Letter from January 31

This week was an awesome week!  I told you most the news on Thursday, but the temple was great as always, and the Americanized Papa Johns was another dream come true!

Our ward here in Chosica is very supportive, they just called a bunch of teenagers and young adults as ward missionaries.  So we have a lot of people that can come with us now when we have visits and appointments.  It helps a ton cause the investigators can make friends with the members and feel more comfortable. We also had a baptism of Eduardo on Saturday. His mom is a member but hasn’t gone to church for over ten years I believe so it was awesome because she came to the baptism and we are trying to get her to come back to church.

I have a story but I was debating whether or not to say it cause I don’t want anyone to get offended. Ha what am I saying you guys would just think it’s funny!  Anyway about a week ago we came into the house of my pensionista, (Cook) and it smelled horrible!!! No joke one of the worst smells I have ever smelt.  And immediately my mind when straight to (Oh boy, what do we have in store for lunch) so we went and sat down and she set the food in front of me and it was some crazy meat, covered in spinach... No joke spinach, and with some nasty smelling sauce.  I thought I was going to throw up. Oh and I can’t forget the other half of the plate that was filled with rice and also covered in spinach and the sauce.  So I began to choke it down, slowly but surely.  Then after about twenty, thirty minutes.  I began to gag, ha but don’t worry it gets better. My comp by this time had finished and was in the other room lying down, and I began to think of a way that I could get rid of the food, cause it’s not good to waste food, but especially here in Peru, cause they can get offended.  So after I thought of about it for a minute, I realized that there wasn’t a garbage can, the window wouldn’t work cause they would find it when they walked outside, and I couldn’t put it on my companions plate because he would notice. But then I had a wonderful idea. I had a couple napkins.... And then I noticed the bathroom door was open!  What a great idea, right?  ha so as I began to wrap the food in the napkins I quickly realized that it wasn’t going to work, because the food was to wet and would just fall through.. So I ran to the bathroom and found a roll of toilet paper. I grabbed some toilet paper and ran back to my plate. And with much skill and talent, I got the majority of the food in the toilet paper. Then I slowly and sneakily walked past my comp, with the huge wad of food in my hand, which was somewhat in my pocket. I walked in the bathroom, shut the door, and I don’t want anyone to be offended by this part, but I flushed the food down the toilet! Oh man, I consider myself a genius! What do you guys think? Talk to you soon!!!

More Pics

Here are some pics Elder Riggs sent a couple weeks ago. This is Skylar with his first comp. Elder Bean, in his letter a few weeks ago he said they did a service project and moved rocks but he didn't know why. We found out from Elder Bean's blog that a lady was going to build her house there... just glad Skylar is still himself and has no clue what's going on haha! JK Sky we love you!

 Elder Riggs and his comp Elder Alvarez

 Of course there's a pic of him flexing!

 Not sure what's going on here... looks creepy though.

A pic of the tarantula they saw on their hike. That thing is freaky!

Letter from January 27

Hey good news!  I spoke again in Sacrament, and the night before in some Elders Quorum meeting thing.  haha So yeah its becoming a regular thing now.  It’s no longer the question, who is going to talk on Sunday? Instead it’s, What are the Missionary’s going to talk about? haha It went pretty well.

Oh and I forgot to tell you. The other day we had some cow stomach...  I thought it would just be like regular meat that came from a cow, but it wasn’t.  haha it looked like mushrooms, and it didn’t really have much of a taste which I was very grateful for.. but yeah that’s something crazy i have eaten..  Also my comps b-day was last week so we did some celebrating. We had a baptism on Saturday, which was awesome!  He is 17 and lives with his mom, his dad is in the US. But anyway after the baptism, some of the members brought my comp a cake, and when your comp has a birthday..............SO DO I!! hahaha so I got cake TWICE. At our pensionistas house too. Loved it!!

Anyway, I am working on reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish in the next 3 months. It’s a mission goal and I would like to do it in Spanish. I am doing it out loud and it’s definitely not as fast as in English but it is helping a lot with my Spanish. Have an awesome week!!  I love you all!!   And I hope you’re not freezing reading this, cause once again I am sweating. Haha there is no such thing as air conditioning in Peru. Or at least I haven’t found it yet. haha

Hasta Luego,
Elder Riggs

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.