One Nation Under God: Transfers already??-June 29, 2015

Group email..

"WOW this last 6 weeks has just whipped by!! It feels like maybe 2?? Man, this past week though has been super eventful. Such a roller coaster!

Well, we had transfers, and I am still here in Sudley but ok.. funny/sad story. So transfers are always on a thursday, and with transfers our district leader always calls everyone that Tuesday (2 days before) to tell us who is leaving the area and who is staying, or if both are staying/leaving. That also gives us time to prepare and pack and say goodbye/take pics with the people we can the next day. So we get a call on Tuesday night and our District leader tells us that I am leaving!! I had only been here for one transfer and my comp had been here for 3, so I didn't believe him but right before he hung up he was like, "Just kidding, you're both staying!! Buenas Noches!!" And just hangs up. Well, we were super happy!! So we get to transfer meeting and President Riggs pulls out his scroll of names to announce transfers, and when he gets to my district he announces that my new companion will be Hermana Moleli! And then everyone was just shocked, cuz we were told we were both staying! I guess one of the assistants to the president messed up and so Hna Peabody was really being transferred. It was super sad cuz we weren't really expecting that but now she is in my old area which is cool!

So my new comp is Hermana Moleli and she is from Samoa!! She was born and raised in Cali but Spanish is her third language!! She goes home in September, but man we have fun :) Ha, she's awesome!! We also had to say goodbye to our Mission President, President Riggs and his family and it was SO sad!! They are leaving back to Gilbert, AZ tomorrow.

Ok sorry that was probably all not very fun to read, but ooh quick story from this week.. so two days ago Hna Moleli and I were walking and we saw this guy just eating on the back steps of his house and we started talking to him and he is from Costa Rica. He told us that it was so crazy that we came cuz he had just had a dream and Jesus was there in white robes telling him that he needed to look for Him. He said that he hasn't been looking much and feels bad, cuz he just goes to work and then goes inside his house and doesn't go outside at all, but JUST that day he happened to be sitting on his back steps! He thanked us for coming by and was just in awe at the fact that God really is there and cares for each and every one of us, and that He would send two messengers to deliver the message of this everlasting gospel to him. He is really hard to get a hold of since he works all the time, but with the Lord anything is possible!! He knew that that man needed to hear of this gospel at that moment!!

I seriously can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to have this opportunity to be out here serving this mission, experiencing so many different things and discovering myself even more. I am grateful for this opportunity I have to develop my character and to progress toward who I want to become more than ever by the end of this life. I know that the Lord has a plan for me, and for all of His children. This morning as I was studying I came across a quote by Dieter F Uchtdorf, in which he was talking about the pioneers and everything they went through to make it to the Salt Lake Valley. He says "They woke up each morning with clearly defined purposes and goals that everyone understood; to serve God and their fellowmen and to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley. Every day those purposes and goals were clear to them; they knew what they needed to do and that each day's progress mattered."--Who are we when it comes to being a true disciple of Christ? What are our goals? Where do our true desires lay? The part that sticks out to me the most is that EVERYONE understood. Our goals should mean so much to us that people should be able to see that that is something that matters to us and that we are working on. They should see that serving God and our fellowmen is our main objective, by our example and the actions we choose to take. I LOVE this gospel and seriously just can't get ENOUGH of it! There is ALWAYS more, ALWAYS something to learn and ALWAYS more blessings that the Lord is willing to pour out upon us if we will just confide in Him and do the things we know to be true by experience.

May we all remember our true purpose in this life that is so short, but so CRUCIAL to our eternal salvation. May we all remember that even though there may be things going on in the world that are contrary to our beliefs, that the points of the church stand strong, and God's doctrine will never change! I wish you all a Happy Fourth of July as we celebrate the freedom of our country that was so carefully set up under God's hand.

Cuidense mucho, hasta luego!!

Les amo!"

