Okay let me just start out by saying how pretty it is in Virginia during this time! I just love the spring and they tell me it's not even fully here yet!

One thing I've come to realize is how important the members are in missionary work! Seriously they make or break it. And I love my ward! It's so cool how into missionary work they are. They all want to share the gospel because they see the huge difference it has made in their life and they want everyone to feel that as well. So ya I love my ward and I love the other missionaries in my ward. We have us, a trio of Hermanas and a set of elders. All the Hermanas are native speakers besides me and this other girl which is nice. But the other girls last name  is SanchezFace with tears of joy so she seems like less of a greenga and it's easier for people to say her name!  But ahhhhh this week someone asked if me and my companion were both from Buenos Aires! Which made me feel good about myself because that means my Spanish wasn't too awful! Haha but my comps accent is definitely rubbing off on on me! She is seriously so happy that I'm starting to get it! She's so funny! The other day we were talking about empanadas because they make those a lot where she's from and she was saying that she has to make some for me and I said "oh I think I have had an empanada before from McDonald's!" Haha she got offended and won't let me live that one down!Face with tears of joy

The General Women's broadcast was awesome this week! I love hearing from the apostles and other leaders of the church. The main focus was service so that is definitely something that I am going to pray for and go out of my way to find unplanned service opportunities. One quote I liked was "throw away the mirror and look through the windows." The only way we can truly serve is if we stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on others.

Missionary work is great and I am loving it! Thanks for everything. I can already tell that my decision to serve a mission is the best decision I have ever made in my life. Love you all and have a great week! I know I will!

 Love,
Hermana Stewart

1- me and Hermana Rodriguez
2- The Hermanas in my ward
3- The Relief Society
4- Easter egg decorating with my roommates
5- haha some cannon from the civil war

Wow..... I am officially in the great state of Virginia! And I really
do love it here! It's so different than Utah. It has tons of trees and
sometimes when I'm driving around I just look around and see how
beautiful it is. I'm really grateful for this oppurtunity to be here.
Haha speaking of driving.... I'm the designated driver because my
companion doesn't have a license. So we have these things in our cars
called "teewee" (I honestly have no idea how to spell it) but anyway
it's this thing hooked into your car and you have to sign in with your
card and the it tells you to slow down or put your seatbelt on and
what not, so it just monitors what you do. For the seatbelt and to
slow down it gives you a warning but if you get "aggressive driving"
it just marks it against you. So anyway I kid you not when I say we
had just left the parking lot 30 seconds ago when a light turned
yellow and so I stopped and it was kind of a hard break but not too
bad and then that thing said "AGRESSIVE DRIVING" literally that would
only happen to me.....😂😂

But anyway enough about that..... So I really don't even know where to
begin but so much has happened since I've been here. My companion is
awesome! Her name is Hermana Rodriguez and she is from Argentina! We
speak Spanish pretty much all the time and I'm so grateful for her
because she has really helped me improve my Spanish and whenever I
have a question about something I can just ask her. It's so nice! She
occasionally has a question for me about English and I like when that
happens because I am constantly asking her questions about Spanish....
But ya she is awesome! Love her! She has an Argentinian accent so she
says ll and y like sha so that took a little getting used to but now
I'm used to it! She wants me to have an Argentina accent😂

The people here in Virginia are amazing. The people love to talk and
you would be surprised there are areas where we can knock on just
about any door and they will speak Spanish! It's awesome! Occasionally
when we do knock on someone who doesn't speak Spanish they aren't
always as nice.... But ya the Spanish speakers love to talk about God
and religion. We met the most amazing family last night who are so
prepared they just don't know it! Ahh I loved them I honestly wanted
to just live with them because they were the sweetest family and the
nicest people ever. It's moments like that when I meet amazing people
that I just really really love this mission.

