So every Tuesday we have district meetings, or everyone in a while a Zone meeting. Just to keep learning on how we can improve and become better teachers and followers of Christ. Well, when Elder Taylor and I showed up at the church building, there was a small reindeer hanging on the outside of the door. We opened the door and there was a White Board that said "Vallejo Zone Christmas - Zone Meeting..... (in August)" Christmas Lights were everywhere, Christmas music was playing, there was hot chocolate being made, the nativity scene was put up, Elder Thom was wearing Reindeer Antlers..... Needless to say I was extremely confused. The look on my face must have been priceless because when the Sisters saw me they bust up laughing. We stood there dumbfounded for a little bit before Elder Taylor muttered "What the freak?" The sisters explained how all of us missionaries were listening to Christmas music in their cars (which yes this is true. Me and Elder Taylor have been rocking the Christmas music for a while now, I guess I haven’t relied how Christmas hungry I have become ha-ha) And so they wanted to throw a Christmas party in August. We just kind of shrugged and went with it. Elder Taylor then said he had an Elf Costume back in the apartment............ Don’t ask.............. He requested we go back and get the costume and come back. Everyone of course was down for it so we left to go retrieve the costume. When we came back he put it on and the rest was history. I love my Zone ahhaa. The Vallejo Zone is the best! its super small which makes things super fun. There are only 10 missionaries in the zone. It’s so freaking awesome hahahah. I was talking to other missionaries and they say that’s how big their district is. Hahaha My district is composed of Elder Taylor and I and Our district leader and his companion hahaha. That’s about it....... District meetings are a little weird to say the least. Anyway!! hopefully I will send some Zone Photos in this email (I have been trying to send photos every week, but apparently they don’t send sometimes....)
After the meeting we went on exchanges for the rest of the day. Me and The other Elder Taylor. He is the one behind the Elder in the Olaf sweater to the left. Yeah that’s right we have 2 Elder Taylors in the Zone. So we did our little exchanges for the rest of the day. That day was a pretty productive day. We went and saw Brother Shaw, which was a wonderful visit. Talked about the importance of the Sacrament. Then we saw Debbie Jackson. Her Daughter was there!!! with her Granddaughter we have already been teaching. Debbie’s Daughter Victoria is super chill. She says religion just isn’t for her, she tried the "Religion thing" and it didn’t work out well for her. But curiosity got the better of her. While we were getting to know one another, she just stopped the conversation and said "Ok, I got to ask, what do you believe happens after we die" The words "YYYYYEEEEEESSSSSS WE CAN WORK WITH THAT!!!!!" went through my mind. But I kept my cool with how freaking excited I was and told her "We actually know what happens after this life but also what happened before we came to this Earth, it’s called the Plan of Salvation, would you like to know more" They all said yes and so the lesson went a moving. Debbie is starting to believe more and more each day. Which is awesome. She still isn’t reading the Book of Mormon........ We keep asking her to but she just.... doesn’t...... it’s so frustrating hahahaha. I guess I will just have to have patience and continue to be Bold. haha Actually we are talking about the importance of the BoM on Tuesday with her. I’m praying she will actually see WHY she needs to read it hahaha.
Anyway! we exchanged back with My Elder Taylor the next morning and all was well. Wed, was a pretty average day. Did some service. Did some finding. Actually finding took up most of our day. And that was pretty much it though. Not that exciting.
Thursday was the day we got to go see Mirium!!! Mirium is the Samoan I talked about last week! she just walked into church asking to learn more about it. Well we went over and visited with her, her husband Sagato, we talked about the restoration of the Gospel. It just went super smoothly actually. She wasn’t caught off guard by the first vision. She actually said it makes sense that God would do that! This woman blows me away with her faith. We got to know more about her while she was there. So her and her Husband are from American Samoa. The reason they left was because they actually have a daughter here in Vallejo who was starting to struggle with life so they just picked up and moved out here to help her out. They still have all of their things in American Samoa. They told us they will be going back but not in the foreseeable future. They told us that back in their village, that 80% of them were members of the church hahah!!! That’s freaking insane!!! So that meant missionaries were all over in their village. They told us that they have had missionaries over in the past. After we finished the lesson Elder Taylor felt impressed to ask them if they would like to be baptized once they knew that it was true. They said they would!!!! so now it’s just a matter of teaching the lessons well and committing them to a baptism date. hahhaha!!! Well after we finished, they asked us if we could come back on Saturday hahaha yupp that was just 2 days later. We said absolutely and gathered our things and left.
