Elder Field Has Two Really Cool Experiences With Prayer

Buckle up. This is a long one. 

Guys, prayer works. I know it sounds silly for a missionary who has been out for a little bit to say that. But it really does. It's so cool to think that the almighty God is willing and wanting to hear our prayers and he always answers them, IF we are going to act on that answer. We had 2 really cool experiences with both the Busby family and the Grindle family that I will talk about. But boy this was a busy week.

We had some fun times this week haha. We got to do 2 different exchanges this week. One with the Alamo creek elders (Elder Mcgladrie and Elder Anderson) and also with the APs (Elder Harker and Elder Angulo) the exchange with Elder Mcgladrie was a lot of fun. We worked hard, and we were also able to council together about some companionship issues. They are kinda going through a rough patch. But after we got that all squared away we did some finding, did some service and were just able to go out and hit the pavement. It's cool to go on exchanges with Greenies. Just to see them light up about everything good that happens. It's cool. 

But the best day would have to have been on Thursday, the morning was kicked off with interviews with President, which is always awesome. Before my interview, I talked a lot with sister Wright about the fires in Santa Rosa and the damage that happened...... It's so sad..... I love Santa Rosa and to hear how damaged it got, and some of them members whom I have grown to love lost their homes is heart breaking. It's going to be an emotional drive through Santa Rosa on the 31st (Mission leadership council) but after the interviews we rushed back to Vacaville (our interviews were in Fairfield) where we met with the APs and the Spanish elders. Elder Harker came with Elder Martinez and myself for the day. I love Elder Harker. He is actually a fellow Pleasant Grovian. So, it was cool to talk about things back home and people we both knew, all while working super hard. He is a friend for life. Such a good guy. Well Thursday we could not slow down, we went from appointment to appointment. It was sick! We kept making jokes that this is what it's like to be a Utah missionary. We had a lesson with a new investigator named Nisha Britton. She is way cool. Taught her all about the Book of Mormon and how Christ's church was restored. She seemed super interested, so we set up a return appointment. :) so exciting. We then had a meeting with President Bell that day where we discussed what we were going to talk about at the next meeting we were having that day with all of the stake leadership. I love President Bell. He has taught me so much on the mission. He is in the mission presidency. (Yeah, I didn't know that existed either) we work with him a lot. But he had given me an assignment to memorize the 121 section of the Doctrine and Covenants from 34 to the end of the chapter as well as study all about all the places where mighty prayer is used in the Book of Mormon. It was a cool study. I learned a lot. After the meeting we then hustled over to a place where we were going to have a lesson with a less active, when we ran into a lady named Lydia. She was getting out of her car when we contacted her. We asked her if she had 5 mins and then she looked puzzled and then her face lit up. She looked at us and said "Wait! Are you guys Mormons??? Oh my gosh I lived in Thailand for a little bit teaching English and I saw you guys all over the place, you spoke Thai and I wanted you guys to come up and talk to me, I was always curious about what you had to say, of course you can have 5 mins, let's hear"....... That was the most welcomed response I have ever had on my mission, so we jumped on that and taught about the restoration of the church. Gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it. She said she would read it and then assured us "haha you guys aren't trying to convert me, are you? Because I have worked sales and I know your tactics".  We assured her we don't sell things. We invite people to read and find out for themselves. She said okay, and we got her phone number and address and committed her to read the first couple of pages before we text her this week. We will see if that goes anywhere but she was pretty funny. Most of the time when someone says you won't convert me, they are usually the ones who get baptized ;) 

Shortly after that we had a lesson with the Grindles. We were going to talk about prophets and then work our way into the word of wisdom, when the lesson took a turn and we stayed on prophets and the Book of Mormon being evidence of the validity or Joseph Smith. They said that it was hard to believe that God had called a prophet again, we asked her if she had prayed about it. They said they hadn't so we challenged them right then and there to pray. And boy..... never have I heard a more sincere prayer in my life. Liney was the one who offered it, and she did amazing.  She really meant what she was saying. She hit all the points haha, she asked if the Book of Mormon was true she also asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet. When we finished the prayer we all knelt there in silence. Never has Elder Field prayed so hard in his life..... Mighty prayer is what I would have called it. The spirit was so strong. We ended the lesson and left after there were many tears and what not. Cool part is Liney minus the family came to the church. Little Emily was sick otherwise they all would have come. We had a conversation with her at church about what she felt during the prayer. She explained she felt a bunch of different feelings. Some good, some just remembering the bad things she had done in life or the things she could have done better. So of course, the scripture Ether 12:27 came to mind. Which is the one where it says: 

