This Week's Crazy Stories!! And My Simple Testimony

Hey hey hey!! It's Elder Field coming back at ya with another crazy week in Vallejo! Have I ever said how much I love this town hahaha??? You will never meet people like the people you meet here. Either they are super nice and humble, or they look at you like they are going to shoot you, then proceed to stab you a couple of times for good measure, then kick you while your down and take your wallet. But hey! Wonderful children of God none the less 😁 

This week wasn't too crazy though.  I know i miss led you in the subject line.  I'm a stinker! This week was full of just finding less actives and part member families. Which i was actually super excited about. We were given a list of families by the ward council, of people we should focus on. We tried our best and tried to visit most of them. And overall it was a success! We ran into a sister who sat and talked to us on her porch for a while. She opened the door and said "Oh! We'll I haven't seen missionaries in a while" we  the chatted for a bit, but then the conversation took an extremely strange turn. We were talking about how her parents had passed a way a few years ago. We offered our condolences, but she said that it's ok, that she she sees them every once and a while.......... this caught us off guard, so we asked how so...... she then explained to us for the next hour about how she can see dead people...... I'm not joking, this is freaking straight out of a horror film OK??? I was mildly terrified hahaha and I also was trying so hard to keep back laughter, only because she said that she had a dog that died 2 years ago, but his spirit is always with her and that it, and I quote, "fights off the evil spirits that are constantly trying to invade my home"............... OK I kinda maybe not really understand seeing people. But dogs........ I draw the line hahaha.


I learned an a really cool lesson while talking with an investigator named Debbie, she is a cool lady, about 60 years old, she has had a pretty hard life, she was a Baptist but only went for a few months after she was baptized in. We met her when we were walking down the street to go see a less active member. We looked on our map, and noticed there was a potential investigator that lived on the same street. A potential investigator is either they were a referral or missionaries had talked to them in the past but stopped going for one reason or another. Well we went to the house where it was located at and found a woman sitting on the porch smoking, we went up and said hello. She saw us and said hello back, we started tell her who we were. She actually knew who we were she had talked to them in the past. Well one thing led to another and we started to have a lovely conversation about life,  getting the know one another,  30 mins past and we didn't really get into religion at all. This kinda had me uneasy, but I kept getting the feeling I just need to get to know her and not to push religion. So I did just that. My companion on the other hand, did not think this was a good idea, he kept trying to bring it up, and it was actually starting to, I don't want to say upset her, but she just wasn't having it ya know? She made the comment of "do you guys talked about anything else but religion" this threw my companion for a loop haha. He went dead silence, I quickly replied "well that's what we usually focus on but we are okay to have normal conversations too." She asked "like what" I said "well just the other day we were talking to someone about cars, I also love to talk about family history" her face lit up and she said that she loved learning about her ancestors. So we sat and swapped family stories for a bit. And again I didn't feel like we should bring up religion quite yet. So we talked about the family history app. And how she can create an account, we'll we tried to create an account for her but we were having technical difficulties, but while my companion was trying to figure out what was wrong, me and her got on the topic of families,  told how family is such a big part of my life, she said she agreed, she then told me about some family member who had passed away, and then she asked the question that I was waiting for. "So, what do y'all think will happen after we die" YES!!!! PERFECT! I COULD GO SOMEWHERE WITH THIS!!!!! But I felt like I should just explain the spirit world to her then asked her what she believed. I did so and the conversation was awesome. We swapped what we both believed, and she actually believed things that were relatively close with what we do. Time was running short so we had to head out. Before we left i gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and told her she should look over this. She said she would and then we set up another time we could come over.

