Loving Barranca

Well this change will be fun. So, Wednesday I had to say goodbye to my son, it was sad. Last change was the fastest change that I have had so far. Wednesday I got on the bus with my companion Elder Chambi and we headed up north. The bus was a normal bus it had TVs and DVD, it was like a 4 hour bus ride and the highway is along the ocean, it was awesome. We got here in the city and I like it a lot better than Lima. It’s more opened here, it reminds of Manti. It’s a normal city but really small. It’s more calm here. My area is awesome! It’s on the ocean so every time I walk out the door from my house I see the ocean, it’s tight there and I love it! Thursday we went to see the beach, it is way clean and nice. It’s not that big of a section but it awesome, I will take some pictures, I love this mission, two months ago I was in the Amazon Rain Forest, now I am on the Pacific Ocean. I have the best mission ever.

Here it’s a district not a stake so I'm in a branch. It’s a little more difficult because there aren’t a lot of members that comes but there are a ton of returned missionaries so they help us a lot. One of them served in the Provo Utah mission, I was talking to him Sunday, he speaks good English. His first area was in American Fork/Highland area so he knows where we live. He said he loved that mission so much that he didn’t want to come home, I can understand why. I said to him it’s different up there(Utah) isn’t it? He’s like ya way different.

Yes, they do give me a lot of fish here and its nasty ocean fish, I liked the fish from the Amazon but the ocean fish is gross and one day they gave me fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I couldn’t believe it.

When I got here there was only one person that was progressing for baptism but now we have 5. We have two young men who’s grandparents are members, a girl that is 14, 2 men that have 35 years, and we have other people that are progressing. There is a lot of potential in this area. I'm really happy to be here.

My pesionista is alright, she’s way nice and her cooking is descent. She lived in Japan for 15 years so she knows Japanese. My Spanish is going to get a lot better, I'm the only gringo in my zone, I will be speaking Spanish 100 percent this change, it should be fun. My room is clean and the shower is hot so im happy but its way colder here because of the wind from the Ocean. I’m doing good and I’m really happy.

Transfered to Barranca

Well the changes came in and I’m pretty happy, I’m leaving Lima! No I’m not going to the jungle but I’m going to Barranca, Norte Chico, it’s like 6 hours north of here in a bus. I’m pretty excited because that part of the zone is right by the ocean and it’s a lot cleaner, from what I heard. My new comp is Elder Chambi, I think it’s the same Chambi that’s from my group. He is from Santa Cruz Bolivia. I’m pretty excited. I travel Wednesday in the afternoon.

I’m staying warm and the fleas left so I don’t have them anymore. The air here just absolutely sucks, when you look at Lima on google earth you just see smog and clouds, I live under that. I think there have been three days this whole change where I have seen the sun, it’s kind of depressing.

This change was really fun, I really enjoyed training and helping my companion. I learned a lot this change, it was a really fun change. This week nothing new really happened, I ate cow stomach again, I hate it when they give me it but also this week I ate a different part of the cow that I haven’t eaten before and it was actually pretty good, I actually really liked it. Yesterday I ate cow heart, it was pretty good, now I have eaten, cow liver, brain, stomach, lungs and heart. I’m sure next time will be the intestines, gross, but all the missionaries tell me that in that part of Peru Barranca I will be eating a lot of guinea pig. I have yet to try it so I kind of want to. The other day we had chicken soup, here the chicken soup is different, the soup consists of noodles, carrots, potatoes, chicken breast, chicken brain, chicken liver, chicken kidney, chicken neck and the famous chicken feet. I have had this soup so much it doesn’t even faze me. I will send you some pictures of me sucking on the chicken foot, it’s actually not bad it just has a lot of little bones and not too much meat. My favorite food here is aji de gallina, it’s so good.

