July 31, 2017

Hey family and friends!!!
So I made it to Texas last Monday! it has been amazing since then! 

We spent the night last Monday at the Sister Training leader trainers... If that makes sense! Hahaha! We met President Torres and had dinner at his house! It was so good and so nice to be in a home and have a nice home cooked meal! The next morning we had breakfast there and then we had trainings. I got my companion assigned! She is Sister Van Drimmelen! She is from Sandy, Utah. She has been here for  like 9 months how! She is so much fun and a wonderful trainer! She has taught me so much already and it is only week 1! 

So then last Tuesday we came to the apartment! found out I am in an English area! It is called Sharyland. it is really close to Hidalgo, which is only a few miles away from the border! it is like 20 miles to the west of mcAllen! Which is pretty exciting! I honestly do not mind it! It will be such a blessing! But tuesday we went out and taught a few people! it was so weird teaching and it sure was not like the CCM! You really need to rely on the Spirit when you teach because you do not go in with a script. You go in to someone's house, having a simple Idea or topic of what you want to teach, but you follow the Spirit and what it is telling you to teach this person, concerning their needs! we do a lot of door knocking here and finding potentials! i got my bike put together by the Zone leaders! Thanks to them I have a wonderful bike put together! 

On Wednesday, we had district mtg. And that was fun meeting the district! I have met so many people here! It is so much fun! And I already have so much love for the people that are here! 

Then on Thursday, We have 1 day a week for 2 hrs to get online at the library in Hidalgo and do family history, facebook (missionary purposes), and read general conference talks! It is really cool! our stls have found so many names to take to the temple! Oh then after this we went to the STls for lunch in which they made this really spicy chicken!!!! Our mouths were on fire! 

last friday we helped President Salmond, who is the 2nd counselor in the stake with this video they were making for seminary! it was basically on how to teach the first 5 days! It was really fun! President torres had a few rules tho that we had to follow! So we were in our P-Day clothes, but we had to wear our name tag at all times. And then when videoing started we could take them off because we were to act like teenagers in high school! Then we had to put them back on if we had to go to the bathroom or during breaks while walking around the church!! 

Then on Saturday we had a miracle happen! So it was a kind of harder day and no one was really accepting our message! And so it was like 8:50 pm and I had this prompting that we needed to stop and talk to this lady who was walking her dog! So we stopped to give her a card. And she said that she had lost her other black lab and that it is a bomb detecting dog, so really intelligent. and they treat it like a human! And so we asked if we could help! Well we ended up driving down this road called los milagros. and we decided to say a prayer asking God to help us find this dog for this sweet lady! Well after the prayer, we were turning the car around, and out of the corner of my eye under a street lamp, I see the dog! And I was like"Sister van! There it is!" This was like 2 mintues after the prayer, mabye not even! And so we got out of the car, and because of our good spirits, the dog came to us! So we walked the dog to this ladies house. And noone was home! Se we sat there waiting, and we said a prayer then like 1 mintue later, she showed up! She said she had a feeling to check home... that was the holy ghost talking to her! Then we told her we found her dog, and she was sooo happy!! She was crying and just thanking us! her son drove up, and he ran up to the dog, and like almost tripped on the step he was so happy! Like the looks on their face were priceless! And the cool thing she said was that we were from God! yes that is true! we had handed her the card of the picture of Jesus Christ and she showed it to her son and was like, these sweet ladies handed me this and I just knew that God had sent them to help us! It was so wonderful! And such a great ending to our day! 

Then yesterday we had church! My first time in the Sharyland ward! it was pretty awesome! A lot of the people in the ward are converts! And they are so sweet! It is awesome to see their strength and see how much they love the gospel! We then later that evening met this guy named Matt, and he really needed to hear that God loves him and that God is using him as an instrument in His hand! And we were able to answer some life questions he has had for a while! it was all thorugh promptings from God!

And now today, we are getting a new car because the other one is old, and we are just gonna relax and get ahead in our spanish study! 

I love you all! 

Love, Sister Riley 

July 13, 2017



Today is week 5! Next week we will have our orange stickers indicating that we are on our final week!! Can you believe that, well neither can I! I have done so much and learned so much in this last week since writing ya´ll last! 

Our district did a district fast on Tuesday to help with learning Español! That was really fun! And we keep trying everyday hablar solo en Español! By the end of the day we are so worn out, but it is helping us so much! 

Last Thursday after I emailed, we went to the temple, and it was so much fun! It is so beautiful!

Then Sunday we had a combined Sacrament mtg! And it was huge there were 400 missionaries at it! 

