THE LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS.

We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Alonso a member of the 70's Ever since he came, I feel like the way I do things is a lot better, I really do try to be my best, I try to be obedient, I also feel way more confident in my calling as a missionary, and I really do have the authority and really represent Jesus Christ, we have been finding a lot of new people which is awesome, this past week was really good, with lots of excitement and success. We have been talking with our sister Missionaries every night to see how they are doing and what they have achieved due to the counsel of the 70, and trying to keep them excited. The mission is changing a whole lot. Elder Alonso really knows how to change things haha.

I have the opportunity to work with all the Sisters from my zone, it has allowed me to grow in areas that I never expected, sometimes I feel like the Mother of the sisters from my zone, we help them with supporting them in the work and even resolving personal conflicts. One time we had to travel to the area where this sisters work because they were having some conflict. One of the sisters was stubborn and did not want to tell us the issue that was bothering her about her companionship, she told us that she would only speak to the Mission President. I had to assert myself and told her that the Mission President has a whole lot of other things to worry about and that is reason why we were there as STL we have the responsibility to help them and resolve their concerns. Yep, I do feel like a mom some times hahaha.

Another day we went to an appointment but we didn't find the person we were looking for. We continued on our way and as we were walking we found a little side walk right in front of a house and we just sat down feeling a little disappointed, it was only 8 o'clock and our day was about to end. We uttered some words... " Heavenly Father where are your chosen children?" my comp. said well lets knock on this house that is behind us. I was a little unsure because it was a nice house, (people with money are not always receptive) but then I said....No! I am a representative of Jesus Christ and have the authority, LETS DO IT COMPANION!" so we did but I was nervous, a shirtless guy answered the door, and gave us a skeptical look, like what are two young women doing at night, but we introduced ourselves and said we are here to bless your house and family, so he let us in, we met his wife and then we said a kneeling prayer and they kneeled with us! afterwards we asked if we could come back to share more, and they said yeah! we left that house shouting for joy and we were soooooo excited!!! it was a family! new people! it was a miracle!! the Lord really answered our prayers.

After we found our new investigators.

I am so gratetful and happy to be a missionary in the good time and the bad, it is all worth it because every moment is a learning experience, so that was my week!!!!

I love you guys sooooooo much!!!!!!!
Exitos! and siga pilas en el evangelio when we study and pray more it really helps us out in our days.

I testify of that!

Love

Hermana Riley

ONE OF THE ROADS WHERE MY LIL'MISSIONARY

WALKS EVERYDAY.

SISTERS FROM THE ZONE

ON DIVISIONS (SPLITS)

SALAMA

THIS YOUNG MAN IS A RETURNED MISSIONARY

HE SERVED IN HER HOMETOWN (WE ACTUALLY MET HIM

WHILE HE WAS SERVING HERE IN THE STATES AND TOLD HIM SHE 

WAS SERVING IN COBAN (HIS HOMETOWN) ONE DAY HE FOUND HER.

COMPANION HAS 2 MORE WEEKS

COBAN CITY

Visit from a member of the Quorum of the 70's Elder Alonso.

Well yesterday was a wonderful day! grin emoticon Got to talk to you guys, my wonderful family!! Sorry about the lag, I don't know why that happened, a bunch of other missionaries had problems with their phone connections as well..

This past week was really good! On friday we had a multi-zone conference with Elder Alonso a member of the Quorum of the 70's. On Saturday we had leaders conference with him as well (double blessing) I learned a lot! And got more excited to be a missionary and do the Lord's work to the best of my ability, He gave us some really good ideas. At the end of the leaders conference, he went up and told us that he felt really inspired to tell us, that we should go to members houses, investigators and to say a prayer and ask for a blessing for them, no teach anything, just leave a blessing for each of them. On Saturday after the conference, we did just that! Its great to see how the Lord leads us to his children in need because that day we went to an appointment but it had fallen through, so we went to go contact a house. A lady opened the door, she spoke q'eqchi to us and she was really receptive and let us in, she told us that her daughter was sick, so we went in, and found this frail little lady, sobbing, and her husband behind her comforting her, it was so sad to see, we chatted a little bit, and asked if we could pray for them, in my mind though I was thinking, "I wish there were Elder's with us to give a priesthood blessing". We knelt down on their dirt floor, and said a prayer to bless them. We finished, chatted a bit more, and then left, We told them that we would come back. We were able to put into practice what Elder Alonso had invited us to do, I just felt so happy that day, and felt like I was a new missionary, with a better perspective, just gotta keep that going! We are finding a whole lot of new people, I need to continue to be diligent smile emoticonWe are doing our best! My companion has 4 weeks left in the mission, which is crazy! Time is seriouysly flying by, I can't believe it! Elder Alonso said we have to be obedient and just need to enjoy the mission because we will never have this experience ever again! which is so true, and makes me sad, I love it here so much!

