Happy Easter Everyone! 

I hope everyone of you had a wonderful time to remeber The Savior of the World and his sacrifice. Remembering that he did what no man could, can, or will be able to do. We can show our appreciation through repentance and following the teachings of Him and His Prophets.

This week we had 0 baptisms again, but on the bright side we reactivated a less active. Normally we have 20 of our investagators in the church. This sunday. We had 0. We had the least amount of people baptised and in the church than throughout the entire mission.  I have been praying for strength to look into each one of their eyes and ask "Why"?  

 I love this work. It is in no doubt the hardest work i have ever done in my life. I hope and pray that one of our investagators will progress. 

We had a miracle but Satan is determined here. 

Patrick. He is a young boy of 16 years. He prayed with an honest heart to know 3 things. 

1. Is The Book of Mormon a true revelation of God and words of Prophetas. 

Answer: Yes.

2. Is The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter Day Saints the true church of God.

Answer: (Vocal Voice Of Unknown Origin) YES. 

3. Do I (Patrick) have a purpose in my church (Baptist of Cannão). 

Answer: "Nothing" 

He later accounted that the pastor of his church called him the next morning and asked him to play the guitar in the church. I had been waiting 3 years for her to ask him. I don´t know why but Satan is determined to keep everyone pinned down here in Limeiro Do Norte. 

I pray for him and our other investagators each day. 

 I also Pray for each of you. Let this amazing experience and miracle stregthen your faith as it did mine. 

I wish you all a Happy Easter. 

Love,

Elder Riches

Family Home Evening with some members

Members recently baptized

members in their ward

An armadillo tail?

Hello All! 

This week has been going well. We have many investagators and many baptisms set. 

I love this country. I can´t believe how fast time is passing. One goal i will accomplish in the next couple weeks is that 4 days ago i began reading in Portuguese, The Book of Mormon. I arrived at chapter 3 of 2nd Nephi this morning. I am taking time to mark the scriptures and read each verse. I am reading so fast because every 5 mins i have, I read. I find it so fascinating that i can read in another language. I can´t wait to read today. I take the Book Of Mormon with me everywhere. 

I love this gospel. We had one interesting experience when we encountered a pastore. Of another Church. She questioned us about the Book of Mormon. She tried to say that it is wrong and that we are wrong and that we should leave. I told her with every ferver of my soul in my testimony that any person that has an open heart and faith will read this book and then i bore my testimony about the promise of Moroni, that if anyone should read these things they should pray to God in the Name of Jesus, and question if these things which he/she read are not true. 

I told her that she can not throw the Book of Mormon in the trash before reading it. I promised her she would know that these things are true. She accepted it and we left. I can only pray she has a heart soft enough to change her entire life to believe in the one true Church of Jesus Christ. 

It hurts me to think that my investagators will not even go to church to  try. Each time they don´t complete comprissos i blame it on my lack of teaching ability. I need to teach stronger. I need to teach with the Holy ghost. I need to bear my testimony with every ounce of faith i have. Then, if they don´t commit. They will have to explain to God in the Heavens why, when he sent us, they did not even care or want to know. 

I love this gospel. I will never be able to deny the miracles that are happening on the Earth every day we live. 

Thank you, my wonderful friends for your beautiful emails and testimonys. I love to read them and i love to hear about the States. 

Everyone have a great week! I leave you with the Inspired Beautiful Words of Elder Holland. 

"If you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time. Please listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling you right now, this very moment, that you should accept the atoning gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the fellowship of His labor. Don’t delay. It’s getting late. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Love you all without end,

Elder James Riches 

Fortaleza East Mission Brazil

Limeiro Do Norte

I love General Conference. I watched it in Portuguese. :P I loved it. 

So one thing that was very ironic this past week. 

-I was walking on the side walk and i was talking on the cell phone. I asked. Where is the Cabeleria. (Where you cut your hair) I forgot the word in English. :( 

Then i hit my head on a Air Condicionar. I fell to the ground and touched where i hit my head and my head was red.. 

My companion grabbed the cell phone and asked immediately. Where is the Hospital?! 

We walked to the Hospital with a trail of blood spots following us. 

I received 3 stitches. I will send photos. I got them taken out today. It was pretty scary. I was able to teach lessons the very same night. 

God looks out for us. We went back to the scene of the accident. We looked at the Air C. And there was nails that i could of hit and did a ton more damage. 

I am grateful that it was not worse. :)

1. pic is after a service project we did, very dirty. 

2. We rented a hotel room for our investigators to watch conference (below).  There is only one hotel here.

the other photos are of our church, and the area.  It is really beautiful here.

How is everyone?!!? 

So great week this week! We had 2 more baptisms! Our group will soon be a branch! We have been teaching a ton! 