Well we went over again and the conversation was a different topic but I just kept getting the feeling to just listen to her. And towards the end of the time we had with her, she asked us, "what do you guys got for me this week" we talked about the book of Mormon and gave her one and asked her to read the introduction page. She asked us where it came from and I asked her if she knew  or heard of Joseph Smith. She didn't but seemed pretty interested. We told her we would tell her about it next time. Well a week past and we went back over, had a long conversation about life and just a tid bit of religion, we talked about the restoration, and she was pretty interested. We set up another time to met and we went back to the apartment to grab lunch. Well a couple of days later, we were in a meeting and we got a text from  her that said, "thank you so much for coming over and talking with me, you bring so much happiness into my life and I look forward to our visits"

Listening is so Important. Not only listening to the Holy Ghost and it's promptings but listen to others. Sometimes people just need a friend to talk to. Next time a friend or a loved one is having a rough time, just sit down and listen. If you live worthy to have the holy ghost as a constant companion, it will guide you on what to say that will truly impact and help them.

That was the only big thing this week was that little Text from Debbie, the only other one I can think of now is we were at dinner with a member and she invited over a friend who wasn't a member. She seemed pretty uneasy to be eating dinner with us. So I tried to make it as casual and comfortable as possible. She had a bunch of cool looking tattoos that were all music themed. I asked her of there was a story behind any of them, she said now but she just really loves music. Well for those who know me that started a very long conversation about all kinds of music. Found out we have a very similar music taste. And that her name is Gina she is about 32 years old and doesn't really have a religious back round, but really wants to learn more. We quickly set up an appointment and that was that. She said she was looking forward and was excited to have us come over. I'm way excited for that one:)

Guys, I know Christ lived. I know he came down to earth so that we would able to return to our heavenly Father, that we may be able to become clean from our sins. I know that he knows each and everyone of us, he knows how we feel, what we like, what we dislike, things we desire after, and things we are terrified of. He can give us strength even when we can't go on anymore. The atonement is one of the greatest gifts God gave us. It doesn't matter how many times we screw up, he will always be there anxiously waiting to help you. I know we have a modern day prophet on the earth. He is here to guide us. He is here to show us the way. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know the book of Mormon is true. I know that he saw Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. I know I'm out here to find that one person I'm supposed to help. I also know that im out here to become a better man. I know that I'm on the Lords errand. Guys I love you and miss you all. I think about all of y'all everyday!! I hope your week was fantastic and full of happiness and excitement!!


Love y'all lots!!

-Elder Riley Field

More Crazies, Baptisms, Member Meals, Exchanges

Howdy everyone, soooooo I realized that in all the emails I have sent home I haven't talked about Victor Ceja. One of our investigators who may or may not have gotten baptized on the 16th....... hahha oops.

We have been teaching him since i got in and a couple of months before hand. Me and my companion set up the baptism date. AND HE MADE IT!!! He was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. And we set up a date from him to go back to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. I'm so happy for him. I will see if i can send pictures today. I don't have any I need to get them from his wife. We will be having a BBQ with him and his family tonight so as soon as I get them I will send them to you all. He is such a wonderful guy and his family is just crazy but fun to be with. So yeah, 4 weeks and I already got a baptism. I'm so crazy lucky/blessed. A missionary once said their favorite sound in the world was the fount filling up. And i can honestly say, its in the top 10 favorite sounds. Just below the sound of rain, and the sound of a Dr. Pepper can being opened ;) (I'm an addict and I'm proud of it ;) ) It really is such a strange yet wonderful feeling knowing that you helped bring a soul unto Christ. Victor is an amazing man. I guess maybe I should give y'all a little back round on him.
He is about 33 or 35 years old...... not sure i have never asked him. He has 2 kids. 1 With is current wife, and another with another woman. In totally between him and his current wife they have 5 kids. He is a family man and he truly loves his family. He is Hispanic, he loves football,  favorite team is the raiders, he is always wearing a raiders hat hahah. He is always telling us that he wants to make a future for his kids. That he really does love them and wants to be with them forever. Such a good guy. He really wanted his parents to come to the baptism. He was bummed when they didn't show, but he was still so happy with his decision. He is going to be such and amazing Mormon ;)

That honestly was the only big story for this week, but don't worry I will still tell ya what went on. So the week started out pretty boring. Tuesday was a pretty ordinary day. Didn't have much success. Tried to knock on doors, visit less actives but no success. Just a lot of walking and trying to tell people about Jesus Christ. Sad how people just don't want to listen, but they will either in this life or the next so I'm not too worried hahah.