Well I hope you guys have a marvelous week!!!! Stay faithful and true!
LOVE YOU!
Hermana Riley

Goofing around with my comp.

Multi-zone conference 

My District

Sister Wiecks MTC Companion

My Companion & Elder's from my last Area

Cleaned up real nice

for a special occasion

IT'S MONDAY!!

My Mom (trainer)

Forever sisters

UPS AND DOWNS.

We have ups and downs (and I am not referring to the hills of Coban) yes there are those too. I am learning not to be discouraged and to be patient, because everything happens in the Lord's timing.

I will start sharing my UPS:

We have set a baptismal date with a girl named Ana! she is AWESOME, she is only 13 and she accepted the Gospel. Her older sister is baptized, and she says that she regrets not getting baptized with her siblings but that now she is ready and knows these things are true, an answer to our prayers and fast! she went to the church with us this Sunday, and enjoyed it, I am so excited for her! we are seeing some progress. The baptismal date is for May 30th.

This past week, we gave service to a recent convert named yanette she recently got surgery and she can't do a lot of heavy labor, so we helped clean her house, which was nice because now I am getting good house cleaning skills, you'll be proud of me hahaha

In the ward we got a new bishopric, and the new bishop is GREAT! He is kind, and you can tell is working hard, we went to his house on Sunday to help his wife, who has a new baby in the house, but it's premature of 6 months, and just got back from being in the hospital for 3 months, so we chatted with her to get to know her, and we helped her out.

Le me share my DOWNS:

One day I went with Hermana Rivas (from Peru) we went to visit one of our investigators, but this investigators have dogs that are not very friendly AT ALL!! Let'ls say they are vicious, and it's a gang of three.

When we got there I was only able to see one and it was laying down, this people don't have door bells or anything of the kind so the customary way to let them know you are there is to yell BUENASSS!!! it is like saying GOOD AFTERNOON!! or HELLO!! (and that's how we get the attention of the people), Well....that one dog started barking, and walked towards me. No one from the house came out, so I yelled again BUENAASSS!! and that only got the attention of the other 2 dogs so I guess that wasn't a good idea hahaha, the other two dogs came running out and barking! HOLLY COW! they ganged up on me! And were growling roughly, my heart was pounding, but I stood my ground, I didn't want to run and really couldn't because I was standing on a gravel hill and didn't want them to chase after me and bite my legs off. I bent down to pick up a rock and threw it at them, they got caught by surprise (and it usually works, to get them to go away) they stopped for a bit but they just got more mad, and one of the dogs sprang out! With my catlike reflexes I stuck out the umbrella I was carrying and it bit it! At this point my heart was racing, I shook my umbrella away, and that was our escape, we started walking away fast! Holy cow it was crazy, if I didn't have my umbrella with me I would have been the equivalent of chopped liver to them or Chao Mein if they were feeling like chinese food, and then I would have had to travel to the Capital to get rabies shots, so grateful that didn't happen. Unless I feel a super strong impression to go back to that house again I don't think I will be going back and risk my life (because those dogs live there, and attack anyone that walks by) it just reminds me of Cerberus the three headed dog that guards the entrance, except these not only have three heads but 12 legs too.

Anyways we continued our proselyting and we found a woman, she was somewhat receptive and we tried to talk to her (she was alittle bit older) but she was so aloof, not even listening, all of a sudden she said, I don't have time for this, I'm really busy, and have a lot of things to do and she walked away, we got rejected big time, but it was like whatever, we knew there were others to find, and one day she will have another chance to accept or maybe not. That was a crazy day to my crazy week!

