Whistle while we work

Dear mum, dad, and family,

I forgot that it was memorial day but it is actually a bank holiday here as well! That is why I am emailing today, because everything was closed yesterday. Tell the whole family hi for me! The BBQ sounded really fun, that is something that I loved doing, I loved having family BBQ's. Congrats Kylee for getting 3rd place...you may be better than Kynsie and Kendra in photography! :) Tanner I can't believe school is almost over! You are going to be a Junior in no time! Don't let time slip through your fingers though...spend it wisely and spend it doing the right things building yourself first spiritually and then temporally and physically! I promise you that if you spend time growing in the gospel all things will be possible! You will see many blessings and you will grow exponentially!

Now for my week! :) The week started out really long....finding and finding and finding. But the whole time we were trying to be diligent and "whistling while we worked" We were getting doors slammed in our faces and people were cursing at us and all kinds of things. But we were positive that we would start teaching people again. Slowly we started finding people to teach and finding people who have a desire to learn more about the gospel. I will tell you about some miracles.

Janet: Elder Barendse and I met Janet knocking doors. She is a really nice lady and let us in. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation because it seemed to fit her situation. Quite a bit was going on in her life that was stressing her out. She told us that she really liked it, she then said I want to learn more but I am going away on holiday for sometime...about a month. So we lost contact with her. Elder Smith and I were in the area and so I decided to try-by to see if she was in. Well she was and she told us that she wants to learn more, that she was talking to her cousin and her cousin has a lot of faith. She said that she wants the faith that her cousin has and the happiness that she has as well. We bore testimony to her and invited her to be baptized! She said she would and is working towards June 20th. So we have set up more appointments with her to teach her and we know that she will receive an answer that the church is true.

Tom: We decided to take an American Football out finding with us. We were throwing it to people asking if they can catch and then stopping and talking to them. Well we stopped this guy Tom, he started teasing us at first and then got really serious and was listening really intently about what we were saying! We set up a time to come see him. He told us we can only come if we bring the football and play catch with him. So we did, but we also figured out a way to teach the restoration using the football! It was really fun. He then told us that all of it makes sense. We asked him what he expected from us coming by and he told us enlightenment, just to know the truth. We told him that we have it, and invited him to be baptized if he found out it was true. He told us he would and would do anything he could to find out if it was true. We decided to schedule him for June 20th as well!

Scott and Adam: We were walking home one night and these guys said hello to us from their window and we said hey, then Scott asked us what we do...so we told him. We were going to be late for home, so we just asked him if we could come around some other time and teach them and they said yes. We set up a time and left. We went by 2 days later and they were in (which was actually surprising because most of the time people forget) We were teaching Scott and Adam, they both have a religious background but have sort of "put up walls" if you will, and are confused. They said if God told them what to do they would do it. So again, we invited them to be baptized and taught them the Restoration! We got a return appointment and are going back tomorrow! So many good things are happening. I loved your quote Dad about not being rote....because when one gets robotic in anything they do...nothing moves forward, especially in the Gospel and there is not a time when we are stagnant. Miracles were happening everyday during the week, and now I am completely and utterly tired from all the finding but on the other hand I am excited to keep finding to keep seeing miracles! I love being out here on the mission and seeing my testimony grow as well as being able to help others come closer to Jesus Christ and gain a testimony themselves. I love you all. If there is anything you need let me know!

God be with you till we meet again. On our way. #10sof1000s. HE LIVES.

Love, Elder Tyler Rife

"Finding with the football!"