Hey Family,

There were quite a bit of cool-strange things that happened this week. I had litterally 25 or more comments on the new hair cut... A drunk guy hugged me late at night in the street... we ate pumpkin pie and cheese cake :))))... We got into the CCM again... I had to give a talk in stake confrence... and much more fun adventures. 

This week we focused a lot on gaining our personal testimonies of Joseph smith again. It was great. I read and really analized the whole joseph smith history. I love it so much, I truly have been learning so much, and strengthening my testimony a lot!!! I am so thankful for him!! And for the great sacrafice he made for us, to be able to have this church. 

We got into the CCM again. It was so great!! We had to take the keys to the stake president again. It is so amazing inside!!! There is a big difference once you walk in the gates, and when you leave to go back to the street!!! It is so beautiful also! Oh and guess who I saw when we were in the CCM?? My companion Elder Nogueda, the one who really trained me!! It was awesome! He finished about 3 months ago so that was cool to see him in there, he was there for his test, to see if he can get a job working there or not. 

The hair cut... wow, jajaja super funny stuff!! President when he saw me was making fun of me even. Saying that he would make sure to never go to that same hair cut store. I even said a prayer during the week that my hair could grow back a little faster, and it has a tiny bit, but is still pretty short on the sides.

The event of the week was during stake confrence. So apparently President Hall was going to give a talk in the stake confrence no.. Well about 3 min. before the confrence starts the 1st councilor in the stake presidency comes over to me and my comp. And said "President Hall was going to give a talk in the confrence, but he isnt here, if he doesnt make it, Elder Allison could you give a talk on missionary work about 5 or 10 min.." I immediatly started praying that President Hall would come. I said yes, and then we went out and called President. He didnt answer, so i franticly started to prepare for what I would say, and continued praying that president would come... well that prayer wasnt answered. I had a brief outline of what to say, but didnt have much time to really memorize the order in how I would say it, but i decided to trust that all would be well. I was really nervous. For one, speaking in stake confrence is extra sketchy, second not having any time to prepare, and third in spainsh. Crap... But I got up there, and started to talk, thankfully it is a topic I am passionate about, and I could talk from the heart. Unlike almost all of my talks I gave in english I actually had my head up about 90 percent of the time (maybe its because i didnt have time to write anything...) I truly felt the spirit guide me as to what to say. It was amazing, and i consider it a miracle for me. Also my spanish was really good, I know that the Holy Ghost helped me out a lot. I ended up saying just about everything I had planned to say, and a few other things that came to my mind during the talk. I know that I am developing some good attrabutes and I know one of them is talking infront of people. I had a lot of help from Heavenly Father, there is no doubt in my mind about that. When I got done, and got back to my seat, I felt a big releif, and was very thankful! All in all it was a good experience for me, but I think 1 is all that I want or need :)

This week we had a lot of spiritual experiences teaching about Joseph Smith. And it was great, we helped a lot of investigatores gain a testimony of him. 

On Sunday we went to the temple visitors center with The Rocha family. Dolores, her 3 kids, and her husband mario. It was very nice, especially because her husband came, and he is progressing. slowly progressing, but progressing.

Angeles, hasnt been able to assist the past two sundays :( she gets done working a long night shift at 5 or 7 in the morning sunday, and the tiredness has beaten her.. We are going to see what happens with her this week, but we are continuing to help her out, and she is just about ready for baptism. 

 I am so thankful for your support!! I love you all so much!!! Have the best week ever!!!

Love Elder Allison. 

Hey Family.

