Week Sixty-Six:  Happy Halloween! [October 29, 2018]

Hi Everyone! 

I don't have a ton of time so I'll make this quick.

This week has been really good. We've been able to work with Albert quite a bit to prepare him for his baptism tomorrow. He's doing really well and he's pretty excited as are we. 

We also have a new person we're working with named Gabriel. He really wants to learn more and he wants to invite his friend to join in the lesson as well! When we taught him on Tuesday his brother was visiting and he told Gabriel to give him a call the next time he we come so he can sit in as well! We're excited to see how that all goes! 

On Wednesday I had a follow up doctor's appointment. basically all that happened was he gave a different diagnosis than the one they gave me at the ER and put me back on the medicine :\

I had another exchange with Elder Hutchison. The night of the exchange we had a few lessons in Spanish so I pretty much just sat there for most of the time. 

Friday we had our ward Halloween party (which was nice since last year I missed it). We had the typical chili cook off, but at the end there was a trunk or treat carnival where people set up games and stuff for everyone. We ran a pin the name tag on the elder game for the kids. For my Halloween costume Elder Hutchison and I switched name tags so we were each other (there's not much we can do for costumes here). 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Until next time. 

Elder Jason Riches

Week Sixty-Five:  There's a Lizard in our Car!  [October 22, 2018]

Hi Everyone! 

For starters, Albert is doing great! We're still trying to figure out the program, but other than that things are going well there. His baptismal date is October 30th so next Tuesday. We're all really excited and are very proud of him and his commitment to enter into the waters of baptism! 

On Friday after we had our district council meeting we went to Wendy's for lunch. While there we saw a guy who another elder and I had found while on exchanges in Templeton! He's actually one of the Templeton Elders most promising people they're working with so that's pretty cool. After lunch we also had a companionship study and mini exchange with the zone leaders in our area. I was with Elder Clegg and we got to meet a recent convert who has been gone for a while. That evening all of our appointments fell through, but it actually turned out to be a good thing because we were able to talk with a potential named Gabriel for a bit and we set up an appointment for tomorrow evening. He even said he would invite his friend over as well which was cool. 

Saturday we were able to find four new potentials! We weren't really doing, much different, but it was still really cool since that's the most we've found in a day since being here. We also talked with a potential who has been hard to get in contact with and he also seems really open to the message we share. 

Finally onto the title for our email. We had to take our car in to the shop to have it's oil changed and tires rotated and we ended up finding a lizard chilling out in our car! We have no idea how it got in there, but we were able to get it out safe and sound. It did end up riding with us in the car for most of the day though so it was almost like having a pet for the day. 

That's all for me right now. 

Have an awesome week! 

Elder Jason Riches

Missionary Lizard

Week Sixty-Four:  "I'm Mormon and I'm not changing." [October 15, 2018]

Hi Everyone! 

Our first week of the new transfer was a pretty good one. We had some good experiences and some fun stories. 

First of all we got some interesting responses from people that I have never heard before. One took a pamphlet and we asked if we could come back and share more with her. She said it wouldn't be necessary, but if we're in the area we can come by. There was also a man who we'd stopped by previously and he told us that he's Mormon and isn't interested in changing. We're both pretty sure that he thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses. And finally we talked with someone who said they where a witness in a lawsuit against the Church and they aren't allowed to talk with us. Strange stuff. 

In other news Albert is currently on course for baptism! The current plans are to have it happen by the end of the month and we're both really excited about that. We're also working with the Lisonbees again after all the sickness and hospital visits on their side as well as ours. For those of you who don't remember who they are, the Lisonbees are a part member family who are super open to the gospel. We discussed baptism and Sister Lisonbee shared some of her concerns, but she still wants to get baptized eventually. 

We were also able to talk with someone named Gabriel who seems really open. We're hoping to be able to work with him soon! We also taught a less active named Paul the restoration. He's in really poor health, so prayers for him would be great. 

