A Week to Remember..!:)

The best mission with the
best missionaries in the world! (it's true)

Hello everyone!


First of all, this week has been something else... From Elder Oaks and London to a 12 hour MLC, to a new area. It's been a crazy busy week but everything is just going super well now! I'm looking forward to working with my new companion Elder Tunnicliffe. He is from England and is just a stellar missionary! We've had some fun on exchanges in the past but now we get to serve together It'll be super sweet and that English accent will hopefully start to come along:) Anyways, with all the packing and traveling and events that occurred, this is definitely a week to remember for sure. Tuesday was a transitional day for sure... 

Tuesday: June 7th, 2016
One of the greatest days of my life! We had the privilege and opportunity to meet and hear from Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was by far coolest experiences ever and every single missionary got to shake hands and officially meet him.  We basically shook hands with the Lord as His servants are His representatives. We also got to meet and hear from the Mission President from the London Mission, our Mission President, and President Kearon of the Europe Area Presidency and all of their wives including Sister Oaks. It was a day to remember and being able to sit so close to him was incredible. We managed to get seats in the 3rd row which was the first row behind all of the reserved seats for those that were a part of the program! Insanely great day and one to remember for a long time!

Wednesday: June 8th, 2016
Longest MLC in the history of MLC's today but we came to the very conclusions that the Lord needed us to get to that day because of some major changes and focus points we need to take as a mission. By far the longest meeting ever but the results were phenomenal. 

Thursday: June 9th, 2016
We had a district meeting today and then we did some cleaning up and Elder Lika was packing for home and I myself for moves and that was about it for the day. We finished up with dinner with Dave one last time and then continued to pack.

Friday: June 10th, 2016
Finished up packing today and headed out to my new area in a place called Crawley with my new companions and then we had a chance to visit with President and have dinner and go over a few things to finish up moves and also to go over some of the ideas regarding the Mission Training Plan that we had discussed previously during our MLC on Wednesday. Quite the day...

Saturday: June 11th, 2016
We had a lot of service today that we got to do for two families and then we went and visited some members and had dinner with our ward mission leader and then continued to help Elder Avanesjan finish his packing for home. Really tiring day but it was super good to see some of the faces I hear about a lot about.

Sunday: June 12th, 2016
First Sunday in Crawley and I had the chance to bear my testimony and give a brief introduction to myself. This ward has something special. As I was sitting on the stand waiting for some of the other missionaries to finish their closing remarks from serving in the ward, there was just a very special feeling about them and I had to add that into what I shared. I look forward to working with the ward and the many amazing members that are in it. After accounting, we had a quick chance to take a walk around the temple and then headed home... Let me tell you, it was super nice to see the temple lit up at night and take a breather from everything that happened this week. 

Verse of the Week:
Alma 13:6
"And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest
"

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! We have a super busy week coming up with training new missionaries and then preparing a lot of things for the mission! Looking forward to it!😉 Love you all and keep keeping on!

Love,
-Elder Rivera