Week One Hundred and Five:  [July 31, 2019]

Week One-Hundred and Four:  One Door Closes [July 22, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

We had a pretty eventful week! We were able to teach Bryan at the beginning of this week! It's been nice that we've been able to catch him a lot more! We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and then discussed faith, repentance and baptism. We also taught Sebastian about coming to church, reading the scriptures, and praying.

We got to take a young man with us to a lesson we were having with a member. The only thing was that he doesn’t have a car, so he had to walk. We ended up walking with him and got to know him along the way. The lesson was good and we taught prayer. After that we went and saw Dizi and taught her the restoration. It's pretty sad that we'll only have one more lesson with her!

My last zone conference was this week! It was really good! I got to see some previous companions there which was fun! I also gave my departing testimony after lunch. It was the most nervous I have been to stand at the pulpit for a long time! To finish off, Sister Nakken and President Nakken talked about how we need to use the scriptures more when we teach instead of mostly using stories, analogies, and object lessons. Near the beginning of next transfer the mission will also be reading the Book of Mormon in 5 days! President Nakken finished off by bearing his testimony about the Book of Mormon.

On Friday I had my departing interview with President Nakken! It was different from what I was expecting, but still really good! Mostly we talked about what my goals were in my first year back and he then gave me some advice on how to stay well balanced in life, saying that most of life’s stress comes from not being very well balanced. He also said that the sacrament would be a good time to re-evaluate where I’m at in staying well balanced and what I need to work on. He also said I would be lucky if I could get in an hour of personal study, but listening to the scriptures would be a good option and to take advantage of Sunday when doing scripture study. When leaving I asked President if it would be alright if we checked to see if we’re related and he said yes. Turns out he’s my 4th cousin once removed! That’s pretty close! Also Sister Nakken is my 8th cousin once removed. I got to talk to Sister Nakken a bit as well. The best part of that conversation was when she told me some funny stories about the general authorities that came for the mission tours!

In the evening we saw David! Most of the time it was just talking and seeing how he’s been. We’re now friends on Facebook! We talked a little bit about prayer, church, and the word of wisdom (which he’s living now!).  

Saturday and Sunday not a whole lot interesting happened. It's pretty weird still that this part of my life is coming to a close, but the future is looking bright! I also want to share a quote from Elder Uchtdorf that I read in my departing testimony during zone conference. It says:

"As a child, when I would look at the little forget-me-nots, I sometimes felt a little like that flower—small and insignificant. I wondered if I would be forgotten by my family or by my Heavenly Father.

" Years later I can look back on that young boy with tenderness and compassion. And I do know now—I was never forgotten.

" And I know something else…I proclaim with all the certainty and conviction of my heart—neither are you!

"You are not forgotten… 

" … Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love.

"Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious Being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time!

" He who created and knows the stars knows you and your name 

"God loves you because you are His child. He loves you even though at times you may feel lonely or make mistakes.

" The love of God and the power of the restored gospel are redemptive and saving. If you will only allow His divine love into your life, it can dress any wound, heal any hurt, and soften any sorrow."

That's all for me this time! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Jason Riches

Week One-Hundred and Three:  The Only Light in the Darkness [July 15, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

We've had some good things happen this week! Early on we were walking to go by someone and ran into a lady who used to be the landlord for someone we were working with. While we were talking with her she really opened up about her problems and trials she's had recently. We ended up walking with her back to her house and helped her carry in some groceries. It's pretty cool how God puts people in our path! We were planning on going by someone else, but met her instead! 

We taught both Dizi and Jason this week! For Dizi our lesson was focused on the ten commandments and Jason's Lesson was more about serving in the church. One cool thing that happened with Jason was Thursday night he texted us asking if we could get him a Book of Mormon to give someone he met. When we met with him on Friday he told us that it had been a success! 

Last night we were finishing up the evening and had about 30 minutes until the end of the night. There wasn't really anyone close by to stop by so we decided to go somewhere we hadn't gone yet that day. As we were approaching Denny's we saw our friend Bryan sitting out front with his mom! We talked with him for a bit and then set an appointment for Tuesday. Usually he's been a harder one to catch, but lately we've been able to see him more!

