April 29 - Bradley Riley

Hello Everyone!

So this past weekend we had a baptism and it went great! There were so many people there it filled the chapel it was nuts! But it was a really nice baptism! His name is Braden Lenz and he is 12 years old and he will be the first one in his house to have the Priesthood, so that's way cool!

We got a lot done this week! We were able to teach a few new people and they seem like they are pretty interested! We found this one family and their last name is Riley! haha The parents are never home but we stand on the doorstep and talk to the kids! They are pretty interested! We gave three of their kids Books of Mormon and one of the girls really likes it! She took it to school with her and is reading it there! So I can't wait to get in there and talk to her family! We did meet their uncle! He is pagan so he believes in witchcraft and stuff like that! He was an interesting fellow!

We are currently teaching a little girl, she is 10 years old and she wants to know more. We have gone over just 2 of the lessons but she really likes it and wants to be baptized.  Her mom wants her to be baptized but in order for that to happen she has to attend church twice and she hasn't so that's tough and her Mom doesn't really enjoy church that much so its a struggle! But we will get her there so no worries!

Now we are trying to get this one investigator to stop smoking so he can be baptized but he's having a hard time quitting. He likes to smoke too much so that kinda suck but he comes to church every Sunday and he says that he really likes it! So he's gonna keep coming! I'm hoping someone will say something in a talk or lesson that stands out to him and he will then know how he can put away his bad smoking habit!

Well that's about it for this week! Thanks for all the support of my family and friends and the ward! 

Love - 

Elder Bradley Riley

Brad Riley April 14, 2014

Hi all!

This week went all right! We got another baptism date and we are excited about that! We had a couple lazy days this week where we didn't get much accomplished but we still taught 21 lessons this week and picked up a new investigator! So we were pretty stoked about that cause we found him while tracting and we are hoping that he will continue to let us in!

This past week we picked up another ward the 8th ward and so that will keep us really busy! Plus now we have 6+ hours of church each Sunday, but that's okay! It will keep us busy and on track! (mom insert:  Is this my son talking?!!)

We are excited to start riding bikes this week! It will save us miles and plus gives us a chance to see people doing yard work and we can help them! So that's good.

So I don't know if you know this at all, but as some of my friends and some of my family I am a 49ers fan and this week we were teaching a samoan family and while we were there this kids brother-in-law walked in the room and it was Mike Lupati. He is one of the top  guards in the NFL and he is less active but he wants to be more active and learn more so we taught him about Joseph Smith in a little more depth! But he is so cool and a lot bigger than me! haha

Well that's about it! Love ya!

-Elder Riley-

brad and Mike Lupati.JPG

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Brad's latest April 7, 2014

Hello!!

Just got transferred and I am in a car area and we are trying to save miles so we are going to start riding our bikes, so that means I need to get it fixed! Our new address is 25612 Kingsbury Road, Middleton, ID 83644.

Okay this week has gone by so fast! We worked our butts off and I am so tired! Ae committed someone to baptism and he will be getting baptized on the19th of april! So we are pumped for that! My companion Elder Weston and I have made a goal of getting more baptisms this transfer so it gives us something to work for!

We are in a car area and it's nice to be in a car again haha but we live 2 miles outside of our area, so that's kind of a bummer! But the place where we live is pretty nice! We have a small kitchen and a small room and a shower that's about it! But where we live is nice! We have this pond in front of our house and there are hundreds of frogs in it so we get to hear that all night! haha

General conference was all right, but the best part of it was priesthood session! It was so good. I think that it was the best one that I have ever heard! I highly recommend watching it whether you have the priesthood or not! There we a lot of really important things said that really stuck out to me that would really help us in our missionary work!

There was something that was said in conference that I really liked! "Be persistent even in the face of discouragement". I have a huge testimony of this and how the Lord will bless you if you are persistent and another thing is to have courage. Courage is so important as members of the church! We need to be able to stand up for what we believe! I testify that this is the true church everyday and I have seen the blessing of it! So have the courage to stand up for what we believe!

