Some Ups, Some Downs

Virginia had its first snowstorm that "stuck" and Mariah says that it is BITTER COLD in DC! She did mention though that it has been a pretty mild winter so far compared to what she was expecting. She says that it snows often but it hasn't been sticking to the roads so it has been nice for driving. She is now the designated driver as her companion didn't want to be the one driving around in the snow and bad weather. (Her companion is from Vegas where they just don't have weather like that). I actually think Mariah welcomed this first snowstorm.  I personally haven't realized how much I have missed snow until we haven't had much of it this season. Below is a picture of Mariah in front of her apartment building while it was still snowing.

A couple of weeks ago Mariah was told who her new Mission President will be.  His name is David Huntsman. He has eight kids and is the brother of Jon Huntsman Jr. who was the Governor of Utah. She hasn't met him yet but has heard a lot about him. She asked us all to pray for him and his family as they get prepared to move to the Washington DC mission in July. She is sad to lose her current Mission President because she just loves him so much but she knows that the new one will be good too. She is looking forward to meeting him:)

Missions always have ups and downs like that and it was sooo sad to hear that Mariah had one of those downer times just recently.  But luckily for Mariah, that downer moment has turned into something positive. Here is what Mariah shared about the sad/happy experience...

"One of our investigators, (Name), who is 15 years old left back to Puerto Rico this morning for forever. We stopped by his house last night to say our goodbyes and give him a new Book of Mormon that we had written our testimonies in as well as some of the members of our ward that were close to him. We were super close, so it was really sad to see him go. He is an awesome kid, I hope the best for him and have faith that he will make good decisions in his life"  

This investigator is the one that they had a baptism date for a little over a month ago and he was getting a lot of flack from his family (especially his grandfather), about the church. His grandfather said that it was of the devil and they wouldn't support him in being baptized. So, after there was nowhere else to progress they had to let him go as an investigator.  She was so sad about it.  He still continued to go to Mutual and Church activities so they still had contact with him. Right before Christmas break she and her companion did a Family Home Evening lesson for a family in their ward and they invited this investigator and his father to the lesson. Mariah mentioned that his father refuted some of the stuff they were teaching but she said that the spirit was so strong and that it turned out really well. So, over Christmas break this investigator and his little brother went back to Puerto Rico to visit their mom (I guess they both have been living with their dad in DC). Mariah was hopeful that after this investigator returned from Puerto Rico he would be able to commit again to baptism as she was able to see his father soften a little during the FHE lesson.  But, when he returned from Puerto Rico he came back to say that he had to go back and live with his mom :( In her letter to us she shared a little more detail about how it all went down when they said their goodbyes. She said, "(Name) flew home to Puerto Rico this morning, and so we visited him last night and gave him a new book of Mormon that Hna McMillan and I, and a bunch of the members in our ward wrote our testimonies in in the extra white pages in the back. It was REALLY hard to say goodbye, for both us and (Name). I definitely cried a bit after we left, and he said he would probably cry later that night and on the airplane. We met his little brother a few times, they both came to church yesterday, and his brother is flying home with him too and he just cried when we were leaving. It was so sad."

She told us that they shared all of their social media account contact info and she gave us his info so that we could accept the friend and follow requests for her. They promised to stay in touch after Riah gets home from her mission. As for now, all they can do is send a referral to the missionaries who live in his area in Puerto Rico. I hope he can find a way that he can still be taught. BUT, upside to all of this, THEY ARE NOW TEACHING THE LESSONS TO HIS DAD and he has told them that he wants them to keep coming back! Riah has asked us to pray for him because he is having a hard time with his sons moving away. He misses them terribly.