On Tuesday we received 100 more missionaries here! Which is insane! And guess who is here from home?!?! Another Wyomingite! HAHA! So our district fasted all day on tuesday, ya? and so we were starving and so ready to eat dinner! and en martes. It is siempre PIZZA! pero, cuando we got there, ellos dice no pizza, porque it was not coming! Nosotros muy triste! ;( very sad! Then we were sitting there eating spaghetti, and guess who walks by to go sit down and eat... Elder Rasmussen from Burlington, Wyoming! I saw him and had to take a double glance. Like what, I did not know he was coming to the CCM!! I´ll just say I was so stoked, then right after that they brought out pizza!! So everything was good in the world! Since today is my P-Day i got a picture with him that I will post on here! 

On tuesday our district all sang in the choir!  we sang "I know that my saviour loves me". or en Español "Yo se que me alma el Señor" It was very pretty and it brought the spirit into the devotional! I It made me cry too! And well it was good! I kinda also offered to play a musical number next week for the devotional, and the elders kinda want to sing to it.. HAHA We will see how that goes! 

We continue to play early morning volleball and sometimes even early morning runs! 

It gets cold here! I was not prepared for how cold it gets, because I am going to McAllen and I do not need a heavy jacket... but actually I do! It rains like almost every evening! It rained tuesday night like a ton! And there were big puddles of water and I did not have my water shoes on and almost ruined a pair of my shoes. And it rained last night! The elevation is os high that the lightening is bright and the thunder is loud and rolling! I really do enjoy the storms here and will miss them when I go to the stats! Pero, I could not be happier to be out in the mission field! 

Today is a full P-Day, so we got to play v-ball this morning, take pictures, get hair cuts (all the elders and I) in my district got hair cuts, then we are writing now, and going to go take a nap!

Love, 

Hermana Riley

July 6, 2017


We are on week 5!!! can you beleive that? well neither can I! This week has had so many spiritual and testimony building expereines! (Sorry I cannot spell anymore)!!! 

My spanish is getting so much better, and I can listen to people and understand them better. And I know it is not all my doing to make this happen! I know that the Lord helps us and loves us and He is making my weakness of learning the language become a strength. Ether 12:27! 

we taught TRC last saturday, which may have been the funnest experience ever! Because it was more like a real life lesson and it was so awesome to be able to talk with people and teach people other than our teachers! 

I had my first fast sunday here. It really was not too bad! Like of course I was getting hungry towards lunch, but it was like a normal anyother day hunger! 

On monday we went to the tienda with our teachers and had a buy a candy and we explained how good the candy bar tastes to someone else. and that all lead up to how we need to teach about the Book of Mormon. We can´t just be monotone and bland about how we teach sobre el Libro de Mormón. We have the be enthusiastic and act like it was one of the most delicious things we have tasted! 

July 4th was so much fun! We wore red white and blue, and they comedor was decorated in red white and blue! And we had hamburgers and chips and aw and ice cream and corn on the cobb! It was really good! And we sang the star spangled banner and had so mcuh fun! Then we sang Battle Hymn of the Republic in Spanish for Tuesday night devotional for the choir! Which was also really cool! In the last chorus, we had everyone stand up and sing! and that night we received 170 new missionaries so the place was packed full and everyone sang with such a strong voice! #armyofhelaman! But so now there are 400 some missionaries here and that is like .5% of all the missionaries in the world!! 

Also on Tuesday, I had a breakdown, and felt like I wasn´t good enouhg. My companion is sooo sweet and she helped talk me through it. We had to teach our "investigator" too in a couple fo minutes and I just did not feel ready, but I told them that I needed to focus on someone else that myself! And so I did, and had the most powerful lesson EVER!!! I was prompted to share the hymn I Beleive in Christ! And I bore my testimony about it ! And the spirit was so there! I cried so much during the lesson! And I honestly think that song was not just for him, it was more for me. I know God answers prayers, because before the lesson I prayed for help to be able to teach and focus on José and I was helped!  Also, I BELIEVE IN CHRIST!!! I know He lives! I know He knows what we are feeling and that we need to just rely on Him! Later in the afternoon, I recieved a priesthood blessing, from Elder Swallow and Elder Benjamin. And Elder Swallow said the words that I need to hear. I did not tell him what was going on, but because he is worthy to have the priesthood, he was able to listen the spirit, in which who was telling him what God wanted me to hear and to know and I was having a rough day. And in the blessing, he said that this is where I need to be in the Mexico MTC. And I found out why the next day. So on Thursday, there was a girl only in here 2nd week who was having a breakdown, because she was getting frustrated. And I was able to share my experience with her and her comp. and tell them that god answers prayers and that you should pray to Him. We are taught here to rely on the Lord and it is so true! We need to apply that in our life. Whenever you have a hard time, call upon God for strength and he will give you strength! I know that He will because it has happened in my life! I know that the priesthood has been restored in this church and is the same priesthood that was on the earth at the same time that Christ was on the earth! I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet who was called by God to restore these things. I am so grateful for priesthood blessings and the opportunity that we are given to be able to receive strength from the Lord through a blessing!

I love you all! and I will talk to ya´ll next week in week 5!!

Love, 

Hermana Riley