Blessings Galore!!

David and Me

Me, Sister M, Sister S

After the water bottle incident

Let the Rain Fall Down.

Walking to the Sisters Apartment. Cause our Shower is Broken.

Dear Family and Friends.
I have such a strong testimony of the power of Prayer.  I know that the Lord is there. I know that He is listening to us.  This past week, I really felt and knew that her was there listening to me.  For those of you who have served missions, or are on a mission now, know that there are days, and weeks where you just feel like the worst missionary in the world.  Well when that happens, PRAY! I really know it works, and know that he will bless you.  All you have to do, is open your mouth and pray to him.

This past week was full of tender mercies.

First Miracle:
On Thursday we got to dinner early.  Like a half hour early.  We figured we could just do planning, because we really needed to do that.  So we are putting our bikes on the fence, and Sister M says that I have to go knock on the door next to our dinner appointment.  I hate knocking doors.  But she said we had to.  So we knocked on this door.  The house looked run down, and there was the Beware of Dog sign in the window.  I knocked on the door, and no response.  We waited a couple awkward moments, and then knocked again.  We hear an older lady yell, "who is it?!" We replied the missionaries, and she opens the door.  Now I was set on getting into her house, cause the worst part was over.  We started talking with her, and then she blurts out, "I was baptized in your church".  Utter shock came over me.  She tells us that she remembers songs from church and starts to hum, There is Sunshine in My Soul Today.  Sister M and I were so excited, and we started to sing it to her.  She was excited that we knew it, and invited us in.  We got talking with her, and she told us that she and her husband had been kidnapped from their home awhile ago, and that they had just returned home.  Apparently a lady told them to get in their car, so they got in the car.  FIRST RULE: DON'T GET IN THE CAR!!! She drove them for a long time, and then dropped them off in front of a hospital.  That is where the story doesn't add up.  They kept them at this "hospital" for 3 months.  Anyways, this is where it gets CRAZY!  She yells to her husband, "John! Come meet these two ladies from church".  Out walks this old man, and he is so cool!!! He has 5 teeth in the top of his mouth, and he walks with a cane, and you can tell that his health is not the best.  Anyways, we started talking about the Book of Mormon, because he is not a member, and he tells us that he will read the Chapter that we assigned him, and then he will pray about it.  I asked him if he knew it was true if he would be baptized, and he said that he would not see why not.  So we said, So you will be baptized, and he said of course.  We were so excited! We know that Emma is not all there mentally, but we know that John is all there.  He was not really agreeing with Emma about being kidnapped, he said that the people in the Hospital helped him recover from a fall that he had where he hurt his hip.  But we have a return appointment, and he knows so much about the Church it is crazy.

Second Miracle:
Elder Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to all 207 missionaries in our mission.  It was so amazing to meet him, and shake his hand.  You could feel the Spirit so strong when he was there.  He spoke about things that I had been praying about, and really worried about.  He talked about how we need to represent Christ even when we take the name tags off at the end of our mission.  He talked about Being Exactly Obedient, and doing all that we can to help those around us.  He talked about how in the next life, Heart Surgeons, Morticians, and Beauticians will be out of business.  This made me laugh super hard, cause he said "good thing I'm not a heart surgeon".  (Note from Amber's mom - Before Elder Nelson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve, which is a lifelong calling, he was a heart surgeon.)   He also talked about marriage.  It was super awkward.  All of us were like uhhh... awkward.... He told us that he wasn't planning on talking about it, but someone asked a question about it, so he talked for like 30 mins on marriage.  He pretty much told the Sisters, that if anyone was planning on getting married right when they got back, or they had a worthy person waiting at home, to just go home now, and start their family.  Sister M and I both laughed cause there are a few sisters that we know that might be gone in 6 weeks to go home.  When we were writing our emails to President, she and I were joking that we should tell him to send us home so we can get married.  We were also thinking of all the emails that President H is going to get telling him that they need to go home...  Poor President.

Third Miracle:
He (Elder Russell M. Nelson) gave all of the Missionaries an Apostolic Blessing.  It was one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced.  It was crazy.  He blessed all of us to Feast on the Words of Christ.  He blessed us and said, for those of you who are injured with quick healing, and strength, and good health.  He blessed us to love President and Sister H.  He blessed us to love the people we serve.  He blessed us to be missionaries to all those around us when we return home.  It was amazing.  I felt the Spirit so much, and he said other things that were bothering other missionaries in our zone.  It was amazing.  That really is all I can say about it.

Fourth Miracle:
Sister M and I have at least one more transfer together.  We will be together till October 6th, and then she will probably be transferred.  The Lord really did answer our prayers.  We are also super excited, because this means that we have 6 more weeks sleeping outside on our balcony! WOOT-WOOT!!!

Fifth Miracle:
David was not going to be baptized because he didn't want to pay tithing.  But we have been praying super hard for him to know that the Lord will give him blessings for paying tithing.  Well, we met with him on Saturday.  We talked about tithing again, and he told us he was willing to pay it! I probably died a little inside, and then freaked out.  We are so excited for him! He is almost done smoking.  He is only smoking one cigarette a day.  He told us that he is ready to be done smoking this "cancer stick" and proceeded to pretend to throw a cigarette on the ground.  We are planning his baptism for the 13th of September.  That way he can make sure that he has enough money to pay tithing fully.  It was an amazing spiritual experience.  One that I wish all could experience.

