Monday, December 29, 2014

Happy New Year!!!

Hello All!

Well this week was pretty good. I broke my iPad screen on Sunday night
so on Tuesday we went to the offic to get me a new iPad. And it was
the craziest day of my whole mission! It took us some time to transfer
everything over. Then my apps wouldn't work so we went to the AP's and
had them help me and they were able to get my email working but I
still have some issues with some things. But it'll get it sorted out.
So by the time we left after spending about 2 1/2 hours at the office
(about 5:00 when we left) we went out to the bus and it passed right
when we got out so we went to the other bus stop to catch a different
bus. So we went under the freeway and came back on top then as we were
waiting to cross over at the light the bus passed. So we just decided
to wait there cause it came every 15 minutes. So we wait and wait and
wait and 45 minutes later we called the bus company and they said it
was 30 minutes late and there would be three busses to choose from. So
we turn and are talking to each other and then not even 20 seconds
later there's tires screeching and a crash! So we turned and a care
turning left got tboned. We didn't know what to do! They don't teach
you what to do about an accident in preach my gospel! So I tried
calling 911 which was busy and were starving! Cause it's now 6:00pm
and we went over to see if everyone was okay and behind them pulled up
a tow truck. A man who was on his way home from work. And he helped
them. No one was hurt. When we finally got over there the lady who was
turning left grabbed us and just started crying in our shoulder. She
didn't speak English. We were the only ones who didn't speak Spanish!
Lame! But we gave them our number and names on a card of they needed
us for anything and then we turn to go back to the stop...and the
three buses pass by...so we gave up on that bus and went back to the
other bus and as we were walking under the freeway it passed us! So we
gave up completely! We called a member and she picked us up and
offered us dinner and she took us to her house and she told us she
made four extra tacos! With guacamole and everything on them. She said
she never! Made extras and just kept the meat for later. Plus she was
leaving the next morning to her cabin for Christmas. So it was a
prompting for her to be able to feed the sisters! So nice! It was
awesome to be in the right places to be an answer to prayers and
promptings, even if it was a lot of waiting and frustration on our
part. It just goes to show its all the Lords timing and His will and
we are only the instruments.

Christmas Eve we had a white elephant gift as a zone and it was fun!
Then we went and had lunch and spent some time with a family in the
ward. We made a gingerbread house and then they gave us presents. It
was so nice. Then we went to another members house and had dinner.

Christmas was fun we went to a members for breakfast then studied on
the church lawn then skyped home! It was so nice to see mom and dad
and Sara. Then we went to dinner at another members and had fondue for
dinner. We had meat we put in a pot of oil. It was fun! Then we played
apples to apples then went caroling with the other missionaries it was
fun!

On Sunday we sang a duet together and then after church Spenser and
Crystal and Brian and Spenser were there! They weren't there for my
singing though. It was nice to see them. Then we had a few lessons!

It was a pretty good week! We get to go to the rose parade and talk to
people on New Year's Day. I'm excited for that!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Riches

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

14 Months Serving In The Lord's Army!?

Hello All!

Time flies by so fast! It's crazy! Well I promise to make this email
better since the last two weeks have been really brief. Sorry about
that. Let's see...Where to start...

On the 6th we had our Ward Christmas party! That was great! We went
and helped prepare the food around 11-1 then went out for a few hours
and tried to find people home to teach and went back at 3 for a
correlation meeting then helped again at 4-the end of the party around
8:30. It was great to help serve the Ward and by doing that people
noticed us and talked to us and we're appreciative and it was great we
were able to get to know people! The next day at church people came up
and gave us hugs and said hello! This hadn't really happened before.
So it was really nice! We would get a few hellos and some handshakes
so hugs and smiles were great! Sister Baker and I also made a list of
the families we know and little things about them so we could remember
and it has helped a ton! Also being in Ward choir has helped! Sister
Baker is singing a solo with the choir next week! It's been fun to
sing with the choir, I've missed it.

It's rained a lot the past two weeks! And Sister Baker has given me an
Indian name! (She is half Native American, Zuni and Navajo.) My Indian
name is Big Puddle Little Jumper. We aren't the greatest and puddle
jumping...we've landed in the middle of a few. Whoops!

Last Monday we went to the Huntington gardens (pictures to follow). It
was beautiful and so peaceful! Then we went to the church to email for
an hour then went to dinner with the D's. They are so sweet and
such spiritual Giants! They served on the temple presidency at the
Alberta temple. They are visiting their daughter for three months to
try to bear California winters! They are so nice! And so missionary
minded! We invited them to pass out all 9 he is the gift cards found
in the insert of the December 2014 ensign and they passed them all out
by Friday! Then we went to the K's (aka Grandma and Grandpa's) and
decorated more for Christmas and then had a fun FHE with the elders.
We sang Christmas songs and taught the elders tricks to singing.

