Letter from February 13

I’m excited to write you and let you know what’s going on in the small city of La Oroya, Antigua. As I told you last week we are teaching a family of 3, Elvis, Liz, and their 2 year old son.  They have been prepared by God.  They are so excited for their wedding and baptism.  They are having some financial problems and have some things they need to pay off, but he was able to find a job and they are planning to get the money for those things and also for their wedding. Their wedding date has been postponed until March 16 to be able to have the money and everything necessary.  They have a ton of faith and are showing their faith by the actions they are taking to get married and baptized.  Elvis came to church yesterday, Liz didn’t because she was pretty sick, but they are progressing so much.  They really have been reading the “Book of Mormon” so much. The only worry is that I have been here in La Oroya for awhile and changes are around the corner. We will have to see what happens, but the important part is that they are happy and following the Savior.  Other than that we have been contacting a lot and working with the members to find new investigators, the Lord is blessing us and I really believe that we  will see a lot of success here pretty soon.  It’s a very humble city, but I love it.  Yesterday we ate with a member that lives in one of the most humble homes i have ever seen.  She lives in a little room and has everything in the little room, her bed, her kitchen, and everything else.  It always surprises me to see things like that, it goes to show how much we really have.  I think the Lord wants to teach me that you don’t need money to be happy and to be strong in the gospel.  We just need to do what we are supposed to do and the Lord will provide for our needs.

This week we went to Junin.  It’s a city about 40 minutes away. We went there to check up on the missionaries and see how they were doing.  It’s something the President is asking us to do now.  It’s a little hard in this zone because we have to travel a ton to do it, but it seems to be helping out.  Anyway, when we were coming back to la Oroya we were riding on a bus and noticed a North American (Which here is extremely rare), and there just so happened to be an open seat next to her, we sat down and began to talk.  It is the second American I have spoken to in the field that hasn’t been a missionary.  She is here with peace core; basically they help out the communities and do service projects.  We spoke in English the whole time, and man was it a struggle.  I was talking just normal until I started talking about the church.  Then it seemed as though I was a kid recently learning English.  I threw in what I like to call the Spanglish, along with the Peruvian accent that you all say I have.  Oh good times! Talk to you soon!

Elder Riggs

Letter from February 6

I am now in a new area.  There is an area in our zone called La Oroya, Antigua, its right next to Marcavalle, where I was before.  Well in the last 10 months there has been 1 baptism there. Well my companion Elder Brown and I had the idea to change areas and work there in La Oroya, Antigua.  We presented the idea to President and he loved it.  Now we are in La Oroya, Antigua.  It really is a great area and I know we can have a lot of success here. We just need to stay focused and put our trust in the Lord.  We found a couple that have been prepared by the Lord. The guy’s name is Elvis and the girl’s is Liz.  He is 23 and she is 21, they have been together about 5 years and have a 2 year old kid.  They aren´t married, but they desire to get married and baptized.  We have taught them 3 times because we don’t have many investigators and they want us to visit them every day.  They came to church and during be fast and testimony meeting.  We were sitting towards the back of the chapel explaining to them what was going on when Elvis turned to my companion and asked him if he (Elvis) could give his testimony. When my companion told him yes, he got up and began to go to the pulpit.  I was both nervous and excited at the same time.  Nervous because you all know how testimony meeting is at times.  Well when he got up there he began to talk and I can honestly say he shared one of the most powerful testimonies that I have heard.  He said that it was his first time in church and that he had only listened to the missionaries for a couple days, but that he knew he had found the true church here on earth and that he wanted to become a member.  It was a very spiritual experience. They are progressing very fast and have a wedding date and baptismal date for the 25th of this month.  I still can’t believe it, everything has happened so fast.  I am so grateful for the help of the Lord and because he put them in our path.

Talk to you later!

Elder Riggs

Letter from January 30

We have been finding lots of investigators and teaching a lot of lessons these past few weeks, but we have had a challenge with the progress of the investigators.  The majority aren´t keeping the commitments we leave for them, such as attending church, reading the “Book of Mormon”, and praying. It has been a little difficult because we have been working very hard, but for a few weeks now we have been seeing the same results. Some people promise us things, but in the end they don’t keep their word.  This week was no different, until Sunday came around.  We went out early to pick up the investigators, but after about 45 minutes we arrived to church without a single investigator.  I was a little discouraged because we had been working very hard. As we were about to enter the church I said a pray in my heart, asking God to help us have someone in church.  When we entered the Chapel at 9, we found about 4 people (not a huge surprise). One of them was a man that I had never seen before. As we began to talk to him we found out he wasn´t a member.  He had gone to church before in Lima and had listened to the missionaries, but he stopped going to church.  Now he is working here in La Oroya and has the desire to come back to church.  He told us that now is the time to do what the Lord wants him to do.