Sixth Miracle:
We received Rain.  Not just a little sprinkle, but enough that they were worried about flooding.  It was so awesome.  The Rain clouds came really fast too! "Luckily" we were in an appointment, and didn't really get all that wet.  When we were going into the appointment it was kinda raining, so obviously we took pictures cause rain is so rare here in August.  They said the August heat isn't here yet, but they aren't out biking out in it.

Anyways, other things that happened this week:

Our Shower Broke, so we had to walk 20 mins to the nearest sisters, and use their shower.  Walking in sand is No Bueno, unless you have awesome rain boots like mine that a member insisted that I have, because she learned I love rain boots.
I met Sister S who trained Sister M.  She is from the Philippines, and is hilarious.
Sister M decided that she was going to dump a water bottle on me, right before we had a meeting that we needed to be going to.
Sister M pulled a kids tooth out.  It was literally hanging there, and she had to barely pull it out.  It was crazy.  He now tells everyone the missionaries pulled his tooth out.  I didn't do anything, but that is okay, I don't mind taking credit for these things. ;)
Sister O left us to go home to St. George.  She is going to be helping out at the run you are doing Alli, keep an eye out for her! She said she will be looking for you!


Week in Review:

1.Funniest things done: Sister M and I have these moments where we go crazy, well transfer calls came late on Saturday, and we were walking to a members house, when we got the call.  When we found out that we were staying together, we both started jumping up and down, freaking out.  Typical Girls.  All of that happened in the middle of the street.  Hopefully since it was SUPER dark, no one saw us.

Second Funniest thing done, we found this gross HUGE bug, and we put it in a cup and froze it.  Well we found it when we were on the phone with our District Leader, so we decided that since he was leaving, that it should go in his journal, so after we signed his journal, we taped it in there all nice and tight.  It isn't going anywhere.  Elder B will probably hate us, but it was the best!

2.Biggest Blessing: Answers to Prayers. The Blessing from Elder Nelson.

3.Latest project: Not being trained anymore, and knowing that M and I are both Senior Companions together.

4.Most exciting events: Elder Nelson coming.  M and I staying together.

5.Favorite game: What Bugs are dead on our balcony today?

6.Favorite Foods: Brownie Truffle.  Green Tomato Salsa.

7.Most challenging thing: Knowing that Kathy is moving, and we won't be working with her anymore.

8. Simple Pleasures: Bug Spray.  The person that invented Bug Spray might just be on the top of my list of Heroes...

9.Goals: Eat Healthier.  Get 1 New Investigator. Bike 54 miles.

10.Biggest smile: Meeting Elder Nelson.  Charlie telling us he wants to get rid of his Cancer Stick.

11.Biggest accomplishment: Biking up the Giant Mean Hill on Jenkins street.  Google Maps it.  Jenkins and Danbury are the cross streets at the top of the hill.  Yeah, we biked that.

12. Worst Food: The Green Smoothie I made.  I wanted to pass out.  Too much Spinach.
13. Amount of Miles Biked: 46.51 miles.
14: Favorite Quote:  Us: "David, can we get a picture with you?" David: "Yeah." *stands by himself, I go stand by him, takes picture* David: "So do you want a picture of just me?"

Well, I love you all so much! I hope all of you are doing well! 

I miss all of you, but know that it will be a wonderful day when I get to hug you so much that your intestines squirt out of ya! Haha, sorry that was not missionary like.  

I can't wait till I get to hug all of ya, and feel your spirits.  

Yeah still weird.  I just can't wait to see ya!
Till next week my lovely family, and friends.

XOXO

Love, Sister Rietz

Around Hesperia in 80 days

Well, I have been in Hesperia, Ca for around 80 Days.  Makes me think of the movie around the World in 80 Days.  Anyways, I have been out for 2 and a half months, and it has been great.  There have been some days where I just get super frustrated, and then other days where I am so grateful to be a missionary.

This week was busy, but not with teaching lessons.  We only taught 13 lessons, and normally it is around 20ish.  Since school was starting this past week, many people didn't want to meet with us.  They said that they could meet this week, but already we have had people cancelling for later in the week.  The Lord knows what he is doing so that is the only reason that I am not SUPER frustrated.

There were many meetings and things that we had to plan out for this coming week.  We are starting a ward mission plan, and so that has been taking up much of our time.  We have finally got it to the point that we can present it to the Ward, and I am so scared.  The ward has tried mission plans before, and they have all failed miserably.  Missionaries come and they set up a plan, and then they get transferred, and the plan dies.  We are especially scared, cause transfers are this next week, and Sister M has been here for almost 7 months...  I think that she is a goner, but we are praying and we have faith that all will be okay, and that she and I stay together.  Not to brag, (it is not just us, lots of missionaries have told both of us this) but our area is the hardest biking area, and there are not very many sisters that would be able to do it, so we think that there is a slight chance that we could stay together.  Also, any area after this will not be as hard to bike in, so that is definitely a blessing.

This week was kind of rough.

We had 3 investigators drop us, they were progressing towards baptism too, so that is so sad, but it is what is supposed to be happening I guess. 

David told us after preparing for 3 months to be baptized along with quitting smoking, that he doesn't want to be baptized.  Actually, he wants to be baptized, but not as a member of the church.  Riddle me that.  A miracle did happen with David though.  He received a calling in church today!  I didn't know that they did that, but he is so excited!  When they called his name in Sacrament Meeting, he looked so sharp in his white shirt, with the black shirt under it, with his black pants, and blue tie.  This is the first time that he has worn his whole church outfit at once. He is now in charge of cleaning the building and assigning people to help him.  So we are still going to visit him, and help him realize that being baptized is great, and what he needs to do.  He has already called us, telling us the details of his calling, and making sure that we can be there to help clean this Saturday.  I am so grateful his is taking his new calling seriously.  

