world than going back to one of your areas to see the members that you worked with and the people that you baptized strong in the gospel.  It was even better that they had all come out to see the baptism and how they all somehow remembered me and what we did there.  Afterwards we headed to Dina and Abrahams house where they surprised me with a birthday cake and a present!  I can`t believe they even remembered when my birthday was. We talked for a while and I heard so much good news about them. They repeatedly asked me if I would be coming back for their sealing.  So I might be going a few months after I get home!

Today we are headed to Lima for Conference with President!  Which means a great conference, excellent American food, long bus rides, and a jungle workout Wednesday morning with the boys.  I`m pretty stoked!  I think we have the best mission president in the world.  Most mission Presidents wouldn`t give permission to a missionary to go back to their old area to baptize someone.  After giving me permission to do it, he mentioned that it would be an experience that I would remember always!  Boy was he right!!  I hope you guys are all doing well!!  Thank you so much for the package!  I love you all.

Elder Riggs

Letter from July 2

This week has been a wonderful week here in Cerro.  We have been blessed so much this week in finding new investigators and getting them to church.  These past 3 weeks we have found 35 new investigators, which is good, but it seemed like none of them were progressing.  This week everything started to come together and we now have 2 families that we are teaching and a few individuals as well. It was a testimony builder for me to know that if we continue to work through the challenges and especially when we aren´t seeing success, the Lord will always come through in the end.  Our goal is to set most of them with a baptismal date for this month.  One of the families that we found was truly a miracle.  Our Sunday schedule has changed and we now attend church at 2 in the afternoon. Yesterday when we got done studying, we went to an appointment that we had.  Well, the appointment fell through, so we began to knock some doors.  We knocked on a door and an 18 year old came out.  We began to talk with him and he invited us in.  After teaching him a little bit, his little brother came down and began to listen to us as well.  When we were finishing the lesson the parents got home.  We talked to them for just a minute.  As we left we invited Jon, the 18 year and his brother to church. When we returned to pick them up at about 1:50, the mom came out and had that look on her face that said, ¨you’re not taking my kids to church.¨ We talked with her for a minute and then invited her to join us as well. To my surprise she agreed, but said that she would come late because her family was eating lunch.  With Elder Norris we went to the Chapel with the hope that they would arrive.  The good news is that they did!  It was awesome to see, especially because we had first met them a few hours earlier.  Dina, the mother, said in one of the classes that she has been praying to know the path that she should follow, then she continued by saying that she believed that being in church yesterday was an answer to her prayers.  We also had 3 other investigators in church, it’s the most we have had in my time here in Cerro.  We can say that with the help of the Lord we are making progress!

Things are going great with Elder Norris as well!  It looks like we are going to be staying together another change, which will be his last change.  On Saturday we also taught a little bit of English to some people that want to be English teachers.  Most of them speak very well.  I do have to tell you a pretty funny story though. They would come up to the front with a word, then they would have to put a sentence together in English using the word in past tense.  Well one of the guys used the word cost.  Well in past tense he used the same word, cost.  When he finished I went to correct him, because that was our job, and told him that cost in past tense was costed.  Then I realized that I was wrong.  I felt like an idiot, ha I never did too well in English class.

This coming Sunday I will be traveling to La Oroya to baptized Sebastian, then afterwards we will be heading to Lima for the monthly council with President.  I will let you know how it goes. Talk to you soon.

Elder Riggs

Letter from June 25

Here in Cerro de Pasco things are going good!  I talked with President over the phone today and it looks like I will be finishing my mission here in Cerro.  He didn’t come out and say that I would be finishing here, but he did same some things that gave me hints. The great news is that he gave me permission to go to La Oroya to baptize Sabastian, the son of Abraham and Dina!  How cool is that!  President Ardila is the man!!  I will be going in two weeks before we head to Lima for the monthly conference.

As I mentioned last week we have been teaching a man named Hector, he had a baptismal date for this past Saturday.  He was the one that asked at first when he could be baptized.  Thursday night after we taught him we talked about visiting him the next day.  When we arrived Friday, he wasn´t there.  We didn’t think anything about it until that night when he still hadn´t returned home.  We still haven´t found him and his cell phone is shut off.  He has land in a village that is about an hour and a half from here, so we believe that he is there. It was a little hard because he was so excited to be baptized this past weekend.  We are hoping that he returns so that we can be in contact with him this week.  I will keep you posted.