After sharing this sad/happy news with us it was so awesome to read that Mariah's testimony has continued be strengthened even though there are ups and downs. And although things didn't turn out the way that she had hoped with the investigator that returned to Puerto Rico, she understands that it's all in the Lords hands. Here is the testimony she shared with us: “I know that the Lord watches out for his children!! Whether or not you are searching for the gospel, the Lord will find a way to help you come to the fullness of truth and joy this gospel can bring! I believe everyone has a different moment in their lives in which they are ready to receive the gospel, it is so amazing to see God's hand in everything. I can't even wrap my head around the greatness of His plan, but I know that He knows what is best for us, and that if we will just ask with sincerity for help on ANYTHING, He will be able to provide a better answer than anyone else could on this earth because He knows all things and He knows what is going to play out.” 

Mariah just had her first baptism on Jan 18, 2015. He is 9 years old. His parents are not members but Riah is hoping that they will listen in while they are doing the follow up lessons with him. This little boys uncle is in their ward so at least he has someone to attend church with. Below is a picture of her and her companion with her first convert. There is another baptism scheduled for the 31st of Jan. Details will be posted on the next blog.

Mariah absolutely loves her mission! She tells us all the time what an awesome experience it has been for her. So, to end this blog I thought I would share with you what Mariah has to say about her mission in her own words.  She says:

“I love the mission! I love mission conferences, district meetings, being able to study and teach, the members, meeting new people, and just everything, but most of all, establishing my relationship with Christ, and figuring out where I truly am in my conversion to the gospel. I know that at this point in life it is SUCH a selfish world, it is getting pretty crazy out there, and I have to admit before my mission it was starting to suck me in. Being out here on my mission has really taught me what it means to focus and give up your time to do something completely self-LESS. Rule of thumb for life is that as you are doing things for others, you end up helping yourself. It's just like that old Chinese proverb that goes something like.. Once you have stopped to help someone else's boat along the way, and you get them to the other side you look back and realize that you have made it too. It is such a neat thing to think about, AHH I love this gospel!”

Washington DC Temple Display! YAY!

I was so excited to learn that a new model of the Washington DC Temple was put on display in the temple visitors center in DC.  Mariah just happened to go there with an investigator 3 days after it was revealed.  She didn't know beforehand that they had built the display but said that it reminded her of home when she walked in and saw it.  She mentioned that it reminds her of the one that they have on display of the Salt Lake Temple on Temple Square.  Check out the pictures of the display below. BEAUTIFUL!!

I have attached the article that shares some info about the display.  It mentioned that there are many people who see the temple from the highway and stop to see the building.  A lot of people are disappointed when they find that they are not able to go inside.  So, hopefully this model will be able to satisfy their curiosity somewhat. Hopefully they will be able to at least understand that its not secret, just sacred. Click the link below to view the article.

Article about the new Washington DC temple display

Happy New Year-Week of Dec 29th-Jan 4th

Wow!  I feel bad that I didn't post anything from last week.  Life just gets sooo busy.  There is a lot lot of stuff to share.  Mariah sent her SD card home last week with a bunch of pics, so for this post I'm just going to share some pics and her group letter along with a few things from her letters to us last week.

Here is her group email that she sent..

Hey everyone!! Crazy crazy week this week!

Ok, for New Years we ended up having to just be together as a zone because our mission president didn't want us out doing other things cuz it's to dangerous. So, we got together as a zone, played tornado, and watched How to Train Your Dragon 2!! (Yes, Ammon, I knew you would like to hear that :)) But yes! Aw man it was so good. So yes, New Years was super fun and then the next day we had return and report which was AMAZING. It was for all the new missionaries who came in 6 weeks ago. It was a super inspiring and uplifting meeting, where part of it our trainers went in one room and we stayed in the other and we all just got to complain about our companions for like 20 mins and then say some good things about them. Honestly, I really didn't have anything bad to say. My trainer Hna McMillan is AWESOME. She is literally an angel sent from above. Some of the things I was hearing I was just sitting there like, "wow, I am so grateful, that would be so rough." But, we all learn in different ways I guess. I know the Lord must know I have too tender of a heart for some of that stuff. The missionaries in our mission are amazing, though, and so is our President. He really makes it so much fun! Ha after the meeting we all went into the gym and pres wanted to play a quick game of tornado so all us missionaries got in on it too, it was fun.

