I Love DC (Short and sweet)-Nov 16, 2015

Hey everyone!!

We went to downtown DC today which as you know means I don't have like any time to email. 

But I am alive and safe and I still love you all!! 

More next week!! :)

Hermana Riddle <3

Such a short letter but lucky for us she sent a lot more info on her email to us.  She has been using her P-day's recently to work out some things for college and also to take care of things for an opportunity that she has to teach English in Mexico when she returns from her mission. I'll talk more about it in an upcoming blog:)

Long time no talk:) November 9, 2015

"Hello everyone! 

So I know it has only been 4 days since my last Pday, so I am going to make this short and sweet.

These past few days have been super awesome, I have grown a lot-- but also super hard at the same time, and I'll tell you why...

I have seen many people slowly start to lose their testimonies. I have seen many people start to lose their faith. And it breaks my heart. I feel as though the Lord is beginning to go through a sifting process, and the ones who really have solid rock testimonies are the ones who are not going to slip through the cracks. I am grateful to be here on a mission, and to have been able to be blessed with the opportunity to recognize my weaknesses and use my freedom to choose to change them. I know that EVERY single one of us has been given this blessing, or this gift, to be able to choose between right and wrong, and it is up to us to decide if we are going to use that, the ONLY thing we can really give back to God (our will) and align our choices with the ones that our Savior Jesus Christ would make if he were on the earth today. 

This week I encourage you all to find your faith. Find your testimony. Confirm your beliefs, and confirm them with God. And as you do so, write them down. Write them down so you never forget how much God loves you, and how much He has blessed you in your life. 

I love you all, and will talk to you all next week!! Take care!! :) And happy Turkey month!!

Hermana Riddle :)

This is Amy, one of the cutest little girls you will ever meet. She wanted to paint my nails.. and can I tell you they are a "hot mess," as she would say ;)"

Here are a few other things she told me in her email to me referring to questions that I asked.  Sorry if it's a little choppy...

"My past few days have been good, I mean wow I can't believe it is already Pday again! ;) Things are going great with my new companion, she is so sweet!! I love her!! She is from Farmington, UT, and she's super fun! She is a Christensen and comes from a 9-kid family! She is the 8th and ALL of them have served missions so far!! Cool huh??  Haaa.. sometimes I feel like I corrupt all my companions because I am such a freak.. but whatever.. she does Miranda voice now too.. you BEST believe it. :)"

Yes there are 6 of us going home in April.. but there is actually only 1 hermana coming in when hna mcmillan and moberly go home.. so that means that they will have to shut down an area (which will probably be one of the hermana areas here in Sudley, probably ours.. because we are the only ward in the entire mission that has 2 sets of sisters..) but it would be REALLY hard to shut down this area so I am wondering if they will take the Peruvian sister who came in last August and have her be an Hermana!! That would be SWEET. So yes, all will have to train when we leave.. which means.. I dunno if they will have Sister Training Leaders then???

Ok, total missionaries in our mission? Around 200 and something.. it used to be at like 260 but they are trying to get it to around 210.. I think we are pretty close to that now!! But over like a third of our mission, like close to half have been out 6 months or less!! We have a baby mission right now! Going through a lot of changes and training!! 

The Spanish program is like SO OLD compared to that! Cuz the newest Hermana we have came out last MAY!! Yes we do know the English missionaries.. kindof alright.. I know certain ones more than others.. but mostly just as a Spanish Program we are really close.. practically everyone knows everyone.. I am not sure how many Spanish elders we are allotted.. I will put a pic of the most recent pic of Spanish forum on iCloud so you can get a feel for the size of the Spanish program.. minus two sisters.. and I think 2 elders as well. 

We have English, Spanish, and Mandarin speakers in this mission. Our mission president served his mission in Taiwan, Mandarin speaking but he said he can only have small little "how are you" convos with them and that is it.. he doesn't really remember it.. but yeah, we only have 3 Mandarin companionship's though.. it was just one trio until this week- we had three new come in so now all three of those elders are training!! The Mandarin program used to be a LITTLE bigger than that but not by much.. it has kindof decreased in size as well."

