Going to work as a disciple of Chirst-Week 5

Wow!  Can I just say that I just love Mariah.  Her letters are always so positive and uplifting.  One thing I always do is cry when I read them though.  It is so comforting to know that Mariah has received such a strong confirmation about why she is doing what she is doing.  She gets it!  She knows why she is on a mission! She is committed and ready to share light with others.  Her email this week was very inspiring.  Here is a little piece of what she shared with us...

First of all, I was glad to hear that she is still playing the piano.  From her email she shares..."This Thursday I am thinking about trying out for a musical number to do during a devotional one day with all the missionaries, but I dunno, we'll see. Um. Somehow I got put in charge of the music for our Branch when I got here for Sunday meetings, so now I'm kindof like the "branch pianist" I guess you could say but technically as a missionary you can't have another calling so it's just like "your calling as a missionary with some extra responsibilities" as our Branch President likes to call it. I don't mind, tho."  I remember several months ago telling Mariah that I had a strong feeling that she should keep practicing the piano and making sure that she could still play the hymns. I told her that I had a feeling that she would be able to have that opportunity on her mission. Funny thing was that the same day that I talked to Mariah about this she had that same feeling and while I was gone for a few hours she was at home playing the piano. I had no idea until I mentioned it to her and she told me that she had just finished playing. Next thing you know she got called to be the Primary pianist in our ward and we were like "Oh..that's why!"  Haha. Well, now to see that she is able to share her musical talent on her mission it just goes to show that how important it is to listen to promptings. I am positive that she will have many more opportunities to share her musical talent!

Mariah mentioned in her email that they had to say goodbye to one of the districts in her zone yesterday.  She said it was tough and didn't realize how close they had all gotten in such a short time. Below is a picture of some of her zone.  Are you surprised its a selfie..sort of? Typical Mariah being silly for the camera!

Maybe I should share this other one.  It shows their faces a little better..well kinda:) Here's another!

In Mariah's email she also shared..."This week for some reason the scripture from the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi Chapter 5:13 has been coming up to me personally through one on one teacher conversations or through the spirit. It just keeps coming to my head, and I feel that it really is my purpose for being out here. I feel so much peace from it and a confirmation that what I am doing is the right thing. It says:

'"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."'

I know that Jesus Christ himself wants me here, and that I am not just a missionary. I have been set apart to BE A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST, to represent Him and all that His church stands for. Something that I need to take advantage of. Because these 18 months are NOTHING compared to the eternity that I know exists. These 18 months I have to give all I've got to this mission, because after this, that calling of being set apart as one of Christ's disciples will be released from me, and I won't be able to teach with the same power and authority I have now to share what I know to be true." 

She goes on to say.."This next 18 months, I do not want to just preach the gospel. I know that I have spoken with the people I will be teaching in the life before we came to earth, and that I PROMISED those people that I would bring the Gospel of Christ to them. I do not want to just preach the gospel. I want to go out and save my friends, as Christ has saved me."

What an awesome message! We are all disciples of Christ..she is just lucky that she gets to devote 18 months solely to sharing the gospel with others. I can't think of a better place I would have her be right now then out on a mission.  Of course home would be nice..but her heart is somewhere else, and that is where it should be:) 

Moving on out! Week 4

Week 4- All of the missionaries that were living in the West Campus MTC had to MOVE OUT! She moved out on Oct 29th so we got to hear from her that day as well. I am not exactly sure why they moved out but I believe it was just temporary housing until they got some of the rooms in the main MTC remodeled to be able to accommodate more missionaries.  She and the groups there with her were the last of the missionaries to live in the West MTC; so someone at the MTC took a picture that they are going to keep and hang up in the MTC FOREVER! (As Mariah says..haha) Here is a pic of Mariah and the girls in her district ready to move. Boy do they have a lot of luggage!!

Mariah had an extremely loaded week. She was able to hear from the General Primary President-Rosemary M Wixom.  This is what she had to say about her talk.. "It was AMAZING the things she said, so inspiring!! Also, it's really cool that her and her husband used to be the mission pres and wife over the DC South mission! We wanted to talk to them, but didn't end up getting to, which is fine :) She talked about "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" song in the Primary Children's songbook, go look it up everyone it is SO powerful! We all sang it, and although I have been singing it all my life, the lyrics never really hit me so hard until now. #histruthiwillproclaim" 

It seems as if she did have a little time to snap a few fun pics. Here are some cute pics that Mariah took with some of the sisters in her district.

 

Some feelings that Mariah shared from her email this week:

"Jesus Christ is the example of a perfect life. I know that. With that being said, a perfect life doesn't involve ALL easy things. He went through harder things than ANY of us had to bear, and ON TOP OF IT went through everything that everyone in the history of the world has to bear. (When thinking of this, I feel snobby for EVER complaining of ANYTHING in my life.) Just know that if you are ever struggling with anything, to turn to Christ. Pray for His help and He will guide you. He knows. I know it. 

