LAST WEEK AT THE CCM/ Centro de Capacitacion Misional

Buenas Tardes!!! 

How are you all? I am glad you guys got my letters!! it's good to hear everything that's going on at home. Well, I love p-days  FYI: (p-day is short for preparation day, the one day Missionaries have,  to take care of their personal stuff like writing letters) - they keep me going throughout the week. Thanks for the bicycle mom!! I love it hahaha (I sent her a card with a bicycle cut out)  I  haven't received the package yet, so hopefully it comes this week! I got my scripture cases  and they are sick! can't wait to show you.

 So this is officially my last week in the CCM! say what?! it has gone by so fast, I am so pumped and ready to go out in the field! this last week we got a new group of Latinas they are so sweet and fun, they are a great group, they are from different places, a big group from Mexico, some from Honduras some from Guatemala. I met some girls that will be going to Coban, it is exciting! and I met a girl from Peten, and she gave me some information about the area! she says it gets REALLY HOT up there, but I don't care, because I will see the ruins! woot! but we will see where my first assignment will be. Since i am going out in the field next week I might not be able to e-mail for another two weeks, so just a warning. But I have a letter loaded up, so hopefully that will get sent this week. 

On the random side ...The day after new Missionaries arrive at the MTC they get a welcome with a chocolate fountain,  it is sooo yummy! my companion  loves it so much!  Our president caught her sneaking a chocolate doughnut right before we left, it was hilarious, she thinks she is a chocolate addict and everyone knows her for that hahaha.

On a serious note .... So we get to teach based on real life situations and we are given a little taste of what is really going to be like out in the field and sometime some of those teaching moments can be discouraging but with a lot of praying, faith and confidence in the Lord we are able to overcome some challenges.  I am just so excited to take it on, no matter how difficult it is going to be, because it will be!! I know the Lord is always with me and helping me, and I feel your guys prayers and all your love, I know I am supported and I appreciate it so much.

This Sunday we had a devotional from our Mission President on obedience, I want to share it with you guys.

Here are some scriptures John 14:21, proverbs 15:1 (think before you respond) Moses 4:2

"Don't ever look back on sins, if you have truly repented there is no need, there are reminders so that you don't do it again, but don't dwell on it, never look back"

"As we declare our obedience it shows our love for our Father"

"Stand up always for what is right!"

Everything is going well with me! I am just so thankful everyday to be  here on the mission. On a side note I still have Quetzales.  The area around here is nice, there are some nice apartments around, i think there is a neighborhood nearby but i haven't really seen the houses. There is a club next door, it has an open roof top and it's pretty big. We call it the great and spacious building because on the weekends they show sports on TV and the music is SO loud, and it can be distracting especially for the Elders who miss their sports haha

There are a lot of things I have memorized in Spanish. Right now I'm helping some Latinas memorize the mission objective in English (funny thing is I don't have that memorized in English just Spanish, soo the blind leading the blind haha, it's all good)

To answer your question, the CCM provide's stamps and envelopes, actually they are like a dollar, but its nice, i did buy 15 envelopes for a buck so I will have some when I leave but I will have to get stamps out in the field. 

but yea all is well now,.

I love you guys sooooo much!! 

Saludos!!! with mucho amor!!!!!

INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

Hola mommy y familia!!

HAPPY BELATED GUATEMALAN INDEPENDENCE DAY! 

you wanna know how I celebrated it? - Indoors, studying and teaching haha, but! when night time came, I went to dinner, and the chefs had prepared a wonderful meal, with taquitos, chile relleno,  a tamal and a tostada, and they had a huge beautiful cake, with the Guatemalan flag on it! IT MADE MY NIGHT, it was so exciting!