  

A few minutes later a member entered with a friend that was visiting for the first time.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  We talked with him for a little while and he seemed excited to meet with us. A few minutes later, our investigator, that has a baptismal date this week, entered into the chapel, happy and smiling.  I was so surprised and felt so blessed. I doubted that we were going to have anyone in church, but it taught me that when we do what we are supposed to do, we should never doubt.  At times the Lord lets us struggle, and things don’t go how we want them to go, sometimes even when we are doing the things that we should be. I have learned that if we keep on going, and trust in the Lord, He will help us and bless us.  It gave me an extra boost to keep on working, and the desire to become more like Jesus Christ.

Things are going well. My companion is the man! We get along great! He is from Arizona, he was going to the University of Arizona and we love eating cake.  What more can you ask for!  Thank you for your support and your love.

Elder Riggs

Letter from January 23

I have some good news and some not so good news.  The not so good news is that Elder Norris went to another area. We worked very hard and enjoyed the short time together, but the good news is that my new companion is the Man!  His name is Elder Brown. He is from Arizona and has been in the mission field for 18 months. We are zone leaders together here in La Oroya. He is a great guy and very excited to work and succeed here.  This week we have a baptism planned and are preparing a few people for the February. This week Elder Brown and I had a lot of success together.  On Saturday we did a special activity to find new investigators, which is one of the biggest challenges here. We put a table in the middle of the plaza filled with pamphlets, videos, Ensigns, and other things to draw the people’s attention.  Although we didn’t get to stand on a soapbox to preach like they do in Europe, it went really well.  We had a pretty good turnout and we are hoping that from the activity we have one or two baptisms.  We will have to see, but it was a great activity and very enjoyable. We will continue to do it and hope for great results.

Last P-day Elder Norris and I made American cookies, it was soooo good, haha we also played a little bit of chess!  That was very enjoyable!  Today for P-day we might be going fishing, we will have to see, but that would be a good time! I love you all, take care!

Elder Riggs

Letter from January 16

This week has been a great week with my new companion Elder Norris.  I can honestly say that it has made the mission more enjoyable to be companions with someone that works hard, and always has a great attitude.  We get along very well and are always smiling.  This week we worked very hard to find new investigators and put the ones that we have with a baptismal date. It didn’t go quite as well as we wanted, but I can’t complain because we were able to find many new investigators this week and put at least one with a baptismal date for this month.  Tonight we have an appointment with a mother and her son, they are great.  They have attended church a few times and other activities, the only problem is they are scared of what their family members will say if they get baptized and become members of the Mormon Church.  We have planned a good lesson to help them with their fear so that they can accept a baptismal date for this weekend.

  

This week we also had a mission night at the church. It was an activity that we did for the investigators and to find new people to teach.  It went very well and was actually very fun.  Our theme was the Plan of Salvation.  We had three rooms in the church, with something going on in each room. One of the rooms was a dance club, the other was a movie theater, and the third was a room with two missionaries teaching about the Plan of Salvation.  We wanted them to be representations of the three kingdoms of Glory.  The members and investigators had about 20 minutes to go to the room and participate, and at the end of 20 minutes we shut the doors and where they were is where they stayed. After we went to the Chapel and shared a little about the Plan of Salvation.  It went great!  Everyone loved it and thought it was hilarious, but at the same time very spiritual.  The best part is that I was in charge of the dance room!  I practically pulled people into the dance room.  We had a great time and I also got to do the worm! Haha! After the activity we all got a good laugh, they said I was like Satan pulling the people into the temptation and keeping them there.  Well that was my purpose. We are planning on having another activity like that in a few weeks and hoping for more investigators and members.  It should go well!