In the zone we are struggling a little bit.  I know we have been working hard to help the missionaries to have success, as well as in our area, but we haven’t been seeing too much.  The hard part is knowing that we are working hard, but not seeing results.  I have learned throughout my mission though that I learn more when I am not having as much success.  I know that I am learning a lot right now about how to be a better missionary to be able to see more results.

Funny story… the clothes here in Cerro don’t dry very quickly, and the water is freezing so it sucks to wash clothes by hand.  I know we have a member that washes our clothes, but I didn´t have any clean socks so I wanted to wash them by hand and then hang them up to dry real quick.  Well I put them in a big jar with water and some shampoo, because there wasn´t any detergent at the time. I had been pretty busy and I had postponed to clean them for about a week.  Word of advice, don’t every leave socks in cold water for a week.  It’s not a good idea.  They smelled worse than my breath does when I eat Applebee’s nachos.  I´m not even kidding you, my companion was dying.  Well I rinsed them out and hung them out to dry before washing them again. I guess you could say that I learned my lesson! ha Take care and I hope that all is well!

Elder Riggs

Letter from June 18

This past we had a baptism!  Erika was baptized and confirmed this weekend and as always it was a great experience to witness her baptism.  I don’t think I have told you, but her parents passed away many years ago when she was just a little baby in an accident.  She lives in a village a little outside of Cerro de Pasco with her brothers and sisters and her uncle.  She has been attending church and seminary for 4 weeks straight without missing a single day!  Her uncle wants to be baptized as well, so we are hoping that everything goes well so that he can be baptized this coming weekend.  He has all the desire to do it. We just want to make sure that he is well prepared, because there are a lot of inactive members here.  It’s one of the big challenges in Perú.  I also had a one of the happiest experiences of my entire mission this week. We were here in Cerro de Pasco at a medicine store, (because one of the missionaries was a little sick). As we were standing there I heard someone behind me say my name.  As I turned around I saw Samira, the girl that we baptized with Elder Conde in La Oroya.  You probably remember the family of Abraham, Dina, Catherine, Samira, and Sebastian, the ones that were married and baptized in December.  Well it was so great to see her, because it has been 6 months since they have been baptized.  We talked for a few minutes and she mentioned something that made me so happy.  She told me that since the day that I had left their family hasn’t missed a single day of church.  They have been completely faithful.  Abraham is preparing to receive the Melkesidek priesthood and Sebastian is now 8 years old. She said that their family still hasn’t baptized him because they want me to go to La Oroya to baptize him.  The good news is that it may be possible now because Cerro de Pasco is only a few hours from La Oroya. I will be talking with the President today to see if it will be possible.  During the conversation she also mentioned that they are preparing to be sealed in the temple and this next month they are planning on going to the temple again to do baptisms for the dead.  As a missionary that has to be the best thing that I can hear in the mission.  As I told you, a lot of people go inactive here, because the church isn´t quite as strong here as it is where we live, so as a missionary that is one of my biggest worries.  It really helped me to see that what we are doing as missionaries can have a huge affect on other people, and on their generations.

In other news I gave a talk in church yesterday. There were about 50 people there.  I can say that I am getting more comfortable up there giving talks, but maybe it was because the number of people was small.  The good news is that we are starting to excite the members more and they are starting to work more with us which is great!  I know we will be seeing more results with their help.  I love you all very much and appreciate your support.  Keep up the good work!

Elder Riggs

Letter from June 12

I am very excited to write you and let you know what’s going on here in Cerro de Pasco. Especially since last week the computer deleted the email I was going to send you. As for this past week, it has been great.  We have been in Huanuco yesterday and today for multi-zone conference.  The conference was awesome.  There were three zones there which is about 50 missionaries and President Ardila and his wife. I was asked to direct the conference.  I usually don’t get nervous in front of missionaries, but there were a lot.  Everything went great though.  It was a great learning experience.  

As far as the zone goes here in Cerro, things are improving.  I told you that a few weeks ago some of the missionaries were a little discouraged and didn’t have the desire to give everything.  With Elder Norris we have been working so hard to lift the zone and be an example.  Although we are still struggling with having baptisms we have seen a ton of improvement and it finally looks like all the missionaries are excited.  We are going to keep working so that we can see the fruits of our labors in these next couple weeks.  I have gained a testimony that the Lord knows where we are going to serve, and why.  He also knows who needs to be our companion.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Elder Norris asked President if we could be together as companions, and as you all know he put us together.  Well I received a letter from President this week telling me that he knew that we are friends, but that isn´t why he put us together.  He said that it wasn´t because Elder Norris asked either.  He said that the Lord wanted us to be together and that it was something that the President truly felt.  I am loving it, I am learning a lot. This week we have a baptism planned. The investigators name is Erica.  She is awesome! She is very faithful and hasn’t missed seminary or church for 3 weeks straight.