I thought those were some interesting details to hear:) Below are a couple of pics. The one with her on the teeter totter is with her new companion:)

Halloween and more-Nov 5, 2015

"OK. Well, it has been a while since my last Pday so a lot of things have happened!

1. My companion went home :(

2. I got a new companion, who has the same name, Hermana Christensen!! :)

3. I am starting my 5th transfer (in missionary time that is a long time) in the same area

4. I have been out over a year and have only served in 2 areas

5. Halloween was this week

6. October ended

7. November started

and

8. We had a General Authority (Anthony D Perkins of the 70) come and speak to us!!

There were obviously a lot of other things that happened this week as well (#lifeofamissionary), but there's just not enough time to explain it all!! I am sure you are all wondering what missionaries do on Halloween so I'll tell you.. well, what we do here in the DC South at least.. Well, Halloween night is just not a good idea for missionaries to go out proselyting, so we went to the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency's house as a zone to watch the Cokeville Miracle.. for those of you who have not seen it.. WATCH IT. Some of the acting is a bit cheesy but you'll just have to get over it. It brought almost all of us to tears, it really has such a good meaning! There were quite a few people in the room who had family members that were actually involved in the true story it is based off of. So that was a fun experience! Then on Monday (which is why we didn't have Pday until today) we were able to hear from a General Authority and learned so much!! We talked about fulfilling our purpose as missionaries, and the true importance of what we do!! It reminded me of a recent Spanish Forum we had in September where we were challenged to take a Spiritual Inventory of our life every so often.. these are the questions involved in a spiritual inventory (and I invite you all to do the same).. I am going to change them a little bit so that it doesn't just apply to life as a missionary, but to all of you!

1. Do I say my prayers individually every day with sincerity?

2. Do I study the scriptures every day?

3. Do I make an earnest effort to let my family (individually) know that I love them?

4. Do I make sincere plans/goals long term and short term?

5. Do I discipline my thoughts? (practice a mental discipline)

6. Do I try to let ALL of God's children know how much I love them, based on action?

I encourage you all to take a spiritual inventory of your life, and if there is some need for changing or refining, excellent!! That is what we have the gospel for!! To change and refine us and to help us become better!!

Do something nice for someone this week, and remember to SMILE :)

Hermana Riddle :)"

Riah told me this week that her ward mission leader and his family are moving to West Valley on December 5th! How exciting!  We are so excited to meet them and get to know them better. Riah has been serving in their ward for over 6 months so it will be fun to talk to them about all of the missionaries and the work that has been going on:)

As Riah mentioned above, her companion went back home to Oregon.  She said it was really rough having another companion go home.  She said she cried and that it is really hard to have them leave.  She said that she learns so much from the experience but she does not want to "kill" another comp. (For those of you that don't know what "kill a comp" means..it just means that they send them home from the mission).  So far, Riah has said that she still keeps in touch with the ones who have gone so that's been really good.

Lots of pictures this week..here are some of them!  She is having a wonderful time out in DC!

FALL IS HERE :) Oct 26, 2015

"Hey everyone!!

This past week has been super crazy, we have had a ton of random things this week!! It has been super fun though!! So Monday we went to DC and went to the Holocaust museum, it was really sad.. :( 

Tuesday we had Spanish Forum, which is just a big meeting the Spanish program gets to do every transfer, and I played a musical # (for those of you who were at my farewell, I played that version of "Come Thou Fount" ;)) 

On Friday we had a noche de hispanidad (Night of Hispanity? Hispanic Night.. yeah, Hispanic Night) which is basically just a night where everyone brings food and music and presentations from their countries and there are tons of tables set up and there are performances on the stage, it really is so much fun!! The missionaries participated in the Peruvian number and we came out and lip-sunc (sanc?) a song as if we were tourists.. it was complete gringo Spanish it was pretty funny... Then we had a member's son represent America and he did a hip hop dance.. dang, for those of you out there who appreciate hip hop you would have DIED!! It was super good!! 

