Elder Field Learns He Needs Patience...And He Totally Ate Himself Into A Turkey Coma....mmmmm

But when have we thought Elder Field needed anything else right? Man this week was a little sparse on the finding and teaching game..... due to THANKSGIVING!!!! Man, this Thanksgiving was a little bit slow. We had a turkey bowl in the morning (which I am still really sore from..... woof) Anyway I will get into that more later! Let's dive into the week, shall we??

Anyway, this week was pretty solid. I Did a lot of really good studies as per usual. I have decided I'm going to read the entire Book of Mormon before Christmas. (Due to a challenge by my mother, yall should join us and let me know how you’re doing! That would be DOPE!) So, I started the day after Thanksgiving and I'm going through it and marking up all the places it references Christ. Any title, reference, or instance of his speaking, or just explaining his life. It's been really cool so far.  I got a little hardback Book of Mormon I'm marking up and at the end I'm going to write my testimony of the Savior in the back :D we will see how that goes. I'm already 4 chapters behind where I need to be soooooooooooooooo yeah...... hahaha don't worry I can do it just got to start speed reading ;)

So like I said before due to Thanksgiving the campus and Arcata have been ghost towns..... I have been shocked how empty it is. Everyone went home for Thanksgiving, and I know it's going to be even worse with Christmas. I'm just hoping we will find that one lonely college student who doesn't go home for Christmas who is just ready for the message of the gospel! He/she is out there, I can feel it. I will let you know if I find them.

Even with everyone being gone we did however set a bunch of return appointments for this next week along with reestablishing contact with an old investigator and picking up a new investigator named Lexi. She is way cool. Kinda closed off at first, but my companion and I had the feeling to just straight up teach about the boldness of claim we and the Book of Mormon make. About how we are the one true church. The lesson got intense. Her mom was there, and she had said she believed the Book of Mormon (I guess she read before ???? idk) So we pointed out that if she believed the Book of Mormon, that means she needs to get baptized into our church and that church she goes to isn't correct. (Yeah there were some points where It got intense, but it was all spirit driven so that's good) She then started to back pedal, so we just invited her to read the Book and pray about it ;) no pressure or anything ;) this is the point where Lexi started to get curious. We found out though she isn't sure about Jesus Christ being the Savior of the world. She believes he was a guy who lived, but isn't too keen on the idea of him being the son of God. So, we taught that the Book of Mormon (along with making a really bold claim) is the evidence of Jesus Christ's divinity. After the Restoration lesson she seemed super curious and said she was going to read it. And she said we could come back and teach more. So, whether this is just a situation where she wants to gain knowledge about the Mormons or she is genuinely wants to know, I'm not sure yet.  But I'm excited to keep teaching her.

We had MLC today which was awesome as usual. The Topics of discussion this time were Patience, how to work with stake leaders, and how to improve the Culture of the zone. I Learns tons as usual. Also got rebuked by the spirit as usual. I always tell new missionaries that MLC is like getting beaten the crap out of by the spirit, both in a good way and a rebuking way. And then you walk away half dead you heal up and improve only in time for the next MLC to roll around. And then you do it all again. There is a lot of learning and growing that happens :D so we got to drive 4 hours down to Santa Rosa for an awesome meeting and then drove 4 hours back. I have discovered how much I love to drive. Driving is so awesome!! A lot of the missionaries complain about the drive to and from Eureka zone, but I embrace it. It's so much fun!! We just get to drive down and listen to music and just have some awesome conversation with the missionaries you ride down with :D can't complain. 

Anyway, we have some good plans going forward for the week. We talked to our branch president and he gave us some good direction on where he wants the work to go. We are also having a meeting with the stake president on how he wants the missionary work in zone to go :D. The zone is doing good, still playing our game. Tomorrow is round 2 so we are excited :D let's see what happens. 

Fun story of the week. Well, idk how fun it is but maybe it's funny to you guys. We had a turkey bowl. So, I got put on one of the teams and I was one of the bigger kids, (like usual) so they put me on the line, against this dude....... No joke.... My height and like 300 pounds (he was really kind :D he is a surgeon and is just a great guy) but this dude was massive.  I would run at him and he would swat me away like I was fly!!! I was quite sore from getting thrown around to say the least. 