This was a really solid week. Starting everything off, was tuesday. My comp. and I taught the zone because it was first tuesday of the month, and we taught about the good samaritan :) I learned just how much I love that parabol!! It is quite great, and teachs a great lesson. After Tuesday I decided to memorize the parabol, and I am close to concoring it :) After leaving from the zone confrence we had to give the keys to the stake center back to the stake president. Well he works in the CCM!! So we went over to the entrance of the CCM, which is like 3 min. walking from the stake center, figuring that the high tech security guards wouldnt let us in, that we would have to call him, or leave the keys there. Well what do you know. One of the coolest blessings in our lives. The security guard let us in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He gave us visiting passes to wear around our necks. I felt like a rockstar!!!! It was so awesome. It is like a different world in there. It is HUGE!!! We had to find him, so me and my comp decided to "look really hard for him......" as we walked around "looking" for him, well yeah after about 15 min. of taking it all in and taking pictures of everything we finally headed over to the building he works in, and gave him the keys. There were a lot of missionaries walking around, and a few that looked at us like we were rockstars. It was pretty awesome!!!! We were very happy, I always wanted to go into the CCM, it was a dream of mine, and now that I have been just accross the street, I have had the desire even more. It was a true wish come true. Also it was my companions birthday on Tuesday I bought a mexican flag, and secretly had all the missionaries in the zone sign it, then we gave it to him at the end of the meeting, with cake, he was happy :) He only has two weeks left, and I am trying to help him be excited to keep working hard, until his last day.

On friday we had thee longest meeting of all time. it was from 9 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon. with a 45 min. lunch break. President made a lot of different changes in the mission. The best one, is that we are going to have 1 hour during every week to go to the church and use the computer to send emails to recent converts, less actives, investigators and members of wards that we have been in, to excite them, and to help them to stay active!!! That is way cool I think!!! 

I started a thankful journal. I got a tiny little booklet, and I am writting down every little thing that I am thankful for throught the day, It is really fun. I love it I feel more thankful always. Also about 3 weeks ago I finished my first journal, and am now on my second one. Sometimes it is very hard to write late at night, but I know that it will be good in the long run, and that future generations better like it!!! :) 

I got my hair...cut.... or chopped.... which ever one you want to say.... It looksreally funny. The guy cut it really short on the sides and in the back, and then it looks a tiny bit like a fluff ball on top.... thank heavens hair can grow back right??? To be completly honest it doesnt bother me. Its funny to laugh about.

On thursday, or friday not sure which, I had a cool experience. I wanted to reconfirm my testimony about joseph smith, so when we got home at night I started to read the joseph smith story in the scriptures, and after I read I got down on my knees and prayed then sat up and pondered. Well it felt like i was there for a while waiting for the answer, so i got back down on my knees and said another prayer I got back up and thought, then I felt a wonderful feeling, that I cant describe it was amazing, and I was very thankful for it. I have learned that even though we know something is true, it doesnt mean that we cant and shouldnt keep praying for a confirmation of that testimony. It is very important that we have a lot of spiritual experiences, because the hard days will come, and if we can lean on the spiritual experiences we will be able to remember, and know that this is the right path, and we can get through the tough times without falling away, which happens to so many people!!

Also I am learning a lot about Love, and service. These are the 2 bases that we should have as people and as members of the church. It is what Christ taught us, He has unconditional love for everyone. and he always served everyone. I am thankful for this opportunity to serve. I am learning lots, and I am learning each day to love more and more!!! :)

We went to the Lady that called us over in the street. wow. her little kids are crazy, it was very hard to teach because they have SOOOOOOOOO much energy. So we had to have other gameplans. We taught really simply, and we are going to teach with pictures next time. There son has 15 years, and he is really cool, he went to mutual on friday night and liked it a lot!!! We are going to see if he can come and do visits with us to get him excited about missionary work, because on sunday he brought his friend, and had an interview with the bishop, it was his first time going to church since he got baptized at 8 years old.

Also Dolores and her family including her husband came to church, and they stayed for the second hour. That was the first time it has happened with him. We got a lot of help from their son, that ran to his primary class as soon as sacrament ended, but what ever works right?? :)

I sent you guys a letter in the mail today, so hopefully it gets there soon. I love you guys so much. And am always so thankful for you, and your love. I hope you have a great week!!!!!

Love Elder Allison

Elder Allison

Familia,

What a week!!! wowzers. the highlight of the week was for sure having Elder Clarke from the 70 here. I learned so much!!! And I know that i will be a much better missionary from the things that I learned!! He taught so much by the spirit, and I felt like everything he said I needed to hear so much, he is so inspired, it was the best!!!! 

