GOLDEN'S!!!

Hello All!

This week was a good week! We saw a lot of miracles happen and had
some really good lessons! Slowly working up to more then 10 lessons a
week! We were able to schedule a lot more members to come out with us,
so that was nice!

On Monday we had a fun pday with the other missionaries. After that a
member took us to a Thai restaurant and I got the sizzling spinach
with pork and peanut sauce, it was so good! The left overs didn't
smell or look pretty after but it still tasted good! FHE with grandma
and grandpa  was good too. Grandpa talked about
gratitude.

Tuesday was pretty good. We helped the Huntington Ward sisters again
and did exchanges. I went with sister B. to do service at a food
pantry where we sorted through expired fruit and veggies picking out
the good stuff and throwing away rotten food. I never knew how gross
rotten potatoes were until then...gross! But it was great to help the
community so those who are less fortunate can get good food. Then
Sister W. and I took Sister B. into our area and worked there
while Sister K. stayed at a members house and slept. We had a
quick message with an investigator couple.

Wednesday sister W. and I did service at the food pantry in our
area and that was good. We set A. and A. with a baptism date
for December 28th! New year, new A. is what we told him. And
A., his girlfriend, said she what about her!? So we invited her to
be baptized on the same day! At the beginning of the lesson A.
was inviting everyone who passed us on the street to meet with us! Two
did. One isn't so interested and the second was there before in a
previous lesson.

Thursday was district meeting. It was alright. But after was had a
church tour with S. He is GOLDEN! He just needs to see it. His tv
shows include football, home improvement shows, and BYUtv! He loves
it! He is a historian so he knows a lot about church history and has
his facts straight! He could recognize and feel the spirit as we took
him into the chapel and around the church. He asked later on how does
one become a member, so we talked about baptism and then took him to
the primary room to show him the font. The spirit was there too and he
was measuring on himself how high the water would come. It was
awesome! He called us a few hours after and thanked us for the tour
and again that evening. He had such a good experience! Sadly he didn't
come to church on Sunday, he said he couldn't bring himself to do it,
didn't have the courage, but next week!

Friday was weekly planning and our Ward Halloween party! We had a few
lessons before and those went well. One of our lessons was with a
returning member and she talked about the temple and getting another
copy of her patriarchate blessing! So amazing to see people come back
into the church. There were a ton of visitors at the Halloween party!
This made it hard for me to meet the members and remember them with
all the visitors. And it was pretty packed in the pavilion outside the
church. (There's a baseball field, playground, and pavilion at the
church! Crazy!) But I tried to meet most and be friendly. The east
Pasadena Ward was setting up for their party on Saturday, very
elaborate! I'll send pictures!

Saturday was a good day, crazy! but good. All of our plans got changed
and moved around, which is very often this happens in missionary work!
We had lunch with a different returning member, we are teaching her
son, G. We then had our correlation meeting with the Ward mission
leader. Then we missed the bus we needed to take and ended up working
on Facebook and taking a survey from church headquarters. Then tried
by a less active and she wasn't home but we set up a return
appointment cause we called her. Then we met this guy who said he died
on the corner we were at. He was hit by two cars and crushed his face
and broke his leg. As we were talking I felt prompted to ask if he
believed in God and he said he didn't! It doesn't make sense to me how
someone who went through a horrible accident and came through perfect
doesn't believe it was God's will. It's sad. Our dinner kept getting
pushed back but it was an awesome dinner! And then we had a lesson
with A. and set her with a baptism date of December 20th! We're so
excited for her!

Sunday was amazing! We had two lessons but it was good. We were able
to set expectations with an investigator we haven't seen in a while
and then have an amazing lesson with G. and his wife. It was
incredible! This was our second lesson with him and the first we
talked about the preexistence and the Book of Mormon because he had
questions about that. This second lesson we planned to teach the plan
of salvation but we got talking about the Book of Mormon and he's a
few chapters in already! And loves it. He likes how it's easy to
understand. He was able to tell his wife Amy about the background of
the Book of Mormon perfectly and he gets that people say don't add on
the bible but God loves all his people so it only makes sense he would
talk to more people and have more records! It's amazing. He is golden!
And so is she! He was able to explain up the plan of salvation to us
and her perfectly up to the resurrection and judgement. He said he
doesn't quite understand that yet. So we set up another time to come
back to teach that and A. said that even if he can't be there she
wants to listen and learn! They have two boys, 11 and 4. Such a great
family! I can see them becoming members and holding leadership
callings and being awesome members and getting sealed in the temple!
It was a good day! I think I wrote before about how he was found. He
was searching online about God and who he is and the references would
take him to LDS beliefs and refer to scriptures in the Book of Mormon
and there was one in the hotel desk he was staying at and got to
reading later saw the elders and told them to come by and then we got
the referral. And A. said how they've been taking for the past year
or so about how they wanted to find a church together! They're so
prepared!

I know this gospel is true and I'm so happy to be doing the Lord's
work and helping Him in this part of His vineyard! I love all that I'm
learning and doing as a missionary! I know this gospel is true and
that Christ's church has been restored to the earth through Joseph
Smith! I love the Book of Mormon and know that it is true and it is
convincing evidence that the restoration took place. It is my favorite
book and gives me help in all aspects of my life. Thank you all for
your love and support! I hope these emails help uplift you and help
you draw closer to Christ.

Love, Sister Riches