Kathy is going to try again to quit smoking.  Her son is also going to, and we are so excited.  We decided that we are not going to stop working with her.  We are going to keep going, and hopefully start teaching the lessons to her son, and daughter-in-law.  Her son got laid-off work, and so we are now going to start seeing him more and more.

Sister M and I are still sleeping outside.  We got eaten alive from the bugs a couple times, and last Monday, I got bit on my eyelid, and it looked like I was punched in the face.  Pretty crazy, but I realized that I am not super worried about what I look like anymore.  Bad I know, but when you bike 10ish miles a day, you don't really care anymore.

This week was really uneventful! Sorry!

Week in Review:

1.Funniest things done: Sister M and I chucked water balloons at two sisters that were walking up to our apartment, and the yard man, Roody saw us...  We missed the sisters, and we had to clean up the popped balloons.  We were dying laughing.

2.Biggest Blessing: Members have been coming with us to our lessons, and people giving us Popsicles while we are out biking in the heat.  Also, not getting sick from every house we eat dinner at.

3.Latest project: Kathy not smoking.  Ward Mission Plan Creation.  Getting my leg to heal.

4.Most exciting events: David getting his calling, Elder Nelson is going to speak to us Saturday, A lady gave us 59 coupons for one free scoop of ice cream per coupon from Baskin Robbins.

5.Favorite game: Who can talk the least when contacting.  It always ends bad.

6.Favorite Foods: Mangos.  Banana Milk.

7.Most challenging thing: Not getting frustrated when people don't keep commitments.

8. Simple Pleasures: The stars at night, when we are sleeping out on our balcony.

9.Goals: Bike 55 miles this week. 

10.Biggest smile: David when he was called as Assistant Building Cleaner. 

11.Biggest accomplishment: Sawing two branches off of a pine tree for a Less-Active.

12. Worst Food: Fried Fish Head with the scales and eyes still in them. I wanted to throw up.

13. Amount of Miles Biked: 48 miles.

Pictures: 

0881: C

XOXO

Love, Sister Rietz

Sister M and I using some of our Baskin-Robbin coupons

These are the branches we killed

I hate the phone, I love the phone

Hello to everyone around the World! (because my email I realized is going to 3 different continents)

Anyways, let me go off on my Sister Rietz Rant and then I will proceed.  We have a phone that we share so that members, less-actives, investigators, and apparently now 911 can call us.  So yesterday, I had the phone in my bag.  The Phone made a weird beep, and then I realize that the numbers 911 are on the screen.  I quickly hit back, and thought that I had cancelled it in time.  Apparently NOT! As we are riding with the member who's house we ate dinner at, the phone rings.  I answer it, and the lady on the other side proceeds to tell me they had a hangup 911 call from this number.  She asked if we were all okay, and where we were.  We told her that we were fine, and that there was no reason to send police after us.  She didn't seem convinced that we were okay, and she asked a million and a half questions before she knew that we were okay.  We were fine!!! GAH! I have had the phone in my bag like 10 times, and at least 3 times it calls 911.  Oh well, I guess we know that the phone works, but I think that the phone company should not have a button on it that says 911, and if it gets bumped and after 30 seconds there is nothing happening, it will call it.  Annoying but then again it is a blessing to someone I am sure, just not Sister M and I.

This past week was full of meetings!  We had Zone Meeting, and then we also had Zone Conference.  I loved both of them.  They were full of things that we were trying to work on.  I am so grateful that the trainings were given to show how much improvement there can be in my life as a missionary, and as a member-missionary in a long time.

There were so many good quotes, and these are a few of my favorite ones:

• "Things that take longer to grow, live longer."- Boyd K. Packer
• This was in regards to some less-actives and investigators taking longer to accept the Gospel, and want and have the desire to Follow Christ.
• "The Gospel doesn't change the reality of life.  It changes our perspective."-Pres. H
• People can live in the same exact circumstance, but one might have more hope, love, and positive outlook than others because of the knowledge they have from the Gospel.
• "Unoccupied minds, are workshops of the devil."-Elder L
• We need to be focused WHY we are on a mission, and not let our minds ever be unoccupied, because that is when the devil works on us.
• "Unless you know someone's name and face, you cannot know their hearts."-Unknown
• "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."-Unknown
• Both of these quotes are about how important it is to remember those that we meet on the street, at church, and all the others that we interact with.
• "Faith is not us working harder, but us believing more."-Pres. H
• We all can have more Faith, and believe in the Faith that we have.

These were all things that I really needed to hear, and they are all so true.  I loved Zone Conference, and wish that there was another one soon.  They come every other or every couple of transfers.  While we were at Zone Conference, Sister H, was asking me how my leg was, and she seemed worried about the way it was looking, so she said that she would talk with Pres. H, and see what she can do.  I really hope that he doesn't transfer Sister M and I.  That would make me Sad! I really love the area that I am in, and I would be so scared that my new companion wouldn't be able to ride a bike.  I am in some of the best shape of my life, although the scale seems to differ.  Haha, but for reals I am used to the elevation, and the heat now.  We don't even use our A/C anymore.  We are hot, but the air feels just as good outside as it does inside, so we just open the windows and the balcony door, and let the good ole' hot High Desert wind blow in.  The air and sweat makes for a homemade A/C.  Gross, but so true.  

