WHERE DID THE WEEK GO!!!

Dear everyone who cares to tolerate my very unorganized letters, :)

Oh my it just seems like yesterday I was writing home, it also just seems like yesterday that transfers started and now they are over in a week! What the heck, where did the time go!? To answer your question about my companion. Elder Sim was my temporary companion for 3 days and then Elder White is now my companion. I don't know if he will get transferred again or not. Transfers are the 3rd of December. Thank you so much for the package, unfortunately I will not know if I have gotten it until like a week before Christmas. The mission throws a Christmas party, and they said that is where we will get our Christmas packages! But I'm very excited to get it! :) I'm sending you one as well, it is not very big but I decided to send a little bit of England back home to you! :) YOU CAN'T OPEN IT UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! :) haha I'm going to torture you! Speaking of Christmas, we get to skype but I don't know the full details yet....so yeah! 

Well this week has gone by soooooooo dang fast! It has also been a very interesting week. Every single day we have had a meeting and the doctors. I had to go to the doctor to refill my prescription because it was American..Dang yanks (thats what English people call Americans) I get called it quite a bit! But although it has been weird it has been very productive!! Which is good. 

We were able to teach a new investigator named Sarah. She seems like she is really interested. I'm so embarrassed though. You can't make fun of me when I say this. We were teaching her the first lesson, and I started talking about Joseph Smith...well of course I have James 1:5 and the first vision memorized. So I said Joseph Smith read James 1:5 and it says "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him" and then I went on, well I then said Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. My first thought was let her read the first vision out loud...and then I was prideful...so I started saying it, but instead of me saying the first vision I started saying James 1:5! I realized what I was doing half way through...well I'm going to stop there. Luckily I was saved by my companion. Don't worry even though I messed up she is still interested. Goes to show you listen to the spirit or he will definitely embarrass you bad and will never let you forget it. Oh my! It was a good learning experience. 

Sol and Macy are going through a rough time right now, but I know that it is because Heavenly Father is preparing them for something greater. Sol needs this, he has been relying more on Heavenly Father and has been having more faith. But it is really hard for me to watch them go through this.  Please keep them in your prayers that everything will work out according to Gods will.

Well Lots of miracles have happened this week and I can see the Lords hand in everything that we have been doing. It is truly a blessing to be a missionary and I hope and pray everyday that I will become better and rely on the Lord more fully. 

I love you all and pray for the best. Keep moving forward. Always rely on the Lord and remember that He is always there even when it feels like you are alone. God be with you until we meet again. On our way. #10sof1000s. We all wear the name of Christ on our hearts. 

Oh yeah we were knocking and we knocked Cruella's house and got a picture with her car! :)

Love, Elder Tyler Rife

Dear Family, 

I basically told you everything in the email! I'm glad to hear you are all doing so well and having fun! Watch out for a package coming your way! remember DON'T OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!! hahahaha :) I love you all! Thank you for all you do! I am enjoying the pictures! :)

In front of Cruella's De Vil's car!!!  :)

Days are shorter and some how I'm more busy.

Dear Everyone across the pond, 

Again I apologize this week, the email won't be too long. It seems like days are getting shorter, but I'm getting more busy. Although I'm getting more busy, I can never think of anything to write home. 

I guess I will start with Graham-He was a former investigator that told the missionaries he had found the church that was right for him. Well a couple of weeks ago we ran into him and he said he was miserable and realizes now that he wants to try again. He asked for our number and said he would call us. Well weeks went by and he didn't call us. Then this past week we got a random call from Graham asking if would come by. We went and were planning on teaching the restoration...well instead of us teaching him...he taught us. He knows so much and really wants to try and understand more and receive a feeling that this church is true. He is prepared, so prepared he invited himself to church before we could. Before we could tell him that he needed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he said that he knew if he was to get an answer he would have to put in an effort and that it will take time. Man he is prepared. All we basically did was invite him to be baptized on November 29th. He then said okay and he would work towards that date. Unfortunately we will have to push it to December 6th because stake conference is November 29th and 30th. Graham is really funny, and he loves Doctor who. I feel confused whenever he talks about it because I don't know what is going on. He is awesome and knows what he is doing. We have seen him 3 days now and he came to church and really enjoyed it. Graham is definitely trying to investigate the church. 

