News from Peru

As many know my little brother Stephen is serving a mission in Peru. He is in the MTC in Lima which is called the CCM right now but will soon be headed to Trujillo. As many know who have had siblings and family members serve missions, having them gone for 2 years is difficult especially when you get one email every week, hand written letters here and there and 2 phone calls a year. The key to all of this though is consistency. I look forward to that email every week. It is something that I know is coming and I'm anxious for it to arrive (as many could tell with my last few blog posts). Usually Elder Richards gets to write home on Wednesdays so for the past couple of weeks I have started my letter to him on Tuesday evening so that I can fill him in on everything that has been happening up to that point. Today however, I got a call from my dad saying that he had just received an email from Stephen and that they had switched their day to email to today and that we should all hurry and get letters written to him because he would only be on for another hour. My mom and I were in the kitchen mid dinner preparations and we dropped everything and ran. Literally. There was something on the stove in the middle of cooking and I quickly turned off the stove, moved the pan to another burner and ran to my computer. Luckily we were all able to get something off to him in time for him to get it and respond back to us. Last week we got some pictures of Elder Richards in our email and he looks so handsome! In his letters he sounds so happy to be there and so excited to meet the people of Peru and teach them about the gospel. I honestly couldn't be more proud of him and so excited that he gets to be having these experiences. I guess that eases the sadness of having him away for 2 years.

Stephen is quickly learning the language and is loving the country. Because he is in the CCM he only gets to go out into the town every once and a while but he gets so excited every time that they get to go out and explore and talk to the people. So far he has had very positive and successful experiences with talking to people on the streets of Lima.
Every week beings new challenges and even greater rewards. 

FYI

For your information, I did finally get my email. It was worth the wait!

Waiting

Stephen said that his day to send emails would be Wednesday. So why is it 5:00pm and we still don't have an email. Its one thing to wait for something but its another thing to wait for something that you REALLY want. When letters and a weekly email are all the communication you get from someone very important, each email and each letter is precious. Right now the minutes are slowly ticking by although time seems to be standing still. Where is my email? 

Updates

I was again informed that I needed to update my blog. A TON has happened in the last month.

Here's a quick review.

I Graduated!

Everyone, especially my parents, was ecstatic that it finally happened. I guess thats what you get when you decide what your life's passion is your senior year of college. I graduated with Bachelor of Science in Psychology with and emphasis on Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Psychology

(Neuropsychology).

My three very crazy brothers. Stephen, Rafa and David. They were all cute and matched to go to convocation. Rafa is now in Mexico training for the Pan American Games in Guadalajara and the World Championships in Shanghai!!!

Here I am walking across the stage at the Marriott Center with Ryan right behind me.

My whole family came out to celebrate and to help move me, Katherine and Stephen across the country. In one week I took all my finals, graduated from college, packed and cleaned my whole entire house to get it ready to rent for the next 2 years, moved to the east coast and said goodbye to all my very good friends.

Just 2 weeks later Stephen left for his mission! He was in the Provo MTC for 3 weeks and headed out to the MTC in Lima just yesterday. We got an email from him today saying that he and the other missionaries arrived safely. He will be in Lima for 5 or 6 more weeks before he leaves for Trujillo. More updates on Elder Richards to come.

My good friend Allie got married this past weekend in Southern California. For their rehearsal dinner, they had a bonfire at Huntington beach with some of their closest family and friends. Here I am with the bride to my right and then the other bridesmaids.

The first night I got to California though, I got to spend the night with my freshman roommate Meredith and her husband Josh. I adore both of them! It had been about 3 years since I had seen them so we had a lot of catching up to do. Meredith and I went to this amazing Italian restaurant for dinner and then for dessert and a movie back at her house. I honestly had the best time and I wish I could visit them more often. I laughed the whole night.

Allie and Chad got married in the Los Angeles Temple and it is one of the biggest temples I have been to. It was such a nice day outside and other than the fact that 8 other couples got married at the same time and we had to wait for a while outside, the day was perfect. Apparently some of our other friends in the picture below got a little sun poisoning and were throwing up the morning of the wedding. They were pretty much miserable.

Their reception was in Yorba Linda at Allie's aunt and uncle's beautiful home. It was honestly one of the funnest wedding receptions I have ever been to. They had In and Out Burger caterand a candy shop set up a booth where they did milkshakes and malts and all sorts of sweet treats. We literally danced the night away until Chad and Allie left. The party was not over when they left though. After the reception, the family was invited to stay and have a pool party. We slipped into our bathing suits and swam and lounged in the hot tub until about midnight. It was a blast. Unfortunately between me and the two other girls I was traveling with, I forgot my camera, Whitney's camera got sand in it and broke and Kait's ran out of battery. Luckily Whitney purchased 2 disposable camera's so hopefully we have more pictures of the weekend coming soon.

Sunday morning I woke up and drove down to San Diego to spend time with my cousin Erika, her husband Darren and their son Adam. Driving down the 5 was absolutely breathtaking. I always say that I could never live in California but that drive may have changed my mind. I got to go to church with my family and even got to attend Primary. Erika teaches the 4 year olds and it was so much fun. During singing time, the kids even sang the hello song to me. I thought that you didn't get that after a certain age. Apparently I still am under the age limit. I wish I had more time to spend with everyone; the weekend went by so quickly and hopefully I get to California again in the near future!!!

Now it's on to getting a job. My grandmother asks me what kind of job I am going to get and the answer to that is

I have no idea.