The title of my email has two meanings. The first is to describe the district picture we took Friday which I will include below. The other one is I have seen the gospel be a light in the lives of our recent converts, other people we're working with and myself! It's incredible how much joy it can bring in an unhappy world!

That's about it for me. Have a fantastic week

Elder Jason Riches

Week One-Hundred and Two:  Aftershocks [July 8, 2019]

Hi Everyone!

This week has been pretty good what with the fourth of July and everything. Here's what happened...

We got to meet with our friend Bryan three times this week! That's huge since he's one of the people we're working with who is hard to catch. One of the times we read the Book of Mormon with him and on Sunday he came before church and we did a church tour with him. He had to leave before sacrament meeting since he had to get to work. 

My 4th of July was good! In the morning we went by someone we're working with and while there we felt a small earthquake (which I later heard was a big earthquake elsewhere). That was the first time I remember ever feeling an earthquake! We also did a bit of service for a member and later on went to a members BBQ. It was a huge event and had all you can eat food! At the end of the night we watched a firework show from a freeway overpass. It was nice since I haven't seen one of those since being home. 

The next day we met with David and had a really good discussion on prayer and read out of the Book of Mormon with him. Then we went to see our friend Sebastian. While we read from the Book of Mormon with him Sebastian pointed out that the car was shaking. We were having a second earthquake! It was a little longer and a little more intense, but still not bad. 

Yesterday (Sunday) Elder Pack and I had the chance to bear our testimony in fast and testimony meeting for the last time as missionaries. It was a really good experience and there was even a member that came up afterword and bore her testimony on missionary work. She even invited the ward to have missionary moments! Later we also had dinner with the Woolsey family and invited them to have a missionary moment. Jason has come so far since I first met him!

That's my week!

Elder Jason Riches

Week: One-Hundred and One:  All the Comforts of Home [July 1, 2019]

Hi Everyone

This week has been pretty good! I had a little more time this week so it's a bit longer than the last few. 

Tuesday evening we had a really cool broadcast from the Area Presidency! In it they talked a lot about the new plan for members and missionaries to work together to help bring lasting conversion to those we teach. It was also cool because we sat by the Nakkens during it and he gave some thoughts afterwords. 

Wednesday we set some baptismal goals with the Zone Leaders. We're going to try and set David with a date before we leave so please keep him in your prayers! We also met with Dizi in the evening and she's doing much better! We talked a bit about baptism and how we renew our baptismal covenants when we partake of the sacrament. We pulled the sacrament prayers up on her Kindle and she got to read them in Albanian which she really liked!

Thursday morning we met with Eddie. For the most part our meeting with him got off topic (as it usually does), but it did have one good part. He started talking about how everything has it's opposite and we read 2 Nephi 2 with him. It seemed to interest him and he has more of a desire now to read from the Book of Mormon! 

We also ended up having interviews that afternoon. It's crazy to think that I'll only have one more interview with President Nakken! Since we would be meeting again in a few weeks our interview was short. He did give me some advice though. He said that the end of the mission is one of the best times to feel God's love and that I should work to feel that. It was also President Nakken's birthday! 

That evening we met with David. We talked a bit about baptism again and he said that that's something that he's still praying about. He also said that he's been able to feel more of a relationship with God! 

Friday we had our District Council and later in the afternoon we helped a member move some stuff in his storage unit and afterword gave us a nice little nightstand. It makes our apartment feel a little more like home. He was going to give us some other stuff, but we don't have enough room in our apartment. Later on in the evening we went by some members and as we were leaving I noticed that the TV was on and the show that was playing just so happened to be my favorite TV show! I didn't see much, but it was a little distracting. 

Saturday it seemed like the only people we were able to catch were some of the members. We ended up committing one of them to give away a Book of Mormon in the next few weeks. Also we caught a potential I haven't seen since he was first found. He's a Russian professional boxer and showed decent interest when I first met him. The conversation was brief though as he was about to go off and meet some friends. 

Sunday was good, but nothing too crazy happened. After we got home in the evening we heard a crashing noise outside of our apartment. Someone ended up crashing into one of the parking stalls and another car. It looks pretty bad. 

That's all for me this time, hope you all have a marvelous week! 

Elder Jason Riches

Picture of the crash

Week One-Hundred!:  Beginning of the End [June 24, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

It's been a pretty good week! The final transfer began Tuesday and so far it's off to a decent start. 

