Note: For the duration of Riley's mission, this blog will be produced and edited by his parents, Daisy and Todd Stonely.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Week 50: Our plans fall through but not the Lord's

Dear Friends and Family,

First off, just wanted to let you all know that since it is memorial weekend, I do not have much time to email. :) So, you will all be receiving this great email from me this week! I will get back to all the other emails next week when we have more time :) I love you all!

This week we had a hard time with finding people to teach and things to do. Though it was a huge testimony builder for me in the idea that when we go out and put our faith to the test, things happen and blessings come. We had multiple days where we had our plans fail on us or things were not happening, though when we went to try to visit someone else, we were blessed. This past Friday we had a great day planned! Everything was set and ready. We showed up to the first appointment with a less active member that was pretty solid, though he was not there and had forgotten. The whole day continued like that... It was around 4 o'clock and we had no plans left... so we decided to go see a potential investigator in the area, though they were not home either. We sat there and were deciding on where we could go when we got a phone call from a member who asked if we could come over and help bust through some concrete to start digging wholes for a ramp that we are putting in. We were so happy that we were given the opportunity to serve and help the members out. Plus, it was extremely fun! I now know how to break through concrete with a sludge hammer. HAHA 

This Sunday was also a great one! We were bummed because our plans yet again had fallen through. We were on our last planned activity around 6 pm and were wondering what we were to do. So we decided to go visit a former investigator. We looked for the house, but the address that we had did not exist. We decided to keep going around the neighborhood and scout things out. We felt that we should knock on a specific door that we had passed about three times. We knocked, and a Hispanic from Mexico answered the door. We got talking with him and expressed our feelings about the message that we shared and asked if we could teach him what it was. He gladly accepted and we taught his family. It was cool because we came in and he rounded up his whole family. Including his wife who had delivered a baby two days previous. It was a great lesson! And he really enjoyed it and the questions that he had were amazing. It was a huge testimony builder for us! Oh, and he also invited us to a party that he is going to hold for his daughter next week. So there are a lot of potentials for baptism right there! HAHA

Well, I am grateful for all of you and for all of you who support us as missionaries. We are truly blessed as we go out and try to find and we are grateful! I am seeing miracles in this little branch, though rough at times, there are many blessings hidden behind the walls. I wish you a great week this week and best of luck in all you are to accomplish! Much love from Cairo! 

Elder Stonely
Fishing at the pond.

I think I've got this mastered!
"And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." Mark 1:17