Hello Family!

Hello! Hello!

How are you all doing? I hope you had a lovely memorial day. I missed grandpa's pancakes that is for sure. I am sorry to hear about grandma. She will be in my prayers. I will try to write her again. Its hard to see things happen like that. Hermana Crandall just found out that her father had a mini stroke or something like that and he passed away for 3 minutes but then was revived. He is doing a bit better but she is really worried. Please keep him, hermana crandall and her family in your prayers.

This week was a good week. We had a lot of success. A few of my favorite things of the week were the following. Fransisco; we met him and his uncle one day walking and they told us that we could come back. We were on exchanges and hermana gibson was with me and we went back to teach him with the orsornio family. It was an awesome lesson. We talked to him last night and he told us that he is continuing reading and expressed to us again that he felt like we were really sent from God to come find him. He told us how because of a few of the decisions he has made in his life he rejected Christ for a while and it brought him pain but he knows that he needed to get close to God again. He really is very prepared to receive the gospel. We have a lesson with him  and I am so excited for it! He is awesome!

Morenos: we had another lesson with the mormon.org family. Jesus was there this time (the dad) We were able to teach the plan of salvation and they all were listening and sitting on the couch. It was a great lesson and my doubts about the husband really being okay and wanting this too were definitely blown to pieces. He was way into it and told us how they saw the movie the other side of heaven and both of them were really impressed with it and with the service that the missionaries do.

 He said it is something I want for my children is to go on missions and serve. They are an incredible family. They have been reading and praying. Jesus was able to offer the first prayer and he set a great example for his family. One of their little ones had a birthday so what made the cherry on the cake (aka something awesome after something soo awesome is that they gave us tres leches) I know that is totally worldly but it was like...wow this can't get better! :) All of the bad, not so wonderful experiences of a week or more are made up by those kind of lessons. Soo awesome.

To end the week - La family Rodrigous: Chris received the priesthood this last sunday. It was so special. Daniel was able to be there as well for the event. He has come to church every week that he hasn't been working. Cool huh? 3 times. He began to cry as Chris received the priesthood. It was very powerful. We haven't been able to get in and teach Daniel but this last week as we were at tirsa's, we talked about if she was talking to him. I mentioned that maybe we could invite him to listen to the missionaries and give him a book of mormon. She felt that would be a good idea. We were able to give him a book of mormon on sunday and as I was bearing my testimony about the book of Mormon and families he began to tear up again. It was really special. I know he is going to be baptized. Hopefully I will be able to be here when it happens. Tirsa told us that Jon asked his dad why don't you get baptized and Daniel told him...well I don't see why not! Tirsa has told me so many little miracles that are happening in their family because of these decisions. She said that they boys have better attitudes and there is more peace in their home and a lot of blessings. It is something really special to be a part of!  :)

Yesterday, was a good day. It was really relaxing because we just kind of hung out all day. It was nice to have a little time.  We were able to meet a really cool guy last night and at first he was a bit agressive when he was talking to us but we continued talking and then we explained the story of joesph smith and testified of the savior and he felt the spirit testify to him. We also taught edgard y cecilia -  they are good people but need to put in their part. I think that they were inspired more last night to do so.

well, we have a busy week again. Time is flying by. This transfer has gone by so fast. I can't believe it. We have transfers next thursday.  Ps. Elder Trotter says he is going to come to our house....I may or may not have told him that he could borrow a few things we have...our tv....computer....lawn mover...just so you know. okay not really. i told him that he could borrow the continuous atonement by Brad Wilcox and the movie Anastasia. I didn't think you would mind. He lives in Salem. Sooo hopefully that is okay :)

Well I love you a lot! Keep doing wonderful things. School is out for ya'll frijolitos locos!!! Here are some pictures. Hermana Gibson and I on exchanges. She is soooo cool. Love her. We had an awesome time. A picture of us riding our bikes. We definitely rode like 11+ miles because we didn't have miles to drive :)

Off finding the tens of thousands. Remember who you are and to whom you belong

Love hermana rife

I lied about the pictures. I don't have my camera card. sooooorrry. next week! 

What a wonderful day in the neighborhood! A beautiful day in the neighborhood...won't you beeeeeee my neighbor?

Okay well I send my greetings to all of you in provo. My family.

I have to warn you right now. I think that i have lost it. Hermana Crandall probably thought i was over the top this morning but i couldn't stop dancing around to Mormon Tabernacle Choir and doing crazy things. You know how I get sometimes. I just have a lot of energy. I love my mission though. Seriously, I think we should all move to texas and eat mexican food and pb and j's for the rest of our lives. Just saying.

This week was another really good week. It has flown by it was a little bit hard though because I feel like we have been teaching a lot of people but they aren't progressing as fast as i would like. I know and I have to remind my self that they are progressing step by step and that it isn't easy to make the changes but sometimes I just wonder...why don't you get it. haha :) They don't always put in the time they should to try to know and to make it a priority. I can't get mad though because I was guilty of the same thing. Life sometimes gives you so many things to do and we forget or push off the things that are really the most important in life. It happens but we can't and shouldn't let it happen. I know that i want to be better and not ever let it happen later on in life.

