Hello Beautiful People!

This week has been wonderful. We taught Lunara and David every single day. Clayson the other teen quit for some reason, we will be talking with him this week. We have been working super hard and keeping up the good work. We are progressing spiritually and physically as we have been walking so much.

Saturday we woke up at 4 in the morning to catch the bus going to Aracati. The Meeting with the Sisters went great.

We returned and successfully did Lunara's baptism! I went beautifully and i was chosen to baptise her. (See Photos)

We then put on the movie Frozen for everyone to see and had the party which went smoothly. Elder Pinheiro and I then woke up at 5:30 the next morning and went to the church to prepare for the next baptism which would be held at 7:00 in the morning. That baptism aswell went perfectly. I loved it and was so happy to see the joy fill their eyes.

:D

 Elder Pinheiro and I will be going to a mission Conference today in Pacajús. We will be staying there until tuesday night. Elder Pinheiro and I have been playing Chess on and off over these last few days which has been a brain killer. I am thankful for my companion and my Saviour.

We will be working super hard with a women that has two sons as members this week and as well with Clayson. Please pray for them. They need the strength. <3

Thank you for the Letters. I will be getting more today! :D

Love Always Elder James Eldon Riches

Good morning or afternoon or good night depending where you are in the wide wonderful world.

My companion and I have been blessed this week with 3 firm baptisms. 2 Teens walked in our chapel one night when i was teaching English which went amazing by the way. We marked a date after conversing with them to teach them more lessons. They gladly accepted and they went home.

Gladeson and David

 We had met them in the chapel again to do more lessons and they accepted baptism for they 26th. I am so happy for them. They are loving the lessons. We are doing almost all of our lessons with members now.

 The ward is progressing a ton. Our Stake President, President Guimarães, visited us sunday. I loved his talk on raising a family in the gospel.

We were introduced by a member Lunara. She is a Girl about 19 years old and she is super interested in the gospel. She readily accepted baptism and has attened every single activity and sacrament meeting since she recieved the gospel in her life. We are planning a party for her and her baptism. :) This saturday the 26th as well.

  Elder Pinheiro and I are brothers now as we are working super hard. It seems as if nothing can get us down. We are always super tired. We woke up at 4 in the morning saturday to go to Aracati. We visited the Sisters there. There is 4. S. Westover(American), S. Mobley(American), S. Flores(Peru), S. Lopez(Equador). 4 Wonderful Sisters. It must be crazy in their house. With all the cultures there.

We are having success here in Russas and it seems like the Lord has been waiting to bless this ward for sometime. All the members are turning on like light bulbs as if working in the church is something new to them. I'm loving it.

Life is super good here. I will be making pancakes with a return missionary here who speaks English perfectly. We will be working super hard with the members here to increase the wards active member number.

We have 369 members and only 100 something "active" (80).

We will be watching Saints and Soldiers with everyone in the church building Saturday night. We are doing the English class and Movie night and all of that in hopes of getting more people in the church.

It is working. :) Wooh!

I will send some photos if i can. :) I bought glasses with no degrees.

I use them when i teach in the chapel. Hehe #Nerd <3

I taught an amazing lesson for our Gospel Principles class on the Sabbth Day Observance. It went super well. :)  I finsihed Alma and I am almost done with Helaman.

I know The Chruch of Jesus Christ of The Latter Day Saints is the only church on this entire Earth the contains the fullness of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I know The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that our prophet Thomas S. Monson is a man ispired of God and has the keys of God's holy preistood. I know that no matter what the past holds agaisnt you, the Saviour gave his life so that we can change. I know that we find a happiness within the Church of Jesus Christ that can be found in no other place. We are children of our loving heavenly father. He lives.

I love each and every single one of you.

Elder James Eldon Riches

Wow. This week was sooo much better.

we have been teaching many members about the wonderful new lesson "Our Family". We have been explaining it to everyone and the members are preparing their ancestors for the temple. It is great to see people grow closer to our Saviour through Genealogy. We are teaching a women and her boyfriend and their son. Her name is Tatiani and his is Roberto. The Women had already been taught by the missionaries and strange enough we were walking on the street and my comp and I stopped and looked at a closed door with loud music coming from it. We both looked at eachother and nodded. It startled my heart when i looked and saw a Book of Mormon on her table. We are teaching her so she can be married, baptised, and sealed with her Fam. He was super good to see her in the church Sunday.

We have been working a ton with the members and getting everything fixed in the ward. We talked a bunch with the bishop and he is calling people to positions in the ward.

(Just so you guys know. When i say these things like the ward is messy or other things, it's because here in Brasil. The places where we are serving is super alienated. Meaning the nearest authority is 3 hours away and he visits every 1-3 months. So its hard to have a perfectly organized ward with everyone working and not have a few things wrong.)

We have 30 more people in our ward this sunday. It was a ton better. My companion talked about Member Missionary work. Super good talk. After they sacrament. People started to get up and leave and start it all over again. I went to the door with my companion and we stayed there (after he had finished with his talk he joined me). We turned back all the little kids and amazing only 3 people left. Everyone realized that it is not right to leave during talks or sacrament meating. About half the ward thanked us for doing that saying, " We felt the spirit a lot stronger today". It was great to help out. We are encouraging everyone to start inviting people to church. I told them that in one year everyone in this city should know the name "Mormon". I told them to invite everyone. They accepted the challenge with a smile. :) If we continue to grow we will be opening up a branch here.

I will be starting to teach English every Thrusday to get people into the church and take away the fear of entering the big chapel. :D

I am excited to start teaching my  own language and so is everyone that we are inviting.

