I love Mormon!

A photo from the Temple a few weeks back!

Hello everyone!

First off, I just want to give a huge shout out to my brother Statler for finishing off his mission in the Illinois Chicago West Mission! Super proud of him and I know his family is as well! Love ya brother!

Next up, we have this crazy week! We've had very little time in our own area and we've been crunched with so much this week. I'm still super exhausted (that's not new) but the Islands trip took a huge toll on me but that's life right? Anyways, things are going super well and life is just getting better and better each day!

Guernsey Lighthouse!

Monday: July 11th, 2016
Today we had a full preparation day for the first time in weeks haha! We went through the Guernsey town center and went through and looked at some sales that were there and I came away with a very nice Nike duffel bag that I needed to replace the one I brought from home as that one had ripped. It was fun and then we went and gorged ourselves in chips at a fish and chips place but we didn't want to spend a ton of money so we spent £1.80 on a large chips and they poured out like 3 scoop fills... It was intense stuff and we all felt disgusting afterwards... Good news is it that it was a good experience and they tasted pretty fatty.

This Crab knows karate!

Tuesday: July 12th, 2016 

There are many fish in the sea; but this
was the one for me!

Our last day in Guernsey and I got to work with Elder Biddle again. Last time we worked together was about six months ago so it's crazy to see how far we've both come. We went and did some contacting by the lighthouse and also went fishing while we did so to hook in some people. What was amazing is that I caught my first fish! We had no bait or anything but we had a sharp look and a line and so as we were talking to one another, I gave three good tugs on the pole and didn't think anything would come of it but I felt a snag. I didn't realize at first but after three minutes I decided to reel in the hook and lo and behold, a fish got hook in the back! I was super astonished and we ended up throwing it back in the water. Meanwhile, a man next to us caught this female crab and it was pretty sweet seeing him pull it in. We flew back later and then just crashed in preparation for another long day. 

The Chicken House we built a few weeks back!

Wednesday: July 13th, 2016
We had our eastern zone conference today and that went super well! It was a long day of training and presentations from President but they were amazing. My companion and I had to explain some stuff on the area book planner app which to be honest, I'm not to familiar with myself so that was a fun time. Piloting stuff is interesting because nobody knows how to do anything yet! After the meeting, we went to Nando's (Portuguese Chicken Restaurant) and dived into some spicy chicken and bottomless frozen yogurt! Super good and then Elder Cox and I on exchanges went to a members home to celebrate the birthday of her niece who will hopefully be getting baptized in two weeks.

Thursday: July 14th, 2016
Finished up our exchanges today and went out visiting some potentials from our area book and then had dinner at KFC with our ward mission leader... I've never eaten so much chicken in my life than on my mission. Seems like every week we have chicken at least three times for dinner...

Friday: July 15th, 2016
Today was a very long day... We headed to President's in the morning and we tackled the moves board! After hours of staring at the board and moving people around and having discussing throughout it all, we made a big dent in the moves for this coming transfer. It's really amazing to see how moves actually work and how much revelation goes into it. You could clearly see the power of God and revelation working through a key holder for the mission. It's a great experience and hope others have a chance to see and have such an experience. Following that, we drove into Peckham
(South London) for exchanges with the Wandsworth Zone Leaders and prepped for the day.

Saturday: July 16th, 2016

My drawing for the chapel open house!

Elder Draney and I got to work together and boy, they were having an open house at their chapel and there was people everywhere! Members, investigators coming, people off the street, it was sweet! We managed to solidly teach a girl named Mary, another girl named Samantha and then a guy named Jerome. Super good solid teaches with each of them and they were very promising. Asking loads of questions left and right and you could just sense the sincerity of their search for truth as other churches haven't provided what they seek in life but they did enjoy what was taught but more importantly, they loved the peace and feeling of home they had while at the chapel.

Sunday: July 17th, 2016
The Sabbath is always a delight! Being able to partake of the Sacrament and start each week fresh is a comforting act. My companion was throwing up due to the amazing African food he ate the night before in Peckham. It was funny because I did warn him that his first time having African food would destroy him but he went on with it anyway to try it for the experience. I loved it! African food has some amazing touches to it and as long as you don't ask what's in it, you'll enjoy it for sure!

All over London...!

It's been a really good week and we have another busy one this week. We have two more zone conferences in which we'll be heading west this week. This will be cool because I haven't gone to the west part of the mission yet, looking forward to that. We also have about final exchanges before the transfer ends and we prepare for a super busy month of August! Each week we have a training meeting and we will visit every single zone in the mission (9 different areas) so there will be a ton of traveling and speaking and can I mention a lack of sleep? It will be great!



Verse of the Week:
Alma 57:27
"Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually."

Love,
-Elder Rivera