Anyway! On to the events of this week!!
The week started out pretty ok. We did a butt ton of service again this week! I’m still so exhausted hahah. But hey! I shouldn’t complain, its good exercise right? So this week’s service included, helping a non-member move with the Sister Missionaries, digging a 6 foot hole (we were trying to find a pipe, we found it, pictures included in the email) Finished De-stumping a Fig Tree!!! (praise the lord) Helped build a retaining wall, helped another member move in to a storage unit, last but certainly not least, helped plant a tree. Let’s just say I'm in a constant state of being sore hahahah
So updates on some investigators!
DEBBIE JACKSON CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! YAY!! hahah She said she would, but usually a lot of people say they will "come to church" but Debbie actually came! It’s so awesome! I was so happy, this week of course was fast and testimony meeting, so I had to explain why this particular meeting was different from the rest. But all is well haha. We walked in and sat down and she immediately started firing off questions. And by the good grace of God I was able to answer most of them pretty simply. There were a couple of questions like the "What does it mean to sustain these people and also what’s going on with these people, why do they need to be sustained?" That were a little harder to answer but I did my best and I think she kind of understood. It was a really good meeting. One Brother got up and started talking about the blessings of temples, she asked where is this temple. I explained that there is one in Oakland and Sacramento but we actually have them all over the world. She seemed really impressed by that. I pulled up a picture of the Oakland temple and the Salt Lake City temple, and showed them to her. She said they were beautiful. That topic kind of died down when about 10 mins later she just leans over and says "I would love to go visit a temple one day" So that was pretty cool. Overall she said she really liked sacrament meeting and said she would come back next week. As long as I was there to sit by her. It told her I would be and then she left. So that was pretty exciting.
We met with James Shaw again this week, while we were planning on what we should teach him, we were trying to find where the disconnect is with Brother Shaw. For some reason I was actually studying in Helaman Chapter 5 that morning and thought about maybe talking about Testimony and Conversion. For those who remember this was my farewell topic so I was pretty prepared hahah. We both agreed and went and had a WONDERFUL lesson with him. It was an active discussion, he expressed what he believed, we talked about scripture references, he asked a question or 2, and by the end of the lesson I looked over at Elder Evans, and realized...... he said 2 sentences the entire time, I did 90% of the talking. I was mortified...... When we got in the car I told him I was so sorry for dominating the discussion, he turned to me and said "oh I had plenty of opportunities to speak, I just wanted to see where you would take the lesson, I didn’t talk on purpose." he smiles then starts to laugh. What a butt........ it was a good thing though. I learned that I can actually teach someone, that I can lead the conversation but also be able to lead out the area...... I’m still terrified to do so but, I think I can do it. With Heavenly Fathers help of course hahaha.
So we have been meeting with a family. Kathy and Todd and their two little girls Ariana, and Violet. Ariana is 12 she is actually the only member in the family. She got baptized when she was 10. Violet is 6 I think? I’m not sure but she is the most energetic little girl I have ever met. No personal bubble at all. hahah she has no problem jumping on me or hugging my leg. When I talk to her she gets like right up in my face hahah it scares me a little bit. This family has been having the missionaries over for over 3 years now. Which is insane...... but they love us. We are trying to figure out why they keep having us over. They don’t come to church; Todd is the only one like who seems a tiny bit interested. Kathy I guess could be interested but, I’m just not sure. Violet is too young to really care at this point, but Ariana is baptized but..... is considered less active. Kathy and Todd fully support Ariana and will take her to church or young women’s, if she wants to go. So we have been going over to talk to Ariana but also to try and convert the parents to put it bluntly. They haven’t been making progress, which is lame..... my companion actually wanted to stop going over but, I really don’t want to lose the little girl ya know? So I said let’s just keep going over and direct our spiritual thoughts and message towards Ariana. Hopefully one of them will kind of touch Todd or Kathy and then we will get the ball rolling. Well we have been going over about once a week every