This week we also did quite a bit of knocking.  We didn't get anyone, but work pays off. We got a call 2 days ago from the mission office. Some other missionaries were teaching this older couple and family was sitting in on the lesson (the couples daughter and 2 grandchildren),  Well they liked it so much they asked if missionaries could come by. Well they live in our area and we have a visit scheduled for Wednesday. When we talked on the phone she seemed so positive and excited to learn more. It was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord. Hopefully all goes well. 

We also were able to attend a Birthday party for a member with LOADS of non-members. It was crazy how many people were walking up to us asking who we were. My thoughts were when they asked.."well you asked...so I'm telling you" they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. We left them with mormon.org cards and hopefully they look into it. Unfortunately none lived in our area, but it was still a really good experience and blessing. The other really random detail but very cool, there was a nine year old girl who sang at their talent show. She sang let it go from frozen....OH MY GOODNESS SHE IS GOING TO BE FAMOUS! She was nine and I was surprised how good of a singer she was. 

Well here is my doctrinal dissertation for the week, although it will not be as good as dad's. My thoughts this week have been a lot about missionary work in general. From Zone Conference to a Mission Presidents fireside we had last night, I have been thinking a lot about missionary work. Many people think Missionary work is just teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ, which it is but, it can be really anything. Every member a missionary. It doesn't matter how small, tall, old, or young, every single person can do missionary work. We are asked to follow Jesus Christ...well didn't Christ teach by example? That is what we can do, teach by example. People are looking at us, everyone is looking at us. Missionary work is the example we set. By small and simple things great and marvelous things will take place. It can be as simple as saying hello or doing a simple act of kindness for someone that will hasten the work. That is missionary work, not shoving what we believe down peoples throats, but it is by our actions in which we accomplish His will. Teach by example, through small and simple means, by that, great and marvelous miracles will occur. 

Until next time, God be with you. On our way. #10sof1000s. Remember we all wear the name of Christ on our hearts, choose today to represent him (through examples) ;) Take care. 

Love, Elder Tyler Rife 

Dear Family, 

Oh no Sister Rawcliffe!!! She is one of my best friends. Is there anything I can do for her? Do me a favor...go by as often as you can. I did get her letter...I have not got the package yet. I hope she is doing well. I need to send her another letter. I have got a email from kira and that is it. Janine is truly amazing isn't she? She will do great things in the church. I'm sorry to hear about all the hospital visits. Katelin and Nick were definitely wanting a date! ;) haha of Mila she is so funny. How is everyone doing? I hope alright. Tanner trust me when I say this...don't push the curfew thing...mom and dad WILL NOT BUDGE...all that comes is chaos when disobeying and cheating the freedom that we have been given. I promise you don't want to mess with them. All it is will be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. You don't know how much freedom they have given us already until you look back and again trust me when I say this...it isn't fun looking back, you will wish you were different! Learn from my mistakes young grasshopper! :) I hope you are all doing okay! I can't remember who's turn it is for letters so I will just write the girls this week. Well all is going well here. I miss you all and hope you are all staying strong. Love you all and God be with you. On our way. #10s of1000s. We wear the name of Christ on our hearts. Ki Kaha (stay strong in Maori)

Love, Ty-dye. 

P.S. sorry no pictures this week! :( 

SURPRISE Email for us today! Wednesday, November 12, 2014

We Got a fun surprise today!  I had just dropped Kylee off for school and had stopped at my Mother's like I usually do each day.  I checked my email over there for some reason and WOW... I was so surprised to see that Tyler had sent us an email at 3:48 AM!  I opened it quickly to make sure all was okay and found this:

Dear Mom and Dad,

You can share this with the family as well, I was just being lazy so I only sent it to you two. We had Zone Conference yesterday and President Pilkington told us to write our parents and tell them what we felt. (just to explain that I'm not being a dodgey missionary) ;) 

