Catch Up Post

I have been negligent to get this out for 3 weeks now. This is a long post so please read all the way to the bottom. Elder Ridge is having a great time serving the Lord in Peru and especially in the Jungle of Iquitos.

April 27th

Last week for p-day Elder Roca and I went to the houses that are floating, and they have bridges in between the houses. It was so awesome but it was a humbling experience seeing the way they live.

We didn’t have the two baptisms that were planned, Jorge got sick and Rosario didn’t want to make time for it. She says she is so busy but wants to do it; Jorge will be baptized next week.

Yesterday in church only 15 people showed up because Saturday night it rained so hard that every house flooded. We helped some families get water out of their houses Sunday afternoon, we used brooms and dust pans, the whole time I was thinking man this would be easier with a wet dry vac, and they don’t have vacuums here.

The other day we were knocking doors and we found this lady that raises parrots and macaws that are huge, she didn’t want anything to do with the church but she asked me if I wanted to take pictures with her birds so I have some sweet pictures with those, the jungle is awesome.

My health is good, well right now it is good, I didn’t tell you guys but I was sick for two weeks and lost a lot of weight but right now I’m fine, everything is good with the comp he is a good guy and we get along.

April 20st

The ward is awesome, the members are really nice to us, some of them are way funny however, there are a ton of inactive. Average Church attendance at church is only around 50 people. They are really nice and humble. Our Ward Mission Leader helps us, he is leaving for a mission in May to Columbia.

A typical P-day we usually we go to the internet place to write in the morning then after we play soccer or go to that zoo or for example today is free day so me and my companion are going to get some stuff done, my pictures, his pictures, visit some of the river stuff that we have wanted to do.

Well, we had Anita’s baptism it was way good. Roca baptized her, and she was confirmed on Sunday. This week we have Rosario’s baptism and Jorge baptism. Rosario didn’t get baptized but she wants to on the 23rd which is a Thursday so we will do that for her, Anita will be baptized this Saturday I’m excited for that, we have this kid Jorge and Enrique, their parents went inactive and came back so we have to baptize them, we had a family come to church Sunday but they are living together so we are going to get them excited to get married and then baptize them hopefully.

April 13th

So my Easter Sunday lunch consisted of this. I go to the member’s house and we sit down, we are talking having fun, then the sister brings out the soup, she gives me the soup and I look in the soup and see a big white ball that looked like white ground beef. I’m thinking to myself wow this should be fun, you’re not suppose to ask what it is before you eat but I was like what the heck I can take it, so I asked sister, “what is in the soup, is it meat? it looks good.” She says oh elder it is so good you’re going to love it, it very healthy, ok but what is it, its blah blah she said a weird name I haven’t heard of, I said what’s that, well its cow brains, I said mmmm can’t wait to eat and dug right in, trying to get the thought off my mind that I was chewing on a cow brain, so now I have basically eaten every part of the chicken and every part of the cow, man I could go for mimis apple pie right now ha-ha, that was my Easter lunch.

The other day we were walking down the street and I look in a window and I see this tucan sitting in a house, I was like look Roca a tucan lets go contact that person, so we went and I have some cool photos of a toucan on my arm just chilling there.

A Boxer, Mosquito Net and a Hungry ATM

March 30th

First of all my new companion is awesome. We get a long and he is humble. Before the mission he was a boxer so he is big. We have the same time in the mission, I lead the area and meetings and lessons cause he doesn’t know anybody but he reports to our district leader and stuff, we are pretty even. That’s what I wanted this change was some one that I could be equal this change, we already have learned a lot together, this change is going to be good. Elder Layton is sitting next to me and we are telling stories and stuff, he is so funny, I haven’t seen Elder Hyde yet but I have talked to Elder Roldan, he is doing well.

I have not been sick yet here in Iquitos. We do sleep in mosquito nets and they are hot, it’s like a hot box. President is coming Tuesday so hopefully then I will get my package.


April 6th

Well, yes the ATM machine ate my card, I couldn’t believe it, the whole time I was thinking, Dads going to kill me haha, natural reaction. Yes I got the package that you sent, its awesome, thank you so much, I love the shirt and the candy, everything got here just fine including the chocolate.

Yes,I heard the they are sending Elder Cheesman back to Bolivia and couple others that I know. I am happy for them to go back so they can start helping the church there.

We got to go to every session of conference, my favorite talk was Jeffrey R Holland too, it was a amazing. I remember when the announced Larry Gibson (our Stake President has been called in the General Young Men’s Presidency) but I didn’t know it was him, I didn’t but two and two together. I saw Tim Wright singing like always.(A friend from our California Ward sings in the Tabernacle Choir)

Everything down here is good. Our investigators are good, we have found new people to teach that will get baptized, Willer’s brother wants to get baptized now so we are going to teach his brother and his mom, we have a couple of 10 year olds that parents fell away and came back to the church and want them to get baptized. Anita is way good, she is processing and attending church she attended conference and she liked it.