Everyone at Zone Conference were judging our zone because 2 Elders are on crutches, I had the bandage on my leg, and then another Elder pulled something in his leg, so there were limping Elders and then me who has zero limp, all around.  Everyone and their dog seemed to know.  Apparently the news about Sister M stitching my leg got around to the other Zones in the High Desert.  They were talking about Car Safety, and how we need to make sure to report tickets, and accidents to the car coordinator.  He just had to add in that Sister D was going to make him also add in "Bike Safety" because Hesperia A Zone was falling off their bikes left and right.  I didn't even have an accident, I just cut it on my bike, and it required stitches. 

Speaking of bikes, we didn't bike that much this week.  I think that we biked 45ish miles.  It all just seems to blend together now, how often we bike.  There were no days that were cloudy, or overcast, but we had a lot of service projects inside so that was nice to be out of the Sun.  We painted a ladies house, and I am now a "professional painter" according to her.  I would not hire me to paint, but whatever, we can't deny service.  We painted our names on the wall, and had to quickly paint over them before Julie saw them.  Julie paid us by giving us a facial.  She is a make up consultant, but that make up and my face hate each other.  I looked like a painted doll.  It also took too much work to make myself look like it was a natural look.  I think that I will stick with my natural look, and not go through the hour of torture.  I have so much respect for those women that do their make-up perfectly everyday. Kudos to you.  

Moon and I also wanted to have a secret weapon for when we play the J's in tennis in the mornings.  We found these awesome shirts, and we had faith that these shirts would help us win.  We needed more faith, because they destroyed us, 1-6, 0-6.  I still love tennis, and we will win one of these times.  We won a week ago, and then that must have been our peak, because we are on a fast downhill to Loserville.

We are still working with David, and we are so excited for him.  He has almost conquered his Word of Wisdom issues, and he loves to go to Addiction Recovery, and is so excited for the time that he will be all done, and able to be a member.  At times I think that we should just drop him, because he talks about tons of nonsense, and then he will be spot on with the questions that we ask him.  These past few lessons, he has been pretty much teaching us the lessons because he has had them so many times, and tomorrow we are going to start going over the baptismal questions.  I am so excited, and am praying that I don't get transferred before the 6th of September.  I would be so sad, and hope that President H would let me come back for his Baptism.  Kathy is having a really hard time.  In my interview on Tuesday with President, I asked him what to do, and he said that we will know what we need to do, but the answer will come to us at the correct time, and right now might not be the correct time.  That is not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I know that it is true.  She is back to smoking a ton, and it has been hard to help her stop.  Sister M and I were both praying about what to do, and we both got the impression to drop her, if she can't keep her commitments that we made with her.  She has been keeping them so far, and so that means we can still meet with her.  We had two investigators drop us, but they have dropped us before, so we didn't feel too upset about it.  But we did get a new investigator on Tuesday Night.  His name is Wayne, and I think that he was drunk or high when we talked with him, but he had to many questions, and we were able to clear up some things that he thought we believed.  We also learned that he is Best Friends with our other investigator, so they want to have lessons together.  We have one with them tonight and they have been reading from the Book of Mormon, so I am hoping they have questions so that we can help them come to understand the truth of it.  

I love all of you so much! Sorry this email is kinda super boring.  But it was a kinda super boring week.  Transfers are in two weeks, and there is a rock in my gut telling me that Sister M will be leaving me.  She has that feeling too, so pray that we will be together at least one more transfer.  I love the Gospel.  I love Jesus Christ, and know that I can never fully repay him, but that we must do all we can to show how grateful we are.  I love Hesperia, and all the crazy people that are in this City.  I hope all of you are having a great week!  Good Luck to Trev and Kristin in their Soccer Tryouts.  You will rock it!!! Lewiston and Walla Walla clan, get oxygen masks, so that you can breath not smokey air.  I love all of you, and love getting your emails, and letters, and packages.  Thanks for all of them! They make my day! Literally!!

Stay Sweet!

XOXO

Love, Sister Rietz

Sister M and I in our Awesome Shirts!

Painting our Names like Rebels on Julie's wall

Week 9 in the field!

Hello to All!  Today is my 2 months out on my mission mark.  Aka my Mission Birthday!  These last 2 months have been going by FAST!

This week was 100X more uneventful than last week.  Nothing really happened.  Oh Mom, the charges on my card for the doctors was because my good ole' leg decided it was gonna be a pain (literally) and get all infected.  I have to check with Sister D, the mission nurse and see if I will get reimbursed because it should have just been 10 dollars with the missionary insurance and our insurance, but I need to check.  You wanna call her for me? Please? That would really help me out, because I don't know what to do.  If not, I can do it... But I don't want to.  Anyways, Sunday one of the stitches popped out, and then Thursday it was really infected, and the day before the second stitch popped out, so the only stitch in place was the one Sister M put in.  So Thursday, we spent 5 hours in the doctor's office waiting for her to only talk with us for 5ish mins.

This week has been rough on the missionaries serving in the High Desert.  One of the Elders swerved to miss a car that didn't see him, and he slid across the road.  They are waiting to see if the hip is broken or not, and they have to wait for the swelling to go down.  If it is broken, then he has to go home, have surgery, and then recover before he would be able to have the possibility to come back out.  Then another Elder can't walk because of something that is wrong with his leg.  He has not been able to walk, and so we don't know what is going to happen to him.  Then another Sister got attacked by a dog while out tracting.  She is doing good, but it makes us scared of dogs of all size.  