Tuesday we were finally able to meet with David again! He's had some difficult challenges in his family recently, but he still wants to make a change in his life! We taught him about prayer and discussed what it is, as well as what it's not. 

Wednesday was Elder Pack's birthday! He's now 22 (same as me!). We did get a good scare from Dizi though, She called us saying that she couldn't meet because her arm hurt really bad all the night before and into the day. She didn't want to go to the hospital since she didn't want to stay overnight so we prayed a lot for her. 

The next day we tried by some people and arranged to go and give Dizi a blessing when her husband got back. We didn't hear from her for a while and no one answered our calls. We found out eventually that she went to the hospital. Later on in the evening we went by and saw her. Apparently she had a blood clot in her arm. She's doing better now, but she gave us quite the scare. 

On Friday we had our first district council of the transfer. It's a much smaller district than the last one, but not bad. A lot of the people we tried by weren't home, but we did get to have a lesson with Jason. At the end my companion was saying that he wanted to try something called baloote (don't know if that's how it's spelled or not) which is a premature duck egg. Sister Woolsey got excited and they might feed us that the next time we go over for dinner. We'll see! 

Saturday we had a pass off lesson with the sisters where we taught a guy named Jake. He had some pretty interesting beliefs that I can't say was something I'd ever heard before, but he was a very nice guy and was open to meeting with us again. 

Last night we were out and about as usual and we had decided in the morning to go by someone we were teaching. Sure enough she was there, and in talking with her, we found out that she had to turn herself in to go to jail the next day. This was something we knew would happen, but we didn't know exactly when. We shared a scripture and got her info so missionaries can visit her in prison. We both thought it was pretty remarkable that we caught her on the last day we possibly could! 

That's it for me! Hope you have a wonderful week! 

Elder Jason Riches

Week Ninety-Nine:  All Roads Lead...[June 17, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

I ran out of time to write this week so I'll update you on everything important next week. I'll give a quick transfer update though. I'll be finishing my mission here in Camarillo with Elder Pack. It's pretty crazy since 5 transfer areas are pretty uncommon as are 3 transfer companions (at least in this mission).

I guess all roads have been leading up to this moment. It's my goal to finish strong. It's crazy to think that this next transfer will be my last. 

Wish me luck! 

Elder Jason Riches 

Week Ninety-Eight:  Running Out of Time [June 10, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

I sorta ran out of time to write this week so I'll have to make this a quick one. 

Earlier on this week we had a lesson with David on the sabbath day. He enjoyed it and we're trying to schedule a time we can give him a tour of the church (last week didn't work) so hopefully we can do that this week. 

Wednesday the only noteworthy thing that happened was teaching Dizi. Thursday we had our Zone Conference (those are always good). One of the big things I took out of it was we need to do better working with those we teach and involving the members in what we do. 

Saturday we had a lesson with someone we're working with named Eddie. Usually it's hard to keep the lessons focused, but this time he seemed to be more interested in what we had to say and it was a pretty good meeting. 

That's pretty much it for tonight. We tried going by the people we met last week, but they weren't home :(

Have a great week! 

Elder Jason Riches 

Week Ninety-Seven:  The Blessing of Missionary Work [June 3, 2019]

Hi Everyone!

This week there were quite a few of our lessons that fell through, so in some ways it was a slow week. However, it was not without blessings! The biggest one came on Friday. We were trying by someone I had found in the beginning of my time here just like any other time. Last week we had gone by and the husband had told us to try by sometime this week in the evenings if we wanted to catch both him and his wife. Sure enough, they were home and they invited us in! We talked with them for a bit and got to know them. Apparently they've talked about looking into our church and they like the whole family aspect of our church. She also has a lot of members in her family. We shared the message of the restoration with them and they were open to us coming back and sharing more with them. They have a Book of Mormon and they said that they would read it and pray about it! By the way their names are Chis and Jessica.

The day before this we had an exchange with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Goodman which was fun since we served around each other a lot at the beginning of our missions (we came out the same time). I also found a street called Jason Place which is the second street I've found that shares my name on my mission. We actually ended up finding someone who was interested on that street!

