Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pictures!

Michael's "sons" and "grandson"

Michael's Mission President upstaging his farewell photo

December 6, 2010

See ya soon

Dear Family,
How ya doing? Sounds good to me if they want me to speak this Sunday, It will just be a bit tough doing it in english though haha. Im doing great just lots of people to say goodbye to. All of our recent Converts were at church yesterday a few bore there testimonies and a few passed the sacrament and two, the Two Zamora boys got the priesthood yesterday! It was a great day. Ill see you all later this week though. Love you all and see ya soon!
Love ya,
Elder Riding

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

November 29, 2010

Miracle

Dear Family,
We had a great Thanksgiving, played some Soccer in the morning then had a lunch with the Branch clerk then dinner with a part member family. Miracle this morning tomorrow the Part member family we are working with has to go to North Carolina to the mexican consulate but they didnt have a way to get there and its a little far. So we were trying to think of all we could to help them then a miracle fun call our great branch president had called this family and they are going to be able to help them get all there passports and iD's updated so that they can get their marriage license. Man i was goin crazy cause i was so excited! What a sacrifice for that family to help out but what a blessing they are going to make a big difference in someone's life. So this is going to be a crazy week. Pray for us! Also yesterday i gave a talk as well.... In Spanish as well... haha What a coincidence?? HAHA the branch president called me Saturday night and asked if i could it was fun. It was probably one of my best talks i have given i feel more comfortable teaching in SPanish. haha I love this place these people are so great. My last FULL week in the mission. Bummer but i gotta give it ALLL i got! No regrets! I love you guys so much. Bien hecho Ashley Cuando regreso, yo te Enseno mas del Espanol. Esta bien? Orale pues!
Con Mucho Amor,
Elder Riding

November 22, 2010

Dear Family,
Iam doing great! This week we finally set this brother on a firm date that we have been working with for a little bit. He is a part member. Him and his wife are not married and so we have to get them married, this week is what we are going to be working on is that. We have a date for the 4th of December for the wedding and baptism. Pray for him his name is Marco Antonio Miranda Bautista. He is such a great guy. Thanksgiving we are going to play some soccer with the branch then have lucnch with this family in the branch then dinner with a part member family. It should be a great day! Im doing great i know this is true that God lives and loves us. Keep me in your prayers i want to go out the best i possibly can for the Lord.
Love you all so much,
Elder Riding

Monday, November 15, 2010

November 15, 2010

Dear Family,
How is everybody? Espero que todos esten muy bien. Las semanas siempre se me van tan rapido. No puedo creerlo. Estoy tan feliz que tengo esta gran oportunidad para poder servir a los hijos de nuestro Padre Celestial. Cuando salgo de aqui se que los voy a extranar mucho. Me acuerdo cuando Presidente Greer me aparto de nuevo para ser misionero, El me dijo que haria amistades que yo tendria para las eternidades. Asi lo ha sido. He conocido personas tan buenas que darian todo lo que posean para servirle al Senor. I hav truly loved these last two years of my life. It has been a truly LIFE Changing experience. I will never forget it. This will probably be my last email I write to y'all until i see ya in a few weeks. Im funny and think that if i sacrifice even till the end of my mission we will be blessed and we will find someone to teach and baptize. So i have decided that hey ill see ya in a few im going to keep myself 110% focused, i was already trying 100% before but i wanna try even harder now and go out the very best i can. Its like me trying to truly show my Love for the Lord. Abraham being tested in his amount of love for the Lord was commanded to sacrifice his son, so you probably wont hear from me, but if you got ?'s or whatever for me go ahead and ask ill still check my email im just gunna probably not write unless you need to know something from me. I just want to truly give it my absolute all and even then some these last few weeks. I love you guys. I love our Father in heaven and His son Jesus Christ, i have felt such peace and comfort from them since being out here. I need to show them my Love for them. I will see you guys in a few weeks. Hopefully we should be able to baptize a few more before the time is up. This church is True. Im doing great keep me and the work in your prayers.
Love always always,
Elder Michael Riding