Great Week for Blue Eyes

8-31-09

Well, this week was normal, nothing really exciting happened. We didn’t have any baptisms. We do have a couple of people who are getting prepared. Maximo for the 12th of September. He was going to do it for the 5th but he has to travel and will be gone for a week but he still wants to do it. He is 74 years old and every Sunday he leaves early in the morning to be able to get to church because he lives in hills a little bit high up and he walks slow with a cane but he still comes. He has so much faith to be

able to do that but he is excited to get baptized. His son is a member so he is helping us too. Also on the 12th we have is a young girl named Monica. She’s 14 and she always comes to church but her mom doesn’t give her permission to get baptized but we had a member go to her house and talk to her mom and it worked so now we are helping her get baptized.

The temple was really cool. It was good to go back. Last time I was there( 7 months ago) I understood some but not everything. This time I understood everything in the session because I have more time with Spanish

. When we were there it was also the day that the missionaries in the CCM come so we were there with a couple of new missionaries, fresh from the states. They all asked me how long does it take to be able to speak and be fluid and is it hard, stuff like that, I was asking them stuff like what’s happening in the states. It was fun. After that we didn’t go to KFC. We went to a Polleria or a chicken restaurant, we eat their style of fast food, its fried chicken with French fries and salad, called Pollo a la Brasa.

This change has gone by so fast, next week we will know the changes, I have know I dea what will happen, so we will see what happens. The weather is warming up here, we are entering spring, by the way we don’t even have crushed ice down here, that don’t even use ice that much. Right now I weigh 82 kilos (180), can you tell me how much that is in pounds, I think when I got here from the jungle I weighed like 78(171) to 80(176) kilos, now I’m like 82, tell me how much that is in pounds. For my Halloween package I would just love some homemade cookies, chocolate chip or the Halloween ones that we make every Halloween but I will let you know later more stuff. I don’t need any clothes. I’m pretty good, with all the stuff you guys bought before the mission, it has lasted me until now without any problems.

The other day we were walking down the street and this girl came up to me and she was a little crazy. She asks me why are the movies form the United States are so violent. I said I have no idea, I don’t make them, and she goes on about how she doesn’t like them because they are bloody and stuff, and then a dog barked on the roof that we were under and she said that’s my dog and I was like really what’s his name and she said Rambo, I laughed, I couldn’t believe she was talking about the bloody movies and how they were bad and her dog is named Rambo. To top it off, she asked my hand in marriage, ha-ha yes, she started talking about how women always get married to men because of the money but I want to get married to you because you have blue eyes, will you marry me? I was like wow, I didn’t know what to say, I was like well it was good talking to you we have to go over there and I think your dog is waiting for you in your house, we will pass by another day, good bye, and she like ok I will be waiting here. My companion started making fun of me, he’s like I didn’t know you have your little girlfriend in the mission, we were laughing so hard. Don’t worry I won’t bring a Peruvian home ha-ha.

Weeks 8-17 and 8-23

August 23rd

Sorry I didn’t write you guys Monday, we are going to the temple today(Wednesday) so today is our pday, thank you mom for not calling the offices worried, right now its six o clock, I’m kind of tired, we had to get up at 5 this morning, to answer your questions. The weather here kind of stinks, it’s like in the 60s or 50s but it’s a humid cold so it goes to your bones and it seems colder than what it is and in the afternoon it heats up so I start of the day freezing, in the afternoon sweating a little and at night freezing, but I’m keeping warm enough. I do miss the jungle heat but I love the hot showers.

Training my companion is going good, I really do like. My pensionista is awesome, she cooks so good and their are way active and strong in the church. Her food is way clean.

