Jan. 25th, No Subject

So this week was really good for us in Riberalta. We had a lot of
really good and powerful lessons this week with a lot of our
investigators and our less actives. We had a good lesson with Angel
Ribas. We taught him 3 times this week and we were able to help him
understand more about his baptism. He told us that he knows he needs
to get baptized but he's scared to take that step. We also taught him
about the word of wisdom. He only drinks on special occasions but he
committed to stop drinking which was really good. The only problem we
have now is to get them married because currently he lives with his
"wife" but they aren't married. He is willing to make these changes but
is just missing a little bit of the action.

We also had a good lesson with a new family we are teaching. The
Caldera Family. They are really dedicated to helping their family and
want to make it better. They are dedicated to helping their family. So
in almost every principle we teach, we are trying to apply it
to how it helps families. They committed to going to church but sadly
didn't go. Hopefully we can help them go this week.

We also went to the missionary conference on Wednesday and there was a
lot that we learned. My comp and I are going to try and apply what
they taught about less actives, part member families, and recent
converts. In the conference they said they are like gold mines and we
liked that part a lot. We are going to try really hard to get
references from those 3 this transfer.

That's about everything that's been going on this week. We are trying
really hard to find prepared investigators.

Élder Britt

Jan. 18th, No Subject

So this week was really good for us in Palmeras 2. This week, Elder
Fernandez got transfered and Im still in riberalta. He was the first
comp that Ive had for more than one transfer. But my new companion is
Elder Urbina. Hes from Honduras. Hes really good from what I can tell
and teaches really well. He has 7 months in the mission but is already
a really good Elder.

So this week we had a good lesson with Angel Ribas. We talked about
his baptism date again and he got nervous. He said if he felt ready
for February 20th he would get baptized which is really good. But
right now, we need to help him with the word of wisdom, the law of
chastity, and going to church every sunday. He told us that he
realizes that if he is going to get baptized that he needs to makes
the changes in his life and that they are important changes. Right now
we are going to focus on those 3 problems that he has and hopefully he
will be ready for that date.

Tonight we are going to have a really good Family Night with one of
our less actives. Joseluis Pinto told us that he is going to invite 2
families to come to this family night. He told us that he wanted us to
teach about Joseph Smith because they have some questions. So
hopefully we will have 2 new families progressing.

But thats about all thats going on here. We are still helping the
branch function. We are doing a lot of the work here. The members are
starting to help us more and more.

Elder Britt

So the picture with the family is probably one of my favorite families
here. They are about the only members here who have gone to the
temple. Theyre the Chuqui family, you say it like chucky. We are
helping the guy on the far right to go back to church.

Jan. 11th, No Subject

So this week was pretty good for us! It flew by. We were able to do a
lot of good things this week.

We found a new less active we started teaching named John. He has a
lot of problems right now, especially with the law of chastity. He
said that he wanted to change and to fix the problems. He asked us how
he could change because he always has wanted to change but hasn't ever
been strong enough to do it. But we shared with him Mosiah 3:19 and
told him that he needs to use the atonement and to follow the
impression of the spirit and we will make small changes over time.

Then we got really close to putting a baptismal date for the Hermano
Angel Ribas. He told us that he wants to get baptized and before he
didn't really care to get baptized. But when we started talking about a
specific date he got nervous and didn't accept the date. Right now we
are just going to try and show him why baptism would be important in
his life and how it will make him better. We hope with that he will be
able to accept a specific date.

We also found a new investigator who has a lot of potential to
progress. The Caldera family. His family is very important to him,
which is pretty rare here. The reason why he wanted to hear from us
was because his family was slowely seperating and he was looking for
something to help them be more united. He has been really receptive to
the teachings and hopefully he will progress a lot. Right now he hasn't
gone to church but I think there's a good chance he will go this week.

We have been seeing a lot of good things in our área. The members are
doing good with their callings and more members are returning to the
church.

That's about all this week.
Elder Britt

One of the pictures was of a new member, Roger. He has been going to
our branch for over a year because he is Friends with the Rivera
family. He finally accepted to get baptized. It was a very spiritual
baptismal service. Hes going to be a great member.

Jan. 4th, No Subject

So this week was a pretty good week in the mission. We are still
seeing a lot of progression with the Gonzales family. This week we
fasted with the majority of the family and also the majority were able
to go to church yesterday. We had a really good visit with them this
week. He expressed his gratitud for my companion and I that we are
always there to help him and that we never get tired of visiting them.
We plan on trying to rescue them at the end of this month.

This week, we also were working a lot with the Pinto family. Right now
they have been going through a lot of problems. Their son about a
month ago went to the city and there he was accused that he killed
somebody and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. This week he was
released because the police realized he didnt do anything. It was
really cool to me to hear that they knew that their prayers and our
prayers helped their son with this problem. We have been doing a lot
of service. We helped them clean out some big weeds with machetes this
week and we are going to keep helping them this next week. Also the
mother right now has cancer and she made a very big sacrifice to go to
church yesterday. Right now she has cancer and has a lot of pains but
she really wanted to go to church yesterday and nothing stopped her.
Its amazing to see this family and their attitud as they go through
these problems. They never complain and tell us that their prayers
help a lot.