Monday, November 8, 2010

November 8, 2010

Great week

Dear Family,
How are you doing? Im doing great! That is so cool you got to see Jordan! Man im so happy he had such a good experience on his mission. He is the man! He probably changed a whole lot of lives out there. Well everything here is great. We may be having two or three weddings here within the next few weeks. We have a few couples that want to get married and baptized. its my last transfer and i have to get lots done. I want to go out the very best i can. My companion and i had a cool experience yesterday at church, instead of having elders quruom because there were not very many brethren we went out and serached out alot of the members and went and visited them. My companion and I got to go to with President Roman the branch president, he is such a great man i sure do love him. We got to go visit this part member family, it went really well the husband has been wanting to get married and baptized and has finally found work and we are just going to try and help them get the marriage license and get it all set to go. I sure love this work, Sacrificing is the most important thing, When we truly want something we must sacrifice to get it. Say for instance a young man wanting to marry a girl he must sacrifice all he can to be able to provide for her, or a bishop in a ward sacrifices time and his talents and love to help others be blessed and feel loved. It is such a beautiful thing to be able to sacrifice. In our companionship which is like four of us basically we have learned to sacrifice a whole lot, we instead of getting rides just decide to bike, partly because we cant all fit in the little Carolla's but also becuase just like with the Pioneers they gave up all they had for the cause of righteousness. They gave up their homes, lands jobas and many other things. Because they had Faith and knew that the cause they were in was true. I know this church is true. Yesterday at church it was great to get to hear the testimonies of several of the members hear and hear how the gospel had changed their lives. Im doing all i can to keep going strong because im really not finishing my mission but really it has just begun. I know more of what i truly need to do to be a disciple of Christ. Sorry this is short as well, but you understand. haha I love you guys. This church is true and God lives. Joseph SMith was a prophet. We have a prophet today.
love you all so much,
Elder Riding

Monday, November 1, 2010

November 1, 2010

Baptism!

Dear Family,
Well great news first off... The Zamora Uribe Family was baptized this last Saturday! It was such a great experience. The Mother, Marta and her two sons, Victor, and Charly or Carlos. It was great Elder Radmall Baptized Charly the 12 year old my new compnanion Elder Noyes one of the brazilian elders baptized Victor and I baptized the Mother Marta. It was so great and we had 7 investigators there as well! We didnt fill the font up enough though and Marta's dress kept coming up so i ended up having to baptize her 5 times the fifth time we got it right and she was baptized. She laughed and just said after that she was the most pure person now and that she just neded to have it done five times. haha Great attitude, i was stressing though im not gunna lie, i was like man poor lady we just cant keep her dress under. They then were confirmed members of the church and recieved the gift of the holy ghost the next day in sacrament meeting each member of the branch president confirmed a different member of the family. Man it was a great baptism, the twelve year old charly was so excited he was like lets practice baptizing before the baptism. It was great. One of my favorite baptisms for sure. They are all my favorites though. Viky Garcia gave a talk as well at the baptism, and then on Sunday Victor Uribe our other convert his wife and son gave talks in church! They did so great! Man i felt like they were my family and i was just so proud of them. They were really nervous they said before but the spirit really guided them and they bore such pure testimonies of how they knew they needed to be baptized and that these things were true. So it was a great weekend. Man im so excited that Jadyn got to be baptized! Man that is great, and in Spanish even better! Man her and i are going to be able to speak spanish to eachother after the mission. Its cool to think about how much the Lord has blessed us here Victor first was baptized he set the example for his family, then his wife and kids now his sister and her kids, I know i needed to be here to do whatever little thing the Lord needed to help this family. It was all the Lord's doing i am just happy i got to be a part of it. I did get the pills thank you so much Dad. The weather here is cooling off a bit but its nice, especially being on a bike, just night time gets a bit chilly... haha We just gotta see who we are going to baptize now. Elder Allred and Elder Pineda are serving as companions now, haha two of my sons serving together. haha I know that the Lord works through miracles, he has shown me this numerous times. When times have been tough he has brought us through and blessed us so much. Man another family, the Sons want to be missionaries. I sure hope they get to serve missions. This gospel is so true, there are people that we can help bring to christ we just have to listen to the spirit and he will guide us to them. God lives, he loves us so dearly. I love you all and thank you for all you do. Sorry this is short a little rushed for time. But i had to tell ya the real important stuff. ahah Talk to you later. Love you Ashley!
Love,
Elder Riding
P.s Victor Uribe said he was really crying when his son and wife gave talks. His son used to be a little rebelious but has changed alot and he was just so proud. It was so great to see that! Man what a blessing from the Lord. A family being changed and coming closer together!