The rest of the day included Service some yummy Thai food and just fun times. The service we did was for a member in our ward named Sister Turner. She is a school teacher. So she asked us if we could come help reorganize her room. We kind of felt weird about it because it was a school...... but for some reason we were impressed to say yes we could. So we went over and helped reorganize her room helped it to get all nice and set up for the kids. (Apparently the missionaries have helped out in the past so that made me feel less weird) But while we were there the librarian walked in. Shanning was his name. He is a big Pilipino guy. He asked us if we could go help him move some boxes that he couldn’t reach hahaha. So we went and he actually knew a lot about missionaries. We got to know him really well. He was a super cool dude. We had a small religious discussion which was cool! We are going back over sometime this week to help out with Sister Turners room. She got a bunch of new books that are being delivered so we will be going over and helping her open them and move them around. We are ALSO going to see if Shanning would like to have a visit from us to discuss more about our church. (kinda the main reason we are going over again haha) We are hoping he says yes hahaha :D
Friday was weekly planning day. So we got up did all we are supposed to do in the morning and went to the church to plan. It was quite a successful planning session. We had a lot of service opportunities come up and also a lot of teaching appointments come up as well :D we are happy. But this week is going to be a long one hahah. And most likely quite exhausting so we will see how I am by next week haha.
So Saturday!!! We met with Miriam again. And we also had some other visitors with them as well. We had Tali their niece who is 10 years old and Daniel who is 4. Daniel however doesn’t look 4........ he looks like he could possibly be like 8 or 10 hahahaha He is freaking huge hahaha. Samoans man..... They are built like trucks hahaha. When we first walked in. Daniel shook elder Taylors hand then looked at me. Shook my hand. Looked up at me again. And then just hugged me hahaha. It kinda freaked me out because he just sat and held on to me for like 2 mins hahaha I couldn’t move!!! he then just stared up at me and smiled hahaha. Come to find out he can’t speak English very well, but apparently he likes me hahaha! So we gathered the family together and taught about the Plan of Salvation. It was super cool. They understood it perfectly. There weren’t any questions. They just. Got it. hahahah idk how to explain it. We taught and bore our testimony and that was it. They just agreed and believed it. After the lesson they brought us lunch hahaha. They had made us Tuna sandwiches. They said when they start to get more settled down they would cook us some Samoan food. After eating we visited with the husband some more. There is a language barrier that’s a little difficult. He doesn’t speak English very well but he still knows a lot of English. He told us that even though there is that language barrier. He says that he feels that everything we share with him is true. He just knows. Even if he doesn’t 100% comprehend it because of the language problems. He just knows it’s true. WHAT!!?!?!? THATS SO SICK!!! oh man!! hahaha we are going over this Friday at 10 am. We are going to try to commit them to a baptismal date. Wish us luck!!!!! (they also gave us a gift. They are homemade fans from Samoa! hahah they are so sick!!! mine sits on my desk with a little stuffed alligator that my Aunt sent me! Thanks Annie ;) )
The rest of Saturday we did a blitz for the YSA ward elders. So a blitz is when all the missionaries in the zone. And sometimes the surrounding zone come together, and go and try to see as many people/contact as many people as possible in a certain area. It was insane hahah. The Vallejo/Benicia area was flooded with missionaries searching for YSA. It was awesome hahaha.
Speaking of Benicia I was doing some of that good Family History. I was reading up on Thomas Rhoades. In 1847 his wife Elizabeth became extremely ill. She actually lapsed into a coma while Thomas and the older members of the family were away. Caleb (who I believed was one of the younger sons) Rode into Sutter's Fort looking for help. Well Sutter returned with his buggy and took Elizabeth to the fort. She then was going to be moved to San Francisco for better medical attention. Sadly, she died in route. Here is the cool part. She died in Benicia.....That is the town right next to me. I have an ancestor who died here in Benicia. Sadly, it was an unmarked grave which means she could be anywhere in that town but when I found that out, it was the most exciting thing ever. I had no clue that I was this close to some of my ancestors. Crazy stuff guys. Family history is cool. HAhahaha I have always been fascinated by it. So I challenge all of you to go do some family history! Go find out where you come from. I found out that my 4th great grandfather had a playhouse in Beaver Utah. He and his wife sang and preformed Theatre pieces. (See I knew I got my love for theatre and singing somewhere)
Well anyway!!! I guess that’s pretty much all I can think of talking about. Just know I love you all and I miss you all like crazy!!!! I hope your week is amazing!! I love you all!!
Have a fun week!!
Love you lots!
-Elder Riley Field
P.s. Photos are the Christmas Zone Meeting
Sewing lessons with Tess Giner (who looks like my kindergarten Teacher)
My Samoan Fan
Out to dinner with Sister Harris -
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