OH and I also got facebook this past week! I got a new one because I could take a long time to explain to you why but it is just better to do that for missionary purposes. So, my name is Hermana-Mariah Riddle on it, and yes you are all allowed to friend me haha :)

Ok, so a few take-home things I wanted to share with you all from the return and report meeting we had.

7 P's-"Proper Prior Planning Positively Prevents Poor Performance." Just ponder that one. :)

And another thing to meditate on, a quote from President Benson that I just LOVE. "When we put God first, ALL other things fall into their proper place OR drop out of our lives." Most of the time it is hard to try and determine what we need to add to our lives and what we need to get rid of in order to have the most fulfilling experience we can have on this earth. But it is that simple! Put God first, and everything will just fall into place. I love that.

The past few weeks I have also been playing the piano for primary which is SUPER fun. I love it. Seriously, like every week I am so stoked to go in there it reminds me of the calling I had back home a bit before I left as the primary pianist. The kids are SO CUTE. But it's rough because as missionaries you're not really allowed to like pick them up and all those sorts of things just to avoid legal problems coming up on the church's name. Which is fine, I understand. But definitely coming back to visit this area after my mission :)

Well, I love you all and hope your days are going great!! I'd love to hear from some of you I haven't heard from in a while just to check up on how you are doing!!

Always remember to SMILE!! :)

Hermana Riddle

Ok, so I didn't really take that many pictures this week, BUT. This one is from a little café we went to that a member gave us a giftcard to called Potbelly. I dunno if they have them out in the Western United States but it's actually pretty good!! :)

Transfers were on the 8th of January and Mariah and her companion didn't have to go to the transfer meeting because they are staying together for at least another 6 weeks while Mariah finishes her training.  Yay..I am so glad that she gets to stay in the same area for now because they have about 5 investigators that are progressing toward baptism.  She said that they have a lot of other investigators that they are teaching as well. What a blessing it is for her to be teaching as much as she is. Also, as you can tell from the above letter that she and her companion get along so well. I am so happy that they get to stay together. Who wouldn't get along with Mariah though?? 

Mariah said that this with this last transfer they were probably going to be shutting down some areas because they don't have as many people coming out to the mission and some are going home. So, she mentioned that some of the missionaries might get transferred over to the English part of the mission for a while. Some of the missionaries have gone back and forth from English to Spanish. She is not moving to English at this time though. Next transfers are on the 19th of February.

I asked Mariah how far people have to travel to church in DC and she said that there are quite a few church buildings around.  Of course it is nothing like Utah, but she said that in her area she thinks that the furthest that the English speaking people would have to travel would be about 15 minutes to get to their chapel. But, because the Spanish ward covers the whole stake she says that some people have to travel about 45 minutes to church. Wow!! We are so blessed here in Utah.  We really have no clue! Mariah said that her church starts at 2:00 PM and so by the time they really get out of the building its around 5:30 and dark.  CRAZY!!

Well, I have so much more to share but I will share it on another post from this new week.  For now, here are some of the pics that were on her SD card that she sent home:)

FROM THE MTC

   

 

 

  


FROM WASHINGTON DC

  

Not sure why the spacing is so funky in the last pics from DC but oh well..you get the gist.  The picture where she is kneeling on the ground with all of the stuff in front of her shows all of the stuff that she received for Christmas from everyone!  I just have to say...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all of your support! Thanks to those who sent money, cards and packages to her for Christmas.  She feels extremely blessed to have such amazing family and friends and so do we:)

Merry Christmas from DC!

What a Merry Christmas it was to hear from our beautiful missionary! She is doing fantastic! We didn't get much info in her last email to us other than all of the instructions and such as to when she would be calling us!  On her last P-Day she was busy making, buying and wrapping presents for her family and those in her ward who have done so much for her. And..just so everyone knows, it sounds like she got all of the packages and cards that you all sent to her. (At least all of the ones that I knew about from you contacting me for her address). She showed us a picture of everything she received from all of you and I could not believe how spoiled she was! Thank you so much for thinking about her!  She was just totally overjoyed with the thoughtfulness and generosity from so many of you! We cannot thank you enough for being such an awesome support to her!

