Craziest week of my LIFE! (Week 35)

Family!

Greetings from beautiful TARIJA, Bolivia! If you get some free time, I invite you to google it. Its SUPER PRETTY and the people are awesome. But well get to that in a second...

So the last few days in Trompillo were so difficult. I knew I would be leaving so we bought icecream from the fast food restaurant, we bought Pizza, and I pigged out on Pan and chocolate. It was hard. But something awesome that I was able to do was teach a missionary lesson in ENGLISH! No joke! We found a guy who said HEY! I WANT TO LEARN ENGLISH! and I said HEY! I WANT TO TEACH THE GOSPEL! So I taught him in English. His family is super awesome and I think theyll get baptized one day. Super awesome.

So lets fast forward to where I am now! I am in a Ward called Tabladita and my zone is called Guadalquivir. No joke. I had no idea how to spell it for the first few days, too. Im not training, but its like Im opening an area. The area was just redivided so the sisters would have more area to work with, and they took all of our investigators. I am Senior companion, which basically means I get to be in charge of the cell phone and where we go and what we do. The problem? Our area is HUGE!! No joke. Its ALL hills and it even goes to a few pueblos. My companions name is Elder Zavaleta, hes from Peru and has about 10 months in the mission! Hes SUPER awesome. Like we both get lost together, but we teach so well. I know that once we get to know our area and can find where these people live, we will be SO awesome!

Oh! So while at the airport waiting for my flight, I DEFINITELY ate Cinnabon! and fresh out of the oven? I was in HEAVEN! Ahhh the wordly life. And then when I got to my area, I got a burger from a place called KRUSTY BURGER! All Simpsonified. No joke. Anyway, my area is like St George put in Provo. Its all hills, but with like no one walking outside their house. No joke. They all work outside of the area because its super hard to find work in Tarija. We have dogs who follow us and its pretty crazy because theyll walk with us and well have to throw rocks at the other dogs who try to attack them because the dogs here in Tarija are VERY territorial. Not like Ill get bitten, but I definitely carry rocks with me.

Im definitely in what I call a building ward. I am going to get a plan going so that these members are strengthened. I know that I was put here for a reason and these people LOVE ME! They love my name, too! Every time I got to know someone and told them my name was Elder RISUEÑO, they thought it was a joke. So I have been keeping my smile going and going and going. There was a member who even bore his testimony yesterday and in front of EVERYONE said, ¨I know Elder Risueño has been sent here to baptize my father. He has the faith and the love to do it and I know he will be able to help my dad go to the waters of baptism.¨ Yeah, it was crazy! But lets see what I can do!

I tried to fast Saturday and part of Sunday and it just got me SUPER SICK. Like we didnt teach anyone yesterday because I was super groggy and at like 7 when we were lost, I was like WERE GOING HOMe. And I slept like 12 hours. Lesson learned: Ill never fast again. I almost went to the hospital again.

To finish off I just want to share with you one story: So we went to visit an investigator, and he wasnt home so we went to visit his parents in the same house. They shared with us the stresses they were passing through and I said: LETS SING A HYMN! So we did. And I want to share with you one verse of what we sang:

So long thy pow'r hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone. and with the morn those angel faces smile, which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

I promise you all that the Lord has been present in each of our lives and will lead us through whatever trial we must pass through. He will be our light when we are in the darkness. But we must be in the darkness to have a need for His Light. And once we are led through the darkness, we will find the angels waiting for us. Thank you dad for teaching me that lesson just 7 months ago as I started the mission. It was something I will never forget.

I know that we can be the angels while we are passing through our own trials. That is the way to overcome trials.

I love you all and Ill talk to you next week!

For a dollar!
Elder Risueño

Sin Virguenza! (Week 34)

Happy Monday!! Wow. This week has been crazy. I’m not going to lie, it’s been hard! But God always has something for me to learn so that I can share with y’all, so let’s be patient and see how much LOVE God has for us!

