January 9, 2017

Hola familia!! 

I am sorry that I didn't get the chance to write last week! I got sick with the flu in the middle of writing and had a fun vomit attack in front of cyber! But on the bright side I learned I can throw up and still manage to function in Spanish..or in other words help my companion call a taxi and tell him where we were while being sick! The mission is DEFINITELY an adventure!! 

Besides starting my week with that it ended up being a great week!! We finally had the baptism for the Rodriguez Family!! The adversary worked really hard to make that baptism never happen! First we had to put the baptism back a week because they cut the water off at the church. Then we still didn't have water and our DOM (Ward mission leader) had to go to the hospital sick. But we hooked up a hose to a water source outside and the second counselor came and helped us!! It was a great baptism. The spirit was so strong and now they have made the goal to prepare to enter the temple to be sealed as an eternal family a year from now!!   

We also had our oro conference this week all the way out in Montevideo!! It was fun but kind of a bummer because we were away from our area so we didn't get too much work done. But we are trying really hard to find new people to teach!! But the Lord has been blessing us while I have been sick to be able to find new people through references or old investigators!! I really have seen that there is nothing that stops the work from progressing because this is the true gospel and this is the Lord's work!! 

Also, a fun note! I finally finished Alma in the Book of Mormon and I am almost done with Helaman!! I am still reading it all in Spanish and I still feel like I am learning so much more from reading it in Spanish! We have been inviting all of our investigators, recent converts, and members to start reading the Book of Mormon with the goal to finish it by the end of the year!! I would like to make the same invitation to you guys!! I have really come to know my Savior through the Book of Mormon and we truly can find all the answers we need through this sacred book of scriptures!! 

But I love you all and I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Hermana Rich

January 2, 2017

Well....no email from Mackenzie this week.  She was so sick she could only email for about 10 minutes.  She has been sick for 2 1/2 months now but I've spoken with Sister Eddy (her mission president's wife) and she says she thinks Hermana Rich is on the mend.  Monday night Sister Eddy spoke with Mackenzie and she said she was feeling MUUUUUCH better so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they have a handle on this bug and she is getting back to 100%!

The mission life doesn't come without trials as do all of our lives, but she is learning how to handle trials, learn from them and make the most of them!  I am grateful for the experiences she is having and the person she is that she recognizes the trials for what they are and can move forward.  And what is easy for one person might not be easy for the next person.  We all have our own trials to help us become stronger and better and if we will trust the Lord and ask for his help in overcoming our trials, He will help us make the MOST of our lives.

Happy New Years to everyone!
Kim

Happy New Year!

Blessings can come in small packages!  These are growing at her apartment!  She loves her fruit!

December 26, 2016

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just so you all know....skyping with Hermana Rich on Christmas was amazing!!!!  She is doing great and it was great to spend 40 minutes with her!  We were  blessed enough to have all of her siblings here with us to be able to visit with her since they weren't able to be here for Mother's day!  We are so grateful for the blessing of technology to be able to skype with her.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
Kim

Hola Familia!! 

This week has been really good despite not being in our area for two days!! I had a fun hospital trip to Montevideo to do some blood work and then we had our Christmas conference the next day!! The Christmas conference was really good and it was fun to be with half the mission! Plus we got brownies and ice cream..it tasted like America!! 

It has been super, super hot here this week and super, super humid..that means we had a ton of rain!! Christmas day here was really interesting because it was pouring down rain and everyone was sleeping from partying the night before! So we walked around in streets with water up to our ankles. In the end we just laughed because there was nothing else that you could do!!
Christmas here is pretty different than in the states. Christmas eve is what they celebrate more! They do a big BBQ and stay up partying until super late in the morning on Christmas day! We went to Familia Barretos house and hung out with them until ten thirty. Then we stayed up at our house until twelve thirty! We got up on our roof at twelve to watch the fireworks show and it was pretty crazy!! At one point a big old part of a firework fell on our roof and their fireworks sound like bombs!! They thought it would be fun to set one off right in front of our door..not going to lie..I screamed a little!! The next day we had church and we had seven investigators there! We were super stoked and we have the familia rodriguez's baptism on Saturday!!They are soo excited and have progressed soo much!! Overall it was a really great week and I couldn't be happier!! I have loved being able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and feel of my Savior's love for me. As this new year quickly approaches I invite you all to think about ways that you can come unto Christ a little more this year!! I love you all and I hope you have a happy new year!!

Love,
Hermana Rich

Hermana Rich & Hermana Backstein

Hermana Rich and Hermana Backstein celebrating with the Barretos Family

Package arrived and it only took two months!

New kind of Christmas tree!

MMMMM...Brownies and ice cream!  AND A STRAWBERRY!  One of her favorites!

Hermana Rich, Hermana Backstein and President Eddy and his family

December 19, 2016

Hello family!! 

This week has been very interesting to say the least! I have been sick with another stomach infection so I wasn't able to go out and work too much! But I am going to go get some tests done and should be up and working real soon!!

This week everyone has been putting up their Christmas lights and Christmas trees! It is finally starting to feel like Christmas even though we are melting from the heat!!

On Friday night we had our end of the year dinner as a ward and it was sooo fun!! Last minute they asked me to play Mary in the nativity scene and so I had a husband who was 15 and super crazy!! It was really funny because it was supposed to be the primary but they didn't have enough kids so I was Mary and my comp was the angel!! For dinner we did asado of lamb and it was really good! I only had a little piece because they put me on a special diet but the piece that I had was wayyyy good!! Speaking of which I also completed my dream of touching a sheep!! (and not the one that I ate!) It was way fun and an easy way to contact some people!

This week even though I have not been feeling great we had a lot of miracles!! To start off on Sunday our recent convert, Omar, gave a talk! It was soo good and made me cry a little just because I was soo happy! Then on top of that our other recent convert, Daniel, received the priesthood! Then We had 8 investigators at church! We were soo happy!! The Lord really does bless us for our efforts! Later that day we went and visited a family that had come to church that we have been working with and the parents and their son all accepted a baptismal date!! So we now have six people getting ready to be baptized and I have just loved being able to watch how the gospel is changing these peoples lives!! The family, Veronica and Ruben, when we first started to teach them wanted to get a divorce and now they are so happy and the feeling in their home is so different. They said they had started reading the Book of Mormon out loud together as a family and it has changed everything!! I am soo grateful for the gospel in my life! I know I am a different person because of the gospel and that through Christ I can do all things! I learned a lot about that this week. It was soo hot out and I didn't feel good but I knew that there were people who needed to hear about the gospel. I know that it was Christ who made it possible for me to find the energy and health to be able to go out and work for a few hours and because of my faith and efforts he helped us to find the people who were prepared to receive the gospel. Sometimes life isn't easy but when we trust in the Savior he will always make everything to be for our benefit and show us the way we can support all things. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all the love and support that you have shown me throughout this last year! I hope you have a great weekend and A merry Christmas!!


Love,
Hermana Rich

Hermana Rich does love her watermelon!