Letter from January 17

My week here has been pretty good!  Yesterday we had the most amount of investigators come to church... 6! That was truly a blessing cause we have been working so hard on that.  Cause when they come to church they are progressing.  

It’s heating up here, and there is no air conditioning out here in Chosica!! Shoot, we ate at a member’s house yesterday, and we had all hot spicy food.  I seriously think I lost 10 pounds, ha I was sweating so much I couldn’t focus on the conversation very well. Oh and I have amazing news!!! My pesionista now gives us cereal and milk for dinner... haha oh I am so excited about that!! Its actually really good milk too!

There is also a family we are teaching and they have a kid about 9 years old, his name is Diter and he always comes running up to give me a hug when we go to his house or we see him. The kid is a little stud!  We are working with his parents towards marriage, because they have a strong testimony and also are excited to learn more.  Chances of a marriage happening here in Peru are pretty slim, but we will try our hardest and have faith.

We had a big service project on Thursday. It was pretty sweet, we had shovels and picks and we moved a bunch of rocks out of the ground. I will be one hundred percent honest. I’m not sure exactly what the point was but hey.  We just did what they asked! haha That was a good time! I love you all much and miss you!! Have a great week!

Elder Riggs

Pics

Letter from January 10

Hola familia-

Now that the holidays are past, how are you all enjoying the snow and freezing cold?  It’s heating up more everyday here.  The hottest months are January and February.

In the mission this week we had changes.  There were a lot of changes, everyone in our zone changed comps except me and my companion, but I don’t mind.  We get along really well.  I enjoy this area a lot too!  Right now we have a few investigators progressing! Of those one is a family that we contacted, a family of four.  The mom told us the first time we visited with them that she had been praying to find out which church was true.  It was a blessing that we were able to find and teach them and it was an answer to her prayers.  They are very receptive and the mom has a lot of faith.  We gave each of the kids their own Books of Mormon because the first time we only gave them one and I guess they both wanted to read it at the same time.  

Oh and I must stick out like a sore thumb here because everyone recognizes that I am a gringo. Haha the other day there were some kids playing in the streets and we walked by and one of them started to freak out. He was like, “Look everyone look, a gringo.  Hey do you guys see the gringo?” ha it was pretty fun.  Then about an hour later when we passed back by the kid again started yelling “Hey the gringos back.  Look everyone.  Hey Gringo!”  Then he ran to me and asked me if I spoke English or Spanish. I replied both. He then begged me to say something in English, so I talked a little to him in English. Then as we were leaving he started telling all his friends, “Did you guys see that gringo? Did you see him?” Good kid!  

Love,

Elder Riggs

Excerpts from the last month

Sorry guys. I've been slacking... but here are some excerpts from Skylar's last few letters. I'll try to stay more up-to-date. Enjoy!

January 3

As far as this week things are really good!  We are finding some new investigators and working hard.  We have changes tomorrow. So I am pretty sure something is gonna happen, I will probably stay but not 100 percent sure, I could switch comps.  Who knows, but it’s crazy to think I am finishing up with my first change.. Time is starting to move fast!

Anyway what did I do on New Year’s Eve? Haha I slept!! There were tons of fireworks but I was already sleeping like a rock. I got to take advantage of every minute of sleep I get during the night here in the mission.

Well things are going really good!  The language is coming slowly but surely. The food..... Well it’s Peruvian. I am almost never am hungry and I usually ask for a little, but apparently a little to my pension is a little different. Cause she always brings a huge plate. I have had to force food down quite a bit the last little while. But it’s all a good time!! haha Just can’t get enough of the rice, I will tell you what.. Man!!

December 27

A crazy thing happened in church. In our second ward it was about 10:10 and church is supposed to start at 10.  But anyway we were just greeting people as they came in and then the bishopric came and said the famous words every missionary loves to hear.  “Elders, two of our speakers today just called in sick, so can you two give 10 minute talks each.” Yeah no problema. haha, they told us it was on missionary work  so I thought ok I should be fine then.  Just condense my farewell talk and change the language right.  Ha so I did a minute or two of reviewing and that was that… To be totally honest I was a little nervous but not too bad.. Ha my companion I thought was going to pass out. He was pretty scared. I wanted to be like relax, at least you know the language really well. But honestly that’s the only thing I was concerned about.. Well it came time for me to give a talk I got up, prayed for help, and surprisingly it went really well.  I pretty much winged it and there was only one word that I didn´t know.  But I spoke the whole 10 minutes and I felt like i gave a decent talk…  It wasn´t me though, I definitely had some help!  I was grateful for that blessing.  But yeah after my comp said my Spanish was almost perfect during my talk.. I had no idea so I just took his word for it.  Haha, well that was my first legit talk in sacrament meeting. But I was grateful for the experience.

