More than just a date of birth

Holy goodness!

This week has been crazy, so I apologize if its a longer email this
week. but lets get through the crazies!

I got to eat american food this week! Yay! And OF COURSE I ate pasta!
Tortellini! My comp loved it too. And we had a MIRACLE! WE FOUND DIET
COKE! It cost 1.50, but still. We had a great time burping through
life. It was a great day.

Aside from that, I have also eaten cow intestine (good, but chewy), a
jello made out of boiled cow foot (totally couldnt tell... so good), I
had a dog sniff my foot and then pee on it, and my favorite of all? We
went to go to visit a contact on my birthday and we went FAR AWAY and
a drunk man approached us in his truck and oh heck. I thought I was
going to be robbed. (Mom and dad, nothing happened dont freak.) So I
said a prayer and asked God to guide me, even though the drunk couldnt
hurt me because he was REALLY DRUNK so I just kept talking to him and
saying DIOS LE AMA! God loves you. And before I knew it, he was crying
and reached his head out the window to kiss me on the cheek! Yup. I
can schmooz drunks really well. And on my birthday. Winning.

My birthday itself was fantastic. I ate some traditional bolivian
food, they threw eggs and flour on me, and my comp even added a tomato
to throw on me! I was so loved that day. But the best event of all?
Fernando got baptized. And I baptized him. And it was beautiful I felt
calm and it was great. And after his baptism, he got to bear his
testimony and I had never heard his testimony before because hes kind
of closed about that stuff so when he got up and bore the sweetest
testimony EVER my comp and I got tearey eyed and just rejoiced in
being missionaries. Needless to say, I am just so grateful to be a
missionary. Thanks for the birthday wishes and everything.

Now this weeks message:
This week we got trained on Family History! We havent really focused
on it as a mission, but this week changed everything! We got super
cool pamphlets to fill out and to hand out and I am going to work with
my family to get all the info I need so I can share with others! Its
been AMAZING!!! I was filled with the Spirit of Elijah all week. But
what was the crowning moment of this week was my personal study on my
birthday:
I prayed really hard to find out what to study and I felt like I
needed to write a summary on Family History. I felt like it was kind
of boring, but it turned out well. With a few minutes left, I turned
to a general conference talk by Elder Cook entitled Roots and
Branches. While reading it, I was once again filled with this great
spirit of family history work and I saw that a quote from Brigham
Young cited in the talk was dated September 6th. My date of birth. The
quote emphasized temple work. Wow, I thought. What a coincidence! And
then I was reminded of a section of Doctrine and Covenants written
September 6th, as well. So I went to the 128th section and saw the
topic: Temple work. I realized it was no more a coincidence. I started
to tear up there in my apartment as I realized that my September 6th
is more than just a date of birth, it is a date of temple work. And it
was a date of conversion, my personal conversion, to temple work. My
fellow missionaries, I invite each of you to work this week to convert
yourself more to this marvelous temple work. To find your family
members, or other people, and help save the dead just as I am saving
the living. I echo the words of President Woodruff who said “I look
upon this portion of our ministry as a mission of as much importance
as preaching to the living; the dead will hear the voice of the
servants of God in the spirit-world, and they cannot come forth in the
morning of the [first] resurrection, unless certain ordinances are
performed, for [them].” He also said, “It takes just as much to save a
dead man … as a living man.

To all who are reading this, I testify of a Savior who did a great
work for us so that we could be return to the presence of our Father
in Heaven AS A FAMILY. I also testify that we can be Saviors,
ourselves, for those who need important ordinances such as baptism,
but cannot because they have passed to the other side of the veil. How
grateful I am for my father who has been the greatest example of a
temple working missionary in my life. He and my mom have always been
showing me the importance of hastening the Lords work for our
ancestors.

I finish with the text from a hymn I learned just this morning:
Now, o ye saints, rejoice today that you can Saviors be
Of all your dead who will obey the gospel and be free
Then let us rise without restraint and act for those we love
For they are giving their consent and wait for us to move
(The Glorious Gospel Light Has Shone Hymn 283)

We have a work to do!
For a dollar!
Elder Risueño

Picture of his zone with President Willard and his wife:

I dont know about you,but Im feeling 20, too!

Hello family!

Can you all just take a second to listen to some Taylor Swift because I DONT KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT IM FEELING TWENTY, TOO! I have literally waited over a year to start singing that. Holla.