I am loving it here in Brazil! I can´t wait until i can speak fluently. Most of the time people understand me. Then sometimes i get a person when i ask them a question like this...

-----------------------------------------------------

Person: Where are you from?

Me: Guess! :) 

Person: ahhh Cool! 

Me: ..........................Guess! 

Person: Huh? (He is still talking to me?) 

Me: Guess where i am from... (Friend of the person says what i am saying in a slightly better accent).

Person: OOHHHH! Argentina? 

Me: Oo

Me: Eu Sou Dos Estados Unidos.

Person: Oh Cool!.................. Ummm.......... Can I have a picture with you? 

Me: Of Course!

Person: Awesome Thanks! 

Me: Can We Teach You? 

Person: Yes! :D

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Bam Pesquisador! 

 Yea that happens about everyday. Its fun! I love it! We had dinner with the only active member here. He was a Stake President.  We talked about how churches down here have strayed off from the path so much. I got a 3 min recording of a guy screaming at 250 people about jerusulem and the city of corinthians. I understand about 8 words. But it was pretty interesting... we got invited to the EFY for another church. It was  3 day church thing during carnival. We went on the last day for 1 hour. It was very interesting. The Spirit was not there but everyone in the crowd thought it was. They began screaming back. Scared me a bit but i recovered. ;) 

I have learned how to make a ton of food. I love making Pastels for our house. 

I love Jeff R Holland I have been listening to some talks by him.

Elder Riches

James and his companion that just went home

James and his new companion

a kind of fruit they eat down there. (he wasn't sure of the name)

Lake that they did their baptisms in 

March 10

This week has been amazing! I have been working super hard! We have 13 baptisms set for this Saturday. More or Less. We have two families for sure. I love this area. It has been amazing as i am hearing more. I can translate from Portuguese to English nearly 100% of the time. I just have trouble speaking.

I also wanted to share a funny story. So we are teaching Roberto and his family. We taught them the Palavra De Sabedoria last night.(Word of Wisdom). So we went through the 5 things he could not use. Alcohol, drugs, smoking, black tea, and they were totally cool with those. They said they would follow it! Then my companion looked at me. I knew exactly what i needed to say. I could feel i was going to be a challenge for this family but i said it nonetheless. Café! Coffee. They all looked at me with distress. I explained to them that everything we are commanded to do is because God loves us. Then I explained how if they change just a little it would change their lives greatly. ( I gave the story how if you were to fly from Fortaleza to Fortaleza all around the world. Then you changed your course with 1 degree. when you flew around the world you would arrive back 500 miles from your original destination.

They said they would follow it. The best part was. We sat their for about 30 seconds letting them soak it in. Then my companion, Elder Ross, Said, " to help you out, can we have all your coffee?" I looked at him exactly how all the others did. "What?" They said yes and we took two bags of coffee home that night.

We also had to move their baptism dates forward. The only complaint was that Roberto said, " I need to get work off, but yea it should be fine." HAHA! Its so cool to see when people receive answers to their prayers, how quick they will drop everything to follow Christ. It definitely strengthened my testimony. 

I am losing my companion next Monday. He is going home. It will be a little hectic with me traveling to Fortaleza. So it might be a different time when i Email.

I am so grateful for all of you! I love you all. Here are some pictures of our week. :)

Also! I made a new friend! His name is Felipe! He is a monkey! He followed us on telephone wires for a while. IT was awesome. We also had our first member baptized in Limeiro Do Norte. She is with the other missionaries. :)

Sempre Ama, Elder Riches

March 3

This has been amazing! So to start off. I was in Pacajus! It was pretty awesome. 

Then! I got transferred! I received a new companion that knows you Mary Felber. He goes home in 16 days and is one of the hardest workers on the mission. My last trainer was not really "training" me. So president said he is putting him with me to train me super well. I have learned so much. The best part is.. This Elder works.... Its  killing me. Not really but it has been a huge change. His name is Elder Ross. He is an American and speaks fluent Portuguese. 

So the cool thing is, we and two other Brazilians, Are starting an area! We are in a place were literally no one knows about The Church. Everyone is curious and wondering who we are. The Church has literally never touched this area before. We arrived here on Terca-Feira. Or Tuesday. We have 76 new investigators. In 5 days.   Told you he works... We have taught a ton ton ton of lessons. I lay down at night and pass out. We are in a amazingly beautiful and clean city of Limeiro do Norte. We love it here. We have been working super hard and inviting everyone we can to church. This weekend is Carnival. This means that as we walk home. Everyone is partying in the streets. Its funny to watch. 

We have a few super good investigators.  

I have a few good pics for you all!

But that's all that has happened here! Its a super big privilege to start the church here. I love it. I thank God everyday. :)