Wednesday was pretty cool actually. We had exchanges. Which if you are like me, have no clue what that entails. Let me explain, So exchanges are when the district leaders come over and exchange companions for about 24 hours, an entire day. One set goes to our mission area and the next goes to the district leader area. This is designed for just kinda keeping it fresh but also to gauge how the companionship is doing. It also is a nice break from the companion....... not saying I don't love him. Just saying that sometimes gets to be a little much haha. I got to go on an exchange with Elder Brooks. Super cool guy. He is from Arizona. He is about a year into the mission. We get along super well actually. But I will tell you right now we would have never been friends in high school hahaha. He is super sporty and I'm not. He told me about how he dated a lot of girls before coming out. I did not. hahah We still got along though. We have the same sense of humor so that was nice. We went and did his area with his plans for the day. We started out with service for another crazy old black lady. (trust me when I say there are a lot of those out here in Vallejo) We helped her with some yard work. Then came out and tried to pay us. We tried to refuse, but she kept offering. After about 7 times refusing. She shoved the money down my back pocket when I was working. SCARED the crap out of me. All of a sudden someone was touching my butt..... hahaha  like what the heck????? hahaha I turned around to see her just laughing. I told her I couldn't take the money. She then yelled very loudly "I don't need your charity. Don't try to give me money! Are you trying to harass an old woman" She winked and ran inside....... Not sure what we should do, I put the money back on her porch, and went back to work. When we left i looked into my bag...... she put the money in my bag..... I was so mad, but all I could do was laugh!!! She gave us each 40 bucks!!!! What the heck?!?! I'm just trying to serve man. don't be paying me!! ;)

We continued about the day finding less active members. With little success but it was fun to get to know someone new and learn how to do missionary work a little differently. :)

Thursday we had Zone conference. That's where my zone and another zone get together and have mission president and his wife come teach us on how we can better improve our teaching. It was actually super fun. I learned a ton. Met a bunch of new missionaries who already knew my name. I'm the only new missionary in both zones hahaha. So it was kinda awkward when President Wright asked me to stand up and say hi to everyone. There were probably around 30 missionaries there? IDK sounds about right.

So yesterday on Sunday, we had a very interesting sacrament meeting..... so that one sister i was telling you about last week...... well she showed up to sacrament meeting. Hahahah she wore this long blonde wig, big eyelashes, lipstick, and quite an immodest dress. She walked up to us and say good morning. Me being a nice person told her she looked lovely today. And she then proceeded to tell me that. "Even though i am go to church. I want to look my best for God. So you bet your self im going to come looking like a movie star" She then said we should sit by her and moved into the chapel. I then sat and laughed internally for about 15 mins. SHE IS INSANE!! hahahaha

When church was over the Takapu's (the Tongan family i am apart of) Asked us we were coming over for dinner tonight. Which i found strange because we already had another member sign up to feed us yesterday night. They told us they had signed up to feed us. Me not sure what to do told them both we would be there....... So we had 2 dinners..... the first was at the Tongans house and they wouldn't let us leave until i had 2 helpings of dinner and dessert. I was going to explode. They mean well, but i swear they are trying to fatten me up so they can cook some Tongan dish that calls for Fat White Boy......... I don't know what i should be more worried about, the fact they are trying to fatten us, or the fact that its working haahah.... man i love that family.