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I think we sometimes forget the beginning of that scripture. "If men come to me, I will show unto them their weakness".  When we come closer to God he shows us our weaknesses. When we take the time to try and draw closer to him, he is going to immediately start working with us. I learned the fact early on in my mission. So, we explained that to her and she asked the question every missionary wants to hear. "How do I get rid of all these feelings? They occupy my mind like crazy and I can't get them out".  We told her about baptism and the blessing it could be for her and her life. She said she would think about it. I really hope they will get the confirmation that our words are true. 

*****congrats you have made it thru to here!! Just an apology for the length of the email haha. It's a long one so sorry for the novel!! ******

Now on to our experience with the Busbys. We went over just for a 5 min visit to drop off an invitation to our monthly dessert group (fellowshipping activity) and Mark, the dad, opened the door. We told him we just wanted to drop this off, then he looked at us and said, "Well do you have a few minutes? Don't want you to waste a visit out here.”  So, we went in and talked to him. He told us he was struggling and was discouraged with the whole religion thing. He then broke down and said how bad he wants to know if God is there and wants to have answers to his questions. I was so moved by his sincerity and his desire to know. It brought me to tears to hear about events in his life and how he wants to give up all the evil in his heart. It was one of those tender moments I will never forget. I hope I have that same sincerity each and every day in my life. So, to comfort him we had a spontaneous lesson about prayer and revelation. We read in Alma 22 when King Lamoni’s father is learning about God and how he asks a specific question along with saying he will "give up all his sins to know of God's existence" we shared how that's how we can receive answers. That's what real intent means. Is being willing to act on those answers. He mentioned how he has always been scared to ask a specific question. Because he is afraid he won't get an answer. We told him that's where faith comes in. He is still shakey on the faith concept, so we told him that's what we would teach about. But before we left, his wife came home from work. And we asked Mark, "What are you going to do if you get an answer that all of this was true?" We made a list of things he would do. We looked at him and asked him, "Now mark, do you promise that if you get an answer you will act on it?" He nodded yes. So Elder Martinez and I said,  "Well, let's go kneel in prayer then." We figured it worked well with Liney so, we would try it again. I had faith he would receive and answer.  As soon as we kneeled down the spirit was present. We told Mark that this needed to be the most sincere and specific prayer he has ever said. He nodded. The question he decided to ask in his prayer was, "Do you love me?" I started immediately tearing up when I heard this. That was the only question he asked. After which we sat in silence for about 5 - 7 minutes.

Just feeling. 

As the love of our Heavenly Father rested on all of us. We just sat there, all in tears, again I had prayed as hard as I could. After the silence was broken, he thanked us and mentioned that he will definitely be more specific in his prayers. We assigned them to read Alma 32 before we meet again. And to ponder on the feelings we felt tonight. Mark nodded at that comment. I know he felt something. Mark can no longer deny that God loves him. And neither can I. God loves all of us. I promise all of you. If you lack that knowledge, ask Him. BUT you need to ask with all sincerity of heart with real intent. And if you get that answer, your life needs to change or at least it should. 

We will see if Mark is ready to act :) 

Okay, that’s all. I'm pooped just remembering these experiences. 

I think I will finish this up with testimony. 

God is good. He is merciful, he is all knowing. And most of all he is a loving Heavenly Gather. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. And the Book of Mormon is the word of God. 

Prayer works. 

I know this... 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I miss you all and hope and pray that the almighty watches over you. Love you! 

God is Good

-Elder Riley Field

Pictures -

The most intense game of Jenga ever played

A Japanese face mask that a member gave us because of the bags under my eyes haha.

Old Town Vacaville. 

While walking down the street we saw 100+ buzzards flying overhead.

Sister Johnson from the ward is from PG so, we 3 from PG decided to take a picture. She even had Mr. Wilcox as her choir teacher haha small world. 

Elder Field...Doesn't Want To Set The World On Fire

Hey friend and family! I'm alive, all my things smell like smoke, but we are still going hard haha.