Anyway, some cool stuff about this week. The coolest? I went on exchanges again with my good friend Elder Gygi. We started the mission at the same time, and have served half of our missions in the same zone. Last exchange we went on was back in December so it was nice to get back together. And then we realized the first time we had been
companions for a day was Tuesday, August 27th, 2013 when we flew from Peru to Bolivia. And 52 weeks later, on Tuesday August 26th, 2014, we were comps yet again! So fun! And we ate Mac n Cheese and sang Nacho
Libre! Fun life!

Ready for even crazier news? So I want y'all to go back to when I came here to Tarija, back in March. The ward secretary bore his testimony my first sunday and said that he felt that the Spirit had told him that I was sent to the ward to teach and baptize his father… That was 5 months ago. And we have worked and his father is getting baptize... THIS SATURDAY!! MY BIRTHDAY! I know! Dreams do come true. I love little old Fernando Villegas and he is so ready to be baptized. Yay!

So this week has been kind of hard as usual, but I always find some sort of happiness. So we went to visit a family going through a LOT of struggles and we visited them every day. Becuase they needed the love. So one day we were talking and Bro Mario is sick with stomach problems, his wife is working and is a little sick, and there are family problems. Sounds like my family! And he just kept talking about how once he has his surgery all will be better and if they only had the money to have the surgery life would be perfect. As he spoke, I opened my scriptures, but not to a scripture, I simply took out a laminated photo of my dad and me. I told the man of my familys story. How we thought all would be back to normal once they took out my dads pancreas. But once that happened, it didnt get better. That was 7 years ago and were still fighting this illness. And I told them that my family is sealed in a holy temple, my sister and I are both on missions, and my parents love and serve the Lord. But wait! Don't we have a ton of trials and isn't life hard? Yes. But we have decided to smile and serve because that's all we can do. We literally have nothing left. We do what we can and leave the rest to the Lord. No excuses. This family sat there astounded. Everyone knows me as the smiliest missionary ever, but they don't know what I've been through. And that's what I want. But there are times when people need to know that since JESUS CHRIST is the center of our beliefs and our religion, He must
also be at the center of our lives.

I am so grateful for my parents and my sister who have both taken to heart the meaning of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That because of our Savior and Redeemer, we can overcome our imperfections just as much as we will all overcome death. But there are problems that will always be there. And there is a person who will walk with us just as we walk battle life's stormy seas.

I know many of you have sent emails and cards, THANK YOU, but I ask for each of you to make a decision to serve the Lord by serving others.

There is a hymn (a family favorite!) thats teaches the following:

Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me
Find in thee my strength, my beacon
For thy servant, I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother
Lord, I would follow thee.

I testify that He is our only strength that will be able to help us each day. I testify that He is our only beacon to guide us through each dark night. And as we prepare for celestial glory, we may also realize that the glory in such places as temples come from the glory of Christ. So if we are preparing to receive the glory of the Sun, we are also preparing to emulate the glory, and love, of the Son.

With my last weekly email as a TEENager,
Elder Risueño... The almost 20 year old.

The Unseen Power to Aid Me and You (Week 56)

Dearest family and friends!

This week has been SO HARD, but great. I cant explain how, after so many times just reflecting on the person I've become and the person I'm becoming, I just get on my knees and tell God, Thanks.

MY BIRTHDAY CAME EARLY THIS WEEK! I kind of laughed as I saw that my parents birthday package was not typical for a 20 year old. The main component was a scripture bag and a book called Angels by Donald Parry. OH MY GOSH! To all you latter day saint doctrine loving readers out there, my dad sent me an amazing book. I got about 2 hours to just read and soak in the beauty of this book. It has changed my life. I am constantly looking to see where the angels are leading me and to see their hands in my life

My companion and I are progressing so swimmingly. We are teaching great lessons and I feel like we are bringing the spirit in as strongly as we can through inspired and guided questions. We speak only a little bit now and let the questions and desires of our investigators guide our lessons. I can't wait to share more of this method when I get home. My district is enjoying the blessings too. We practice A TON on seeing where each investigator is on their conversion journey and how we can help them progress through scripture study. LOVE.

The only problem? The people reject our invitations and don't want us to visit them. We had an AMAZING lesson based on John 21 with an investigator on Friday and invited him to leave his work so that he could follow Christ more (works in a bar Saturday nights and Sunday mornings) and he said yes in the moment, but when Sunday came he said no and sadly we won't return to teach him. It's been like that all week. But I still work. I still smile. And I still search for new people and I still love the Lord. (A big thanks to mom, dad, and bishop for going to the temple on Friday. We had 6 lessons in about 6 hours that day. Thanks thanks thanks.)