Below, I attached a few fun pictures that we got from her this week. Its so awesome to be able to "see" what she has been doing!  Mariah is definitely sharing her zest for life with those who come in contact with her!! 

      

  

Mariah said that she feels so blessed to have a car.  One of the pics above shows the car that they drive around every day. They named it Franklin..haha. She has such a large area to cover and says that they would not be able to reach the people that they need to without the access of a car.  She is especially grateful to have the car in these winter months because it is sooo cold!! 

I loved the simple, meaningful things that Mariah shared in her last group email so I'm going to post it below so that you can read it in her own words.

 "Hola todo!!

How are you all?? I feel like some of you have fallen off the face of the earth, I wanna hear from you!!

This week has been pretty great!! We went on exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leaders, and I had to lead the area for my first exchange. It was kinda scary to think of at first, but I got over it real quick. So Hermana Quinones came and stayed in my area with me (Springlake Stake)  and Hermana McMillan (my companion) went over to Bellavista Stake. It was fun, I learned a lot!!

My Spanish is progressing, slowly but surely. Day to day it feels as though it is not getting any better, but when I look back on my notes and things from week to week, it is improving miraculously! Weird how that works, I'm not even going to try to wrap my head around it.

So we have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday, one of our investigators, who is 15 years old. He is an awesome kid. We recently discovered he is barely outside of our area though, because we were teaching him in a member's home that lives in our stake. But one day we had to go to his apartment because the member was out of town, and we realized he doesn't live in our stake!! SO figuring that out has been quite a hassle, but hopefully we can get everything worked out!

During this season of "El es la Dadiva," or "He is the Gift," I have really been able to see the true meaning of Christmas and how much my savior means to me. Without him, we would be stuck and not be able to progress eternally. Through his example, we can be baptized and through his atonement all of our sins can be forgiven. All the sorrow, pain and guilt we feel can be washed away, through the amazing gift of our Savior. Let us all remember him in this time, and remember how blessed we are to have a knowledge on this earth of the true gospel. The knowledge that through Christ, we can gain eternal life, and that through His mercy we can return to live with God and our families again forever.

I love being a missionary, and every day it seems as though 18 months is a shorter and shorter amount of time to really dedicate my service to the Lord. There are some hard days/hours, but the only way we can be built up is to humble ourselves before the Lord, and realize that when it really comes down to the Grand Perspective of things, we CANNOT possibly do what we need to do on our own. We need that divine guidance through the spirit. We need to make the best choices we can possibly make, for this life is short. We need to have Charity. We need to serve. WE NEED JESUS CHRIST.

It is my prayer that you all go about and remember the true meaning of Christmas, thank you for all the love and support. You are all truly amazing, I love each and every single one of you! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Riddle :)"

Mariah sent a package to our family for Christmas! How thoughtful! It is a blessing that she is in the United States and that we can count on the mail system to send and receive things! We LOVED the stuff that she sent to us! Our kids trade off giving to each other each year at Christmas and Mariah had McKayla as her person to give to this year. The gift was just absolutely perfect for McKayla! It was so awesome though for all of us to get a special gift from her that reminds us of where she is:) The pic below shows the stuff that she sent to each one of us! 

In the package she included a letter to our family and she wrote a special message to each one of us.  Oh how we will all cherish the messages that we received. Mariah is such a beautiful daughter of God. We just love her so much! Also, included in the package was a card from her companion. I am going to attach what her companion wrote because it really paints a picture of the relationship that Mariah has with her companion. See below.

Here is a video that we recorded from our face time conversation with Mariah on Christmas.  She wanted to say "Hi" to everyone and thank all of you who have been so supportive of her. I can't get over what a cutie she is!  

