Gotta love being RJ Risueño (Week 12)

My dearest family and friends,

Well this week was crazy as usual! 

For the best part... I LOST MY CREDIT CARD! So awesome. Not. I was so excited about getting my scripture covers made that my credit card went somewhere. Gotta love being RJ Risueño. Hahahaha. Dont worry, the church gives me money. I just felt it was perfect timing because my moms birthday is this week! Oh, and for the 10,000 other people with birthdays this week--Momma Wilson, Momma Stowell, and Aunt Ruthe, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Denise--Happy Birthday. 

Another funny duddy: Its really common for people to buy American shirts to wear here and they have no idea what they say. A lady in my ward was wearing a shirt that had glitters and said WORK THAT. Yup. I about died. So embarrassing for her. I love Bolivians. 

Also, my pensionista has a dog thats big and scary and they call him Bruce Willis, which in Spanish is Bruce Weelee. Its do die for. 

On to the other stuff:

My heart hurts and rejoices for another guardian angel that will be with me as I work as a missionary. Almost every month of my mission, I have experienced a death of a loved one. Grandpa, Linda, and now Pilar Casillas. As much as it hurts, I received a laminated photo of a painting of missionaries walking with angels by their side. Cathy Powers, you are such a great person. Thank you.

One of our investigators, Carlos, is a great man. But Carlos is an addict. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he promised to stop drinking, but we found him drunk and it hurt to see him like that. He was sad, depressed, and his family is in shambles. Family, addictions arent worth it. If you have an addiction, its time to come to Christ. If you feel like there is no way out, there is. 

One of my favorite songs that Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings is called ¨Softly and Tenderly¨and here are some of the lyrics:

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling for you and for me.

Still are the waters he´s waiting and watching.

Watching for you and for me.

´´Come home! Come home!

Ye who are weary, come home.´´

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,

Calling, ¨Oh sinner, come home!¨

I invite each of you to listen to this beautiful song and think about the changes you can make in your life to come to your Savior. How I wish that Carlos would do the same for his sweet family.

In the Book of Mormon, council is given regarding coming to Christ by a prophet named Jacob: ¨Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of day, harden not your hearts.¨

To those who feel like they cant do it, you can. The Atonement reaches so many capacities. I have felt its love in my life. Whether you have an addiction, or whether you have just fallen off the path, the time is now to get back into the Savior´s footsteps. 

I offer my solemn testimony of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The road to happiness isnt easy, but its sure. I love being a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ and I love each and every one of you. Thank you for your letters and your prayers. I know the Savior loves you.

I offer this testimony in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Risueño

Going the Distance (Week 11)

My dearest family and friends,

Wow! Wasnt conference the best or what?? And I got to watch most of it in English! On to that in a few paragraphs...

So this week was a week of miracles. First off, I got a stomach infection which was super fun. I was put on bed rest and slept more. But I felt like my dad and I enjoyed every minute going to get meds and such. I was in my shirt, mesh shorts, and loafers! I am my father´s son! 

Amidst the trials of not having families in our area, or having progressing investigators, our shining light came this week! Selene is a young adult we contacted a few weeks ago then disappeared off the face of the Earth. Well, we found her and we are trying to get her to see the blessings of changing her work schedule so she can make it to church! She wants to get baptized and she knows the Book of Mormon is true! How awesome is that!

Music classes went well this past week! Only about 4 people came, but they are now SUPERB directors of 4/4 time! So great! I loved it! 

Now onto conference... 

God answered so many of my prayers! I just feel so ready to focus on the work! Not only are members SO important to the work, but we need to have faith in each day. I loved Elder Dube´s talk where he spoke of when he was a little boy and he was doing a chore and told his mom, ¨Look how much we´ve done!¨¨ And she responded by saying, ¨No, look how much we have to do!¨ How true that is in missionary work, how true that is in life. 

I was reminded of the great story of Hercules and his journey to find his individual worth:

¨Down an unknown road

To embrace my fate

Though the road may wander,

It will lead me to you.

And a thousand years

Would be worth the wait

It may take a lifetime,

But somehow Ill see it through.

And I wont look back

I can go the distance!

And Ill stay on track

No, I wont accept defeat.

Its an uphill slope, 

But I wont lose hope.