Something that i really liked is when he was talking about how we need to find people to teach that "want to", and "Can" there is a lot of times here that we are teaching people that want to get baptized but for a specific reason (not married, husband wont let them, parents wont let them, work on sundays) they cant get baptized. and there are other times when they can get baptized but they are life long investigatores and just dont want to. He explained that there are too many missionaries that waste their time with these type of people. We need to start finding, and focusing on people that want to, and can. that was an interesting point, that we have been thinking about a lot!

This week we made a lot of progress with Angeles!!! She is so awesome!!! She came to church again this sunday and is way ready to get baptized, she just needs one more assistance. She invited a friend to church, that is in other ward boundries, and the friend liked church a lot also. She is great!!!!

Yesterday something pretty funny happened. So we were just walking in our neighborhood, with all the apartment buildings, and we turned one way, well from about 50 feet away across the street a lady yelled to us to come over, so we turned around and walked over to her. On our way over, I said to my comp, joking around "this lady is going to ask us how she can get baptized, my comp said, no she is going to ask us if we teach english classes." We cross the street to talk with the lady and her two little girls. and the first thing the lady says. "at what age do you get bapitzed in your church?" Us.  "when you turn 8 years old, why?" her." because my two twin daughters are going to turn 8 on November 15th." we talked with her for a little bit, apparently a long long long time ago she got baptized, but completly fell away from the church, and she told us that she wants her kids to live a different life than she has, and that she also has a 15 year old son, that she said only got baptized and never went to church, but that she wants us to come by and teach the family so that the kids can go to church and live a better life. That was pretty cool. We are really excited to go to their house this week and see, how we can help them out!! It was a cool experience!!! The lord is blessing us a lot, which is really neat to see!!

HALLOWEEN, here they celebrate dia de los muertos, and on the 1st of november there were SO many people dressed up, every one dresses up of terror people, and dead people, and witches, and scary stuff, I honestly missed a lot, super heros, and other fun less freaky stuff. That was one thing i miss about Utah. I was very tempted to take my "nerd" costum to the street, but i thought twice, remembering I am a missionary;) 

Saturday the sisters baptized Ester, it was really cool! She cant walk and cant move her legs or she is in a ton of pain, but is in a wheelchair. Me and my compainon along with the ward mission leader all helped her get baptized, my comp held her legs, our ward mission leader her body, and me, her shoulders, arms, and head. It only took 2 times to get it right and it was a very cool experience!! The ward mission leader and I pretty much had to carry her in and out of the fount which was not very easy, but all in all a very good experience. Ester has a daughter that is 11 and she didnt want to get baptized, she said that she is not ready, but after the baptism, and the special musical number that we sang (a different one....if you were wondering yes, go ahead and sign me up now for the voice, 2016.) it was very spiritual the whole service, the sisters put a baptismal date for this coming saturday and she said yes, so far so good, hopefully it will work out!!

Me and My comp carved our pumpkins and put them in our second story window, varios members of the ward really liked it and thought it was a clever idea. My comp really liked it!!! He only has 3 weeks left, 

I am a very happy camper, I got a package today, from the releif society!!! They were so awesome and very thoughtful, I thought it was a genius idea what the RS did, please thank them from my part, and i hope to be able to send off a letter soon. Lately its been almost impossible for me to find extra time, i really want to write to different people, to help them out, or show them my love, but i dont have time for anything almost. Even pdays arent really free, having to go to the offices, and what not each monday for the meetings. But i will try my very best. Just know I love EVERYONE SO MUCH!!!!!!! :) :) 

Thanks for all you do. Your the bestest!!!

Love Elder Allison

p.s. forgot to write. So on tuesday in the night Elder Clarke talked with all the stakes in the mission. So i got to see Cristian and his family, and also some people from my first ward. Cristian is thinking a lot about going on a mission. And his mom, told me that she is going to get baptized, she just wants to know a little more, also an investigator that me and my second compainon in my first ward taught is going to get baptized!!!!!! :) good stuff!!