About my area:

Here in Coban, you take the bus to travel, and it is super sheap 1.50 in quetzales for the ride, they have taxis too but its more expensive. Where I live we have the plaza near by, there is Dominos, subway, mcdonalds, pizza hut, pollo campero, and some others.

In my area we have a lot of hills! So its "leg day" everyday haha recently it has been hot, but this last week its gotten cooler which has been a nice change of pace smile emoticon The bread here is ssoooooooo good! I am addicted to sweet bread, but dont worry, i dont eat a lot of it, every once awhile, I know very well the side effects of sweet bread hahah. The members here are nice, i still got to get to know them a little bit more, and we have hermanas that help us out during the week to accompany us. 

This week a 70 is going to come named Elder Alonzo, I am really excited!
I am also super excited to talk you guys on Mother's Day.
I LOVE YOU SUPER MUCH!!!!!! I hope you have a fabulous week!
Hermana Riley

SAYING GOODBYE TO MY LAST AREA.

HOT HOT HOT

Hello!

It has been HOT! it has hardly rained at all, and there is sooooo much dust, I get it in my eyes, and it's not a fun experience....Well last monday we did a noche de hogar, with the family that gives us lunch, and we made mexican food, it was delicious.

PLANTS COVERED IN DUST

This week has been pretty good, but I have never felt so exhausted in my life, Mission life is starting to catch up with me unsure emoticon but just gotta keep going. Right now we don't have any baptismal dates, we really are learning to develop more patience right now, and developing more faith for what the Lord has in store for us.

ONE OF THE MANY HILLS WE

WALK EVERY DAY.

The work continues and we put our efforts to find new people, and to help our investigators progress to arrive at that moment to make covenants with Heavenly Father. Last Friday had divisions again, and I went to Santa Cruz, its like next door to San Cristobal. It was a good day, a member accompanied us and brought her granddaughter, she is sooo cute! ( see picture) AND! the highlight of my week, was opening my package, I loved everything inside! thank you! thank you! The candy is delicious, the minnionaries are so ADORABLE! my fave part hahah Oh yeah my companion says MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS, she really enjoyed the puzzle card and the candies smile emoticon

Today we went to a park reserve, it was really pretty and took some photos (which i already sent smile emoticon ) That was my pday today smile emoticon I enjoy looking at nature, I feel like I'm more of an outdoorsy person now, but the bugs are still my enemies haha

Not that I'm counting or anything but I have 8 months on the mission, almost halfway! can you believe it!! time flies by, and I can't believe that almost everyone else is back from the ward, its so crazy!!
I love the mission, especially here in Guatemala, it's the best thing in the world, would never trade this experience for anything!

Well I hope you guys have a great week, happy b-day to Quinn
LOVE YOU GUYS!
Hermana Riley

MISSION LIFE

Mission life is "the bomb" and these are the many aspects I am learning to appreciate and to love about it:

First: I love my district, they are great! our correlation meetings are  always very uplifting, very helpful and at times funny (there are some funny missionaries)  

Secondly: Being in a companionship is so great, we always learn something from each other and you will be so proud to know that my companion is helping me to be more time efficient (can you believe that?) hahaha, hopefully that will stick with me all my life! 

Third: Do you know what is so great about getting sick while you are in your mission? well, you have so many wonderful Priesthood holders to give you a blessing. I was having some strong stomach pains and our Mission President's wife had some Elders give me a blessing and then she took me home to rest for a little bit and afterwards I felt 100% better. I am so grateful for the Priesthood and what it does for us, it is really the authority and power of God. All men should strive to be worthy of it, because it works wonders :)

Fourth: I have been creating better habits of scripture study and personal prayers, also to be more loving and to serve and be more attentive. 

