Box Hill & The ELSM Titles of Liberty!!!

Hello everyone!

Round 3 of ZLT!

Well, it has been one of the quickest but most tiring weeks in a while. We had MLC, and a triple header of Zone Leadership Trainings over these past few days. Due to moves last week and having to train the trainers and also help President assign companionships, we didn't have time to really have a preparation day and it's kind of the same story today but hey, that's life I guess haha. Anyways, apologies for the long email but I guess due to last week and is week being a late preparation day, you'll just have to suffer a bit if you want to know what happened in jolly ol England this week! Hope you enjoy!

Wednesday: September 7th, 2016
We finished up the finalizations of training the trainers and then had the trainer assignment meeting and it was amazing! It was our last big group for a while so it was good fun while it lasted but now we'll be having smaller groups coming in from this point on. Roughly another 14 coming at the end of this transfer but smaller than roughly 30 from the last two groups. It was also our first time presenting things together as a trio group and it was interesting splitting the parts between us but we made it work out!

Thursday: September 8th, 2016
Today was a very long day of planning! We had transfer planning and accounting times to switch up for all of the zone leaders due to our trio now and it was just a mess. We didn't even finish the full of it tonight and so we had to postpone the rest of it to another time.

The Three Englandites Leading the Troops

Friday: September 9th, 2016
Today was that other time... Hah, we spent a few more hours finishing up the schedules for the transfer and how and where the roaming assistant would be going throughout our exchanges. Finally after that, we headed to President's to have another meeting to go over plans for the coming week and the many meetings and presentations that would take place... That took a while but then we went to Toby Carvery with our Ward Mission Leader to introduce the three new elders to our area and that was sweet, one of the chefs met with missionaries in the past and said to get back into contact with him too, so we had a good fruit come from dinner besides stuffing our faces with an English Roast.

Saturday: September 10th, 2016
The Crawley Elders and us got to go help Jonathan today with his garden allotment with pulling weeds and clearing up some of the area so he could prep it for a small harvest before winter. Good fun until it started to rain on us... Thanks England. Following that, we headed to the temple office to meet with the office elders to go over and review our mission handbook and make adjustments to it with all of the recent changes we've had happen to our mission. That took some time but we got it done and then headed off to some shops to gather our materials to make our projects for the upcoming MLC.

Sunday: September 11th, 2016

Lo Zion's Banner is Unfurled!

I can't believe that today marked the 15th anniversary of the "Pearl Harbor" of my day... A day I remember as clear as I can remember my own name. It was different this year being in England during this time of year as its wasn't really recognized to much but it was a good day. We spent the whole of it making a bunch of "Title of Liberty" flags for the MLC group and I had to use my artistic drawing skills(not really) to write down all of the zone names on these tattered bed sheets we created from newly bought sheets. It's interesting when missionary work doesn't always pertain to finding and knocking but rather preparing also for the missionaries we have stewardship over. It's a blessing to be able to serve so many missionaries and learn from them in the process of it all.

Monday: September 12th, 2016
We had our beautiful day of accounting in the morning to accounting at president's and then we went over final touch ups for the week and discussed everything we needed to focus on and what our goal for the mission was and what the Lord has given us through revelation. President sat the 3 of us down before dinner and taught us the importance of receiving revelation and learning how to recognize those answers from God and how we can be more susceptible to receiving more when we think more about what God wants for His mission and the ways we can be of assistance to Him. Very big day of learning for me for sure...

MLC at Box Hill!

Tuesday: September 13th, 2016
MLC today! We headed up to what is one of the highest points I've been to in England. The place is called Box Hill if you want to look it up. It was a beautiful scenery for what we had planned. President and Sister Gubler shared church history of what took place in England and then my companions and I led everyone through the scriptures of Captain Moroni and The Title of Liberty (Alma 46). It was one of the most powerful experiences ever... They say if you want to have a high connection, reach for the peak. We did so and the Spirit was evident in our presentation. We handed the flags out and everyone raised them high in the sky and with the wind blowing them around, we sang High on the Mountain Top and proceeded to proclaim our purpose and D&C 4... As we did, I had chills running down my back the whole time as we see 50 missionaries raising their banners for "Zion" and proudly and boldly proclaiming the reason we are on a mission and that is to help God save His children and help them make sacred covenants(promises)with Him. A very big spiritual day for the lot of us.