The only other notable thing that happened this week was we did a lot of service. We helped someone move into their new place, tried to remove part of a palm tree stump and today we moved a chair. 

That's all I can think to mention this week. Hope you all have a good one!

Elder Jason Riches 

Pictures

1. Elder Goodman and I

2. Me by Jason Place

Week Ninety-Six:  "Go Ye Therefore..." [May 27, 2019]

Hi Everyone!

It's been a pretty good week so far! Tuesday night we were able to have a good meeting with David and had our Assistant Ward Mission Leader with us. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and committed him to be baptized. It's something he wants to work for so we'll be helping him progress towards that! 

Our meeting with Dizi was a little shorter Wednesday since we had an appointment later in the evening with the members I talked about last week who invited us to come teach someone they invited over to dinner. Come to find out the person they invited didn't really speak English that well. Fortunately one of the members spoke Spanish and he translated what we said. Afterwords the member wanted to see if we could handle some hot peppers they had. All I'll say is that we were pretty miserable for about 20 or so minutes.

Not too much happened Thursday. We taught Bob and went by a few people, but that was pretty much it.

Friday after District Council we took a pretty good District picture! All of the members of our District dressed up and posed as the apostle statues that are in the Rome Italy Visitor's Center and it turned out pretty good! Since there are 11 members of our District we got our mission president to pose as Peter (since he holds the keys). After that we had a lesson with Sebastian where we read 2 Nephi 9 and showed him the "Because of Him" video which he enjoyed!

Saturday morning we went to a baptism for someone Elder Pack taught when he was in Camarillo the first time. We also had a flood in another area and our dinner was with the Woolsey family. One of the things that was talked about was what his thoughts were while he was progressing towards baptism. It was pretty cool to hear and I'm still impressed by how much he's progressed since I've been here!

And yesterday we got a blessing from our bishop to help with the work here in Camarillo! Also we were able to catch Iris in the evening for the first time in a while. Things have been rough with her since we last saw her. We'll see her again tomorrow. 

That's about it for this week! I hope you all have a good one! 

Elder Jason Riches

President Nakken as Peter

James

John

Paul

Matthew

Me as Phillip

James

Thomas

Bartholomew

Elder Pack as Andrew

Judas Thaddeeus

Simon Zelotes

District

Week Ninety-Five:  More People to Teach [May 20, 2019]

Hi Everyone!

This has been a pretty good week! On Tuesday and Wednesday we had exchanges. The first of the week I was in my area and we were able to meet with someone named Eddie, and we taught him a little bit. He's now a new person that we're teaching so we hope that all will go well! Wednesday, I was in the other Elder's area for the first part of the day, and then we had to exchange back early so I was able to meet with Dizi later that night! 

Thursday not much happened, aside from our appointment with Bob, and there's not a whole lot to report there. Friday we saw an old face from the past. As we were walking we saw Michaela at a park and talked with her for a bit. It was nice to see her again, but we won't be starting to teach her again. We also had someone who used to be taught by missionaries come up to us and he told us that he was open to meeting again! His name is Joe. 

Saturday we had a flood in our area and all the missionaries were able to help us find some new people to start working with! We're excited to see what will come from that. Sunday was pretty good too! Remember when I said there was a member who was going to give us a referral by May 20? Yesterday he told us that him and his wife invited a less active and her fiance to dinner and they wanted us to come and share a message afterwords. Also, when we were trying by someone we had someone call us over and he asked us what our views on God were. We told him and he was interested in learning more! His name is Diego. 

That's pretty much it for me. I hope all of you have a marvelous week! 

Elder Jason RIches

Week Ninety-Four:  The Penultimate Transfer Begins [May 13, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

This was the beginning of my fourth transfer here in Camarillo as well as my second to last transfer. It was a pretty good week! At the first part of this week we taught Sebastian the restoration! He understood it all pretty well and we set another appointment for this next week.

Dizi's lesson this week was good! We continued to teach the plan of salvation, but didn't quite finish so we'll continue that next week. She also might be thinking about getting her patriarchal blessing at some point! Later that night we had a member visit that went really well. One of the members told us to give him a date and he would find us someone by then! 

We had a really good lesson with David! We read through 2 Nephi 31 with him and talked a bit about baptism! It's something he's thinking about now and praying about! 