Well this won't be long. I know people say that things which are said are meant for them, but when I say this I mean it. What was said yesterday was meant for me. It was kind of a slap to the face really. Lately I have been a little stressed, and I started getting down on myself a bit, I was still working hard but I just kept thinking things were going wrong. I went to Zone Conference with kind of a bad attitude which I shouldn't have. Yesterday was the 100th year anniversary of the armistice of World War 1. Millions of people died during this time, young men especially. It was hard for them and hard for their families. I had the great opportunity to stand for 2 minutes in complete silence and give reverence to all those men who sacrificed their lives so you, and I, and everyone would have the freedom that we have today. Sister Pilkington was talking about this and she gave us this song that the soldiers would sing, it goes like this: "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile, Just think of all the happy times we'll have, smile boys, that's the style. What's the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile. So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile. That hit me hard because it made me think that I should't be so down. Like the song says what is the use of worrying? it never is worthwhile. It then got me thinking about the mission. A mission is going to be hard, this is going to be hard for me, it won't be easy and I don't know why I thought it would be easy, because in reality we are serving the Lord, we are doing as Christ did, and when you think about it, it was never easy for Him. This is something small that we can do. When things get hard, when we want to give up and stop trying, just remember to smile, remember that its not easy but because it's not easy we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest person that ever lived. We are standing shoulder to shoulder with Christ. He has our back. Smile today, because tomorrow you may not have teeth! I learned so much more and wish I could explain more of my thoughts but for now this is all I will say. When things get hard keep going. My favorite quote is by Rocky Balboa which I'm sure I have shared with you multiple times, "life will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it, but it doesn't matter how hard you hit, what matters is how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That is how winning is done" 

I love you all so much and I hope that made sense. President just told us to email you our thoughts...so that really are my thoughts, all over the place. Remember to always move forward no matter what, we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We wear His name on our hearts and we must choose to follow Him. We are representatives of Jesus Christ, and we will not be shaken. God be with you. We are on our way. #10sof1000s. 

Love, Tyler 

It was a wonderful reminder for me today!

So thank you Tyler for your thoughts. I'm so glad your mission president felt like it would be a good thing to share your thoughts with your family.

I will remember to smile today....because I definitely DON'T want to be without teeth!!!!  

(LOVED that part!  Silly kid!!!)

 :D

Also, Yesterday we received a very sweet email from a lady Tyler and his former companion Elder Fergurson had the blessing of teaching and baptizing earlier in October.

Quite a "payday" for us as parents!

Good Evening

You don't know me and I hope you don't mind me intruding like this.

My name is Janine Taylor and I live in Leeds, UK.

I got your email address's from Elder Rife.

I just wanted to write to say what an amazing young man you have brought up, Elder Rife is indeed a credit to you both. I am very new to the Church, being introduced to it in May by some dear dear friends from Provo, Utah. I attended church with them from May until September when they flew home for the Winter. This meant I had to find my own branch of LDS. This is where I had the privilege of meeting your son along with his companion Elder Ferguson, (they made an awesome team). They became my Elders, looked after me, taught me and eventually baptised me.

I have a bond with both these guys that is inexplicable. The sharing and being involved with my baptism gives them a special place in my heart.

I am a Mum to a 16 year old boy and they remind me so much of him. I am perhaps a wee but mumsy and look out for them a little.

I hope you didn't mind me writing but I am so honoured to have met such a wonderful young man, I feel truly blessed. He is doing you guys proud over here and is an exemplary missionary, hard working, caring and so  funny.

We carved pumpkins for Halloween for the church trunk or treat, I shall send you a photo of Elder Rife's. we were so impressed, he has a hidden talent.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kind regards


Janine Taylor

And Then....

to make the day even BETTER...

Kylee got the mail as she came home from school 

and.....

WE GOT LETTERS for the GIRLS!!!!

Fun Week!  Thanks Tyler... 

We Sure LOVE that boy!

( Hope you all don't mind me posting this pic of our missionary again...but I just LOVE that cute smile!!!!)

43 sleeps till Christmas...WHAT?!?!?!

Pillow...I mean Yellow...ah HELLO!!!

So England of course doesn't have Thanksgiving, so they are already getting ready for Christmas...WHAT! I walked into the store and there were Christmas things up and on the Christmas tree it said 43 sleeps till Christmas!!! Woah there calm down England, Christmas isn't for another 2 months! That was a surprise for me! 

This is probably going to be a short one this week! So I apologize in advance. 

Quite a few things happened this week that made the week really good! First off we were able to see way more people than last week. That is always good. 

