Letter from September 26

 These are the vans the missionaries ride in

This is Elder Riggs' One Year Mark Celebration

 These are the daughters of Flor he baptized this past week

This week was one of the greatest weeks of my whole mission.  I would like to start by saying that Lila and Rosa were baptized!!!!!! The daughters of Flor, she has 6 kids.  Three live in the house and 3 are married and live away from the house, well we are still trying to teach her other son that lives in the house, we will see how that goes, but she told me that her daughter that is married and lives in Lima told Flor that she wants to be a part of the church with her family and wants to join as an entire family.  It really helped me to see that if we can change the life of one person it really can affect the lives of many.  It’s such a blessing to see.  I also had the opportunity to baptize Both Lila and Rosa. 


Yesterday I also had one of the best experiences of my mission.  When we were going to church, one of the members called us to come outside.  So we went outside to find a family in their car, the member explained that they were passing by and didn’t have time to go in, but always have wanted to enter, but the doors were always closed.  We got an appointment with them and later we went to visit them.  WOW, is all that I can say!!  They are the best family ever. They are in their late 20´s and have a boy that is 2 years old.  The good news is that they are not married.  I know you are all asking me how that is good news.  Well I am 100 percent sure that they will be married and baptized in the church, and they will faithful members.  They really have been prepared by the Lord, they told us that they have been searching the true church for some time and have always wanted to go to our church, but never have had the opportunity. We taught them about the importance of the family and marriage, as we started the lesson they said the words that every missionary wants to hear,  “What do we need to do to belong to the church and become a happier and more united family?”  I felt the spirit stronger than just about any other time in my whole mission.  They felt it so strong to that the husband was basically so happy he was mumbling with his words. At first he had a little fear of being married, but at the end of the lesson he said I know that this is what we need as a family and he accepted to be married.  They loved it so much that we are going back tonight with a member to visit them and tell them what they need to do to get their papers ready to be married and put a date for their marriage, and they will be baptized the same day!! How awesome is that? I know your prayers are so strong so I will be asking that you pray for them, their names are Sergio and Milagros.

Another great and funny experience of the week, my pensionista has a dog, and it is the coolest dog ever. Every time we come back to the house he gets so excited and goes crazy.  The other day he followed us to an appointment and we literally walked over 3 or 4 miles in total, and he was right there the whole time.  When we got to the appointment, he sat right down next to us and waited patiently until we had finished.  Then as we left, he followed us all the way back home.  It’s now a regular occurrence and if we have to take a bus he knows how to find his way back home, very smart.  It makes me laugh every time!

Elder Riggs, Aka, Cabezón!!

Letter from September 19

Who would have guessed that in this week I will be completing 1 year in the mission?  I still can´t believe it!  Everyone always says time in the mission flies, well that is an understatement.
 It goes by so fast!  It’s crazy to think that I’m at the half way mark.  I feel good though.  I have seen a lot of improvement and maturity over the last year and I have met a ton of awesome people and had the chance to teach many of them the gospel.  I still have a lot to do to improve and to be a better missionary.  I am making some goals for the next year to keep improving and to have more success.  I have  the goal to baptize 3.5 to 4 people every month for the rest of my mission.  It would be awesome to be able to complete it and I know I can do it.  Speaking of baptisms, Saturday we had a baptism!! His name is Jaime, he is 19 years old, his mom was baptized first a couple months ago and he was excited to be baptized and loves coming to church every Sunday.  I had the opportunity to baptize him!   We have quite a few investigators that are preparing to be baptized. This Saturday the daughters of Flor are going to be baptized!!!!! They are going to be such a strong family in the church.  

It doesn’t take long until my pensionista and her family is like my second family.  They are
awesome!  I have literally been so blessed to have the coolest pensionistas in the world.  I now have 3 second moms and 3 houses here in Perú and one in the Dominican Republic.  With sister Genara we joke around a lot and get along great.  In the little time I have here it has been great to become friends with so many people.  My favorite is the sister that introduced us to Flor!  Her name is Mari, she is in her late 40s, just like you old folks... Mom and Dad!! haha just kidding.  But she is awesome, she makes me laugh so hard and helps us out so much here in
Pilcomayo.

Just so you all know I have not eaten Mcdonald’s for over a year now!! I am still living somehow, but I don’t think I will make it two years. Oh and thanks for all your support. Love you all bye.

Elder Riggs

Letter from September 12

Wednesday we are supposed to have changes, but for some reason in my area we have already had changes.  I still don’t know why, but I have a new companion.  His name is Elder Espinoza, he is from Tumba, Peru.  He is the man!  We get along well and have had a ton of success in the little time we have had together.  It’s been great to have him as a companion and I am sure it will go great.  We have a baptism for this week and we are hoping to have at least two next week.  We are making a ton of progress and the members continue to help out.  We seriously have received so many references and we have a great relationship with all the members.  I am loving it!   It’s also been a great blessing to see our district improve since the first of the change.  We have improved in many ways and are having a lot more success.  I have become good friends with all the guys in my district and it has really been a blessing to help the other missionaries.  The best experience that I have had as district leader has been seeing the work that we have done during the week and pray and study to know what I should share with the other Elders so that we can improve and help the investigators better in our areas.  The Lord has helped me to know every single week what I should share with them.  It has helped my testimony to grow to know that God calls us to do things and is there to help us do it.