That's about it for my week. It was a good week and I'm learning how to be patient with myself and my short comings. That's something I have always struggled with. But if the Lord can be patient with me I should be able to be patient with myself.   Along with that I am learning how to minister in the Savior’s way. So, I have been hardcore studying situations the Savior was put in and how he handled them. It's given me a new desire to be and act like my Savior Jesus Christ. I really do love him. And I know he lives and loves us all. God is good. So is life. There is always to be happy or grateful for. Even if your days seem dark and down, go to your knees, kneel down, and talk to your dad. Your heavenly dad. He will help you feel happy and grateful. Plus if any of you need a pick me up, shoot me an email and I will let you know how much I love you and how much the Lord loves you:D  You are all so amazing and I love and miss you all!! God bless!! Go find some people to share you testimony with! Later Gators!

-Elder Riley Field

My Book of Mormon I'm marking up -

Elder Field Realizes...Everyone Smokes Week In Humboldt County

I'm not even kidding when it comes to the subject line. Guys, Eureka is nuts. I have been transferred to the weed capital of the world. I'm pretty sure if you just google Humboldt County, all you would find is pictures of weed. My first night here we were walking down the street contacting people, and someone walked up to us and asked if we could "spare some weed".  Bongs and hukas on every porch or in every apartment!!! No joke!! haha!! The people are total granola and it makes me laugh. Occasionally you will see someone walking down the street and you can't quite tell if it's male or female. It’s going to be an adventure up here for sure.

Anyway, let me give you a little more description of the area beside the density of the drug problem. ;) The scenery up here is gorgeous (I say 'Up Here' Because I'm the most northern part of the mission right now, besides a city called Crescent city, there are 2 sets of elders up there and they are 2 hours away from us. It was about a 4 hour drive from Santa Rosa. A very beautiful drive if I might add) I'm right back on the coast and I love it. It gets pretty chilly up here. It rains a lot :D It's a good thing I love rain. The redwoods are awesome!!! they are just absolutely gorgeous. I live in a city called Arcada just north of Eureka. It's a collage town for Humboldt State University. We live just right off campus in some apartments down the street. This place is crazy, it's weird living in a town where 80% of the people here are 20-28-year-old. it's really easy to talk to people here, maybe it's because they are all my age Idk but they are all down to talk about 'Spiritual' things but are never quite interested enough to learn about the message. Everyone here uses a lot of really big words... or try to use them.... I have caught a couple of people trying to use a big word that didn't fit in the context of the sentence...... hehe people trying to flaunt their knowledge. Makes me laugh to be honest. I am a man without eloquence...... so half the words they use I have no clue what they mean so I nod my head and then bear testimony that there is a God and the Book of Mormon is true and we are not a cult ;) One thing I have noticed though is pretty much all of them are Agnostic or Atheis.t It's kinda sad really. People tell me they really don't believe there is a God, and I ask myself, "How do you get through the day..." Honestly my knowledge of Heavenly Father and his plan for me makes life so much better. I have a reason on why I go through tough times.  But that’s why I'm out here. To teach there is a God and how much he loves them. I have been studying a ton out of Alma Chapters 18, 22, 30. All places in the Book of Mormon where a prophet is teaching someone who doesn't know there is a God. We will see if that helps ;) 

My companion is Elder Seegmiller hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. What a guy. hahaha I love this kid. We got to be really good friends when we served together in Santa Rosa so when we became companions we just picked up where we left off and hit the streets. It's freaking awesome. 

Let me tell ya about the YSA branch. Woo,f it's more like a twig to be honest. We have about 15 that come to sacrament meeting on a regular basis. With a bunch of less actives. The people here are cool. Little weird sometimes. but cool none the less. So, with that being said our goal for this transfer is to double the attendance of sacrament meeting. Whether by investigators or returning less actives, it's gonna happen haha. It was a goal we set our first day. We will see how that goes. I have faith. ;)  

Let's talk about the investigator department haha. We only have 1 really solid investigator. They found her 2 weeks before I came into the area. Her name is Diana. She is so sick. She has been to church 2 weeks in a row (couldn't come this week, it's Thanksgiving break so all the college students are dipping and heading home for the holiday, this week is gonna be rough, I have faith we will find someone though) but she is way excited about the gospel. She loves the church and we even have a baptismal date with her actually (it needs to be pushed back slightly but she still really wants to get baptized) It's really cool teaching people my age about the gospel. She is the only investigator. So, we have a lot of finding work to do here. I'm way excited. It’s gonna be so fun/difficult and I'm sure frustrating. So, stay tuned, hopefully we are gonna see some miracles.

