November 29, 2010

Hi everyone!

This week was really good, we had Thanksgiving, we ate 3 meals that day, we had lunch with the Bishop and his family, and then we had dinner with one member family, and after that we went and had dinner with another member family, so needless to say I ate so much food I wanted to die. It was great though, the members out here are amazing. We should have a baptism next week, so I'm really excited about that, it's a girl named Jaz, whose parents are members but are less-active. We've been going over every week and trying to re-activate them, and we've been teaching their daughter Jaz about baptism, and they've been coming to church and everything, so that's really exciting. We also have another baptism coming up in December, and one scheduled for January, so the work is going great here in North Carolina.

My companion Elder Anderson finishes his mission today, and goes home to Idaho tomorrow! It's crazy to see him leaving, it kinda makes me feel like I am going to be here forever haha, but it's good :) So tomorrow I'll have a new companion here in my area with me, which leaves me in charge of the area and all the investigators, which I'm kind of nervous about, but it will be good. I'm learning so much on my mission, and I am seeing the gospel reaching out and changing people's lives. It is wonderful. Well I gotta go but I love you all and will see you soon!

Love,

Elder Rider

This last week went really well. They had Stake Conference here, and got a new Stake Presidency, so that was really fun. Elder Snow and Elder Cook from the quorums of the 70 came and reorganized the stake, so I got to meet them. And on Monday (yesterday) we had mission tour, which is where an member of the quorum of the 70 comes and instructs the missionaries for a day. The 70 that came was Alan F. Packer, who is the son of Boyd K. Packer. It was really awesome to meet him and spend time with him, and learn from him. This week we got 2 new good investigators, one of whom we tracted into, her husband answered the door and was telling us to leave, but she was inside the house and yelled out "let them in"! She later said she didn't know why she yelled out, she just felt peace when her husband opened the door, and she wanted to know why. It was really humbling, and has been a wonderful week. I love you all!

Elder Rider

November 15, 2010

How's everyone doing? North Carolina is great, although it is starting to get colder, and it rains a ton! which is great until you're biking in it every single day haha :) I had my second baptism yesterday! Her name is Emily Downing, and she is awesome. She has a really strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, and is truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father has blessed me so much in my mission it is hard to comprehend. I feel like my mission is straight out of the Ensign, haha. It's incredible what the Spirit can do, how it can touch peoples lives and help them to change, and how Heavenly Father prepares people. We're teaching a man named Bobby Woolard, who is in his 70's, whose wife is less-active. She joined the church about 20 years ago, but he was always against religion and didn't want anything to do with it, and was a big part of the reason she went inactive. We stopped by a couple weeks ago to see how they were doing, and they invited us back to teach him, he wanted to be taught the lessons. So we taught him twice in the last couple weeks, he's had some health problems lately (a couple strokes) that have really humbled him and opened him up to things. The last lesson we taught the Spirit was really strong, and he realized something was different, he said he'd "never felt anything like this in his life". We invited him to be baptized on Dec. 11 and he agreed! It is amazing what the Lord can do, if we just follow him.

We should have another baptism on the 28th, if all goes well, and two more (one of those being bobby) that should happen in December, Heavenly Father is truly helping me have success, which I am so grateful for.

Well I need to go, but I love you all and miss you all, and can't wait to see you all again. I want to let you all know that I know this church is Christ's true church restored to the Earth, That Joseph Smith was a prophet called by our Heavenly Father, and that the Book of Mormon is true, and that if we read it every day then everything else in our lives will fall into place. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Rider.

November 1, 2010

Well this week was definitely my "initiation" if you will into the south. We went tracting up and down all sorts of back country roads, we helped pick cotton (yup, i even got a picture), and ate all sorts of weird southern foods. It was really good though, we got 2 new investigators, and had 8 investigators come to church, and set up another baptism date, so we have 2 in November, and 1 in December, so things in the mission are going really well. It's already been 1 month, 23 to go, and the time is starting to fly by already. The days are going by really really fast. I definitely love it here. The area is so so so so green, although it is starting to change colors, and there are old tobacco barns and old buildings all over the countryside just covered in ivy, it is really really beautiful. I miss Saint George though, I never realized how much I liked it till I came out here, but now I do :) But I am loving the mission, and loving the people I serve, and I'm so grateful to the Lord for letting me be his servant out here in North Carolina. I love you all,

Elder Rider

11/1/2010

Hey Andy

 I don't have a whole lot of time, but i do have a couple minutes. First off the mission is great, I'm loving it already. I'm not even that tired at 6:30 anymore, i was at first, but that's going away. We had our first baptism like you said, and we have 3 more coming up, 2 in november and 1 in december, which i'm way excited about I'm journaling every single day, and loving the mission more and more. I love the people I serve so much, and my love for them grows each day. That's funny about the tires, haha but i'm glad you sold the malibu so good. I'm excited for you and Carly, and wish that I could be there, but i know you two are awesome and love each other. Tell aimee i'm excited for her and josh, and that I love you all, talk to you later.

 

Elder Rider