I am so grateful to be serving here in Idaho and for the help I have received from Heavenly Father and being able to be tools in his hands! I have personally seen peoples lives change because of this gospel and I have seen families become closer and more united because of it! I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and am so proud to be apart of it!

Thank you to all that have been there for me and helped me get to where I am now!

I love you all!

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Bradley Riley

Catherine Aldous, March 2014

From Sister Catherine Aldous:

We found some amazing new investigators this week. K was walking
her dogs when we were walking back from unsuccessfully contacting a
referral. We "talked with everyone" and started a conversation with
her. Over the course the conversation, we learned that she has been
wondering to herself what her husband will be to her after this life.
It's hard for her to accept that he would just maybe be another spirit
to her and that their relationship would not continue after this life,
but that is what she's been taught her church. She said "I guess you
don't have an answer for that, but is something I'm thinking about."
Do we ever have an answer for that?!! We were so excited to share with
her the doctrine of eternal families. We will be taking her to a
lesson in our church building tomorrow morning. Moments like that make
me so happy to be a missionary. I realize the kind of traditional doctrines that
people have a hard time with that have great answers in the Restored Gospel.

We also started teaching in 18-year-old high school senior named J.
His girlfriend is a less-active member in Washington. He was excited
to take a Book of Mormon. We are also teaching a spunky old lady name
S. She pretty thoroughly understands what we teach, and she
really tries to understand. We will be giving her a chapel tour on
Wednesday. She even understands the apostasy, and called it a "cycle".

We were part of an incredible miracle this week. A few weeks ago, we
had an evening appointment with our stake president and his wife, who
are in our ward. They learned that I played the organ. He asked if I had
played in the 18th Street building. I said how much I loved it. The
man who built that organ is now extremely anti-church and Mormon. It's
really sad. His daughter and her family live with him and his wife.
His daughter is the Relief Society president. His wife is a faithful
temple attender and a lovely member. But his daughter can't even feed
the missionaries in his home, because he gets so upset about it. I
don't know what happened, but it's a really sensitive situation. He's
definitely a "do not contact."

Pres. Barnes how did the idea that I could approach him as a musician rather than as a missionary. I
mentioned it to his wife and she asked him. We were shocked at what
resulted. I had envisioned simply going to their home for maybe fifteen
minutes and asking him about his experience with the organ. Completely
unexpectedly, he agreed to come to the church building and actually
show me the organ. He has not been in that church for possibly
decades. But in addition, they invited us to come to dinner with
them. This is the man who less than a month ago was sneering his daughter
for feeding the missionaries. On Friday night, we met them at the
church building and he spent almost an hour showing me pipes, the back
door and repair areas, and so much about the organ.  Then, almost two
hours taking us to dinner and giving us another appointment. It was
an incredible miracle.

T was baptized on February 9. He loves the Church and feels that God has led him here He loves having "technical" discussions with us, not to bash but because he loves to understand. For example, he wondered why we don't use wine and unleavened bread in the sacrament, and was completely satisfied by the answer in Doctrine & Covenants 27. He said, "There it is in black and white."

An excerpt from Catherine's journal:
"Experience is the prize of mortal life, the gift of God, the result of agency. Through it I learn the good from the evil. This life of experience is only a good thing because Jesus Christ is the Savior. Without Him, agency and experience would be condemning in their consequences.

"From Hymn 195:
'How great, how glorious, how complete
Redemption's grand design,
Where justice, love, and mercy meet
In harmony divine!'

"I don't think I have felt this grateful to my Heavenly Father before. I love Him! And I love my earthly parents for their role in bringing to pass my immortality and eternal life. A mission would be totally worth it, if only to have this moment of perspective, understanding, and gratitude."

Elder Jansen Hall - March 31, 2014

Hey Yall!