week since the beginning of the transfer. I have become really good friends with this family. They are so dang funny. Todd and Kathy are both army actually. So that’s really cool. We were over there one night sharing a thought and roasting marshmallows when Kathy pulled me aside and asked me a kind of puzzle question....... "So we have seen many different missionaries and can usually can tell why they came out, whether they were forced to or they have been trained their entire life to prepare for one, or just cuz they felt like they had to because all their friends were going, or they just wanted to travel, but you...... me and Todd had a very long conversation trying to figure why you came out. You just different from other missionaries, we haven’t been able to peg you. You aren’t afraid to joke and have fun, but yet you follow your mission rules pretty exactly, you talk like you’re a human and we ourselves aren’t afraid to joke around with you. It’s kind of refreshing actually. And you’re not afraid to drink soda like all the other missionaries are (I laughed pretty hard at this) it’s quite refreshing. So I guess to wrap this up, why did you come out on a mission" I was actually speechless at this question, so I tried to explain the best way possible about why I came out on a mission. I told them about high school and graduation, I talked to them about working, I talked to them about how I went inactive "ish" for a couple of years, I talked about how I saw such a difference in my life when I was going to church and being active in a church compared to when I wasn’t as active and what not. I told them how much happiness and joy it brings me. It brings me such comfort and peace knowing that I have a savior who died for me and knows exactly what I’m going through and what I desire and what I’m scared of. He knows exactly who I am. I told them how that since i had saw such a difference in my life I wanted to bring this happiness and joy and peace and comfort to other people. I told them how my parents would have loved and supported me even if I didn’t go on a mission. I explained how a mission was 100% my decision. And it took me a while to make it. I told them, that I’m out here teaching and preaching but also learning so much about what kind of person I want to be but also finding out what I don’t want to be. I told them that I have found more of my self serving others and preaching the word of God then I ever had before. I then bore my testimony to her and kind of summed up why I went out. She looked at me, and said "I have never heard that before. It’s very unique. Thank you Elder Field, go tell Todd I think he will enjoy your answer" I told Todd and he said the exact same thing of "Woah...... never heard that before. Your different, that’s a good thing, don’t worry".
It was a really cool visit. we then came up with a funny prank we are going to pull on Elder Brooks tonight. hahah Elder Brooks one of the missionaries in the zone that his companion is leaving also so we are temporary companions for only tonight so i was telling Todd and Kathy this and we came up with a beautiful prank. I’m going to tell Elder Brooks about them, about how this lesson is a Do or Die lesson. This lesson will determine if we are going to keep teaching them or if we are going to drop them as an investigator. I’m going to tell him how the husband doesn’t like us coming over but the wife is still interested, I’m going to tell how the wife is actually a wicken..... but she is interested in the church. They are going to decorate their house and Todd is going to answer the door with a shotgun HAAHAH this is going to be so good hahhaahh!!! I’m so excited hahaha. I will let y’all know how well it goes next week! ;)
This email is crazy long this week, but I hope all y’all enjoyed it. There weren’t many other good stories this week other than we met with Gerry Sanchez and his daughter again. His daughter (who is 7 years old) Tells her dad (who is an inactive member) How she wants him to go to church with her (He doesn’t go but sends his daughters) and how she wants him to bare his testimony to her and how she wants to hear him pray. It’s the most heart wrenching thing I have ever heard. But I think his daughter is the key to getting him back to church. We teach lessons to the daughter and ask the dad to explain certain principles to her. (easy ones don’t worry) but we want him to teach his daughter as much as he can because it will mean more coming from him than us. He said he might come to church so I’m hoping he will :) he didn’t come this week but we are shooting for 2 weeks from now (this week is Stake conference so after this week) but yeah. We are trying to make progress with him.
I love you all!!! I hope all of your weeks are fun and fantastic and wonderful!
I love you and miss you lots!!!
-Elder Riley Field
p.s. Explanation on the photos
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