This past week was an amazing one!

To start the week off we had a Family Night at Valeria's house. Tuesday we worked hard and found 3 possible baptisms. A little boy (11 years) Diego. Also a couple who haven't married yet but are planning to be married soon so they can be baptised! :)

We also wrapped up the lessons with Emanuela (A young bright women who has been searchign for the truth for a long time). Diego aand Emanuela who have been visiting the church dilligently, accepted baptism.

We worked Wednesday and then found out that one of our Sisters from Aracati (Another City with 4 Sisters) was transfered. :( We recieved a new Sister from Michigan, Sister Johnson. She studied every day for 9 months in the states on her mission in California and has finnaly come to Brazil speaking Portuguese very very well.

WEDNESDAY WAS CORY'S BIRTHDAY (MY LITTLE BRO) CONGRATS BUD! I LOVE YOU! :)

Thursday we sealed the two baptisms (Diego and Emanuela) and taught them how the baptism would be. Also On Thursday i completed 9 months on the mission! :D

Friday was a super busy day we did the interviews for Emanuela and Diego and they both passed!
 

Saturday we went to Aracati to visit the Sisters. We met our Zone Leaders there and i recieved 3 cards (From Linds, E. Oyston, and the Sewing Grandma<3) I also recieved a package from home of goodies! Peanut Butter!!!!! WOOOH ;D THANKS MOM! <3

Saturday when we finally got back to our city we held the Bapotisms of three people. Nick, Diego, and Emanuela. It was a beautiful day and went wonderfully. :)

Sunday we had Sacrament Meeting and they were all confirmed! :D I LOVE BAPTISMS!

My Companion has 15 days before he leaves to go home. He is super anxious to do some more baptisms before he leave and these last few days he has shown a great lesson of true love. He has shown a piece of how Jesus Christ loved and taught. I am grateful to have Elder Pinheiro as a companion and it is amazing to see the changes of what a mission of 2 years has done to him. He is practically my brother and although we have contention at times we always find the good side and are able to continue working and helping others. It is an incredible experience to be able to forget ourselves and to focus on others. I love this work and say to all, If you have the chance to go on a mission. GO.

I know that God loves us and the he sent His Son Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. I know that through his infinite love for us he made a plan so that we may return to his presence. I know that he called Jospeh Smith to be a Prophet, Seer, and Revalator. I know that the same authority that was given to Adam and Prophets of old is still carried by living Prophets and Apostles. Thomas S. Monson is our Living Prophet. Jesus Christ is our Living Saviour. I love this work and know that it is of God.

Thank you for your love and prayers. (And Cards ;)

Love,

Elder James Eldon Riches

Como está?

This week passed so fast! I am forgetting what exactly happened.. Haha.

We have been working with our Investagators to gethem to come to church. We have been finding many less-actives and we are helping the return to the light.

I read 3rd Nephi this week and finished this morning. I have never felt a stronger testimony of Christ in my life then when i read about when he was here in the americas. It was an amazing experience and i hope to read it again soon. I will be finishing the book of mormon in a week or so! Can't wait. I love that book!!!!

 Elder Pinheiro and I are practically brothers. I love working with him. We have been working hard with the members and we even started a Choir in our ward. We have many great investagators. We are working with a women who has a daughter in Sweden! She showed us a ton of Photos. It is so beautiful there...! We talked about Eternal Marriage in church on sunday. We ended up talking about the Preisthood haha. Life is great here in Russas.

I made pancakes this week! They turned out super good. I am becoming a chef. :D

I don't have much to report about this week. We had 8 baptisms in our Zone and 2 in our District! The Sisters are baptizing a lot! Good for them! :D

We hope to have a baptism this week! Gabrielle. Everyone pray for Gabrielle! She is a 15 year old girl who is super interestted in the Church! :D

I love you all and i will send some Photos to show you all how it is! <3

Keep up the good work!

Jesus is coming. Jesus está vindo.

Elder James Riches

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