This week I just wish to address each of you as my fellow missionaries. Each of you, I hope, is trying to know God on a more personal level, and in turn share that love with others. It's not an easy task. I have learned that so clearly this week. But how grateful I am for the comfort that comes from an amazing talk called Missionary Work and the Atonement by Elder Holland. He shares with us the following:

¨The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, and the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him--the Way, the Truth, the Life.¨

To those of you who are suffering in whatever manner, I remind you that you are surrounded by angels who love you and are watching over you. They are sent there by direction from the One who loves you more than anyone, your Heavenly Father. My simple invitation to you comes, as usual, in the form of a hymn entitled, Let Us All Press On:

We will not retreat, though our numbers may be few

When compared with the opposite host in view
But an unseen powr (ANGELS!!!) will aid me and you

In the glorious cause of truth.

My fellow missionaries, Let us all Press on LOOKING FOR THE ANGELS IN OUR LIVES! That's what I want you all to know. That I love my Savior. I love what He has done for me and what He continues to do for me. I will not give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the cause of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me and when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. (See Fellowship of the Unashamed by President Eyring. And memorize it.)

For a dollar!

Elder Risueño

Los Milagros Empiezan con MI! (Week 55)

Hello dearest family and friends!

Well, I am now 13 months old!!! And my sister is 16 months old!! that's so crazy! I cant believe she's finishing up.

So I love herbal tea. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Random habit found in Bolivia. Its so good to drink after lunch and or before bed. 

And I know I've gained some weight, but it got kind of awkward when I went to sit on the edge of my comps bed to help him with some struggles and as I sat down WABAM! We both fell to the floor as I broke the wooden bed frame. WHATEVER! I laughed and it took forever to fix, but I love life!

This week has been difficult, but my last name is RISUEÑO, so I have to keep smiling and I am! Last Monday we had an amazing lesson that changed my life. So we made a book of miracles for a family that we're helping and as I wrote the word MILAGRO, I saw that the first two letters were MI, or in English, ME! And that's when I came up with the phrase, Los milagros empiezan con mi! Miracles start with ME! I shared with the family that for us to see miracles, WE need to have the faith to see them! But a great elder in my district, Elder Marcely, changed my thoughts. He taught that WE need to be the first and most important miracle in our lives! Before I can expect to see a miracle with someone else or a miracle with my work, I need to have a miracle happen within my Spirit. 

That led me to one of my favorite parts of the hymn I Believe in Christ:
I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!

From him I'll gain my fondest dream;

And while I strive through grief and pain,

His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."

I wish to add something to what this verse teaches. Even if we aren't striving through grief in pain, even if we are dancing through joy and relief, we need to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Each person seeks that voice. No matter where we are, no matter how far or how close we are to Him, we seek Him. With all we have. And until we find Him, we are not eternally filled. My dearest family, the miracles of Jesus Christ were not just for those who were blind, or lame, or leprous. The miracles are for each and every one of us. The Lord will seek us if we cant come to Him, but He looks at our desires. I invite each of you to seek that voice. To find the comfort to keep you going this week. Yesterday we went from having 160 people in sacrament meeting to having 110. When I saw how many people weren't there, even a someone set to receive the Melchesedek Priesthood, I wasn't angry. I wanted to go find them and tell them I loved them and wanted them back. I know the Shepherd thinks the same things about His lost sheep. I pray that you recognize a great miracle this week, a miracle in yourself. Don't just go through the motions of life because its what you're supposed to do. Do it because you're becoming something. And let us live in such a manner that we can stand with Him one day.

I believe in Christ; so come what may,

With him I'll stand in that great day

When on this earth he comes again

To rule among the sons of men.

Con amor,

Elder Risueño

P.S. I also invite you to learn a spanish phrase this week: LOS MILAGROS EMPIEZAN CON MI!

Saving Souls with Eternity and PB&J (Week 54)

Hello family!

This week has been really great and I cant wait to share some of the fun stories of what has been happening here in Tarija, Bolivia!

So for a fun thing, we are working with families so we are trying to find fun activities and such for Family Home Evening and I came up with the idea of introducing something so strange… PB N J SANDWICHES! That’s right. We are now going to our families and not only saving them eternally, but showing them the love we have for Peanut Butter! We have had so much success and Ive had a ton of fun! J

Another fun thing this week was that an Assistant to the President joined us yet again for a few hours during our proselyting. Its not very common that the APs accompany us since were not Zone Leaders, but they love being with us! The second time in 3 weeks they’ve come to be with us. My companion says it’s a sign Im bound to be an AP, but I know its because my mouth is almost as big as my heart, and they love how I make them laugh. But I loved being with Elder Knight for a time. How I feel so blessed to have so many people here in Bolivia who touch my life!