Monday was Sister M's 6 month mark, so she burned a scarf.  It was an adventure, and we also had been working with a Recent Convert in making a 3-D puzzle of the Capital Building.  Let's just say that the Capital building also was burned with the scarf.  That night we smelled like smoke, so we decided to sleep out on the balcony with our beds.  We have been now sleeping outside for the past week except on Thursday night we were on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, and we had to sleep inside cause we didn't think they would like sleeping outside.  We also came to find out that there are mosquitoes, but they are only out at night.  They really like our faces, and arms, and the bottoms of our feet.  It is no bueno.  But it is totally worth it.  Last night, (8/3/14) we decided we were gonna beat the bugs, and we bundled up in our sweats, long socks, and sweatshirts.  It was cold last night, okay not super cold, like 63 degrees, and we were grateful we were bundled up, and no bugs got me, three got Sister M's face.

Tuesday we helped a lady clean out one of her rooms.  It was gross.  I was really grateful Mom would make us do Saturday Chores back home, cause I wanted to ask her how she lived in that mess! But I didn't.  I guess I will ask Heavenly Father that in the next life.  Anyways.  That room had some treasures.  I am not even kidding either.  There were things from the 60's in there.  Alli, you would have been dying because of some of the clothing that was in there.  It was right up your alley.  (pun intended) (okay, I know that I am the only one laughing.)  Anyways, she had this super weird doll.  I was joking around and there is a youtube video that says, "...and I threw it on the ground..."  Well let's just say that she did not think that was funny.  She proceeded to tell me, that this doll I was jokingly "throwing on the ground" was worth more than $3,000.  I'm sure my face was utter disbelief.  I was holding a $3,000 porcelain doll in my lap...  It was also supposed to represent an 18 month old baby.  It was not a good representation.  But there are lots of people that want this doll, and she said many people would pay good money for it.  I would never pay money for that doll.  But whatever floats your boat right?  She did have this super cool doll that was really falling apart.  It was cracked everywhere, and she wouldn't let me touch it.  I will touch that doll before I leave, it is on my list of things to do.  She did give me a cool sweatshirt that was hard for her to part with.  Her husband was happy that I took it, because she was to get rid of it, or give it to me.  She gave it to me.  I love it, and have worn it many times.  It will be perfect for the Rexburg Weather.

Speaking of weather!  It rained all day Saturday.  Not like little spits of rain, or anything like that.  It rained that we got worried about flooding.  When it rains here, there is not a lot of time for the rain to soak into the ground, so it just runs.  It goes everywhere!  There are many places up in our area that if it rained really hard again, that we would not be able to get to certain parts of our area because of flooding.  Crazy!!!  There also have been wonderful skies that we are able to fall asleep looking at.  I am now a pro at locating the Big Dipper, and am searching for the Milky Way.  That Girls Camp Star Activity is now coming in handy, finally!

We played tennis this morning, and we woke up at 5:30.  I might want, when I get off the mission, to stick with this sleep schedule, and occasionally wake up at 5:30, because then 6:30 seems like sleeping in.  We were worried that my leg would split open, but it puts the same amount of pressure on it as does biking, so it was fine.  I really love to go play tennis, and miss playing everyday after school.  We also finally beat Bro. and Sis. J.  It was a wonderful day.  They always beat us up really bad, but today we creamed them, and it was hilarious because Bro. J had to go to work, but he wanted to keep playing so they would win the 2nd set, but Sis J said that they had to go, so that her husband didn't lose his job.  He works with his brothers in a dentist office.  They all own it, and are their own bosses.  Moral of the Story: Only he could fire himself.

This week there are meeting galore! President is coming to the High Desert, and we have a meeting with him tomorrow, and Wednesday.  Then Wednesday we have interviews with him.  Hopefully he sees that Sister M and I need to stay together for at least one more transfer. 

I know that there is a Heavenly Father who loves us.  I know that He is there, and answers our prayers.  I know that He wants us to talk with Him.  I know that we receive blessings when we are obedient.  I am so grateful for the Gospel.  I love it! I would not want to be a member of any other Church! I love Hesperia, and am surprised every time I catch myself saying that!

Have a Great Week!

Sister M's ceremonial 6-month scarf burning.  (Note from the mama - do you think they even noticed that big dry bush behind them???)

Sister Rietz in her "outdoor bedroom"

The unbelievably valuable doll.

Someone call 911!

Well everyone and their dog has heard about my stitches now.  They were really not that bad.  I would probably not have gotten them, but the Mission Nurse said that I had to.  So everyone is dying to know what happened I am sure.  

Well Sister M and I were racing.  Super fast, and there is a road that is just straight and downhill.  I was pedaling super hard, and then bam a dog runs out of nowhere.  Now the object was not to beat Sister M, but to get away from this man-eating dog.  Then all of the sudden I was on the ground, and the dog was eating my leg off.  Okay, just kidding. 

The sock came clean!!!