We then went to another member....... I'm forgetting their name right now because i am a terrible missionary. But they were very nice, they cooked up burgers and corn and all sorts of yummy food. I of course still ate a burger and an ear of corn but by the end i was close to throwing up >.< They then made me tell them about everything in my life hahaha. When i say they wanted to know EVERYTHING i mean EVERYTHING!! hahahah so i sat and tried to explain who i was and how i grew up in about a 30 min time frame. They were happy with what i explained and told me that we were welcome there any time. They were super fun. I'm so grateful for the ward family i have come to join. Everyone has been so welcoming and wonderful. I always have someone come up to me every Sunday and ask me how my week was. They really do care about me and the work im doing. Its such an amazing experience. I have met some life long friends out here already.

I'm enjoying it out here. I really am. Its really hard work ya know? but i know I'm not doing this alone. I have God on my side. He is watching out for me, guiding me, and making sure i don't screw up too many times. :) There are days when I'm out here when i think of home and how much I miss all y'all. But I just have to remember that I'm out here on an errand for the Lord, and there is no time for me to feel sorry for my self! hahaha This doesn't mean I don't think of y'all. This just mean, I think of y'all, and see all of you in the people i meet and the people i teach. I testify that God knows each and everyone of us so well. He knows what we need in the minute we need it. He was us to succeed. He loves us so much, and he wants to help us. I challenge all of y'all to just go say a prayer of gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for in this life. I feel like we spend most of our prayers asking for things, I know I do, so go tell God what your thankful for. Tell Him how much you love Him.

I love you all and miss you all so much!! Sorry this was such a long email!!
Keep emailing me!!! I love to hear whats going on!! I will try my best to email you all back if you email me! I love you all!!!! have a wonderful week!!!!


God is good!!!
Love yall!

-Elder Riley Field

Greenie Dinner

On Sunday we were invited over to a sisters house for dinner. Well we were slightly late because of appointments. When we got there, there were like 15 other people there. Apparently it was this sister's uncle's birthday. He was turning 80! he is a super cool guy. Well we were told to wait last because we were late. We said we understand..... but that wasn't the only reason they had us go last hahah. When it was time for us to get our food. There were no plates left. I asked her if she had any other plates and she started to laugh and said "yes yes we do" She pulls out this giant Green plate. With a green potato, a pile of green beans, and a bowl of salad and broccoli. And handed me a green fork and spoon. She said "here ya go greenie" then started to laugh. It was awesome. It actually made me feel like I was part of a family haha. She knew who I was and that I was new to the mission. Everyone started laughing and i asked "how long have you had this planned." Everyone replied "since the day you got in"

Tongans, Crazy People, and Knocking Doors

Howdy everybody!!! Another wonderful yet exhausting week in the mission field.
This week started off with nothing new, just went and visited a bunch of members, part member families, recent converts, and referrals from members and mormon.org. that's what we have been focusing on actually, is having entire families come to the church so that they can be sealed in the temple. Family is extremely important to me. Hopefully its important to y'all. Its crazy how many part member families there are here. One person joins the church and that's it. Its crazy hahaha. It kinda confuses me actually. I know i have been so happy in the church, if i was the only family member, i would do my hardest to get my entire family to join.

Anyway we did a lot of service this week. We helped fix up a hiking trail, we helped a family move, we met some very interesting people while helping a woman fix up her yard hahahah. The people you meet in Vallejo..... you wont meet anyone like them.

So i have been adopted..... yupp sorry family i have been adopted by a Tongan family hahaha. They have invited us over for dinner 4 times now. In just one week. They love having us over for some reason hahah. While talking to them i found out the entire family is part of the church but the father isn't. Which kinda caught me off guard because the dad is the one who loves having us over. He asks a lot of questions which i never really put together that he wasn't a member. Well since the wife told us she has been wanting us to convert him. Very bad. We get texts all the time hahaha. Funny story. While we were over there a couple of nights ago i found out the daughters of the family don't like my companion very much. O.O They told me how he asks too many questions and he is kinda annoying hahah. but they said I'm cool because I'm not always trying to "cram religion down their throat" hmmmmmm hahahahah i didn't know what to say i just shrugged hahah. But after they told me that the Sister Takapu showed me where they keep the key out side and told me "if you are hungry or just need a place to vent we are always here, welcome to the family" she then went to hug me.... realized she couldn't then gave me a firm handshake hahaha. So i am now Tongan! :)

That was the first exciting experience. The next one is when I met Sister Leblanc. Now I had only heard rumors of this sister. Rumors that she was crazy, rumors that she was a movie star, rumors that she was married to someone famous.......