I still have two more weeks in the CCM, Elder Pugmire leaves the CCM today and goes into the real world, so we will be getting a new batch of Missionaries this week, who will probably be going to Coban because the Coban transfer is coming up. I cannot wait until it is my turn!! I am so excited! time here has gone by so fast! I know it is just going to get faster out there. But for now I know for sure that I will be staying the full six weeks here and with my District and my Companions. I'm kind of glad that I am staying because if I had left earlier I would have missed my companions, and now we get to go out together.  Presidente said I'm advanced enough in spanish and that he doesn't worry about me for out in the field. This past week my comps and i have been working with our "investigators" Ricardo and Karina. We have set a baptism date for Ricardo this saturday the twentieth, he had a problem with tobacco but he's getting over it, we have been helping him, he is a great "investigator". karina doesn't have a set date yet but she is sweet and great, we had some problems in the beginning trying to figure out what issues she may have and then what to teach her, but we figured it out and she is progressing wonderfully. :) last p day I sent some letters to you guys, so hopefully they come this week!:D happy early birthday caden!! 

At the end of last p-day we had a devotional from Elder Holland (an old video form 2008) but it was so good!  One of the last things he said was very powerful. He was talking to the Missionaries and said "when you are down, reflect on the last hours of the saviors life, he was abandoned and utterly alone, by everyone. but the Savior is always there for you. Don't dare turn tale and run! never abandon him!... stand by him. Be defenders of the faith." this goes for everyone, I feel. that is my spiritual thought of the week haha. 

So this past week, my District came up with a saying. instead of YOLO it is YOGOMO!  You only go on mission once haha, well a full time mission anyways,  For p-day today, had early morning temple session, it was wonderful as always!! and then went to the market store, not too far away like a five minute walk. I got my necesities :) don't worry mom, but looks like you already sent the lotion, I got some too. But thanks! I appreciate it :) oh ywah! forgot to mention this, but a couple of weeks ago we got our issued "visas" which is a laminated photo of our passport and some stamps and a lawyers signature, so I am not illegal in Guatemala anymore! (wouldn't that be funny? a U.S. born being deported from Guatemala because I was illegal)  :D ahah also you guys will be getting a check from my companions family, because her card got wiped clean from the magnet of her  name tag... so I helped pay for a bag she bought. This past Sunday night, we had a "movie night" and got to watch the testaments, that was fun, and then our last week here we get to watch the Joseph Smith Restoration video, really loooking forward to that! these past two weeks, I had a calling, I was called as the Hermana music leader, so I got to choose the songs for Sacrament and the Devotionals and who got to play them and lead them, it was fun! this past sacrament I put a musical number together with some elders and they sang "Come thou fount" Capella and it was so beautiful, it was quite the treat! 

Thanks so much for the photos! can't believe Caden is getting so big! and holy guacamole that baby is big! hahah but she is soooooo beautiful! give her a hug and a kiss for me! 

To answer your question, for gym I do the eliptical and abs, sometimes the stationary bike,and when im really feeling up to it I play volleyball but the last time I played I bruised my arms and thumb knuckles haha so I kind of stopped for a bit, the ball is hard, that's the only reason why I really don't like playing.

yes i try to speak spanish as much as i can, but it's hard when your comps speak English, but they say here, if you speak English es un pecado! hahah so I've put on my name tag a "post it" that says no hablo ingles, as a reminder :)

I am always thinking of you and family, you guys are always in my prayers!!!! thanks for keeping me updated! i will be looking for the mail.

with mucho AMOR!!!

HERMANA RILEY

FIELD TRIP!! TO WENDY'S AND THE MARKET.