Last Tuesday I gave a training in our zone meeting and Elder Rich walks he is now an assistant to the president, and sits down for my training. It went pretty good Elder Rich liked it. It was like half an hour long. The offices are not close but they are not far, the zone I’m in is the neighboring zone to Tahauntisuyo where I was before, and yes we walk a lot, and there is a couple big hills in our area that are straight up, my legs are getting a good workout and I think they are getting bigger with all the climbing on stairs. My area is more calm, there are a couple of groups (gangs) but they leave us alone for the most part. In my area I have Plaza Vea and Metro which is awesome. I was blessed with something like that. Plaza Vea is like their Wal-Mart, it’s pretty nice but also there is a KFC in my area. A KFC!!!! It’s so funny some people think that it (KFC) was invented here, that and they think that coca cola was invented here too. I just lightly laugh and ignore it. Well, everything seems good there and busy, Uncle Scott wrote me and I enjoyed his letter. I’m really happy for him and Karen and that everything is going good. I can’t believe that Sara is a senior, that’s crazy. We also had the two baptisms last week. Joseph Perez and Katy it was way good. I baptized Joseph, the water was so cold, I was shivering so bad! I couldn’t pronounce his name, I had to say his name again, everyone was laughing, saying we have never seen a gringo shiver so much, it was funny. Then the bishop baptized Katy, before we started the service I’m walking in the hallway and I seem him the door of his office. He said “Elder Ridge come here”. I’m like what and he said come in my office for a second. Me and my companion go in, and I said “yes bishop can we help” He looks at me and says “how do I do it” I’m like how do you do what and he says “ how do I baptize her” I’m thinking oh gosh so I had like a 5 minute lesson with him on how to baptize someone. The Bishop didn’t know, I thought it was funny, and when he got in the water with her he had to do it three times. He did the exact same thing that my companion did. He tried to do it all soft, the third time I learn over the balcony I’m said “Bishop! throw her down harder! He’s says oh, ok and did it right. That’s all that really happened this week. this weekend we won’t have a baptism but we might the 5th of September . We have some potential investigators so we will see. We only have the rest of this week and next week and then there is changes! The time is going by fast almost too fast. Yesterday I hit 14 months, now I’m going for 15, that is crazy! thank you for sending that package for me and my comp, I can’t wait to get it, thank you so much for the support, I love you guys so much,



August 17th

We only had one baptism last Saturday, but this Saturday we have two, Katy and Joseph. They wanted it for the 22nd of August instead of the 15th but they are all good and excited. We baptized Jian Franko on Saturday and it was a good baptism, well planned with the help of the members. Now Jian Franko’s mom wants to get baptized. She is living with her boyfriend, so she can’t just yet. We had 11 investigators in church so we have some good potential in these coming weeks. Jian Franko wanted my companion to baptize him. I was so happy because I wanted him to do it, so he could have his first baptism in his mission. It was funny because I had to teach him how to do it, so we were practicing in the room before because he is a small guy, and way skinny and I think he comes up to my name badge on my chest. We were practicing how to baptize, and he dropped me on the floor, it was funny, I was laughing so hard. We get to the baptism and he gets in the water and I have my head over the balcony making sure he is going to do it right. He is asking me questions like how long do I hold him under the water? How fast do I do it? I was like just do it normal, put him under and pull him out, don’t do it really fast but don’t do it slow either. He says the prayer and says it right, puts the hand over the nose and starts to put him down, he put him down so slow with no strength that he held him under for like 3 seconds and his arm was sticking out. I’m thinking oh great, he is going to be so embarrassed, he pulls him out and I lean over and say “hey you have to do it again because his arm came out but this time throw him down harder”, and then he did it again right but it was kind of funny. I was teasing him after, but it was a good experience. I’m so blessed with the companion I have, we get a long great, we are always laughing and making fun of each other. I’m really trying to teach him to have fun with the mission and to enjoy it but to work too .This change is flying by way quick, next week I will have 14 months crazy! My church here starts at 9: 30 so we are in church at the same time.

Hot Showers and Great Success

Well to answer your questions. Our room is really nice, its well tiled and it was just built so the walls are clean and it just looks really nice. The bathroom is pretty good, not like my first one here, but we have hot water, so in the morning I just stand there under the water for ever because it has been 6 months showering cold water out in the jungle. My mattress is not very good, all the mattresses here are made out of hay, that’s how all the mattresses are here. No we don’t have a fridge because only in the jungle do we get a fridge.