Well i met her..... hahahahaha SHE IS A CRAZY!!! she lives in this little house that's kinda scary, she talked our leg off when we went to see her. Oh the reason we went to see her is because she hasn't been to church in about a month. So the ward asked us to go see how she was. I understand why they did hahah. When i say this woman is crazy i mean she is CRAZY. She is this 70 year old black woman. Boy is she racist too. But she says she isn't. hahaha it was an interesting night to say the least. She said she would give us advice on anything we needed including how to, and i quote, "get woman or loose them." hahah after we left me and Elder Evans sat and laughed in the car for about 10 mins. I love her to death. She kinda scares me though hahahah

Anyway this week was kinda rough. We knocked a lot of doors and no success. But hey! that's what missionary work is all about right? I got a little discouraged but i tried to remain as optimistic as possible.

I love all y'all and i miss each and everyone of you. not a day goes by with out one of you/all of you going through my mind at least once. I know i am out here for a reason and I'm going to find that one person who needs me. God is real. He knows and loves each and everyone of us. He is the master orchestrator of our lives. He wants us to succeed. And wants us to be as happy as possible. And we can do that by living his gospel. I have been so happy out here. Even on those hard days i just have to remember why I'm out here and suddenly there is a smile on my face. Its hard work guys...... hahahah Very hard work. But I'm up for the challenge.

Love you all and miss you guys!!!! 


-Elder Riley Field

Friends, CALI!!, independence day, companion, and investigators!

So!! There is a lot in this week's subject line I know but that's because this week has beeeeeeennnnn cccccrrrrraaaaazzzzzyyyy!!!! So I guess we will start where I left off 😀😀

So I guess I left off when I met all the amazing new missionaries, I love them all and miss all those wonderful people haha they really are all going to, make amazing, missionaries 😁😁 and I'm not just saying that because I have added some of them to the email list!! (Hey guys!!) But I really mean it. I hope they will stay in contact with me because I would love to hang out and get to know them more after the mission! (*wink wink nudge nudge* that means you district 40 B) any who!! I left that Tuesday morning at about 4:30 am we went to the travel office said goodbye to the rest of our district and I was off to the train platform.

So I was given the responsibility of travel leader..... who on earth that that was a good idea. I barely know my cardinal directions...... while we were on our first train a wonderful man named Alan started talking to us and he was an airport employee and said that he would take exactly where we needed to go he said he had helped hundreds of missionaries, because he is always going where they need to go. Now for those that know me I was very skeptical of this guy, he was super quirky, like in the good way but also the serial killer kind of way, he also had a weird laugh which scared me. But he turned out to not be a serial killer so all was well. He was super nice and led us to where we needed to be. Thanks Alan!! No idea who you are but thanks!!

Any who!! When we got to where we needed to be it was 2 hours before we needed to board our flight, we had some time to call home, I was a mess. As soon as my mom picked up and I heard her voice along with my father's, I started to cry haha. I know I'm a totally wuss haha. That was amazing and it was exactly what I needed to keep going. Once I said good bye and that I will call again at Christmas 😂 I wiped away the tears and waited for my little ducklings to finish their phone calls.

We sat and waited for a while, until it was finally ready to board the plane we hopped on and we were off.

