Discover Why We Remember December...

Sunrise in Basingstoke!

Hello all of my wonderful friends and family!

I hope the first week of December has treated everyone well and that everyone has been able to get their shopping done for the holidays! People over here have already put up all of their decorations and everyone is embracing the Christmas spirit and I'm loving it! It's crazy busy everywhere you go and there are sale deals everywhere to so loads of shoppers coming in and out of the shops which means... Lots of people to contact! We are planning on wrapping Book of Mormon copies for Christmas and handing them out to people as God's gift to them this year! Hopefully it will all work out the way we plan it to and we will also plan on doing some caroling around a neighborhood or in the town center. But we shall see what happens! Anyways! Here is this weeks rundown of what we did to start off December!

ELSM December 2015 MLC

Tuesday: December 1st, 2015
We had our MLC meeting today and we did A LOT... We went in and went over things that President thought we needed to go over and we also came up with our study plans for December that we would, "Discover Why We Remember December" so we are re reading 3 Nephi to truly get a grasp on the Spirit of Christmas and truly remembering this Christmas season of the things that we have and the things that we have been given and that the lord has done for us. It was a very good day! We also had stake correlation after MLC and that went very well this time around compared to our first one. We had a lot of positive stuff to bring and also take away from it. President Gubler also had everyone watch (with a role play) of what a Real ward council should look like and let me tell you... It was definitely something else because I have never seen a ward council comparable to that one!

Wednesday: December 2nd, 2015

The Reading Zone Goons....

Today we had our DLC meeting and so it was basically the same thing as MLC but at a district level this time so nothing to crazy. After we had a baptismal interview for Sybil in Woodley and she is so golden! She actually got baptized on Saturday so we were super happy for her because she was being taught for months and she finally made it!

Thursday: December 3rd, 2015
Guess what, another meeting! Woohoo! We had district meeting today and it was a very powerful and spiritual one. We talked a lot about Christmas and the importance of it. I got to present as well for that and I recapped a little from a talk given by President James E. Faust in the December 2001 ensign. It's a great read if you really want to get in the spirt of Christmas at a more joyful level! After that we went and had some lessons and then we helped a member put up her Christmas tree.

Friday: December 4th, 2015
Today we had exchanges and so Elder Schulthies and I got to work together today and we had a service night we were going to with the Reading Sisters at a town home for old folks. So... Old people know how to get down! We served them a three course meal and let's just say... Before the food, they were getting pretty krunk on some sherry. I've never seen old people pound shots down so quickly... Oh man, it was insane. After the dinner and dessert, they had DJ funk master come in and start singing and doing his thing. He was also an older guy but man he could sing. Anyways, moral of the story is old people know how to party and we missionaries got to do some wonderful service for them and to see the smiles they had were very heartwarming and priceless. I really enjoyed myself! Also, they had these cool things called a Christmas cracker... America needs to adopt them! Look them up, they would be perfect to have in America for parties such as New Years or Christmas!

Saturday: December 5th, 2015

Service and Party Hats!

So today was a ton of planning and then we had a very cool experience with our lesson we had with Victor (investigator) and his family (members). So Jessie, his girlfriend wanted us to teach her entire family but because they only speak Portuguese and Spanish, we had some issues there... BUT! We resolved it! Elder Richins and I pulled out our Spanish brains from high school and did our best to read from the pamphlets in Spanish. So we taught the entire Restoration in Spanish and it was amazing! Jessie (she's been having a hard time with things and church) said the closing prayer and she began to cry during it and oh my goodness... Yes there was a language barrier but oh my... You could feel the Spirit working through her and it was such an experience to take home that night. A language barrier is very easy to break with the Spirit!

Sunday: December 6th, 2015
Fast and testimony meeting today at church was amazing because everyone was bearing their testimony about Christmas and it was so wonderful! Other than that, we had our usual Sunday night accounting and planning for Zone Training on Tuesday.

So today, we went and did some shopping and I was able to grab some new ties, a new shirt and we have the rest of the day to prepare for the week so it should be grand. We might shoot some hoops or something before FHE tonight with the Baker's!

Discover Why You
Remember December

Verse of the Week:
I've been studying Doctrine and Covenants this week and this is what I found and pondered over for multiple days and I also connected a scripture chain to it if you want to find one for yourself with it as well!

D&C 9:8
8 "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.!

I hope everyone continues to have a wonderful Christmas season and that you all manage to stay warm this winter! I love and miss you all! Talk to you soon!

-Elder Rivera