Transfers (28/11 email)

Hiya!

Sorry its been so long since the last email! The reason why is because of transfers! and guess what!? I have been transferred! I am now in Congleton with Sister Nemec from Austria! This is our first day together and she is lovely. She is very bright and bold and I am so excited to work with her!

I am so sore right now! Transfers were hectic cos both me and Sister Martin were transferring so we had to pack everything and carry everything and blah! I've got a cold too so I feel like rubbish. There's me whinge for the day... now to the good stuff.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending letters and cards. I really can't afford to send mail to all of them, but please let them know it was much appreciated.

Ok so highlight of the week! I got to meet a General Authority! Elder Teixeira of the 70! We had a conference with him and his wife, and ahhh! it was so good! Sister Martin and I were lucky enough to be chosen to speak one on one with him and it was amazing! I know that he was called by God, because without asking us questions, he gave us advice and counsel... it was like he knew exactly what we were going through and I am so grateful for that experience. He counselled us to "climb to the top of the mountain" so that we can see the greater view. So I am going to do that. It all starts with our thoughts. We need to shape our thoughts to a higher level. Sometimes I struggle with that... I start off the day so excited and motivated, and then rejection, rejection, rejection and then I'm like ahhhh I dont wanna do this anymore. But that needs to change! This is the Lord's work! and if I do it to my best ability he will bless us with someone to teach! 

We taught Richard again, and had an amazing lesson! We invited him to be baptised, and he said he would when the time is right! I know that he will be baptised in time! Richard has such a strong desire, and God will bless him for that :) After the lesson we had a miracle! We found Charles in the library! That man we met a few weeks ago and gave a Book of Mormon! He was happy to see us, and we had another lesson with him! Miracle!

We found out about transfers on Sat. night, and the days following were a rollercoaster of emotions. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone... especially Sister Martin :'( but she is with Sister Burridge! lol! From one Aussie to another :P

Well as you know I don't have much time, but I want you to know that I am safe and happy. Being a missionary is the BEST!

Love you all so much xoxo Sister Riley

Crazy Telford ward missionaries :P

Richard!

Les and Nas, the locals in Wellington

So much cake! (18/11 email)

Hiya!

I just wanted to say a big thankyou for all the birthday wishes, cards, letters and emails. I really appreciate it :)

I had such a wonderful birthday, Sister Martin the cheeky monkey spoilt me rotten! She secretly told a whole bunch of people it was my bday, so you'll be happy to hear I got lots of presents and cake (4 cakes!!!).

I woke up to a beautiful rendition of the happy birthday song by Sister Martin... she had decorated the flat with hearts all over the walls, "22 reasons why I love you" and "happy birthday mate" in big letters lol. She made me breakfast too! Bacon and egg muffins! and cake! We went about the day as normal, then we had tea at the Lisneys with Fi. She made us curry :) then there was a knock at the door, and in comes Sis Killen, Sis Pointer and Sis Sacramento, armed with cake and presents! it was so nice of them!

Then we were off to the Bensens for round 2. Gemma had ordered me milo and tim tams online! She gave me the milo, but the tim tams are on the way. And we had more cake!!!!

Monday we got together with the other missionaries and had activities and a mini birthday party for me... (with cake :P)

On Tuesday, we had district meeting, and I gave my first training. I was very grateful for the opportunity to speak about the atonement and how it is central to our purpose as missionaries. Sister Martin and I thought that it would be beneficial to share experiences and testimonies about how the atonement has blessed our lives. The spirit was so strong as we did so, and my testimony was strengthened. In preparing for our training, I was searching the scriptures for a 'promised blessing' for our challenge which was to share our testimonies of the Saviour as we teach. I prayed to have help in finding a good scripture, and God answered my prayer. He led me to the perfect scripture (D&C 109:39) and my testimony of prayer was strengthened because of this experience :)

I went on exchange with Sister Tolman at the end of the week, and we had a wonderful time together. She is an amazing missionary, and I learnt a lot from her. I am so grateful for exchanges, and I feel that I learn so many things just from having a different perspective to work with. We did a lot of finding together, and even though our wonderful experiences didn't immediately contribute to the key indicators, I have faith that in the coming weeks they will! We met some great people and they have a lot of potential!

I gave out my first BOM this week! (finally!) Sister Bensen's friend Beryl (old lady) was over for tea, and we ended up chatting about our church and yeah I gave her a Book of Mormon. She's super old and funny... so we will see what happens lol.