So let’s start out with some things that’ll make you smile:

So you know that I eat A TON right? So we are fed lunch by a member each day, but dinner is on our own. But my comp and I don’t find much work from the hours of 2 till 5 because people nap, so we usually work during our dinner hour. So sometimes during the day, well stop by members so we can use safe bathrooms and just get some juice, and the members know I eat a lot so now they’re feeding us some food! Well knock on the door and talk and then the member may ask, Elder Risueño, ¿tiene hambre? My answer: CLARO! Of course.  And then they feed us a bit. Of course, My big toe and I are super grateful and its awesome. Well, my comp just laughs and says SIN VIRGUENZA! Which means WITHOUT SHAME! because I am honest about my hunger. That may contribute to the reason I’ve gained like 20 lbs here. Oops.

I also went to the SWAP MEET! Holla! My poor shirts are being trampled by the heat here because they get dried by the humidity so I took out 25 bucks and went with a goal to get some good bargains! and I DID! Ahh it felt so good! 3 shirts for 4 bucks each and a pair of shorts for 10 bucks? Thank you parents for teaching me well. That’s right! And I hope you enjoy the pictures of the shirts. They’re super fun. 

So we also had a conference with a 70 this week... more on that later... but President said that EVERYTHING changes this week. The new Assistant to him? a missionary with 8 months in the mission who has only trained a new missionary. President is going off of pùre revelation! it doesn’t matter WHERE we serve, it matters HOW we serve! So who knows? Maybe next week I’ll be Zone Leader! (For those of you who don’t understand this jargon, consult my dad. THANKS!)

So the work this week? Oh guys. It was a chocolate week. Which means ROUGH. Monday night we found our only investigator close to a baptismal date super drunk. I cried. It was hard. The next morning? We went to another investigator who told us she didn’t want to talk to us anymore. I cried. It was hard. The same thing happened to another. GAHHH. But I wasn’t about to give up on God! HECK NO! So Wednesday morning, I got on my knees, turned on some hymns and prayed and offered my whole soul to God. I was confused. We had nothing. And I just asked what HE would have me do. As I was praying, the words to a hymn just struck me to the core:

I need thee ev'ry hour,

Most holy One.

Oh, make me thine indeed,

Thou blessed Son!

As I pondered upon these words, I wondered what it meant to made into God wants me to be made. What does it mean that I have to do? Be humble, have confidence in Him, to be patient, and more things. I kept thinking about this and it reminded me of my old job as a swim instructor. Every 2 weeks I would have new kids arrive to teach and they would be SO EXCITED to swim. Even if they didn’t know anything, they wanted to be like ME! So we would talk and then it would be time for them to go out one on one with me. That’s when problems came. Some would cry, or tense up, or just not trust me. I would have my hands on their arms to SHOW THEM the motions, but if they were tense, nothing would work. Sometimes it would require an effort on my part to sing to them, to counsel, but more importantly to love them. Once they saw that love, they would calm down and repeat the motions I had shown them as I, in essence, acted for their hands. 

As I thought about that, my life changed as a missionary. I realized that I had become one of those children who was tense and didn’t understand what God was doing and I hadn’t trusted Him totally. I realized that maybe it didn’t matter how many had rejected me, but if I was willing to find the one whom HE had prepared for me. I continued to realize that the hymn mentioned above isn’t about our Heavenly Father, but our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the one who suffered for us. He is the one who felt our pains, our burdens, and took them upon us so that we could come to him. Once my swim students got to a point of knowing a bit, I let them swim into my arms. I was always ahead of them ready to come to me. Even when they didn’t have their goggles on and couldn’t see, I never left them. I loved them. 

As I have come to realize that this week, I have come to change my entire perspective of my life as a missionary. I feel like my lessons have become out of much more love than I have ever given these Bolivians. I just want them to feel the love their Savior has for them. A member of the Quorum of the 70 visited us and said that we have brought 8,000 members back to activity in the past few months. Missionaries in 5 countries have helped them remember of the love God has had for them and will have for them. He taught of how we can receive personal revelation as missionaries and the attributes we must work to possess to deliver this message. It’s a continuous process. I testify of that.