Tuesday we had a good day. We talked to a lot of people on the bus and
street. It was great! Then we taught two less actives. Then went to
Souplantation with one of the sisters from the Ward! It is so good! It
is a buffet of salad, soups, pizza, and desserts! Yum!

Wednesday we had a really off day, at the service we do at the food
panty there was almost a fight and Sister Baker got yelled at by one
of the ladies that came in. We were really shook up and down so we
went to the K's to see if we could help them with anything and we
helped her with cute hot chocolate ornaments. We tired red ribbon on
them with a jingle bell and put them in gift bags, so cute! Then she
taught us how to make paper boxes. She is so crafty! We made the
flowers to go on top too our of paper! And ink and stamps, so fun! It
was a nice pick up for the day and for them as well. People were just
being rude all day to them and us. But dinner was good! We ate with a
younger couple and her sisters are both on missions right now so
that's fun.

Thursday was zone meeting given by a zone leader and AP (the other
zone leader was sick). They asked us to come with a question we would
ask the Lord if we were to stand face to face right then. So we came
with those in mind and then talked a bit and then asked us to go find
a room to pray. It was weird I felt as if I was just talking to
myself, I felt numb. When we came back together they asked if we
received an answer. Both Sister Baker and I hadn't but we half raised
our hands. Later the Assistant to the President who was there asked
how we were feeling and one elder was saying how hopeful and better he
felt and assured. Then he asked me and I chuckled to myself cause I
felt so confused! Not what he was probably expecting and I ended up
crying in front of the whole zone...3 sisters and 14 elders...yeah I
felt embarrassed just a bit. But it was good. We were all able to talk
about how we've gotten through certain problems we have all faced as
missionaries. Being a missionary is HARD! But life is hard and a
mission prepares a person for the rest of their life. Just like our
life on earth is hard it prepares us to live with God again after this
life. We went back home to study things out cause we were both a mess.
Spiritually, mentally, emotionally. We then tried to have a lesson and
both fell through. So we went to dinner then to the relief society
activity. That was good. People brought friends.

Friday was weekly planning day. However, we both had breakdowns before
we planned, it's definitely been a roller coaster week! Then we went
out and visited with a referral President V. gave us of a less
active. She is President B.'s mission presidents daughter.
President B. - my previous mission president- served in the
Arcadia California mission. While he was here this lady's father was
his mission president. Since then he has passed away and his son and
daughter have gone less active. He has a few active children still. So
president B. worked with the son and he is now active. He wanted
us to visit the daughter. It was awkward. She doesn't have too much
desire or intent, she just agreed to President B's request to
have sisters come by. But we will keep going.

Saturday we went to help the D's with a Christmas party they were
holding. We helped prep the food and decorate. They needed the help
because the rain had put them way behind schedule. We dropped by
Friday night to ask for a ride home and ended up chatting and we offer
end to help. So we went and helped for a couple hours and then had
correlation and dinner then went back for the party. They had friends
they wanted us to meet and talk to. They were praying for us to find
someone to teach there. And we may have. We started to talk to this
sweet lady. Very friendly and outgoing and we all clicked. Later we
asked M. D. who she specifically wanted us to talk to and
she told us we already were! It was perfect so we talked with her more
and got her info. We are going to build that relationship then invite
her to learn. We may go shopping in Old Town Pasadena with her one of
these Monday's. She said to call her anytime! So that's exciting! She
awesome! Saturday night was transfer calls...we didn't get a call!
Wahoo! This was a 5 week transfer due to Christmas and next is a 7
week transfer. It's weird to think I have only 3 transfers left.

Sunday was good. Choir was fun. Then after church our lesson got
cancelled with our investigators and we got a call from our housing
inspector who was very upset at us for something we didn't do. It was
an emotional time. Then we had dinner with a family who is in need of
a Christmas miracle, so sad. They just got settled in their new home
and now they're being asked to leave by December 31st. They're looking
for homes now. Then we went to the Stake Christmas Concert. M.
invited her friend from her party but she wasn't able to make it but
other members brought friends that we could meet and talked to for a
bit. So that was great! Seeds are being planted!

I am so thankful for this Christmas season. We have a time
specifically set aside to celebrate our Savior's birth! He is the
reason for the season. It isn't about gifts and presents and
materialistic things but about the miracle of christ and the gift he
is to us. "God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son" John
3:16. The church has a beautiful new video for Christmas. If you
haven't seen this already go to Christmas.mormon.org. #HeistheGift!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Riches

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

My Week!

Hello all!

Sorry it's going to be another short letter. We went to the Huntington
library and gardens today! One of the sisters in the Ward got us in
for free. So sweet! It was beautiful I'll send pictures next week.
Let's see. What did happen this week? We had an awesome time at the
Ward Christmas party and served for a good 6 hours. Setting up and
cooking and serving. We had some investigators come too. It was a lot
of fun and we really got to know the Ward! It was great! On Sunday we
actually felt like we knew the Ward! Such a tender mercy! We helped
another sister do a dinner for the daughters of Utah pioneers and she
made us super cute aprons by using men's dress shirts. I can't
remember what else happened. But we had a good week!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Riches

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Crazy Week!