This week was another normal week here in New Albany. The weather is still hot and cold. And there is nothing to much different then the news we got about transfers. Transfers are on Wednesday, Me and Elder Black will both be staying. O there is something else that will be different. Ill see if yall can pick up on it;)

But this week like I said has been another normal week. We contact in the stores...... Well really only Walmart. We tried to contact in some of the other stores like piggly wiggly, dollar general, save a lot and their was a total of about 5-10 people combined in all the stores. I couldnt believe it. We have tried going to the park, maybe 1-5 people there. haha i dont know where everyone is hiding. We would tract but this place has been tracted out about 12 different times haha but we are hanging in there and trying to find those that need and want the gospel in there lives. We pretty much walked and biked all week which it was good to get out and be seen by everyone passing us on there cars. One thing thatll be good is that we are getting a set of spanish speaking sister missionaries. Thats good for 2 reasons. One is because there are a ton of hispanics in our area, 2 because there have been a lot of people that dont like Elders but said if we had girl missionaries they would listen to them.

One thing we have been focusing on really hard is trying to strengthen and build up a base for our branch so it can actually grow. We have been working hard with less actives, recent converts to strengthen and help them. We are trying to get the branch excited about missionary work so that they can have the courage to invite their friends. We have been working hard with the branch president and trying to come up with ideas on how to better help the branch. One idea that we have already put into place is starting FHE in the different areas. One thing thats unusual about the New Albany Area is that there are only about 2 families actually in New Albany, there are some in Blue Mtn (about 15 miles north of here), some in ripley (about 22 miles north of here) some in holly springs and potts camp (about 20-30 miles away) and with limitation on how many miles we have and how little the towns are its hard to find people, but anyways back to the FHE. We are going around to all the little towns and with some of the active members we have their we are doing family night. We are hoping as we do this that 1. The members will come, have fun and feel the spirit. 2. Invite others less active, non members, and others to come. and 3. be able to help the branch grow this way and find people to teach.

So thats pretty much been the week. FHE, contacting, trying to start Book of Mormon studies with recent converts. Life is good though. I wish I could tell yall some funny or interesting stores but for now I dont have any. I will hopefully have some soon. I just wanted to let yall know about a 10 step process to help you improve yourself in any aspect in your life. What ever you want to improve on do these 10 things. They come from my favorite chapter in PMG. Chapter 7, Learn the Language:)

1. Be patient with yourself. 

2. Be dedicated in your study. (Read AND ponder the BOM every day and it will help you with anything you will be doing) 

3. Memorize scriptures, poems, quotes. (This may seem silly or a waste of time, but Elder Richard G Scott has promised us that memorizing things gives us power) 

4. Record words or phrases you dont know in a notebook and look up the definition. (this will help you continue to learn new things every day) 

5. Actively listen (to others, to leaders or teachers or parents, and most important to the spirit!) 

6. Ask others to help you. (We all need help! Just ask) 

7. Dont be afraid of making mistakes (they are gonna happen. If your not afraid, once they do happen you can get past quicker and more easily) 

8. Learn with your companions, family, friends. (Be able to teach others, and be able to let others teach you) 

9. You need to actively seek it. (It being whatever your trying to improve on, you will not obtain whatever you seek without effort on your part) and 

10. Trust that the Spirit will help you as you live the way you should and do your very best! (Have faith and everything will work out:))

These can all be found in PMG pgs 128-133. I know that if you apply these 10 steps into improving yourself they can help you! You will improve, and see success more rapidly. You will be happier and also have fun.

This is kinda random but the other change this week is that im adding the "G" back onto my words haha I had a good talk with president Hanks about it:) but anyways hope yall have a great week! Love yall so very much and know that yall are in my prayers every night! Remember to be Happy:)

Love Elder Hall

Elder Isaiah Williams - March 31, 2014

Well this week was another blur. But lots got done. We're finally getting to know more and more people as we settle here in Arlington Heights. We have about 9 investigators, and continue to pick up more as we go throughout the weeks. There's lots of part-members and less actives here in the ward. Most of our investigators come from them. Which is good. I love teaching families. This week I've asked a couple of them if we could come over and do family home evening with them and most of them said heck yeah. Our goal is to show them how the gospel strengthens families.