After that conference, my companion and I GOT TO WORK! We found families to teach and were so happy. While none of them went to church, we still looked forward. As I walked to church without investigators, yet again, I envisioned God moving my arms and just whispering to me that it’ll all be okay. I sure hope this helps you all this week. I know that the Lord is willing to send me through trials so that you all can be uplifted. I love each of you. We may not email back and forth, but I assure that you that this work I do is with you all in mind. I continue to sing to the blind, to love them; to sing to the handicapped, to love them. And I hope that my emails sing to you.

I wish to close with this thought by Neal A Maxwell:

God does not begin by asking about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.

I love ya’ll! Now let’s get to work and show these people some smiles!

For a dollar. :) 

Elder Risueño

PABLO GOT BAPTIZEDDDDD!!!!!! (Week 33)

FAMILY!

I dont know how many thousands of you were praying for Pablo, but he got baptized! Im not kidding how much of a miracle it was. Ready? so before someone gets baptized they need an interview... the Zone Leaders said it needed to be at 7 on the DOT so they could book it to their lesson. This was the day before teh baptism. So we told Pablo at 630 he needed to be home. He studies from 2pm till 6 so he said hed be there... so we waited and waited and waited and waited and NOTHING. 7:15 and we were freaking. I prayed and teared up a bit and was frustrated and called a member who said he wasnt home so we couldnt go in his taxi. Well, I kind of said, OH WELL WE WANTED YOU TO ACCOMPANY US TO A LESSON! and he said hed do his best and we ended the call. So a few minutes later we walked to the main avenue and the MEMBER SHOWED UP! So after I had invited him to go with us he dropped EVERYTHING to wait for us to show up at his house. Recent convert from heaven. No joke. So we looked and drove and looked and nothing! so last resort we made one last circle for Pablo and my companion saw him walking with his friends like NOTHING! ahhh so we patiently called him and took him to the interview and he was baptized the next day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!! But yeah, thanks guys. And thanks, God. Such a miracle.

So the work and life here in Bolivia! Ready for another story? So we had interviews this week and President spoke of how grateful he is for my attitude! What? So I guess my weekly letters with LOVE YOU and happiness really animate him for the week. Long story short people: It doesnt matter how hard your life is, just try to make people smile. It was such a great reminder that we can change the world one smile at a time. We also spoke to our Mission Presidents wife as a companionship and she was grateful that we were missionaries who caused no worries. I realized, THATS LOVE! Maybe being a drama queen to my parents WASNT the best idea as a teenager. Whatever, they love me. 

Oh! so the micros are CRAZY and they are like indiana jones standing up and moving from the back of the car to the front and I always yell ME VOY when I fall. I definitely squished two ladies when I flew. And Im not ashamed of this because they all know Im gringo. ME VOY! (It means Im going!) 

So investigators wise, its been a bit hard. Elder Chura and I lost all of our investigators with a baptismal date due to lack of motivation, they moved, or just didnt want to talk to us. The work of salvation that we do states that its all about the members and no more door knocking. But we tried door knocking and everyone knows us and has no want to talk to us! What? OH NO! Thats so not possible. So we will go forth. Last night I was meditaing on my bed and was like, God, what can I do? Im worthy! Im ready to work. What more do you want? 

It was then, that I realized that at that point I was content with where I was. I didnt see a need for me to change. But we always need to. If we are not consistently trying to change some small part of our lives, then our lives have no purpose. Thats my personal goal this week that I invite you to do this week, too. To find something small that you can work on to show God that you will be a little better this week. That you want to grow closer to Him so that He can grow closer to you.

The great Ralph Waldo Emerson taught the following:

What you are is Gods gift to you; what you do to yourself is your gift to God.

It is my hope that we can give God a little bit more of who we are. At the intervew I had with President he told me that I needed to say goodbye to this ward because I am going to a new area. Immediately after, he told my companion to help me prepare to train this next transfer. Well, here comes life. I still have another week to give more to God before I am put to train one of his precious new missionaries. For

May our prayers echo this hymn, Lead me into life eternal:

Father, all my heart I give thee;

All my service shall be thine.

