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