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