Nov. 23rd, No Subject

So this week was a normal week for us. We were able to find a new
family that has some potential to progress. They have a lot of
problems in their family but are willing to do anything to fix the
problems that they have. That was the reason why they were willing to
visit with us. When we invited them to pray at the end of the lesson,
they did it without saying, oh the next time, or I want to hear your
comp pray.  They just learned and did it. I think it was one of the
first times that's ever happened in the mission.

So this week we visited the Ribas family a lot. We are working really
hard to get the sister active and her husband baptized. They both are
really excited to keep learning and going to church. They have 2 young
kids who are special. That was a thing that was stopping them from
going to church earlier. But we told them just to bring their kids and
everything would be alright. They went to church and about 2 months of
teaching them. Hopefully we can get them to keep going.

Not too much has happened. We are planning a new activity to do 
dances of Riberalta. The branch is making us do a dance too. We have
to do one called el torito. It should be fun!

Elder Britt

Nov. 16th, No Subject

So this week was good for us. We had a lot of good lessons with some
of our less actives. Right now one of them are passing through some
big problems. One of the sisters has cancer and she doesn't know where
to get the money for her treatment. We are trying to help her so she
will be alright. The lessons we have with her are very powerful but
also very sad.

Right now we don't have any investigators that are progressing really.
We lost contact of Jimmy. He was living with the pinto family but I
guess the pinto family kicked him out or he got mad at them and left.
So we were hoping that he would still go to church yesterday but he
didn't show up. We don't have a way to contact him right now. We are
hoping that we can find a way to get in contact with him. Right now we
are really focusing on a part member family, the Ribas family. Angel
is 26 and his wife, estafania is 22. The biggest problems we are
facing with them is that they haven't gone to church yet. They always
tell us that something came up and they couldn't go. They
told us for next week that they want us to pass by right when church
is starting and make them go. Hopefully we can get them to go this
next Sunday. We usually pass by in the morning to remind them but our
church starts at 3 in the afternoon and normally something happens in
that time.

This past Saturday we had a really good activity. We watched the
testaments in our chapel and all of the organization made some sweets.
We were able to have some new investigators go and some less actives
go. It was a successful activity. Right now we are planning 3 more
activities. Our branch is progressing pretty well.

Well that's about all for this week.
Elder Britt

The people here ALWAYS shove you face in cakes.

Nov. 9th, District Conference

So this week was really good. The president and his wife came to
Riberalta this past week for our District Conference. It was a really
good conference and he talked very strongly and clearly to the members
here. He only talked about the 10 commandments but it was very
powerful. A lot of the members liked it a lot even though it was very
direct. He mainly talked about the problems with having other gods
above God and not keeping the Sabbath day holy. He told us personally
that if the members here understood the importance of keeping the
Sabbath day holy, Riberalta would be a stake and not a district.

But we had a really good multizone conference with him. It was just
Riberalta and Guayaramarin. He pretty much just told us that we always
need to be excited to work and always have a good attitude to help the
members. It was a short conference and then he took us to go eat a
really good lunch.

We also have a new person with a baptism date. Jimmy told us that he
wanted to get baptized. He said that in his church, somebody lost the
tithing and because of that he wants to leave them and join our
church. He said he really likes the Book of Mormon and really wants to
join the church. My only fear is that he will find a problem like that
in the future and leave the church. We are going to have to make sure
that he is ready to be baptized and the he has a strong testimony.

Also this week I ate some crocodile. It was actually pretty good. The
people here like to give you food and lie to you and then tell you
what they actually gave you when you are done eating. When they gave
us the food they told us that it was just fish but when we finished
they told us what it really was. It has happened to me many times
before and I've eaten heart and liver without knowing. But everything
weird that I've eaten here was pretty good.

But that's about all for this week!
Elder Britt

Nov. 2nd, No Subject

So this week was really good here in Riberalta. This past weekend we
had a baptism and it went really well. Everything went pretty smooth
for a baptism. But the next day for her confirmation, she didn't show
up for church. My comp and I were pretty nervous. She showed up as
they were doing the closing prayer for the sacrament meeting. Luckily
our president gave us permission to confirm her in Sunday School. But
she is going to be a great convert. She's only 12 but she comes to
church every week by herself. She told us that she really likes the
the things she learns in church and the Young women's organization is
visiting her a lot. We are trying to activate the rest of her family
but the parents are very busy.

This week we really just focused on her baptism but we also did some
other things. We have been planning a lot of activities for the
branch. Every week we have at least one activity. I've pretty much ran
out of ideas but we are going to keep having one every week. People

are really willing to come to the activities when there is free food.
This next week we are going to have a night of postres. Its going to
be a good activity. When there are activities in this branch, the
attendance in church goes up.

Two of our investigators that we were teaching just disappeared, so we
have been trying to figure out what happened with them. One just left
to Santa Cruz and we don't know if he will come back and the other we
have no clue what happened with him. We are just going to do a lot of
contacting now and try to find some people who will progress.

That's about all that happened this week.
Elder Britt