The ward here is good. The members are pretty fun and this ward is a little more organized than most. Yesterday we gave talks, my companion talked for 3 minutes and I talked for about 12 minutes. It was pretty good. Man I can’t believe I can actually give a talk longer than 5 minutes now and in another language. Our mission ward leader is way good, he is a returned missionary and he helps us a lot.

Well nothing really exciting happened this week, I got used to the city so I feel comfortable here. It’s weird because when I first got to Peru last year I was so scared and I thought everyone wanted to kill me but now I feel at home. It feels very normal now. I know when I get back to the states I will have to adjust big time.

Our investigators are doing well. We will have three baptisms this weekend which will be awesome. On the 22nd we will baptize a man that was baptized at age 8 and now is 30 but he lost his baptismal record so we have to baptize him again. It counts for the mission and it counts as a family of gold because his whole family are members so this is a blessing, I really got blessed to enter into this area and start having investigators. I really wanted to start my comp off good and get him in water and its going to happen.

New Area and Training a New Companion

Congrats Emily! and good work Scott. (Elder Ridge’s sister is expecting his first niece and he just found out)

A lot happened this week, yes I left the jungle, it was way sad, I was there 6 months, I love that place and the members there, but it was good to change, we flew out Wednesday at 10 and got to Lima at 12, it was a cool flight because the sky was clear and you passed over the Andes, they are huge. We arrived in Lima and its cold, like humid cold.

I went to the meeting for changes, I saw Elder Roldan and we were taking a little bit, it was good to see him. I am going to the area he left so he was telling me all about it. My area is La Pascana in Comas. It is pretty sweet and it’s big. The chapel is 2 stories, the members are pretty friendly, my room is way nice, it’s pretty ritzy for Lima. My pensionista is way cool and cooks so good, I’m worried that I might get fat here.

(Elder Ridge has the privilege and responsibility of training a new missionary. They refer to trainers as Dads and the trainee as their son.)

My companion is Elder Zarate from Huancayo Peru, I think it is a little bit outside of Lima like 6 hours. ( It is east of Lima) He is a brand new missionary so I’m his dad. He is a nice humble guy, he is the only member in his family and is a convert of 2 years. His family doesn’t really support him, they didn’t want him to go on the mission, and because he left they are not going to support him when he gets back its very sad but he is awesome and he is learning fast.

I’m trying my best to teach everything so he can be a good missionary, sometimes I have to use my patience because he is learning and I’m used to companions that know a lot and we can work together normal but I’m teaching him a lot.

I got your package. I love the rice krispe treats and the pictures and the candy, it was a good package.

We have some investigators in the area. Right now we have the Bishop’s niece named Katty that we are going to baptized on the 15th of August. A young man named Joseph also for the 15th. Joseph’s is 12 years old and his dad is a member. Another young man named Juan Franko he is 12 also and should be baptized on the 15th. We also have a lady named Sandra who is scheduled for the 22nd. We also have a family, they have already been coming to church but were never baptized because they just live together so they are trying to get married and they said that their papers are almost done, so we are hoping to get them married and baptized. That would be awesome, a family of gold. I’m really hoping to have good success this change to start my companion started off with a good mission. We are trying to get 6 baptisms this month.

The other day we were in the street and this big black guy came up to me and yelled in my face what are you doing in my country you (BAD WORDS) in Spanish, I just walked around him and looked at my comp and said man I love this city, and he laughs. Aren’t mission great and full of all kinds of experiences.

Leaving Iquitos with Love, Success and Memories

7-27-09

Well, the changes are here and ya there is a change, I’m leaving the area here, I’m going back to Lima, I kind of knew that I was going to Lima. I’m going to the zone Comas, the good news I getting a kid, yes I’m going to be training! I’m pretty happy about that, I get a kid, I have no idea who it will be or where he is from but this means that I’m entering a area new with him so I’m going to be lost ha-ha, I am way excited to get to the city and start working with him. I’m really going to miss this city, I love it here.