Guide me as I search in weakness;

Let thy loving light be mine.

Hear me as I pray in meekness;

Let my strength be as thy day.

Give me faith, the greater knowledge;

Father, bless me as I pray. 

For a dollar,

Elder Risueño

Miss me yet?! (Week 32)

Hey there family!

Holy goodness, has it been two weeks? Well, it sure has! I love you all so much and I am so grateful to be here in Bolivia. No joke, Im sitting in an internet cafe right next to a street called Santos DuMont which is inside the segund ring of Santa Cruz. My life is crazy... If you think the highways of California are crazy, imagine living in circles, literally!

So anyway, special shoutouts to the people sending me AWESOME pacakges and such. Just so yall know I got them... Ashley and BREMMERS! I about cried when I saw my Valentines package and the package for Elder Vallejo. He was SO HAPPY and it made me proud of my family. Mom and dad, the chocolate package was just opened and given some love... Along with the package of necessities! SOCKS! Thank you Bremmers for socks, too! Thanks brits, ashley, meagan, and Bro Schenck for your letters and books and such! Oh the mission. Its crazy and full of happiness.

So Carnaval here in Santa Cruz is CRAZY! We didnt get to go out, but we saw people spraying each other with paint guns, I even got hit a bit on my shirt. :( and they do some unholy things, but mostly water balloons and paint each other! I think Ashley Bremmer would love it. Hahaha

My companion and I celebrated DAds birthday during then too! We bought RED ROBBINesque burgers. Mom and dad went out to eat for my birthday, so I called in some burgers. SO GOOD! I did tear up a bit because its been so long.

My health! Its so much better. I gave up soy milk, Im totally hooked on fruits and chocolate. Im not eating as much bread as I want, but Im not as tired either! Who knew that after 19.5 years of life I would learn how to exercise and eat right?! Thats what happens when McDonalds isnt too close hahaha...

So we did have so many miracles this week! AHHH I am so grateful for the Lord. Pablo, a youth weve been teaching, is hoping to be baptized THIS SATURDAY!!! He hasnt talked to his dad, and his mom said shes cool with it, but his dad is the one were waiting on. I so hope DAds birthday will include a baptism...

I forgot! A few weeks ago we got 3 people who were inactive, to be officially ACTIVE! And this past week we visited 2 of them, and one is working for the other and repairing relationships with his wife! Oh the joys of seeing peoples faces as they see the blessings of the gospel. My companion and I are definitely struggling to find people to teach, and we are praying so much, but we are also trusting in the Lord. You have no idea how amazing it is to see the Lord guide you to people and to teach them and give them the chance to accept the gospel. THATS THE POINT! I dont pray that the Lord will guide me to baptisms, I pray that he will guide me to people just so theyll have the chance to accept our message.

So you ready for what I did this past Carnaval? well, President gave us study time and we were given about 6 hours of free time or what not. He also gave us a challenge to memorize THE LIVING CHRIST. Granted, I dont remember ever reading it in English, but I decided to memorize it! Why not? Im an actor! And so my companion and I did. And you guys, I cant adequately express my love for this prophetic declaration.. Mom, if you can put the link here, that would be great. The Living Christ Memorizing in full this testimony has changed my mission. It has made me realize the importance of Jesus Christ in my life and in the lives of others. My companion and I frequently quote the words in our lessons to help these people understand that praying to know the Book of Mormon is true doesnt just tell them that our church is true... It gives them another witness that Jesus loves all his children. That he talks to us TODAY and will not forget us. This memorization will forever bring me closer to God. I love my Savior. I love my Heavenly Father.

President George Q. Cannon said: “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments”

My dear family, that is my testimony. That our Heavenly Father loves us. He will forever be with us and help us. We are working with 2 couples... One couple wants to get married, another on the brink of divorce. One is an investigator, the other Less Actives. BOTH have kids. I testify that my work here is for a reason. That the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the cement of my religion and my belief. That without the Atonement, and a knowledge of Gods love, my life would be of no worth.