This life isn't about living for yourself--if everyone in this world revolved around their "own self," there wouldn't even really be people on this earth, we wouldn't be able to even function! SELFLESS sacrifice is what brings TRUE happiness. Just remember that. This is another reason why I decided to serve a mission. I want the happiness that comes from this gospel. I want OTHERS to feel that happiness that comes from this gospel and the selfless sacrifice of our Savior for the world."

Aside from all the silliness....Week 3

So..Mariah's week three email entailed a bunch of silliness!  Its nice to know that Mariah is keeping her sense of humor.  We all knew that Mariah would bring a lot of joy and laughter to her companions and to those she comes in contact with. She really is a funny girl.  From her email she says "Umm.. This week I fell out of my desk because it was unstable and flipped forward.. and yesterday I was doing a headstand in the apartment which I probably shouldn't have been doing anyways but I was with two of the other sisters from my district who I'm super close with and apparently I didn't see the corner of the wall on the way back down and smacked my knee SO HARD. Haha I was dying laughing and so were they but now I have a bruise. It's fine though, one of the sisters was like, "Oh my gosh!! That could've seriously been something on a vine!!" But she got to see it live so.. real good."  

Mariah has always been very entertaining..we miss her happy, silly, personality so it is fun to at least get to experience some of it in her letters. Anything to get a laugh.

Also, in Mariah's email she sent the picture below and said this about it  "mom, you'll think this is funny.. so I sing in the choir but this week I sang in sacrament.. yeah dont even ASK how I got in that predicament, never in my LIFE did I think that would happen, but these are the girls I sang with and the blonde one (Hma Mugleston) played the piano.."

I seriously laughed out loud when I read that she had been talked into singing in the choir,  She actually has a really good voice but never would I have thought that she would have been talked into singing in sacrament with just a few girls either.  I guess the mission has stretched her in ways we never thought possible:)  Also, notice in the pic that Mariah just has to be the silly one....

In her email she also wrote about being able to attend a devotional given by Carlos Godoy from the 70.  She attached the picture below and said this about it, "AWESOME guy.. ha funny story we weren't really supposed to get a pic with him but we'll save that for another day.." 

I'm not sure what happened with that but we received a letter that week that went into much detail about the devotional that she attended.  I'm attaching the letter below so that you can see what an amazing experience she is having in the MTC,  

When we received this letter it just brought tears to my eyes.  It's so awesome to see that Mariah just gets it! She knows why she is out on a mission.  I just can't even express how happy it makes us when we see her walking in righteousness and sharing her light with others. I am so glad that she is growing and gaining a stronger witness each and everyday of the reasons she chose to go on a mission.  As she says that she will always cherish the letters we send to her- I will truly cherish this letter that she sent to us.  If all we got was the email that she sent we would have thought that her week was all a bunch of silliness,  But, aside from all the silliness, you can see that she is an AMAZING girl!!

MTC fun and learning! Week 2

Week #2 was absolutely fantastic for Mariah!  I love, love, love receiving her emails and letters.  I just can't wait until the next one comes.  In week 2 Mariah wrote that one thing she has learned so far in the MTC is to "get over yourself!"  She goes on to say..."It's not about everything you can do, it's about others and what God can do to help those around us come to an understanding of the things they are being taught. This life is the time to prepare to meet God, and we only get one chance! I'm so glad I took that one chance and decided to dedicate part of my life to solely preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and helping others to understand the importance and joy it can bring into our lives." 

Mariah shared something funny that happened to them during the first week in the MTC. She said this about the picture below.." If you zoom it in or hold your screen at a certain light you can see what the board says behind us. So our district wasn't informed that we couldn't do sack breakfasts on Sundays, and you can't enter the cafeteria at the MTC without a dress on, so when we showed up and there weren't any they told us we could just go into the cafeteria and grab something to go really quick just for that day.. um ya. Bad idea. Later that day they informed everyone by writing it on the board before you walk in that "everyone needs to be in Sunday dress to enter the cafeteria," and that there are "NO sack meals on Sundays.." whoops. Ha. We all got a good laugh out of that."

