April 4: THANK YOU

 Well, my time has ended and I am officially home and released as a missionary. It all happened so fast, we were stuck in the house for about 2 weeks, and then heard the US embassy was sending some planes into Ecuador. We knew it could be anytime so we were just waiting for the call to pack up our stuff and go to Quito and home. We got the call at 2 am and we rushed to get our stuff packed and tried to find a taxi driver that was willing to help us, but we couldn't find anyone that would drive that far. We left the following day at 4:30 in the morning and we got stopped multiple times for Coronavirus testing, but we eventually made it to Quito, and from there, to an airport. 

I've been home for one week now, but I wanted to write one last letter to all my fans who read my letters and cheered me on during these past 18 months of my mission. I am forever grateful for the love I felt, and the love I have felt from my Savior Jesus Christ. My journey has been incredible. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the people of Ecuador, I know of a surety that God loves us and directs his church and when we are obedient to his word he will bless us. I invite all to continue on the straight and narrow path, that path will lead you to God again.

Love Elder Rich

My email address is Ianmichaelrich@gmail.com

Instagram is Ianrich49

Last photos:

1. packing up

2. at the airport

3. Taking off

4. went to Taco Bell at the airport and got a baja. I love the states

5. 2 years 7 months 27 days since we've been together

6. "Corona Style" welcome home at a distance. Thanks to all who came.

March 27: Home TOMORROW!

 This is Ian's mom. It's been a rollercoaster of information (or lack of information) the last two days, but to give everyone a head's up... Elder Rich flies home tomorrow afternoon. We are so excited to see him and are grateful to all of you for supporting him and following along his mission journey. Although we are sad his mission is coming to an end, we are so proud of him and the growth he has had and the love he has for the people in Ecuador. Below we have info for a "Corona Style" homecoming tomorrow evening at our stake center.

He just sent this quick email so we know he made it to the states!

"We just landed in Miami, staying in a hotel here tonight and we're flying out tomorrow morning. I'll be home at 4:20, see ya then!"

Love Elder Rich

We are lucky to be able to welcome home another Missionary, Elder Rich!  We are excited to welcome him home.  Elder Rich will be home Saturday, March 28th.  We would like to invite friends and neighbors to follow the "Corona Style" that was taught to us by our neighbors, the Pierce family.  

Elder Ian Rich is returning home tomorrow from his mission in Quito, Ecuador.  To be socially responsible and maintain 6 feet of physical distance separation, we will do a car drive-by welcome in the church parking lot.  

We will meet on the north side of the church at 6:15 pm tomorrow evening (all in our own vehicles). We will each drive in procession around to the south side of the church parking lot. Elder Rich will be at the south side of the church at 6:30 to wave and greet us as we pass by in our cars. 

Thank you for helping us welcome Elder Rich home at this time.

See you at the church @ 6:15p.

March 24: I'm coming home

 Well, the call we've all been waiting for came, saying all missionaries in Ecuador will be shipped out as soon as possible. As of right now, we don't know when because the airport here is shut down, but when it opens we will all be taking off most likely at the beginning of April, but could be longer. All missionaries going back to the states with less than 180 days left, or 6 months, will be released as missionaries and enter into normal life and that includes me. 

It's been a roller coaster of emotions for me, sad to leave when we have so much going on here in Puyo, sad to see this chapter of my life go by without finishing. But when it comes to the end, God revealed to his prophet that we needed to be a house centered church and focus more on studying the gospel at home for times like right now when we are unable to go to church but able to do it at home. It's pure revelation that this took place 2 years ago when church got cut an hour and now we understand why.  God knew all this was going to happen, he knew that in the future it would be impossible to go and worship God in certain places. And for that exact reason, we are where we are now with a living prophet who communicates with God, proving he is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever. 

 

Turns out I'm coming home with a buzz cut after all.

Love Elder Rich

Pictures;

1. We tried killing a rat for our neighbor

2. The good times

3. no shave coronavirus 

March 16: Be smart out there

 This week was insane, our mission had to send over 30 missionaries home due to the coronavirus problem. Missionaries that had less than 90 days left in their mission were sent home because Ecuador is closing their borders for 4 weeks. It was super stressful getting 4 missionaries in our zone packed up and to the Quito airport that same night or else they would miss their flights because the airport was shutting down at 12:00 - and our zone is the farthest in the whole mission which takes 7 hours by bus.

And just today there was a confirmed case on my street where we live on, maybe a 5-minute walk, so let's hope all goes well. 

