I hope that this week was full of adventure and what ever else was involved as some of you are preparing to head back to school!(yay or nay?) haha, sorry, but this week was really stressful and just was yeah, stressful with everything going on. We are trying to arrange all of our baptismal dates and set them up so the ward can be there (they are having some yearly party on our original date... and asked if we could move it) So we have been stressing and trying to figure things out. So yeah... busy busy week coming up and today we are heading to Reading for a huge zone p-day, apparently it is going to be a very very fun so definitely looking forward to seeing what it is because they said to bring extra clothes because we would be getting VERY dirty so who knows what that means... anyways, here's the gist on this past weeks events!
ps: It rains like no other if you didn't catch on...
Tuesday: August 18th, 2015
What a DAY TO CONTACT! We had a ton of success this morning, however, with great success also comes LOADS of opposition... but we were able to snag some return appointments just before we headed in for lunch. After having more curry, we set out for our appointments for the day. We stopped
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| Plane from the shopping centre! |
Wednesday: August 19th, 2015
District meeting day and all was well. It again took a lot of travel time and we added an extra hour and a half of travel time because of traffic due to an accident over in Bracknell by the chapel. When we finally got home to the flat, we cooked up some pork chops and then we headed out for our lessons but we ended up getting flogged so we headed back and just did 12 week and then headed to the Hills' for dinner; spicy curry and blackberry pie for dessert =)
Thursday: August 20th, 2015
Rough start to today by the results of our contacting but it got really good by the end. We had SO much rejection and no body wanted to even answer the simple question of "how are you doing today?" So... that got annoying but it was okay. Elder Bos (one of the AP's said to always rejoice in the rejection and both Elder Richins and I have been doing that haha! It really works because we are happy with all the rejection because it means that something really good is going to come very soon and it did! We met this awesome gentleman named Stan. We ended up having a really good talk about religion and all of his points of view on the matter and we testified a lot but he still was stuck in his ways so it was sad and hard to see it go that way. After that, we met with George (18 years old) and we taught him the Restoration and he loved it and was really interested in it! We were able to set a baptismal date for him for September 19th and he has never been baptized so he was interested how it all works out and stuff!:)
We finished up the night by doing some service for Tammy. She needed some shelves moved around and cleaned up so it was nice to lend her a hand in doing that.
Friday: August 21st, 2015
Today... my testimony of the power of the priesthood truly was strengthened. I cannot and will never deny that fact... for today, I was able to truly see how the priesthood (being faithful and magnifying it) can truly be manifested before our very eyes. I will not share the experience for it was very special to be a part of for the both of us, but the priesthood power is real and truly has been restored to the earth... God is real, and he truly HEARS OUR PRAYERS.
Okay, so today was a great one (if the above didn't already make that clear) We had a wonderful lesson with Tony and the Bakers and we also had two random people on the bus ride home talk to us and ask us about the church and we exchanged numbers with one of them and gave the other a website card with our number so we plan to meet with Penny sometime this coming week. But all I can say for today, is it was truly amazing and we as priesthood holders need to be ready at ALL times to magnify our calling and as we have faith and pray and have a desire to magnify it, God will grant us opportunities to magnify it and we will be able to see the miracles of God and his hand extend forth right before our very eyes. Today has been a changing point for me so far in my mission and I will remember this one for a long time.
Saturday: August 22nd, 2015
So we did district finding today, Bracknell and Basingstoke came down to Farnborough today and we had some amazing success as a whole. Elder Richins and I met some amazing people; Sabina(she is from Kenya), Jason, and Mike were the key ones that gave us the time to talk with them. What was amazing, is each of them had some history with missionaries and also with the church as a whole. We originally had planned a trip to go to the temple but some of the people that we scheduled with couldn't make it so we had to cancel it and reschedule so it was a bummer but we also had a lot of good things happen because of it. We headed to a member's home so Elder Richins could practice for his driving test that he is taking in a couple of weeks. (that was special, his results started out really well and kept going down the more he took the practice tests...=) but we finished up there with some spaghetti and then headed the Baker's for a lesson! They were totally golden on a certain part of the Word of Wisdom they were struggling with, but they are TOTALLY CLEAN NOW!!! We were so happy and it was the perfect way to end the night!
Sunday: August 23rd, 2015
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| Elder Redd...enough said there.... |
so I couldn't resist but as I finished, Norman (and Elder Richins...) insisted that I have a nice slice of apple pie to go with it and let me tell you... the struggle through that slice of pie was real... I probably put on at least a good 5 pounds with that one meal... so I seriously need to go running so I don't put any unnecessary weight on my skeletor body you know? So yeah, today was a true challenge of endurance through that meal (which we both finished it all) so I am proud of myself for getting through that, even if it meant walking away like a waddling penguin. I'll take it!
To finish things off today, I want to share what I have learned in personal study this week.
One area that really stuck out to me was regarding to Jacob chapter 5. The entire chapter as a whole is really truly inspiring. It all revolves around the topic of missionary work (some could see it differently) but, from what I took away from it is that, the Lord has nourished, pruned, dug about it, and dunged it in order to preserve it and to gather the fruits that come from it. Throughout the chapter, in his vineyard, it talks about the trees and the fruits that come from them, whether they be good or whether they be bad fruits. As the chapter goes on, the Lord and the servant continue to do what is necessary for the garden to flourish, and the servant keeps telling the Lord that we need more time, we need more time to nourish all the fruit of this vineyard, please, give the trees (or us) more time. The Lord has given us so many chances and preserved us from being cast down into the flames and because of the servant, he granted us more time. HOWEVER, time is no longer our friend, rather, he then calls for more workers for the vineyard and we truly need more workers to help preserve and prune the garden, WE NEED MORE WORKERS! Whether you have a physical badge or not... you better paint one on your heart and get to work because we are the laborers of His vineyard and we NEED to serve him with all of our might in order to preserve, and bring forth those good fruits from not only ourselves, but help others bring forth good fruits as well.
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| They are tearing this old pub down right across from the flat and it is really... loud! |
Jacob 5:71-72
"And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard, for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come."
"And it came to pass that the servants did go (servants being ALL of us) and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things."
So... how does this relate to us? The Lord has given us one last chance to labor in His vineyard, but are we truly doing all we can to serve him with all of our might? Are we obeying all of the commandments he has given us? Our time on earth is very limited and it is also the time for us to prepare to meet God... So are we TRULY preparing ourselves? Are we just dancing without the music and just going through the motions, or are we listening to the music and stepping to the beats that it provides and really enjoying the music and working up a sweat? The Lord has given us one final chance to bring forth good fruits and be preserved rather than bring forth bad fruits and be cast down into the fire.
I say unto all of you... DON'T QUIT AND DON'T YOU DARE LOOK BACK once you have taken a step towards the straight and narrow path that leads towards eternal life. It will be hard... no one said it would be easy, but as long we labor next to one another and help lift up others, the journey will never have to be made alone. We are never alone... so please, never believe or think that because it is a lie. There is always someone to turn to, they may not be physically next to us, but they are always with us. Our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ are with us every step of the way, and they are there with open arms if we just call upon their names and look to them for everything we do during this time period of preparation. Our end goal of the Celestial Kingdom cannot be obtained alone... we need both our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in order to succeed.
I love you all and I hope that something of what I said will stick out to you and touch your heart because I know that reading it and truly studying it, it has touched mine and has changed the way that I look at how I have done things in the past and how I want to improve on so many other things for the near future.
Talk to you all next week! Cheers!
-Elder Rivera
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