In other news it snowed a little bit this past week in Cerro.  I was so excited to see snow that I took pictures.  I can honestly say that I miss the snow; I haven’t seen in for more than 2 years. Also this week we contacted a lady and when we began to teach her she mentioned to us that she had been praying all that day since 5 in the morning that the Lord would send angels to her house and help her to know what it is that He wanted her to do.  Well we arrived at about 7:30 and she told us that she had been praying and crying all day to know what to do.  She told us with tears in her eyes, and the spirit was so strong.  We testified that the Lord had sent us and that he wanted her to be baptized into His church to begin a new life and to be able to return to live with Him.  I have a testimony that when we work hard and do what the Lord wants, He blesses us.  I will keep you updated on the lady named Fanny.

Elder Riggs

Letter from May 28

Another week has come and gone and I have some good news, some not so good news and some crazy news. I will be starting out with the not so good news.  As you all know this past week we had changes, and I have been moved to a new area.  I found out that Marleni will be getting married this week, but the bad news is that I will not be able to attend the wedding.  I do have some great memories in Huanuco so I can´t complain.  I am now in a city called Cerro de Pasco. It’s cold, but I´m used to cold weather because as you know I grew up in Utah, but it is colder here than in La Aroyo.  It is also known as the highest city in the entire world.  Can you believe that? It makes it a little bit harder on the body, and I definitely get tired a lot faster.  The good news is that I adjusted really quickly and I feel great here.  Although some of the missionaries that have come here have gotten sick and one had to go to the clinic.  I really do enjoy it here though.  I have to be quite bundled up. Oh, and how could I forget the best news, we don’t have a bathroom where we live, which means we don’t have a shower.  We use a pitcher that heats up a little bit of water and we do the best we can to clean ourselves up.  Haha it’s pretty funny to me.

Now for the great and crazy news.  You will never in a million years guess who my companion is.  I’m sure you won’t believe me, but my companion is Elder Norris.  As you know I was with him for two weeks in La Oroya, and I guess President liked having us together, because we are together as companions again.  This time in the highest city in the world!  He mentioned to me that about a month ago he wrote the president saying that he would like to be with me again because he finishes in August and will be getting right back into running, so we wants to have a companion that will run with him some mornings. Well we have gone out running and after about 5 minutes we are pretty tired, it sure doesn´t take long to get a good exercise in here, but that’s always good, because there is never a lot of time.

The ward here is great.  We are in one of the weaker stakes in the mission, but I’m excited because it means we have a lot more work to do as missionaries so that the stake can grow and improve.  In our ward about 40 to 45 people attend.  It’s not a lot, but the few members that we have are great.  We had a few investigators in the sacrament meeting so that was good.  My pensionista is sister Nancy, she lives with her husband, Jesus and her two kids.  They are awesome!  Nancy doesn’t cook quite like Clelia, definitely not a health nut.  I had french fries today for breakfast.  That’s what I’m talking about!    We also have a goal to increase the attendance to about 70 or 80 before we leave.  I really hope I finish my mission here so that we are able to do it. Where the Lord wants me is where I will be. That’s about it for this week, I’m getting to know better the investigators that we are teaching so I will fill you in more about them next week.  