December 20

This past week was good!  We had 3 baptisms!  It was awesome!  Seriously miracles because at first they all had doubts, but with patience it all came together.  That’s five for us this month!  Truly a blessing!  I got to baptize two of them two!  Ha the water is always freezing cause they don’t have water heaters.  So it’s always a good time watching the investigators enter the font.  Good times though!  It’s good to have success this early.  Now just gotta keep moving.  We had a Christmas party with about half of the mission and the president and his wife. It was pretty cool.  Each zone did a skit, which were all pretty funny.  We told jokes, ate food, had a magician come!  It was all a good time!

Elder Riggs

AKA, Muscle Beach!! ha well not anymore....

December 14

We had a baptism this week.  It was another awesome experience and we also have two planned for this next week. One of them is a lady in her 20´s and the others are kids. They are all way awesome!  We usually spend most of our days at appointments or contacting.  That’s one good thing about Peru is there are people that want to hear the truth, so we usually have a few appointments everyday… That’s definitely a blessing.  My comp is trying to learn English, and he study’s it sometimes during the time I study Spanish.  Ha let’s just say I am glad I know English...

We ride the buses here quite a bit.  The bus is already moving before you can even get on and you just try and hold on. It’s like a rollercoaster. It has now been 3 months since I have eaten at Mcdonalds or any fast food...what’s up?  That is an accomplishment I am very proud of. And after the mission I promise it will never happen again.

Letter From December 9

Hey Family!!

Things here are moving along.  Its picking up a little.  The language is starting to fly.. I have been blessed so much to be able to pick it up as fast as i have.  I study hard every day and have a long way to go but its good to see some success.  I understand a lot when people talk.. Not quite everything. But at times very close.. Its
crazy how fast it comes when you live in the culture.. Speaking of the culture im adjusting just fine.. Its crazy how much different it is.. All the houses here in my area are old brick houses, some dirt floors, old and run down.. Its pretty poor here.. Humbling for sure.. I had to come to another continent to realize how much i really have..

Anyway my comp is pretty good.  He is a hard worker which i love.. Because i may not know a lot but there is one thing i do know how to do and that is work!  I had my first baptism this last saturday!  It was a good first experience.. He was 84 and loves the church and studying the scriptures.. When we would teach him and visit him he could talk for days if you didn´t stop him.. Its hilarious.. And when he got confirmed Sunday he went up and had to shake everyone's hand on the stand and say with a loud voice oh gracias hermano, gracias!! It was hilarious.. Then he went to the stand and was aobut to procced to give a talk when the bishop grabbed him and pulled him over to the chair where he sat to be confirmed..  haha good guy!! He is a very loving man though and loves the gospel.. We also have two baptisms this week and 2 the week after, our goal is 5 this month.  Its good to have some success. But most of all the most important thing that i have learned over these two weeks is that baptisms are awesome and very important. But more importantly is to watch peoples lives change as we teach them and they apply the gospel to their lives and problems they may be having.. Of course its good to have baptisms, and here its a lot about numbers, how many baptisms, how many lessons, how many contacts, how many new investigadors, how many challenges and more..  But what
really counts is watching their lives change!  Thats one thing that i have promised myself i will stay focused on, cause if i do that the baptisms and numbers will come!  I have a lot to learn in the lessons and scriptures too, but i will put in the time and pray alot.. altogether its getting better.. Its a little struggle right now..If it
weren´t hard at first i wouldnt really know the joy that it will bring later on, and at times these past few weeks.

Anyway, the food is so much better.  Still tons of rice but i am adjusting just fine.  much better than the mtc.. When you guys go eat at a peruvian restaurant you have to have rice and some sort of meat and a crazy juice.  Cause thats every meal for me. haha!! I am running every couple days with my comp and trying to exercise.., ha i thought i was out of shape but when i run with him i feel in pretty good shape.. Its good to get to walk around all the time too..

In this mission there are about 170 missionarys, of which about 20 percent are North Americans.. I didn't know there were that few.. But yeah.  So i will never have an American companion.. its ok though, i pick the language up much faster..  My comp and I work pretty well together most the time.. I am so independent though.. ha after you spend a lot of time with your comp you just want to be alone sometimes.  But its good to get different comps so i can learn how to get along with everyone.. I can't complain though, as long as he works thats all that matters to me!