This week I invite you to read the Living Christ, personally, and ponder upon its meanings. It was written by a prophet and 12 apostles, the same organization that Christ himself had when we was on the Earth. After you have done those two things, I invite you to pray to your Heavenly Father and ask him if he truly has prophets on the Earth. I promise you that if you are humble, and truly seeking for an answer, you shall find it. That is my objective as a missionary. Im not perfect. But I am willing to learn each day. And for this, the Lord can work through me.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

(How firm a foundation, hymn 85)

For a dollar!

Elder Risueño

P.S. Dont forget my dads birthday is the 15th! Love ya pops!

Like father, like son! (Week 31)

Okay family, lets be sad for a few minutes because I wont be emailing
you next week... SORRY! Carnaval is next Monday and NO ONE IS LEAVING
THE HOUSE for 2 days. No joke. So until the 10th, I hope this is going
to be good. For those of you who are wondering what happens during
Carnaval, people drink a ton, and here they throw balloons filled with
paint. So missionaries with white shirts? Double trouble. So Ill let
you know what goes down in 2 weeks! Until then, happy halfway mark mom
and dad as empty nesters! BELIEVE IT! 7 and a half months down, 7 and
a half to go! LOVE YOU!

So this week was so dang crazy. Lets be real. So Tuesday morning I
started feeling NOT GOOD! My stomach was fighting SOMETHING and it
caused some massive stomach problems. Understand the subject now?
Diarrhea massive and crazy. So I called the health secretary, and took
some meds and continued with the feeling. It was a 3 day test. So a by
Thursday it was NOT GOOD! I stopped taking those wastes of time. And
so I prayed for help to get me focused on something else and... IT
POURED RAIN! No joke. Like it was a foot of water. I recorded stuff
and took pictures. I dont think I can send pictures this week so with
the package thats going home with the gringos that are here, Ill send
those pictures. They are to die for! I sang in the rain, and I
pretended like I was swimming! So I got my mind off and I was good
until Friday.. We had a service activity to help the people who are so
with problems in Beni and Trinidad because of the rain. So the members
fed us SALTEÑAS and BURGER KING! Remember my last meeting with the BK?
Diarrhea. So this time I was worried. But I ate! Duhh! I finished what
I could.. Fast forward to that night.. 11pm. THROW UP! Thanks dad, for
teaching me how to throw up with grace. No tears, or anything. I just
held that pot like it was my momma and threw up. 4 times then I was
done. There went the BK. So I didnt go to the medic then, I let my
comp sleep. NOT A GOOD IDEA. I was sick in the bathroom with problems
on the other side of life. But I was a big boy and cleaned up well.
Thanks, Mom and dad. So THEN we went to the medic. Turns out my diet
is horrible, fried foods, and I have to give it up. DANG IT! But I got
the meds, I still feel kind of nasty, but I rejoiced that I got
experience life! YAY DAD AND SON TIME!

So this week was a bit of a MIRACLE week. Dad and mom, thanks for
telling me to rely and wait for God to tell me where to go (Dad) and
to see the good in each person (Mom). We found a family that will be
GOLDEN! Lets hope they make it to church this coming Sunday. Gabriel,
who was supposed to get baptized around this time just told us he
doesnt want to talk to us again and that hes suffering... but did he
read and pray about the book of Mormon? NOPE. Thats all we ask,
people. Read, meditate, and pray. Frustrating. But we keep it going!
Lets hope we get a wedding on this month!

So while we were going home from the Clinic, I saw a GRINGA! An
american.. But she wasnt american. She was from Germany! She was
traveling alone and was super confused as to why I would want to serve
a mission and really seemed skeptical about what I was doing. I was so
confused! Why would she say that? So I started thinking and SINGING!
Thats right... ready? TOGETHER:

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I know who I am.
I know God's plan.
I'll follow him in faith.
I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'll honor his name.
I'll do what is right;
I'll follow his light.
His truth I will proclaim.