I’m not sure if a lot of you will get my subject line. It's a quote from a song that is awesome. And I figured it might be a good fit due to the fact that California is burning down as we speak. Vacaville, however, is not. It's one of the few cities in my mission that decided not to spontaneously combust. My last area however is burned down..... That's right the one area that was my favorite is now a pile of ash and rubble. I'm quite saddened by this actually. It's not all the way burned down and all the members are safe in that area as are the missionaries in Santa Rosa and Napa. A lot of the vineyards are gone.... So are a couple of areas I used to walk down the street in Santa Rosa..... It's such a tragedy. I pray for all those who have been affected by these fires. The chapels and the mission home weren't affect by the fire. So that’s a huge blessing. Just keep Santa Rosa and the majority of Northern California in your prayers. 

Anyway, this week was a little more exciting than last week. Mainly with all the fires and stuff. In fact, while I was emailing you last week, that's when I found out about the fires. There was panic through the zone thinking we would have to evacuate. We had an elder from the other zone (who was an AP) who said we should have a bug out bag (only to find out the fire was nowhere near) so we all did so. I didn't sleep much that Monday night but we went about the next day doing normal missionary stuff. The air quality here for Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty terrible. It was snowing family. Snowing ash.... It was Erie..... It had an orange tint in the sky from all the Ash and smoke. The photos I took don't do it justice. But all our appointments canceled those two days. So, we spent a lot of time finding and trying to talk to people. No one wanted to talk they were all rushing to get inside haha. So not much success there but I learned I am extremely grateful for 2 things. Running water and fresh air. Our water got turned off for those 2 days so we had to shower over at the other elder’s apartments and stuff. Now all my friends who served in foreign missions are probably reading this going "pfffft we didn't even have running water in our mission, why are you complaining" well my friends I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the fact that I'm extremely grateful for such a commodity ;) anywho! 

Tuesday evening someone had organized a HUGE donation center at the church where we got 3.5 tons of water dropped off along with tons of clothes and diapers and food and what not. So, we were called in on Wednesday and Thursday morning to load trailers that were heading to Napa and Santa Rosa. It was nice being able to help from over here, because trust me I wish I could drive to Santa Rosa and Napa to help everyone out so bad. But alas, I am in Vacaville, where I am needed here. And it's plenty of work here to make sure the zone is doing okay. There was a lot of fear in the zone due to misinformation by members or other missionaries who think they had the full story. So, we dispelled a lot of that this week. Make sure everyone was okay and happy and still working :) we have been doing a lot of relief service which is fun. All while trying to find people to teach cool. Stuff!! :) 

Anyway, let's talk about our investigators shall we? We had lessons with the Grindles and Bobby  (I will explain him later haha) and also we stopped by the Busbys as well :) We were so close to setting a baptismal date with the Grindles. Haha they are doing soooo good. We haven't been able to meet with them for about a week and half due to a sickness which they all caught. But they were feeling better so we dropped by and they were so happy to see us! They apologized so many times for canceling on us and not returning texts and calls. But we were able to pick up right where we left off. Liney even asked how we become missionaries and why we do it. So, It was way cool to bare our testimonies to her about the truthfulness of the work we do. Joseph (the 10 year old son) asked if we could set a date for a baptism "goal" we almost did but Liney wasn't quite ready. She was about to say yes but she said she needs some time to think about it. We told her she should pray about it too ;) she said she will. I love those guys so much. We have become really good friends. They are so open with their questions and comments. It's amazing. Ahhhh so cool! I love being a missionary!! 

So Bobby..... Oh Bobby...... Haha Bobby is an investigator that has been investigating for a while. The Spanish elders where teaching him because the Spanish work was a little slow, but now that it's picking up they passed him to us and we started teaching him this week. I have taught him once before while on exchanges..... I’m not sure how I can describe him. He is 25, his mom is from Phillipines and he is NUTS. He has had an interesting life. From gang activity to now he is investigating the church haha. He is going to be a long project but he is sincere in his investigation. He had a baptismal date at one point. We are working through some word of wisdom issues but he is awesome. He has become a good friend..... Haha.... Even if he has the mouth of a sailor. Never have I heard someone swear so much. And I worked in a warehouse with a bunch of nonmember men. And I thought that was a lot. They don't got nothing on Bobby haha. Anywho, I will keep ya updated on him. 