Živjo!

They split the Ljubljana branch, and now we have a branch in Kranj!!! We had an amazing district conference yesterday, and they organized the new branch. I'm so excited! Sadly the building isn't quite ready yet and they won't actually be having sacrament meetings in Kranj until December, but we'll be having sacrament meeting separate from the Ljubljana branch. This is the first branch in Slovenija that they've created by splitting an existing branch, so it's a pretty historical step and a sign that the church is growing here.

I could just end there, since that was definitely the highlight of my week, but I guess I'll write a little more :)

We had a good lesson on Monday with Dušan and his wife (a guy we found a few weeks ago). He sometimes seems reserved and like he's not sure what to think about all this, but it's clear he feels the Spirit and he wants to feel that more. His wife isn't as crazy about it, since she thinks we believe the same things she already does, but she was a huge help with prayer. We asked Dušan to pray, and when he said he didn't know how because he had never done it, she told him,"It's easy! You just say what you're grateful for and anything else that's in your heart!" It was awesome.

We had another funny finding story this week, too. We were looking up a potential and (as often happens in Slovenija) getting confused because the numbers on the street don't line up like you think they should. As we were looking, we passed a blok that had its doors wide open and felt like we should tract it. As usual, I wanted to go to the top, and pushed what I thought was a light. Turns out it was a doorbell. The lady who opened the door, though, was awesome! We talked to her about how the gospel has been restored to bless families. She had three young sons that she was just putting to bed, but she asked us to come back again.

I'm pretty sure that story is about the third time when we've either accidentally started at the bottom or felt like we should start there and had awesome miracles happen. That might be a sign that we should start doing it at the bottom. And, there seems to be a trend that the members tend to live at the top of bloks. Our theory is that that is due to the missionaries' tendency to start at the top. Maybe it's time to break that trend ;)

This week we also went to do visiting teaching with Ana, who is mostly recovered from breaking her hip (she can walk now, but uses a cane). We visited Marjana, a member in really bad health in the retirement home. I learned a lot from seeing Ana and Marjana. We were with one old woman who had her own health problems, who took the time and effort to visit someone who needed love and care more than she did. I think that the image of Ana gripping the bedridden Marjana's hand while smiling and talking to her is about the most vivid image of Christlike love I have ever seen.

Another random thought about district conference: the missionaries did a musical number and sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth." It was a really cool experience for me, and was really powerful. I would encourage you all to read the words to that hymn and really think about them. They're really good!

I'm really grateful to be able to serve as a missionary! I know that Christ lives and that His restored gospel is the way to true happiness. He truly makes us more like His Father when we live the gospel. The church is true!

Love you all!

Sestra Jones

Brad's New Area - McCall Idaho

Hello!

So this week has been a great week! We got so much work done! We cover 3 areas Donnley, McCall and New Meadows! I love it and we have a truck! A 2013 Nissan Frontier! It's a nice truck, but I would never buy one. 

We already have someone that's getting baptized! All she needs to do is get us a prescription from her doctor saying it's ok, then we can baptize her, but she has medical conditions so we have to be really careful.  We are going to do it at a hot springs and 4 or 5 of us will have to baptize her at once! She can't bend backwards so we will lift her into the pool so she doesnt get hurt! It will be an interesting experience!

We are talking to this guy that hasn't read his Book of Mormon for 50 years and wants nothing to do with the church, but yet he likes when we come to visit him... so it's a little strange... but that's okay. We helped him split 10 cords of wood!

We are in such a cool area.  I love it! It is really, really smoky though so that sucks because lots of fires are surrounding McCall.

We are not sure what we are gonna do today there is only so much we can do... We are thinking about going and playing pool somewhere. so we will do that and go look at some shops and then probably walk around the lake. Not sure! But it makes me really want to go boating or surfing or just jump in the water! but I can't:( but I can in a year! :) 

Our house is sweet! We have a full kitchen, a 2 car garage, a living room, a laundry room, an office, a workout room and our bedroom! We each have our own bathrooms!! That's the best part!! We have the biggest house in the mission!! So it's sweet and it's nice and clean! Which makes it even better!!! 

