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| Diners...Brownies...Friends, what more could you ask for? |
This week was fun! Finally tried an exotic meal that I was encouraged to try from Brother Jones before I came to England... so I can check that one off the list. We had some solid teaches and really fun exchanges this week and the mission just continues to flourish and flow naturally! Loving it and having so much fun! Hope everyone is doing well and that life is treating you well with whatever you are currently doing or will be doing this coming week!
Friday: January 27th, 2017
Elder Wright and I had the chance to be in a duo today as Elder Cloward headed off on a roaming exchange to Oxford and he was excited about that. I don't blame him... when I was in Reading, we headed up to OXford a couple of times and the city is just beautiful to walk around and also see the old English style buildings and such. Especially Harry Potter exhibits from where they filmed parts of the movie! Pretty sweet stuff. Anyways, along the day and throughout our travels and time making some administration calls for errors on the accounting system, we again had some deep talks about life... I don't know how the two of us are always the one diving into these deep talks. They don't happen very often but both times we've been together, the conversation just geared towards that direction. We both are on our final 6 & 3 months and so of course, a lot of our discussion was about goals for the future and what we wanted to do with school, family, friends, dating, etc. But... it was a good chance to see where both of us lined up and where we wanted to be come the end of our missionary service and where we want to pick things up when it comes May and August. I've always noticed this about ways God has worked with me and it is through putting figurative "puzzle pieces" together in my life. I've seen it from day one of joining the church and I've seen it along the way of being on my mission. Every little puzzle piece fits somewhere and the best thing about life, not only do you hold a key puzzle piece for your own picture but you hold a puzzle piece for someone else and they likewise for you. Funny how that works. We each play a part in helping each other complete "life's puzzle" and it'll be fun to see what pieces continue to come together and who helps put those pieces in their rightful place.
Saturday: January 28th, 2017
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| The Famous Haggis... |
So today was just great! Elder Biddle and I had the chance to have an interesting exchange. On Friday we had Haggis for the first time and well, the challenge was accepted and we dug in to the Scottish delicacy. Needless to say, it wasn't too bad actually. I'm happy I finally had the chance to try it but I've heard it if it's not made by the native Scot's, it won't taste the same. Elder Biddle and I made the trek out to an investigators home today which was about a 50 minute walk one way and another 50 back. We walked about 11.07mi total and all I can say is that I have not walked this much since the first 6 weeks of my mission. It killed me... haha. My legs were dead and my body was just exhausted. Glad I had the chance to "wake up" so to speak to not using a car for everything once again. I guess that's what being in a car for 18 months of your mission does to you though. I guess I'm just not fit enough for the streets... :(
Sunday: January 29th, 2017
All 4 of our baptismal dates came to church today! New record for all 3 of us throughout our mission of having that happen in a single weekend! Super sweet! The talks in sacrament were all about well... the blessings of the sacrament and the love of God. In second hour, we had a discussion about the role of the Holy Ghost and the importance of having it in our daily lives. He made a statement that most Latter-day Saints live far beneath their privileges of having the Gift of the Holy Ghost and taking advantage of the Sacrament Prayers' promised blessing of always having the Spirit to be with us. However, he explained that now, beyond the mission, and throughout life, you need to learn to how recognize the Spirit's voice and drown out all the voices of the world that make themselves loudly known to your ears. If you do, 3 things happen. 1. You hear God's voice. 2. The Spirit testifies of truth to your heart and mind. 3. You can know whether the course you are taking is pleasing unto God. We
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| Toby's VIP Customer's |
Normal day at presidents.... we were going to start moves but time wasn't our friend today so we'll have to begin this Sunday after church because the rest of our week is pretty stacked on our end and also President's.
Tuesday: January 31st, 2017
Elder Katieli and I had the chance to be on our second exchange today and it was fun! We made brownies for some investigators and well, I'm happy to say that my first time baking brownies turn out super tasty.(thanks to Betty Crocker Brownie Mix:D) We had a fun lesson with Jack and Arcadia today as we taught them the 10 commandments using the fun interactive hand signs to remember them! Then we had dinner at Toby's with all of us and it was so good! Jack and Arcadia made a slap bet that he couldn't finish the King Size plate. (Slap bets... HIMYM TV show for those that know it) They are just doing so well... 8 days without smoking and man... we are excited for the 18th!:) Keep them both in your prayers! Elder Ribeiro and I had a chance to talk for a bit today as we were uploading some videos for the Harvester article and we both came to the conclusion that we had 99 days left in England... WHAT! We both freaked out and talked about how fast time has gone... we had an exchange about 7 1/2 months ago and we both had 9 months left... and then we talked again at another meeting in which we had 6 months left... and then today we realized we had 3 months left...
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| Malo Lava Sui Fua! (Samoan) |
Wednesday: February 1st, 2017
Well... today welcomes February!!! A month of Love and what better way to show our love for the Savior than by bringing souls unto him. As a mission we have 75 people on date to be baptized throughout February which is amazing!!! It's been pouring these last couple of days so outside is pretty muggy and wet and canceled our plans of going golfing today. Next time maybe...but we are doing well! Things are going super well here in England and I am really excited for what is to come... a lot to look forward to and a lot to be smiling about!
Verses of the Week:
Book of Mormon:
Alma 4:19
"And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them."
Doctrine and Covenants:
D&C 39:23
"And again, it shall come to pass that on as many as ye shall baptize with water, ye shall lay your hands, and they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and shall be looking forth for the signs of my coming, and shall know me."
My Quote of the Week:
It doesn't matter what you know in your mind... if your heart isn't on the same page.
Have a great week!!!
Love,
-Elder Rivera
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