Hermana Collins, just doing some casual mapping. We LOVE our map.
Our firefly, Carlitos.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
email 6.30.14
Buenas Dias!
Today I
am just exhausted, in the best way of course, missionary work is the
very best of times. We have been busy busy busy, and just loving all
the cutest little Hispanics around. I know I always say that, but
really they are so cute and so loving, and we are here inviting them all
to have the best life ever, so life is good.
We had an AWESOME zone meeting this week. Really
just a tear jerker. Elder Unga is my zone leader again, he was also
with me in Harrisonburg, and he is just a top A missionary. He gave a
training about inviting people to baptism, and gave me a whole new
perspective on it. In our mission we invite to baptism at every single
lesson, but they way he presented it was that when we don't invite
someone to be baptized we are denying them the opportunity to have real
peace and happiness in the lives. There really are so many people that
are just wandering, and sad, and lonely, and we have the best gifts in
the whole world to give to every single one of them. Missionary work is
the best.
This week we got a random/kind of weird member
referral...there is a very elderly man in the ward, Hermano
Cuadros...and he called us up very excited and said, I have a golden
referral for you, call her right this second and set up an appointment,
she wants to meet on Thursday,
she is going to be baptized. So naturally we call her, Veronica, and
set up said appointment, and it was perfect. We invite Hermano Cuadros
to come with us to the lesson, but turns out this girl is 17 years
old...we were a little confused...but went with it. They had been on
morning walks and started chatting, he had felt prompted to talk to her,
and they had a really good chat. She is looking for more in her life,
and wants to change and feel loved. We are on it. Miracles are real.
She is awesome, and has a cute dog named sneakers, literally the
cutest.
We actually had a couple of conversations this week
with friends of other faiths, and it was a really good opportunity for
me to get back down on me knees and ask for reconfirmation of everything
that I know to be true. I think we should all do that regularly, it is
amazing what it does to your testimony and conviction. Yesterday I
explained the gospel of Jesus Christ to a man named Mike, and it was
short and sweet and simple, and just so true. I am so grateful for the
truthfulness of the gospel, for the opportunity we have to live it and
love it and most importantly share it.
This week was fun, just classic. We got invited to
an investigators 8 year old daughters birthday party, where they grilled
150 lbs of carne asada, and Hispanic music. Knocked some doors.
Sweated to death. Ate ALOT of rice. Caught a firefly. Gave a last
minuet sacrament meeting talk about enduring to the end. Chatted with
7th day Adventists. Found 8 new investigators. Loved being in
Virginia. Life is just so happy.
xoxo Hermana Riley Jane
Woodhood
The first one is with Sister Johns, she is a family friend of the GEES.
Me and my cute new compy comp, she is darling. I love her!
email 6.23.14
Hello my dearest family, it was so good to hear from
all of you this week. You are all my favorite and I am so grateful for
me, thank you for keeping me going.
Sometimes
life is just so hard. Thank you for filling me in on all of our loved
ones, my dear dear Cole will be in my prayers. Please let me know if
anything major happens, I will do a fast for him as well. The will of
our Heavenly Father is an interesting topic. But I am so grateful for
my knowledge of my Heavenly Fathers plan for me and for every single one
of us. I have learned that his was is always better, even if it is
hard, and even if it takes a while for us to see the reasoning. But the
Bounes are strong, they know that, and that is why I know everything
will be okay. Yesterday was met the non-member husband of a less-active
(Crystal) named Juan. We had an awesome lesson with him about prayer
and he really opened up to us. He has a "hard time" with God because he
does not understand why bad things happen to good people. We are so
excited to help him learn about the will of the Father and the way we
can be happy in this life. He is a real gem, and one of the many
miracles that we were given this week.
This week has been awesome, it really has, I feel so
blessed. First things first I am in the Woodhood, otherwise known as
Woodbridge Virginia. It is up close to DC, used to be part of the DC
south mission. It is sweet. We have a giant ward, with muchos
members. Me and my cute cute new companion, Hermana Collins, have just
had a wee of a time. White washing an area can always be a little
tricky, but we have worked together and just figured life out up here.