Then on Sunday at church was the Primary program where all the kids sang, it was  super cute, I has the privilege of being able to play the piano for them, the spirit was definitely so strong!! Then Sunday night we had a Charla Fogonera (fireside), where people who have recently been baptized or are recently returning after not going to church for a while come and share their experiences and their testimonies, it was awesome! I was able to see a lot of people from my old area in Springlake and say hi to them, man, the people here really are just so awesome!! I love my mission!!

Welp, transfers are this week, and my companion, Hermana Christensen, is going home.. that's two in a row!! I will definitely miss her!! :( She will do great things tho!!

Thank you all for the love and support you provide, you are all incredible!! 

Next week we will be having a member of the 1st Quorum of the 70 come and speak to us, so our Pday is going to be next Thursday, so if you don't hear from me until then that is why!!

Scripture of the week: Moses 6:33-34, 39.. Inspired by my mom--look it up, read it, ponderize it!! #walkwithGod :)

Love you all!! Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!! :)

Hermana Riddle <3"

I asked Riah how the weather was there and also what her plans were for Halloween.  I was wondering if they still still wanted them to go out and teach that night. Here is what she said...

"It has been pretty cold here, I have had to break out the tights an boots some of the time.. and definitely jackets.. it really looks like fall here though!! I really can't believe Halloween is this week though either. My last Halloween was spent in the MTC! Weird!! Yeah, for Halloween we will just get together in the church buildings as zones after 6:00 pm and probably watch movies or something.. we don't know yet, we will probably find out on Thursday though what is happening for that.. Yeah they don't want us out though.."

She also mentioned that there is one other Hermana from the Spanish program going home along with her companion on Friday.  She said that there will be 13 Hermanas left and they are only allowed 12 Hermanas in the Spanish part of the mission.  In December (next transfer) they will be losing one more Hermana and that will leave them at 12.  Then in January they lose 2 more to bring them to 10 so she thinks they will be getting 2 more Hermanas in Jan but has no idea for sure until the time arrives.  They haven't had any new Hermanas for over 6 months I'd say..maybe longer. Riah's trainer goes home in January and she just can't believe it!

Riah said that they have people that are ready for baptism and that want to be baptized but one of the biggest challenges in the Spanish program is transportation to church and actually getting them to church because a lot of them work on Sundays.  So..please pray that they may be able to get something arranged for her investigators to be able to get consistent transportation to church and/or that they may be able to find a way to get Sundays off. 

Stories!!-Oct 19, 2015

"Hello everyone!

Short on time today because we're taking a trip into DC again but just let you all know I love you and am thinking about you! I pray for you all everyday!

Ok, so real quick, this past week was awesome.. It was kinda sad cuz my comp and I got sick a little bit but hay que luchar right? We still managed to get a lot of work done, we had a zone service on Wednesday and it was super fun but also really painful! Let's just say we are covered in bruises and cuts.. We had to clean up a bunch of trees and drag them forever to a big pile to have them made into mulch, it was hard but fun! Doing service always makes you feel super accomplished!!

Haha but yeah ok so then later this week we had a zone finding fest, where we just went out and tried to find people to teach and that is it! So we were standing at this one door and my companion turns around and was trying to explain to me the numbers of the parking spaces and how they correlated with the house numbers and right as she turned around she stepped down a stair and didn't realize and just PLUMMETED down them!! It was SO FUNNY I felt so bad but seriously... For those of you who know who raggedy-Ann and Andy are.. That's what it looked like.. ALL the way down the stairs! Haha I wish I could explain it better.. She probably really appreciates me telling this story but oh well.. Haha #weekfullofwounds

Well, not much more time today, sorry this letter isn't super uplifting but--scripture of the week: (ponderize scripture from the past week) Moroni 9:6 "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God."

We are all in a "tabernacle of clay," so to speak.. This life is the time for us to prepare to meet God, and this life is a molding place to become who God really wants us to be!