Thats right. I sang that proudly in my head! I want to focus on 3 parts:
1. I know who I am. How awesome is that? We are sons and daughters of
a Heavenly Father! He knows me! I can talk to Him and He will help
me!!
2. I know Gods plan. He has a plan for ME! He wants me to return to
Him. He has set requirements for me to return to Him to show Him Im
faithful. I want to help people with that
3. Ill follow Him in faith. Because I know these things, I will act
and I will follow Him.

Thats my invitation for each of us this week! I hope that we all can
get closer to our Savior. He wants us to Follow Him. How can we do
that? Heres the answer in the book of Mormon:

10 And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to
keep the commandments of the Father?

It is my hope and prayer that this week we will choose to follow Him
by keeping his commandments a little bit more. Lets choose one this
week. And strengthen it a ton. WE KNOW WHO WE ARE! We know why we are
here. This life is hard, but its not sad. Its a life of hope because
we know why we are here. It is my hope that each of us will help
others to know that and understand it more.

I love each of you, and I will talk to you all the 10th.
Con amor,
Elder Risueño

Loving life! (Week 30)

FAMILY!!!

Guess who got to stay in Trompillo???? I so did. Oh my gosh. What an answer to prayers. Im not kidding. Elder Chura is still with me and its the best. He is really excited to learn more English and its awesome. What he says is so awesome and he is led by the spirit. He is District Leader now, which means he is in charge of two other companionships. I have deemed myself the First Lady, or I guess Im the First Man. He is in charge of making sure everyones doing okay, and I support him and clean when hes working, or just serve when I can. I love it. 

Okay, so Valentines Day winner goes to my grandma, Dawn Fudge Miller, or DFM! No joke! I LOVED her card. And I opened it in front of the entire 20 missionaries because they asked who my girlfriend was, and I assured them it was my Grandma. So they recorded my opening it and I LOVED IT! Im the key to my grandmas heart and she is the best. I couldnthave been happier. It definitely alleviated some stress on Monday, thanks grams! 

So an update on the investigators... Guys! This work is hard! Rocky is not going to get baptized... We realized we saw him as a number and a baptism and that he really doesnt have a desire to be baptized and wont accept that the Restored Gospel In FULLNESS is on the Earth today. Its a hard concept for Cruceñas, or people in Santa Cruz. But, my companion and I DIED laughing because he didnt go to church last Sunday, and we asked why, and he showed us WITH HAND MOTIONS what was happening in his stomach and the troubles he was having in the bathroom. You guys, it made my life. I love Rocky.

Gabriel isnt progressing either. He isnt reading the Book of Mormon, his parents are inactive, and his grandma, too. We are going to work with him this week. PLEASE PRAY! 

With Oscar, the young kid. His dad told us there is no way he can get baptized and that he can only go to church with us Sunday and THATS IT! When he turns 18, he can get baptized. We are praying that in a few weeks we can teach his dad once hes a lot more relaxed. And guess what? OSCAR CAME YESTERDAY! We were running late, and he almost went by himself. Wow! How awesome life is!

So yeah! Elder Chura and I are working on RESCUING! It means bringing a Less Active back to activity! We are going to bring 8 people back to church this month! We are almost sure! Life is great, here. Elder Chura and I WANT baptisms. President Willard wants us to have one baptism each week. WOW. So we are ready for miracles. We are working on our teaching methods each day and earnestly praying for help on how we can better help our investigators. We are also eating healthier so that we have energy to work. It poured a TON this week, please pray for people in Beni, Bolivia, but now its super hot. So we NEED energy! I love where I am and even though it can be a little sad, my companion and I are angels. I was so humbled when we visited a Return Missionary who was inactive, but decided to come back because he felt like he had left God and knew that it wasn't what he should have done. I KNEW he saw himself in us. He served 10 years ago. But here I am to tell this man that he is worth it. He is as worth it as he was 10 years ago. Ahh. And we sang to a deaf man! Well, hes not deaf, but he cant hear too well! So I thought LETS SING! so we sang. And he still couldn't hear. But I sure felt good! I love being close to God. I love helping others know that they are worth it.