OK now..funny story. Mariah said that in her apartment complex they have 2 sets of sister missionaries. So, just one other set of sisters besides Mariah and her companion. Because the sisters have been receiving a lot of letters and packages the mailman has gotten to know them pretty well.  Mariah said that he is Vietnamese and is the sweetest guy. If one set of missionaries isn't home he will drop off the packages with the other set and leave a note on their door to go get them. And then of course if no one is home he will leave the packages at the office. One day Mariah and her companion received a package that was actually a present from the mailman! He gave them a bottle of wine and some glasses haha! He gave the other sisters the same thing! Mariah said that she was so appreciative of his thoughtfulness and said it meant a lot to her that out of all the people he delivers to that he would think about them at Christmastime. Although he gave them something they wouldn't be able to use, (he of course didn't know that they didn't drink wine) Mariah said that she will cherish the nice gesture and keep the glass forever!  I am not sure what they did with the wine but Mariah mentioned that they were able to meet up with the other sisters for a bit on Christmas Eve and they all used the glasses the mailman gave them with some sparkling grape juice:) The pic below shows the gift. (If you didn't know the story behind this, the picture would tell a totally different story..haha).

This post would be so long if I told you everything that we learned by talking to Mariah on Christmas- so, i will just say that she is absolutely loving her mission! She loves her companion and loves the people she is serving. She receives confirmation over and over again that she is where she is supposed to be, doing what she is supposed to be doing. We see the blessings each and every day that come from her dedicated service to Lord.

This is one HAPPY FAMILY!!

The work is hastening! #sharethegift

On the LDS missionaries Facebook page they posted this beautiful picture of the Washington DC temple. Seeing this temple just brought me so much peace and I felt such comfort in knowing that Mariah is serving the people out in DC so that they will ultimately receive the blessings that are found by attending the temple some day. It just made me feel a little closer to Mariah even though she is far away. What a tender mercy! I am so grateful for those little tender mercies that we can feel each day.

This week has been such a busy crazy week so I will just share a few things with you from Mariah's recent letters to us and then attach her group letter. Hopefully I'll be more on the ball next week to share more.

Mariah says that her Spanish is coming along well and that she can carry out a pretty meaningful conversation.  She said that her companion had never taken Spanish in school so that is why her and Mariah were at pretty much the same level of speaking when Mariah got there.  Mariah's companion has been out 3 months longer than her.  She mentioned that they usually train the new missionaries for 12 weeks but says that she thinks hers will be 13 weeks because this 1st transfer period will be 7 weeks instead of 6. 

We received more detail about those that she has on date for baptism and for others that she is teaching.  We would love it if you would join us in praying for her and her investigators. We know without a doubt that prayer works and that we can offer her that help from back here at home. She said that both of her baptisms that were scheduled on the 13th didn't go through. One was the investigator that she talked about last week. (See last weeks blog post) The other was just re-scheduled because they need to teach her a little more.  

The next baptism that is scheduled is on the 27th of December and I believe it is a 16 year old girl. Mariah describes her as the CUTEST, soft spoken girl who prays and reads all the time and is super content with her baptism date. She is not the one that was re-scheduled. I'm not going to to put names on here for privacy reasons because Mariah will be a Facebook missionary in a few weeks and she will be able to "friend" her investigators and they may have access to see the blog. We'll have to figure all of that out when it comes. I might have to make the blog private..ahhh..we'll see.  Anyway, she has another 15 year boy on date for baptism and says he is a super cool kid, and that he wants to serve a mission and everything. They are also teaching his sister and she hasn't accepted baptism yet but she takes all of the lessons with him. 

She had another little girl who is 9 on date for baptism and said that she is just SOLID! She said that she understands everything and that when they teach her something new she can just spout off why it is important. For example, this is what Mariah shared about her, in her words..."The other day we taught her about tithing and I shared with her the impact that it has had on my family. She was like 'AHH I need to do that!' Without us even needing to extend an invite, haha she's cute." Mariah said that she is not on date for baptism anymore because her mom wants her to learn the Catholic religion first and then make a decision. She doesn't even think that her mom is Catholic but I guess she just wants her to learn about another religion. The little girl told Mariah that she doesn't want to learn about the Catholic religion and Riah said that she is just super anxious to be baptized. Mariah mentioned that the girl is really good friends with a family in her ward and is always at their house. Member missionary work at it's finest:) So..for right now, they are just waiting for her to learn about the Catholic religion too. Meanwhile, I think they are still teaching her.