Saturday we baptized Franco, he is 15 and he is awesome, he is so funny, we had some problems with his family and his parents, but everything ended up being good, we ended this change with 5 baptisms which is pretty good, I’m hoping to get in to my new area and baptize more.

7-20-09

This week was a good week, to start off we had three baptisms on Saturday, it was a good experience, as a zone we had a massive baptism so we all did it in the same church and 25 were the baptized. Jaivee and Kasandra and Victor got baptized but Joel didn’t. He had some family problems and couldn’t do it. This week end we are going to baptize Franco who is 15 he wants to serve a mission so bad same with Jaivee there is a young man in my ward named Diego he is being a good friend and is getting them both to get excited to serve missions.

I’m way excited for next week because we will know where I’m going and who with and as what and all, I really think I’m going to Lima.

Baptism and some Great Investigators

Saturday we had Nicole’s baptism and I baptized her, it went well, right now we have 4 people getting baptized the 18th and at least one more person the 25th but we could possibly have 3 more for the 25tht, so it would be 4 for the 18tht and 4 for the 25th. The 18th it’s a 10 year old boy named Victor, a 12 year old girl Kassandra, a 14 year old boy Joel, a 17 year old boy Jayvee. The 25th we have a 45 year old woman named Faustina, we knocked on her door and she let us in and she was sick and she asked us if we can do anything to help so we explained what a blessing is and we gave her one and we taught her and she said that she wants to get baptized on the 18th. We said no you have to wait for the 25th because you have to go to church two times(its a rule here) but she said that she knows it’s true, she could feel it when we were blessing her and she got better the next day, she is a nice lady.

Last night we had a sweet thunder and lightning show, it was awesome, nothing else has really happened this week, we are just really working, things are going good here.

Two Week Post

Here is the post for the last couple of weeks.

July 6th

Well, this was a good week! Right now we have 4 people getting baptized. One for the 11th and the other three for the 18th, and we will have two more for the 18 but we have to work out their dates. We had 8 investigators in the church so it was a good day. The work is going good right now. The two people that don’t have dates yet but still came to church was Jayvee, we were teaching him back with Elder Zuniga, and the niece of our pensionista, she came to church and loved it.

Today we are going to the zoo again to take pictures with the snake. Saturday my District Leader came and visited with my companion. I was able to go to another area with a gringo to celebrate the 4th of July. We ordered pizza and soda, made signs and took pictures. We made the best of it, it was way fun. My companion is from Arequipa Peru. He is a gymnast. He used to do the bars and those two rings in the air. He is ripped!

June 29th

I’m way excited to be here with my companion, he is way cool, we work way hard. This week we found 25 new people to teach and we have 4 people getting baptized, a little girl named Nicole, a boy named Victor and a young women named Cassandra and young man named Joel. Nicole is scheduled for the 11th and the other three are for the 18th so it should be good. They came to church on Sunday. Their parents were inactive but now they are coming to church again and the kids want to get baptized. We are really working hard to find a complete family.

I did hear about Michael Jackson, everyone here was talking about it and playing his music in the streets to honor him, here they really follow the states and what’s happening up there. The big news from the States I still hear down here.

Today we went to the jungle to a little village it was pretty cool, everyone was looking at us weird, all the gringos, we went to where there never had been missionaries, and it was pretty cool.

My companion and I are working way hard to get a lot of success. We had our interviews and President asked me what did I do before the mission, and we talked about my goals for the second half of my mission. I told him I want to have a good second half and that I am going to apply a lot of things to be a better missionary, and some stuff like that, and he looked at me and said Elder Ridge, this last year you will progress really fast, prepare yourself and strengthen yourself it was way good. It made me feel good.
We have a goal this change to have 5 baptisms and one family, so I’m way excited to work this change and get things going and have some success. I can’t believe I have been out a year, I only have one year left so I got to make the most of it, I’m going to work hard but smart and I’m going to enjoy it.