It's really nice being surrounded by all the pine trees and all the mountains! I miss the mountains so much and now I get to live in them! I love it here!!

Well I gotta go get busy!! 

Love,

 Elder  Bradley Riley

                                                 Brad's new companion Elder Jolley

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Brad's weekly email July 22, 2014

Hello all:

Okay, well today I hit my 11 month mark!!! That's crazy insane!  I look back and think that flew by!~ but I look ahead and say well I got another long year! But its crazy that I am already at a year! (almost)

Well this past week was not a bad week. We did a lot of service this week. I painted ceilings almost every morning in that same house that we are remodeling! So my neck was really stiff yesterday!  

We met this guy on Friday. I don't think he is too interested but he's still a really fun guy. His name is Chief White Eagle. He is part indian so that kinda makes sense, but half of his house burnt down and so we were seeing if he needed any help.  He didn't want any but he did say that we could come over again and talk to him! He has tons of crazy war stories so he is really interesting to talk to!

We went and saw one of elder Hasenauers old recent converts and they are really struggling and are having a hard time but we had a great time seeing them.  I was able to share my testimony with them and to help them in a way that they will be able to see things from a different perspective. They are awesome people! We are actually going to go to Cascade with them next Monday and we will go fishing so that will be fun, but we are helping them build a shed and we will do that on Wednesday and that will be a good quality time to talk about important gospel topics and hopefully get them to see how important the gospel is in their lives.

On Friday we went to a rodeo with a family that is investigating the church and got to spend some good time with them. It was nice I think for them to see that we are there for them and there to build a relationship with them rather than seeing them as just another number.  They said that the missionaries in this area about 9 months ago just wanted them to get baptized and that's all that they would talk about with them and just basically didn't treat them very well, so I think things are headed in the right direction with them.   They should be moving along great within the next few weeks,  but I want to visit with them as much as possible because transfers are on August 4th. Not sure if I'll stay in this area since I have been here for three transfers, so we will see what happens!

Today (p-day) we are gonna go fishing again and we are going to go to Black Canyon and try and catch some trout! So that will be fun!

I am still trying to lose some weight, but it gets hard cause there is so much good food.  But its okay I am losing weight and I am feeling good!  I am going to keep it up so I can be more healthy and be able to feel a lot better!

Well that's it for this week sorry it's kinda short, but we will see what happens next week!

Love you guys!!

Elder Brad Riley

Brad's email 7-2-14

Okay so now that my busy day is over and we finally made it to the library to email, we have been really busy today.  We have been doing a lot of service and today we textured walls in an entire house my shoulders are really sore. Yesterday was a good day of fishing! We didn't really catch anything but we were able to spend some time with an investigator which is really good! We had some really good conversation and we were able to get to know him a lot better! We went to lake Lowell and fished from the dam. I only caught a little baby bass and then a tiny trout but it was still a fun day! I bought some fishing gear yesterday and ended up buying a new pole and reel... I didn't really need to do that but I don't want to worry about breaking or ruining someone else's pole and I will be doing a lot more fishing with our investigators.

We are going this Saturday with an investigator and we are going cat fishing and some salmon fishing so it should be fun we are going to Payette! So that should be fun!  It seems to really be working the fishing thing with investigators, mostly the guys.  It gives us two on one time with them and they can't leave. haha.

This past weekend we had a baptism and it went sooo good.  We were able to get some other investigators there and they said they felt something that they have never really felt.  It went really good. The musical number was really really good it sounded professional and the baptismal ordinance was good and the spirit was for sure felt. The talks were really nice too!

This week is supposed to be busy and now that I can wear closed toe shoes people are wanting us to move them and do a ton of work!! But it will be okay I like doing service it nice and gives me a chance to do some hard labor haha and help get those less active active again.  Well right now that's really about it!

love you guys!!

Elder Riley