Mariah gets fed by members each day which is great!  This is what she said about the food though.."The food is better than the MTC but- we get fed SO MUCH MEAT! I have never eaten so much meat in my life, it makes me feel heavy and sick. Ha, so at home all I eat is like chocolate milk and fruit, and little snacks." Even though she is in the US, she gets fed food from so many different cultures because she is among Spanish speaking people who are from all over the world.

Here is Mariah's most recent group email..

Hola everyone!!

Ok so I'm sitting on the metro right now writing this to y'all headed to downtown DC!! There's no wifi though so this'll send when my iPad connects ha.

Ok so funny story that happened on Saturday. I have never been so astonished to see a library in my life.. So we had just gotten finished with teaching an investigator and we needed to find a library in Fairfax to send our weekly report.. Our gps was finding like all these libraries outside our area or areas that were too far to drive (we can only go a certain amount of miles each month), also that is the pain of not having Google on the mission but oh well.. Anyways, we were like I guess we should just pull over some where real quick and look on the gps for somewhere we can go like fast food to connect to wifi to sync our iPads.. So my companion Hermana McMillan just makes a random turn into this place down the road behind all these trees and we are driving up the side of this big building. All of the sudden, she's like.. "Is this a LIBRARY?!" It was. Chantilly regional library.  Our gps did not have that on there. So yep, I was laughing my head off as you can imagine because I apparently think everything is funny that really isn't, and so we go in and get our report done and leave. Ahh man, the Lord works in mysterious ways.. Ha it was funny because she just turned the car on a whim and we end up at this library!! Anyways, that story was probably a "had to be there" moment but I thought it was cool.

Picture at the "Miracle Library"as Mariah calls it

Ok so I just wrote this first paragraph before DC, but we're headed back now so I'll finish up this email! Man the benefits of having an iPad. I thank the Lord for it every day! It makes things so much easier!! But yeah, DC was super awesome, we went to the Washington monument today and the Lincoln memorial. We were going to go to the museum of natural history (you know,the one from nights at the museum:)) but it was SO NICE outside today!! Haha we met up with my MTC companion, which ha funny, her companion was my companion's MTC companion!! Hope that makes sense, but yeah so we decided to do the monuments today because the next opportunity we have to go to DC will probably be cold outside!!

 

Well, the work is hastening, I can attest to that. We went to our mission Christmas conference last Friday as well, and President Stephen Stutter talked to us, he is a man very high up in the political world.. He was one of the top 5 men under President Bush, super cool!! He was a mission president in one of the California missions, and he is the "go to man" for the prophet when he needs visas or anything that has to do with the government.. He told us some pretty cool stories that'll have to wait till I return home from my mission but yeah. Basically the gist of his message was to not have fear as a missionary, because the moment you have fear, you are not called to the work. Faith and fear cannot reside in the same heart. He shared a story about some missionaries that just kept getting thrown out ((like LITERALLY thrown)) off this guy's porch, and how the mission president wanted them to go back even though the guy said he would kill them if they came back. Their president told them, "what better place to die than on your mission?"..so they went back and moral of the story the way he heard the story was at this guy's baptism. Wow.

This gospel is amazing, and I see little miracles every day that strengthen my testimony that I KNOW this is the true and correct way God has created for us to follow on this earth. I KNOW that this gospel can touch a person's life in a way that no other "worldly thing" could possibly bring. I am so grateful for this opportunity to dedicate my time to the Lord in this moment by serving those that I come in contact with.