Hermana Collins, is a real gem. I love love love her already. She is
19 and from Bountiful and smart and just ready and willing to WORK. And
I mean work. She is all about doing doing doing just simply
everything. She wants to be here and we get along just like 2 peas in a
pod. I was really blessed with this one, I can already tell good
things are to come for us. So anyways, we got right to work, whipped up
a mappa, and got to work meeting people. We have so many people to see
everyday, which is super nice. We haven't had to do any planned
finding yet, and we still found 3 new investigators. Missionary work is
just the best. And teaching someone about being a missionary has
helped me remember why it is the best thing on the whole planet. We may
or may not be exhausted...but all is well. We have the most legit ward
mission leader on the planet, he helps us and has all these awesome
FHE's set up. It is out of control. Everyone here is very missionary
minded, and ready to help. It is an awesome area. So we are happy.
It was sad to leave my Chesterfield people, mostly
just the day of transfer meeting it hit me. My sweet Ruben, and
Carolina and their families, and just all my people, but I am so excited
to meet new people here. We have already been teaching like crazy, and
still trying to sort though everything.
This week we have been going back to the basics,
reading a lot of PMG and just starting over from scratch. We have had a
few awesome experiences of simply praying and getting exactly what we
needed. And my cute companion is just floored by everything. I love
her so much! I love being a missionary, it is the happiest things. I
love love love you! Have the best week :)
-Besitos, Hermana Riley Jane
my address is 2807 Woodmark Dr. #204, Woodbridge VA 22191
email 6.16.14
We had a good run here, in the Midlothian Kingdom...and now I am onto a
new adventure! I am so sad, I love my gente here, there are good gente.
I have met the coolest people, I am sad to be leaving Ruben and
Carolina and Ruby and their families. And just everyone, but I am
excited to meet some more cute little hispanics! And I am training, so
it should be fun!
This week was loco, as usual. But so so so good! I love
being a missionary, I know I always say that, but it is true, it is
just the most happy thing ever.
We had an
amazing sisters meeting (where the elders are not invited and we eat
only salad for lunch and exchange clothes) all about spiritual gifts.
What they are, if we have them, how we can develop them, and so on a so
forth. There was one that has stuck out to me in particular this week,
that is the Gift of having a testimony that Jesus is the Christ. I has
never thought about it being a gift, but it makes so much sense now. I
have been studying the atonement all week (there is an awesome Ensign
issue that is all on the atonement) and I am just so grateful for the
knowledge that I have, and the opportunity to share it. The atonement
is everything, all we need, and I learned that from my Dad. I am so
grateful for you Dad, for teaching me about the atonement and giving me
the example of how to use it.
Saturday we had quite the adventure. In the morning
a little baby kitten followed us on our whole walk and back to our
house...and we had no idea what to do with it...so we called our
investigator, Waleska who has been looking for a new cat. She was so
excited and we brought it right over. But we did bring it in for about
an hour, because it wouldn't stop crying! We had to. Then we went to
Charlottesville for Hermana Hiebert. She had a taught this awesome woman
named Dalia, and so we got to go! Someone gave a talk about the Holy
Ghost and they looked her in the eyes and told her that starting
tomorrow she will never be alone again, and it just changed my
perspective on how much the Holy Ghost really does help me every day
here. We had to rush back for the ward "cookout" which was all kinds of
fun. We had an investigator there, and our cute Ruben, and we played
soccer and ate watermelon, the whole nine yards. Then Saturday night
one of our previous investigators called us to invite us to the funeral
of her premature baby. So yesterday we went, and it was a very
interesting experience. It was done in the chapel of a funeral home,
and there was a catholic pastor there, Padre Miguel, aka father Michael.
And it just felt so empty, we wanted to get up there and set all the
things straight, but you know we controlled ourselves. But we have
an appointment to see them this week, so we are excited about that.