Fifth: to be more obedient. Everyone has to be obedient all of our lives right? obedient to traffic laws, obedient to school guidelines, obedient to the laws of the land (like paying taxes) Here we must be obedient to our mission rules and by doing so we have the Spirit of the Lord guiding us every step, and that also helps us be protected. Listening to the mission nurse and following their advice especially when it comes to the local foods, what to avoid and what to eat. Missionaries here suffer so much of parasites (fun huh?) the best things is to avoid foods from the streets and some other things.

Sixth: The PEOPLE! meeting and finding new people to teach the gospel is the most exciting thing!! last week we found some great people to teach, including a family. We also went to help other Hermanas in their areas, they were getting discouraged about their progress but we were able to help them with their goals and we actually found new people for them to teach. I also met people that they were currently teaching and my heart went out to them, it was so exciting to see their potential, I know they have some wonderful people to work with. Our day was very successful.

The day we went on splits (divisions)

Oh! I GOT THE PACKAGE!! it is so nice to be close to the office  because I don't have to wait weeks to get the things that you send. 

I love you guys so much! Glad you got my postcard,

I hope you guys have a wonderful week!

Love you bunches!! xoxoxoxoxox

Hermana Riley

ps excited to open the package!!

SEMANA SANTA

This week in Coban:

I'm really liking Coban, teaching here is really pushing me out of my comfort zone and challenging me in a new way, all in all it is a good experience. The people here are very deep into their beliefs and they don't want to leave the traditions of their fathers, sometimes they harden their hearts and we find a lot of rejection, when we are contacting people they won't let us past their doorway, we just leave them with a short message ( standing outside) When they do let us in we do a happy dance (mentally) our hearts are full of joy and can't help to feel that they are the chosen ones. but it's not too bad, we always have members that accompany us. I'm still getting to know the ward, our goal is to gain their confidence let them know that we are here to serve and help them.

We as missionaries are sharing the video "Because he lives" , I love that video so much, I could watch it over and over, I feel the Spirit every time I watch it with the people and I hope they feel it too, we had a somewhat successful week even though it was Easter, it was a lot better than the Christmas I had in San Benito where it was all dead and hardly anyone received us, I mean it was pretty similar here but we somehow managed more lessons.

The highlight of my week was General Conference, I love it! so much spiritual insight and advice for life, talks about the FAMILY that's all they talked about! i learned a lot about what I am going to do with my future self, and a little bit of things to improve here on the mission. But I couldn't believe it, it was talk after talk about the family, which is really good, because we really do need to focus more on that, especially in this world! I too loved elder Jeffrey R. Hollands talk, it was AMAZING!!! and Uchtdorfs, I just loved them all haha

Here is a bit of culture for you:

As we all know, it was Semana Santa (Holy week) it is HUGE here in Guatemala, there were a lot of processions but I hardly saw them, on friday there were a lot of hand made rugs on the streets but I mean people spent Thursday night making them from a lot of saw dust, vegetation, flowers etc. It was super cool! and then during the day a procession would pass and walk over the hand made rugs and pretty much destroy it because they are not permanent. To give you an idea of what a procession is...basically it is a huge float being carried on the shoulders of men with an image of Jesus (statue) on the float. At one point they stopped and made a switch with women so now the women were carrying it, they also had a smaller float that children were carrying. The people that carry the floats have to pay about 20 dollars to have the privilege, some believe that their sins will be forgiven after they carry the float. I don't want to imagine how much that thing weighed, it was huge!

(EDITORS NOTE: to illustrate the Semana Santa traditions, I found this photos

 on the internet ~  Mom.)

This is a float with a Jesus statue in the center.

A hand made rug on the street ready for the procession

(This street dog thinks he is "all that") lol

This particular rug is made out of colored saw dust.

Another version of a hand made rug

made out of pine needles, fruits and vegetables.

On good Friday a member invited us to eat with them, and we had some traditional food from Coban, it was good! it was also someone's birthday in the family so we had cake, and it had fondant! which reminded me of you mommy smile emoticon it was delicious.

