Goodbye Westlake...

1. Opening my pixie present on Christmas eve - thanks Seth!  I love the scarf!  And candy is always good too. :)

2. We didn't have a fireplace to hang our stockings by... so we (well, mostly Sister Morris - she's the artist in this companionship) made one.

3. Sister Morris and our awesome matching pajamas - thanks Mom! :)

4. Sister Morris and me having dinner with the Atwoods.

 

Hey y'all!

I hope y'all had a merry Christmas - I sure did. :)  Thanks to everyone who sent cards and letters - I always appreciate them, and especially around Christmastime.  Not to single anyone out or anything... but I got a Christmas card from the Hyatts, and it turns out that my companion knows Zach!  They lived in the same building at Utah State!  Crazy, right?  So ask Zach if he remembers an Aubra Morris. :)  It really is a small world that we live in...

Christmas was great - we spent Christmas eve dinner with the Westbyes and the Melgarejos. (Brother Westbye is the ward mission leader, and the Melgarejos are a less active family in the ward.)  After dinner, the little kids (Sven and Sara - both are about 2 years old) acted out the nativity for us (with their moms helping them along, of course. :) )  It was really cute, and a lot of fun. :) 

Christmas day was awesome - We spent the morning with the Schoenbecks (an active family in our ward) - helping them open presents, and then we were able to Skype our families, which was awesome! :)  I loved getting to talk to my family, even if the time went by way too fast.  But mom - I agree: that was the best Christmas present - getting to talk to you guys! :)  We also went to the Albrights and had dinner with them and their extended family, and some of them are less active, so it was good to get to meet them and celebrate with them.  We spent the evening with the Adelmans (another active family) and decorated cookies and shared a Christmas message with them.  It was kind of weird, because it was kind of a "day off" from regular missionary work - because we could only really go where we were invited... but it was great - not the same as home, but we had some awesome celebrations, and were able to help others come closer to Christ on the day we celebrate his birth. :)

The rest of the week was back to regular missionary work - we visited and tried to get in contact with our investigators and the less actives we work with.  We weren't able to get in with very many people, but we were able to set up a lot of appointments for this coming week!  So the sisters here in the Westlake ward should have a really productive week. :)

Which brings me to the big news of the week:  After serving for almost 6 months in the Westlake ward, I'm being transferred!  I can't really say if it's good news or bad news... I am SO sad to be leaving the Westlake ward - I know and love so many people here.  But at the same time, I know I'm going to where the Lord needs me.  And I am kind of excited for the change - As much as I love it here, I want to experience different parts of the mission too.  I don't know were I'm going yet, but I'll figure out tomorrow morning at the transfer meeting and let y'all know in my email next week.  (So, don't send anything to my address in Katy anymore, because I won't be living there... I figure that's kinda common sense, but I'll just say it, just in case. :)  I'll have my new address next week.  If you need to send something this week, send it to the mission office (16623 Hafer Rd, Houston, TX 77090), otherwise it's probably best to wait until I get my new address next week.)

I'm excited for the new transfer - I'm sure there are all sorts of adventures in store for me, wherever I'm going. :)  Stay tuned for next week's email!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - we went to a baptism yesterday!  Brother Mills, a member in our ward, invited us to attend his dad's baptism.  Everyone there - his family and friends and the sisters that taught him - said that it was a long time coming - Paul is 87 years old!  But he was finally ready to make the commitment and be baptized!  As you can imagine, everyone there was so excited for him.  Just goes to show that it's never too late. :)

I love y'all so much, and I hope you have a great week, and an awesome new year!  

Sister Ririe

Matthew 10:39

Merry Christmas!

Hey y'all!

Merry Christmas!!!! I can't believe it's finally here!  This past week has been packed with Christmas activities, and I've loved every single one of them.  I love the Christmas season!

Last Monday, our district and one other district here in Katy joined forces to go caroling, which was so much fun!  We mostly went to less active members and investigators in the area around the stake center, so not in our ward, but it was still really good.  There was one street that we decided to knock on a few random doors, and there was one that really showed me what the spirit can do:  a man answered the door to find 10 missionaries standing on his porch, and immediately a look of annoyance came on his face.  But we didn't really give him a chance to say anything - we just jumped into singing "Silent Night".  As we were singing, his wife came to the door, and slowly but surely his face changed and we were able to see his change of heart as the spirit touched him.  It was the coolest experience!  He may not be interested in learning more about our Church at this point, but he definitely felt the spirit - it was awesome. :)  Music really does bring the spirit faster than anything else, I think.  I love it!