Thank you all so much for your love and support, I can't express how much I appreciate it! Remember the true meaning of Christmas, and remember to #sharethegift, for HE IS THE GIFT.

¡Feliz Navidad! ¡Les amo muchísimo!

Con amor,

Hermana Riddle 

Here are a few more pics that she sent to us this week. The group picture is all of the Hermanas who serve in the DC South Mission. I am sure that she will be able to be companions with many of these sisters. I am so grateful for technology and the ability that we have to hear and "see" each week what she is doing. Enjoy!

              

2 months down! Work is tough but baptisms are scheduled!!

I love getting updates from Mariah but it is difficult to hear of the many struggles that missionaries face. It is so comforting though to know that they are in the Lord's hands. It's also nice to know that there are members where they are who feed them and help take care and watch over them. Mariah recently had dinner with her district at her branch mission leaders house. All of the missionaries received stockings that a ward Relief Society in their Stake had made for them. How nice! Below is a pic of Riah with her stocking..(cute missionary) and then a picture of those in her district minus one group of Elders.

Mariah says that her and her companion are learning a lot together since both of them haven't been out very long.  She is getting more and more comfortable with her Spanish and she says that the people in her ward can’t believe that she has only been out of the MTC for such a short time because of the way she speaks.  I guess all of those Spanish classes in school really paid off!

She has really had an eventful past week. Here are some stories from her most recent email. I love how it's just some quick detail to let you know a little about a lot of things that she has been doing. 

In Mariah's words..

"Ok so I have a few stories. First-I got attacked by a dog. Well, no, not really, well actually kindof, but it completely ruined one of my boots so that's ok. Ha the owner didn't really do anything about it but oh well, I'm fine I don't really care! Second- we have been teaching English classes for service every week at the church to people who speak Spanish, which has been really fun, I love it! Third- we had a baby blessing in our ward last week that we forgot to mention, and he did it in English, so the mom like rushed and handed us paper and pens to write down everything we could remember during the blessing, that was a cool experience! Fourth- We had a weird experience where this sweet old lady member that we went to visit wanted to give us a drink, and I am pretty sure she was drinking coffee but says it wasn't. We looked at the label and I am pretty sure it was, she was just like, "Nooo noo! Esto es Nestle!" haha so she made us this herbal drink instead that she dumped a bunch of sugar in, and the water (I hope it wasn't water) that she poured in it was like yellow, so we just didn't ask and drank it anyway. It wasn't too bad. But I dunno, she was breaking up cheese chunks and putting it in her "coffee" so we were just kindof whatever with it haha :) She is SO SO sweet though!!

Ok, last story. So yesterday we had stake conference and when we walked out of our apartment our car was gone. So we looked around a bit and then realized that we had parked in a reserved spot. It was dark and rainy the night before and we couldn't see it. Yeah. So that means someone called on us. It's weird though because all the reserved spots are just randomly throughout the parking lot, there isn't like a specific section, yeah our bad. So we had the sisters who lived across the street from us drive us and then ended up finding out after church from the front office where they had taken our car. So we broke the Sabbath and the sisters drove us to the tow center where lo and behold was our car, and it was $185!! OUCH!! We split the cost though, but still. We felt bad but we have such a huge area of coverage since we are in the Spanish program so we kinda need a car.. it's all good, though."

Mariah always sends a written letter home to us each week as well. It just gives her a way to go into more detail about what she is doing and answer all of our questions:). In her last letter to us she said that they have 4 people on date for baptism and one more person that she feels is really close.  Two of the baptisms are scheduled for this Saturday the 13^th of December. She has been blessed to teach A LOT of lessons so far. This is what she said about her teaching in her last letter…” Missionary Work is more just teaching to the needs.  So I mean, we still teach lessons but only according to what they need. So we kinda still go in order but it’s different for everyone. It is so cool. You can seriously feel God’s love for everyone and you just know what they need when you are in tune with the Spirit!”

