Week 22: Merry Christmas!!! [December 25, 2017]

This week has been pretty good so far. It's still a little strange being in a new area but I can tell I'll like it here! I don't have my journal with me as I'm writing this today so I'm not 100% when everything happened and in what order (The days sometimes blend together). 

We met with a referral from church headquarters named James. It turned out really well! He has had a rough past and has some regrets, but as he's gotten older his perspective has changed and he's come closer to God. He shows a lot of promise and we have an appointment with him Wednesday.

We met with a less active family right as they were heading out of town for the holidays. They were super friendly and said that we could talk with them again once they get back from their trip.

I got to meet one of the recent converts about my second day here. His name is Art and he was baptized at 92 years old! 

Christmas has been a little weird out here, but it's been good. Christmas Eve and Christmas were pretty much days off (since not many people besides members would want to see us). 

Christmas Eve we went to sacrement meeting. It was mostly just music which was pretty good. Afterwards we went to a Christmas brunch with the Dunn family. My companion, Elder Richards (yes, it is confusing) made his call home there so I got to talk with them as he did that. Once he was done with his call we left for our dinner appointment with the Wren family. We had homemade pizza which was fun for me because my family always has pizza on Christmas.

Christmas (today) was awesome. We walked out by the beach (not on the beach) which was cool. After that I got to make my Skype call home which was easily the highlight of my day. It was so much fun to see everyone's faces and get to talk with them face to face. The only problem is that we don't get enough time☹. Once that was over we hung out with the missionaries in our district for a while. One thing that was cool was I found the entrance to the roof of the church so we got to walk on that. For our Christmas dinner we went to the Dunns again. They gave us Christmas presents and my companion and I got matching ties! We had steak and potatoes and their son - who served his mission in France - made some French potatoes and escargot which as strange as it sounds isn't that bad (but is a little weird).

This Christmas season out here has been very different from what I'm used to, but has also been one of the more rewarding Christmases I've had. This year I really was able to focus more on the true meaning of Christmas, and the blessing we have that Christ came to earth to show us the way and suffer the atonement for us all. Even though Christmas is over, I encourage all of you to watch the Mormon Message "The Christmas Spirit" and remember that we we should have the spirit of Christ with us always.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season!

Elder Jason Riches

'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Jason and Friends 

[Christmas Eve 2017]

Even though he is not with us this time of year, we are so grateful for this memory we have to share of him.  He continues to impress us each and every day, and we hope this fun video will make you laugh and smile, and maybe show you a side of Elder Riches you've never known before! 

Merry Christmas!       

                         

Week 21: Farewell, Simi Valley [December 18, 2017]

Hello Everyone,

As you can probably tell from my title, I will be leaving Simi Valley after being here for four months. In all honesty I'm a little sad to go. Simi Valley has been my mission so far and I've really enjoyed it here. There have been a lot of people I've grown close to and the work here had been progressing. In the mission everyone who serves in Simi always goes back so I'll be back at some point. I just hope it's the same ward. This next transfer I will be going to Santa Barbara. It's funny because all my companions with the exception of Elder Olacsi have served in the ward I'm going to. I also sort of know my companion because he was in my zone my first two transfers here. His name is Elder Richards so that won't be confusing at all. People out here call me Elder Richards quite a bit so it will be interesting to see how that works. 

Tuesday we found a new potential named Gerrald who actually knows Elder Olacsi's grandpa! We met a less active who said we could come back and had dinner with a active/less active family.

Wednesday we talked with a potential but he said he wasn't ready yet. He later drove by us and asked us if there was anything he could do for us because we were "The real deal." We told him to keep us in his prayers and he said he would do that. We also met with a new potential family. It was kind of interesting because he got into some deep doctrine, all before he learned about the restoration, so that was fun. 

Thursday we had a lesson with Our investigator Olivia. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and asked her to pray if January 20 is the right day for her to be baptized!

Friday we talked to a guy who wanted to know if it is okay to kill someone if they are threatening someone close to you. We told him if it is in defense of others then it's not sinning but he was sure that we were wrong. We also had a restoration lesson with a former investigator, Frank, who invited us to lunch the next day. 