Drew-I think I have told you about Drew and Robyn. They are atheist...when I say atheist, I mean HARD CORE atheist! They rely and only believe in science. Very nice people but annoying when it comes to intellectual things because it is just way over my head! We have been teaching them and finally Drew has opened up. He is willing and wants to know if what we say is true, so he showed up to church and told us that he had a lot of preconceptions of the church worked out. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and has been praying. He really is trying. I am confident that he will come around soon. He will receive an answer. 

Caroline and her family- We met Caroline in the pouring rain while knocking...I think I told you how we met them. Well we have been going by ever since and she just loves us, as well as her kids! We went over and had a family home evening with them ( there are pictures attached). We played minute to win it games and had a blast! We then started talking about families and being together forever and how it is the most important social unit that God has given us. We talked for about a half hour about families. At the end we scheduled them to be baptized on November 21st. They told us that they would pray about it to make sure that it is right. The kids want to be baptized, but Caroline is having a hard time believing that she has a loving Heavenly Father. We went over on Sunday as well and talked to them about Heavenly Father and Charlie (he is 8 and is reading the Book of Mormon) said that he believes it and is being 100% honest about it! I'm excited for them and hoping that they will make it! 

Well many other crazy miracles happened this week but I will leave it at that. "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do" 1 Nephi 4:6 I like this scripture a lot. There are many times that I don't know what to do, I don't know if it is the spirit guiding me or if it is just me or what. It can be hard for me to discern. I never know what to do, but then I came across this scripture and I thought man I am an idiot, it was kind of a slap to the face in a sense because we don't need to know, isn't that why we are here on earth? We chose to come and leave behind the knowledge we once had. We chose to walk by faith. I chose that and so why am I worrying. The Spirit will guide us, as long as we are worthy of it. We just have to be willing to take a leap of faith, willing to take reasonable risks, that is when the Lord will guide us, when we trust in Him that if we jump he will be there to catch us. So today and this week lets all rely on the Spirit. Keep in mind that we don't know everything, Keep in mind that as we learn from mistakes and we come unto Christ, we can be perfected in him. Remember this quote "paths are made not by waiting....but by walking on them" 

Until next week. God be with you. On our way. #10sof1000s. We all wear the name of Christ on our hearts, we represent Him. 

Love, Elder Tyler Rife. 

Dear Mom, Dad, Grandma, Katelin, Nick, Kynsie, Kendra, Tanner, Kylee, Kinley, Mila, and Maddie, and anybody else that may be joining our family in the near future...cough cough ????? cough, sorry I had something caught in my throat, 

Well first off before I forget, I need you to go to missionary.lds.org and sign into my account and put my social security number in. It is probably bad that I forgot my social security number, but whatever! I am in the Leeds 5th branch. I think London is like 2 hours away from Leeds....I don't really know! Um I can't remember if I told you this already but friends can email me! It sounds like you all had a crazy week and very productive. Tanner how are you doing in swim? Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday dear Mila, Happy Birthday to you!!! :) You probably will be getting a birthday card pretty soon!! ;) Just out of pure curiosity...I need the dirty details about blank?  who is he? whats going on? I'm probably weeks behind on the gossip! What do you all want for Christmas, I need to get it off soon!? How is everything going? Sorry my emails haven't been too long the past couple of weeks! I will try to add more! How are Matt and Austin? and everyone else? How are you guys doing? I love you guys and miss you!! P.S. Janine is going to be emailing you soon. She asked for your email...I hope that is okay!  Well I love you all and will be sending letters! They are all random but, letters will come! If you need anything let me know, I will do absolutely anything for you all! :) Love you. God be with you. We are on our way. We wear the name of Christ on our hearts! #10sof1000s. I hope all is well. 

Love, Ty-dye

P.S. that is me and my cup o' Joe (aka Hot Chocolate) it was freezing that day but I was just wearing a scarf and gloves! :)

Playing Minute to Win It games for FHE

& 

having a blast!  :)

Sounds like this is a new found friend of Tyler's!  

 "my cup o' Joe"

Happy Halloween - November 3, 2014

Good Morning, 

Sounds like everyone has been having a very eventful week. I hope Halloween was AWESOME! Wanna know something weird...well i'm gonna tell you anyway! Nobody really celebrates Halloween over here. There was nobody out, we got one knock on our door for trick or treaters! Which in a way was good because we forgot to buy sweets, so when they knocked I was frantically trying to find something that wasn't open or healthy! We ended up giving the little kid a half melted lindor chocolate that was sent in the mail from Elder Ferguson's family that he left at the flat. But all in all it was a Happy Halloween. 