WOOOWEEE!! hahah oh man where do i start?! this hour that i have for emial, is stressing me out, theres so much to say so little time to write, so pardon my spelling becuase it is gointg to be completely bothched!

i am going to start with my p-day last week, holy guacamole! it was soo fun and awesome!  We woke up, got ready for the temple and went to the temple, i love it there! the temple is literally like 5 minutes away, it is super close!! after the temple we got together as a a zone or group got on a bus that could barely start haha and drove to wendys for lunch oh yeah we also got our cameras that day so i took a butt load of pictures but i wont be able to send them til i am on the field cuz they took my camera back, triste... but anyways we had wendys for lunch, it was soooo good! it was better thand the US, it was like fresh, and it was ready in like 2 minutes, they are so fast! it was tastey, after wendys we went to the relief map, it is a 3-D map (as big as a basketball court) of  Guatemala! (im pretty sure i have been here before) but it was cool to visit , and learn a little about the history about it, it took 15 years for a group of men to go around every inch of guate, and a year and half to make the map, and they were ninety eight percent correct! how crazy! also i found out that last march some people  were working on the map for renovations and found  a box  under the map, and it contained some documents of all the men who had worked on it, time capsule! how cool!

 After that we went to the mercado which is near the governement buidling or capitol building of guatemala, and i was so stoked! because I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE! :D and the market as well, it was like being home again, it was soo cool, i bought some guate t-shirts cuz i only have one shirt for deportes or ejercicio, and it can get pretty stinky after wearing it every day hahah. oh yeah! i also bought some AWESOME! guatemalan fabric embroidered pants, they are so sweet! i love them sooo much! i can't wait to send you a picture of them they are amazing hahahaha. after our trip, we returned i took a little nap and then we had devotionals that night, from an area seventy,  young men general presidency and primary presidency, and the general young men's president sounded familiar so i looked back in my notebook and found out that he had given a devotional at byui, it was a good devotional!

last pday was great. I've been healthy, doing good staying lively, so far no challenges really, i pretty much have everything sufficient for my needs. looks like im in the CCM for the full six weeks, this is the third week, so i have two more pdays left here. i still have the same companions, it doesnt change, unless i move, but idk what is happening with me, just that im staying in the ccm the full time, which im fine with, not complaining.

I got your puzzle letter!! i loved it! i was so happy!, thank you! and good im glad you got my letter :) but i still havent gotten the dear elder letters, i found out they actually take a long time for the ccm, idk why. so i would recomeend sticking with emails and normal letters cuz i actually get those ahha, and im not sure about the packages but i have seen a couple floating around, but idk if it will be worth sending one here now since i have three weeks left. and thats oklay about the lotion no need to spenmd that much for that, i can just buy it here, i havent yet cuz the places ive gone arent like actual stores but markets. and yes there is a little store in front of the gates here, they are members and really nice! they have some necesity itemes but not everything, they sell some sweet customized leather scripture cases and i got some, and i cant wait to show you! they weill be really cool! haha the missionaries love that little store too, haha there are guards outside of the gates, when we fisrt got here the other missionaries were surprised and were like whta they have guns too?! haha but i was like yep, i know, good old Guatemala ahaha.  The food here is so amazing! im so grateful for your cooking cuz i was totally used to this stuff.   In my bedroom there are two bunk beds but there is only three of us in the room, we have a sink, a flushing toilette, a nice shower with warm water, its great here, got to take it all in while i can, there is a laundy room here down the hall from me, really nice machines and it has automatic soap, so i dont have to worry about it. we are assigend days to do laundry im assigend monday and fridays from 7-11 am.

 We've had great experiences with our investigators, we have two now, karina and ricardo, they are seperate investigators, but me and my comps were planning a lesson for karina trying to figure out what to teach her, but instead of a formal lesson we decided to talk about prayer again (but i didnt feel right about that) so we went in talking about her family, cuz her dad is an alcoholic and is drunk all the time and she can never talk to him, so we were just talking about how she is doing and then i brought up her father and at that moment apparently my comps said they were thinking the same thing! and so we went off track from our lesson plan and it was really cool to go by the spirit, we have been doing that a lot more and being more unified it is great! 

other people do write to me, i got an email from katie! some  from my missionary friends.

oh yeah so i realized that the grey dress with the lace wasnt packed, eventually sometime could you send it? and then yes please could you send my blanky! i will buy a super cheap one when im out in the field in the mean time. i dont think it will get lost or stolen. just make sure on the package you write  hermanan riley apparently packages dont get touched cuz they know its for the missionaries, also i learned that if you put a picture of jesus  or the virgin Mary on the package where you fold the boxes the workers at the post office dont steal it or open it cuz they dont want to cut jesus or Mary when they open it (people here are very devout Catholics) i thought that was interesting, you could try it idk haha. 

i memorized doctrine and covenants 4 in spanish this week! i feel accomplished! haha spanish is going well, and i do alrifht in the lessons.