   

I know being on a mission is all about serving others but as I teach families that don't have the gospel, I think In the back of my head of how I want my family to be. I see all the little things I want my family to do. I want my family to be glued together by the gospel. The gospel really does strengthen families. I've seen all the many blessings that come from it. Families seem to be more happy, loving,

and united. And who doesn't want that for their family!?!? Haha

The weather was bipolar this week. -_- it snowed, it rained, then Sunday happen to be 62. Haha it's annoying because we can't check weather forecast or anything so I never know what to wear! The area is finally starting to turn green after about 6 months. The golf courses look dead, the streets are all cracked because of the snow plows. They look like radiator springs after Lightning McQueen went through it. Lol I feel like I'm off roading most the time.

    

I'm honestly past the "Greeny" stage, but I still get called it all the time. I'm gonna start telling people that I've been out for a year. -_- maybe they'll stop. I think I'm seriously learning things to fast. Haha there are missionaries here that I tell stuff too and they are like "what the heck, how did you learn that so fast I learned that

when I was a year and a half out". I'm a genius, what can I say. ;) haha jk the spirit has been REALLY good to me though! One of my favorite times of the day is my personal study time from 8-9. That hour goes by faster than any hour I've every experience. I may have been disobedient once or twice going over. Psh haha jk way more times then that. But that's what repentance is for. I love the gospel. I have lots of things revealed to me from time to time and it makes me a

better missionary,  better teacher, and a better person. I love the role of the Holy Ghost!

   

This might sound weird but I'm afraid to come home. I've never been in this state of mind before. I've never felt the Holy Ghost so strongly in my life before and I know when I get back it's going to be really hard to feel this way. With the world being the way it is. Being busy with work and school. It's like almost impossible. But it is possible!

     

The members in the ward are finally getting pumped about missionary work. It's cause I bore my testimony on it and everyone feels bad haha but hey if that's why they come I won't be mad. They will get blessings from it anyways. Eventually they'll see why it's important.

     

We had a guy come out with us the other day. And me and my companion knew that he was beyond nervous. He is a convert of 20 years but never went on a mission. He volunteered himself to go out but didn't really know what he signed up for Haha we got to a house and before we get out he car we ALWAYS say a prayer. We prayed that he spirit would be with us all as we approached the house that we would know what to say when they came to door. We build his confidence with that prayer. And you could see it in his smile. He walked up, rang the doorbell and me and elder Jensen stepped back. Haha he was like "what are you doing!?" I said you got this! I was standing behind him. It was night time. As the investigators turned on the lights and came down stairs (in a onesie). He said "get from behind me, she's gonna think a big black guy is holding me hostage or something"lol. She opened the door, said she wasn't interested and slammed the door in his face. Surprisingly, he took that as a badge with of Honor. He just needed to go through that. He still had his confidence and wasn't afraid anymore :) we went to other houses and had little success. But at the end of the night he told us he LOVED the feeling of being out with us sharing the goodness of the gospel. Now I'm not saying go get a door slammed in your face but go out with the missionaries! There are hearts being prepared for YOU to bring others to Christ also. Missionary work isn't completely stopped but it's basically at a stand still, and it's not going really anywhere UNTIL members get involved. Numbers would double, even triple if members were involved more. so do more. :)

     

We do this activity in the ward. It's called gospel and goodies. As you can tell, it wasn't us that picked the name. It was the sisters before us. The missionaries conduct it. It's any activity that we do every other Wednesday. Members come and they HAVE to bring a non-member friend. It's a good way to get investigators involved in church in a more normal scene. We play games, eat goodies, and then the missionaries give a spiritual thought. We've only done it once but it seems to be pretty successful. It reminds me of a regular singles ward Famly Home Evenings.