So even though we have some exciting things in the area happening we also have some cool things in zone happening. We created another game. Nothing like Vacaville rising (that gave me so much anxiety that transfer) We made a game that’s a mix of Chinese Checkers and a video game called Splatoon if anyone other than myself, and probably my homie Nathan Young, know what that game is. A brief explanation is basically we made a game board that looks like Chinese checkers. The object of the game is to cover as much of the board with your 'Light' (the Christmas initiative is Light the World again, so we did it light themed instead of paint themed) It's called #BeTheLight and you cover the board with your light by moving across the squares so they light up to your colour, as the brits would spell it. How do you earn moves you ask? Well let me tell ya. You earn moves through the key indicators as a missionary (i.e New investigators, sacrament meeting attendance, baptismal dates etc.) We also came up with a couple of other ways to earn moves. But every district meeting we will move our people across the board (Which we have created. I will send a picture next week when we have it done. It's still being created so we can have it ready for Tuesday) and update things. You can steal squares from other companionships by walking on a space that is their color and turning it your color. We have light grenades, and a bunch of other power ups and stuff. We are so excited it's going to be a lot of fun. The whole purpose of the game is to increase joy and a love for the work all while increasing the number of people in our progressing teaching pool. It's gonna be sweeeeeeet!

Anyway, that's about it. Hopefully you all had an amazing week. I really love you all and miss you all tons. And I really mean that. Don't ever think I don't love you. Because you all mean a lot to me. Friends and family alike. God is good. He loves his children. He loves me. He loves you. He knows our struggles and our afflictions. Through his son we can become clean and be free from guilt and shame. The Book of Mormon truly is scripture. And Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. Not a doubt in my mind that this is all true. And it took me a while to get to that point. Doesn't mean I don't have questions. Just means I’m excited to keep learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. God has plan for all of us, and if we are faithful to our covenants we may receive all that our father has in store for us. Jesus is The Christ. The Great Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Messiah of the New. He Lives, and guides this, his church today through a modern-day prophet Thomas s. Monson. Even though he is getting old and frail. Doesn't make him any less of a prophet and I will continue to sustain him. I know this is true. And leave it with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our brother. Amen

-Elder Riley Field

Scenery from up here 

Some final goodbyes from Vacaville (Brother Turgeon, The Masedas and the Decious family)

Elder Field Is Going To Eureka Zone!

Yup Elder Field is getting transferred and he is going as far north as freaking possible. Hahaha well not quite. There is a place called Crescent City which is more northern. But it's the northern most zone. Also, I get to by a YSA Missionary! This is going to be interesting haha. I have always wanted to be a YSA missionary. It's gonna be tough. But this is going to be fun :) 

Anyway, friends and family that means my time here in Vacaville is done. I have spent 3 really good transfers here. I'm super sad to leave the people we are teaching. And the worst part of it is, I don't know if I will get to say good bye to anyone. Transfer docs came out on Sunday night (due to some complications, trust me I totally understand what that is like), so we didn't know who was staying or who was going. So we tried to have lessons with all our investigators that night but unfortunately they all canceled..... Lame huh.... 4 lessons that were set all fell through our canceled. I was pretty bummed to say the least. But I know they will be left in good hands. Vacaville was a really big learning experience. But I'm glad I had it.  Bye Vacaville. It's been fun. 

Let’s jump into some cool experiences this week. This week was FIRE for Vacaville. Don't know if saying fire in California is too soon but it was bumpin that's for sure. The zone found over 18 new investigators this week. I'm so freaking proud of them. We went out this last week and hit the pavement. (18 investigators are more than we have found in 1 week for a while) our #crikey is still going strong. We owe the zone pizza today...... Good thing we have a tiny zone. The #crikey videos were pretty funny this week. I will have to see if we can send a couple of them. Haha. So, the zone focus was definitely a success. I feel Steve Irwin smiling down upon us now. Rest in peace big fella'!