Also this week, a lot of our less actives went to church this past
week. Our church changed from 3 in the afternoon to 8 in the morning.
A lot of the members were very glad to have that change and I think
because of that our attendence is going to go up.

This was a scripture that I found this week and I liked it a lot. D&C
101:9 "Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding [your] sins, my bowels
are filled with compassion towards [you]. I will not utterly cast
[you] off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy."

Elder Britt

Dec. 28th, No Subject

So this week we saw a lot of progression in one of the less active
families we are teaching and in the branch.

So first off with the family we are teaching. We have been teaching
the Gonzales family ever since I got to this area. They have always
been really nice with us and always accept us. Right now they have a
daughter that is serving in Colombia and they were able to talk with
them for Christmas. I think that whatever she told her family really
motivated them to start going to church again. They told us that there
goal is to go to the temple with their daughter when she gets back in
a year. We had a small lesson with them yesterday and the brother
asked us if we could fast with him this week. We are going to work
really hard with them to help them to go back to church and hopefully
this fast goes well with him this next week.

So yesterday we had a really good branch council too. So when we first
got here we would ask people to come with us for a visit or to visit
somebody specifically. It would almost always fall through. But now
the leaders are starting to complete with their asignments and are
starting to get excited about the work out here. We also have a family
that is also going through a lot of problems, the Chuquimia family.
One of them suggested that we could do a fast for them to help them.

It made me really happy to see the progession this past week. The work
out here in Riberalta is going well!

Elder Britt

To explain a little about the pictures.

The first one I finally got to hold a monkey. It was really hard to
get it but I finally got its trust and could hold it.

The second is one of my favorite members, Mario. He always takes us
places in his moto. We just have to find another mototaxi and he takes
us places. Thats how we get around out here.

The third is were we sang for Christmas eve. All of the zone sang.

And the last few are some animals of the members here. They liked to
climb up on my back and should and in one of the pictures one started
biting my ear. They are really cool!

Dec. 21st, Christmas

So time has passed by really quickly this week. On Tuesday my comp had
to travel to a city in Bolivia called Trinidad. He had to go do
some paper work of his passport and so that left me in a trio with the
other 2 elders from my branch. It was nice because I was able to visit
with some of the members from the other area. But I couldn't work in my
area for about 3 days.

This week was full of activities in the branch and district. We
had 2 talent shows, one for the branch and one for the district. We
had to perform something in the two of them. In both of them, we sang a
hymn and in the district talent show we did a short skit. Both
of them went pretty well and some of our less actives went.

We have been working a lot with the Ribas family. We are trying
really hard to reactivate the wife and set a baptism date for the
husband. They both like learning about the gospel but they just need to
go to church every week. We are working a lot with the branch
president here. We have been visiting a lot of the less actives with
him and the people we usually visit with him go to church the next
week. We have also been having meetings every Tuesday night, its almost
like a second branch meeting. As missionaries, we help the leaders know
what they need to do, how to visit other members and help them with
the questions they have. Right now the leaders are having a little bit
of problems so we have decided to help the leaders and that will help
us strengthen the branch and that will allow us to help more less
actives and new investigators.

This week should be really good. Some of the members have already
invited us over to do things with them for Christmas. It always amazes
me to see how little some of the members have and how much they are
willing to give us. The members here are amazing.

That's about all that happened this week!

Elder Britt

Dec. 14th, Mini CCM

So last week a huge storm came through and knocked out all of the
internet in Riberalta so we weren't able to write. I was able to talk
to my mom for only 5 minutes. The internet just barely got fixed today
so I can finally write!

But this week was really good for us in Riberalta! The biggest thing
we did was an activity for everybody in the district and we did a mini
MTC. We invited everybody from 16-24 to go and we tried to help them
get excited to go on the mission. My comp and I taught a class on
personal studies and we taught them a lot about the mission. They even
did some practice contacts and they contact really well! At the end of
the activity we did a small skit. It was pretty much a day as a
missionary but we tried to make it funny. Everybody chose me in my
zone to be an old guy as if he was remembering his mission. It was a
pretty fun activity and hopefully we will see more missionaries going
out from our district.

We also had an activity for saturday, where each orginization was
going to prepare a dance from Riberalta and was going to show it in
the activity. But somehow word got around that it was canceled and
nobody went. So we are going to try and do that activity again this
friday.

We have been doing a lot of finding and we will keep doing that
because almost everybody has left Riberalta. They all went to
something called la safra and it's where they go and collect almonds. I
think almost all of the almonds in the world come from Riberalta
becuase literally almost every person here works in some way or
another with almonds. So we have lost a lot of the people we were
visiting because of that. they won't be getting back until March.

Love you guys,
Elder Britt