Yesterday we were able to attend a priesthood meeting for the Stake talking about things that distract us from the Spirit. The stake president quoted from one of President Nelson's talks saying that it will not be possible to survive spiritually in coming days without the Holy Ghost. It was a really good meeting and it was fun because I got to see a bunch of people from my time in Atascadero and Templeton and I was happy that most of them remembered me! 

That's about all for this week! Hope you all have a good one! 

Elder Jason Riches 

Week Sixty-three:  Service Miracle [October 8, 2018]

Hi Everyone! 

Here's what's been going on this week. 

Tuesday we were going by some people when a member from the Templeton ward pulled up and invited us to have lunch with her and a few other members. We decided to go and it turned out that there were only females there. There were enough that it was okay to go in, but it was still a little awkward. We ended up being the judges of their curry cook off. 

We had one pretty neat experience. We were going by less actives and we got to a point where we were wondering if we should go back to the car and drive there or walk to the member and then the car (which would take about 11 minutes longer. Elder Kennedy felt that we needed to go the long way which we didn't see the reason for until we were almost at our car again. A lady named Sue pulled over to talk with us and said that she needed help moving out of her house. We've since then gone by a few times to help her a bit (usually for about an hour at a time for one reason or another). Last night (Sunday). We were able to teach her and her husband a bit. They're really nice people; however they're not in our area, but Templeton's. We've done a lot because they've been busy with other things. 

We've been able to have sit down lessons with a few people. We met with Albert and talked with him about temples and families. As far as we know he's still meeting the requirements for baptism. We met with a less-active member named Paul who is having some rough health problems. We got to know him for a bit and are planning to meet weekly on Fridays. The last one is Katryna. It seems like we never really have planned lessons. Sometimes we'll see them as we're going about their area and they invite us in. We taught her to obey and honor the law and committed her to live the law. I don't think it will be difficult for her to do. 

General Conference was awesome! I loved how there were so many messages centered on Jesus Christ and His role in our lives! I still have one conference left as a missionary so I'm still grateful for that. 

We got our transfer news. Elder Kennedy and I will be staying in this area. We're excited for another exciting new transfer. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Jason Riches

Week Sixty-two:  My Trip to the Emergency Room [October 1, 2018)

Hi Everyone! 

This week has been an interesting one to say the very least. On Tuesday we had our zone conference where we talked a lot about Preach My Gospel and we did an activity where we practiced contacting people on the senior couples. We were also put with another missionary and I was placed with Elder Hutchison. After the zone conference we got our flu shots. 

We only had two sit down meetings this week. The first was on Tuesday with Katryna and we talked with her a little bit about sacrifice brings blessings. Our other meeting was Wednesday with Albert. We went over the word of wisdom again. He's doing really well and we were able to set him with a new baptismal date. 

On Wednesday I woke up feeling a little sick from the flu shot which is weird because I've never gotten sick from a flu shot before. I got a blessing from  some other Elders. A blessing which helped me have the strength to see Albert. Later that day I had another problem which I called the mission nurse about and she said that I should go to the doctor. I went there, but they said they couldn't help me and told me to go to the ER. We got the OK from the mission nurse and went. We were stuck there for about 4 hours as they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Turns out I got a bladder infection. I'm fine now, but it was an experience I never thought I would have. 

Some other interesting things that happened were we had a guy pull up to us in a car and said that we were out too late. He insisted that he follow us back to our car to make sure we were leaving. We also got the usual basher who "just wants us to find the truth". Bible bashes are annoying but it's nice to have a testimony in times like this. 

Next week we'll hear our transfer news. Have a great week!

Elder Jason Riches

September Birthdays

San Luis Obisbo Zone Conference September 29, 2018

 Elder Riches, Elder Kennedy, Elder Hammond, Elder Clark, Elder Goulding, Elder Roth, Sister Fairbourn, Sister Peterson

President and Sister Nakken Anniversary September 30, 2018.