We really have been so busy, and it is so great.
The next couple of days should be crazy, but I think maybe just the
rest of the mission is going to be crazy. I love it here. I love all
my cute people. I am happy. And this week I am grateful for trials.
They help us learn, they make us better. I love you all, you are the
best family in the world. You are all my favorites.
Besitos, Hermana Myer
Corriendo
Carolina, Ruby, Abby, Christian
Meet Taylor, my "novio" (boyfriend). It was a surprise attack!
email 6.9.14
This week has been madness! We have been running (corriendo) all week
long, we are exhausted, but it was an awesome week, filled with
milagros.
Most importantly, Carolina and Ruby got
baptized on Saturday, and it was perfect! And they are perfect. We had
some things to finish up this week getting them all prepared for the
baptism, but they were so ready and happy and it was beautiful. Ruby
was a little nervous, but we found this adorable little white dress for
her, which made her happy! Carolina's was a little unfortunate looking,
but it worked, and all was well. Ruby was adorable in the font with
Hermano Fitzgerald, who is literally huge like 6'6, but all went well!
We had a little adventure with filling up the font though. We started
filling it and about 3/4 of the way we felt it and the water had turned
cold. We didn't want them to freeze, so we wanted to take out some of
the cold water and put more hot in, but we had to let some out in order
to do that...and to let some water out, we had to go it. So I threw on a
jumpsuit and hoped in. It was hilarious, but we got the job done, and
it was nice a warm! The service was perfect, filled with children, as
we do. And the spirit was strong. I am just so grateful to have been
here to help them, they really did everything themselves, but I have
learned so much from Carolina. She is a single mom for the moment (her
husband got deported to Argentina) and she has 4 kids. Leo 10 who is
autistic and blind, Ruby 8, Abby 6, and Christian 2. She has so much
patience and love for her children, she has her priorities straight, and
now she has her covenants for protection and strength and we are just
so happy for her. She is the cutest.
We had an awesome Zone Conference on Tuesday. We
went over the things we learned from Elder Bednar, and talked alot about
working with members. I came out with a ton of new goals for being a
missionary and a human. I am feeling refreshed as a missionary, my
health is getting better, and I am just ready to go. I want to make
this last 6 months the best I have had! Sometimes meetings scare me
because they just talk about numbers and stuff, but this one was really
awesome, I just felt like I wanted to do and be better!
We had two neat miracles yesterday. We needed two
more member present lessons to make our goals for the week, and we had
no set appointments...but we had faith! Hurray! At church we got
invited to go to a member's home for dinner, Paty and Argi Jimenez.
After we were finished eating her brother came home, Marco, and we
started chatting, and turns out he has been taught by the missioanries,
but never prayed about the Book of Mormon. So we did what any good
missionaries would do, taught him a lesson, and he said he would keep
meeting with us! After that Hermana Hiebert felt like we should visit
Ruth Luna, an active member with a non-member husband, and their family.
So we headed over there, and guess what the Husband, Carlos, let us
right it. We had an awesome lesson and read in the Book of Mormon with
the whole family. He has also met with missionaries before and says he
doesn't feel anything when he reads the Book of Mormon, he also agreed
to meet with us again! Hurray for milagros. I love being a missionary,
it just makes me happy.
This week I have been studying forgiveness, it seems
to be something that is hard for me and also everyone around me. We
have huge problems with people being offended and going less active. It
is so so so sad. So I have been thinking about it alot and I think
that forgiveness is an element of charity. When we love people, they
are easier to forgive. I think it is that simple. I have been working
on forgiving right in the moment something is said or done. Sometimes I
can say that things are fine, and they are, for that moment, and then
later I explode. I think the key is to forgive right in the moment.
Have love and charity for everyone, be compassionate and patient with
the weaknesses of others, and bam instantly more happy. It is so cool
how the gospel just works.
You are the best family in the whole world. Really
my favorite. I love love love you all! Have the best week, read your
scriptures and be good!
xoxo Mana Myer
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