Wednesday: September 14th, 2016
Round one of ZLT today with all the western zones and after going through the various presentations we had planned between us and President, we had a lot of chances to practice and teach the leaders way to improve in areas we struggle as a missionary team. Along the process, President taught us the importance of recognizing patterns in our daily lives. A few I'll share blew all of the missionaries minds... because none of us really caught it.

Retiring to Bed and Waking up with the Rising of the "Son"
- You retire to bed each night and physically almost looking dead, and then you rise in the morning when the sun comes back up.
- The "sun" rises in the east and the "Son" will return in the east.
- All the saints will rise with Christ in the morning of the first resurrection
- Everything God does has a purpose... Nothing was made without a purpose. That means everything around you testifies of Christ and God's purpose(bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man)
- Patterns of family on the earth are equivalent to how they'll be in heaven. You won't live in the same home but you will still visit with each other with things you need counsel on.(earth=temporary family dinners asking about how their "world" is going. How are the kids, the events of life, etc. Heaven=Asking about ways to fix their worlds and help perfect their kids and help them to become exalted beings as well.

Pattern of the sacrament
- The sacrament table with the bread, water, and cloth reflect the resemblance of a body(Christ in the sepulchre)
- The bread(His body) is broken before the blessing because His body was bruised and broken before the blessings of the Atonement took place and could provide the blessings of His sacrifice.

Another I'll share later as it is to intense to share via email.

Thursday: September 15th, 2016
Round 2 and same as Round 1

Round 2 of ZLT

Friday: September 16th, 2016
Round 3=Round 1&2 but after, I had a chance to sit down with President and ask some questions I was pondering over regarding school and other personal questions that I wanted counsel on and I got exactly what I needed. I'm grateful for the priesthood and the blessings that come from worthy priesthood holders. Always trust God and His counsel for it comes directly from Him.

Brigham Redd, Until we meet again!

Saturday: September 17th, 2016
Today now... Well, I got to say goodbye to one of my favorite missionaries before he heads home next Friday. Elder Redd is a star and him and I have had some good times together. He was my first zone leader and my first exchange of my mission and we've built a great friendship in the course of our missions and I'll miss him dearly. Today is the rest of our preparation day and then we have a baptism for someone in the ward that we need to help set up for and fill the font! Baptisms are great! With proper authority, they provide the keys necessary to open the doors to the celestial kingdom to one day live with God again forever to never more depart His presence.

Verse of the Week:
1 Nephi 15:13
"And now, the thing which our father mean the concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the messiah come unto the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed-"

Oh ye Gentiles... Open your eyes...God has again spoken to His children, The Book of Mormon has come forth... it contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ and anyone who is not willing to read it is foolish and is missing out on the blessings of finding their treasures in heaven. Anyone foolish enough to deny 531 pages without really reading the book or giving it a chance... has been deceived by the adversary himself and unless they partake of the nourishing word of God, they shall never find the treasures they seek in this life, nor in the life to come. Read the Book of Mormon and I promise you that if you ask in humble prayer if it be true, God will show you with great power that they are His words and that His Church has been restored in its fulness with the proper priesthood authority to minister in the saving ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which provide every humble and willing person who partakes of these ordinances to one day enter the kingdom of God clean, perfect, and clothed in righteousness forever; to never more face death, sickness, pain, fear, or darkness ever again, but to be encompassed in the light of sweet serenity and everlasting happiness in the presence of their Eternal God and with their family and children forever. Of this I am sure... This is something I know for myself and hope one day, those who know not these truths will accept it so they may be candidates for the Celestial Kingdom of God.

Love,
-Elder Rivera