I will go the distance till my journey is complete!¨¨

Family in friends, trust in God. Have patience. Dont look back! Look at all that you can do and will do with God! Dont let your fears stop you from completing your dreams. 

I have faith in you. The Lord does as well. 

Have a great week, and go the distance.

Con muchisimo amor,

Èlder Risueño

Reasons Why Bolivia is the Best (Week 10)

Family and Friends!

Where the heck did September go?! I have no idea, but Im ready for October!

I got my first package this past week! Thank you Bremmer family for the package of Starbursts, the notebook, and your letters!

Aunt Janet asked me if I would share some stuff on the daily life of a Bolivian so I decided this email will do just that.

So why is Bolivia the best place to live??

If you want to go on a ward activity, just drive to random deserted place and take a ton of plucked chickens with you! While youre there, cut up the chickens, and eat them for lunch! Want to eat a chicken heart? Theyre good! A little chewy but good.

Roasting marshmallows is SO old school. A great father son activity is raosting chicken heads!

If your little boy needs to pee, he doesnt need to use a restroom! He can just whip it out and pee outside! So much easier. Totally happened in a lesson.

Mothers, if you need to breastfeed, just breastfeed in public! Its so much easier and even if you do it during a lesson its fine too. Definitely happened.

For lunch, in this hot weather, we eat soup. Its so hard, but its good! and pasta is SO old school. For lunch, we have rice, meat and potatoes!

Toilet paper should not go in the toilet! It needs to go in the trash next to the toilet! Not the nicest, but still works!

Tiendas are miracles! The best way to describe it is its like someone created a shop for people to buy stuff out of their garage. The market is dangerous for us, so tiendas are so awesome.

Washers are way too expensive! Just wash everything by hand and dry outside. Im so grateful for a pensionista that does everything!

And showers have 2 options: Super hot or supèr cold. Choose whichever!

Honestly, this past week, Ive thought of more but something totally crazy happened: I tried to fast only without food, I still drank water, because our investigators arent coming to church and Im just losing patience, and I got super sick. It was super hot and I shouldnt have fasted. So from 2pm yesterday to 7am this morning I slept. And if I wasnt sleeping, I was having diarrhea. It was nasty and yes, I pooped in my pants. Twice. It was so glamorous.

Anyway, in all honesty, I live in a super poor part of Bolivia. Its rough. But I choose to have fun! I choose to laugh at the porn all over and other really bad stuff. I love it here and wouldnt ask for anything else.

Piano lessons, music lessons, and english lessons are all going well. This is my home.

This weekend is General Conference for my church. Its a time to hear a prophets voice and be spiritually uplifted with great counsel on how to better our lives. I hope you all with take a some time to watch this conference. I promise you the great choral music and counsel will change your live.

I love this gospel. I love you.

Con Amor,

Élder Risueño

Character (Week 9)

Hello family!
The weeks are starting to fly by here in Bolivia, thankfully. I want to express the utmost gratitude for those letters this past week. They changed my mission so much. Im especially grateful for the sweet Young Women in 7th ward who wrote me and I cant wait for each of them to receive my responses in the coming months. I received some pictures of Ellyn and one picture was of her with her mustache on, talking on the phone. I loved it so much. It was a reminder that God has put me here in Bolivia to be RJ! To be sassy, well maybe not, but to be me! And this week I have been me! I started piano lessons with 3 young women and I will continue to teach them every week. They know enough for me to meet with them all at once. This Wednesday, music classes start and the people of this ward and investigators will learn how to read music, direct hymns, and sing closer to the right notes haha. Im so grateful for the preparation my past students have given me. Im so grateful for the chances that I was given by parents in my ward to teach their kids! And of course, Mr Keltner did so much to help me too. What a great blessing it is! And next week, English classes will be twice a week. Wow!
Yesterday we had a family at church! How awesome! Our investigators have many problems that we as missionaries cant deal with on our own, so we have to trust the Lords timing and send them to the Bishop. We continue to work hard and try and make a difference in the lives of these people.
Most of my thoughts this week have come from the hymn Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd. Here are some lyrics:
Dear to the heart of the shepherd
Dear are the ninety and nine
Dear are the sheep that have wandered
Out in the desert to climb.

