Dax "Big Z" Rich (October 20, 2014)

Well, big things happened. I am now a Zone Leader and am back in Piura Central! So, about half of my mission will be purely Piura Central. But, that isn`t the craziest part! *Drum roll* My companion, for the first time in Piura-history is a Gringo! (Well maybe not the first time in Piura`s history, but the first time in a super long time!) It is CRAZY to be with a Gringo! His name is Elder Eddington from Utah, and we are now the Dynamic Duo from the USA. Crazyness. 

Also, to add to the craziness, the national mailing system in Peru is on strike. Soooo, I wont be receiving any packages for a while, and thus I advise everyone who wants to to wait until this gets resolved to send me a package or even a card. Crazyness X2. 

It was quite emotional to leave Pueblo Nuevo, and I choked up a few times during this past week as I said goodbye to some amazing families. I have seen the Gospel bless and change families and I will miss this environment and opportunity to help the Gospel spread in a humble town. 

Well, there are LOTS of new things that I will be doing from now on. It will make the mission a lot more...interesting, let`s say, but I am excited for the test and hope to keep everyone involved and up to date on the exciting adventures of Elder Rich!

Thanks and best of luck to everyone! ¡Cuídense mucho!

- Elder Dax Rich

Last Beach Day (October 13, 2014)

Well, today marked the last P-Day for me in the beaches of Paita. And, to celebrate it nice and good, we went to the beach closest to Pueblo Nuevo: the beach in Colán. It is also the only beach you will find if you look at most traveler´s guides about beaches in Piura. It was quite sweet, but it turned into a big game of monopoly after a series of interesting events transpired. Oh well.

So, the week was quite an interesting week of emotions and faith. The highlight (besides the conferences) was a super cool moment I had on Thursday. So, if you all remember, a while back I sent an email about the "Book of Mormon Challenge" to prove if the book is divinely-inspired, or not. Well, Thursday, I took the REAL Book of Mormon Challenge. I have always heard stories of people praying, opening up the Book to a random page, and then finding the EXACT answer they needed to a question. I won´t tell you all of the details transpiring to the event, but I did just that. I gave a quick prayer, whipped open the book to a random page, read one first, and then thought to read the next verse too. Those two verses contained EXACTLY the information and guidance I needed in that exact moment. I was blown away, and my testimony of the Book of Mormon shot through the roof. So, thanks to this REAL challenge, yes, I do testify that the Book is divinely-inspired.

 

Well, next week were get transfers. I will be leaving and only the Lord knows where I will go. Let´s wait and see! I pray the best for everyone back home and hope that everyone is healthy and happy! Enjoy your October! ¡Cuídense!

- Elder Dax Rich

Going With the Wind (October 6, 2014)

My six months in Pueblo Nuevo are coming to their end. I spent part of the weekend this past weekend here in Paita and saw a few of the conference sessions, and prepared myself for what will be my penultimate week in Paita. Still much to do, but now I am kind of just going with the wind. Supposedly the President will be stopping by Paita tomorrow, and might stop by and check on us so that is exciting if not freaking intimidating, haha. Pero así es la vida.

 

The work of salvation keeps on rolling here. We are all working on getting more baptisms, meeting new families, and spreading the Gospel (which speaking of, is now VERY HARD because all of the workers in the mailing department in Paita have gone on strike so I can´t send ANYTHING until these people calm down and get back to work. Freaking strikes). We haven´t had many new things happen this week, but certainly I have had some great spiritual experiences through personal prayers and through my relationship with God. I hope everyone who reads this prays or at least gets the chance to pray once a day. There is nothing as special or as encouraging as a heart-filled, sincere, and faithful prayer. Truly there is a God in the heavens who hears our prayers and knows us perfectly. 

 

I truly do love being a missionary in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no other truth except that given by the Christ Himself. I hope everyone can be brought into the fold of the Good Shepard one day and that we can all be together as family and friends for all time and eternity. 

Gracias a todos y espero que tengan muy buena semana. ¡Cuídense mucho!

- Elder Dax Rich

Milagros cada día (September 29, 2014)

That is the best part of being a missionary: looking for the miracle in every single day of your 18 months - 2 years. Sometimes they are a bit harder to find, but sometimes they are pretty obvious and give you an overwhelming sense of humility and gratitude.

 

To share one with you, yesterday was the first Sunday after the baptism of the family we baptized last week, so that meant it was the day of their confirmation. However, the daughter had repeatedly told us that it would be impossible for her to come. She had already gone through a brutal time asking for one day off to be baptized and one more time just wouldn´t fly. We prayed for her, but knew that sometimes the Lord has other plans. Well, obviously His plan was for her to be confirmed, because seconds before we closed the door to confirm her parents members of the church and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost, she ran through the door and took a seat in the front. We were pretty blown away.

 

I then had another HUGE spiritual experience seconds later when I was asked to confirm the father who I had baptized the week before and the little boy who I had also baptized the week before. (Confirming someone a member of the Church and giving them the gift of the Holy Ghost was the only ordinance I had not priorly performed, but I got my chance two times!) I felt the Spirit guide my words and thoughts as I promised blessings and transfered divine powers to these two sons of God. It was a very unique experience, and I physically felt exhausted afterwards haha. I felt like Ammon in Alma 27:

"Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength."

Yeah, basically it was a good week. Anyways, I hope you all have a great week, and I hope the Spirit of the Lord can guide each and everyone of you with the Light of Christ that dwells in each and everyone of you. May we all be spiritually humbled in preperation for General Conference this week! Todos debemos asistir! 

Mucho amor y muchas gracias,

Elder Dax Rich