Hermana Mariah Riddle :)"

So..before we got Riah's email about transfers we already knew that Riah's comp had been transferred. Because we see pics and such on the icloud we knew it had happened. Also, I keep in touch with Hermana Peabody's mom and she got an email from her with her new address. The only thing we didn't know was who their companions were. So..because we are stalkers we checked their mission facebook accounts to see which Hermana's they both added to their accounts. We came to the conclusion that Riah was getting Hermana Moleli and that Hermana Mensinger (who was Riah's last companion) was being transferred to Riah's district to be with Hermana Mugleston (who was in the MTC with Riah). And then because we knew that Hermana Mensinger got transferred from Riah's old apartment/area, and we knew that Hermana Peabody was living in Riah's old apartment we concluded that Hermana Peabody was getting Hna Brown (Hna Mensingers old comp) as a companion. Ha! I don't know why we mom's just can't wait a few days for details but we just can't!!

So..I sent the prediction to Riah in an email and this was her reponse..."Yeah, you predicted transfers exactly how it is!!" In Riah's email to me she also said that it was tough to see Hermana Peabody go! How it all happened was just crazy! They had no idea she was leaving and so she didn't have a chance to say goodbye to anyone:( Mariah has been blessed with such awesome companions and she told me that she loves every single one of her companions differently and that she has had so many good times with all of them. She feels so blessed to have had the opportunity to be with so many great Hermanas.

This is something else that she shared with me in her email.."Guess what?!! So Gma Hallidays sister called me last week!! I just got a random call on our phone and somehow she was able to get our number from some elders in her ward.. she had to go through a few sets of missionaries I think but yeah!! Yeah, it is actually cuz she wants to take us out to lunch or dinner and just drive into our area.. I called President Riggs this morning ((pretty sure that was my last time hearing his voice.. so sad!!)) and he said yes that would totally be fine!! Cool huh?" Wow, her Mission Pres is so chill. Glad that she will be able to visit and go out to eat with Aunt Sheila:)

More from her email to me..."The people in my district are me, Hna Moleli, Hna Mugleston, Hna Mensinger, Elder Gonzalez, Elder Gosain, Elder Rascon, and Elder Justesen. Elder Rascon is still our district leader and he has been on his mission for like 7 months, and we have been in the same area his entire mission ha!! Him and his comp are the ones that live in our apartment complex… so we see them at the gym every morning.. awk. oh well. But yeah Hermana Mensinger was BLOWING UP when she found out!! We are actually all spending pday together today so that'll be fun :) But yeah we get to see each other all the time now!! So fun!

Please pray for the T-Fam!! They are coming along SO WELL its just the mom is not really on board with things.. she is kind of hard to figure out.. they also are HUGE into soccer and they play tournaments ALL DAY every Sunday so it's really hard to get them to church.. we have yet to get them to commit to come!! The kids are SO SMART though and they ALWAYS read the scriptures and if we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, we will ask them to relate it back to us and they will tell the ENTIRE thing in DEEP detail and say what they learned from it and ask SO many questions!! They are SO CUTE and SO prepared, so PLEASE pray for them that they will have the courage and desire to stop soccer on Sundays and come to church!! We have quite a few other investigators, one that just accepted to be baptized (S-name) but she just hasn't come to church. I can't tell you HOW HARD it is so get people to just COME to church!! It is so frustrating because they say they will come like every week and they don't show up.. but some say "I'll try" and you try and get a yes out of them and you know they like learning what you have to say and can feel the spirit, it's just Satan works SO HARD on them in between visits that they lose that desire to come! It is so hard but I have faith that everything will work out and in the Lord's due time these people will all make a decision to accept or reject the gospel. It's just kind of up in the air right now.. So, we just keep visiting, keep teaching, keep finding, and helping the prepared people that the Lord has put into our path!!

Riah said that they had a huge hail storm that knocked a bunch of stuff down and they have had a few tornado warnings in the past little bit (WOW comforting)! She says that she loves the rain there in DC but it just make it SO HOT and HUMID!

Here are some pics of the damage that the huge storm did to the deck of one investigators house. A tree fell on their deck!