Hark! He is earnestly calling,
Tenderly pleading today.
“Will you not seek for my lost souls
Off from the shelter astray?”

Out in the desert they wander
Hungry, and helpless, and cold
Out to the rescue He hastens
Bringing them back to the fold.

I sing this everyday as I prepare to leave and I plead with God that I will find one soul that I can carry on my back home. This song means the world to me because I am in a desert and I see so many people who need to know that they are important to the Lord. I hope you, too, will ask yourself the same question. Will you find a lost soul that needs to find safety in the arms of the Savior?
I bear you all my testimony of the tender mercies of the Lord. That He knows each of you. Make a list of his tender mercies in your life as a reminder of how personal He is with you. I pray for you all daily and I hope to hear from you all sometime in the next two years.
Con amor,
Elder Risueño

Trials of faith (Week 8)

Dearest family and friends,

(I cant believe Im crying as I write this. I cry all day I think. Mostly out of gratitude, but a lot of times out of frustration and worry.)

First off, thanks for the 20,000 cards for my birthday. Quick commercial interruption: Thanks to... Clint Davis, Sis Huebner, Margaret Crowley, Rachel Lockhart, Meagan and Alyssa Whalen, Sis Akina, Sis Van Patten, Mom and Dad in the OC, my other equally important Mother in the IE, Granny Linda, Kristi Sexton, The Brits, Ellyn, Peggy Hauret, Sis Brodowski and the 7th ward YW. 

Now onto this week: 

First off, I have met Victor Hugo. No joke. We were walking by this black guy who looked like Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock so I went up to him and no joke, it was Victor Hugo! Thats his name! I about died and looked like an idiot because I dont know how to say that VH is one of the most influential authors of this time hahaha. Anyway, great day!

My subject for this weeks topic comes for my dear father. Hes been sick for a while and I have spent so much time thinking about my love for him and all that he has done for me. He has had so many trials of his faith, and I am having the same. But while walking one night, I realized that if my friend Alyssa Whalen were to read the word trials, she would say TRAILS because shes dyslexic. How awesome that was to learn that trials are just trails. 

We met a man named Carlos this past week. Hes a dad, just like mine! He has health problems and his number one worry in his life is the welfare of his children. He doesnt have the gospel in his life and how awesome it was for me to testify to him that his children are watching him. My dad has been sick most of my life. He has been in and out of the hospital, out of work, and just not able to do a lot of things with me. But one thing he has done is he has been the best example of a saint for me. Through his years of enduring pain, he has continued to exercise his Priesthood authority, he works in the temple, he has helped so many people have salvation. My dad has walked through so many hard trials of his faith. Those trials have become trails that I have begun to walk. My dad has served a mission and I am doing the same right now. My dad has endured years of pain that have been unbearable and at times this mission gets to be too much. But I know that my father on Earth, and my father in Heaven know what I have gone through. Im so grateful that my trials in life are helping others. I hope my dad knows how much I love him and how grateful for his impact in my life. I have changed so much in the past two months of missionary service and I cant wait to see how much I continue to change in the next 22 months. 

Carrie Underwood says it best: 

Sometimes that mountain youll be climbing is just a grain of sand

And what youve been out there searching for forever, its in your hand!

And when you figure out love is all that matters after all

It sure makes everything else seem so small.

Have a good week everyone,

Con Amor,

Elder Risueño

Sigan Adelante! (Week 7)

Hello family and friends! 

Bolivia is hotter than hell right now. I can say hell because its in the Bible and its how I feel. Its so humid and I take two cold showers a day and love it! What makes it even more interesting is in our only main meal of the day, lunch, our first dish is SOUP! Who the heck thought of that?!! I have no idea, but its pretty darn delish. After soup, we have rice and meat usually. Thats right, meat. Who knew Id ever like the taste? 

Regarding the packages and cards, the packages take about 2 months for me to get, and the cards come every few weeks, tambien. Please dont freak out or worry, but if I dont write a thank you email two months after youve sent it, Ill call the mission office. Thanks in advance for your cards and such! I love you all!

Spanish is coming along. Ive definitely had enough meltdowns to last a lifetime. Sometimes I just never understand what the people are saying and my roommates dont speak much English either. I thank God for my trials and just tell my companions my eyes are sweating because everywhere else is too. 