So it's just Elder Jensen and I here in Puyo, Elder Burga my last companion went home and also Elder Nieto, my companion in Los Chillos, also went home. We just got word that tomorrow, Tuesday, we'll be stuck in the house for 3 weeks, only able to leave to buy food, and if police catch people in the street, it's a $600 fine. The church gave us an extra $160 to stock up on food, but we are not allowed to eat it until all the stores are out of food. We used all of the money, also bought food to eat now with our money, and now that the other missionaries here in Puyo are gone, we have all of their food too so that shouldn't be a problem. It will be a good time to see what my beard actually looks like. 

This week we were supposed to marry 2 families and baptize a family of 3. The following week, we were going to baptize 7 people but due to the new rules, we will not be able to. It's a little depressing to think - who knows when we can actually work, especially since I'm on the downside of my mission, and it's now or never. And being inside a house for more than a month will get our minds distracted and be hard to start back up from scratch again. But I know God has a plan and we need to be obedient to what he says. 

  After having studied the scriptures so much in my mission I want to share my favorite scripture Mosiah 14 versus 5 which says:

5 But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  

May we all remember what Jesus did for us, for he really was wounded, kicked, spat upon, but with the scars on his hands and feet, we are healed.

Not sure when I'll be able to email again. Everyone stay safe.

Love Elder Rich

1. Our best friend Kerlin 

2. Had to say goodbye to this kid 

3. half of the food we have 

4. the one and only from 7 till 11

March 9: Encocados de Pollo

 We went to Quito for our leadership council, and we came back Wednesday. Since the bus ride from Quito to Puyo is so long, our mission president told us to stay the night in Ambato, so I was able to stop in Miraflores for a second and see some of my converts and dear friends. 

We have been teaching a family from Esmeraldas, which is a city north of Quito, that has all the desires in the world to get married, they just aren't married. Lots of missionaries have passed by but none have thought about getting them married or they just haven't done it. They are a super poor family, so paying to get married almost seems thoughtless, especially when they are bathing and washing their clothes in rivers. So we did a last-minute activity with them on Saturday and we sold Encocados de Pollo which is coconut chicken pretty much. We planned it Thursday night and called the whole branch to see who wanted to help support us. We bought all the ingredients and did the activity and raised enough money for them to get married so they can get baptized soon. 

We have also been teaching a lady named Neli, who has 4 kids. The first time we met her we put her on baptism date with her 2 kids, before they had even gone to church. This week we had a lesson planned so we went and she looked super sad, and when we asked what was wrong she explained her 10-year-old son went to school one day and never came back and was missing for 2 days. We kinda panicked cause 2 days is a long time, so we simply said let's offer a prayer and let's go look. I offered the prayer and asked for guidance to find her son. When we ended we left and got to a main road when I had the impression to stop and buy Neli a drink so she could cool down. I bought the drink for her, and we looked on the other side of the road and her son was right there walking. Neli was honestly very impressed at how simple it was us to find her son, she said "What else do you guys teach about?" but said it like "Wow, I want to learn a lot more from you guys - you are powerful". She came to church and is planning on getting baptized the 28th of March with her 2 sons. 

The guidance of the Spirit is so crucial in our lives, we need to make sure we are worthy to have it so we can always hear its promptings.

Love Elder Rich

March 2: Coronavirus is here

This week was super fun, we spent all day Monday and Tuesday throwing water balloons. It was actually a blast, we in total threw over 1,000. On a particular occasion, there was a lady walking underneath our house, so we decided to soak her dumping a bucket of water on her head as she walked by. It was a direct hit, and she was soaked from head to toe. She got super mad - like actually got mad. She knocked on our door, talked to the house in front asking who lives where we do. She scared us enough that we ended up going back into our house for an hour to cool down. Anyway, that's not the story I want to share. The following day as we were talking to some of our neighbors outside our house, she happened to walk by and notice us, I mean what's not to notice about two gringos with buzz cuts in Ecuador. She approached us and said, "Ahhh, look who it is, the kids throwing buckets of water." We said we were sorry and she explained that day she was going to work and we got her wet, but it struck up a conversation and we began to talk about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy. Later on in the week she even let us stop by her house to teach her family, and they loved the message.

I know my mom is going to get mad at me when she reads this, but the moral of the story is - we just don't know who God is preparing until we do things to find them. From this story, we learn that throwing water balloons and dumping buckets of water at people can lead people to the gospel. 

Love Elder Rich

the first batch

que rico

a little Puyo

Off Brands

 La Tarqui

Feb 22: Two gringos out in the jungle

Well, we're writing today (Saturday) cause this next week is Carnival. The streets get pretty crazy so we're stuck in the house all of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Good thing we stocked up on water balloons to throw off our house.