Catch up post (May 4th to June 8th)

June 8th

Our investigators are doing alright, we had a few individuals and a family and they just started to not progress and weren’t coming to church so I said to Elder Roca we need to drop them and start knocking doors to find some more. So we started knocking doors and we found this man named Segundo, we talked to him and taught him a little and took out his baptismal date right then and there and he is getting baptized the 27, he is a nice guy, a little shy, his thirty and is single.
I’m kind of change trunky ha-ha, but we are still working and everything. The weather is in the 80 down here lately it has been cloudy and rainy but when the suns out its pretty hot, but no they really down have a winter, the people tell me it’s cold in Lima. I want to stay in the heat I like it.
The thing that’s happening here is the indigenes people or the people that live with no electricity and live in little villages are getting mad because people are drilling for oil on their land out in the middle of nowhere. So they are coming into the cities and killing the police and people. Nothing like that is really happening here in Iquitos but in Tarapoto it’s kind of dangerous. The missionaries there couldn’t leave their rooms for three days to work, for us it was only two days, so don’t worry it’s not that bad here. Some of the members asked me what do you do in the states when this happens, I told I have no idea because these things don’t exist in the states, they couldn’t believe that there aren’t little villages in the states filled with indigenes people who run around naked ha-ha.
So yesterday we were visiting some members and we stopped by the house of a family and the dad was like hey Elder Ridge come here I got to show you something, I was like what , he told me that his computer has this program where you can see where you live, I told him it’s called Google earth, he goes how did you know its new, I said I just know these things, I don’t want to say that its old news in the states. So he’s says show me your house. So I showed him and he zoomed in on the house, he was like wow that’s your house, I told him yes and I kind of didn’t want to because of how big the house is, so he goes now watch this and he pushes something and puts the view as if you were walking down the street, I was like no way that’s awesome, I could see the cars and Melissa is out front walking. I couldn’t believe it, it made me trunky for the rest of the day ha-ha.

June 1

Well, I’m glad you guys got my photos and are enjoying them. (It only took 10 days to get a package from Iquitos) We will be posting all pictures in the near future in a new album.
We have two weeks left in this change and I am excited to see what the changes will be. I’m really hoping to do a jungle hop, go from one place in the jungle to another. I really like the jungle.
This week nothing really happened. Wednesday we couldn’t leave to go work because they had a strike and it was pretty dangerous in the street, so we just rested and studied. It was kind of off and on this week so we had to be careful in the streets.
Well nothing else is really happening. Today we are going to a gringo restaurant to eat lunch with the zone, I have been there before, and the food is so good.