English class was so good! 20 or so people came! They really enjoyed it and I have a lot to learn on how to teach these people. 

Another weird story: This is from yesterday: So my companion is teaching this guy who really is kind of weird, but I liked him! I just had NO IDEA what he was saying so Í just looked around and BAM! A rooster hops on a chicken, the chicken screams, and babies are formed. So we are leaving the lesson, and I tell my companion how weird it is to see that, then right as I see two dogs next to each other, one dog sniffs the other´s behind and WABAM! Another few babies are formed. I kind of just stared for a bit then thought: Sex is NOT something that we should be doing on the Sabbath day! I may change my mind later, but as a missionary, it was just a prompting I felt I needed to tell you all. Love you!!

So we are hoping for a mother, Viviana, and her 3 children to be baptized this month. We dont know because she has a lot to work on, but it was awesome because last night she was confiding in me some trials she had been having and I had no idea what she was saying but I could tell she felt alone and I was so grateful for my huge cryfest I had a week ago that has helped me know that I am not alone. Trials are for a reason! After I said that, she tearfully told me: Yo quiero cambiar. That means, I want to change. Man, I totally lost it because THAT IS WHY IM HERE! Yeah, its hard. But I want to change people. 

My birthday was pretty great. Hna Willard (my Mission Mom) called at nighttime and it was great to vent and hear her stories from her first week in the mission. My comp made me a cool card and my other roommate made my a poster to share with you guys. Hopefully I can send it. The pensionista made chicken and rice for lunch which was cute AND she bought a cake. To top it all off, my columbian roommate cooked some meat and of course threw flour and eggs all over me. I hate that stuff. I would have rather they made some french toast with that flour and eggs, but nonetheless I smiled and didnt kill anyone. 

This year, I have decided that I want to spend my time as a 19 year old becoming converted. I want to know my Savior and become like Him. If any of you have time in the next few weeks, think of a profound moment when you were converted to the God. You dont have to be a Mormon to write it, you just have to love the Savior. Once you do that, please send it to my mom, and mom, if you could send one or two every few weeks, that would be great.

Ellyn wrote me a letter a few weeks ago and on the back it said SIGA ADELANTE which I had no idea what it meant so I just laughed. A few days ago, I was reading 1 Nephi 4 and verse 7 says, Nevertheless, I went forth. That translates into Segui adelante. What a tender mercy it was for me to know that my sister knows my trials. Nephi felt alone in that moment, but went forth. We all must do the same. 

I love you all so much. This mission is so hard. But I love it with all my heart. I love you all. I know that this gospel can change the lives of people. Please continue to pray for me. I need the strength to make it through the day. Pray for all the missionaries and people who have been prepared for our message.

Con amor,

Elder Risueño

P.S. Someone tell Laurel Evans HAPPY BIRTHDAY! She sent me a card, I got it in Peru, but I have no idea when my card will get to her. 

Landed in Bolivia! (Week 6)

My loving family and friends,

I hope all is well in the great states that are united, except Alaska and Hawaii. I had no idea it was Labor Day. At least I will remember my birthday now.

I have had one of the worst and greatest weeks. I feel like God just took all of my weaknesses, laid them out in front of me for a few days, and told me to take those weaknesses and make them strengths. What a rough, but great start to a mission.

I loved calling my parents on Tuesday. All of them! So heres what has happened since...

The flight was rough, but good. We all slept well on the flight haha. We met Pres y Hna Willard when we got off and man they are the most awesome people I have ever met. Hna Willard has a southern accent. So look at her picture, had a Brena Leigh Johnson twist with Spanish and youve got Hna Willard! Love her and her husband a ton. Well get to them later..

So the bus ride to the Mission office was crazy awesome. Rich Santa Cruz is super green with EMUS! Thats right, we saw emus. Theyre pretty much ostriches. So we went to the mission office and had interviews and just enjoyed each others company. We had subway and I freaked when Pres Willard said I could teach piano as a service opportunity here... More on that later too.

We had family home evening and ate pizza. I teared up when Pres Willard told us that after having interviewed each of us, he knew that we are the tithing to the mission. We are the 10% of the mission, 20 of us, who are the best missionaries he has met. How awesome.