Elder Riggs

Letter from May 21

It has been a great week!  Yesterday there were some pretty big challenges.  As I mentioned we are teaching a lady named Marleni, her husband is a member that was inactive for quite some time.  He returned to the church and this time with his wife and kids.  Their wedding date is for this Friday.  We have all the papers and documents ready to turn in before Wednesday so they can be married this week.  They are attending church every week and are very excited to get married and the following day she will be baptized.  Yesterday they came to church and everything was going great…until church ended and we went outside.  They came to church in a motorcar.  I’m sure you guys have seen a picture of what they are like, I have sent a few home.  Well when we went outside the motorcar wasn’t there.  The majority of the people here travel in taxis and motorcars, hardly anyone has their own car.  So there were only two cars in the parking lot that is fenced in. Their car had been stolen.  Can you believe that? No one saw the people that stole it. They were very worried and Marleni started to cry.  It was sad. They left church with some family members who are also members to look for the car.  I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m still in shock that something like that could happen.  The challenges that some of the investigators face before their baptisms are big.  I sometimes ask myself why God permits challenges to happen before being baptized, but as it says in the scriptures he does everything for our benefit and progress.  We have an appointment with them today.  We are going to try and comfort them and help them understand that they need to continue with the decision that they have made and everything will work out in the end.  It’s going to be hard though, because the husband, (Jesus) works with that car to provide for his family.  I have learned that when we want to do something good, Satan is always there putting up barriers to stop us, but if we overcome them we are always much stronger in the end.  Keep Marleni and Jesus in your prayers this week.  It will be appreciated.

Also this week we visited a lady named Rosario.  She is awesome and willing to accept the gospel.  Well when we got there she started to speak to me in English. She speaks better English than I do.  That was very weird for me, but in the first five minutes we only talked in English and my companion didn’t understand what was going on.  It was pretty funny.  Then we taught her in Spanish.  She is awesome and I believe she will be baptized this coming week. Gotta go.

Elder Riggs

Letter from May 14

Well I told you about the majority of what was going on here yesterday.  I would like to tell you about a little experience we had knocking doors on Saturday.  While we were knocking on a door a guy opened his window across the street and greeted us.  We asked his if he had seen his neighbors in their home. He responded and left from the window.  We felt like we should talk to him.  Joking around with my companion, I told him that the guy was a future Bishop.  Well we knocked on the window and waited.  No one came out so we knocked again.  Finally, the man came to the window and began to talk with us.  He was a very nice man and very happy to see us.  We set up an appointment with him for tomorrow and he said that he would love us to come.  Afterwards we left and went are the corner to continue knocking doors.   Well after we had contacted someone my companion told me to look down the street.  When I looked I saw a man off in the distance that was calling us and telling us to come.  As we got closer we realized that it was the same guy that we had just contacted, which was a little weird but at the same time interesting because I don’t think a contact has ever called me to come back.  As we arrived he asked us if we could come in.  We entered and he gave us some Inca Cola to drink.  He was there with his family, his wife and three kids. By the way he is married!!  After talking with him for a moment he said that he would glad to hear us Tuesday.  We both left a little surprised and happy!  We will have to see how it goes but I think he is one of the chosen.  I sure hope so!  I will let you know how it goes!  Well that’s about it.  I love you guys and hope you all have a great week!  Take it easy and we will talk soon!

Elder Riggs

Letter from May 7

We are teaching a guy named Christian, he is 20 years old and has desire to learn about the church. Well after our first lesson, we invited him to pray that night and ask if this is the true church.  In our 2nd lesson with him, he told us that he had read and prayed a few times, but hadn´t received an answer.  We continued by explaining to him again how God answers prayers and what we need to have so that he will answer our prayers.  We taught him a little about the Book of Mormon and at the end of the lesson he offered the prayer.  In his prayer he explained that he wanted to know if the things that we had taught him were true, at the end of his prayer he had a big smile on his face and said that he felt cool.  Those were his words.  As we were leaving he said that he felt something special and knew that God had answered his prayer.  It was a great experience to know that our job as missionaries is a lot easier when we invite the investigators to exercise faith and ask God.  The only problem with Christian now is Sundays.  This Sunday when we went to pick him up he wasn´t there, apparently he decided to play soccer instead of go to church.  Hay kurumba!  You probably know what we will be teaching him next lesson! I also have some wonderful news!  Evelin was baptized on Saturday!!! That’s what I’m talking about!!!  She is going to be a great member. She is already preparing herself to be sealed in the temple next year. She is going to go to the temple the first week of June with her husband and the ward!  I’m pretty excited about it.

This week I received a phone call from one of the assistants, Elder Avalos, my companion in Chosica.  He told me that the Branch President from La Oroya was in Lima and passed by the mission office. He told Elder Avalos that the Mantari Tacza Family were going to be baptizing their son this week because he turned 8.  You probably remember them, they were the family of 5 that got married and baptized, the strongest converts that I have seen in my mission. Well they asked if Elder Conde or I could travel to La Oroya to baptize their son.  How cool is that?  Although I couldn´t go, because I’m a long way from La Oroya, it felt pretty good knowing that they are very strong in the church.