May 25th

The biggest thing here that we do for service is painting because everything is cement and the paint is always falling off so we paint a lot and it’s no professional job but they like it.
The investigators are doing good and we have a lot of people that we are teaching but no one is accepting a baptismal date, but we will have some in June. I’m really trying to work smarter, I’m studying more and trying to make my teaching better and my Spanish so I will be able the apply the things and be a better missionary and help the investigators.
So back in march when I was with Elder Zuniga we had interchanges with the district leader, something that is normal, I went to his area with his junior comp and my district leader came to my area with Elder Zuniga, so I was in the other area that day working good with the other missionary, contacting, teaching. We found a guy named Richard and sat down and taught him the restoration and everything. Well at general conference in April I was standing there talking with other missionaries and this man came up to me and said Elder Ridge do you remember me? I said your face looks familiar but I’m sorry I don’t. He said you taught me the first lesson in my house and guess what I got baptized last weekend. Wow I said congrats, I felt really happy and joyful that he got baptized, I felt pretty good, but also that same day in March I was with another missionary and I said “hey lets go contact some people, and he said ok, I said you go contact that person and I will contact them, he said ok and went and contacted a lady while I was talking to this lady and her daughter, and told them about the church they seemed interested. I got names address and set an appointment, well a couple weeks later I was talking to my district leader and he said hey Elder Ridge you contacted a mom and her daughter that one day and now we are teaching them and trying to prepare them for baptism, I was pretty excited, as time went I asked how they were doing. He said we are still working with them, but she is having trouble working on Sunday stuff like that, well 2 weeks ago he told me hey guess what, the whole family is getting baptized, the mom dad, the daughter that 18 and the son that is 20, I was like wow sweet, so they all got baptized I was so happy.
Well last Friday I had interchanges and went to the district leaders area again and his companion there said lets go visit the family that just got baptized that you contacted, so we went and we were sitting down talking and I asked the mom, do you remember me, she said no, but I have seen you somewhere, I told her, back in march right here in front of your house I contacted you in the street and told you about the church, she said oh my gosh yes I remember, she grabbed my hand looked at me and said thank you, thank you so much, because you talked to me that day I have received so many blessing for me and my family and will receive more, I am so thankful to be in this church and I am sharing it with my friends. I told her well I’m really happy for you and your family and this church will bless your life and she said you are always welcome here and we talked some more and we took some pictures and left. After I left, I felt so happy and joyful I can’t explain how I felt, I was thinking wow just one little contact in the street the whole family got baptized, I felt pretty proud even though I had nothing to do with it because I was just an instrument the Lords hands. I felt so good that day and was thinking you never know what can happen from just a little invitation, so that what happened to me this week, it was a good week.
I have had a lot of good experiences, thank you so much for your support and I love you guys.

May 18th

Yes I got my birthday package and I loved it! it was so good, the candy the ties, it was all good. For my birthday we went to a family’s house they are so sweet, and we made pizza, it was so good, they sang happy birthday to me. . My pensionista made a cake and her family sang, it was a good birthday.
Today we got to go out and work in regular cloths because there was some protesting going on and President wanted everyone to wear regular clothes to be safe, nobody took us seriously when we are in our p-day clothes.
Sunday morning it rained so hard that all the houses flooded and nobody could go to church, we got to church and there was us and the bishopric, we had to start church an hour later and still only 10 members came, it was sad, we have to push back all the dates of our investigators.


May 11th (Post Mothers Day Call)

Yes it was good to talk to you guys, it sounds like everything is going good and everyone is happy including buddy (Elder Ridge’s dog)
We had a great time talking with Elder Ridge. We did not have the best telephones connections and had to call back a few times but it is always good to hear his voice. He is doing great and is loving his mission. It doesn’t sound like he has an accent but he did have trouble thinking of words in English and often used different wording than we are use to. It sounds like he is really into his language. He told us a lot stories about Iquitos, the members and the investigators. He is having a great time in the Jungle and hopes to stay in the jungle awhile longer.

May 4th (Pre Mothers Day Call)

Well the changes are here and I’m going.... nowhere, I’m staying here with Elder Roca. I will try my best and do my part hopefully things will work out.

Saturday we had Jorges baptism, it was really good, I baptized him.

I’m really excited to call you guys this weekend and talk, it will be the same as last time, I will call you Saturday to set up a time for Sunday. The Mission President gave us a hour of internet now so it will be back to normal.

I have no idea what made me sick, I don’t know if it was food water or what but right now I’m good. I burned the cads but now I have to send them, there is nothing in my area where I can do it and I have to wait every p-day. This week we really have to work hard to get more investigators to get more baptisms, every person that we had stop progressing so we really have to work hard to get more.

Yes, Mom I’m using the repellent, don’t worry, well I’m glad that everything is going good over there, I love the pictures of the family, everyone looks good, I’m really proud of Dave, he looks really happy. (Elder Ridge’s older brother graduated from UVU) Melissa looks great, I’m glad she is enjoying lacrosse, well guys I love you so much and thanks for the support and I will call you this Saturday!