That is not what happened at all.  It actually is a really lame story.  Just letting those Hughes/Sollenbarger genes really set in.  Let's be real, we all knew that it was only a matter of time before I was going to use the missionary medical insurance card.  So this is what really happened.  I was getting off my bike to check the mail on Wednesday.  I set my bike down, and caught it on the "Sprocket" aka, the super sharp gear thing by the pedal.  I knew that it had cut me, but I didn't think it was that bad.  This is how the conversation with Sister M went. Me: "I cut my leg."  M: "On what?" Me: "I don't know.." (I am still getting the dumb mail key into the mailbox...) M: "uhhh... Sister Rietz, we need to go to the apartment right now!" Me: "dang that is a lot of blood..." M: "Forget the mail, lets go!" Me: "Hang on" (open it, nothing but ads in it and a wedding announcement for Sister M).  Then we biked to the apartment, and started cleaning it, and then called the Zone Leaders, because we had no idea how bad it was.  They came over, and they knew right away I should get stitches.  They made us call the Mission Nurse, and she said I had to go to Urgent Care.    We had a member pick us up and she started taking us to the Urgent Care place.  Then I think she received revelation/inspiration, because she said we should call Bro J who is a dentist in the ward.  She said that he had stitched up people before, and not necessarily in their mouth.  I was totally okay with that. Now, I strive to be obedient with exactness, but I really did not want stitches from some random person at an Urgent Care place, where I would wait hours just to get a little bit of thread in my leg.  So we didn't ask permission from the Mission Nurse to forgo the Urgent Care place, and we just went to Bro. J's office.  He did it in less then 20 mins.  The best part though, is that he let Sister M put one of the stitches into my leg.  I am one of few missionaries who can say that their companion stitched up their leg.  It is so cool.  

Sister (Dr.) M and Brother (Dr) J

All fixed up!

The stitches and my skin have bonded well, and they were supposed to come out on Friday, but yesterday in the course of riding our bikes, one of them ripped out.  It was the middle one, and let me tell you, that thread stuff ripping out, is no bueno.  He said that I would be good, and just to put a butterfly bandage on it, and call it good.  My leg was numb for awhile.  He said it should be numb for 4 hours, but the numbness stayed wayyy longer then that.  Which I am totally good with.  I still played tennis this morning with Bro. and Sis. J, and with Sister M.  It was so fun, and now Sister M has two rackets here, so she and I are going to play for our exercise in the morning.  Woot-Woot!

This week was really a good week.  We have 2 new investigators, and we feel so blessed for finding them.  Both were at members homes when we stopped for water.  On Thursday, we went to go meet with a potential investigator, but he was in the hospital and was not home.  We have a less-active that lives by our potential investigator, and so we went there.  Well the less-active has a non-member daughter, and she has been wanting to meet with the missionaries, because she has lots of questions.  We are meeting with her on Wednesday, and I am nervous that she only wants to Bible-bash with us.  Pray for us, cause we feel like we are going into battle with her.  GAH!!! The other investigator was at our Recent Converts house.  She works for Bob, and sat in on the lesson that we had with Bob, and then she said that she wanted a Book of Mormon, and we are meeting with her this week as well.  I really think that she could be a progressing investigator by next week.

David is also doing AWESOME! He is really understanding everything that we are teaching, and this past week when we asked him if he was serious about being baptized, he said that he knew that our church had the only correct way to baptize someone.  He said that he knew the Preacher needs that authority from God, and he knew that we have that needed Priesthood Authority.  Sister M and I were so happy, and when we were biking away I wanted to scream from joy!!! I was worried that David only was going to be baptized because he thought it would be cool.  I had been praying the couple days before asking to know what we should do with David, and if he needed to not be one of our main focuses with our investigators.  My prayer was answered, and David is still one of our top progressing investigators.  Kathy is having a really hard time.  She has pretty much smoked at least one cigarette a day since she received her blessing, and said that she was never smoking again.  I really was having a hard time knowing that she could do it, but that she was not using the encouragement and the things promised to her in the blessing.  I know that this is going to teach me patience, but I really just want her to be ready to go to the temple now.  It has been hard for Sister M and I both, but I know that she can do it, and so we are going to try different tactics this week, and talk about why she wants to go to the temple, and what we can do to help her get there.  I am praying for her everyday that she will be able to overcome this nasty addiction.

Who knew??

So many of you remember when I opened my mission call, and I said Ranchero Chucamonga... I blame the lack of my ability to read on the tears that were flowing from my eyes... Anyway, there is a street in our area that is called Ranchero Road.  There also is a Ranchero Middle School, and that is where most of the people in the ward go to Middle School.  Who woulda thunk that there really is a place called Ranchero.  I still am searching for the Chucamonga part.  I know that it is out there somewhere.

The High Desert has been hot but we were able to catch a break the last couple of days.  On Saturday night, we slept on the balcony, and it was wonderful.  When we do it this week, we are pulling our matresses off our beds, cause just laying on my comforter on the cement is not fun.  I love the High Desert, and hope that I serve most of my mission here.  Even if it means biking in 100 degree weather all day.  I really have grown to love the sand, and the sun.  But I still love the rain.  The High Desert has been in a drought for a long time, and last night it rained.  Like actually rained enough that my hair got wet.  We were not on our bikes, but we ran out to the street, and took pictures! It was wonderful, and then we went to our balcony, and watched the lightning that was lighting up the sky.  Our balcony looks over the pool, and there was no one in the pool cause of the rain and lightning.  It was awesome not to hear people splashing.

Let it rain

This past week I have thought so much of the Pioneers, and all that they did for us.  I am so grateful that I am not a pioneer.  They went through so much, and they had to pull handcarts in super hot weather, so that has made me grateful knowing that my mission is not going to kill me.  Cutting my leg made me realize that we really are so lucky that we are able to just call the doctor, and know that everything will be fine.  Pioneers would have been lucky if they had been able to clean it, and not get it infected.  

I am grateful for the Elders, and their willingness to leave their area, and waste miles in their car to come check my leg.  I am grateful for Sister R texting Mom, and letting her know what happened.  I am grateful for Sister M not being scared of blood.  I am grateful for Bro J and his willingness to help me.  I am grateful for the pioneers that I am related to, and the things that they went through.  I am grateful that I am able to be in Hesperia, California even though sometimes I would much rather be at home hanging with the Fam-Bam.  And most importantly, I am grateful for all that Jesus Christ did for me.  I know that he suffered so much for me, and that really makes me want to be a better person, and to help all those that I can to use the Atonement in their lives.  