Everyone was asleep as soon as we took off but instead of sleeping I decided to read notes that the sisters From my district wrote to me. (Little background on that. The elders From my district decided to write letters to all the sisters the day before we left. We decided to do that the 4th day into the MTC, we'll when we delivered them to the sisters, the sisters THAT NIGHT wrote us all back letters and gave them to us before we left for the train station) they were so heart felt and gave me the strength to carry on. Thanks sisters!!  I miss all y'all and each y'all

We landed!!!! We got off the plane and the first people we saw was our amazing mission president, President Wright. Amazing man who made me feel so welcome. His wife is one of the sweetest people I know, she shook my hand and told me "goodness I wish I could hug you all and tell you everything will be alright" hahaha made me chuckle. We loaded a van and went to the mission home.


When we got there after an hour drive we were all pretty exhausted and it was only 2ish in the afternoon. We went though a whole bunch of orientation and the do's and don'ts of the mission. After about and hour of that. We all interviewed with our mission president and then found out our new companions  shortly after!!!

I got Elder Evans. He is a super cool guy!! Kinda weird and quirky and super sarcastic he is a molly Mormon hahaha. And when I say molly Mormon I mean has never had caffeine in his life, home schooled with his 9 other siblings kind of molly Mormon. 'Im not saying this is bad I  just saying it isn't what I'm used to hahah, he is super cool and had taught me a ton already. I love him lots. He has been on his mission for 23 months so this is his last transfer!

 I also found out where I will be assigned and I am in the wonderful town of Vallejo California!!! Look it up on the map it's an "interesting little town" to say the least hahaha. It's kind of a sketchy place. But the people who are apart of the ward and super nice and amazing. They have welcomed me with open arms, and i think I have made some good friends already 😁😁

(Vallejo, CA)

(Vallejo, CA)

After we found out all this we went to the mission presidents home and ate pizza with him and his family. After that was all said and done with we were put into the hands of our trainer and we were off.

Once me and my companion had our awkward small talk and got to Vallejo we stopped by a local Walmart to pick up food for the next week. I didn't know what to get so I got a big bag of Captain crunch and a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread and a bag of apples. Haha I know I'm so adventurous. Which I had to use on my home card because I never got the pin to my mission card..... probably should call someone about that.....  hmm oh well I will do that after I'm done emailing y'all 😁😁

When we picked everything up we got to the apartment, (it's just a small little apartment nothing special 2 bedroom 1 bath) once we dropped the food off my companion said "let's go" I was all confused and then we went and had another dinner with a member from the ward!!! We were off. We ate with a nice family whose name is have forgotten, I'm awful with names it's sad. Hahah and while we were driving there almost ran out of gas, we met some people who were driving next to us who were smoking weed and asked us if we wanted a hit, they then tired to race us in our car. They did a doughnut I'm the middle of the road and peeled out..... it was slightly scary haha. my companion then looked at me and said, "Welcome to Vallejo"

We went to bed shortly after that dinner and man did I sleep like a rock. The rest of the week was full of meeting ward members, talking to investigators and just trying to get used to the missionary life. which is much more different than I would have ever expected. But I really am loving it. It's a lot of hard work but I get to serve people at the same time as serving the Lord. That's pretty amazing if you ask me.

We have already, in just my first week we put in 20 service hours hahah. I'm loosing weight and I'm quite tan ;) I'm also extremely sun burnt all the time but I don't think that matters as much! ;)

Keep sending me emails I love hearing from all of y'all! It honestly and truly does keep me going! well this email is extremely long but I don't have much more time to type up anymore! but Just know that I'm loving it! God has been with me every step of the way! and God loves all of us! He really does. Go talk to him! He wants to hear from one of his children! Tell him about your day and he will bless you with guidance and peace and calm! It's a beautiful thing!

I LOVE YOU ALL!! AND I MISS YOU ALL!!
Hope to hear from all of you soon!!!

-You're favorite Missionary Ever-

-Elder Riley Field

Happy 4th of July!