Sneakers, our investigators dog that kills me. He is a puppy and runs around like crazy and that was the best picture I could get, we were all crying/laughing.
God Bless America.
Feliz Cumpleanos, thanks for all the party stuff friends!
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
email 7.7.14
Todo esta muy bien aqui en Woodbridge. Hemos tenido un semana LOCO. Como siempre. Pero me encanta la vida de ser misionera.
But
really good good good week. The work is rolling right along and we are
talking to everyone we see. We had a training at the beginning of the
week at district meeting on how important the people in our immediate
surroundings are, how God litearally places them there, and if we don't
talk to them, we are doing the work of God a diservice! So we got fired
up on offering the gospel to every single human, and it has really
changed the week. I just feel happy when get to share the gospel. This
morning we saw two hispanics when we were on our walk, so you know we
talked to them and we even set up appoitments! Mostly it was lucky we
both remembered our tags! Life is just happy when you talk about how
happy the gospel is, you should all try it :)
This week we were so fired up about talking to
everyone that when we were stuck in HORRIBLE traffic (we are super duper
close to DC so the traffic gets really bad here) we decided to roll
down our window, and would you guess, there was a hispanic right there
in the car next to us! We chatted and invited him to church, and even
threw him a pass along card. The next time we stopped we were next to
another hispanic, so you know we just continued the pattern. Hermana
Collins thinks I am nuts sometimes, but she goes with and and we always
have a good time!
We have been blessed to mee some really gem
humans here. The other day we were knocking doors and this guy just
stuck his head outside of the window from the 2nd floor and then we
proceeded to teach him the restoration from the lawn. We call him
window popping Juan, he is a gem. We aslo finally got to meet with a
family yesterday that the other sister had been teaching and they are
GOLD. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we had a
member with us, who pretty much taught the whole lesson, invited them to
church, and the whole nine yards. They are so prepared and asked
really great questions, and with a fuerte member friend, they are going
to be solid. We are so excited for them!
The fouth of July was pretty darn good! The
morning started off with a classic Breakfast with the ward. There is
nothing more rich than the Hispanic 4th of July Breakfast complete with
tortillas and beans and even pupusas. Also donuts and orange juice and
all that jazz. They played country music, sang the National Anthem, and
even had USA trivia. We were in heaven, it was just so classic. Our
Bishop is hilarious, we were sitting with his sons, and we were all
dying at his trivia questions, which he ended up not even knowing the
answers to. So good. Of corse we dressed in red white and blue, as I
demanded, to get into the spirt and we had a pretty successful day
contacting and even had a couple of lessons! Sadly we didnt get to see
fireworks, but we did have some glow sticks the grandma Jane sent me, so
we had a good time.
I started studying the Doctrine and Covenants last
week and I just can't put it down these days, the history of the church
is so cool. And all the revelations for us today, I mean we are so
blessed. I am so so grateful for the truths that we have here on the
earth today!
Mostly things are good here in the Woodhood, just
working hard and loving being a missionary as always, and just trying to
find all my cute humans to share the happienss with! I love love love
you all the most! Have the best week :)
love, Hermana Riley Jane
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Mission Trip Times
Hermana Collins, just doing some casual mapping. We LOVE our map.
Our firefly, Carlitos.
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
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