This week has been a great week for us, musically, as well. A few days ago we had a Zone Conference and each of the five zones was in charge of a musical number… And I ended up accompanying three of those five. And only one was really a musical number arrangement. And it was one of my favorite pieces, Savior Redeemer, of my Soul. I hadn’t played it in more than 6 months, I only practiced it once before the meeting, but I knew the Lord had given me this talent to bless the lives of others. So I played it. And somehow I finished the piece and saw my Mission President with tears In his eyes. The room was quiet because the spirit was so present with us and I knew that I had made mistakes, but I had shared my love and my testimony through this piece. I firmly believe I was blessed with this gift because the Lord knew I would use it to bless his children. I thank my parents, and my amazing teacher Grandma Nancy Cotter for always reminding me that for a listener who needs the Lord, they look not for a song of perfection, they look for a song of testimony and of love for the Savior.

One of the text from the hymn teaches us the following:

Oer rule mine acts to serve thine ends,

Change frowning foes to smiling friends

Chasten my soul till I shall be

In perfect harmony with thee

Make me more worthy of thy love

And fit me for thy life above.

As my teary eyed president shook the hand of Hna Thorley, who had sang, and as he shook my hand, I just marveled at the piano. I thought of the sons of Mosiah who had been instruments in the hands of the Lord. (Mosiah 27:36)   I had been that instrument. And each of us can be. From being a pianist, I will forever remember that the Lord doesn’t and will never require immediate perfection from His instruments like us. He requires humility, love, and a testimony. He wants to fit us for His kingdom, but to do so He must use us to build his kingdom and He must tune and refine us until we are in perfect harmony with him.  Mother Theresa said, "Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love."  Use her example and do some small things this week with great love as an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

This week we have found many families to teach. It has been a miracle. We have 4 investigators with baptismal dates for the 6^th of September. No one knows why I love that date so much haha. Well work for that date!

I love you all and I love that I found Kraft Mac n Cheese this week in the supermarket!

For a dollar,

The elder who is now using normal shoes because his toenail is slowly coming back to life.

Elder Risueño

Doing our Good Turn Daily (Week 53)

Hello family!
Happy Monday, as usual. I hope you are all enjoying your summer
vacation and just loving life at home. Life here is really awesome!
On a great note: My big toe is doing super well! Friday they took off
my bandage and now Im walking fine! Yay me! And after looking for like
3 hours, I found sandals that fit me and were my size. People thought
my shoe size, 46 in Bolivia, was a joke. But I found sandals! And even
a member of the Area 70 commented on my amazing sandals. Good thing he
was laughing! He also told me I played piano well during Sacrament
Meeting! Yay for Elder Valderrama.
I am still here in Tabladita. It'll be my 4th transfer here so Ill mark
just under 6 months in the same area. Elder Fasabi and I are still
together and that is perfect. I am so excited to be able to spend my
20th birthday in a great area with a great companion. And my friend
Hna Davenport is back in my ward and Elder Gygi, my best friend in the
mission, is my Zone Leader. Happy Birthday RJ!
So this week was kind of hard. But it was a great time to reflect and
I love those times. I thought back to when I was a Boy Scout. I used
to be a self proclaimed Anti Boy Scout for most of my life. I hated
camping and tying knots so I decided the Eagle Scout award wasn’t
worth it. Then after many years, my perspective changed one day. I saw
Scouting in a new light. It wasn’t all about the merit badges and
fulfilling the requirements and camping. Rather, it was all about
changing who I was and becoming a better representative of God and my
country. And it was that moment, that I decided to become an Eagle
Scout. The requirements were more like handrails on the trail to
manhood. I loved the slogan, ¨Do a good turn daily¨ because I saw it
as turning to Christ. Once I received my Eagle Scout award I spoke of
how we must follow the example of the flowers who turn to the Sun each
day, and we must turn to the Son each day. As I reflected on this part
of my life, I was led to the following text of a hymn:
Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?

It continues…
Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.

