Elder Jason Riches

Week Thirty-nine: Here to Stay [April 23, 2018]

Hi Everyone!

It's been a pretty busy week. We had some great lessons and fun moments. Here are some of them.

We did more service this week. First for a potential named Ginny helping her rake leaves, dig some holes and planting trees. We also helped Lynn move a bunch of branches into his car.

We had another lesson with Betty. We taught her obedience, prayer, scripture study, and talked a bit about coming to church. One thing cool about her move is that Elder Jarman might be transferring to the area where she's moving to.

Elder Riches, Betty and Elder Jarman

We met with Judy and went over Thomas S. Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey".The coolest thing about our meeting with her was when she told us about her missionary moment. She was talking with her grandson and they started talking about the church (she told him about the missionary program as well). She's been a member for a short time still, but she is already sharing her light with others!

We did a few member lessons as well. The first one was with the Cohens teaching the kids about service and challenged them to do some form of service this week. We also did one with the McGinnis' on how to share the gospel easily by using the words "my church" when talking to people. When people ask about your week or something you can say something to the effect of, "We had a great service at my church" or "I taught a lesson in a Sunday school at my church."

The Cohens, Elder Jarman and Elder Riches

We had another great lesson with our friends Brooke and Byron. We taught them about Lehi's dream of the tree of life and what everything represents. After we did that we applied it to them and their spiritual journey. At the end we asked them what their thoughts were on getting baptized. Byron told us that there are still some things he has trouble with, but that doesn't get in the way of him and his Savior and love of the Mormon people. They already come to church each week so they're not far off. Keep them in your prayers and pray that they'll find the truth they seek.

We got our transfer calls. I'll be staying here with Elder Mills and Elder Jarman will be leaving to Santa Maria with Elder Deason. I will be senior companion for the first time over the course of my mission. I'll be driving and I pray that I'll still know how after 9 months of not doing it. Most of Saturday and Sunday was Elder Jarman saying bye to people he's grown close to.