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| Jos and the Three Englandites! |
I hope that your week has been super so far because this past week was just super amazing!!! One of the best weeks by far... I know I say that a lot but seriously... this week has a special place in my heart over the others. Let's get right into it!
Thursday: October 6th, 2016
I had the chance to finish up my exchange in Burgess Hill and it went super well..! We had some good talks in between working and also a super delicious burger from Uncle Sam's. I had a lot of reflection today that touched my heart due to a few things honestly distracting me from being full force but I nipped it in the bud before it got to far. It is super hard working all day every day when you have a lot of missionaries to think about too and also a lot of stuff going on back home but things are all well and moving forward now once again.
Friday: October 7th, 2016
We had another exchange today and I got to have my final exchange with Elder Senkans and this is where part of the miracle of the week begins. 6 months ago on exchange with Elder Clark who was the assistant at the time, we taught a family named the Ashpole's. It was one of the most powerful teaches and experiences at that time of my mission and I felt something different in that home and could never stop thinking about getting back and teaching them and by golly we finally made contact with them and the dad (Chris) invited us in but since we didn't have much time, we rescheduled a time to meet on Sunday and that's where I'll pick it back up. I was literally on fire after that! Patience and persistence of trying to see this family over the past 6 month finally paid off.
Saturday: October 8th, 2016
Today we helped president arrange the new moves list and that was fun again! It is truly a privilege to see how God works through all of us and through revelation to move and change things according to what he needs to have in the mission. Later we went to Jos Hewitt's baptism, a young man of some members who we have been helping prepare and teaching him in preparation for his baptism. Super sweet and then we headed to KFC to finish off the night.
Sunday: October 9th, 2016
Monday: October 10th, 2016
So... we had our usual accounting for the mission where we gather information on how the missionaries are doing and what their numbers for the week are with teaching their friends and what they have essentially done for the week and then we report them to President and to see how we can then help the mission resolve problems and move forward. It is quite the experience. We then finalized moves and then prepared for the upcoming Specialized Zone Trainings which will take place again this coming transfer starting next week after moves. Can't wait.
Tuesday: October 11th, 2016
So today was fun... had my last roaming exchange of the transfer in Portsmouth (nearly where my last area was, just about 40 minutes east) So what made it crazy wasn't really the exchange but it was heading home... As roaming Assistants, president has authorized us to travel solo by train back to Crawley at the end of our exchanges. Here is where it got interesting. I was in the middle of an exchange review when I get a call from Elder Hunter who went to check what time my train left and he was gonna snag a ticket for me to save me the time in buying it. Turns out he calls me mid review and says, "You got 5 minutes until your train leaves..." I paused and just looked at the elders and postponed our review and we booked it to the train station which was about 2 minutes away. I grabbed the ticket and they told me what platform to go to but as I ran up the stairs, I missed it by 10 seconds... literally 10 seconds. Anyways, I asked one of the train guards when the next train was and he said to catch the next one in about 20 minutes. Okay cool. No worries. I get another call from the elders downstairs by the ticket stand and they told me the ticket lady said there would be no more trains heading on the route I needed to get back to Crawley due to some train strikes... great!!! Just what I needed. But... God looks out for His missionaries and His children. I called the office elders to arrange to buy me a ticket for the route she recommended to get me back and right as they were about to purchase it... the lady knocked on the window and held up a piece of paper (the greatest paper i've ever seen). As missionaries we don't carry much cash and we told the lady this and by the hand of God, she presented me with a paper stamped by her that allowed me to travel any route, anytime, for free.... MIRACLE. I was then recommended the next travel into London Waterloo which would be roughly a 1 1/2 hour train ride. I embarked on the journey and finally little by little was getting closer. I landed into Louder Waterloo and was going to gather the next train into Clapham Junction which was what was recommended and so I crossed over the bridge to get to the other side of the platform and overheard an announcement giving me an option to cut some time down for the travel and it would prevent me from heading into London and you know... since I held a paper giving me free access to any route, shoot... I took it. So the train rolled up and I ran up the stairs back down to the other side of the platform and gather a train down into Guildford which then took me down into Redhill where I waited for about 25 minutes due to another train delay and then finally made it into Crawley. You can say I'm a master navigator but it was definitely not me leading myself. God guided me perfectly because it was safe trip but also reduced the time I would have been traveling alone and also... I've only used the train system 5 times throughout the past 15 months due to having a car nearly my whole mission so I was super pleased I knew somewhat what I was doing on my own and then God doing the rest for me. Again... God is mindful of His children and He hears their prayers.
Wednesday: October 12th, 2016
Today was just super relaxing... we kept it super simple and sat back after getting our necessities done. Super exhausted and needed the extra rest! Haha.
Verse of the Week:
Jacob 5:75
"Blessed are thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard."
Love you all and hope the stories in here have touched your hearts. If anyone has questions about what I am doing in England or if you are a seeker of truth... please feel free to email me and I would love to help you find the truth for yourself as well.
zachary.rivera@myldsmail.net
Have a great week!
Love,
-Elder Rivera
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