I love being a missionary! There is a lot of work to do here and I am
excited to get started. The language is definitely a struggle but
everyday it has been getting better and better. I know Heavenly Father
blesses all his children so I have faith that it will come. I am so
excited for those of you that are getting mission calls right now
because this work is amazing. And for those of you who don't have a
tag remember that you can still be a missionary, it is a lot more
powerful to have a member present during lessons so go out and do
that! The Lord loves you and he would never leave you alone. There are
amazing people in this world! Go out and find them! Ciao! (This is a
word I have picked up from my companion❤️)

Love,
Hermana Stewart

(Here's my address if you want to send me anything)
8 Ferguson Drive apartment 201
Stafford, VA 22554

Oh and sorry me and my companion literally took no pics.... Next week for sure.
Sent from my iPad

Dear Brother and Sister Stewart,

We are so grateful that our new missionaries arrived safely in Richmond.  They were a bit weary due to early morning travel, but we fed them dinner, held a brief orientation, and got them some rest.  I met individually with each of our new missionaries and am so impressed by their dedication and desire to follow Jesus Christ.  Tuesday morning, we assigned them their first area and missionary companion.
               
Hermana Stewart will be working with Hermana Rodriguez Klammer.  Mail can be sent directly to them .
8 Ferguson Drive #201 Stafford, VA 22554

Thank you so much for your love and support of these great missionaries.  It is truly our privilege to serve alongside them.  Please sign in to Facebook Group:  Virginia Richmond Mission – President Wilson Era for current pictures and events in the Mission.

May God's choicest blessings be with you.

Best regards,
Brad Wilson Signature
E. Bradley Wilson
President, Virginia Richmond Mission

Dear Brother and Sister Stewart,

We are so grateful that our new missionaries arrived safely in Richmond.  They were a bit weary due to early morning travel, but we fed them dinner, held a brief orientation, and got them some rest.  I met individually with each of our new missionaries and am so impressed by their dedication and desire to follow Jesus Christ.  Tuesday morning, we assigned them their first area and missionary companion.
               
Hermana Stewart will be working with Hermana Rodriguez Klammer.  Mail can be sent directly to them .
8 Ferguson Drive #201 Stafford, VA 22554

Thank you so much for your love and support of these great missionaries.  It is truly our privilege to serve alongside them.  Please sign in to Facebook Group:  Virginia Richmond Mission – President Wilson Era for current pictures and events in the Mission.

May God's choicest blessings be with you.

Best regards,
Brad Wilson Signature
E. Bradley Wilson
President, Virginia Richmond Mission

On Thu, Mar 3, 2016 at 1:38 PM, Riley Michelle Stewart <riley.stewart@myldsmail.net> wrote:
Hey everyone! First off, yes my companion is in a wheelchair! She sprained it really badly on Saturday and has had to be in a wheelchair since then but it is getting better and better each day! So anyway, another great week in the CCM! This week was a little bit different because guess what¿ I got to go outside of the walls!!! So it´s actually a really sad story because a girl in my zone has been really sick to the point where she had to be in the hospital for a couple days(don´t worry she´s back now though). But anyway we have been doing 12 hour shifts with the firls in our zone so on Saturday it was my turn to go. So it was a pretty intense day actually becayse no one really spoke English there and it was just the two of us and I had to figure out what was wrong and what we had to do all from the nurses and doctors that spoke no English so that was interesting. She had to get a colonoscopy and I was like her chaperone, it was interesting. But it was cool because I had a lot of oppurtunities to tell people who we were, what we were doing there, and a little bit about the church. Everyone though was we were doing was "muy bonita" and they just thought it was a really cool thing. You don´t know how many ladies kissed me on the cheek that day! And it also made me really appreciate the name tag because it is something that sets us apart and might initially get people interested in who we are and what we are about. I was able to meet a lot of amazing people! But the coolest thing was with the nurse that was wheeling the girl that was in the hospital back up to her room. I started talking to him about the church and about us and he told me that he had actually had a friend that was a missionary in Mexico City some years back and that he had been to the church before because they were offering free English classes! So I talked to him a little bit about the church and himself while we were walking her back up to her room. And then I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon, he said he did at one point but that that was like 12 years ago. So then I asked him if he wanted one and he said yes!!!! He actually seemed really excited when I asked and he said "thank you, that is a really marevelous gift." So I gave him El Libro de Mormón!!! Ahhhh it was such a great experience and I felt so amazing after and really already felt so much love for him I´m praying that the missionaries might find him and maybe something will come out of it!! I love being a missionary! It´s so insane to me that I am already leaving the CCM on Monday for my mission! I´m going to miss my district so much but I am so excited(and scared) to go out to the field! The next time I email I will be in Richmond! Thanks for all you do for me! Remember that your Heavenly Father loves you, he would never leave you alone, I have experienced that so much on my mission already.
Love,
Hermana Stewart