Saturday we had lunch with Frank at a sushi place (I found sushi isn't that bad). We also went caroling as a district to the investigators and less actives everyone has been working with. We also got our transfer calls.

Sunday after church I went around to different families I wanted to say goodbye to. 

I hope everyone has a merry Christmas! 

Until then, 

Elder Jason Riches.

Week 20: Wind and Fire [December 11, 2017]

Hello Everyone!

I'm sure that a lot of you have heard about the fires here in my mission. Fortunately all of the missionaries that were in the fires path were safely evacuated and are okay. I would like to ask you all to keep those who are in the fire's path and who have lost there homes in your prayers. Here in Simi we were supposed to be ready to go at any time. We had to have a bag packed and for a few days we had some other elders from our district stay in our apartment since they were closer to the fire. It was fun but a little cramped since our apartment is pretty small. Fortunately we did not get any fire our way but we did get some very heavy wind. Normally wind has never bothered me but since we're on bikes it is harder. It always feels like it's blowing against us so even when biking on flat ground it feels like we're peddling uphill. I just try and remember that when we have hard times we have to push through them and we'll be stronger for it. Hopefully that's what will happen here.

On Tuesday we had exchanges. Because of the heavy winds we decided to walk which was good, but very tiring.  We exchanged back early and did service for one of the members in the ward by pulling Christmas decorations out of her shed so the beehives could help her decorate. We then visited a less active, but we had to cut it short. Because of the fires they wanted us to go in early so we got 5 calls from the district leader and 1 from the zone leaders. Then I didn't want the next call to say President Nakken so I awkwardly told him we had to go.

Wednesday we had our designated walking day. We had a meeting with a guy named Jackson who had met with missionaries in the past. He's now a new investigator and we have an appointment with him next week. We also helped one of our less actives dust his house. Before we started though I gave him a haircut which was a new experience for me. I was glad he just wanted a buzz cut because I don't think I could have done much more than that.

Not much happened Thursday. I started reading the Bible starting at the Old Testament. One of the apps on our phone has a easy to read version on one side and the original on the other which was helpful. I ended up reading 10 chapters that day. We also visited with Our investigator Olivia. We taught her the plan of salvation. She has a lot of promise, but she's moving to another area in Simi soon so we won't have her for much longer.

Nothing really on Friday. Just trying to find people.

Saturday we had the ward party which was fun. I had a mess up with our investor Cathy though that was a little embarissing. We were teaching the plan of salvation and I was talking about how because of the atonement and how Jesus has felt the problems and pain that I have felt, I feel much closer to him when I pray to him. I have no idea why I said "pray to him" so I was really hoping that she wouldn't notice, but of course the next thing she said was "So you pray to Jesus?"

Nothing much happened Sunday.

That's pretty much it for this week! Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Elder Jason Riches

P.S. We have a weird place in our area called the Knowles. Usually there's some weird stuff up there. Here's a picture of a peacock (which I had seen a few times before) and a pig.

Our District went ice skating for our P-Day activity:

Week 19: California on Fire [December 4, 2017]

Hey Everyone!

We got phones this week! Already I have seen how they can help missionary work. One of my favorite things is the Gospel Library app. I feel like I am able to get so much more out of my studies! One thing we have been doing is showing people the light the world videos. If you haven't heard about them or seen them then I would encourage you all to go to mormon.org and check it out. It was also cool because when we set up phones I got to see my MTC companion Elder Ujhely, who I haven't seen since I got to California.

On Wednesday I had my first experience putting up Christmas lights on a members house. Since most houses here are one story it wasn't so bad.

Thursday the district and Spanish elders helped the YMCA unload a crazy amount of Christmas trees (real ones) by the end of it everyone smelled like pine trees and I ended up losing one of my name tags (it was eventually found). 

Not much on Friday.

Saturday I had exchanges with the district leader and I found that he and I get along pretty well. I started to feel like I've been here a while because all the people (investigator and member) I had met before on previous exchanges.

Sunday we has the usual Sunday stuff and we finally were able to meet with a less active we have been trying to meet with for months

That sums up this week. Remember to look up light the world and read the initiative and do it! It will bless the lives of others and yourself so much.

Until next time,

Elder Jason Riches