Take care everyone, until next week! :)

Hermana Riddle"


Here are some pics that she took in DC and a couple of others :)

Happy Ponderizing!!-Oct 12, 2015

"Hello everyone!!

So today I'm pretty short on time, but I just wanted to tell you all how amazing you all are!! I am so grateful for all the wonderful friends and family I have.. and YES if you are reading this that is YOU. :)

This week has been amazing, we have seen so many miracles!! Although we live in a world of confusion and chaos, we can still find peace, and that is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through this gospel and through His infinite Atonement we can do all things!! I can honestly testify that the more I have dedicated myself to the work that the Lord would have me do I am SO MUCH happier. I have found so much more peace as I avoid the "things of the world" and focus on the "things OUT of this world," if that makes sense? Haha :) 

So for those of you who watched general conference and know what the word "ponderize" means (80% ponder and 20% memorize), I would like to re-extend you the challenge that Devin G Durrant extended to us all to ponderize a scripture every week! It will make things a whole lot easier, I promise!! ((If you haven't seen/read the talk just highlight this website and go here:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/my-heart-pondereth-them-continually?lang=eng&media=video#watch=video 

My scripture for this week to ponderize is Moroni 9:6. "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God."

What a beautiful promise!! Our souls will be at peace and we will be able to rest forever in God's presence after this life, if we will just labor diligently in the work of the Lord, and help everyone to recognize their full potential and divine worth :) I love finding promises of the Lord in the scriptures, and I love being a missionary.

Welll, It's time to go now, but take care and have a good one!

Happy ponderizing!! ;)

Hermana Riddle <3

PS we had nerf wars today for our zone activity.. it was pretty intense.."

We recently had the missionaries at our house to watch conference and one of them was in the Spanish program here in our area.  I asked him how he felt about learning Spanish in an English environment and if he felt that he been able to learn it well.  He told me that it was a little difficult here but that has been able to learn it just fine but that there is a lot of switching back and forth. So..I asked Riah how she felt her Spanish was and this was her response...

"Haaaa Spanish? I honestly feel like it could be better but that's how everyone always feels haha..  I have Spanish dreams, not all the time, and I think in Spanish not all the time.. I dunno, it's hard to explain because here you are so constantly back and forth between English and Spanish that you just have to learn to switch between the two "brains" quick if that makes sense!! Like at the beginning of my mission if someone was talking in Spanish and then went English or vice versa it was so hard for me to switch over and I just didn't understand one or the other! But yeah that's what a lot of people have said that an advantage of serving in the states is, is that you learn the language but you retain it a lot better cuz it's not a culture shock really and just becomes part of your life and isn't cut cold when you go home, like you can still think in both English or Spanish.. DEFINITELY though I will be speaking a lot of Spanglish when I get home cuz I can't tell you how many times I forget a word in English and can only say it in Spanish though.. haaaaa...." 

Here are a few other things that she shared in response to some questions that I had for her about her investigators...

"I don't really have tons of time but we have an investigator on date for baptism the 24th of Oct! Her name is_______ she is so cute!! And we will be putting some more dates on our investigators this week, we are seeing a lot of progress!"

"Right now we are teaching more non-member than less actives.. I would say we teach between 10-20 lessons a week, just depends on the week though!" 

"As far as area coverage, we each just have sections of the ward since each Spanish ward covers the whole stake boundary.. #divideandconquer.. so no we don't all just have free range of the whole stake haha :)  Our Spanish program is downsizing a bit so most Spanish wards have 6 missionaries (3 companionships) but us and Little River have 8 missionaries. They will shut down one more as well this transfer since we have 2 hermanas going home and none coming in.. so yup! We'll see what happens!! They could shut down one of the hermana areas here in sudley, but I doubt it cuz it's huge.. it'll probably be little river.. the elders in our apartment complex are elder justesen and coburn... I will send you a district pic when we take one ha!! :)"

Sorry if that was a little choppy!  I had to cut parts of it out for the privacy of the investigators.  She specifically asked if we would pray for her investigators and even though I can't give you names we would love it if you would still add her investigators to your prayers:)