I was reminded that we must be a person who sees being a member of the
Church because we love eating refreshments or chatting with others. We
must be a member who goes to church because we feel refreshed by
Christ and we have time to chat with His Spirit. Last night I was
taught a very powerful lesson: I was prompted to go visit a Less
Active I hadn’t taught in months. I thought he didn’t like me and he
was part of the sisters area so I kind of forgot about him. Well, God
said we needed to go back. At that moment. So we went. And he was
drunk. He told us of how he loved how I was always so positive and he
used us an excuse to not drink. (He would tell his friend he couldn’t
drink because the elders were going to visit him each day.) Then we
stopped visiting him and he turned to drinking. And it was that moment
that he needed us. Jose Maria needed more love from the Lord then and
he will need it much more. He said that he believed that the Lord had
let us stop visiting him to see how he could do alone. But Jose
couldn’t do it alone and fell again. And now he is starting his
journey, yet again with the Savior. He will work to turn to the Savior
each day.
This week I invite each of you to find a hymn that you can read, sing,
or listen to, before you pray. I know that it will help each of you
not just turn to the Lord daily, but do a good turn daily. As you
listen to the hymn, I know that you will be find the Lord even closer
to you than before.
He answers privately, (not in crowded areas)
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.

I love each of you and hope you all have a good week.

Love,
The elder with only nine toe nails… Elder Risueño

The loss of my big toe nail... :) (Week 52)

Well family,

Each week we all seem to be amazed with what I write and I am too! Haha this week has been so different, but so magnificent. I pray that the words I am writing will touch you and help you in each of your struggles.

So the day before Leo and Moises baptism about a week and a half ago, I felt a SEARING pain in my toe. And I avoided it. BAD CHOICE. I waited till Monday and showed it to my pensionista and she did her own surgery which hurt but didnt solve the problem. So Wednesday I humbled myself and went to the doctor. For my close family and friends, you know how sacred my big toe is in my family. It is practically a member of the family it is so big. So when the doctor looked at it and said, we are taking the whole toe nail, a part of me died. And I am a big baby. I am not ashamed of being a mommys boy. So she started with one injection of anesthesia, but because my toe is SO BIG (thanks Aunt Janet for always making sure my big toe was full) it took FOUR injections to calm the pain for the sucker. And it still hurt. I still screamed and was not happy. And there was one super important part that happened:

So the pain was not going away and the doctor was working on my toe and stopped the surgery and said the following: 

Look, your toe is infected and there is puss. The anesthesia doesnt take care of the pain that comes from this so youll have to get through it without help.
Dang it. I looked around. Mom wasnt there. No gringos were there. I was surrounded by foreign people. And I asked my companion for a pillow to hold and I didnt even have that. So I just grabbed the side of the bed and the only thing that came to mind was to shout really loudly the texts to I am a child of God and Families can be together forever. And so inbetween yells of pain, I managed to squeeze out a reminder that I was a child of a Heavenly Father who loves me and also earthly parents who love me. I know it may not seem so brave to have done that, but to me it was. I could have cursed God in English or said WHY ME or something like that. But I chose to thank God for what He had given me. And when the pain became unbearable, I cried in a vocal prayer asking for God to send someone to help me with the pain, and I didnt feel anything. and it was then I realized that the Savior had been with me all along. That he had sent angels long before I had asked him too.

I have thought so much about that moment. Sometimes we get so focused on praying for God to help us get through a trial or for Him to give us the help we need, but do we ever think that maybe he has already ¨been there and done that¨? I know that each of you is suffering, but are you changing your vision to see Gods care for you? 

More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suff'ring,

More sorrow for sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer.

Thats a hymn that I have read and sung many times this week. I see this verse as a step by step process. We have desires to receive holiness, and that leads us to have greater desires, but greater trials as well. As we recognize our weaknesses and sins, it gives us more faith in the One who can take away these struggles, and that leads to our awareness of Him in our lives, a joy that comes as we serve Him, and better prayers that come from knowing Him.

The day after my surgery I went to get my toe cleaned, and while on the way in a taxi, I spoke to a young lady for a good minute or toe (two. haha punny). I took down her contact info and gave it to the sisters. Last night as I was asking the sisters for how many investigators had a baptismal date, they said that this young lady and her mother both have baptismal dates. Ana was looking for someone to help her grow closer to Christ and she found it as I chose to see my life with Christ by my side, not just with Christ when I need Him.

I am fine now. I am walking well and we are teaching. I love each of you and I love my trials. I love my earthly father who was ordained an Elder 30 years ago, tomorrow. I am sure he was unaware of the trials that he would endure at that tender age of 19, just as I am unaware of the same now. But in the past 30 years he has continued to go forth and has done the Lords work, regardless of his struggles. And I will do the same.

For a dollar!
Elder Risueño