November 14, 2016

Hola Familia!! 

This week was really great!! We worked really hard and as a result we found a lot of miracles!!  

This week we had made a goal to have 21 charlas(lessons) with investigators!! Of course everything was going along smoothly and it looked like we were going to meet our goal and our phone stopped working..and that is why we have now been going almost a week without a phone. It makes things a little difficult when the next set of missionaries live two hours away from you! But we made it work AND we had 21 charlas this week!! We were sooo excited!! 

We also received a new mission leader this past week and he has been working so hard!! One of the miracles that we saw from this week was a direct result from Hermano Ancheta having desires to share the gospel. He has always worked with the missionaries a lot and this past week an old investigator informed him that she and her family wanted to get baptized! So we went out there and it is true!! There are four people in this house that want to get baptized and we are super excited!! 

Another fun thing that happened this week is that Uruguay was playing against Ecuador and as a result there was NO ONE in the streets and every house was watching the game..we always knew what was going on because the whole town freaked out over everything! It was really fun!!  

This week I have been reading in Alma in the Book of Mormon and studying about the second coming of Christ. The time really is not so far off when we will be in Christs presence and one scripture really stood out to me from my reading in Alma. It is when King Lamoni is learning of the faithfulness of Ammon and he says that he has never had such a faithful servant. (Alma 18:10). But it made me think What is Christ saying about my service? Am I serving to the best of my abilities? The time is not too far off when I will have to respond to these questions face to face. I would like to invite you to think of some ways that we can serve Christ a little more in our lives so that when the time comes the Lord can say the same about us like what  King Lamoni said about Ammon! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Rich

November 7, 2016

Hey family!! 

This week was really great!! We had a couple of random alerts that resulted in us staying in the house as well as my companion hasn't been feeling too well but we still got soo much work done! I am so excited to be out and working again!! The weather here is soo insane! Earlier this past week I was freezing to death with rain and super cold wind and at the end of the week I was sunburned and dying from heat! It is supposed to be raining again tomorrow so we will see how that goes! 

So funny story..like I said we have been working a ton right? Which I am really enjoying but it is kind of tough adjusting from a schedule of no work and no walking to a schedule of walking/running all the time! One day we went straight from lunch to a charla(lesson) and this was the day that it was freezing cold! Well as a result I was super tired and I learned when you put me in a nice warm room when I am super full and tired my mind doesn't work too well...in spanish tan poco! And this my friends is the story of how I started talking in English in the middle of a charla!! I seriously have never been so tired in a charla in my entire life!! This was also the day that we went and visited the farthest part of my area called Pueblito de Dios. It is called Pueblito de dios because it is so far out there that only God remembers them..yeah, that is a five mile walk one way!! Fun stuff right? But it worked out fine! The lady understood and I was able to get it together!! 

Another really exciting thing that happened this week is that we had seven investigators at church!! All of who want to start to receive the charlas or are already receiving them!! We were sooo excited!!  

Something I read the other day really stood out to me in Moroni 6:4. At the end it talks about how Christ is the author and perfeccionador de nuestra fe!(perfector of our Faith)  It made me think of our investigator, Omar. He really struggles with himself because he was a super smart and rich man before. Then some robbers came and robbed him of everything that he had and while he was fighting for his life suffered some head trauma. Well as a result he struggles to remember things like before! To us he is remembering soo much but he gets frustrated! But he has faith in Christ that everything is going to be okay and continues to strengthen himself to remember and study to prepare for baptism! It is the same with us! Christ is the author and perfeccionador of our faith. Through him all is possible and if we will put our trust in him he will help develop our faith and show us the way! I hope you all can feel the love that our father in heaven has for you and can put your trust in his son Jesus Christ! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Hermana Rich

October 31, 2016

Hola familia! 

 

This week was really great! I am lovng my new area alot along with my companion Hermana Rios! She is the greatest thing ever! I had a fantastic birthday and I wanted to say thank you for all the notes!! They made my week! Best present ever! 

 

My ward is really great and the members want to help us so much! Funny story, my first ten minutes in the church building and I got asked to speak in sacrament and teach in sunday school...the same day! It was pretty funny but it turned out really well! My area is just fields for farming or nothing with a town in the middle and I love it! We were able to put two baptismal dates this week for the 19 of November so that makes three! We are super super excited about it!! Something else that I am loving about my area is the fireflies!! At night is my favorite time of day!! It looks like the fields are exploding because there are soo many firfelies!!  

