Adventures of Sister Rietz: Adventures are ENDLESS in Hesperia

This week was so BUSY!!! I pretty much pass out at 9:30 every night. This past week we biked 54 miles. So in the last two weeks, we have biked 105.5 miles. It has been a blessing and a curse. Blessing, because we don't have to count miles for the car, but a curse, because I feel like I am DRIPPING in sweat all the time. Let me rephrase that. I don't feel like I am, I really am dripping in sweat. Good thing I am not trying to impress potential husbands out here. Haha... lets hope... Anyways... Some crazy things happened this week.

The first one that is probably the best is.................

I FELT AND LIVED THROUGH MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE!!! Yup people, it is true, we felt it on Saturday! It was 4.8 and in Big Bear which is not too far from us. Nothing was damaged, anywhere, and no one was hurt that we know of.

I was attacked. Yes, I was but it was only by the 20 lbs Turtle, not the 60 lbs one that was also just chilling out in the backyard of our Less-Actives house. They told us that they are friendly, so I didn't think anything of it when the turtle be-lined for me. I just stood there, and then *bam* It started butting me, like I was the other turtle. (They have a tendency to fight each other.) The owner, Brother P, laughed and said it had never hit any of his kids before. We decided it was because I had a red/coral skirt on, and "Manwhile" decided he really liked it.

Another wonderful thing that happened was one of the many tender mercies I had this week. It was really hot, like hotter then I think is safe to bike in. We were hot, we were tired and our water was hot as well. We were meeting with an investigator David, and we had a member coming with us to the lesson. The member came, and he not only just came, but he brought us homemade Mexican tacos, and extremely cold Gatorade. It was such a blessing, and I know that the Lord answered my prayers for a way for us to get something cold to drink.

Another tender mercy, was frustrating, and then it became a blessing. We had a lesson with David, and he has been trying to quit smoking. We have tried to figure out how we can help him, and we both didn't know what else we could do for him. We showed up to his house, and he told us that he was about to leave, and had to reschedule for tomorrow. We were like, "Oh, okay that's fine." But really we were mad and frustrated, because we could have stayed in another lesson longer, but we cut it short to make it to David's on time. We biked away mad. At least I did. Now this is where the tender mercy comes into the picture. I wrote a letter to Grandpa Sollenbarger a couple weeks ago, and asked him how he was able to quit smoking. The letter that he wrote back was EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED! It was an answer to our prayers. I freaked out, and made Sister M listen to me as I read it. He talked about the plan he made, and the steps he took. This letter really was an answer to my prayer. I actually cried in the shower that night just thinking about if we had met with David that day, we would not have been able to share that with him. The next day we had two appointments with people who need to stop smoking. The first one was Kathy. She is a less-active and really wants to go to the temple, so she is coming back to church, and just needs to stop smoking and then she is going to be getting closer to the temple. The problem is that she thinks she can stop on her own, and that she doesn't need to rely on the Lord. We weren't even planning on teaching about not smoking that day, but in the middle of the lesson she just blurted out, "I need to really stop smoking, and I need help." *shock, and utter silence* I knew the letter from Grandpa was in my bag, and I felt the Holy Ghost prompting me to pull it out, and read it. Sister M had the same feeling, cause we both looked at each other, and she nodded to me as I pulled it out. As I read the letter, the Spirit was so strong. I just got chills thinking about how wonderful it was. I finished and she said I need to do exactly what he did. So guess what on July 16, she is never going to smoke again. She really is following what Grandpa did. She is going two weeks, and then no more smoking ever. She is getting a Priesthood blessing on the 16th, and we pray for her all the time. Her family member wants Kathy to stop smoking, so we are hoping that she can see this as a testimony builder, and maybe be interested in taking the missionary lessons. Teresa said that she prays that Kathy will get sick, and we don't pray for that, but that she will not have the desire to smoke. We can't wait for the 16th. That letter not only touched her, but it also got our investigator thinking about how he needs to stop as well. He is still deciding if he can do it in two weeks, but right now, he is still going with his baptismal date of Sept. 6th.

The weather here is weird. Most of the time it is HOT! My Odometer said 126F, but I think that was just because we had left our bikes in the sun during a lesson, but still. (Wow, I still get side tracked even in emails...) Anyway, on Saturday it looked like it might rain, but the last time it looked like that it was in the 100's. We were not planning on it raining. Then we felt the Earthquake, which is a weird feeling, like going down 10th, (the street with the hills by our house) going faster then 35mph, (not that I have ever done that Captain Michele). Your stomach flips up, and then settles. Then up, and then settles. So we are up on the Mesa, which is the area that we are over, and while in a lesson, the temperature dropped down to around 80. Then it got a cold wind. Then we felt rain. So we were freaking out with happiness that it was actually raining in July, cause the rain only comes in the Fall, and then occasionally in the Spring. It only lasted a little, but still I felt rain on my skin, in July, in the middle of the desert.

On the 4th of July I saw 2 Fireworks, and then we went to bed. We were too tired to do anything else. Sister L made us a delicious meal, and it reminded me of how the fam-bam was probably on the river. She brought us: Homemade subway sandwiches, strawberries, chips, soda, 14 homemade chocolate cookies, and potato salad. We also saw a killer sunset, and it looked like the sky was on fire.

Today for p-day activity, we went to a Bounce House. They just had a ton of the blow up bounce houses, and obstacle courses. It was a blast. I really had a ton of fun, and we were grateful that a member owned it, so he let the missionaries use it for free, and it was not open to the public, so we had it to ourselves. Pictures below of Sister M and I.

Transfers are this coming week. We find out either Thursday, or Saturday if Sister M and I stay together. We are pretty confident that we will stay together. We also started praying that we would not only stay together for this coming transfer, but that we would also stay together for the transfer after this transfer. We may or may not have made a paper chain for the next two transfers, and put crazy things that have already happened in the short 5 weeks that we have been together. :)

Quick note: We are still teaching Beth to ride a bike, and as we were riding out of the driveway, I totally biked into her bushes. They are totally fine, and my bike only got one scratch on it, and my legs just got a little but scraped. We just thought it was ironic that we were helping Beth ride a bike, and then bam. I hit the bush. We laughed about that one for longer then we should have. I think the sun is making me delirious as to how funny things really are.

I love all of you, and love the letters that I have been getting through out the week. They help the week go by so fast. Love and miss all of your fantastic faces, but luckily I have pictures that capture most of the awkward moments of our lives. Be safe, Choose the Right, Be grateful for Cold Water.

Till next week my friends and family.