Oh and here are some awkward pictures... and one of me and DALLIN H OAKS!!!

Hola everyone!! Hope you are all doing well and know that I am sending lots of love your way from Mexico City! This week has been AMAZING!!!!!! Just so many spiritual experiences and tender mercies from the Lord. Being a missionary really is the greatest.
This week the Pope is in town, obviously I didn´t get to see him but all my teachers complain about it because all the roads are closed because of it haha. So this week for the devotional we got to hear from an apostle and it was the coolest thing ever! If you didn't already get this honestly was that I from the subject it was Dallin H. Oaks! It was really cool for me because  for I got to sit right by Emily Wixom and we also got to randomly hear from him 2 years ago and we met him together! Then here we are in mexico City on a mission together meeting him again. It was a really cool experience. I love the spirit that you can feel when an apostle of the Lord is in your presence because you can feel the spirit so strongly and you can see that he is a man of God.
One of my favorite things about the CCM is talking to all the Latinos! I seriously love it because first of all it´s practice and also because they are really just a loving people and they just love to have fun! Sometimes I know what I am saying doesn´t even really make sense but they get the jist and it´s fun to talk. ANYWAY, so the other day I was talking to some of my Latino friends and they stopped and were like "wait I know who you look like! You look like Harry Potter´s girlfriend!" Haha it took me a second to get what they were saying but when I did I thought it was hilarious that they pointed that out because I actually get that a lot! Haha so now they all call me Weasley and it's just kinda funny.
Today was a wonderful P-Day because we had the chance to go to the Mexico City temple today! That temple is so gorgeous and it is so big! I love the spirit I feel when I go to the temple and I´m so grateful that I was able to go today.
Sometimes I forget how lucky I truly am for all the many blessings I have received in my life. I have been blessed with so much and now I just want to work everyday to try to be worthy of the blessings that I have received. Thank you all for the amazing examples you have been in my life, I would not be here without you. Remember that God loves you and that I love you! Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Hermana Stewart
P.S. Thank you all for the amazing letters and thank you to my family for the packages! Haha my district is also grateful for you because they get a lot of food haha! Thanks for being the greatest!

Hey everyone! Today has been another great week in the CCM! I really do love it out here! I have met some of the coolest people and it´s so great because we have so much fun together! One really cool thing about the CCM is TRC. That´s when we teach real people not fake investigators, they´re volunteers. Most of them are members and a lot of them are converts. Last night me and Hermana Stacey were teaching a lady named Hermana Luna and she was really just so so amazing. She was converted to the church a year and a half ago. She told us her story and who in her family had been converted so far. When she talked about the gospel her whole face lit up! She had this light in her eyes that I can´t even describe, it just made me so happy. You could tell how much the gospel meant to her and how much it had really changed her life. It really made me excited for the amazing miracles that I am going to be able to see happen when I get into the mission field.

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord and help in his work, there is honestly nothing else I would rather be doing. Remember that the Lord loves you more that you could ever imagine. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hermana Stewart

"A successful missionary is one who does their best everyday and then prays to be better tomorrow"

Elder Oaks