I have been studying a lot about the atonement and Jesus Christ and how i can be a better missionary. I told dad a little about it in his letter but we had a district meeting on repentance and using the atonement. It really inspired me to be a better missionary. We always have to be improving little by little every single day. Repentance is not a bad word or a punishment but a gift and it is just a complicated word for change. (elder pliego) I really love the members of my district. I feel like i have been placed in the district and this ward for a reason not only for the people that we are teaching but for the missionaries that I am around. Elder Trotter and Barney are so fantastic. I really love and respect them a lot. It has been so great to serve with them in our ward. Elder Trotter is going home in 2 weeks along with Elder Crane and some of my other favorite missionary friends and I am so sad but I know that we will be friends after so its okay.

This week we were knocking and we started teaching this guy named allen. He spoke english. He told us that he believes Christ is his savior and that he doesn't need to go to church or be baptized. He told us that he reads the bible and so we started to share a bit about our beliefs. As we were discussing some different things, this guy pulls up and he was selling steaks. His name is Daniel. Our conversation went about like this. D = daniel and H = us the hermanas

d: ya'll are Jehovah witnesses? h: nope we are from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. have you heard of that church? d: nope. h: what about Mormons? d: ohhh yeah. where do you live? do you live in normal houses or in like camps? h: nope we live in houses with our families d: so you aren't like a cult or like the Amish? h: nope we are totally normal people. d: really? I have heard that Mormons are like really rich. Are ya'll rich? h: ummmm haha I don't know. later on in the conversation. Do you ya'll party? h: like go to parties...yeah and but we don't do drugs, or drink or anything like that. d: ohhh okay. cool. Well Whats the word of the day ladies? then we started talking to him about the book of Mormon. We ended up getting him a book of Mormon and he committed to read and pray. He gave us his email and we exchanged information and then he told us to talk to him in 2 months and he will have it finished. He travels for work so he doesn't have a permanent address.

It was a good day and he was really funny. We had the chance to teach a lady named suzanna. she really liked the lesson and said she would read and pray. Sooo we will see how it goes. Well I hope you all had a good week. It sounds like you are all busy. I can't believe school is almost over as well. I am glad tanner had a good birthday. Hopefully he should be getting my card soon, if not already. Kendra is on fire! dang look at her goo. That is sweet that she is having so much success. I am glad to hear all is well.

PS thanks for the peanut butter and jelly it was fantastic. i loved getting it! The Arredondos say that you are soo nice. :)

Well until next week. I love you all and hope you all are still reading everyday. It is worth it. So many blessings come when we do what is right. Off finding the tens of thousands. Talk to you soon. I am going to send some pictures toooo. Elder barney has this fish eyed camera so we took a picture and elder trotter just sent me a super horrible but funny one. I think ya'll might get a kick out of it!

LOOOOOVE YOU  - remember who you are and to whom you belong.

bye. hermana rife

Hermana Rife and Hermana Crandall  with one of their little cuties!  

(She didn't tell us the little girl's name.)

Here is Kynsie and her companion showing us an interesting concept!!!

"we went to this place to eat with the garcia family and it had a sink to wash your hand in before you eat.

Brilliant Egh?"

Kynsie's Zone at the Temple

AHHHHH!

I just deleted my whole email to you. I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo mad. I am not writing an email today.

here are some pictures. I loved talking to you all. I am really sorry about the email thing. I don't have the patience or time to re type everything I said. I was a good email though.

okay. Love you all lots. Hopefully not much has changed since yesterday. Who knows by now. Kendra might be getting married kinley will probably be able to talk in chinese. Who even knew that she spoke in english. :) haha

Us at Just burgers. BEST BURGERS EVER. totally coming here after the mission

Sochie. she loves missionaries and always whats to wear our tags. When you ask her what her name is she always tells you Hermana. It is hilarious. She is so cute.

Us at our mothers day performance. We had to sing a silly song so of course we had to get sombreros and mustaches! :D they all loved it.

Thanks for all your love, emails, support, prayers. Everything. Love you all lots. Take care and I'm off finding the 10's of thousands. Remember who you are and to whom you belong to.

Funny story really fast. Last night I was talking in my sleep again and hermana crandall told me that I sat up and said. That was just a beautiful parable, just beautiful. We actually don't drink wine from a cup but water from tiny little cups and then I went off in spanish but she didn't know what I was saying. Funny Funny! poor girl. She has a crazy companion during the day and also at night.

Love, Hermana Rife

Mother's Day Performance

"We had to sing a silly song so of course we had to get sombreros and mustaches! :D they all loved it!"

Sister Rife and Sochie

 "She loves missionaries and always whats to wear our tags. When you ask her what her name is she always tells you Hermana. It is hilarious. She is so cute."

Kynsie enjoying a hamburger at "Just Burgers"

 "BEST BURGERS EVER. totally coming here after the mission!"