I also wanted to let you know I ate fish this past week, believe it or not.  It was very fried so it hid the fishy taste, but now I can say that I can eat just about everything.  That’s one thing the mission has taught me, to eat whatever is on the plate, and to force yourself to eat when you’re full haha!  I would say those are some of the great qualities to prepare me for the All-you-can-eat buffets!  Well that’s about it for this week.  Thanks for all your support and letters.  I love you guys! Talk to you soon!!

Elder Riggs

Letter from May 2

We had conference this week here in Lima. Let me just start by telling you that it was the best conference that I have had in my mission.  The training from President Ardila was awesome.  He explained the importance of studying, meditating and applying the scriptures.  We as missionaries and members need to not only read the scriptures, but try to understand them and learn the teachings that they give us.  He also talked about the importance of being a good example for other missionaries.  He explained that the easiest way to teach someone is by being an example.  I think that has been one of the greatest lessons I am learning here in the mission. Well the training ended at about 4 yesterday and we celebrated.  Last month we baptized 250 in the mission, which is the highest number of baptisms that we have had in the mission for a very long time.  We usually baptize about 160 to 180.  The President was very happy and  took us to a water park.  It was a little different than a Raging Waters water park, it was like water fountains and waters shows and things like that.  It was awesome, we were there for like 3 hours and we all had a great time.  There were so many people there too, it was a little different, but I definitely loved it. I got some good pictures too!  Tonight our bus leaves back to Huanuco.  I’m excited to get back to our area working.  I don’t enjoy traveling at nights though.

I have some great news, this past week Evelin accepted a baptismal date.  She passed her interview and is excited to be baptized this Saturday!  She is already very excited about going to the temple and being sealed.  We are also teaching a kid named Christian, he is 19 years old and is a reference of a member. We are slowing working with all of his family and we have baptized 2 of his cousins, he accepted to be baptized this month and could be a future missionary!  We are also working with a few couples that aren´t married, but I think from the two that we are working with, we will see a marriage this month.  One of the lady’s is named Marleni, her husband was baptized as a kid, but left the church. However, now he wants to return and his wife wants to be baptized. The only challenge will be the wedding, but I know the Lord will help.  The other lady’s name is Violeta,  She has been attending for quite some time, but she isn´t married and her husband travels a lot.  She wants to be baptized though and although her husband hasn´t attended church, she says that he wants to get married as well.  We will see how things go.  They are the ones that are progressing a lot and I’m hoping they will be baptized this month. Once again I am LOVING my area in Huanuco. I couldn’t ask for a better area.  The people are so great when we contact them and teach them. That’s about it for this week.  Love you all!

Elder Riggs

Letter from April 23

This has been a great week.  We had interviews with President Ardila.  I also got the chance to meet one of the Seventy.  His name is Elder Vaiejo, he is from Ecuador.  He came here because there was a Stake Conference that he was speaking at.  Man, are those guys inspired or what?  It’s always a pleasure to hear them and feel their spirit.  I can’t imagine meeting the Prophet; that would be sweet!

Other news of the week, we had the baptisms of Geyman and Heidi.  They are going to be such powerful members.  I am sure of it!  The best part was Heidi’s testimony, she mentioned that when we leave the area that she might not see us again in this life, but that she would see us in the Kingdom of God, and that she was very thankful for the gospel that was brought into her life.  It helped me to see the importance of the work that we are doing.  We really don’t know what will happen with the people we teach or where they will get to, I´m just grateful for the chance to be a missionary and for the people the Lord puts in out path.  Now it’s time to keep working and bringing others into this gospel.  We are hoping to have the baptism of Evelin this week. I know I say that just about every week, but she traveled last week and we didn´t have the chance to talk with her. Keep her in your prayers and I know she will be baptized.  Thanks for your prayers and all your support.

I probably mentioned this last week, but my companion is awesome!  I seriously get along so well with him.  He has become one of my greatest friends.  One of the greatest blessings in the mission is a great companion that loves to work, obey and have fun!  There is nothing better.  My pensionista is great as well, she is turning into an even bigger health nut, but I love it.  I’m practically eating like a vegetarian.  Believe it or not! well that’s about it for this week.  I love you all and wish you a great week!  Take it easy!