We got to gather in the new district for the transfer. Only four people are different, but it does have a pretty different feel. It's also a little weird now that I'm the only person that's still here from my first district in Camarillo so it's pretty weird! In the evening we had another recent convert lesson with Jason and it went really well! 

Saturday we did a LOT of walking! We did the math and found out we walked about 11.3 miles that day! Nothing too noteworthy happened though. Sunday we sat with a non-member during sacrament meeting. She's not in our boundaries though so we won't end up teaching her. I also got to call home for Mother's Day and that was really fun! 

That's it for this week! Have a good one! 

Elder Jason Riches

Week Ninety-Three:  Another Transfer Closes, A New One Begins [May 6, 2019]

Hi Everyone! 

It's been a good last week of the transfer! On Tuesday night we had our ward mission leader come with us to go by a few people. We taught someone named Iris and talked about the Book of Mormon with her and shared how it can help her in her life. We also met with David and read some chapters from the Book of Mormon with him. 

Wednesday we had a lesson with Dizi. For the first part her husband, Ramiz, was there and Dizi told him that she needed him at church with her! He seemed to think about that for a bit and then he left. The rest of the lesson was good (and a little silly). Elder Pack picked me up so I could reach some apple juice on the top shelf and Dizi just about died laughing! 

The rest of the week was pretty much going by people who I don't think I've mentioned before. We had short lessons with people named Edith, Raina, and Susan. We also taught Bob this week so if you've read previous emails from me you know who he is. 

We had stake conference this week! I think it was my first time going to a stake conference since I was in Santa Barbara well over a year ago! It was all pretty inspiring. President and Sister Nakken spoke at the adult session about getting the members and missionaries more involved in the work of salvation. Sunday there were lot's of people who spoke about how the Holy Ghost has helped them in their lives. There was also a visiting Area Seventy who talked about how we need to have our inner church in our lives (meaning we need to be converted in our hearts and not just in our church life). 

We got our transfer news this week! I'll be staying here for my fourth transfer with Elder Pack! I'm pretty excited since there's a lot that's happening here! 

Until next week, 
Elder Jason Riches

P.S. I also explained the entire plot of the Harry Potter series to Elder Pack. I was pretty surprised I remembered as much as I did! 

Week Ninety-Two:  The Temple Again! [April 29, 2019]

Hi Everyone

This week has been pretty amazing! Our ward mission leader came with us Tuesday to go and visit some of the people we're teaching. It went pretty well and we were actually able to have a lesson with David in that time. The cool thing is our ward mission leader and David probably went to school together! How cool is that!?! 

We had a nice little lesson with Dizi Wednesday. We talked about temples and showed her the video of Elder Bednar and Elder Rasband giving a tour of the Rome temple. We were also able to get back in touch with our friend, Jason Singer. He needed help moving out of his old place, so on Thursday we pretty much spent the first half of the day helping him out. He also got us lunch which was nice! 

Friday we had an unexpected lesson with Brian. Since it's been a while since we last saw him we reviewed the plan of salvation. It's been good being able to meet with him again since he has quite a bit of interest in learning. We also had a lesson with Bob later on in the evening. 

The highlight of the week was Saturday since we got to go to the temple with the Woolseys and Dizi! Both Jason and Dizi loved their first time being able to do baptisms for the dead and Jason even baptized his wife for some people! Afterwords we spent some time with them at the visitor's center and then we went out with our temple group to lunch. It was such an incredible time and it was amazing seeing both Jason and Dizi being able to go! 

That's pretty much it for this week! And since I can't say it in an email Saturday... 

May the 4th be with you! 

Elder Jason Riches

Elder and Sister Jensen, Elder Forsgren, Elder Macdonald, Elder Thornock, Elder Berry, Elder South, Elder Forester, Elder Riches, Elder Drury, Elder Linnell, Elder Rawlings, Elder Pack, Elder Spackman, Elder Turley, Elder Brewer, Elder Bryson, Elder Carter, Elder Goodman, Elder Eggen, Elder and Sister Yates

Sister Fowers, Sister Burks, Sister Pace, Elder Klebingat, President and Sister Nakken, Sister Fitting, Sister Carson, Hermana Kunes, Hermana Hawkins