The damage isn't bad enough to....

It seems like I'll go a few weeks without hearing from anyone and then I will get a flood of letters and packages all at once. I LOVED the package of items for kids. Today I am putting together a bag that we can take with us to church and lessons. It should help a ton. I think part of the reason we have companions has to be so that one person can entertain all of the kids and the other can teach lol.

One of the Elders here totally crashed his bike the other day. I have a feeling he is going to have to spend all day today fixing it. When I asked him how it happened, he told me that he was really tired, it had been a really long day...and he just forgot to turn. He ran into a curb going full speed.

Life is going good here. We are still struggling to find people to teach... A woman this week stopped meeting with us because her husband wouldn't allow it. She believes it's true- and wants to come to church and bring her kids- she loves the Book of Mormon. But he said we weren't allowed to come back... It's sad to leave people that way. I just hope she's able to continue on her own somehow.

On the other hand we found a woman named Christina while we were knocking the other day. She was raised in the Church and married in the temple. But after she and her husband were divorced she couldn't bring herself to return. She has 4 children and is remarried now. When we first started talking to her she was very cold to us and said she was fine and didn't have time for us, but over the course of the conversation her story began unfolding...in the end she just broke down and told us how much she wanted to go back, and how much she wanted her children to grow up knowing what she knew. We talked with her and gave her the address of the church and contacted the ward...I hope she really does go.

So all in all things are going well. I ran our car into a pole the other day....so I'm pretty positive President's interviews might not be as uplifting as usual this time around. I haven't talked to President Jackson about it yet, but the office staff says the damage isn't bad enough that I'll loose my driving privileges. oops! :( 2 more weeks and Sister Alvey will start driving anyways, so we should be good.

Love you much.

Thanks for the letters, packages and emails!

-Riesa

The best day of my Mission

This weekend Adonis was baptized, as you know. What you don't know though, is that at 10 years old he is already an incredible missionary. He has been sharing his Book of Mormon with friends at school ever since we began teaching him. Last week he asked us if it would be okay to give each of his friends their own copy. We gave him 4 Books of Mormon, all of which he has already gifted to his friends. He introduced us to them at his baptism, and they told us all of their favorite Book of Mormon stories, and how cool it was that Adonis was teaching them about it.

More precious than this, however, was hearing the blessing he recieved after his baptism- promising him that he would serve a full time mission in his youth, and that he would bring the light of the gospel to his family, who will one day be sealed in the temple.

The decision of one little boy to follow the spirit is going to change his family forever, and have a domino effect on everybody who knows him. It already has.

I am so grateful to be here, and grateful to have had the chance to know and learn from Adonis as he has prepared for this day. He has changed my view of the importance of each of us as individuals. Every person has something to offer, and we all have the capacity to make a world of difference for the people around us throughout our lives.

We all have knowledge and experience that is unique to us as individuals. I truly believe that whatever that knowledge may be, it is our obligation to share it with others. We weren't sent here to prove ourselves by being the smartest, or the most experienced...the most educated- we are given these things as gifts, that we might be better able to help others along their way. There is a reason we have families, and we have friends here- we are all meant to support and lift eachother up- to give the best parts of ourselves, the most valuable knowledge we posses for the betterment of another.

I am happy right now. Happier than I have ever been in my life, and I know it's because I have been working my hardest to fulfill that purpose. But I also know that I don't have to be on a mission to do it. It is a lifelong opportunity that we have, a lifelong obligation, really.

More than anything I hope that I can come home with the same love that I have now for the people around me, and with the same understanding that they need more than anything else to know and have what we as members of the church have; because when I understand that, I know that no situation is too scary, nobody is ever too busy, no weakness on my part is ever too great to show someone simply and plainly that I love them, and that I care about their well-being, and that I am willing to do whatever I can to help them on their way.


I love you and I think about you and pray for you every day

Mariesa