Here are a couple of pics that were taken in celebration of Riah hitting her 1 year mark last week. We sent her a cake, frosting and candles for her birthday that she could make on her own time because we knew that the members would spoil her with cakes on her birthday.  So..she saved the cake and made it to celebrate her 1 year birthday in the mission!! In the pic with the cake the Hermana with her is Hermana Mugleston and she was one of the 6 roomies that Riah had in the MTC and went out to DC with her. They are serving in the same district so they got to celebrate their one year together:)

Follow the Prophet!!!:) Oct 05, 2015

Her group email

"How is everyone this week?? October is here! Holiday season is beginning!! :)

I hope most if not all of you were able to get a chance to listen to our Prophet, apostles, and leaders of the church speak this weekend in general conference!! It was SO AMAZING! If you didn't go watch it on lds.org RIGHT NOW. 

I just want to take a few moments to share a few of the things I learned from general conference :)

I want to start out with a thought I LOVED from Von G. Keetch's talk.. he starts to talk about a group of surfers who were super upset because a big barrier/net was placed over the area they planned to go surfing on their vacation.. well, as they continue to complain an older man comes up and gives them his binoculars, and to their astonishment, the see a bunch of dorsal fins of sharks and quickly learn that the area is not safe. The man walks away and says, "Don't be too critical of the barrier--it's the only thing keeping you from being devoured." THIS IS SO TRUE, and can be applied to the gospel.. there is a scripture in the Book of Mormon in Helaman 15:7-8 that says:

"And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth, and to know of the wicked and abominable traditions of their fathers, and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them--Therefore, as many as have come to this, ye know of yourselves are firm and steadfast in the faith, and in the thing wherewith they have been made free." 

The words of our prophets are RIGHT before us. In the scriptures, RIGHT in front of our faces, as well as the words of our modern-day prophets and apostles, whom we were able to hear from this past  weekend!! :) Going back to the part italicized in the scripture, that is the beauty of this gospel.  It may seem like a restriction at first, but once you come to have more experiences you will realize how blessed you are from the decisions you have made, and will literally be made free from the bonds of despair and guilt as you come to know your Savior and draw closer unto him. So going back to the quote, "DON'T BE TOO CRITICAL OF THE BARRIER--IT'S THE ONLY THING KEEPING YOU FROM BEING DEVOURED." We need to look closer and realize WHY the "barriers," so to speak, or the laws and commandments are there. And if we don't quite understand why that is a certain commandment or law at first or why we have to keep it, it is better to just not go past the barrier, and to just obey it--it will protect us. 

Second of all, we need to not be ashamed in doing this. Like Gregory A. Switzer said in general conference we must not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because this is what brings the means of salvation. We live in an ever-changing world in which its popular things are getting further and further away from the true purpose that we were sent here to fulfill. Often it is not comfortable or convenient to stand up for Christ, but it is a CRUCIAL point--when we stand up for him and what we believe in at those moments, that is when the Holy Spirit enters into the hearts of those we are speaking to, and gives them the desire to change. We can be such examples of followers of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives through action and through example!! 

Well, I could go on and on about general conference, because really, those people who speak to us and give us messages are INSPIRED human beings!! I love this gospel and I know that we have a living Prophet, whose name is Thomas S Monson, who leads and guides this church along with the help of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 apostles. If you haven't had the opportunity to listen to all of conference yet, please do!! You will receive so much guidance for your life! I promise!!

Well I love you all, sorry this is so long, but take care and have an awesome week!! :)

Hermana Riddle :)"

Comp Shirts!! :)

Below are some other pictures we received this week.  Looks like the Hermanas are ready for Halloween!  Also, at one point Hurricane Joquin was projected to be headed toward Virginia so the missionaries were gearing up for a big storm. The path of the hurricane changed- thank goodness, and the storm didn't turn out to be as bad as anticipated.  Check out the attached video that Mariah sent regarding the storm:)