for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we got transfer calls, and I am staying in Galveston! And training again! I was about 30000% sure I was leaving but the Lord has other plans. 

I don't have a ton to say this week. On Sunday I read this scripture and it really got me thinking: Moroni 9:6

And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we                                                  should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to 

perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay,that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

I started asking myself: Is it more important to work hard or be an obedient missionary? Obviously both are ideal but if I had to choose one, what would I choose? 

Then as I read this scripture, I though about WHY. What is my motivation? Why do I get up on time? Why do I work hard? Why do I talk to everyone? Why do I try to give my will up?  

I love Heavenly Father. I want to be with Him again someday. One of my favorite talks from conference was by President Utchdorf called "On being Genuine." It talks about examining the desires of our hearts, and why we really do what we do. 

You should all try to read it this week: 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/on-being-genuine?lang=eng

I love Heavenly Father. I love His plan for us. I love my brothers and sisters all around the world and hope to bring some light into their lives as they bring light into mine. 

-Hermana Ries

p.s. Joel got the Priesthood yesterday! We are working with some awesome people right now! Please pray for Arcenio, Jose, and Braysia!!!

Yeni doing my hair while Jolette plays on the phone.
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Our sunglasses are cool.

I'm glad I get to stay on the island for at least a little longer. I love it. 

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Dear Family and Friends,

These are a few of my favorite things:

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Sushi. 

And sunsets. 

and shades/sunglasses.....

These are a few of my favorite thingssssss. 

Okay sorry, that song is super catchy. 

This week really has been a good week, and Heavenly Father has been teaching me a lot about how he gives us even the small desire of our hearts. Pslams 37: 3-7 says:

 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,and thy judgment as the noonday.

 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way,because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

I recently have been trying to "delight" in the mission. And as I've been striving to be obedient and sacrifice, the Lord has given me even small desires of my heart. 

One example:

The other day we were out and about as usual and stopped to talk with some people at a park. It turns out they were homeless and so my companion and I offered them some food we had with us. The sweet lady graciously said " I won't ever say no to food or clothes." So we also gave her a cardigan we had with us. 

This was a very small sacrifice, but we delighted in the opportunity to serve another because we are all beggars and "depend on the same God." (Mosiah 4:19)  

But, Heavenly Father, knowing we had made a sacrifice blessed us... The next day at church, a member came up to us and told us she had something to give us... She handed us two large bags of women's clothing and told us to use what we wanted and could give the rest away. It reminds me of Mosiah 2:21 which says:

• "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." 
• God constantly blesses us in a way, that we will never be "even." so to speak. All we have, all we are, belongs to Him. And He loves us and continues to bless us even when we don't  deserve it. 

This week we also had the incredible opportunity to attend the temple with Arles for the first time.  This is the true desire of my heart. I plan on helping people make it home to Heavenly Father, and baptism is only one step. The Celestial kingdom and the temple in preparation are the real goals. 

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God loves us. He knows all the desires of our hearts. He blesses us. I hope we can all delight in Him and recognize the blessings He showers upon us.

-Hermana Ries

Remember, remember

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a good, warm week in Galveston! Apparently the coldest we'll be getting until fall is mid-90's... Maybe I should have prayed for a colder mission. Just kidding haha.

I love the phrase in the scriptures : remember, remember.

It is a phrase that is found all throughout all the Holy Scriptures. And sometimes I wonder why. We know that Lot's wife, by longing to go back was turned to a pillar of salt. But I think it's pretty interesting that we are actually counseled to remember. 

We should remember our ancestors, and help them. This week Michael, our recent convert, remembered his heritage and we made a Korean dinner! 

We can remember our history. 

This week we went to a historical site called "Bishop's Palace." With a family we are teaching! 

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But what I think is super important (at least it has been for me as a missionary) is remembering " how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam" (Moroni 10:3)

And more specifically, how merciful God has been to me in my life. 

The other day I was telling one of our investigators how grateful I was for the Savior and how He has saved me.He replied "But Hermana Ries, what sins could you possibly have?" I just told him that I've made a lot of mistakes, but I don't talk about them, because they are erased now, thank to the mercy and Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

As we remember the Savior, life is more hopeful and happy. We can look back and remember who we were and how God has changed us. 

Remember Him. Remember He loves you,

-Hermana Ries

The Lord Looketh on the Heart.

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy 4th of July a little late! I hope it was a good one. The island was pretty crazy! 

This week I've been thinking about the scripture in 1 Samuel 16:7 which says: 

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

I think this is pretty significant. And I'm not very good at it, which is probably why I've been thinking about it, because I need to work on it haha. 