 

My companion pointed them out to me on my two hour bus ride to our area from the stake center. At first I didn't see them but once I started really looking they were everywhere!! I can't get enough of them! But it made me think about the gospel. If we aren't truly looking for opportunities to share the gospel we will never really see them. But once we start looking they pop up everywhere!! When we were baptized we made the promise to be witnesses of Jesus Christ at all times in all things and in all places! Not just sometimes! I invite you all to start looking for more opportunities to serve others and share the gospel. I promise as you do so they will start popping up everywhere. And just like I love these fireflies you will love the opportunity to be a witness to our Savior. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Rich

 

The last week together for Hermana Rich and Hermana Paul!

Hermana Paul is going home and Hermana Rich is going to miss her!

Farming fields or nothing....

This girl had a birthday this week!

And I think she had a good birthday!

 

October 25, 2016

Hello Friends and Family!

 

This week was super, super great!! 

To start off the viajantes, our sister training leaders, came and worked in our area with us! In my area we were struggling to find new investigators, so I had done a fast asking the Lord to help us find new people to teach: Well as a result, that day alone we found 3 new investigators!!It was soo awesome and they all have soo much potential!! Two of them are brothers and their mom is a less active member that no one knows lives in our area! It was such a miracle and just goes to show that the lord really does prepare the people to receive the message of the restored gospel. we just have to be willing to open our mouths and talk with everyone!! 

 

We also did a thing called a capill abierta inour zone.  Acappilla abierta is where we invite everyone to come and take a tour of the church and we have a statue of Christ like from Utah and we teach throughout the tour. You are basically a temple square missionary and we did that on Saturday night. It was the most successful capilla abierta that the mission has seen!! Plus it was soooo fun! We had to teach all five lessons in about fifteen minutes! I absolutely loved it!!  

 

As for cambios!! I am getting transferred!! I am moving to the interior with an Hermana from Bolivia, Hermana Rios! She has about five months on the mission and we are going to be in Sarandi del Yi! I have heard a lot of super awesome things about this area so it should be really fun! I am really sad to be leaving Pando after only one change but the Lord knows what is best for his work! They are going to put in elders on our side of the area and see if that change will help the Ward! I really think this change was inspired and will help Pando a lot!!  

But I love you all and I hope you have a great week filled with miracles!! 

 

Love, 

Hermana Rich

 

 

October 17, 2016

Hola familia! 

This week was really good! We had a lot of fun things happen! 

 

To start off I did a lot of intercambios(exchanges) with Hermana Mejia because Hermana Peay is still having problems with her foot. I love going out with Hermana Mejia.  She is soo funny! We also contacted a guy that would only talk to me in English! It was really weird because Hermana Mejia doesn't know a lot of English so I had to talk to the guy in Spanish the whole time! I have tried contacting people in English and I can't even do it! It is so hard!!  

 

Also, for one of our lunches this week we had to pass by an abandoned train station. Well Hermana Paul LOVES to take pictures so naturally we took advantage of the opportunity! Well while I was in the middle of climbing into one of these abandoned trains (in a skirt mind you) this old, shirtless man walks out of one of the trains!! Apparently he lives in this abandoned train and I felt sooo awkward!! He just kind of stared at me and we had a few minutes of awkward eye contact and then he went back into his train!! It was a pretty funny experience! Just try and picture me in a skirt climbing into this big old train and you get the idea! It made for a good lauhg that is for sure! 

Also, Hermana Peay has developed a new talent this week that we are not too thrilled about. I woke up a few nights ago to Hermana Peay teaching charlas(lessons), in Spanish, in her sleep! Super consecrated right? It will be all fine and dandy except she is basically yelling in her sleep!!  

 

This week I was able to receive and answer to a prayer that I have had in my heart this entire change really. Our ward has been really struggling and I have been praying to know how to help all change. Well in the middle of ward council it just came!! I suggested doing a scripture study class and all the members loved it!! It just made sense. If we get back to the basics and focus on what is most important we will also have a firm testimony! It was just a testimony builder to me that the basics are so important and fundamental to our testimonies. Heavenly Father gave us these tools for that exact purpose! I know as we use them to our best abilities the Lord will bless us! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Rich