My new companion is Elder Jensen, he's from Tennessee. We've actually served a lot of our time together in the mission in the same zones and areas, I'd say he's one of my best friends here in the mission, so it's going to be a blast being together. 

We had a lot of funny stories that already happened to us, our second day we visited a less active recent convert and her family who aren't members. The recent convert is currently going to hair school. Somehow the conversation came up to buzz cut our heads, we still don't know how. We threw out the idea if we (my companion and I) both buzz cut out heads, then they had to come to church 3 Sundays in a row. Of course, they agreed so we sent it and buzzed our heads, it's honestly pretty funny now. We look pretty dumb, and we've never once buzzed our heads, there's a first for everything right. 

We also got stopped by the national police in the street asking for our Visas, and Passports proving we were legal citizens. I gave mine, but my companion forgot his in our house. The Police asked us to get in their car and they drove us to our house to get it, and when they were done, they drove us back to where we originally were. That's never once happened in my whole mission, getting asked for my Visa, but it was funny. There were a couple of members that saw us getting into the police car and got super scared. I don't blame them - why would two missionaries be getting into a police car? A couple of them called us asking what had happened, so we had to explain our story. 

I hope everyone has a spiritually fed week. Thanks for all the love and support.

Love Buzz cut Rich

We killed more pigs

A secret picture taken inside the Ecuadorian police car

This is Carina haha

This is what Carina can do to you

We met a ton of kids that wanted pamphlets

Feb 17: T minus 7

Officially hit one year here in Ecuador this past week. It's been some ups and downs, but overall I've learned so much about myself, about God's perfect plan, and how important it is to live a life according to Gods. How he wants us to all be happy, joyful, give our best effort even when life just seems impossible. It definitely hasn't been the easiest year, nor the funnest, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I can truly say as being a missionary for so long that the gospel changes lives, helps us recognize our priorities versus needs, and allows us to know where we need to look for a remission of our sins. This Gospel really is incredible.

This week we ham on teaching the importance of Baptism. The doctrine is so simple but so powerful. When teaching about baptism, I know the spirit has to be so strong or the people will never understand why they need to be baptized or even be baptized again. We really hit hard explaining what blessings they can receive, the changes they will see, but tying it all in at the end that following Jesus Christ can lead us to live with those we love forever. We put the goal to talk about baptism in each lesson we taught, and invite them to be baptized in God's true church.  By the end of the week, we had 6 people accept a baptismal date, and we even put a marriage date on a family so they can get baptized after. 

I'm nobody special, I'm nobody perfect, even as a missionary. But I know that loving people is vital in missionary work.  In my patriarchal blessing, it says "As you serve faithfully you will come to love the people you serve upon, and they will come to love you." I never completely understood this part in my blessing until I came on my mission and experienced it. As I have been faithful and loved the people, they have been able to see God's hand in their lives, understand that they need to follow him even if it's changing their religion, even if it's throwing on a white dress and getting baptized. There is no greater power than love, love can truly heal this world. May we share it with those we know, that even they might decide to change their lives, like God's love changed ours. 

Happy Late Valentine's Day to all. 

Love Elder Rich

nametag

Reunited with mijo Elder Hunter in Baños

P-day

 hitchhiking in the rain

Feb 10: Monkey parks in the jungle

This week was incredible, we worked super hard and had a ton of success. When I got here in Puyo we started a family that was less active, all are members but the mother and she couldn't get baptized cause she wasn't married to her husband. We taught her everything, they all came to church, and this week we did an activity to raise money so they could get married. We did all the necessary shopping, cooking and delivering to people. We sold Maitos which is a Tilapia cooked inside a banana leaf on fire.  All in all, we got all the money we needed, and they got married and that same Saturday Marina got baptized.

Our mission president, President Barlow, was down here in Puyo for Branch conference, so we had him direct our baptism, and knowing him he does an incredible job. Elder Burga and I bought Ukuleles a while back, so during the baptism, we played and sang a hymn in Spanish. Despite the fact we both suck at singing it turned out really well, the spirit was very strong. 

We visited a natural area in Tena today that had a ton of wild monkeys so we gave them all kinds of food and snacks. One of them almost stole my hat. The only thing they wouldn't accept was a Book of Mormon, I guess they really don't want salvation that much. 

Love Elder Rich

A Book of Mormon activity

The first one here in Puyo

Cuetes for 1 year in Ecuador

it liked my Cachitos

I'm tellin ya we're in the jungle

the worst kinda rejection

Feb 3: and the weeks keep passing

We spent this week traveling from one side of the zone to the other and back delivering packages, beds, desks, all kinds of stuff. Not even to mention going on divisions all in the same week. You can say traveling sure keeps you busy and being busy keeps the days going by super fast.