So just before we came to the library to email, we were out in the town, standing in line to buy train tickets, and a young boy saw my badge and started pointing and laughing. I didn't feel it was appropriate to say anything at that time, and I must admit it made me feel upset. But a scripture came to my mind: Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth". I am not ashamed to wear the name of Jesus Christ! Yes I am sometimes weak and it was only human for me to feel a bit upset when someone was laughing at me, but I will never be embarrassed or ashamed to be a missionary! The gospel of Jesus Christ is very much a part of who I am and I will defend it no matter what!

Hope you all have a great week! Don't be afraid to share your testimony!
xoxo Sister Riley

Birthday photos

Super excited (11/11 email)

Helloooooooooooo!

How is everyone? I am super excited today. We just got a grocery delivery from Sister Martin's mum! It was the best! Our fridge is full and happy and so am I :P

Ok I'll get straight into it...

This week we had a FHE at the Perkin's home with their non member friend Vicki and her two kids. It went really well. Sister Martin and I taught a short lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a fun activity for the kids, then they put on a movie to keep the kids quiet and we went into the other room to chat with Vicki. She had lots of great questions, and we felt the spirit as we talked with her. Sister Perkins felt prompted to put on a conference talk and we watched it together. It was so perfect! It really answered a lot of Vicki's questions, and afterwards Vicki invited herself to church lol. I am so excited to continue teaching her! she is really prepared!.... she didn't end up coming to church cos she wasn't feeling the best, but oh well! I have faith in her!

We had another Zone meeting on Tuesday. Our Zone Leaders are so funny and I gave them those koalas that mum sent me. They loved it! Tuesday night was Guy Fawkes night so we had to be in our flat early. Bonfires and fireworks everywhere! I wish it wasn't illegal back home it looked like so much fun!

We visited a less active family called the Amers. They were super friendly and we sat and chatted with the husband and wife. We asked if their children wanted to be taught the lessons (cos they aren't members) but they said no. But they are happy to have us meet with them every now and then :)

We taught Richard this week and we had a member come and fellowship with us. It was so bad!! Oh my goodness! Our last lesson with Richard was so good and we all felt the spirit, but this member kept going off topic, talking about random stuff... even arguing with Richard! The spirit wasn't there and Sister Martin and I felt like hitting our heads against the wall! Safe to say we are not taking this member with us again... we really hope that Richard will continue to see us :/

We had exchanges this week! This time I stayed in Telford! I was so nervous!! because I always follow Sister Martin's lead and this time I had to step up and lead! Sister Miner from Utah came with me for a day, and we had some great experiences together. She is in her last transfer, and very experienced so I learnt a lot from her :) She is sweet and gentle and kind. We did a lot of finding and we met someone tracting who actually wants us to come back! MIRACLE! Seriously that never happens here lol.

Funny moment for the week. Sister Martin and I were sitting in Sunday School and the teacher was talking about how the members need to make church a good environment for investigators to be in and I whispered to Sis Martin (being silly) "can I get an amen!" and the timing was perfect lol the whole class said amen! We tried so hard not to burst out laughing!

Well that is all for this week! thanks for your love and support!

xoxo Sister Riley.

Pretty rainbow!

Sister Martin and me with Sister Barney at Zone Conference..she is a crack up!

Exchange with Sister Miner

HIYA (4/11 email)

HIYA! You alright?

Man being a missionary is crazy! Such highs and lows I tell ya!

Firstly I just wanna say thanks so much for my birthday package! I got it 2 weeks early but I'm not complaining lol! Seriously I was sooooooo excited!! I especially loved the Aussie stuff cos I got to give some of it to Sister Martin :P And we had tim tam slams... Sister Martin loved it!

Ok! So the start of the week was slow, but we had an amazing lesson with Richard! and......he came to church!!!! and I'm pretty sure he felt the spirit! We can't wait for our next lesson!

The weather is rubbish! oh how I miss the sunshine :( rain rain and more rain... tracting in the rain is horrible... lol I'm turning into a whinging pom :P

I got to play guitar at a member's house for like 5 minutes haha I was soooo happy... but I've forgotten how to play any songs :/ Hopefully I can pick it up quickly when I come home, I miss it so much!

We had FHE with Tanwa again, and her Aunt from America was there. We had a lesson about the Do's and Don'ts of the Sabbath day cos there are some things I don't think she understands, like how we shouldn't go shopping and things on Sunday. Anyways I was a bit worried that maybe the lesson might not go well, with her Aunt not being a member and things, but it went really well, her aunt joined in and agreed with everything we said!

We had to stay in the flat for Halloween...so we made curry and ate sweets.

Friday night we had a ward activity.. .a "cake-off". Everyone made cakes and we got to try them all and vote for the best one. It was amazing! I tried baking a cake to enter, but I got the measurements wrong, trying to convert ounces and stuff and yeah it was rubbish so I didn't enter it... lucky I didn't cos the other cakes were amazing and I would have been super embarrassed haha.

