Hi Everyone!!

Starting out in a new area always takes time so this week has been a very slow week! There isn't really any work in our area yet and also we are going to a lot of meetings.

So my companion is Elder Knighton. He is a nice guy but he doesn't have any experience with talking to people. When he does talk to people picture this - you know the way that Obama speaks? Well that's how Elder Knighton speaks but only in white guy voice and he isn't good at driving at all. He waits until the very last second to slow down so he can turn, luckily we switch driving everyday!  He is very offended by a lot of missionaries laughing at stupid things in district meetings and then he gets really serious and says we need to talk to them later about being mature... Me - they were just laughing, give em some slack. You don't need to be so uptight.  I guess I've got my work cut out for me!!

Other than that things are good! It's nice being back in Middleton, but I do miss Fruitland a lot!! 

This week we were trying to just introduce me to all the people in the ward, but we did meet this one guy, his name is Bobby Magee and he is a funny guy! We went to his house and he lives in a single wide that he is remodeling and so we knocked on his door and he just cracked it open and was asking us who we were and what we wanted. We told him who we were and then he slammed the door and in the back ground you could hear him yelling at his dog to sit. Then he opened the door and let us in. Well I could smell the beer on his breath pretty clearly and Elder Knighton never has been around beer at all. He doesn't know what it smells like so I told him this is going to be a visit that we are really going to enjoy. haha Bobby started showing us around his house and he took us to this one room that was just for his chickens. He calls them his girls. (Only in Idaho!!!) They live in the house and he also has a garden in his house that he is growing lots of peppers and all kinds of hot foods. He was all over the place and it was quite the experience. We even committed him to take the discussions! haha So we are going to start those next week sometime! 

For the past week I have kind of had a word of the week that I had to apply every day more than I normally would.  So my word was "Patience". I have really strived to be as patient as I can, but as the week got longer the patience got harder. Following a companion around that doesn't know how to drive or talk has been tough. Learning to work with him has been tough and I think it's also because I loved my last area so much! I never thought that on my mission I would have to start all over with having to learn how to adjust to a new area. So I guess you could say I forgot how get adjusted into an area that I am not all for, but It's has been a good experience because some of the things that I have forgotten have been brought up and relearned that have really helped me this week. What I am trying to say is that with starting all over for the first time in 8 months has been rough, but I get to relearn things and it will help me and teach me better ways to help others. Change is good as long as there is progression.  Although I don't particularly like the change that I had to make in coming to a new area, I will have new experiences. And even though I have learned some of the things before, I get to relearn them and the things that I learned I forgot how important they are. Another growing experience that has been helping me get through this first hard week!

Oh also another thing that has had to require patience, our dryer broke and so we are hang drying them! So I made some hang dry lines! haha

That's about it! love you guys!!

Love Elder Riley