     

K, so everybody can probably see that I have Facebook now. I promise it's authorized. It's one our biggest proselyting tools. So I'm not being disobedient I promise. Haha umm anyone can message me on it, I probably won't message you back, but I CAN read it. :) anyone can post on my wall as well. For the most part try and put a message that would make someone closer to Christ. Same thing with pictures, if you tag me in a picture or anything make sure it's missionary minded as well. :) if anyone has any spiritual messages, memes, or anything throw that bad boy on my wall! Like my spiritual posts as well, So I can get 100 likes! Chea! Jk haha so my post can make it on your Facebook and have someone whose not a member see it. So the more likes the better. It's missionary work, so don't let these opportunities past you by. At all times we should be building someones faith. So why not do that to multiple people at once. There's tons of losers (Sean Kleiman) lol out there who have nothing better to do but be on Facebook. ;) give them something to scroll down and see!

      

Anyways, this is my letter for the week. :) I hope everyone is continually building their faith as well. Continue to be examples to those who are watching, cause there's people creepin all the time. Study Christ like attributes and apply those in your lives. Send me emails! So I know how everyone is doing! everyone have a great week!!!

I'll end with a spiritual note.

In Alma 41:7. I highlighted the last sentence in that verse. Read that verse. And keep in mind that it's ok to judge ourselves. Everyday have a self-evaluation. Ask yourself what am I doing wrong, what can I change, how can I help. Read alma chapter 5! There are evaluation questions that alma asks. write them down on a piece of paper and take the test. When you get done, ask am I ready if Christ comes today??? Hmm we are our own judges, and we decide now, here on earth where we want to be after this life. Everyone gets rewards. If we do great, we get a great reward. If we do good we get a good award, but if we suck beyond all measure, what kind of reward do you think you'll get? Think about it. :)

- Elder Williams

TRANSFERS AGAIN- BRAD RILEY

Hey guys!

So this week went by quickly especially because transfers are today! I get a new companion and am going to a new area.  I'm going to Middleton, Idaho.  I am trying to zone out what people have told me about him... so trying to keep and open mind.  This week was good.  We had some time to do some service for an investigator and we went to his house and pulled out some carpet.  We asked him if he needed any help with anything else and he said that he didn't, but I didn't believe him, so I asked again and so he said he has 4 trees that need to chopped and the stumps pulled out! So we did that and I rebuilt the carburetor on his riding lawn mower and cleaned it so it would run properly! This man's name is Chuck Manly and he is awesome. He is not sure about going to church and big crowds and so we were almost there and then we get transferred! But Brother Manly gave me a nick name (Paul Bunnion) he says I could swing an ax a 1000 times before I get tired haha.  I pulled the stumps out like they were nothing! Well it helps that where the trees were planted was in the sand so it came out nice and easy! 

We were able to get 3 families to come to church yesterday and all of them were non-members.  It was so nice to be able to come and see what we do during is helping church activation and the best part was it was fast and testimony meeting so hopefully they felt the Spirit! 

On Saturday we had a baptism and her name was Jia Jia.   Her dad baptized her.  It was really cool to see because he has been waiting for this to happen to his family for a few years and now she is baptized and they will be getting sealed as a family next week! You know that is one of the best moments as a missionary, ya its nice to see them get baptized... but that's only the first step! The second step is getting them to the temple to be sealed as a family forever and all eternity! That is one of the greatest moments in a missionaries life! You know you helped change their life.

Conference is coming up and I am excited to watch it because I missed the last one! So I am excited to see what will be said and how it will change the view on some things I'm sure! Hopefully they will say something about the women who want the priesthood and will be put in their place. I don't think their head is in the right place! haha

Well I gotta go but I will talk to you guys next week! see ya:)

love,

Elder Riley