Two Beautiful Sister Missionaries at a Beautiful Texan Temple!  :)

The princess...I mean.. the Missionary catches her Frog :)

During our Mother's Day Call While Talking to Kynsie she proved to us that she is still her normal.... (if you can call it normal) self. :)  She cared more about catching the Frog to show everyone than she did about hearing that her 18 month old niece could say her name. :)

For some reason its not letting us post the video but below is the link to a second clip from our Mother's Day visit! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBlADC_RRMA

It was great to hear her voice and see her face again!  Do I dare say I cannot wait until Christmas?!
haha!

Enjoy! 

Hello Family!

Hello Family!!!

Como Estan Todos? You all celebrated Cinco de Mayo and I didn't even celebrate anything. Haha. No one even mentioned it. :) I am glad you enjoyed your party though. We did have a really yummy dinner last night at the garcias house but that was about it. :) Anyways.

This week was really good. We have been so busy. I am not going to lie, I was so exhausted this morning. I have been this whole week. We haven't really been eating that well because we have had so much to do and it is getting to me. I told hermanita crandall this morning that we have to eat more often. Its just hard if we are far away from our apartment to run home and get something or go to the store and get something. I am going to be better though about taking snacks.

A neat miracle happened this week. We had an appointment at this one man's house named jose. We went and he wasn't there. We were like ohhhh man. So we decided to go back to our car to try to call him. As we were walking we saw this man outside. He waved and we didn't know if he was waving to us or to someone else. We just decided to go talk to him. We shared our purpose and a bit about what we believe and invited him to hear our message. He was like... i would really like that. He was drinking a little bit and told us that he felt really bad that he had his drink and we were right there. He apologized because he knows it is wrong. haha I just told him how I felt like it wasn't a coincidence that we saw him and he said he knows and that it was so weird that we looked over right when he was waving at his kids. He said that he is really excited to hear the message. He seems super sincere and we have an appointment with him tonight. I am really excited to teach him

We also taught another family that we found a few weeks ago, this week. Edgard y Cecilia. Hermana Gutierrez and I helped them take in their groceries and then we went back and taught them the restoration. It went really well. Hermana Crandall did the first vision and did it wonderfully. They committed to reading the book of mormon and praying about it so we were excited! Our other appointment tonight is with them so we will see how the plan of salvation goes!

The baptism was wonderful. It went sooo well. Daniel was able to come and he loved it. Him and Tirza were crying the whole time. The spirit was really strong. They were really nervous before but then after they felt so good. Elder Trotter told me that when they were changing after they were telling them how good they felt inside and how they felt so clean. On sunday, Jon told me I just feel sooo wonderful. I don't know what it is. :) They are going to be powerful boys. Then in the blessing Chris got, he was told that if he continued faithful, he would be a strong instrument in the Lords hands. I thought that was special. Jon was told that he is a great example for his family. They are a powerful family. El Enemigo was working so hard on their family this week. WE would talk to tirza everyday and she was telling us how bad things were happening all week. She said I kept remembering though what you said that it was going to happen to try to stop the baptism. After they were baptized she just said Finally. It was special. Daniel came to church again yesterday and I think his smile is just getting bigger and bigger! We just need to get in with him now. It is hard because he is working all the time so pray for the opportunity! Please :)

hmmm let me think. ooooh i have something. I ate COW FEET this week. It was....Slimy...yet satisfying! it was so weird. They wouldn't tell us what it was until after we ate it. I knew it was going to be something weird. We were trying to guess the whole time. I thought hermana crandall might die when she found out. It was a bit unsatisfying. haha :) ohhh this life in texas. It is mighty interesting! :)

Well I love the work like always. I told kate that I had a dream that i came home for 2 days to visit on mother's day and it was a pretty awful feeling. hahaha I was like where are my scriptures, i don't have them or my preach my gospel, maybe dad will let me borrow his. who is taking care of hermana crandall? I just wanted to come back to texas. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that i miss you all but just that this work is so special and I love it so much. It is amazing. Hermana Crandall woke up at 3 in the morning the other day because i was laying on my stomach and my legs were bent and my feet were in the air like how sometimes i would sleep before. She said I was like moving them like crazy and she was thinking what in the world is wrong with my companion? She said. Hermana rife are you okay and i was dead to the world so didn't answer and then she like yells Hermana Rife are you okay? I was like huh? Oh yeah? what? She told me what was happening and i started to tell her about a dream i was having and then just stopped talking and was sleeping again. My new nickname is crazy legs. We were laughing all day about it yesterday!

okay well...I will talk to you all sooon! oooon Sunday. I am going to try to skype so have it ready if you can! :) Sooo my time 8 and your time 7

I know this work is true. I know we can find happiness through obedience. Mosiah 2:22. I am so grateful to be here. Thanks for your love and support. ps...remember who you are and to whom you belong too.


Off finding the tens of thousands!
Hermana Rife

"Look what i found. Mom and grandma - you'll have to come road trip with me to texas so you can have a picture by the road street too!"

Sister Crandall and Sister Rife

At the baptism

with the elders. Trotter and Barney

(Also, Kynsie, Sister Gutierrez, and Sister Crandall)

Chris and Jon's Baptism