This talk by Robert D. Hales is really good.  Read it if you want! no, READ IT!!!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/the-eternal-family?lang=eng&query=families+are+forever

I love all of you, and am so grateful for the emails that I get from you.  I love the pictures, and the emails tons!!! Please all be safe, and smart, and I will try to do the same! ;)

LOVE YOU ALL!

Also, I only have 498 days left! Woot-Woot!

XOXO

Love, Sister Rietz

THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR MISSION!!!

(Note from Amber's mama - I forgot to post this yesterday with her other email.  It came on Monday just like yesterday's post.  Oops.  It's still exciting though!!)

Elders and Sisters:

We love you. We are grateful for your obedient, faithful service. The Lord loves us. He loves all of His Heavenly Father's children. Our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. . . ." Our vision is to help the Lord "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life man." With this vision, we can set our goals, pray for guidance, and plan how to bless the lives of the people we know and meet. We can make a difference.

The Lord will lead us to more new investigators. He will help us commit more people to read and pray about The Book of Mormon, attend Church, and receive baptism. He will help us unite with members to build the wards and hasten the work. We must continue to pray for missionary opportunities. As they come, we should always give thanks to the Lord for the opportunities and blessings. This is the Lord's work. As prophesied, it will fill the entire earth.

On August 23rd, we are blessed to attend another special missionary conference. Elder Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will preside at and train us in that conference. He will be accompanied by Elder Larry S. Kacher of the Seventy. The conference will be held in the Woodruff Building (the mission office). We need to be in our seats and ready to worship by 10:00 am. We will have an opportunity to shake hands before the meeting begins. We are blessed to have another conference this soon. It is unusual to enjoy two visits from members of the Twelve. Please don't take it for granted--count it as a blessing and prepare yourselves to be taught. The Brethren will teach us how to be more faithful and effective servants of the Lord. We invite you to prepare spiritually for this conference. What we learn and feel will be enhanced by our sincere and faithful preparation. Please prepare diligently and reverently to be taught by the Spirit.

Last conference Elder Hales taught, "Of all the lessons we learn from the life of the Savior, none is more clear and powerful than the lesson of obedience. In the premortal Council in Heaven, Lucifer rebelled against Heavenly Father's plan. those who followed Lucifer ended their eternal progression--be careful who you follow!"

As we are obedient to the commandments and to missionary standards, we follow and sustain prophets, seers, and revelators. Let's follow the Lord and His prophets. We will have the guidance of the Holy Ghost. We will feel power, peace, and joy. We will be more effective, more successful, and more happy.

We love you.

President and Sister H

Week Seven

Dearest Eternal Family, and my Eternal Friends!

Let me just say, this has been a HARD week!

It really has had the Ups and Downs that come with a mission.  I got super homesick this week, and really didn't know if I wanted to keep doing this.  I got super worried about it, and really relied on the Lord to help me.  I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the comfort that it can help us feel.  It really helped me, and allowed me to increase my testimony of the power of Prayer.  No worries, I am totally fine now! Haha, it was just a hard time, but like I said that is what happens with going on a mission.  

We were able to watch Sister Kathy receive a blessing, and we are still praying that she will continue NOT SMOKING!!!!!  She got pink eye the day before the blessing, and I don't think I have ever hated Satan more then that moment when she called us, because she was worried that she was going to give it to all of us if we came over.  We still went, but were really careful not to touch her, or anything for that matter.  The next day a family member called us, and told us that Kathy was smoking!  We were stunned! We had her left-over cigarettes in our cupboard, where had she gotten these from?  We biked to her house, and were able to talk with her, and she said that Satan was really trying hard.  We ended up sidewalk chalking her sidewalk where she smoked at.  She has gone 4 days not smoking, and we can really tell that it is a struggle for her.  She is really trying hard not to smoke, and had taken up doing puzzles to distract herself. I think that it is one of the reasons that I was homesick.  I think the Lord wanted me to have a struggle just like Kathy would have.  It really helped me to understand how important it is to rely on our Heavenly Father, when our earthly parents and those that we love are not there to help us.  We know that Kathy is being blessed because of your prayers, and I can not thank you enough.

We were able to give David a white shirt and a tie, and he was SO EXCITED! He was all telling everyone that he was gonna be sharp dressed at church, just like everyone else.  But then he didn't even wear his shirt to church.  We were like what the heck David!!! He is also trying to quit smoking, but doesn't have believe that the blessing would help him.  We are working on helping him see how it really could help him.  We are so grateful that he doesn't get frustrated with us, even though we get frustrated with him.  He is learning, but it takes a LONG time for him to understand.  I really think that drugs affected him more than he thinks it did.  Oh well, we can only deal with the consequences that we get because of our actions.

This last Friday, we did service for one of our Investigators.  We decided to do it on the day that we knew she would be gone at work.  We are hula-hoeing her yard like a pro, and then bam! There she is at her front door.  I even rang the door bell, and knocked to make sure she was not there, but dang she was sleeping and didn't see us.  Little did we know that she was laid off from her job, so that is why she was home.  Awkward, but her excuse for never coming to church with us, was that she worked on Sundays.  I instantly knew that I needed to not invite, but say, "Well Joan, now you will be at church with us on Sunday."  I gave her no way to get out of it.  But then she informed us that next day that she was going to be going to Church with her friend and that she couldn't come with us.  Satan really hates us.  But we got her to come to Relief Society, so that was AWESOME! The lesson was on why we are the only true church on the Earth.  It really was perfect!!!  I was freaking out inside a little.  Okay, maybe a lot.  