Keep sending those e-mails (or letters) hahaha

I love you guys sosoooo much! send my love to everyone!! and i miss you guys, but things are great here!! :D 

i'll try to send another letter today!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox lots and lots and lots of love!

Hermana Riley

                                                   The only three sisters are in the far back  hahaha

                                      with the Wendy's staff. I didn't make it in this pic.

Freaking out forTetanus shots!

Hola amigos y familia!

como esta? 

yo estoy fantastica! Me encanta el CCM!!

I cannot believe another week has gone by! I AM A TWEEKER! (two weeker haha) the time seriously just flies by! and the days are getting faster, I now can see what people mean, when it's really not a long time that you are out here, because it goes by in a blink of an eye, so there is no time to waste!! Every day is pretty much the same, study, personal study, comp study, language study, then go to class and learn some more throughout the whole day! me and my comps have been working on trying to teach by the spirit and splitting up the teaching equally, so that we have the same time each!  it is hard with a trio but we have been doing so great! that last couple of times have been wonderful! and very spiritual! We do role-plays, our teachers use the story of a real person and we pray for them and we totally feel the Spirit.

My district is so great, they are sooo funny! but they get a little distracted. The other day we  got purifying water bottles and I found out you can put coke in them and after it goes through the filter you get clean water! but it completely ruins the filter hahaha.

Tomorrow for p-day, we are getting out of the MTC and going out into the world! haha we are having a tour and then going to the market, I am sooo excited!! that is why I am emailing today because I  won't have time tomorrow. Oh yeah! before i forget, i sent you guys a letter last week! hopefully you guys get it soon!  I  think I'm going to be here for the full six weeks, just because for me to stay for four weeks, doesn't really work with the transfer system and they said they had to talk to my mission president in coban to see if he is ready to receive me, but i think I am  just going to be here the full time, which I guess doesn't really bother me, I'm alright with that. I've been doing good with my Spanish, the natives here are so funny I love them, but they are already transferring out this week :( triste, so that means we are getting more people, and possibly three more nortes (or gringa girls) haha but the Spanish sisters here think I'm pretty fluent, which is nice :) I'm sort of an interpreter (i need to brush up on some more vocabulary haha) but it's cool! ah man the other day I had to get a tetanus shot! I had to get it early because it's important for when I got out in the field, i will be more protected. but when I went to the nurses office ( we have an american nurse hermana) so i thought she was giving them, but I looked in and there were these two older Guatemalan ladies, I was like, oh no! (this is a little sketchy)... so me and my compañera Hermana weicks  sat down, and idk why i was freaking out a little more than usual, not because of the nurses, but tetanus is supposed to be a butt shot (even though it wasn't the first time I got it) so me my compañera were sitting across from each other and held hands, thankfully it went by so fast (for me) and it was perfectly normal, my arm is just a teeny bit sore now, but its all good! I felt bad for my comp though, cuz that nurse put the needle in, and then took forever to sqeeze it down and then take it out, it was there for like 6 seconds or something haha, but we are alive, its all good!

I am loving the food! it reminds me of home! lot's of black beans, tostadas, rice pudding (arroz con leche) fried plantains, sweet bread, chicken soup and lot's of tortillas!  I am just loving it!

well I am out of time,

I love all of you guys! and I love it here, and the gospel is so true! just gotta have faith! and everything will be taken care of!!

ciao

love

hermana Riley