She feels so blessed to be able to share the Gospel but says that missionary work is not easy. Her vision is clear though and she knows why she is out there serving. Here is something more that she shared with us in her last letter…” This past week we have gone tracting a bit and we have had doors slammed in our face, like literally. I didn’t know some people could be that rude- OK, I shouldn’t say that- but it was kind of depressing cuz you build up this courage and love/desire to share something with someone and they just completely and utterly reject it-OUCH! But it’s ok, we just have to remember that in the war in Heaven we FOUGHT for agency. We FOUGHT for those people to have the ability to choose. Whether or not they feel something, just as us, it is THEIR decision to act on it. So está bien, (meaning-‘it’s good’) It just hurts sometimes. Bless my companion, such a tender heart, she can get really discouraged at times cuz she isn’t used to tracting as much, so when we started doing that more and having people reject us, I just have to remind her that it’s OK and to keep our heads up because as long as we have the spirit with us and know that we are doing God’s will, we will be blessed and all will be well. Because who was rejected without measure? CHRIST was. Christ was betrayed by HIS OWN apostles. HIS OWN friends. HIS OWN acquaintances-crucified Him. Unimaginable! So, it’s ok-we just keep going! God sent us here to find those souls who are prepared to receive this Gospel. Every day I realize more and more how glorious God’s plan is for us, and how grateful I am to be the Lord’s representative right now, here, at this time. Read (Alma 17:10-17)”

On Fast Sunday our family fasted and prayed for Mariah and her investigators.  We sent her an email to let her know that and asked her if she would give us specifics about some of the people she is teaching so that we can pray for them specifically.  In Jared's email to her he mentioned some of the things that he would share with his investigators that he was teaching on his mission after they had committed to baptism. One being that the adversary will work extra hard on them because he does not want them to be baptized. Jared told Mariah that he would share the experience that Joseph Smith had while he was searching for the truth. How Satan tried to stop him because he knew what great vision and blessings were ahead. Below is Mariah's response to the email... I took out the name of the investigator just for privacy reasons.

"So yesterday was our mission fast. You all didn't know that, but it was. My diabetes has been acting kinda weird the past few weeks with changes and all, so when I fasted last week it was kinda rough but I still did it. I wasn't able to fast this week because of that, and it's almost like you fasted in my place, not even knowing that, through the spirit. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Oh, and it even gets better. Last night I was praying for one of our investigators. He is 15 and we have been teaching him for a while. He was taught even before I got here, and has already changed his baptismal date a few times. The other night, we kinda got chewed out by his uncle (you know latino homes, there are always a ton of fam in the house), not necessarily chewed out but told like it was. He came over as we were teaching (our investigator). (Our investigator) has kindof stopped progressing as he used to be Pentecostal and his grandfather still is. We were told that his grandpa, every time after (our investigator) had a lesson with us, would come in and tell him that we were of the devil and that this is the devil's church and he is getting sucked in. His family environment has made it really hard for him to keep commitments, and on and on I could go about this, but what it comes down to is that he is super confused and being torn every which way. So we have been praying SO HARD for him. Last night, after we had kindof come to the conclusion with him that we had to let him go, (which was HEARTBREAKING for us and him, he still is going to activites and everything tho cuz he likes it) and only stop by every so often, I was praying so hard. It was like during my prayer I got this revelation that I needed to share that part of the first vision about Joseph Smith being overcome with opposition, and that whenever we are about to make SUPER big decisions in our life for the better, there will ALWAYS come opposition for us as well, because who doesn't want us to be baptized? Satan. So I had the EXACT same thought come to my mind and I knew it was an answer to my prayer, so much I was almost weeping, I can't even describe it. So when you sent that in your email today I could just FEEL it and I KNEW! God has a plan for us, he really does!!"

How neat is that!? God works in mysterious ways.  I am so grateful that Mariah is putting her faith in and relying on Heavenly Father to help her through her mission. Missionary work is not a piece of cake but there is a sweetness to it that cannot be described.

Mariah eating cheesecake from the Cheescake Factory for the first time.
Look at her apartment in the background. Boy she has it rough! Haha