Some members took us out to pizza hut! it was so good! Way better than pizza hut in Aus! It wasn't all you can eat though... you order a pizza and they bring it out still in the pan, then you have the salad bar n stuff.

Now for the best news of the week! After church yesterday, we stayed on for the baptism of Talitha Perkins in our ward (she is 8, daughter of one of our ward missionaries) and we got to talk to Sister Perkins' friend Vicki... we had a great discussion with her and she is now investigating the church!!! We will be having FHE at the Perkins' tonight and she will be there!!!! I am so excited!

Well that's all for now! Love ya heaps!

3 Nephi 5:13

xoxo Sister Riley

Sister Martin with some of my Aussie Presents :P

Tim tam slams pt 1

Tim tam slams pt 2

Grounded (28/10 email)

This week has been so slow. As I mentioned last week, Sister Martin has been "grounded" so to speak because of her health. So majority of our week was spent in the flat. I have never read so many Ensign articles in my life lol! Also watched a whole bunch of church DVDs and brushed up on my cooking skills :P

Last Monday was the best day ever! Dawn took us out for the day to go shopping for winter clothes and stuff. We had lunch at Maccas!... Normally that's no big deal but I haven't had it in so long and it tasted so good! So basically we spent the whole day shopping which again normally is no big deal, but it's been so long! It was the best! We were really good this week and bought all healthy food! I got to do a lot of cooking... things like stir-fries, soup and chicken and veg... normally we get ready meals or something cheap and easy... So it was a nice change.

We got to do some service this week, selling poppies for the Poppy Appeal. It was a good experience, people were very generous with their donations. The only other times we got out of the flat was for tea appointments, and we went to Dawn's to watch some General Conference talks in the onesies that she bought us lol! Sister Martin's in a giraffe and mine is a cat!

Last night we went to the Benson's for tea and Gemma has a new kitten. It is the cutest thing ever! I'll attach a photo for you!

I don't have much else to say... Our ward has a lot of dramas going on... it's pretty crazy... As missionaries we shouldn't get involved, but people just tell us things all the time! There was one drama in particular that we became involved in and it was really stressing us out because it was confidential and we couldn't tell anyone about it... We called President and told him about it (no names mentioned) and he gave us very wise counsel... You'll be pleased to know it has been dealt with and we feel a huge relief. Nothing to worry about.

Well that's all for this week, I'm looking forward to getting back to the work and out of the flat this week!

Love you all! xoxo Sister Riley

"When you are burdened with life, Serve...and the burden will be lightened." - Quote from our Bishop in sacrament meeting.

Onesies!

Healthy fridge

Autumn leaves

Gemma's kitten, Molly! sooooo cute!

Me with Molly

Gemma having a lion king moment with Molly

It's me again! (21/10 email)

Ok so you're probably wondering why my email was late last week. It's because on transfer week P-day is moved to Wednesday. It's back to normal now so I don't have as much to tell you this week.

 

The weather has started to get really wet, windy and rainy :( The umbrella I bought is not good enough and I'll probably have to buy a bigger, stronger one :( I've been told it could be snowing as early as next month!! I'm a little bit excited!!

The other day we made waffles! We bought some Canadian maple syrup and I think Sister Martin was pretty happy about that! It's been an interesting few days! Sister Martin has been "grounded" so to speak by President because she has pushed herself too much. She is always stressed and can't sleep well... to the point where she is just exhausted and physically can't keep up with the work anymore. So this week we are taking it easy. She is a workaholic and this is the worst news ever for her, but she really needs it. I hope that she can use this time to recover and learn how to deal with her stress.

Our washing machine is rubbish :( It is wrecking my clothes!

 

The other day we were walking  to an appointment and we saw this horse that looks like a cow..I will send a pic! crazy!

On Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. It was about the Life of Christ. And Sister Martin bore her testimony. Bishop's kids Jacob and Sarah (about 6&8) gave us words that we had to use when we got up to speak. Sister Martin's word was socks and mine was mummy. Sister Martin fit hers in nicely, saying something like "I had to pull up my socks and work". Me on the other hand lol I got embarrassed, haha I said something like "My mummy always taught me..." hahaha oh boy!

Today we are going into town to shop for winter clothes with Dawn! I am so excited! She cooked us a Mexican feast last night. She is the best.

 

Have a great week! Love you all! xoxox Sister Riley.

The horse that looks like a cow aka corse

The crazy Dawn with the ice-cream cake she made

Sister Martin with the Canadian maple syrup