The Noble and Great Ones....

Hello everyone,

Well this has been a revelatory week for sure with SZT and also Stake Conference. Its also been a week full of coughing, headaches, and sleep. Yup... I caught the cold this week and it has been brutal. Luckily, it is finally winding down a tad bit so hopefully within these next couple of days, I should be fresh and prone to sickness for the next 6 months. haha Anyways, hopefully everyone's week has been a good one full of adventure and joyous times!

Tuesday: April 19th, 2016
So with today, we had some computer work as usual to get done in the morning and then we went out to do some finding and in the evening we went to see Rudy and Amy and we were able to go over the Word of Wisdom with them and they accepted to live it. Still got to wait til August to get them baptized but they are trucking along really well.

Wednesday: April 20th, 2016
Exchanges round 2 with Portsmouth today. Really great exchange for sure with Elder Schulthies again!:) We were able to do a lot of finding and knocking in some areas and were able to find a couple of potentials but it was still a good day.

Thursday: April 21st, 2016
Finished up exchanges and then we had a lunch with Felix, his friend Chelela, and Dave before they left back to Angola for 9-10 months or so. We also had the opportunity to go and provide service for a member and we were greatly rewarded. Today was also the Queen's birthday and so they were telling us a little bit about that while we were helping out.

Friday: April 22nd, 2016
Specialized Zone Training today was just remarkable. A lot of personal revelation came and we were also able to learn a lot of things from President and Sister Gubler. The assistants also led a treasure hunt around the chapel and it was super fun and some amazing lessons were learned during it. Our group was able to complete it and we got the "gold"(fererro rocher choclate). Definitely one of the greatest zone trainings I have been a part of. For all you "noble and great ones" out there, you know who you are... study D&C 138:53-56 really carefully. Come to understand who you truly are and what God expects of you. President taught us and testified powerfully of this again and it just resonated in my heart again. I know who I am and what God expects of me. Hopefully you will too. Our noble generation will be the ones to usher in the Savior. We are the ones who have been reserved, chosen, and prepared for this specific time to prepare the world for His coming. Lay the foundations and prepare the world through missionary work. It is in your spiritual DNA. Come to know this and set your true self free.
(D&C 138:53-56, Abr. 3:22-26)

Saturday: April 23rd, 2016
So late Friday night I started getting sick and today it crushed me... We had Stake Conference and we had to be present for Priesthood Leadership Session and President had us share some insights of our own on what could benefit young men in preparation for missions and how they could best help them do so. We shared and President asked us a couple of more questions that we happily answered and gave advice to all the Bishop's and young men's leaders, etc. Later, we had our interviews before the adult session that night. We were able to spend a lot of time with Elder Adler of the Seventy this weekend which was amazing.

Sunday: April 24th, 2016
With sickness rolling everywhere in me...(sounds gross but wasn't that bad, just major headache, and coughing like mad) I slept in a little longer than usual as directed by Mission Mom and then we prepared for the Sunday session of conference and then we had lunch and headed home for the rest of the day. We accounted and then I went right to bed! oh man... best sleep I've had in a while but it's not fun waking up in the middle of the night just to cough like 100 times and then fall back asleep... anyways, it was a super amazing jam packed weekend.

Verse of the Week:
Ether 12:4
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

Hopefully everyone's week was super well again. I got some crazy exciting news from multiple friends this week and just wanted to say congrats again!

I unfortunately have no new pics this week... so hopefully this week will be different! :) but here is an awesome one I just loved.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,
-Elder Rivera