Cool story of the week. We found a puzzle in the apartment. It’s been something we have been working on slowly every night...... Elder Field was a turd and stole a piece.... Haha..... They were freaking out that they lost a piece. I secretly returned it and put it in place until one of them found that it was no longer missing. Interrogations happened haha.  Aren't I a stinker? ;) 

Anyway, I love you all. And miss you tons. I hope you are all doing awesome and are all happy. Just remember that God lives. He knows and loves you. And is very aware of you. He knows how to succor his people. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw, and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Jesus is the Christ. And Thomas s. Monson is the Lord’s prophet on the earth. Have a good week! 

-Elder Riley Field

Puzzle madness

Smoke and a cool sunset

Donations at the church

And 3 hot sauces with awesome names

Elder Field Is The New Steve Irwin

Everyone, the Vacaville zone had turned into Australia! Let me explain. For some strange reason missionaries call investigators "gators" I don't know if its because it's too difficult to say investigators but it provided a good zone focus/theme for this transfer, while pondering my childhood love for Steve Irwin and him being the gator hunter. That's right friends and family the Vacaville zone is hunting gators all transfer long CRIKEY MATE! The zone loved the idea and got really pumped for it. And of course we mentioned that if we hit out goal for new investigators we will have a pizza party and pizza always motivates people. Yours truly for example. And we put a goal higher than our actual goal and said that if they hit that goal we have to wax our arms and legs...... Or a different something if they so choose. Hahaha I'm praying they get the higher goal but at the same time I don't want to do it. 

Anyway this week was just a lot of adjusting to the new companion and meeting people. Introducing him and planning our attack method in Vacaville. So nothing too exciting. I'm honestly trying to figure what I write about. 

We had a lesson (kinda) with the Grindle family. They were sick. Not the cool sick like the kids say but they actually had an illness which prevented us from teaching them. So that was sad. But that means they weren't ignoring us so all is well!! Yay haha. 

The busbys are actually making a come back. They are reading and praying but they didn't come to church this week. 

The new zone is killing it. The greenie fire is real and we are all motivated to go out and find. I love all these missionaries. They are way fun. And just super good missionaries. 

Sorry this is so short I will make up for it next week. :) 

I really don't have much else to say. I love you all and miss yall like crazy. God is good. He really is. I'm actually trying to make an effort to recognize his hand in my life more. Another goal is just to focus on christ more in all that I do. And the cool part is this Transfer for district meetings and zone conference, we are studying about the atonement. It's been awesome. Anyway. The book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. And God knows and loves us very personally. 

Have an amazing week. 

-Elder Riley Field

Elder Field Finds Out Transfers And He Met With Someone From The Missionary Department!

That's right friends and family, another transfer has come and gone and the results are in. I will be staying in Vacaville with a new companion (sad day I'm really going to miss elder Harris, he was such a great companion) his name is elder Martinez. I haven't met him or talked to him at all but everyone says it will be a good transfer haha. So, I'm excited to get to know him and hit the ground running with him. Cool thing about Vacaville though, is we have 2 greenies in zone, with an additional 2 coming in. There is a brand-new missionary in each companionship other than mine and one other companionship, this zone is soooooo green and I'm soooooo pumped about it. THE GREENIE FIRE IS BACK! WOOOOO! haha anyway Elder Harris is going back to San Rafael to be zone leader in the Rohnert park area. Good luck brother, God be with you till we meet again. 

Anywho this week, boy what a week, so much stuff has happened but at the same time things are pretty much the same, Vacaville isn't too exciting when it comes to cool stories or crazy things haha, it's just a quaint town in California, nothing like Vallejo where something happened every day. But general conference was this week!!! AND IT WAS AWESOME! I FREAKING LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! Along with that it was just a lot of goodbyes for elder Harris. (we knew he was going to be leaving) so we made time to stop by a bunch of people's homes to say goodbye to the all. But let's dive into the week, shall we? 

So, this week was full of teaching and meetings actually. We had MLC on thrush which was really cool. We had a representative of the missionary department come out and meet with us. He taught us a ton about how we can use Facebook in our proselytizing. It was such an eye-opening experience. I have been struggling to find ways to use Facebook. There was one line that he said that made me look at it in a very different way he said, "there two main reasons companies use Facebook, marketing and networking, we want to use Facebook for its networking possibilities." he said that and it made so much sense hahaha. He gave a bunch of other ideas and uses for it as well. He also answered a ton of questions that we all had just about missionary work in general. Very enlightening. I took a lot of notes to say the least. We also found out we will be getting smart phones in the mission. Hahaha weird..... Apparently in the future tablets won't be a thing anymore. They will have missionaries purchase a smart phone instead and then give them a Sim card that stays in the area. That's pretty cool. Cool to see how missionary work is evolving even with me just being in the field. So coooooool! 