In other news I broke the longest streak in the history of my life.  I went 15 months almost 16 without McDonalds, but when we went to Lima last conference, they had Big Macs for each of us.  I was in heaven for the 3 seconds that I was eating it.  When it was gone I was thinking about how I could get another one, but I wasn’t successful.  It was so good!!! For P-day last week we went to a huge cave, it was pretty sweet and I got a few good pictures.  And today we are heading to cook some chocolate chip cookies at the pensionista’s house for P-day. I’m pretty stoked!  She absolutely loves us. She is spoiling us with a ton of food.  What a great lady.  She is the Man! Talk to you soon.

Elder Riggs

Letter from January 9

I have some pretty crazy news for this week.  As I told you last week, I would be getting a new companion this week because Elder Conde, my old companion went to another area.  Well you will never in the world guess who my new companion is here in La Oroya.  I was so surprised when I found out.  First off what happened is almost impossible, because right now in the entire mission there are only two companionships that both the companions are North American’s. The crazy news is that I am in one of those companionships!  My companion is Track Norris! I have known him for years.  He has been a friend of mine.  He ran cross country and track in high school and ran at UVU the same year that I ran at SUU.  I always thought it would be cool to be companions with him, but I never thought it was possible.  Now it is!  He is a great guy! I am excited because he is a really hard worker and I know we will work very hard and very well together.  He is getting used to La Oroya because he came from downtown Lima.  We have gone running three times already in the mornings.  It has been awesome!  Although we run about 11 to 12 minutes and we are dead, because we haven’t run for a while and the altitude is a killer.  We plan on running about 4 or 5 days a week in the mornings. I am pretty excited!  We also celebrated his birthday yesterday. We had some cake with our pensionista, and let me tell you that the pensionista is very happy.  I never told you, but she didn’t get along with my other companion very well.  Let’s just say he wasn’t the most humble kid.  She told us before we left that she wanted to have two gringos in her house.  She is pretty happy now, a very awesome lady!

Like I told you last week we went to Lima for conference. That was awesome as always! President Ardila knows so much, it’s great to be able to learn from him and feel his spirit.  We also had the opportunity to go to the temple in Lima. That’s always my favorite part.  I love going to the temple!  We also played some soccer. That was a good time.  It was even better too because I could run without getting tired because we were at sea level, that was a huge difference.  In our area we are seeing good progress, we are having a little bit of trouble with getting the investigators to church these past couple weeks, but we have some plans to help them out!  The branch is awesome as always!  We have a great mission night activity planned for this coming Friday. It should go great and we should be able to have a few new investigators
there as well.  Today for p day we are going to a touristy place. I will make sure to take some pictures and sending them home very soon. I love you all very much and hope things are going great!

Elder Riggs

Letter from January 2

Can you believe its 2012?  I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve.  This week we had the Baptism of Natalie, the sister of Sayuri.  She is the girl that drank coffee, but she was able to overcome it and passed her interview with President Ardila.  She was baptized on Wednesday! It was a great way to end 2011, and an even better way to end the month of December.  We finished with 11 baptisms as a zone which is the most baptisms there has been in Tarma. It’s because the Lord placed people in our paths and all the missionaries are good missionaries that are excited to work.  That always makes things a lot easier and more enjoyable.  I am excited to start off this new year here in La Oroya.  I absolutely love this area, the people are so awesome, we have great support from the members, we have been constantly finding great people to teach, and the food is great! What more can you ask for?

Yesterday in church was pretty funny, we went to pick up a few investigators, which was a little hard considering that the majority were out very late, but when we arrived to the church we walked in about five minutes late, and there was literally 3 members in the whole church.  I got a pretty good laugh about it.  At 9:10 there were 6 and slowly they began to come.  As I told you punctuality isn’t the most important thing here, but it’s even worse after New Year’s Day.

Today I am heading to Lima for conference with President Ardila!  As always I am very excited! This conference we will be going to the temple and after we will be playing basketball together. We also got a call last night and the assistants told my companion that he needed to bring all his stuff to Lima, that he would be changing areas.  So I will return with a new companion.  I am excited.  I have learned quite a bit from him.  This could be my first change with a North American companion. We will have to see!  I will let you know how everything works out.  Thanks for all your support. I laugh when you say that I sound like a Latin over the phone.  Is it really that obvious?  I don’t notice. Then again I think I am the only person in all of La Oroya that speaks English. haha love you guys, take care and we will talk soon.  

Elder Eggs, Ex, Ritch, Ritz, Rihhhhh, ect.