Tonight the missionaries are doing a noche de hogar (family home evening) with him, but I won't be there because I'm writing to you guys, due to my traveling smile emoticon
speaking of which! I went to the capital today, left at 4 in the morning and arrived at like 9, a worker of the church picked us up, I wanted to go to the distribution center but it is closed on mondays, (always my luck).... so he dropped us off at the dentist they fixed my retainer in like 3 minutes it was super fast, and the best part it was free, after everyone was done (there were only four of us) we went to the relief map to kill some time, because the other missionaries haven't gone, I enjoy adventure and seeing things again, I was able to give them a mini tour and history of the place hahaha ( I feel like an expert now) afterwards the man picked us up and dropped us off at central norte, where the busses are, we bought our tickets and we went to go eat lunch,and we left at 2 and got here at 6, so it was a productive day, a trip to the capital, even though we weren't able to do a whole lot, I wouldn't call it a day lost.
So I keep drinking shuko (dirty) water, I can't help it, the only thing I can help is clean it a little bit with my biocyde! and say a little prayer, so far I haven't had any problems, if there was ever a time I needed to pray more fervently for my food (and water) is now, grin emoticon I can't afford to get sick, the work must go on.

Well I love you family very dearly, hugs and kisses to everyone! 

Love you guys super super much!!!!!!
Hermana Riley

CHAPIN WORDS OF THE WEEK:

"Chapin" colloquial word for everything and everyone from Guatemala.

"Shuko" = Dirty

CHIPPY CHIPPY

HELLO EVERYBODY, IT'S ME AGAIN!

Everything is going great here in Coban although I do miss San Benito (last area)

The sun came out this week and that brought a little warmth but it wasn't nearly as hot as Peten. The weather here in coban is most of the time cloudy and there is always some rain, mostly sprinkling which is known by the locals as CHIPPY CHIPPY and that is probably why the vegetation here is so lush and green and beautiful. My week went well, we are working on finding new investigators and we found 10 people this past week.

One day we were walking past a house and my companion said to me "I've always wanted to contact this house but we never did" so I said..."Well what are we waiting for? Let's go for it!

We knocked and an old lady came out, we said hi and asked how she was doing? and she said...." not as good as you guys", we asked why? she said that her husband had passed away 4 months ago, so we started talking to her, sharing our message giving her comfort, she wouldn't let us in at first because said she was washing clothes and couldn't leave them unatended, but then she decided to let us in and turned off her washing machine, we talked to her and shared more about the plan of salvation and we gave a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon, she kept saying that she is catholic but she accepts the word of god and likes to learn and read things, and she was curious about what we said that there is life after death and that we can see our loved ones again. I hope she can open her heart more and accept more of our message and this gospel smile emoticon I am so grateful that the Spirit led us to her.

On Friday we had divisions and we went to Salama a city 2 hours away from our area. We went to help the hermanas, they have been having some challenges so we were there to help resolve them, there are two sets of sister Missionaries, this time we worked with on of the sets and the division went great, we completed some of the main goals they had, and we were able to advice them and cheer them up, the division was successful and as of now, they are overcoming their problems and starting to see the blessings due to their obedience. (It made me happy, I love being Sister trainer leader because I really get to help the Sister Missionaries, and I know the Lord called me for a reason)

On Saturday we watched the general women's broadcast. It was SO inspiring!! I loved it! I learned a whole lot, and felt the spirit strongly (I recommend all to watch it :D) It talked about families and being defenders of the home and values! LOVED IT!

The people here are so sweet, after our lessons they always offer us something to drink and its hard to reject because you don't want to offend, I always have with me a bottle of biocyde, that we are supposed to carry to put in the drinks so that it purifies it somewhat, I carry that wherever I go! food and drinks hmmm always a challenge I just pray to bless it every time so that it doesn't cause me harm haha really relying on my faith grin emoticon

Today for p-day we went paca shopping (thrift store) for sweaters and I got some dresses, clothes here are so cheap! and I saw a member from peten here, gave her a hug and took a pic smile emoticon will send pics next week, because I'm a chambona and run out of time SORRY!! takes time to load them......

I love you moommy super much!! Happy Easter week!!!

Hermana Riley


CHAPIN WORDS OF THE WEEK:

"Chippy chippy" what locals call when there is very light continuous rain.
"paca" the shipment of used clothing that is re-sold to the public.
"chambon, chambona" in Guatemala means someone who is flaky, useless, disorganized.