The Wheat and the Tares

Hello all!

Let's see...I seem to have the memory of a goldfish and can't remember
two hours ago so to remember was we did last week....we'll see if I
can remember it.

Monday was transfer day and after we transferred Sister A. and I
went grocery shopping and then to the church to email. It was good.
Then we had dinner and went out finding.

Tuesday we talked to lots of people- I haven't been too motivated
recently to talk to people so it was good to get that push! We got a
new investigator- N. She is neighbors with one of the members. So
that was good! She is on a lot of medications that make her drowsy so
she was kinda falling asleep in the lesson...we're meeting with her
again this Wednesday so hopefully she'll be more awake.

Wednesday we did service at Friends in Deed, everyone was shocked to
see me again. They all thought I was being transferred. Chances are
I'll stay in Pasadena until the end! Then we went and saw a less
active. That went okay. Sadly he isn't very open to Heavenly Father
because he's had some hard trials. Two of his sons have committed
suicide and he doesn't understand how a loving God who has a plan
would let that happen. It's sad. But we had a good dinner with the
H's. He was the mission president in Sacramento and then the LA
temple president. We had a great dinner conversation that was all
about the gospel and missionary work! Such a breath of fresh air to
talk about the gospel at dinner. I love that!

Thursday we had a good district meeting. Then saw a less active-
G. Her caregiver was over and we read together Mosiah 24. It was
awesome! Her caregiver is interested in learning more and loves the
temples! She's been taking pictures of the Tijuana Mexica temple as it
is being built and loves the "Castle" in San Diego. She has had some
elders come by in the past. Sadly she lives in LA but she's awesome!
We're going to read the Book of Mormon again next time we visit and
bring her one in Spanish so she can follow along better. She gave me
hope that there are still people out there who are ready. It's been
really hard for a lot of the English missionaries recently around the
mission. Sadly it's because of disobedience but there are other
factors too. We have to go out an find the elect. Something that has
really hit me hard is about the parable of the wheat and the tares.
Tares are weeds, weeds grow fast and choke the good plants. There has
been a ton of success throughout the world and now there are more
tares and less wheat and the wheat is harder to find. We have to do a
lot of pruning back of the tares to find the wheat. And that's
definitely what I feel we have been doing. Searching through the tares
just to find one wheat. The sad thing is young tares look just like
young wheat. So it can be tricky and deceiving. But that's why we have
to talk to everyone to find the wheat- the GOLDEN wheat.

Friday we weekly planned and then saw A.- she's less active, slowly
coming back to church. It went well. Nothing really exciting happened.
We went out for dinner and as we were at dinner I got free food cause
they said they ran out of tortellini and then they came out 2 minutes
later with the tortellini and gave it to me for free! And then we saw
two families from the Ward! Pretty funny!

Saturday we had a pretty good day. We taught one of our bus contacts.
It went pretty well! She's getting married this Saturday and has a 3
year old daughter who is so cute! It's exciting! Her name is C.
We did a lot of finding.

Sunday was good. I felt really comfortable at church around the
members. Which was different and good! we taught the youth Sunday
school and that went well. We taught about teaching and it's role in
the plan of salvation. It was fun. We had studies and had a good
companions study where we made some good companion goals because we
both kinda lack confidence in ourselves, especially when talking to
people on the street. So we are going to work on that. We had a good
dinner and the B's made us Italian cream sodas! So good! I had
a strawberry and Irish cream soda. So good! Then we went and saw
Sister M. That was good too. She wasn't feeling well so she wasn't
at church but we talked about family history and how she can come with
us on Thursday so we can all learn more. I'm so excited! I hope I can
learn how to help my genealogy but also learn some cool things to talk
to people on the street about!

Well I love you all and I am so happy to be serving a mission. A
mission is hard work! You are working 24/7 and don't get too many
breaks. But it is all worth it! It is so great to see how my mindset
has been changing as I have been serving a mission, how it has changed
to the things of the world and the things of the gospel and my family!
I love it! It's repentance because it is change. I know there are a
lot of things I need to change when I come home or really things I
need to keep doing. But I am glad to be so close to my Father in
Heaven and learn more and use more of the atonement of Jesus Christ!
And you don't need to serve a mission or be on a mission to feel ad
know those things. You can apply the love of our Heavenly Father in
your life everyday as well as the atonement. It helps with even the
small things, not just the big things. We can feel and know these
things for ourselves as we pray and read the scriptures and go to
church and the temple. Spiritual CPR - church, pray, and read.

I love you all have a good week!

Love, Sister Riches