I hope the holidays are rocking for you.. Anyway gotta go!  Love you!  Bye

Elder Riggs

Excerpts from November 29 Letter

Hey everyone!!
A lot has happened in the last week, its been one crazy week!  Leaving the MTC was weird cause I basically said bye to all these people that i had become really good friends with.  But i was stoked to get out into the area.  Anyway we arrived at the mission office, where we meet the mission president and his wife.  They are awesome!  President Leyva is a funny guy.  After we got a bunch of instruction we went to the mission home, and man is it nice!  ha there was even a christmas tree up and everything!  While we were there we got to known the president and his wife and the assistants to the president.  We also got to eat Which was the best meal easily i have had since i have been in peru! Lasagna with garlic bread, brownie and ice cream.. Oh I thought I was in heaven.. Afterwords president Leyva assigned us our areas and took us to meet our new companions, then we were off.

My companion's name was Elder Ascue, he is from peru and I got assigned to the area Carapongo.  It's on the outer part of Lime, and it reminded me of Africa, because there were all sorts of green fields and dirt roads and old run down houses.  Crazy buses and taxis which I have been ridding quite a bit. Anyway it was a huge change.  Ha there is no carpet in our apartment.  The bathroom is tiny, the showers were cold. Everything was dirty or was about to get dirty cause everything is dirty out here.  Ha you walk around the streets for an hour and my shoes are all dusty and dirty.. Its cool with me though.  But here comes the crazy part..

The crazy part is that i have been in the mission field 6 days and i have already changed companions.  A couple days into the field i guess some big problem arose with my companion.  I dont know the problem very well because i coulndt understand everything in spanish but i guess it had something to do with writing a letter to some girl that was an investigator.  Anyway it was a pretty big problem.  So after three days in the president told us we have to stay in our apartment for the whole day.. I thought i was going to die.  It was hard enough trying to adjust.  But then i got really bored just trying to study all day and whatnot.. But at the end of the day, we found out that he had to move areas, which meant i had to too, because i didnt´know Carapongo well.  So i packed my stuff, haha again! and left at 6:30 in the morning for Chosica.  That is where i am now with my new companion Elder Alvarez.  He is from Boliva and has been in the mission for 6 months.  He seems like a pretty nice guy and is pretty funny. My first sunday in the field was pretty good.  I got to meet all the members.. We are the missionarys for two wards.  One of the wards is pretty big, the other is small, but the members are awesome.. All very nice! ha it was tough to go to 2 sacraments though.  The kids of the ward though put on the kids singing program though in one of them. So it was all good.

Our area is pretty big, with lots of mountains and hills and its also about an hour away from like the main city in Lima,  La molina.  But anyway its nice here. Anyway i should be here for 3 month for sure and i dont know after that..

As far as everything else.  Its pretty good.  Its a struggle for sure.. Ha i cant really express myself fully to people and i have trouble understanding a lot.  Which is difficult cause once someone starts going off i get side tracted.  ha not good.  But the good part is all the members were pretty impressed with my spanish, they
couldn´t believe i just got out of the mtc and i could speak and understand as well as i could.  i thought i was horrible, but that definitely helps to hear that.  Anyway its a challenge but it will come over time.. Its also a huge change living out here.  There are a lot of little things you come to miss and you are a lot more thankful for. Like carpet, fresh water, clean places, nice homes and whatnot. But overall its pretty good. I will adjust.  I just gotta work hard and stay focused.  My pinchonista, or however you spell it cooks pretty good food!  I can't complain.  Definitely bettter than the mtc. I still have a ton to learn in the lessons and scriptures and language and what not but im gonig to work hard and I have a comp that will help.  I hear the first little while is a little tough but after you catch on to things everything starts to fly.. So I'm excited!! Anyway, the weather here is good.  Warm and a little humid!  Anyway my time is almost up. I miss you guys and love you very much.

Elder Riggs

A Day in the City

Last week Skylar got to tour the city. He said it was nice to get out of the MTC and explore a little. This looks like some very colorful and crowded housing.

 Creepy...... nuff said.

He said it was fun to go to the beach, but weird since they weren't allowed to touch the water. He wanted to jump right in.

 This is a pic of his first set of roommates in the Peru MTC.

This is his first Peruvian companion. Wow! Is it an optical illusion or is Skylar really taller than this kid?

The thing Skylar keeps mentioning that he misses is American food. Well good news... looks like they have doritos and plenty of oreos to go around.

At the Peru, Lima Temple

 This is the soccer field at the MTC. Skylar says the natives are impressed that a gringo (white American) has soccer skills.