Hello All!

So today we went to the mall and had lots of fun shopping. I love
sister Baker! We get a long really well. This week has been pretty
crazy! Lots of ups and downs! We both received blessings and had
meltdowns but we are totally enthused because we were able to receive
some revelation as to what we need to do with the Ward and our
investigators. We figured the Ward is more important to strengthen
before we can focus all our attention to investigators. That is our
goal, is to help the Ward! We're excited! Yesterday was zone
conference and everything we had talked about the night before was
talked about at the conference, talk about inspired! It was great.
Well I love you all and I'm so happy to be a missionary! And
thanksgiving was great. We spent it at the Andertons and two other
families from the Ward were there too.

Love, Sister Riches

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Always Return Thanks Unto God

Hello All!

This was a pretty good week!

As I wrote last week Elder Satati of the First Quorum of the 70 came
on Monday to talk to us. It was good.

Tuesday was a nice relaxing pday at the church with the other
missionaries.  We had a good dinner with a few members. I forgot my
jacket and it was freezing! (Like 68°!!!) So one of the sisters we
were eating with let me borrow a cargdagin. It was very sweet! Then we
went to English class with our old Ward mission leader. (He was
released last Sunday and they called a new family. It was their first
Sunday in the Ward and got called to be the Ward mission leader!) but
English class was fun. It was with one Chinese man who is being fellow
shipped by a member from another Ward in our stake.

Wednesday we had an awesome zone meeting! We had SPA, not to be
confused with AA, it means Spiritual Problems Anonymous. We talked as
a zone about what problems we are having as missionaries and together
we came up with solutions. Before we began our discussion we read
different scriptures that pretty much said, judge not! It was awesome!
It really helped with our zone unity! Then we were supposed to have
awesome lessons but they all canceled. But we were able to contact a
referral from the elders, sadly she is going out of town for 6 months!
Then we went to dinner with a member at soup plantation. So good! Then
we went to contact another referral and he was home and we had a
lesson with him! It went really well actually!

Thursday we had a pretty good day. We saw a few of our investigators
which is always good! Taught some good lessons.

Funny stories from Thursday!
1.) So we went to find a lady who we didn't have an apartment number.
We were knocking doors and we walked to another door and on the way I
almost stepped on a little gold finch! He was still alive. So we
picked it up in kleenex and then called animal control to take care of
it cause none of the apartments with birds wanted it. So the guy on
the phone told us we could take it in! We told him we didn't have a
car so he said he would send an officer to pick it up. So we waited
and this huge animal control truck drove up and this lady got out with
her hair slicked back and all the gadgets on her belt. And said, you
have a bird? With her hands on her hips. We showed her the bird and
she kinda got a really that's the bird look. It was hilarious! She
picked it up and took it and we went to our next appointment. It was
great, I'm here to save souls, I guess even bird souls!

2.) Today we decided to bring our study copy of the Book of Mormon
with us. It was awesome! We've been having struggles of not staying
focused. We get side tracked easily! So we were getting distracted and
Sister Baker may or may not have been distracted by a dreamy guy from
high school she was telling me about at the bus stop, so I said, let's
see what the Book of Mormon has to say about that and we open to page
305 where alma is chastising his son about keeping the law of
chastity! We broke up laughing! So now if we get distracted by guys we
say 305 that!

3.) On the way to that bus stop we walked past a Jehovah witness and
he said "hello, would you like to read a watchtower" I asked "would
you like to read the Book of Mormon?" He said "no thank you" I said
"okay, have a good night". Pretty funny! He was very nice.

4.) We were walking to dinner and we couldn't remember what the house
number was so to remember it we sang it to carol of the bells.
"252,252,252,252...252,252,252,252" #goldfishmemory!

Needless to say it was a good Thursday.

On Saturday we had lunch with a lady from the Ward and I got such good
pie! It was dark chocolate chip cheesecake pie!

Sunday we sang in the choir for sacrament, it was really fun! Also the
recent convert we are working with, he brought his 5 year old son to
church. He is so cute! He was drawing spiderman and other spiderman
villains! So cute it was another good day, we taught a few lessons and
got a new investigator! We need more new investigators!

I am so thankful for this time of year. I am so thankful to be serving
a mission. It has helped me discover who Heavenly Father wants me to
be. I have learned so much from the scriptures and have gained such a
passion for studying them and learning from them. They are truly
inspired and can answer all our problems. We just need to do our part
and read them, otherwise it will profit us nothing. I am so thankful
for the Book of Mormon and the gospel in my life. I am thankful for
eternal families and the knowledge I have to be with my family
forever. I am so thankful for the plan of salvation. I am thankful for
all of you who support me and pray for me and help me out. I love you
all! Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Sister Riches

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and
gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering;
being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the
commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye
stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks
unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. (Alma 7:23)