A thousand pictures

This week we received our usual email from Riley but we also got a special package in the mail.  Riley had asked Elder and Sister Rowley who were returning from their mission in Argentina to mail a few letters when they returned to Utah.  Included with the letter were two disc that contained over 1,000 pictures.  Don't worry I won't post them all on his blog.  I'll post a few below the letter we received this week.

Hey guys!

How’s it going?  Thanks so much for your emails.  It was great to hear about Frankenstorm! That’s so crazy!!  As you know you will be in my prayers and I’m sure that everything will be alright.  Up until now I haven’t heard anything about the storm. Here the weather is the exact opposite.  Its sooo sooo hot right now.  Everyone is kinda freakin out because we are supposed to be in spring. haha I cant wait to see how summer is.  If they send me to La Rioja or Catamarca (highest points north in the mish) I would literally die.  My comp is dying of the heat. Every time we walk outside he just keeps saying, “How is it this hot” ha-ha its way funny. I guess I’m a lot more used to it.

I am so relieved that my Pictures got to you!  It’s a miracle.  I hope you like them. When I get home ill have to tell you all the stories that go with each picture.  Dad, thank you so much for passing on the letters. I know that’s kind of a pain, so thanks!  I’ll keep taking more pictures.  I’m going to have to thank the Rowley family for doing that for me.

This week was really interesting. My poor comp is still adjusting to the food and water and so he has been sick just about all week. We only worked about 3 days. I think there are 2 things you can do when you get to a foreign country: 1- try and avoid eating stuff and only eat food you know where it came from and still get sick slowly or 2- just go for it and eat everything.  You get sick fast, but then you get used to it.  My comp is trying to do option 1 and it’s not working too well.  Option 2 is a lot better.  I know from experience.  But even though we only worked 3 days it was still a good week.  We had 1 day of service where we dug a foundation for a house and then we helped the bishop move.  And Friday we had a baptism. The picture I sent is of Abi.  She is cute little girl.  My comp loved it.  He was so excited about baptizing her.  I think in November the parents will be there also.  

This week we also had Stake Conference.  It was pretty great.  For the first 45 minutes they just had ex missionaries and missionaries getting ready to leave share their testimonies. It was awesome.

Well I love you guys a whole bunch. Thanks for everything! I’m so happy to be a missionary.  I love everything about it.  I know this is the church of Christ and that we are truly his hands out here.  I hope you have a great week!

Until Next Time. Riley 

Here are a few of the pictures he sent us:

 More to come....

18 Year Old Missionaries!!!

Dear Family,

Hey guys how’s it going?  I’m glad to know that you all like me, have
come out of shock after finding out about the news. 18 year old
missionaries!!!  That is crazy.  I really didn’t expect that.  It was so
great to be a part of that moment.  Modern Revelation.  I imagine that’s
how it was when Joseph Smith announced the Word of Wisdom.  This big
huge gasp went out throughout the whole crowd.  It was awesome.  I have
had tons of thoughts.  At this point, the only thing that will surprise me
more is when President Monson calls me up and tells me that he needs
all my shoes haha.  But when he announced the new ages, I really just
thought about Alex the whole conference.  I cannot believe that in
February he can put his papers in. I am so happy that he gets to go
right after school!!  That’s so awesome.  My friends that had to wait
seriously all had the worst years of their lives just waiting for the
time. That is really such a blessing.  I agree I think that more people
will serve missions. Especially sisters.  That is so awesome
about Carly!!  Wow.  But hey, I at least want some of the family to be
home when I get home.  Concerning Alex and his timing, I kinda came to
this conclusion if the Lord wants him to go right after high school,
and before i get home, that’s what he’s got to do.  As hard as it would
be to not see each other, if that’s what the Lord wants, it’s got to
happen. I would really love to have at least a couple weeks together if
we can. But I’m just so excited that he doesn’t have to wait. Alex was
born when he was born for a reason. He is supposed to go right after
school. Even though I thought about the new mission ages just about
the whole conference, I still really enjoyed it. For me I feel like I
got 3 words out of the conference.  Service, Love, and Faith. It’s
interesting how interconnected the three of them are to each other, and
to missionary work.  Hey maybe we can call up Tommy Monson and ask him
if he´ll send Alex to the Argentina Cordoba Mission. That would be way
awesome.

This weekend was really crazy. We had transfers. I was really hoping
for 1 more transfer with Elder Ojeda, but he left. So now the Garage
in Brianless.  But this is the good news... I’m training again!!  I’m
really excited!!  On Wednesday I’ll be getting my second son.  Last night
Elder Ojeda left at 2 in the morning and so I slept with another
missionary in his apartment.  Right now I’m with Elder Edmondson. (I
lived with him in the MTC) he is training too. So we´ll work together
until Wednesday when we go to pick up our kids. It’s fun to be with him
again. I was with him at day one. Wow now we have 14 months.

We had a pretty crazy experience this week. Sunday morning we called
some investigadors to invite them to conference. They didn’t answer
though. So at 10 we decided to leave and go get them, even though it
was raining. We really just felt like we had to help these people get
there. So we left and went to stop by their houses. We went to 3
houses and nobody was home!! It was kinda disappointing. So we started
heading back. It was raining pretty hard. We waited for the bus to go
to General Conference and when it came we hopped on. We went to the
back of the bus because we noticed a member of our ward in the back
alone. His name is Hermano Cabana. He is about 75 years old. A really
great guy. He is way small and skinny. So we sat with him, and then
got off the bus with him and started walking the 7 blocks to the
conference center. At block 2, Hermano Cabana slipped and fell, and
hit his head really hard. It happened so fast. So I picked him up real
quick looked at his head and he had a giant gash above his right eye.
That instant it starting bleeding a lot!! It was raining and there was
nobody. I told my comp to stay with him while I went to go get help.
So I ran the 5 remaining blocks and went to the conference center. I
ran in the doors and called the 2 nearest guys. We ran back and then
asked neighbors for a chair and for toilet paper. About 2 minutes
later there were 20 more of the men from the conference all there. We
got him in a car and they went to the hospital. I felt so bad for the
little guy. But he is doing ok now. They stitched him up and he was in
his house about 2 hours later. I was so proud of the response of
the priesthood. The conference was already started but everyone was
outside helping this brother. I was so grateful to God that we just
happened to go look for investigadors and then we just so happened to
get on the same bus as him. The Lord knows each and every one of his
sons and daughters. We are never alone. I know that we can all be used
as a blessing in the lives of others.

Well Guys, I love you all so much! Thanks for your emails. Alex better
start studying Spanish because he´s coming to Argentina in the summer
of 2013!!!! Have a great week!

Love Riley