Wow!! Friends and family what a week!!! Like.... WOW..... so
many miracles..... Idk where to begin!!! I'm doing amazing! The area is
amazing! God is amazing! Missionary work is amazing! Woodland is...... Hot.....
but also, amazing! And I'm just enjoying life! Man okay. I'm going to shut up
and explain what happened this week!
Alright well it all started with Wed. Wed was the amazing
day. So, we have an investigating family
named the Minniers. They are so solid. Steve, Christana (pronounced chris-anna
like Anna from Frozen) and their little son Cody who is 3. Well for
starters, Cody is the most ill-behaved child I have ever met. So, lessons with
him are exhausting. But I love him anyway. The reason I explain Cody as such is
the lessons with this family are rather difficult when Cody is a little more
rambunctious than usual. And he was unfortunately. But we had planned to teach
them the Word of Wisdom. Both of them have Word of Wisdom issues but want to
quit even before we talked about this. But we started talking about it and
boy..... it was tough to teach...... toys were being thrown, I got punch a
couple of times, there was a stuffed Pluto (from Disney) that pegged me in the
face 3 times during the lesson. It was not geared up to be the best of lessons.
But anyway, we kept at it and after praying really hard for something to happen
Cody just...... wandered into the back room and didn't come back out.....
like....... gone...... poof!...... So, my companion and I took that as an
opportunity to hit them with some doctrinal fire! We did so and OH MAN! The
spirit was so strong! We were so bold! We invited them to throw away their
coffee and to hand over their cigarettes and that if they did they would have
an added measure of strength added to them trying to quit. AND THEY DID IT!!
STEVE JUST THREW US HIS FULL CARTON THAT BE BOUGHT 1O MINS BEFORE. I could have
screamed and cried with joy when he did that. We watched them dump their coffee
down the sink it was beautiful. They are so ready. After this amazing
experience the spirit was too strong to not extend a baptismal date. So again,
being bold, we invited them to be baptized on the 21st of April. Yeah that's
like 2 weeks away but we both felt good about it, so we extended it to them AND
GUESS WHAT!! THEY ACCEPTED IT!!! And they are pumped to get baptized!!! They
came to church this week. They had attended General Conference the week before.
They are just on the fast track to baptism and everything is going to
strong..... man I love those guys...... so many miracles. Now I know what you’re
wondering? What happened to Cody?? He just went to bed...... a hahaha he was
tired I guess and just laid down and went to bed. Man...... the spirit is
awesome. First, shutting the mouths of lions that are about to eat Daniel and
then he is tiring out 3-year olds. Man. God truly is a God of miracles.
Miracle 2, we had a lesson with Emma. She is a 16-year-old.
And oh man... ... how do I explain Emma........ So, she is 16 wears black all
the time, likes heavy metal, and is super logical it's scary. She uses big
words that I don't understand sometimes........ okay most of the time. I'm a
simple man what can I say? Anyway, my wonderful companion elder Baumgarten told
me that they were struggling to make progress with Emma. Even though she has a
baptismal date for the 28th she is super combative when she feels like she
disagrees with something....... the only way I can describe her is she is
just...... a punk.... hahaha I love her to death though. We get along well. But
anyhow the lesson we had planned was just to read out of the Book of Mormon
with her. We went in and BAM! She hits us with some questions about the
choosing of a new prophet and how she thinks we do it wrong and how (And I quote)
"Couldn't possibly be a divine process". Now another thing about
Emma. From the minute I saw her I knew she knows the church is true. Without a
doubt in my mind. She knows it’s true. She just doesn't realize it yet. She
hasn't gotten that confirmation from the Holy Ghost about the Book of Mormon.
But she knows. I don't know how I know that. I just know. Anyway. She hits us
with his question and we "discuss" about it. The reason I put in in
quotation marks is basically we explained how it worked and she just
continually told us we were wrong. ANYWAY. We solved that concern and then she
threw another question at us. And then another. And another. Finally, There
came a point in the conversation that we got it to the point that what the
question she was really asking was, "Was Joseph Smith a Prophet?"
Ultimately everything we do is based off the fact that Joseph Smith was a
prophet. So, she can get that answer by????????? Drum roll please!! Reading and
praying about the Book of Mormon!! After talking about that for a little bit, I
took a different route. I just decided to listen. And to look into her eyes. To
really see how God sees her. While she was talking I just kept being felt with
such a love for this child of God sitting in front of me. Finally, after my companion
beautifully taught about how we can get an answer, I felt a strong impression
to talk about the pre requisites to getting an answer. A sincere heart and real
intent. The sincere heart part was easy. But the real intent part was the
tricky one. One thing led to another and we had control of the situation. We
shared Alma 22. About King Lamoni’s father and what he was willing to do to get
an answer. We told her that if she wants an answer that bad she has to be
willing to give EVERYTHING UP. We explained how God wouldn't ask her to do so.
BUT was she willing to give it all up to know God? She understood it. But then
was confused on why God would make us show him we want an answer. Her statement
was, "Doesn't God already know I want it bad enough?" We said yes, he
does. We then went to when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Issac and how
Abraham was asked to give all to follow God's commandments. But then at the
last second, he was stopped by an angel. She asked, "Well why do we have
to prove it to God?" We told her sometimes the Lord wants to make sure we
will do it. He knows all things, but maybe there is more to the fact he made
Abraham do what he did. Maybe he was trying to prove it to Abraham. My
companion then stated, "Maybe God is trying to get Emma to prove it to
Emma."
This is the point where the spirit did a mic drop and boy
was it powerful.
All while we were just looking
at Emma in the eyes. She then said, "Well what do I need to give up to get
an answer then?" We told her to ask God. He would tell her. She nodded and
said, "That makes logical sense I suppose." MAN, WHAT A LESSON. I
have such a strong testimony of being bold and just really looking at people in
the eyes. Who ever said the eyes are the windows to the soul was so true!
Anyway, sorry this one was so long just to explain 2
lessons. I felt like I jipped you all out of an email last week, so this is me
making up. The rest of the week was awesome. We had 8 investigators at church,
so that was cool. And we picked up 3 really solid new investigators, so that
was nice. We are busy busy in Woodland. And I love it. Even if I walk through
the door at night and want to fall asleep immediately, I wouldn't change it for
the world. I'm going to finish sprinting. And I know with the help of God many
more miracles will follow. God is so so Good. I have also learned the
importance of high expectations. If you assume you’re not going to make a
difference you won’t. But if you have high expectations and plan to make a
difference you will. It's all a mind game. The Book of Mormon is true. Joseph
Smith is a prophet. We have a modern-day prophet by the name of Russell M.
Nelson. I have a testimony of the power of the hymns. And I love my savior. He
knows us and loves s and has made it possible for us to CHANGE! It just requires
a little bit of repentance. But it's possible. Anyone can change.
I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!
God is Good!
Cheers!
-Elder Riley Field
Cheers!
-Elder Riley Field
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