Cool story of the week. We were out finding one morning. We had met a lady names Sophia a few days prior she was in a hurry to get to work but she wanted us to stop by some other time. So, we decided we would go see how she was doing on Thursday morning. Well she was home and was really excited to see us. She asked us how our missions were going and how receptive the people are here. It was a very pleasant conversation. So, while having this doorstep conversation she just for some reason opened up and told us how hard of a year it had been on her spiritually. She was explaining a couple of experiences that reminded us of the people Alma. When they were in captivity. There is a scripture that says, "the lord will lighten their burdens" so we she was talking that came into mind along with Job. We knew she was religious and loved the Bible, so we had 2 options. Go the safe route and do Job. Or go the risky route and introduce the Book of Mormon. So of course, we took the risky option haha. Everyone needs the Book of Mormon. So, we share that with her along with other things and she loved it. She thanked us over and over again about how that was she needed to hear and she knew telling us to come back was a good idea. She then asked us if we could come back again. So, we set up a time and re-committed her to prayer (she had mentioned that her prayers were slipping) and we gave her a Book of Mormon and the book of Enos to read. She was really excited to read it and said she would. She is such a solid investigator. Oh man it stinks I don't get to teach her. 

That's really the only real cool story for this week. Just a pretty normal week of missionary work. Lots of finding/door knocking/street contacting. Had a few lessons that went alright. We had a sick companionship study. I realized I'm doing missionary work all wrong haha. I am not giving my investigators a chance to really study the gospel and find out for themselves. I just have been going over and giving the lessons. I need to make it more of a search/study session for them. You learn more and better when you find the answer for yourself. We had a whole companionship study learning about how we could do this and how we could better our teaching skills. So good. 

Other than that, nothing much more happened. I'm excited for a new transfer. Just had the thought cross my mind that I will be hitting my 18 month mark this next transfer and the sisters I came out with finish their missions at the end of the transfer. Good grief. Where did the time go?! Haha it's okay though I still have 6 and a half glorious months left to serve my Father in Heaven. Let's see what Eureka has in store for Elder Field. Tune in next week to find out ;) 

Love you all! God is good! He knows you and loves you. I know that to be true. It's one of the pillars of my testimony. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. Jesus is the Christ, the promised messiah. And I know he knows me and helps me every day. I still am really trying to really feel prayer. But I do know he is listening. 

Have a wonderful week. 

-Elder Riley Field

Pictures! 

For those who know my family you know what dish I made a couple of days ago. It was a hit. Everyone in the apartment loved it!

Teaching English with the Spanish missionaries while on exchanges. Those are the teaching aids hahaha. Dizzy still gets me every time -

Elder Martinez awkward selfie -

President Bennet. He is the stake president -

Elder Field Has A Good Introspective Week

Hey friends and family,

It has been an interesting week. We had zone conference, MLC, a slight emergency in zone with one of the elders (which is why I'm sitting in the hospital with him, don't worry I'm fine, he is the one who accidently ate peanuts with his peanut allergy) I have learned a lot over the course of a week. Between the good Samaritan being an allegory of the plan of salvation (yeah woah what) to how I can have more meaningful prayer and studies, to learning what makes up conversion. It's been really fun. But do to the fact of all the meetings and for some reason this was a tough week for lessons haha. We had a lot cancel on us. We did, however, have a lesson with Liney Grindle and her son before we had the great peanut scare of 17 haha. Anywho let's dive into my week. 

So, to the week started with MLC. Which is mission leadership council. It's where all the zone leaders and sister training leaders come together and council about things in the mission as well as learn how to be better leaders and missionaries in general. It was really awesome. Sister Wright gave the coolest presentation. It was called "Be the Message".  She talked about the way we live and the way we do things as a missionary should be 100% in line with the message we share. We become the message as we do what we are supposed to do. She focused a lot on the morning hours between 6:30 to 10 am. It was really cool. There was a quote by Elder Holland that basically said, "You tell me how those morning hours go and I will tell you how your day will go, how your week will go, and how your life will go." It kinda hit me hard. Not that I wasn't using my morning house wisely, but I definitely could be better at it. So, I have been really focusing on my morning prayers along with my nightly prayers. Friends and family, I struggle with prayer haha. I don’t know why. It’s the one aspect of the gospel that I just can’t..... get...... I see how it blesses others and I have seen the immediate blessings that proceed for them but for myself.... woof.... it's a struggle. So, I have been making a conscious effort to make my morning and nightly prayers better its difficult hahaha...... I'm hoping I will get better at them. Anyway...... life goes on. But that was the coolest presentation at MLC, just using your morning the best you can. I think I will apply that after the mission too........ I’m debating if I will make a commitment to wake up at 6:30 even when I'm back home.... O_O..... maybe..... still trying to work myself up to that commitment haha. But that was Halloween also hahaha so we missed the trunk o treat. Which was really sad but it's all good. We blew up some cool balloons my mom sent us so that was nice