Last week was one of the sickest P days that I have had.  We literally went to a mini Machu Pichu.  About an hour from my area, in the top of the mountains there is an ancient city.  That was built many years ago.  It was built out of rocks, everything.  It was a city that was believed to be built by the Inca´s, the same people that built Machu Pichu.   It wasn’t as pretty as Machu Pichu, because it had been half destroyed, but it was awesome to see!  Ahh the great things I get to see in the mission!  Sorry you can’t all be in Peru, to see ancient cities, and dogs on every street and in every home that apparently don’t like the Gringo. Another week of great experiences and good times.  Keep up the good work there at home and don’t eat too much rice, it might be bad for your health.  I’m doing a two year experiment to find out haha! Take care and talk to you all soon!

Elder (muscle beach, cabezon) Riggs.

Letter from September 5

This week I had the opportunity to cross a river in my missionary clothes to get to the house of a reference.  It was actually pretty cool, because if we went around it would have taken a ton of time so we took off our shoes and socks, rolled up the pants and crossed.

Another night we were going to take a bus to one of our appointments, well I should inform you that the busses are stuffed full of people at night, and stuffed is an understatement.  Well we had to get to the appointment so when a bus finally passed we had to take it.  The bus was so full that they couldn’t shut the door, and I, being the last person to board the bus, was holding onto a bar with almost all my body hanging out of the bus.  Now you might think that is dangerous, but here in Peru it is quiet normal, so you don´t have to worry.  It was like a rollercoaster for me!  Good times!!  Also on Saturday after eating a big lunch we went on divisions.  My companion went with a member and I went with the Bishop. While we were walking he told me some pretty cool stories of how he became a member.  The bad part is that the beans, Coke and lemonade didn’t seem to enjoy the walk, especially the beans.  With every step it got a little worse, but being the man that I am, I told myself not to be a wuss. haha yeah I know you are all mocking me now.  Well we literally ended up walking miles, and miles, to a reference that he was going to give us, and it seemed to get worse and worse. Well as we were walking and he was telling me a story, I politely pulled off to the side and began to throw up. When we got back to the room it didn’t get much better. We had an appointment at 8 so we couldn’t stop, but he wasn’t there. I think it was the first time in my life I was a little glad that he wasn’t there, as bad as that may sound, I was dying.  But it all got out and I was just fine!  

As for this week we have found a handful of great new investigators and we are working hard with those that we have.  The two daughters of Flor that was baptized last week, aren’t as excited because some of their friends seem to be making them unexcited, but we will be visiting them tomorrow and we have a good plan to help them out and excite them again.  Today for P- day we are going to some ruins.   Keep the prayers going for the daughters of Flor.

We have been helping build the house of a member.  We go every Thursday for about 2 to 2 and a half hours to help out. I have learned to use some very crazy tools here in Peru, like a Machete. I also stepped on a nail, but the good news is that the Lord protects his missionaries. I have a huge testimony of that.  The nail went through my shoe and miraculously stopped right when it touched my foot, it was a long nail so it was very weird that it stopped.  But the Lord knows that I need my foot to keep working.  So that is another reason why you have no need to worry about me.  I am doing great, being protected by God and the pensionistas, other than the beans. Haha  Hasta Luego!

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 29

Well at the end of a great week, full of miracles, I am happy to announce that Flor was baptized. She is the lady that had the dream about me and my companion when she was praying to find the true church.  It was such an awesome experience. She has more faith than any other investigator I have taught so far.  There are always challenges before the baptisms, but the challenges she passed would make just about anyone unexcited to be baptized, but it goes to show her faith. We met her 2 weeks ago which is awesome because she was baptized in two weeks. She is a single mom, her husband died a few years ago. She also lost one of her sons.  She has 5 kids now in total, and three of them live with her and she supports them all. Well she had her interview and everything Friday and passed with flying colors.  So she was ready to be baptized Sunday.  Saturday she went to the bank to withdraw money she had to pay a debt.  She went to the bank with her little daughter that is 11 years old.  She withdrew the money and on her way home, she was robbed in the street.  They took her purse with the money, her cell phone and a few other things.  She had about 250 American dollars which here is about 700 soles, and a ton of money. It was basically everything that she had.  She ended up going to the house of her friend, Mari, (who was the one that introduced us to her) and cried. She was unexcited at first and told her friend that she didn’t want to be baptized for all that had happened, because on top of that her son got drunk and was causing problems.  Her friend told her that there are always challenges before baptism. Some people have much bigger ones than others.  Flor said that she was going to go through with the baptism. She wasn’t going to let Satan beat her.  The next morning when we showed up to go to church, she was ready to go.   In the end she didn’t get her money back, but it didn’t matter.  She was extremely happy when she was baptized. (The water in the chapel also stopped so when it was time for her baptism, there wasn’t enough water for her to be baptized in, but with the help of the members, we were able to fill it with clean water from a creek in front of a Church.)  She wasn’t going to give up and neither were we.  I can honestly say that it was my favorite baptism in all of my mission.   I don’t know if she will get her money back, and I’m sure she will still have challenges, but she was able to show her commitment to God, and I know that she will be a very faithful member. More good news is that her two daughters ages 11 and 16 will also be baptized either this weekend or the next. What a weekend!  Can you believe that?  It was a great testimony builder for me!