On Saturday, we ended up doing a lot of Christmas service for less active members.  We helped Jenny set up and decorate her Christmas tree - she's been in a rehab center after having a mini stroke, and she was released this past week so we decided to go over and help her decorate for Christmas.  It was really fun, and we were able to talk to her about the real meaning of Christmas.  She didn't make it to church on Sunday, but we're hoping she'll be able to come this next week.  We also helped Sister Chaplin make Christmas cookies, and we helped her clean all the wet leaves off her front porch.  Although Sister Morris and I haven't really been able to take part of the Christmas traditions that we normally have at home, we have been helping other people with theirs. :) 

On Sunday we had our Christmas music devotional, which turned out really well!  We had a good turnout, of members, less-actives, investigators, and non-member friends.  It was awesome.  We went to the stake center right after church to help decorate for the program, and Sister Morris and I were set to setting up the few Christmas trees, which reminded me of setting up for Madrigal when I was in Chamber.  Of course, the fact that we were setting up for a music program might have had something to do with it. :)  The music was great - we had musical numbers from members and missionaries, and a few elders read some narration from the Bible and the Book of Mormon between songs.  The whole program ended with a few recent converts giving their testimonies of the Savior, and President Pingree spoke for a bit about Christ too, and invited everyone there, especially the non-members to come closer to Him and learn more of Him.  All in all, I really enjoyed the evening.  The spirit was so strong - I tell you, music really does bring the spirit like nothing else can!

Yesterday was our Christmas Zone Conference.  In the past, they've been able to get the entire mission together for this event, but our mission has grown so big that we had to split it into two conferences this year.  There are 280 full-time missionaries in the Texas Houston Mission right now - crazy!  There are so many of us - it is awesome. :)  As you can imagine, the focus of the Zone Conference was Christ, specifically His Atonement.  I am so grateful for everything that He has done for us - He has done so much, and He did it all because He loves us.  The Zone Conference was awesome.  I always love being in big groups of missionaries - the spirit is always so strong when we gather together, and when we talk about the Atonement, the spirit can only get stronger. 

Well, as you can see, I've definitely been feeling the Christmas spirit this past week.  I'm so excited for Christmas tomorrow, but I'm sad that the season will be over.  Good thing I get to keep testifying of Christ!  I love Him so much, and I love this work.  I hope y'all have a very Merry Christmas!  I love you so much!

Love, Sister Ririe

Luke 2:10-11

Christmas is coming!

Hey y'all!

Christmas is the best time of the year. :)  I love it!  Even though it sometimes  doesn't feel like there's less than 10 days 'til Christmas, because there's no  snow... but it has been cold! Not as cold as Utah, but I have had to scrape ice off the car when we've left for meetings early in the morning. (Nothing too bad - it only took a few pass-along cards to scrape it off... but it did make me a little excited to see ice.)  Sister Morris and I are still praying for a white Christmas - It could happen! ;) Sister Oliverson - I'm must say I'm a bit jealous of all the snow you're getting... and Elder J. Ruesch, I'm going to be a wimp when I get home too!  I remember laughing at the "California kids" at Utah State that were all bundled up in their winter coats as soon as the temperature dropped below 60 degrees... yeah... that's going to be me... Sister Morris and I saw a family that must have been from somewhere colder than Katy, Texas, because all the kids were in short-sleeved shirts, and everyone else on the street was wearing some sort of coat.  It will definitely be interesting jumping back into Utah weather when I go home in the dead of winter...

Anyway... moving away from my random tangent about the weather... Christmas is the best time of the year. :)  Yeah, sometimes it's hard being away from home during this time of tradition, but I love spreading the spirit of Christmas.  Everywhere we go, we offer to share a Christmas message, and so far, most people are willing to listen, even if they don't really want to learn more about our religion.  But at least they're listening to missionaries, for however brief our message is.  And maybe they'll open the door to missionaries in the future. :)

We had a miracle of a day this past week - on Tuesday we had a specialized training where all the missionaries in our zone and the Spanish zone in the area got together and President Pingree came to teach us.  He talked to us about goals and planning, which was really useful.  He talked about asking the Lord for specific things, like "please help us find where we should be at 3:00 tomorrow" and "we're going to be here at whatever time. Please put someone who has been prepared into our path."  God knows what we're going to do before we know, but when we ask Him for specific blessings, He is able to give us what we need.  And it shows the faith that we're putting in Him.  We're doing all we can, but we realized that we can't do it all on our own - we need His help.  I really enjoyed the training, and we're trying to apply it into our planning sessions and throughout our days in general.