Changes and a Great Missionary Example

So we have changes! I’m staying here in Las Castanas and Iquitos, and also I’m getting a new companion, Elder Zuniga is going to go to Lima and my new companion is Elder Roca, I think he is from Santa Cruz Bolivia. We are the same group so we have the same time, that is what I wanted, someone with the same time, so we are going to be young guns tearing it up. The missionaries that are coming here in the zone are Elder Hyde, Elder Layton, Elder Rolden and Elder Griffin. I get to be with Elders from my group and Rolden, I’m way excited to start this change.


We had the baptism of Alcidis, it was so good, his dad baptized him and on Sunday he got the priesthood, he is thinking about a mission and I’m trying to get him excited about it. The girl Anita is getting baptized the 18 of April.

We have a new investigator that is getting baptized the 11 of April, her name is Rosario and she is a teacher. A 10 year old boy in her class gave her the Book of Mormon and right after he died in an accident so she same to church on Sunday and we taught her. Thanks to that little 10 year old boy she is getting baptized. She is 40 years old and divorced, her kids don’t live with her.

The Work is Good!!

Well, this week nothing really happened, we didn’t have a baptism but next week we will have a baptism. His name is Alcides, he will turn 18 I think next month, his dad is member. I’m pretty excited to get him in the water so he can serve a mission.

Willer, our recent convert, we were talking about seminary because he is taking it and he was like oh guess what I’m taking mission prep too. I was so happy when he told me that, he is preparing to go on his mission.

I had an interchange with elder Lynch this week he is our zone leader he is from West Valley, it was so weird talking in English. It was fun. For a little time we went to play with the monkeys in our area, we have two that hang out in a park. Nothing else really happen! Found other people to teach that will start progressing for baptism, oh ya next week you will know if I get changed or who my new companion is, next week we have changes, I’m hoping I stay here!!!

Success and Cool Stuff

Missionary Work

Well to start off first we had the baptism of Sebastian, that was pretty good, I baptized him. Our family of gold didn’t come to church so I was heartbroken but they still have their date for baptism. They are having some doubt and are starting to be unsure about things but we are still going to work with them. We found a couple other people to teach that we will start teaching this week. Alcidis is still doing good, he came to church with us yesterday, he is a cool kid but really quiet. We lost Jaivees date, he were so excited to get baptized. We went to his house Sunday morning and his grandpa came to the door and was like he doesn’t want anything and boom slammed the door in the our face, I was so mad, we are going to go see him to see what’s up,

General Information and Cool Stuff

For our email we go to the main plaza of Iquitos in this big internet store. There are also stores in this part of town that burns pictures onto discs. Pday we can play soccer like always, I’m ready to beat Bobby in soccer. Today a member of the ward is taking me and my comp around the city to visit some places like rivers and other cool places. Something cool about the Amazon is they have a pink fresh water dolphin. My Pensionista is awesome, her food is way good and clean. There is a lady that does the laundry for the whole zone. I took money out to buy cool stuff, I have a case for my Spanish Book of Mormon and it’s Anaconda skin and my Bible cover is Jaguar skin, and some other cool stuff.

Golden Investigators and much more!!

Well, this past week was awesome, we had the baptism of Willer, that kid is so awesome, he is already signed up for seminary classes and received the priesthood yesterday, he’s 17 and he wants to serve a mission, he is such a cool kid. Our other investigators are sweet, this Saturday we will have the baptism of Sebastian, I’m excited for that too.

Another awesome thing that happened this week is that we found a family of gold, we were walking and talking with people knocking a few doors and I saw a sweet dirt bike and we were like lets go knock that house, and a guy came to the door and was like come in, so we came in and we taught him, Ulises and his wife July, they have two little kids a boy that’s 6 and a girl that 4, we taught them and he liked it so then we went back another day and taught them the plan of salvation with him and his wife for 2 hours, we talked all about how families can be together forever and they were asking so many good questions it was awesome, we went to their house on Sunday to take them to church and he was all ready in a shirt and tie and she was all dressed up, they are both lawyers so they have a lot of money, we went to church in their car, it was so awesome, they are set to get baptized the 28 of March, we are really praying for them to get baptized, I want them to get baptized so in a year towards the end of my mission I can go see them get sealed, that would be so awesome, he says that he knows the church is true, there are such a cool family.

Yes, we eat a lot of bananas or papaya. For breakfast we usually eat like a sandwich thing it’s bread with either meat in the middle or avocado or butter and some type of drink like juice. For lunch it is always chicken and rice sometimes it’s different like soup or beef and rice but it’s always rice, I have eaten rice every day since I got to Peru, it gets old, and dinner is the same thing, rice chicken sometimes soup, always fruit like papaya. The food here is good and I haven’t gotten anything weird, I have only gotten fish like once, I’m lucking out with that because I haven’t gotten any fish since I have been here.