We sadly weren't able to have a sit-down lesson with many of our investigators, however we were able to have contact with them throughout the week. So, no new and exciting developments in the way of investigator progress. We'll, we did get a message from Liney Grindle, she really opened up suddenly. She said she was lying in bed, and couldn't sleep so she was thinking about our past lessons and then answered a question that we asked at the last one. And it was a heartfelt answer. I'm really proud of her for opening up, it’s going to make it a lot easier for future lesson and also for the savior to come in and help now. I'm so excited for the Grindle family :) they are so cool!!! 

We are back in contact with the Busbys and boy they have come back with some fire, after our come to Jesus meeting, we talked about how when we ask them to do something it isn't just for them to check off a box but it's to help them receive answers to their questions. And guess what!! They are actually starting to read now. Mark (the dad) assured us that "I hope you guys don't think you’re wasting your time, you aren't. It's just a slow process for us" so that was good to hear. :) 

We took Brianna to the family history center, which was way cool and she is getting started on her family history. I hope we can continue to teach her about the gospel :) good stuff

Conference was awesome. I don't think I can pick a favorite haha. Each one spoke to me in a different way, but I will tell yall the direction I received from it. So, the cool thing was before the conference I had drafted up some questions along sigh a goal I wanted to work on next transfer. My goal was based off the scripture D&C 6:36. "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not" which is really cool because that specific scripture was quoted 2 or 3 times in conference. Along with talks on centering our lives on Christ. So, I know that I need to put more of a focus on Christ in all that I do. I also need to really study and ponder the book of Mormon more intently. :) which I'm excited to do. The reason behind the goal is because of a cool experience I had. I was sitting during studies, it wasn't the best of days, we were having studies later in the day due to some meetings we had in the morning. But it was a rough day, I was stressed about people in the zone, responsibilities in the stake and ward, the upcoming transfer, and just some personal things that I have been working on. I was getting overwhelmed and discouraged. So, I sat staring at my scriptures for a little bit thinking about what I wanted to study. I was drawn towards my tablet to the LDS media library app. I opened it up and found all the Bible videos on the life of Christ. I started to just watch the teaching of Christ's. Then the miracles, and then the life events of Christ. By the end of the handful of videos I watched, I had the strongest thought of. "Man, I want to meet him so bad". The thought of meeting him excited me so much but also made me look at where I was at with my own personal discipleship. It was that moment when I had the feeling of "I want to be the best disciple possible." and I do, so bad. So, after many tears and thoughts recorded I set the goals of D&C 6:36 and always thinking WWJD ;) and it was cool to have all of that confirmed during conference. It was cool because I felt like one of the themes throughout was be more like Jesus, focus on him, and don't get discouraged becoming like him is a lifelong process. And I'm excited about my new-found commitment to follow Christ :) 

Anyway, to prevent this from getting any longer and also all the things I need to do today to prep for the new transfer, but know I love you all. And that I love my savior, I really do, I don't want anyone to think I don't. He is the light of this world and of my life. He knows me. Even though sometimes I feel alone and afraid I know I never truly am. And I will never have to go through the loneliness he felt as he had the father's spirit withdrawn from him on the cross. I Have such a desire to be like him, even though the flesh is weak and I slip up, we have repentance that helps us change and that comes through the atoning blood of the prince of peace.  God is good. He has a plan for all of us. Turn to him. May we all take a little more time to ponder his life, after all that's the life we should be trying to model ours after. :) Joseph Smith saw what he saw. The book of Mormon is true. And we have a living prophet on the earth today. I love you all! 

-Elder Riley Field

Pictures 

A beautiful car a very nice atheist showed us (afterward he tried telling us we were misguided haha silly atheist, you can't shake my testimony) 

 Flamingos (the people who will get this will appreciate it)

President Bennet (stake president) I'm such a giant person..... 

An intense primary song. Wow...... Deep doctrine right there ;) 

General Conference Oct. 2017

Sharing a meal on conference weekend at Didi Rasmussen's home.