I had to play the piano at church, it was super funny cause I haven't played in over 2 years and really, I had no idea what I was doing. I was so lost, messing up so much. I got a kick out of it, and so did the members.

Yesterday a random guy showed up at church and bore a testimony about a book he found called the Book of Mormon. Some missionaries some time gave it to him, and he read almost the whole thing in a night. But the missionaries never came back so he searched for the church. He walked a full hour and a half to get there too. After church we visited him, so we walked with him to his house and it took a full hour and a half. That's some sacrifice. We wanted to put him on baptismal date that same day but we didn't have any time cause we had to walk all the way home haha.

Alma 37:37 says

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Don't forget to do the easy, simple things that we always forget to do. Know that God wants to bless us but we have to be willing to ask for his blessings.

Love Elder Rich

Pictures:

more worms

This is the meeting house here in Tena since there is no church.

cocoa plants that a man gave me

Jan 27: Noches de Hogar

We figured the way to help this branch out is by getting the members on board. As of right now they don't do absolutely anything but argue between themselves and cause problems with us haha. So we planned 8 different Noches de Hogar which in English is translated to Family Home Evenings, with our intentions to get their spirits up and get into this work. So every day we scheduled different Noches de Hogar with different families in the branch and let our Branch President know so he could send a message to all the members so they could come. But he never would send out the messages, or he would forget. We also talked to each family and set plans and goals so that they could invite their friends over.

It actually worked out super well. Out of all the Noches de Hogar we did,  the members brought in a total of 12 people, 3 of which came to church. So that will be our plan this week, keep visiting the ward members so they can get their heads back on track. 

The other Elders in Puyo got emergency transferred so we have to open up their sector and maintain a city of 30,000 people just the two of us.

A scripture that helped me this week is in first Nephi chapter 17

1 And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness.

2 And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.

This is probably my favorite story in the Book of Mormon. I love how Nephi explains how, even being directed to a promised land, they passed for so much affliction, but so great were the blessings they received. That by even eating raw meat their women had the strength to continue and give enough milk to their kids. Although we may not be eating raw meat in the wilderness, we still have problems but so great are the blessings we receive from the Lord every day that he provides the means for us to accomplish what he needs us to do. 

There is no place that I'd rather be.

Love Elder Rich

Pictures

1. good memories
2. the Noches de Hogar
3. when it rains it really pours
4. good photos
5. no one here goes to church with suit coats

Jan 20: The mosquitos bite hard

This week we explored more of the jungle, like the deep deep jungle where people haven't ever been. The houses out there are made out of wood and aren't the nicest. We went out to help some members build a shack, so we took a trek of 30 minutes through the jungle caring huge boards of wood and water jugs. The 2 guys in the front were whacking away at the wildlife and weeds with giant machetes to clear a way to actually walk cause it was so crazy huge. There are so many animals here that I've never seen before, and the spiders are ginormous. They scare me, and the ants are so big. We caught a couple of frogs and some cockroaches while we were messing around. We even brought a ton of mosquito spray and used it more than 5 times, but the bugs kept coming back and kept biting us. My legs are covered in bites, and the thing is, they are 10x worse than the ones back home. They itch and itch and itch till you can't itch any more but then you keep itching. Then they swell up and turn bright red. And that's exactly what my legs look like at the moment hahaha.

Today we went into the jungle again to see wild monkeys. It was super cool, there were tons of different types of monkeys that all wanted to steal our stuff, but we made it out alive with more mosquito bites hahaha. 

The work here is very difficult, our branch is struggling with confidence between them and also with us. It's been difficult so far to work with them because they honestly don't help at all. So this week we scheduled family home evenings every night this week and our goal is to animate them and to get them in the game of helping. 

A good scripture for this week is in Isiah 12:2 which says

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 

Love Elder Rich

Puyo with Elder Burga

walking in the jungle

spiders here scare me

monkey area

car pic

Jan 13: The Jungle of Puyo

Wow, this place here is incredible, I feel like I'm on vacation here. It's so pretty. The first time we walked into my house here in Puyo we found a huge frog jumping around and a lizard doing his own thing on the wall. It's super hot and humid here, so we sleep without blankets or sheets or anything, I was so hot my first couple nights I barely slept. At night time you can barely talk cause the wild bugs are so loud. It's probably rained every single day but rained so hard, you can't leave your house without an umbrella or else you'll regret it. You also don't wanna leave without a flashlight cause you can not see at all during the night time. Everyone says there are wild monkeys around and jaguars in the jungle but I still haven't seen any.