To the Amazon I’m like a 5 minute ride in a motto taxi, those things are fun, zipping around the city in one of those. my ward is pretty big and the attendance is alright, there are a lot of less active but we visits them and there are some that are starting to come. The Bishop is way good and is funny too. Our apartment is little, we have a separate room where we sleep then we have a bigger room where the kitchen is and where we study, in our kitchen its only a sink and a little refrigerator to put water in, and then we have our bathroom, it’s as nice bathroom but it’s cold water, and there isn’t a toilet seat so you’re sitting on the porcelain which is normal down here.

Baptism, Zoo and Bananas

This week was pretty good. Sunday we had a lot of people show up for church. One of the people is getting baptized this Saturday. Willier is 17 and way excited to get baptized. We also have Sabastian, the 9 year old, all of his family are members but him so this is an easy one. We have Alexander, he is 26, he didn’t come to church yesterday but he still has his date and is progressing, he showed up to church last week with a book about Joseph smith, so we taught him and he is way cool. The family of gold left for the dads work but will come back in two weeks so we are going to continue when they get back.

Last p-day we went to the zoo. It was way cool. You get to hold stuff and it’s like there isn’t a person with the animals either. You walk around and there are big parrots sitting there and you can walk up and put them on your arm. I have pictures of me holding a baby sloth, a huge boa constrictor. I did have a zoo guy with me for that one haha. It was awesome!!!

My teaching and my Spanish is way better. This week I realized that I can understand pretty much everything. Sometimes we will ask people who can speak Spanish better, and some people say me and I laugh. Since Elder Zuniga is from Costa Rica, he has a different accent, and they don’t know that he doesn’t know a ton of English.

The food here is really good so much cleaner. I love the maduro banana, its’ so good, it’s like a soft banana, fried a little bit. Man its good!! We eat banana for every meal even breakfast.

Loving the Jungle, the Ward and the People

Iquitos is freaking awesome. It is so green and my area is way cool. It’s mostly city and the people are way humble and awesome. I pictured the jungle to be jungle like walking down the street and seeing monkeys in the trees and snakes in the trees but it’s not like that, my area is city but it’s still way cool. The roads are cement and there are roads that are dirt. It rains every morning because we are in the rainy season, but it’s still hot. I wear my boots a lot because of the mud. We live in a little apartment that is part of a house of a member. We walk to our pension for breakfast and dinner like the last area but its closer. Iquitos is cleaner than in Lima. There is less dust and there aren’t that many dogs.

In one part of my area there are monkeys in a park chilling on leashes so I took a couple pictures of me playing with them, one is big, I have picture of one on my head. . In my area there is a big soccer stadium, so you guys can look on google earth and see what my area looks like. My ward is called Las Castañas. This morning Elder Zuniga and I went to write our letters to the President at a place that overlooks the Amazon River. It is so green and big, there were some houses floating there and guys in little canoes fishing. Everything here is moto. They don’t have cars they only have motorcycles, there are so many in the city.

The members here are cool, we sat down in Sacrament meeting and the Bishop gets up and says well we will now have our first talk by Elder Ridge. It was cool to get up and talk in Spanish without any problems. Right now we have a family of gold that we are teaching. They live in a wood house and don’t have electricity so we teach them in candle light, it’s cool, they are awesome. There is this boy in the ward that is 9 that was waiting for his uncle to get back from his mission so that he could baptize him but now he wants me to baptize him so he is getting baptized on the 7th of March. The people here are awesome, they welcomed me with open arms, literally, I had a couple little kids run up and hug me first time seeing them on Sunday. We get accepted like crazy too, when we knock on doors almost everyone says come in and teach me but thing is getting them to progress.

I am going to the Jungle!!!

Well we have changes and I know your excited to hear so here it is............ I’m going........ to..... IQUITOS! I’m way excited! I’m freaking going to the Amazon River, Wow,!!!!!

My companion is Elder Zuniga. I already know him because he was here two changes ago. He is way cool and is white as I am but he is from Costa Rica, he speaks a little bit of English but not a lot, he is also District Leader so I will get to know all the areas in Iquitos. I am way excited. It is so hot there, everyone tells me that you will die because of the heat. Man I am so excited I can’t stand it!

I leave Wednesday morning and I have to put my stuff in the offices on Tuesday. I can only take one suitcase that weighs 40 pounds there. Today I am going to take out money from the bank just in case I need it while traveling.

Well I didn’t give the blessing one of the counselors did, because the Bishop announced it wrong so we just went with it. Our baptism was cool because the girl Lorene wants to serve a mission, she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting before she got confirmed, it was awesome. Javier was cool too, it was good to finally get the teaching done and get him in the water.

I have not gotten my third package yet an since I am leaving I don’t think I will ever get it. My health is good. I am drinking water. I don’t have fleas that much. Yesterday I ate cow lungs, it was gross. I will try to get you some pictures. Well, I love you guys, next e-mail will be about the Amazon Rainforest! Man I am way excited!

Short and Sweet

Well, I don’t have a lot of time but this week was awesome, we had two baptisms on Saturday, it was awesome. My zone leader is telling me that I have to go right now so I can’t talk right now. I hate this 30 minutes thing!! Next week I will write you guys more detail because next week you will know my changes. Thank you, thanks for the support, I love you guys! Sorry