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 22

Pilcomayo is a little different, it’s in the mountains. The majority isn’t quite as poor as my area in Pichanaki. The houses are usually spread out, so the contacts are a little harder, but we are working more with the members.  We are preparing two, maybe three people for baptism this weekend! One is the lady that had a dream with us in it. She has accepted a baptismal date for this weekend.  She is about 50 with 6 kids. Three live in the house, one doesn’t want to talk with us yet, but I know he will warm up to the idea. Her daughter that is 16 and her other daughter that is 11 also live with her. The one that is 16 is very interested and came to church with her mom, she hasn’t accepted a baptismal date, but we are hoping that she will this week! If not in this week, very soon!  They are an awesome family! The rest of the investigators are good, we are having a little trouble finding them in their houses but it’s nothing that we can’t work around. As for my calling as district leader it is going good, the first class I taught there were 9 or 10 elders, it was a little big because we joined two districts. I’m still getting used to it, it’s more responsibility, but it’s going well.

This week I had very humbling experience when I entered into the home of one of member.  An older man, about 65 and his wife. They have a small dirt house, with very little.  He works sewing mattresses, and he makes very little. Throughout my mission I have never seen two people so happy to see the missionaries enter in their house. Their kids are older and don’t visit much at all. The wife began to cry she was so happy to see us, she said the missionaries hadn’t visited in a long time.  It really made me sad, but at the same time glad for the opportunity to be there.  It also helped me to realize something very important. Although I really like money and I would like to make a lot of money, it isn’t necessary to be happy. Although they have challenges, they are happy. It was an experience that made me very grateful for all that I have and for the blessing we have in our family to be so close and have so much.  WE are as close as I am when I am standing on the bus here with tons of people smashed into one bus.  It always brings a smile to my face to be squished with so many people, it doesn’t bother me cause I don’t know what personal space is haha!

Take it easy!  Have a great week!!

Elder Riggs

Letter from August 15

Last week sure went by fast! I would like to start with an experience that really helped me to see that God is preparing people specifically for me here in the mission, and in this area.  One day we went to visit a member that was baptized about a year ago her name is Mari. Her daughter died about a year ago and it was very hard for her.  Just after that, she began to meet with the missionaries and shortly after she was baptized. She told us that the gospel really has saved her life and has made her very happy.  Well after talking with her she told us she had a reference for us.  We went to the house of the reference, but she wasn’t there.  Well Sunday came, and Mari showed up with her friend, the reference that she gave us.  I began to talk with her before the sacrament meeting started and she explained to me something that had happened to her.  She said that she had been attending a church for awhile, but didn’t feel very good in that church.  So one night she began to pray and ask the Lord to help her find the true church.  That night she told me she had a dream, where she saw two young men dressed in white shirts with ties, one was Latin and the other was a gringo (in her words).  After she had the dream she told her daughter about it because she didn’t know who the young men were.  Her daughter told her that their neighbor was a member of the Mormon Church and she had once seen two young men in white shirts and ties there, and she thought it might be them.  Well she ended up coming to church with Mari and after she told me about her dream I asked what the gringo looked like, and a little surprised she told me, ´´He looked exactly like you´´.  That was a pretty cool experience for me.  She ended up loving church and told me she is going to come next week with her daughters.  Then she asked me if we could visit her the next day. Those are always the words a missionary wants to hear.  I know she was prepared by the Lord and we will be helping her and her family to be baptized.

The other good news is that the members here are the best.  I have never seen a ward so excited to help, and we have tons of references.  Well other than that it has been a good week.  I’m getting accustomed to my new pensionista.  She is awesome, (or as I always say, she is the man!) haha!! Her husband is also the man and they have an awesome family.  She is a little different then my last two

pensionistas, but is awesome just like the others.  And once again she cooks a ton.  Haha there is NEVER a lack of food in the mission. There is also never also never a lack of a little extra belly fat to keep you warm at night. 

Elder Riggs