Anyways, that next day we woke up, so Saturday, and we were sick.  The night before we thought maybe it was allergies, because our noses and our eyes were going crazy. (*They have CRAZY eyes* *kid history*)  On Saturday we woke up, and we felt like we were hit by a bus.  It was not your normal, "I am tired, and going to pretend I am sick so I can sleep in sick," that I did in High School.  It was the "I think that I am going to pass out from moving at all."  But the thing is, we had 3 appointments that we really needed to go to.  They kept moving them, and Saturday was the last day we could see them that week.  So we prayed all morning that we would feel better.  We didn't feel better until we started biking, and realized that we would be okay.  We biked to the 3 appointments, and they were all there! We biked a total of 9 miles on Saturday, and then as soon as the last appointment finished, we couldn't do anything.  We called a member, and they brought a truck that we put our bikes into the back of, and they took us home.  We both slept for 2 hours, and when we woke up we knew that the Lord helped us to bike those 9 miles, and that it was a blessing that we were able to even see those 3 people that we needed to.  The Lord blesses us in ways that we don't always know he will, or that we even need a blessing in that part of our lives.  We are feeling better, but something is going around because the Elders were sick yesterday, and missed Church.  We saw them today, and you could tell it had been a miserable day for them yesterday.  

I also was running around on a flight line this past week.  Yes, you read that correctly, I was running around on the Hesperia Airport Flight Line.  One of the Recent Converts in our ward owns the Airport, and he let us onto the flight line.  So naturally I had to pose like a crazy person in front of the planes.  *Awkward Moment*:  There is a cafe at the Airport...  Apparently they can see the Flight Line, (so where we were) but the windows are the mirror windows, so we couldn't see them.  I can only imagine they now think that Mormon Missionaries go crazy.  Oh well.  It happens I guess! Haha, there are crazier Missionaries out there I am sure!  So we now know the combination to get onto the flight line encase we need anything on the flight line.  Anyone need a plane?  Bob the Recent Convert, said that we could take a plane for a spin if we wanted.  It was tempting...  Also, it sprinkled while we were out on Saturday.  It was only a little bit of rain, but it was the best feeling in the world.  Who knew that I would miss some form of H2O falling from the sky.

We also had dinner with my favorite two older couples in the Ward! They are so great!!! The one with the lady sitting in the chair are Bro. and Sis. T.  They are ward missionaries, and they are just too cute.  The noise of squeaking hearing aids normally bothers me, but it reminded me that those little things of plastic were helping her hear, and I didn't care.  Weird how something that used to bother me, is so insignificant now.  The other couple are the J's.  He is the Patriarch for the Stake, and they are super funny.  They had 3 different desserts and I am convinced that Sister J is trying to make us fat.  She just kept saying "you're on bikes, you are totally fine.  This will make you happy.  Want more Ice Cream? More Cherry Tarts? More Cookies?"  That was hard to decline, but we did, and we are not regretting declining them.  It would have made us super sick.

We are getting Sister M's Tennis rackets this week, and we are super excited! We are gonna get up and play at 6 every morning, and we are going to just have to work off even more of the desserts that people are feeding us.  I am grateful that I am able to have a companion that actually not only likes, but that can play tennis.  I am really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.  (Man I still am super punny!  Okay not as punny as when Rachel, Linds, and I would be all together, but I am still proud of the things that I come up with out here.)

Kid History Quotes have been running in my head, and now I have found a sister in the Zone that has seen them, and we quote them ALL THE TIME!  Most missionaries just think that she and I are crazy, but whatever, everyone can judge us for all I care.  It makes us crack up, and that is all that matters!!!  The new Elder in the Ward is from Dayton, Idaho.  He has been to Lewiston to play golf.  He couldn't remember if he had been there, and then he asked if it smelled bad there, and I knew that he had been to good ole' L-town. I didn't think that I would ever find anyone out here that would know Lewiston...  

But then 4 days later, I met someone at the Airport that owns land in Kamiah! He asked me where I was from, and I said Northern Idaho, and he said cool, I own land 60 miles East of Lewiston.  I about hugged him I was so excited! He said that he was going to go visit his land soon and that I was welcome to come.  I declined, cause I don't think that there needs to be any missing people from our family.  He was totally in a biker gang.  Not even kidding, I only started talking to him, because he was kinda sitting by us.  Anyways, he also knows Lewiston, and that made my day.

I love the gospel, and am so grateful for the things that it is teaching me.  I am learning something new about the gospel all the time! It is crazy, but I love it!  I wish that I had really memorized the Scripture Mastery better, but I am going to work on that! I know that if we rely on the Lord miracles will happen, and me memorizing scriptures besides, "And Jesus Wept." will be a miracle.  I hope all of my friends who are on missions are safe.  I know that we are growing more then we thought that we could ever!!!

I love you all so much, and pray for everyone everyday.  You all are so great!  The Lord gives us trials, but we can get over them with His help.  Till Next week my friends!!

The Wonderful J's!

The Amazingly Adorable T's

We were going a little crazy!!! and it was 71 in our apartment, and we were freezing, hence the sweatshirts.

The hula-hoe crew aka, our ward mates, Elder W and Elder O

Me on the Flight Line!