Dearly beloveds, we have gathered this day to witness...
...Or something like that.

Dear friends and family and loved ones!

I hope that this last week has been absolutely amazing for you all. As we here in Yungay are in a town with a large Catholic presence, we were completely swamped with reminders of the Savior and His final week during His mortal ministry, and I am not complaining in the least for it. It has been wonderful to ponder and think about Jesus Christ and His transcendent mission to the world, and the particularly amazing things that He did during this incredible seven days. I am so glad, and it definitely showed that this week was very positive for us.

However, there now is news to share. Bright and early this morning, we received breaking news that there is been a bit of a change. My dear junior companion Elder Moore, or in other words, Captain Canada, is heading off. Hilariously, he is going to Los Volcanes in Chillan (My first sector in the mission) to be companions with Elder Jensen (My first companion in the mission). We greatly enjoyed this news, and I have been involved with packing and calling people all day in preparation. Nothing is known about my new companion, apart from his name being Elder Vinegas. Nobody that I have talked too has even the smallest bit of information, but I'm really excited about having another Latino companion. They always bring fun changes and mix things up a bit.

It has been a wonderful two cambio cycles with this guy. We participated in the baptism of an incredible stud named Luis and his daughter. We strived to keep apostasy from taking root in our small rama. We have participated in some of the best and some of the hardest moments of my mission to this point. It is incredible to me what we have been able to do, and how much we have both changed over this twelve week period. I am forever grateful for the chance to have had this time working together. We read in the Book of Mormon how service together in the service of God forges bonds of brotherhood that transcend time, distance, and death itself. I know that this is certainly the case.

Though we worked really hard, this week had a few disappointments for us. However, these moments of sadness are swallowed up in the glorious successes that we had.
Chief among these was a great big activity that we had Saturday night. We planned and prepared Kareoke for as many people as we could, and purchased enough food (The ever popular Canadian dish Poutine was the main course) to feed a small army. It was a bit of a shock when some thirty people showed, mostly children, hungry and ready to go crazy with the activity. We never even got to the second activity, showing the movie Karate Kid, and we heard every single One Direction and Katy Perry and whatever other popular song many times that night. We also heard quite a bit of Latino music, usually love ballads and such, but that was usually from the adultos. I myself sang the perennial favorite 'Don't stop believing' by Journey, and ven had the chance to rap 'Men in Black' by Will Smith. It was a great activity, even if the children devoured the food within seconds and our missionary table remained untouched by the majority of people. Everyone had a wonderful time, and expressed desires that we do this on a weekly basis, which they definitely can if they're willing to put in the time and effort and money.

Church was also a big shock for us. Despite working a ton with members throughout the week, both active and not, we had one of the lowest attendences of my time here in Yungay. The moment that truly inspired me, however, came during our Priesthood class. It has taken twelve weeks, but finally we got the entire group of Priesthood holders to participate and add their opinions with an interesting discussion. Starting in a different direction by talking about the needs of those who are in the Quorum but not in attendence, every single person broke from their slumbers to actually contribute and participate. It took, at times, the heat of a firey argument, but in the whole everyone was able to make good points and I think that they were a bit more inspired to do a bit more. It was wonderful, and definitely a step in the right direction.

It has been an interesting week, and the next promises much of the same. I have repeatedly stated my ambitious goals for this little rama, and am glad that I'm not doing it alone. This is the Lord's work and His glory, and I am very happy to be a part of it. This is going to be very good!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, full of surprises and blessings. Go and do something amazing!

With love,
Elder Richardson