The next day we just did a bunch of finding. We had dinner with a part member family and picked them all up as investigators so 3 new investigators which is really happy. Other than that, it was a pretty normal day. Nothing crazy happened. No lessons either which was sad. But it's all good it was a nice break from the all the meetings :)

The next day we had zone conference AND IT WAS BOMB! It was crazy awesome..... but one of the topics were awesome and it felt like the spirt was beating me with a baseball bat..... I used to hate that early in my mission, but it is the greatest thing ever. Means Heavenly Father is just pointing out things for me to work on haha. It's nice. One of the topics (also by Sister Wright) was all about the parable of the Good Samaritan. It was amazing. Apparently, the Plan of salvation is in the Bible. Just in the form of that parable. Basically, the interpretation is when the man 'Fell' Among thieves... (Hmm where have we heard that word before?) The good Samaritan is Christ as he comes and heals him and brings him to the innkeeper (Priesthood leaders) and put them in the inn (the church) the best part is the Samaritan stays with the man through the night...... Then there are a bunch of symbols with oil and bandages and how he helps the fallen man....... so cool. The atonement is so freaking cool...... we have been studying it through the transfer which has been awesome. I have learned a few new insights on the atonement, but it's just been nice to just focus on our savior Jesus Christ throughout my missionary days..... that's been a big blessing. The atonement means so much to me....... so much...... It’s becoming more and more personal as I study it.

So, to explain what happening with Elder Dixon. We went over and had dinner with a member. Dinner was going good, until dessert came out...... well after asking the member if the brownie has peanuts in it...... well it did have it...... and he ate the entire brownie........ hahaha so 12 Benadryl, a one used EpiPen, and a trip the ER later he is good, but he had to stay overnight for observations. Haha so we took a selfie in the hospital room. Fun stuff. 

Anyway, I love this gospel. I'm so thankful for all the blessings I have received by being a member of this church. Christ's true church really is on the earth today. Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of god. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and the Book of Mormon is a true book it also is the word of God. I know that if we read it we can draw closer to God than any other book in this world. I love you all. Have a wonderful week! 

-Elder Riley Field

Hospital selfie -

Haunted house that we went through which was nice -

Masks that mom sent -

Cool balloons -

Elder Field Has Run Ins With Police, A Falling Tree, And An Angry Guy Named Steve

You know, I was praying for some exciting experiences this week and boy oh boy did we get them. Not with like investigators and stuff (well we had a couple of those too) but with just random crap that happened this week. hahaha first I will talk about the spiritual stuff and then just the funny/interesting experiences we had. Shall we dive in????

So, we had lessons with the Grindles and the Busby's this week. All of our other appointments fell through :( but it's all good there is always next week. Our lesson with the Grindles went really well. We went over and the whole family was there!!! I was so pumped to see Michael the father there. So, we went in and Liney pulls out this HUGE packet of papers she printed off about Mormons from Wikipedia. Not going to lie when I saw that my heart dropped. But surprisingly enough Wikipedia did a good job at just giving facts about the church, no anti :D that made me happy. But she had a bunch of questions after she read that. Especially about why the church moved around so much in its infancy. We explained because of the persecution. She was kind of shocked at that fact when we told her it was legal to kill Mormons haha. I mean usually when people find that out they are pretty flabbergasted (YES, I HAVE BEEN WANTING TO USE THAT WORD TODAY!!!) She also had questions about polygamy.... of course..... but she actually said it made sense to her why we did it........ best reaction I have seen to polygamy ever.... I wasn’t going to argue about it. but other than that, we had a really cool conversation about how we can KNOW if God calls prophets. That was one of their questions was how do you know if there really is a prophet. We explained that the Book of Mormon is the evidence. We asked if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon in specific. She hasn't......... I shocked at how many people don't do that..... hahaha we explain it at our first meeting that we can pray about it haha. They all said they would do it. Joseph the son is rocking it he is already in 1 Nephi 20's.  It's way awesome. The coolest part though Is when we asked Liney if there was a specific topic they wanted us to cover. She said she wants to hear more on baptism!!!!!! So, this coming Thursday we will be having a lesson with the whole family about baptism. We are going to extend a baptismal date that day :D I'm excited! Pray for them!!!!!