A quick story from my past: 

When the age requirement for missionary work changed, I was definitely one of the many who felt it was their time to serve. As my sister received her call, my urge to go on a mission grew and grew. But, because of my commitment to study at BYU Idaho, I had to wait till I was up there to send my papers to serve. Just as soon as I got settled in up there, I went to my last two interviews with my Bishop and Stake President. I sat in my final interview with my Stake President and it was great. We spoke of my dreams, my goals, and my fears. As we got to talk more, I spoke of some trials I had faced as a youth and, even thought they weren't sins I had committed, they had caused some personal setbacks. As I opened up to my Stake President, he told me that these trials I had faced needed to be reviewed my some professionals to make sure that I was emotionally ready for a mission. So at that point, my dream of a mission was put on hold. My Stake President assured me that these happenings were of no fault to me, but that the mission was a high stress life and that the leaders needed to be sure I was okay. AS I finished the interview and walked out, I cried and cried.

I was 16 hours away from home and I felt abandoned. In a moment that was to be the happiest of my life, it became the saddest. For weeks I sat in fear of an evaluation, that was to come my way. I questioned my purpose in life and what I was to do with life. But one thing I never stopped to do was attend the temple. I continued to pray to God each time I went, but I told Him that I didn't see a need to pray about my mission call because everything was in HIS time and yeah. That was my prayer. 

About a month after that interview, nothing had happened. My mission papers hadn't moved anywhere, and I was tired of being frustrated. One Monday morning, I woke up early to do some scripture study and spend some time with God. I wrote this question in my journal: When will my call come? That was my question! I began to search for the answer. Now, I cant remember what scripture I read that gave me my answer, but Ill sue this scripture to illustrate my point: 

 35 Nevertheless they did ^afast and ^bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their ^chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the ^dpurifying and the ^esanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their ^fyieldingtheir hearts unto God.

(Hel 3:35)

I realized that in the past month I had acknowledged Gods timing, but I hadn't accepted it. I hadn't yielded my heart unto God. In that moment, I found my answer. I wrote in my journal that my call would come in the Lords time. I began to trust Him even more and I was filled with the peace and joy of the Spirit. I finished my study by thanking him for the humbling me. I gave my all to him. I was humble. I was willing to follow Him. About 4 hours later, my dad called and said that my call was ready to be assigned. Again, the Lord taught me that timedoesn't matter; what matters is a humble heart and a willing mind. One year ago this coming Friday, I received my call here to Santa Cruz. I will never forget that great trial. I will never forget the importance of being humble and being worthy to feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit. 

Before I opened my call, we all sang this song that brought great feelings of love and joy to my heart: 

1. 1. The Spirit of God like a fire is burning!
   The latter-day glory begins to come forth;
   The visions and blessings of old are returning,
   And angels are coming to visit the earth.

I promise you that angels are here. I know that this life brings great trials, but God knows each of us and our challenges. Don't focus on how long your trials last, but on how you have grown through your trials. Find these feelings of joy that bring you closer to God.

Happy 7 months to me, today! And happy 10 months to Ellyn!

Con amor,

Elder Risueño

Love! (Week 29)

Hello family!!!

How are we all doing? Happy Valentines Day!! Well, this Friday. So I know that you all are dying to be my Valentine so its super easy to be my Valentine. All you have to do is listen to a song by Michael Bublé or Whitney Houston and think of me! Simple, right? And if you don't have a desire to listen to either of those people, then I'm definitely not your Valentine!hahahaha. Just kidding. But really. 

Anyway, this week has just been splendiforous here in Santa Cruz! One of the most exciting things that happened this week is I weighed myself for the first time since I left home and Ive gained 15 pounds! NO JOKE! hahahha whoa. The people here say that the missionaries need to be gorditos so that they can have evidence that they served a mission when they get home. Well, Ill definitely have something to show when I get home. The food is so good. I love chocolate and life.