Our zone is divided into 2 sectors. One sector is in Baños and areas over there which is about 3 hours south of us, and the other includes Puyo and Tena which is another 2 or 3 hours north of us. The Zone is massive so on Thursdays, we have to travel down to Baños for a meeting with the district there, and on Fridays, we're in Puyo for another district meeting for the Elders here and up in Tena. So it's a lot of traveling, not even to mention we have to do divisions with every companionship in our zone.  

Puyo is a small branch of about 90-100 people, and the branch is a huge mess. It hasn't grown in years. All the ward members pretty much hate each other, they hate the branch president. So it's a very low baptizing area because nobody helps out or is willing to help out.

My new companion is Elder Burga and is from Lima Peru and is about to finish his mission in 11 weeks. This week spent a lot of time exploring the jungle, and we helped a ward member kill some pigs. We ate raw giant worms called Chontacuros, which was very nerve-racking but worth it. We're both super excited to be here, to be in such a beautiful place with an unlimited amount of fun things to do. 

A scripture for this week is in 1 Nephi 17:13 which says

“And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.”

I know this is true, I know that God is our light even in the wilderness or the jungle, that if we keep his commandments and have faith in him, he will guide our path just like he guided Nephi and his family to the promised land. 

Love Elder Rich

My new suit

chanchitos (baby pigs)

A selfie

Chontacuros

This was on the way to a lesson

Welcome to Puyo

Jan 6: Welcome to the Jungle

We had a super fun new year, we decided to buy one of the "monigotes" that was listed at $25 dollars but we spent 30 minutes negotiating to the price and we bought it at $12. It was SID from Ice Age, but it was cool cause they had toys from every single show or movie. I'll throw in some pics below. On New Year's Eve, we were stuck in the house the whole day, so we made cinnamon rolls and cooked them at our church. That night we took Sid up to our rooftop and chopped off his arms and head with some rebar then burned him. While Sid was burning, we cracked open our Welch's cider and had one for the boys. It was cool too, cause at 12:00 everybody in the whole city lights their monigote on fire killing and burning the old year away. There were so many fireworks going on too. The city went nuts.  

The rest of the week was normal, we didn't end up having our baptism, we changed it to this Saturday. We visited some good people and ate some more rice and beans. And Jefrett blessed the sacrament on Sunday, he said the prayer for the bread and messed up cause he was so scared, but he got it his second time. 

Last night we got the changes call, and ima be taking off to the Jungle. It's a place called Puyo, about 5  hours into the jungle. The bishop we have now is from Puyo and he was telling me everything about it. That I'm going to die of heat, it's so humid, there are so many bugs, snakes, tarantulas, monkeys, birds. They eat raw worms all the time too, that'll be pretty fun. But also they speak different dialects and the missionaries need to learn some of the dialects to teach to them. I am super sad to be leaving Ambato, the members when I told them cried and cried and that even made me cry. Elder Hunter will be staying here again, so tonight we'll just be saying more goodbyes and crying even more. I'm super sad to be leaving this area, I have never enjoyed a sector more, loved my comps, or loved a ward as much as this one. The whole ward is devastated, but it's all a part of God's plan and I know there are people in Puyo waiting for me, and ima get them. 

I hope everyone who reads this has a great week!

Love Elder Rich

some examples of the monigotes 

SID

Fireworks

2020 it is

New Years cinnamon rolls

on my way

Dec 30: The Good's and the Bad's

Well, we celebrated Christmas in the house since we were not allowed to leave that day unless members picked and dropped us off at our house. So we spent time making Eggnog, Caramel Popcorn, and cookies. We ate turkey breakfast and spent the whole morning there, and spent the whole afternoon with our Venezuela friends, Enrique and Reynaldo which is where I called the fam and ate all the Christmas candy my family sent me.

The rest of the week we worked normally. The whole country is getting ready for the New Years and they buy these things called "Monigotes" which are practically any type of cartoon figure they can make out of newspaper. From Shrek to old people sitting in wheelchairs. Anyway, they beat up these Monigotes and burn them at 12:00 which represents all the good and bad that happened that year. So we have to stay in all day New Year's Eve, but we bought a Martinelli's to drink so it will be a party. 

We're planning on a baptism on Saturday, and this probably marks my last week here in Ambato I'm guessing since we have changes next week and I've been here for 3 transfers or about 4 months. So we're gonna make the best of this week cause we had 7 new people in church and a total of 10 on Sunday and a couple of them we already put them on date for baptism. 

Jefrett also received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday.

That's all for this week, more to come the following.

a Shasta in Ecuador

a merry Christmas truly from yours

Christmas with Enrique

Christmas dinner

COME-LON Venezuelan food