Not much has gone on this week. It has actually been very slow. The slowest week that I have every had. We did quite a bit of service and saw maybe 3 people. Many people flogged us or couldn't talk at the time. I felt useless like I was just wandering around being a waster! But hopefully this week goes a little better. 

My new companion is Elder White, he has been out for a little over a year. He is from Roosevelt Utah. That's all. He is pretty cool, but I don't think anything will beat Elder Ferguson. 

Alright well I carved a pumpkin on Halloween. That was fun. There really isn't much that happened this week. But I will think of something. 

Ok so one night we went to see a lady and her family but she flogged and I had no idea what to do. We decided to walk towards a potentials house and I was just hoping that someone would be in. We were walking and I said hello to a man. He said hello back and we kept walking. I then was thinking to myself that I know that guy. I have seen him somewhere before. So I turned to Elder White and said lets go back. So we went back and I said I knew him from somewhere. He said his name was Mark and he is a less active. We have seen each other on the bus. We then talked for about an hour and in the end he said "I'm glad you had the guts to come back and talk because I really wasn't having a good day, and now I feel better" We found out where he lived and we are going to go by and see him this week. That was probably the highlight of the week. 

I really like that quote "an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus and keep aiming." This week has been crazy and stressful, honestly I didn't  know what I was doing all week and I was just hoping for the best. I was thinking why is this happening, why are people flogging us, why do I feel so useless. But from what that quote says, hard things will happen, this life is going to drag you down and it will be hard, but as you learn and grow from the weaknesses and trials that you face you will be able to fly great distances, further than you might imagine. It also reminds me of the quote by Rocky Balboa; "life will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it, but it is not about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward, that is how winning is done." We are supposed to endure to the end, but we aren't enduring if we aren't going through difficult things, if we aren't experiencing anything that will try our faith and righteousness. Enduring to the end is when life throws temptation, trials, afflictions, and we are able to keep moving forward, we are always having faith in Jesus Christ, always repenting, always renewing our baptismal covenants, always being worthy of the Holy Ghost. That is enduring to the end. When you have tried your hardest, but you still go a little further than possible. When at that point that you feel like giving up, you then turn and rely on Jesus Christ our Savior, our Redeemer. No matter how hard things get you will never be alone, nor forgotten, because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will always be there. 3 Nephi 22:7-8 "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." He will always be there. 

God be with you. We are on our way. #10sof1000s. Remember we all wear the name of Christ on our hearts. 

Pictures:

My new car...I wish

Pirate Pumpkin

Love, Elder Tyler Rife

Dear Family, 

OUCH!!! I'm sorry to hear about Tanners toe! that looks like it hurts, as well as Dad's tooth. Have you figured anything out to make them better? How is Grandma doing? I have been thinking about her. Halloween looked fun. You all have amazing costumes! Guess what I dressed up as? come on guess.....A MISSIONARY!!! What was that missionary thinking?  Don't worry I am well behaved. All because I was taught well by all you. I hope you are all doing awesome!! I would love some letters! ;) ;) but you really don't have to send them. Speaking of letters, i'm sorry I wasn't able to send any last week. I ran out of time. But i'm making sure to get some off to you this week. I hope you can forgive me for that. For the email thing. Anyone can email me. I did get Matt, Austin, Isaac, and Kelly's letters! :) it made me very happy. I'm glad they still visit you even though i'm gone. As far as Christmas. I don't need anything, except if you would like you can send a couple of Old Spice Aqua reef deodorant sticks. They don't sell deodorant sticks over here! But other than that I'm happy with letters! What would you guys like for Christmas? I love you all and I love getting your emails and letters! Janine may becoming to Utah during general conference and she is going to come visit you! You will love her! Have a fantastic week. Until next time. God be with you! On our way. We bear the name of Christ on our hearts. #10sof1000s. Love you all

Love, Ty-dye

"My new car....I wish!"  

Tyler has always thought cool cars were the in thing!  :)

Tyler's Pirate Pumpkin

Happy Halloween from England