hermana k. rife goes to texas: Adios Septiembre y Hola Octubre (Email from Monday, Sept. 30, 2013)

Hola mi familia bella,

como estan? Que Tal si escribo una carta en espanol? Como se siente sobre eso? Espero que esta bien porque voy a hacer lo...:)

It sounds like your week flew just like mine. I am glad you are all staying involved in good activities. It makes me happy to hear. I can't believe that mila is so big like that. I was like who is that little girl? I was really looking at her and then i saw kinley and read your letter and realized that it had to be mila. I don't think i am even going to recognize her. wow. I got kylee's letter. I loved it thank you! I also FINALLY heard from Coulton. Glad he isn't dead. haha :) It was fun to hear from him. I don't think getting letters will ever get old. its just the best every time! :)

Alicia: I LOVE her. She is so great. We have had a few really good lessons with her. We were talking to her and she was explaining to us why she didn't want to get close to a church because she felt that they were impure. We had already taught her the restoration and so I was not sure if she got it. We reviewed it a little again. She was like....OHHH so when I am chatting with Heavenly Father I need to ask him about this one? She told us okay. I'll do it. She reads the book of mormon and asks all the questions she has. I love teaching her because we can be straight up with her. We can tell her it exactly how it is and she really just wants to know everything she can. She is so great. She is planning on coming to general conference with us this next week.

EEA: Well we had another good lesson with them and then they came to church this week. They loved church. Eugenio didn't come but Elisa and Alfonzo did. Hopefully we can keep helping them. Hno Estrada came with us because he used to play in a band and he was a member. I think it is just little by little with them. Even though it is super working our patience sometimes. :D It will happen. we shall keep our faith! They are progressing and they love it but it is just slow. Thanks for the D&C 39 dad. I really liked it. We are going to use some of the principles found in that section for one of the lessons.

We are still working on finding more people to teach. We have a few really great potentials that we have citas with this week! There are prepared people. We have had many experiences when we have felt it and when the people we are talking to are looking for the gospel. One lady that is coming to church every week her name is Marta. She is so cute! The english sisters are teaching her but she is coming to our ward because it works better for her schedule. She does speak spanish too. She told us how she has felt a lot of doors being opened as she has been coming. She said that she feels God working in her life and she feels that her path is aligning with his. She never misses and she is super full of great questions and going to listen to conference this next week. We love her!

The weird meat: Well. I have eaten some weird stuff on my mission. We ate at this members house this week and Hermana Knappen and I thought we might die. :D I have no idea what we ate but it looked nasty and it was some type of beef but who knows what part of the cow it was. :D It was in like this ball and was black and all chunky. it was sitting in a bowl of beans with rice. Hermana Knappen's looked like all these Octupus legs but the same color and all goopey. I just looked at her and said...Don't ask what it is. :D. Better to not know until after. It was interesting going down but it was funny. Some of the things I eat. I can't imagine if i am still as picky as before. I know i am being strengthened in eating those things too...

The ants: Hermana Knappen HATES ants. We have always had these random ants coming from part of the carpet. We always make sure that we don't have food out but sometimes they just creep up. they are going to do some extermination project in our apartment but who knows when. They have been really bad this week. She had this cereal box and all of a sudden throughout the week I would hear the box slamming all over in the kitchen. she is in the kitchen jumping around like ahhhhh I hate ants. They are So gross. Saying all sorts of stuff. haha :D last night I was on the phone with Israel arranging something for this week and Hermana knappen all of a sudden is like AHHHHh and the Box came out. Israel is like laughing and says...What is going on over there? I hear all these sounds of smacking and hitting? I told him about the ants and he like like yelling NOOOOO NOOO LES MATAN! No, No don't kill them! haha :D He was like those poor little ants, they are helpless. It was so funny. We are getting ready to hang up and he says. Tell hermana knappen to not kill the poor little ants. haha :D She just got the vaccum and started to suck them up instead of giving them the smackdown! It is super funny. Maybe it is a "have to be there moment" but it is super funny. I love her. :D

This weekend for the conference I got to see a ton of people from Oakcrest. It was soo special! I loved it. Daniel, Tirsa, Chris, John and Princess all came. It was such a blessing to see them. I love that family! :) I got to see Christina, Hermana Crandall, the Cascos, all the Garcia/Calderon Family, Hermana Arredondo and many more. Oakcrest has a special place in my heart. I really enjoyed the conference. I loved how they talked about how important our covenants are and what it means to keep them. It is very true.

Well...I hope you all have a beautiful week! I love you all so much! I am praying for you. I hope all of your doctor's appointments go well. Be Healthy! Thank you for your love and support. It helps me so much. I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I know that The atonement is real and that we need to be working on feeling its cleansing, healing, and strengthening power in our lives daily. I know that through the Atonement we can overcome challenges and become the people that God wants us to be and the people that he knows we can be.

Lots of Love! Remember who you are and to whom you belong too. Off finding the 10s of 1000s

<3 Hermana Rife

Hermana Knappen trying her skills at getting rid of the ants!