I am grateful for all the experiences the Lord has given to me, to show me that peoples hearts, are often quite different from their countenance. 

I continue to be amazed by Joel. And how he has transformed from being grumpy and someone I did not necessarily want to talk to, to a happy, positive, and incredibly kind man. 

The day we turned around to talk to him, was not because of his "countenance or stature." But because of his heart. 

It is incredible to me, that a man (Arles) who lived a life of partying, and didn't seem to have much purpose in his life, has now shared the gospel with his family in El Salvador and received his temple recommend, so that this week he can "free his ancestors."

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​I think one of the most exciting things for me on the mission is watching how Heavenly Father has looked on my heart and changed me.

I am still me. I am still silly, and I make a lot of mistakes. But I love Heavenly Father, and have an intense desire to do His will and help His children now and for the rest of my life. 

All of this is only possible because God sees our hearts. He knows and loves us. His son, Jesus Christ, makes these changes possible through His infinite and perfect Atonement. I am grateful for the chances I get every day to try to see people by their hearts. 

This week I hope that we can remember that Heavenly Father loves all of us. And we can treat others and ourselves as such. 

-Hermana Ries

may Christ lift thee up

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a great week full of opposition:) Some of the realities of mission life are: 

Biking in 103 degrees and probably 30000% humidity. 

Hospital visits. (Don't worry. All is well now) 

Being attacked by mosquitoes, even inside your apartment.

Popped tires, resulting in walking 4 miles in 103 degrees and probably 30000% humidity.

And all of these issues are really quite trivial compared to the things going on in the world. Many people this week have expressed to me their concern with real problems such as starvation, disease, war, famine, etc. As I was pondering on all of this I read in Moroni 9:25, which says: 

My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and longsuffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

I realized that, everything is going to be okay. When we realize that the Atonement covers all that is unjust in this life, we can rest assured that our Heavenly Father knows our needs, and He will take care of us. 

There is still good in the world. There is hope and peace and light found in the gospel. 

Thank you for your prayers and faith. Michael was able to follow Christ's example this weekend and be baptized! I liked what he shared after, and felt that it relates well. He said:

"I feel really good right now. I don't feel immediately different. But I'm thinking that it will happen over time." 

Lifting is a process. Christ can lift us, and He will, when we trust in Him. But it takes time, and sometimes we suffer while we are working through things. 

It is my testimony that He lives. He loves us. He paid the price for our happiness. I hope we can be lifted by Christ in our sorrows and reach out to Him as He endlessly reaches out to us. 

-Hermana Ries

Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.

Enos 1:15

Dear Family and Friends, 

First off, I would like to say happy fathers day to my Dad, because he is a really really amazing father, and happy birthday to my mom because she is a really really amazing mother. 

Thank you for raising me Mom and Dad:) 

This week, I want to talk a little bit about the power of prayer. 

I think prayer is something I take for granted too often. 

God, the creator of all, our Heavenly Father, totally powerful and omnipotent, wants to listen to all of us, whenever, and wherever we will talk to Him. It does not matter how pure we are, or if we merit even a second of His time. He wants to hear from us. Doesn't that seem incredible to anyone else? He who already knows all wants to hear how we feel, and what we think. 

If communicating with Heavenly Father isn't enough of a motivation, we also have countless blessing from prayer such as protection from evil and temptation, peace, comfort and Enos 1:15 says that "Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it." 

Um wow. 

I believe that Heavenly Father generally is willing to give us any good gift if we ask in faith. If He doesn't give it to us, it's probably because He has something A LOT better in mind for us. 

This week, we had the opportunity to be the answer to someone else's prayer. There is a sweet woman here in Galveston that just got baptized a couple weeks ago. We had to run to the store on Saturday afternoon, to buy some popcorn for the ward movie night, and saw her. We pulled over quickly to say hi. Without thinking, the first thing we said when we saw her was "Hi Katherine! What can we do to help?"  

Her eyes filled with tears and said "Oh Sisters, you were sent from the Lord! I have been trying to get this air conditioner out of the cart, but I can't lift it! I was praying that someone would come help me, and then I heard you call my name." 

For her, in that moment, prayer became very real. 

This week in your prayers will you please remember Michael as he is preparing to be baptized? 

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He is super cool. 

Anyway, life is good. I love the island still. I could probably stay here forever, which means I'll probably get transferred in 5 weeks haha. 

I love being a missionary. I love serving the Lord. God really is a loving Father, the most perfect Father. He has a plan for all of us, and loves to hear our silent pleas. 

-Hermana Ries