Elder Riggs

Letter from April 16

I completely forgot that it was Easter, and that is not even a joke, ha that’s what happens in the mission sometimes.  I had one of the best weeks ever this past week.  I now have a new companion and he is the MAN of men!  His name is Elder Zambrano, he is from Ecuador, he is one of the most obedient, hardest working missionaries I have seen.  He has been in the mission for 14 months and was recently called as a zone leader.  This week I have seriously learned so much from him and I know I will continue to learn. The best is that we get along so well.  He loves to play soccer and run.  He played one step down from professional in Ecuador, so he plays very well. We have played together before in other zones.   

This week in the ward that I’m serving in, a missionary finished his mission and returned home.  He is a great help to us and has already provided us with many references.  I would like to share with you the experience of one of them.  He introduced us to his cousin Geyman, who is 18 years old and excited to listen.  In the first visit he accepted to be baptized this coming Wednesday! After the visit we arranged another appointment to teach him again. Well when we returned to our surprise he was there with a friend who he had invited to listen to us as well, her name is Heidi.  It was a great lesson and the spirit was definitely present.  In the end she was a still a little confused about all the churches today on the earth and she said she didn’t feel sure if this was the true church or not.  She didn’t want to accept to be baptized until she felt sure.  At the end of the lesson we invited her to offer the prayer and to ask God if what we shared was true.  We all kneeled as she said the prayer.  At the end of her prayer there were tears in her eyes as she went to sit in her chair.  We asked her how she felt and she answered by explaining that she her doubts were gone and that she knew this was the true church here on earth.  She now has a baptismal date for next week.  It was such a great experience to see the spirit working and to see that God answered her prayers. It showed me that if we have sufficient faith, God will answer our prayers and the prayers of our investigators.  Yesterday we also had a great experience with Luzmila, she has a baptismal date for this Sunday. When we arrived at her house after church she was in doubt and told us that she didn’t feel ready to be baptized yet. We had another great lesson and the spirit helped her to see that now was the time to be baptized.  As I told you last week she has been attending almost 2 years.  Well when we left her home she was sure that she wanted to be baptized.  I feel really blessed and grateful for the miracles we have seen in this week.

We have a goal to set up two more people with ‘a baptismal date for this month.  Evelin and  Analia, they are both progressing but havent yet accepted a baptismal date.  Keep them in your prayers.  I also had many questions about whether I’m still giving talks in church and the answer is yes. Yesterday I gave one, I enjoy giving talks, although I still get a little bit nervous even after all this time. I’m pretty sure that this area is going to be my favorite. I want to stay here for a long, long time! Thanks for your support and letters. Take it easy!

Elder Riggs

Letter from April 9

Here in Peru they celebrate what is called Semana Santa, or the holy week, it was this past week.  It’s what the Catholic Church celebrates and its pretty big here. It’s a week to remember Jesus Christ and His life and sacrifice.

Well things are going amazing here in Huanuco. As i mentioned we finished up last month very well in the zone and President has just informed us that he will be sending 4 more missionaries to the zone, we will now have 18 missionaries here in Huanuco.  It’s going to be awesome!  As far as my area, it’s the best! We had the Baptism of Saul this past week.  He lives with his Aunt and Uncle, his uncle is an active member of the church.  Saul is 16 years old and was baptized on Saturday!  Now with the help of the bishop he should be receiving the priesthood soon!  Now we are going to work with his aunt that isn’t a member, because she came to baptism and it seemed like she really enjoyed it.  We will see how things go.  We also have been working with Evelin, she has been slower in accepting to be baptized, but I think this week will be her week.  If not this week, I’m positive it will be the next. A miracle also happened yesterday, it almost seems too good to be true. There is a lady that I have seen in church 3 or 4 times, and I  thought she was a member, but yesterday I felt that I should ask her.  Well to my great surprise she told me that she wasn’t a member.  We visited her later that night and she mentioned to us that she had been attending since 2010, but never was baptized.  Her daughter was baptized in 2010. We challenged her to be baptized April 22. She mentioned some of her doubts and worries, but accepted the date to be baptized.  She said that the missionaries have only come to her house one time in the two years that she has been attending. I was pretty excited about it, because this week we had very little time working in our area, but the Lord always provides!

This week was also a little weird because my companion left yesterday. He is heading to his house.  It was a little sad for me to see, because he was a great companion and taught me a lot.  I am going to take advantage of the time that I have left because as you all know it goes by very fast... Now I’m just awaiting the arrival of my new companion, I don’t know who it is, he should be getting here on Wednesday.  I hope you are all well!  Enjoy your week and keep me posted on how things are going.

Elder Riggs