Another Week Come and Gone...

Hello everybody!!!

Foot Long!!! 

Yet another week has disappeared and it is insane! It is crazy to think that we are already past the midway point of October... like that actually makes no sense whatsoever. Time does seriously fly by
out here. But it has been another wonderful week! We had three baptisms in our Zone this weekend so that was wonderful to hear and be a part of! The Lord is truly blessing this mission with lots of miracles and it is truly a privilege to be a part of it. Today we are just going to play some sport and then relax as it is yet another cloudy day in England!=)

Wednesday: October 14th, 2015

Elder Richins behind the wheel for the 2nd time,
Nothing to be scared about...

Elder Richins had driving Lessons today so we were up in Reading for a bit while he took care of that. After his lessons we had a meeting with the STL's to set goals for the zone for this transfer. After, we raced home to have dinner with the Ashley's because they made spaghetti and bolognese with garlic bread... Brother Ashley thought it would be funny to grab the first cake he saw at Costco that had the word 'American' in it so he then comes out with this GIANT cake... I mean a good 8 inches tall and about 10 inches across the top... I've never had so much chocolate cake in my life...

Professional Spray Painter

Thursday: October 15th, 2015
We got to do some service today for Tammy. She is redecorating her entire kitchen so we stripped down all of her cabinet doors and we sanded them down and then spray painted them! It was actually a really good time and she is super happy with how close it is to being done. We will go by sometime this week to finish it all up for her. We finished up the night with dinner at the Hills and had a very spiritual lesson with them about the Restoration. None of us could deny the feeling we had after that lesson. Reciting the first vision really hit me this time around and it was remarkable. We had rice pudding for dessert afterwards and for my first time having it, it tasted rather well. (kind of like a maple and brown sugar oatmeal packet from back home)

Friday: October 16th, 2015
I felt blessed today. I got to perform my first baptismal interview and it was so amazing. His name is Sydney and he is truly a golden investigator (now member as he was baptized on Sunday) but he was just so prepared and he knew so many things about the church from all of his previous encounters (sound familiar?) He works for Huawei, some big phone company that is like supposed to be better than Apple soon. But we had the interview at his office at the Huawei building and oh my goodness... we had like first class service there... Truly we were the most spoiled missionaries ever. We got lunch paid for us and then we had badges on top of our Missionary Badges. It was high class stuff. We got to choose from like five difference food types at the buffet and I chose of course... fish and chips. It was the traditional fish and chips too so they didn't skin the fish! Scratched that off my bucket list and it tasted SO GOOD!!! Add some Pete's sauce to that and oh man... but we just got super spoiled and he is a really awesome guy. He wants to bring the gospel to China!!! Sydney will be a great tool for the Lord to use in this work!

Tracey Baker!

Saturday: October 17th, 2015
Tracey's baptism! We spent the day by tending to some missionaries that were struggling and then we prepared for the baptism. Tracey was super excited for her baptism and kept telling us how happy she
felt afterwards and you could see it. Following the baptism Scott received the Priesthood and being able to be a part of that was quite the experience. It is truly amazing to see a family come together and to all find the Gospel within weeks of each other. Truly the greatest miracle God could deliver us.



Sunday: October 18th, 2015

Triple R&B!!!

I know I say this a lot... but Sundays are the best...! Today was a little different though. With Scott receiving the Priesthood yesterday, he was able to have a part in the Sacrament Ordinance. Here is where the touching moment comes in. Grab your tissues ladies and gents. So, Sister Baker (Scott's mom) hasn't had a priesthood holder in the home since her husband passed away a couple or so years back and Scott was passing the Sacrament today and it wasn't a coincidence that he went on the exact side that his mom was sitting.  Being able to see Scott hand that tray over to his Mom was truly... a humbling experience for me.  Not only seeing a recent convert progress so much (by the way, he is also a Young Men's Advisor now) but for Sister Baker, she was in tears after he received the Priesthood and explaining how it felt to have the Sacrament passed to her by her son.  David will receive the Priesthood this coming week and Ryan the following week.  Charlie will also receive her calling soon as well.  Truly truly blessed to see so many miracles.  I need to be more grateful for the things I have seen, that is a personal goal for me and to give God all the gratitude.  Everyone is on Cloud 13 (as Tracey Explained how she felt)

Scripture for the week:
Mosiah 23:10
"Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth."

Love you all! Have a great week!

~Elder Rivera