Mariah wrote a letter home the 2nd week and told that she was going to be able to watch "Meet the Mormons"!  She was so excited that she was going to be able to see it as it came out just 2 days after she entered the MTC and she was really bummed about it!  She told us to look up the talks by Elder Bednar on Jesus/Christlike love, forgetting ourselves, and Elder Holland's talk on Missionaries and how its the greatest opportunity in life!! Another thing she shared was that they sang a song "The Sisters in Zion" in Relief Society. She said that she felt the spirit so strong as they sang it.  I am going to attach a link to the story behind the song and the lyrics. The words were rewritten by Janice Kapp Perry specifically for sister missionaries and the tune is still to "As Sister's in Zion" which Janice Kapp Perry arranged the music for back in 1985 I think.  Check out this link..I am certain that you will feel the spirit as you read the story behind it and then read the words to the song:) http://ldsmag.com/article-1-12869/  There are places online that you can listen to a preview of the song if you just search the title of the song.

The picture below is of her and her companion at the temple meeting up with fellow Bingham Miner Braden.  Hence..Mariah and Braden doing the Bingham pick and shovel sign in the picture. Mariah's companion has no clue what that means:)

All in all, it sounds like Mariah is having the time of her life.  We feel so blessed that she has the wonderful opportunity of serving a mission!!

First Day, First Companion, First District

On the first day that Mariah was in the MTC October 8, 2014, they asked her to write a letter home. Below is the letter she sent to us!  All day long we were wondering what she was doing after we dropped her off so I was so glad that she explained in good detail what she was doing. It was so nice to be invited into her day and feel of her spirit. 

Her first email to us contained this picture of her and her 1st new companion. What cute girls!

Below is a picture of her district! They all live within 30 mins of each other and have gotten so close already.  They have plans to reunite after their missions:) 3 of them are going to Washington DC with Mariah though.

I am so grateful that we get to hear from Mariah often!  Modern technology is amazing!  Mariah is having such a wonderful experience in the MTC so far! So good to hear!!

Mariah is a Missionary! To the MTC she goes

October 7, 2014 was the day that Mariah was set apart as a Missionary!  Grandpa and Grandma Ron and Shauna Riddle, Grandpa and Grandpa Larry and Karen Halliday, McKayla, Hannah, Kylie, Ammon, Jared and I were all in attendance. The Stake President (William C Perkins) set her apart.  What a special experience.  I could feel the spirit so strong and as she was set apart I could feel the power of her new mantle. It was a happy, exciting, emotional time.  We took the following picture after she was set apart.  What a tender moment for the big sister to take all of her siblings in her arms. She has been the best example of a big sister,  We couldn't have asked for anyone better to lead the way.  We are so blessed to have her in our family.

On October 8, 2014 Mariah went to the MTC. She will be there for 6 weeks for her missionary training and to learn Spanish.  I was caught off guard at the many emotions that her leaving brought on.  As I was sitting there in tears I thought to myself, "what am I crying about?" I was happy, sad, excited, and nervous all at the same time and it was interesting that all those tears stood for all of those emotions. I felt peace and comfort though in knowing that Mariah is a righteous daughter of God and I trust that she is in His hands and will be blessed for her obedience.

We said our goodbyes at a church that was close to the MTC.  We had to take all the happy pics at first because when the hugs came is when all of the crying started.  Here are some pics of the happy and sad day for mom and dad. 

       

It didn't start with mom and dad crying and it didn't end that way either,  Here are some pics of the rest of the kids.  It was a very emotional day.

    

   

After we said our goodbyes at the church we drove her to the MTC for the "drop off".  We were able to take some pics as she unloaded, we gave last hugs and said goodbye again.  Jared was the last one to get into the car and when he got in there was loads of loud crying from all of us!  I am not sure I have ever heard Ammon cry so hard,,,EVER!  We must have looked and sounded like we were all a wreck!  But after a moment we all started laughing at the fact that we were all crying and being such big babies!  Laughter heals the heart! I promise, we made it through!  Families are Forever! We love our sweet Missionary.

 By the way, this is Heidi if you didn't already know.  I am managing Mariah's missionary blog :)

"Farewell"

Mariah had her mission "farewell" on September 28, 2014.  We were completely overwhelmed with all of the love and support that she received that day. We had people write their names and addresses down and then later sat down to write the names of all of the people who attended so that Mariah could have it for her history.  There were over 150 people that we remembered who came to support her!  What a blessing to have so much support from friends and family!  

As Mariah prepared her talk we would ask how it was coming along and she would just say "You'll have to wait to hear it!"  So, we really had no idea what she was going to talk about because her assignment was just to talk on something in "Preach my Gospel".  She did an outstanding job on her talk.  Her talk was mainly about recognizing and understanding the spirit. Luckily, we have a copy of her talk to read anytime we want. She also played a piano piece by Marshall McDonald entitled "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing."  I will truly miss hearing her play the piano while she is gone but we have recorded her playing some pieces that we will be able to listen to when we feel like we need to hear Riah play:)

Here are some pics from her farewell!  Enjoy!

Riah and Gentry

Buds

More Friends

 

Gma and Gpa Halliday

Gma and Gpa Riddle

Gma and Gpa Odell