Elder Pinheiro said to me out of the middle of no where "Elder Riches you are one of the best companions i have had on this mission". I love my companion. :) He goes home in 3 months and we think i will kill him. (He will end his mission with me).

Everything is well. The language is perfect, I have been studying a lot lately. I have found a new born love for the Book of Mormon. I am finishing Alma right now. I read faster and faster each day wanting to know "what happens next". :D

Thank you all for your wonderful emails. Keep up the good work!

"The Book is Blue, The Church is True, and Jesus wasn't just a Jew"

"Every Member A Missionary"

-Elder James Eldon Riches

Hey guys!

Another week has said good bye and the next one is at the door.

This week we have big plans here in Russas. We have been planning with the Bishop to start reactivating a ton of people. We called some return missionaries to help us out. We have about 50-60 people going to church every sunday. We want 200..

This week has been a little bit stressful as i have been learning how to be more humble. I think it's one of the things we have to learn on the mission. I am grateful for my companion and his patience with me. Elder Afonso.

I also had cut my hair. Myself. I messed up a little bit and.. yea i wont be sending many pictures for the next couple weeks.. :P

Transfers are in 2 weeks! My birthday will be in 6 days!!! I am almost 19 already! It is incredible how time flys by. :)

We are currently teaching a couple who a super interested in the church. Marcelo and Nayarra. Marcelo was baptised but he went inactive and Nayarra is wanting to be baptised both wanting to get back to church where they know they belong. They will be married soon. :) I can't wait.

We are teaching some other families aswell! Cool stuff! 

Love you all!

-Elder Riches

Como Vocês estão? 

Life in Brasil is great! We had 6 people in The Church yesterday and we are planning on a baptism this week. We are teaching many families and progressing! 

 We are teaching a Family of 4 right now. Neudo and his family are Catholic (Like everyone) but their relative was baptised just a few weeks ago. They are very interested in the church and acepted baptism very quickly. It was amazing to see their dedication. I taught the Word Of Wisdom with my companhion Elder Giorgetti and we asked them if they had any problems with any of the items listed (Alchool, Smoking, Drugs, Black Tea, Or Coffee). They responded "Coffee"... I was afraid that like other investagators they would be kept from baptism just because they love Coffee. I asked them if they would be willing to leave coffee and never touch it again. They hisitated and then responded, "Yes". -Spark of faith bursted in my heart- I responded after a moments pause.. "Would be willling to give me your coffee you have in your house so that it doesn't tempt you?" They responded again in the Positive. It brought a smile to my face to see the mother walk out of the house towards us with her coffee in hand. They really want to be baptised.. We will baptised them on the 21st of June. I can't wait. 

We also found out that as part of the World Cup. We as missionaries can't leave the house (Even for Lunch) on the Day when Brasil Will Play. We will have more or less 13 P-days This Transfer. I will be making a lot of pizza haha.. I am glad i learned how! 

I am loving brazil and this wonderful area as well this language. I hope to continue learning and growing. I know God and Jesus Christ live. I know The Book of Mormon is True, I know Jospeh Smith was a Prophet and that this being true President Thomas S. Monson is the rightful man Called of God to be our Prophet. 

Love Forever,

Elder Riches

Queridos Irmãos  e Irmãs, 

  

This week was  unforgettable. 

This past week we received a new Elder from Paraguay.  He name is Elder Mayeregger. 

He is super cool. I like him. We also recieved 4  Sisters into our District. I went there to their city and helped Elder Mayeregger perform some baptisms.   I will send some photos. It was so  beautiful. The city of the sisters is called. quixadá . It is surrounded by Mountains. So pretty.They have a mountain there that is in the shape of a Chicken. Its famous in brazil. 

We also had a conference of 500 missionaries in Fortaleza yesterday. It was amazing. 2 Missions. Fortaleza Leste and Mission Fortaleza. It was great to see friends but it was  even greater to hear from an apostle of Jesus Christ, Elder Anderson. He spoke in Portuguese about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He spoke that people who are being converted to the Gospel cannot stay firm in the church without an understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I loved it and i took many notes. 

His wife spoke  in English with a Translator at her side. It was interesting to hear two versions of the same talk. I loved it. 

It was a wonderful spiritual experience. 

We are teaching about 5 families. Hopefully we have a baptism this next week. :) I will show the photos of Quixadá. 

Love, Elder Riches

Missão Brazil Fortaleza Leste

Olá Tudo mundo! 

Como Foi a Sua Semana? 

Seems like I blinked my eyes and now i am another 6 weeks further in the Mission.

I feel i will be Transfered this Transfer. Transfers are on wednesday. 

I can´t wait to see the new missionarys. 

We are Teaching a family here Valdinei and Joelha. With Their 2 Daughters Andreza and Ingritch.

They need to be married so we are helping with that. We only have 20 people here that are members. so we are trying to create a Branch. 

We are inviting everyone we can here to experience the joy of millions. 

I love this work. Though it is veyr hard to continue with faith when we invite 200+- people to church and only 2 people show up on sunday. It is pretty sad. 

The Mission President payed a special suprise visit to us last week. He helped us realize that we need to use the Spirit more. I have been studying every day to find how to use the Spirit more. 

I have used this film of the Church almost 15 times this weeks to celebrate Easter. 

I hope everyone enjoys and is uplifted by it. 

I love you all

-Elder Riches

Limeiro Do Norte
Fortaleza Lesta Missão Brazil

picture of their chapel