Oh, and I sleep talk in Spanish now! Winning! I guess I taught a lesson one night. 

Okay, so this week is TRANSFERS!! Its pretty much like Christmas each 6 weeks because we wait until 9:30 to see what will happen. I decided that I might leave so I might as well soak up some first world stuff I have here. I got my ties dry cleaned and ate pizza. For those of you who don't know, the mission is a few pueblos so we never know! A few families have told me if I stay they'll buy me Cinnabon! YES! Winning. 

Okay, so the updates on life this week:

So we had one of those crazy miracles you see in the Ensign happen this week. So we went to visit like 3 investigators and no one was home. Or the person was sick. We were super frustrated and just wanted someone to teach and help and we had nothing. We had a few scheduled lessons later, but nothing to do at that point and we know that knocking doors is ineffective so my companion decided to go visit a Less Active we had visited the day before to see how he was doing... As we were walking to his house, a 20 year old and his younger brother were trying to carry a closet in their house and failing. So we SUPER missionaries came to the rescue. My comp used his muscles and I pretended like I knew what I was doing. We got in, helped them and talked to them and GUESS WHAT?! The young kid is a recent convert, the 20 year old is Less Active, and his girlfriend is an Investigator! Can you say CHRISTMAS?!! We had a great lesson, shes Catholic, but loves the church. She just hasn't been yet. hahah. They didn't go on Sunday because it was pouring rain and their clothes didn'thang dry in time--we don't have dryers here-- but they had a spiritual Sunday! Hno Ivan told his grandfather that he had a testimony of God leading people to scriptures so they said a prayer and opened their scriptures and WABAM! They went to Mosiah 9 which talks about prophets and their importance! What had we spoken of the day before? Prophets. No joke. They told us they had a testimony and we were SO CLOSE to invite them to baptism, but we had to book it home. Uhh can we say golden? Yup, we can. 

So Roque and Gabriel didn't go to church Sunday. Which means no baptism this Saturday. Oscar got permission from his parents to be baptized, but he isn't as motivated to learn more as usual. Its definitely a hard part for my companion and me. Please continue to pray for us so that we can become the missionaries God wants us to become so that we can help these people! But who knows what will happen when transfers come? If I end up leaving the area, I will be so content to know that I left the area better than it was. That's the purpose of missionary work. Whether or not you have the name tag, you need to find people that you can help, and those who can help YOU!

This week, as we celebrate Valentines Day, I want to talk about the love Christ has for us. I read a great talk called, The First Great Commandment by Jeffrey R Holland. I cant express how much I love the talk, but you can read it and let me know what you think! The talk is all about how we can love God and serve Him. More importantly, how we can love Jesus Christ. 

Elder Holland said this:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments,”¹⁴ Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. 

I love how we can focus on helping others in this time. I feel like we just want to find something to show others we love them this day. Or maybe we want someone to say that they love us. Well, Christ is there. He did everything for us. He loved us with all of our perfections and died so that we can experience an eternal joy. I'm so grateful that I was called to be a representative of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm not perfect. I'm nowhere near. But God trusts me. He trusts you. Sometimes we forget how blessed we are. Its so easy to see others and be grateful we aren't in their positions, but do we ever feel like we can help them? We need to. We must reach out. It doesn't have to be a big present. It can just be a simple act of pure love. Last year, my valentine was the library. She and I were in love last year at BYUI. This year, my valentine is la vida. I am in love with life. I am in love with how I can help other people because Christ trusts me. He has given me this knowledge of who I am and who I can become. Oh, it is wonderful

1. 1. I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
   Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
   I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
   That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me

Enough to die for me!

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!.

.I hope that this week we will be able to enjoy the love that comes from Valentines Day and well be able to enjoy all that God has given us. And that, in turn, we will share that love through the blessings of the gospel.

And please don't judge me that I haven't sent photos in ages. My charger hates me and so I'm getting a knew one today... NEXT WEEK!

Con amor,

Elder Risueño