Become A Champion of Truth..!

Seven Sisters Beach Shot!

Hello everyone!

With the wonderful time of General Conference and to hear from our beloved Prophet once again, I was fed spiritually with answers to personal questions and mission questions as well to help the missionaries! It was another wonderful conference! My 7th I've watched in the last couple of years. I hope everyone was able to enjoy Conference as well and receive your own personal answers. If not, you'll be able to rewatch the Conference on LDS.org and learn for yourself of today's Living Prophets and Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thursday: September 29th, 2016
We had our final Zone Conference for this transfer and it entailed us and the other leaders of the mission going through stations with sets of missionaries and learning and teaching the principles of using GROW (which is Goal, Reality, Options, and Way Forward), How to Begin Teaching, Extending Commitments, and the Purpose behind Planning. It went super well and it was also amazing to finally announce the fullness of the #31 movement. President and us spent time on our knees on our Monday prior a few weeks back before conferences began and as we were jokingly throwing numbers out for what we could achieve in helping others learn more about Christ and

MTC Reunion (15 months down...!)

coming to the true fold, it tended to stray away from being a joke and after we prayed to God... it was no longer a joke, God meant business with us. He told us through revelation instantly and through the Spirit that we needed to aim for 31 for the month of October. 31 people who can be blessed with a fresh start... 31 souls who come unto Christ... 31 people who come to know the truth and are brought out of darkness... 31 of our brothers and sisters who join the true family of God. It was an amazing thing to be a part of and we feel so much opposition taking place in England. In the past when the world began to fall into Apostasy again... God sent his greatest missionaries (which some were Apostles) to England (a land dedicated and consecrated by the original Apostles of Christ in Jerusalem) and it helped saved the church during that state of time. Again, God works by patterns and sadly... even the very elect are being deceived in these the latter-days by the enemy and his servants. So, in order to counter the same results that happened in the past... God is working mighty and marvelous miracles everywhere around the world and especially in England for it is a sacred land. It is a privilege to serve in such a sacred place where many Apostles have walked and served alongside God's children. 

Friday: September 30th, 2016
We had exchanges again this week and Elder Ribeiro and I got to work together once again. We have become such close friends over the course of our mission and I'm grateful we'll get to go home together. We spent a lot of time discussing personal things and also had a chance to teach our friend Mantas who is now on date to be baptized. He is super excited but we need to help with a few pieces before the 29th of October. It was another great exchange though and we capped it off with a wonderful exchange review together.

Saturday: October 1st, 2016
Well, the long awaited October General Conference finally arrived and due to the wonderful time difference, we only got to watch the Morning Session today! It was amazing! Each Talk felt specific to a question I had and also that my companions needed as well.

He who is built upon the Rock
shall not fall...

Sunday: October 2nd, 2016
Today was amazing... one of the most spiritual days I have ever had... President Uchtdorf gave a powerful talk about being like Alma or Amulek and the entire time, the Spirit was teaching me personally. I felt so good after! I am so grateful for loving and living prophets! 

Monday: October 3rd, 2016
We had to take care of some administrative things with a few elders and then we headed to Presidents to account for the labors of the mission and also prepare for MLC! We also discussed a few things in preparation for moves this week. That time of the transfer again... crazy!

Tuesday: October 4th, 2016
We had MLC today and with a last minute change to our plans... president had us change our portion of the counsel to see if the leaders could come to the conclusion we came to the night before and it was amazing to see it come to life throughout the hours of the meeting. We started to stray away but after a prayer, we were led back perfectly to where we needed to get. It was a blessing to see how God worked through missionaries and their comments to come to the conclusion we wanted!

Wednesday: October 5th, 2016
Well, today we are enjoying a well sunny day at Seven Sisters again! Such a beautiful place and full of pondering spots! I love the pictures you can create! 

CTR (Cloward, Tunnicliffe, and Rivera)

Verse of the Week:
2 Nephi 27:23
For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith.

Hope you all have a great week! 

Do not lose hold of your dreams and aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist
but you have ceased to live.  Life is no brief candle.  It is sort of a brilliant torch which
you must get hold and make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on
to future generations.

Love,
-Elder Rivera