Departure Date!

Riley had another great week!  He was given an estimated departure date for Argentina of September 26th.  And while he has loved the MTC he is starting to get anxious for the next phase of his mission - real missionary work. 

Olivia sent a special package to Riley this past week.  While eating a tootsie roll she lost a filing in one of her baby teeth and the dentist suggested pulling it out - which he did.  Olivia decided that she would rather send it to Riley than put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy who has been less than reliable the past few years.  Riley was surprised to get this special present from Olivia and his only suggestion was "..you need to brush those teeth of yours"!

Riley sent Joseph and Olivia Spanish CTR rings.  Instead of CTR they have HLJ on them.  According to Riley: "In Spanish the saying is "Haz la Justo" or Do the Just!  So much cooler than ingles.  Also what makes it cool is "Haz" is the command form of hacer - to do.  So, the ring is like commanding us to do the just.  I really think it's cool.  Enjoy!"

Jana has enjoyed sending packages to Riley.  Some of the things she has sent:  bottled peaches (one of his favorites), a homemade apple pie (another favorite), chocolate chip cookies (a favorite too), a huge box full of an assortment of snacks which Riley reports his whole district has thouroughly enjoyed.  Speaking of his district here are some pictures he sent of his district and his companion Elder Thorne:

Riley shared the following about a difficult experience his companion had this past week:

"Ok well, last saturday something really hard happened. It was really hard for Elder Thorne, and even me. But we are doing well. Last saturday we were playing beach volleyball as a district. When gym time was over we started walking back when this man stopped elder thorne and brought him aside. Immediately I could tell that something was wrong. I could just feel it. After they talked for about 5 minutes they came over to me. The man told me that Elder Thornes best friend Tommy had died. Tommy is LDS and went to school with Elder Thorne. He had some crazy heart attack, Elder Thornes dad who is a heart surgeon worked on him, but couldnt bring him back. I have only known Elder THorne for 6 weeks but I feel like I have known him forever. My stomach just sunk. I felt like one of my friends just died. We went back to our room and ate some icecream, and peaches ( thank goodness we still had a bottle :) ). It was really hard. Our branch president came and talked with us and then we gave him a blessing."

Later that day Elder Thorne asked Riley to give him a blessing.  Riley shared an amazing testimony of the influence of the Holy Ghost and the power of the Priesthood.  This was a difficult experience for the two of them but they have both been blessed to get through it. 

Thank you for all of your prayers on Riley's behalf.  He is truly being blessed.