Our lesson with the Busby's wasn't really a lesson actually. we had 2 small stop by visits because we weren't able to set anything up. So, we went over wed night when we were doing splits with the elders quorum (for those who don't know what splits is my companion and I split up and go with another Priesthood holder and go and visit as many people as possible for an hour) we stopped by the Busby's where the elders quorum president really clicked with the Busbys!! I was way happy about that. So, while he talked with the parents and established a good relationship with them I took Ethan the son and played some chess with him ;) I was going to let him win and then I realized how good he actually was. He almost beat me, but I won in the end. Yes, Elder Field beat a 10 year old in chess. Don't judge me. I'm competitive okay. ;) They then invited us over on Sunday night to carve pumpkins with them. So, we were able to go do that and talk to Laina about some questions she had about the church concerning tithing. We explained it to her and were able to establish where she was at. We asked her if she could see herself joining the church. She said she hasn't really thought about it. But after taking a few seconds to think about it she said, “Yeah I could see myself joining.” They are going to be a while before they are ready but I will be praying for them :D I love those guys. 

Cool news. IDK if you all remember a Debbie Jackson I was teaching in Vallejo. Well she has a baptismal date for November 11th! She messaged me and said she wants us to come! It's cool because that was my first transfer when we found Debbie and now she is getting baptized. 

Now into the crazy stories of the week. It all started with a service we did for a member with our ward mission leader. They needed some trees cut down so we were cutting down trees..... Well..... After we cut 3 trees the 4 missionaries who were there started to feel a little no Bueno...... Well we went to cut a forth. I walked up to our ward mission leader and told him we don't feel good about cutting this one down, it was hanging over a fence pretty far, he had devised this plan and said everything would be okay. I still wasn't feeling good. So we tied a rope to it and started cutting it and lo and behold, the tree fell and destroyed a fence...... Yeaaaahhhh..... Fun stuff 

The next night we were lying in bed and it was really hard to fall asleep. Right before we went to bed though I had the prompting to lock the doors. So, I got up and locked all the doors. Haha well here comes the kicker. I couldn't get to sleep. All or a sudden we hear 6 police cars roll up. We see flash lights shining all over our apartment complex. We'll we hear yelling and cuss words and what not. And we hear someone yell "stay in your apartment!" it came right from behind our sliding glass door to our little porch, so I then spring out of bed and run over to the lights and turn them on. So, we sit there for a little bit and we heard a knock. A nice police officer asked if he could come thru our apartment. We let him thru and he went on the back porch. Well 2 mins later 3 police officers come into our apartment with a dude with in hand cuffs and they escorted into a police cruiser hahaha!!! The officer who knocked on our door told us the situation and took down my name and phone number just in case we would need to explain what happened hahahaa......... the guy was running from the cops and hid in our back porch!! what a night........ so freaking weird..... I'm safe don't worry and there was no way he could come into the apartment the spirit made sure we had the door locked

Anyway, that was pretty much it for the stories other than an angry guy named Steve. He is a landlord where 3 of our potential investigators live and he is a jerk........ always yelling at us not to knock doors and stopping us every time he sees us hahah....... man, I don't like that guy.... maybe we need to try and share the gospel with him...... hmmmmmmm....... I'm going to devise some plans ;)

Love you all!! I had an awesome week! I learned a lot and can't wait for this coming week! We have zone conferences and MLC which means I get to go see what's left of Santa Rosa......... that's going to rough..... love you all!! 

God is Good!

-Elder Riley Field

Some lady was walking her pig..... so, I pet it.... and fed him Cheerios.... 

The police cruisers outside our apartment! haha crazy mission memories!

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