After the training, Sister Roe (we went on exchanges, so Sister Roe was my companion for the day) returned to our area.  And throughout the day, wait for it.... EVERY person that we tried to see let us in!  That's right - EVERY door that we knocked on there was someone we were able to talk to and share a message with.  Granted, we didn't do any tracting that day, in fact, all the people we visited were less active members, but still, that's NEVER happened to me before!  We were busy all day, and we ended up teaching 7 lessons, which is more lessons that I've ever taught in one day before.  That's 7 people we were able to come closer to Christ, in one day!  It was awesome!  We should have more days like that. :) 

As far as out investigators go, most of them have disappeared for the holiday season... so we're having a hard time getting in with them recently.  Melissa, our Jehovah's Witness investigator, is still in town and we were able to teach her this week, but everyone else is gone.  After the season we should be able to get in contact with everyone else though.  We did have a less active that we're working with at church yesterday, which was awesome because she's really into family history, and the Gospel Principles lesson was on Temples and Family History work, and she was able to be an active part in the lesson - it was great.  We had a few other less actives "promise" that they would be there, but none of them came... darn agency... I wish I could force them there, because I know how much it will help them!  But all we can do is continue to teach them and help them come to that realization themselves.

Last night, we were able to go to a Christmas Choir Concert.  Every year, the Katy Stake and the Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Community get together to perform this choir concert, and it was awesome!  It made me miss choir so much, especially when they sang songs that I've sung before.   But it was put together really well, and it really brought the spirit of Christmas to everyone that was there.  It was kinda weird going into a Catholic church while wearing my missionary nametag... and there were a few things that the Reverend Father did that were different than our church, but it was cool to be able to see the differences.  I'm sure you, Devin and Mom, are able to empathize after going to different churches these past few weeks.  It's different, and kind of cool, but at the same time, it helps me realized that we have the whole truth.

We have a few other Christmas activities - next Sunday all the missionaries in the Katy Stake are getting together to put on a Christmas music devotional - it should be a lot of fun.  Hopefully it will be a successful event!  And next Monday we have a Christmas zone conference with half the missionaries in the entire mission - that's how big our mission is - there are too many people to fit in one church at one time!  It's awesome!

Anyway, I hope y'all are enjoying the Christmas season!  Have a great week!  I love y'all so much!

Sister Ririe

Alma 5:48

The think about Houston weather...

Hey y'all!

I'm going to have to say that the weather here in Houston is even weirder than the weather in Utah.  We have days where it is 70 degrees (yes, in December...) and then it will dive down to the 40s the next day, and then it will be right back up in the 70s in a couple more days.  We never know what to expect!  And because of all the sudden changes in temperature, everyone has been getting sick.  Sister Morris got sick again, and Elder Pauga (one of the Elders serving in our ward) got really sick too.  It seems like most everyone has a bad cold at least.  I've stayed healthy so far, and I'm really praying that it stays that way!

So... I'm not going to lie, this week has been pretty rough.  Because Sister Morris was sick again, we spent parts of Thursday and Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday in our apartment.  I hate being a missionary but not really being able to do missionary stuff... :/  But she's feeling better today, so we're hoping that she'll stay that way and I won't get sick!

We did get to go to the Temple this week!!  I love the temple. :)  And I think the Houston temple will forever hold a soft spot in my heart. :)  I've missed not being able to go as often as I was able to at home, but I'm so grateful that we do get to go as often as we do.  We went on Friday - Sister Morris was kind of sick, but we went anyway because there was no way we were going to miss the temple again – we didn't get to go last transfer because that's when she was sick before... talk about bad timing!  (I'm not sure there is any such thing as "good timing" for getting sick, though...)  But anyway, I love the temple. :) I hope that all y'all who have a temple close go as often as you are able - make time for the temple!!

We haven't been able to meet with any of our investigators recently... and no investigators or less actives came to church yesterday. Although, we almost didn't go to church yesterday because Sister Morris wasn't feeling well... We did get to go to Sacrament meeting though, which was good.

I've been reading the Book of Mormon a lot recently, (it might have something to do with all of my unplanned free time...) and I have a goal to read the whole thing in the month of December.  I love the scriptures so much, especially the Book of Mormon.  It really is another testament of Jesus Christ - there is so much that testifies of Him in there!  It's hard to convey the importance of the Book of Mormon to our investigators - especially those people who say they're Christian but have never read the Bible... But I know that the Book of Mormon testifies of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  It's cool how as you read the Book of Mormon in different stages of your life you get different things out of it - I've noticed a lot of things about missionary work. :)  And it's awesome how the missionaries in the Book of Mormon teach the missionary lessons how we teach them now - plan of salvation, gospel of Jesus Christ, with the exception of the Restoration lesson, of  course, but even Nephi prophesied of that!  I love the Book of Mormon, and I know it to be the word of God - it is TRUE!!! :)

Sorry this email is kind of short... I don't have much more to say... I love y'all so much though, and I hope you're having a great Christmas Season, even for those of us who don't have snow. :)  Love you!

Sister Ririe

2 Nephi 19:6

Merry Christmas!  Sister Morris and I love our tiny little tree! :)