Hey y'all!
First things first... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEVIN!!! Ah, I can't believe that you're turning 16 this week! Are you getting your driver's license? Do you already have your first date lined up? ;) You MUST tell me all about it. And before you go, imagine me teasing you about it, like a good older sibling would. :) I love you so much, and I hope your day is fabulous!
Second - thank you everyone for the mail that has been sent, emails included. It is always so great to hear from everyone! I really appreciate it - getting mail always brightens my day. :) It was especially fun to get some mail from the Finch Family reunion - It sounds like you guys had a blast! I'm sad I had to miss it... but I've got work to do here in Texas, ya know? :)
Also, I'm going to have to take back what I said last week... It is so hot here! Luckily I have a car... (Speaking of, I'm not sure where my cousin Elder Ririe got his information... I'm not on a bike, fortunately.) And everyone we talk to say that this - upper 90 degree weather - is nothing. Apparently this is a mild summer, and August will be much worse. Not looking forward to that... but the work goes on, no matter how hot it is outside!
This week has been crazy busy. Opening a new area is hard, because neither of us know anything about the area. We've been spending most of our time getting to know the members and trying to get to know the less actives - there are so many in this ward! Most of the homes we go to we find that no one is home. But then we do find one door where there is someone home - and some of them don't want anything to do with us... so sad, I wish I could help them remember why they were baptized in the first place! But then we find the one home where they say we can come back and teach them. Which makes our day. :) It's
amazing how just one "yes" can make all of the "no"s seem worth it. :) We're starting to set up return appointments, and some of the homes that we have been able to get into are part-member families, so it will be interesting to see where all of this goes.
The members here are great - They LOVE having sister missionaries. :) We had been trying to contact less actives all day, and had no success, so we decided to visit some of the active members in the area. Most of them weren't home either, which was kind of disappointing. But we did find one family, where a young mother opened the door and excitedly said "Sister Missionaries!" and immediately invited us in to meet her family. There are a lot of young families in the ward, so Sister Wahlen and I are getting used to having kids running around screaming while we're talking to the parents - it's great. :) But like I said, everyone is very welcoming, and we're excited to get to know everyone better.
Random thought: Texans love animals - nearly every house that we go to has dogs barking when we knock on the door. And if they don't have a dog, they have a cat. It's great. We went to visit a less active family that the Elders had been visiting, and they recently got a
golden lab puppy... He loved having company over, and laid his head on my lap like Sasha does when she want's attention, and sat there, wagging his tail the whole time we were there. And at another less active's hose, a smaller dog came and sat on my lap. Needless to say, I often have pet hair all over my skirts... But I love it. :)
Oh, one cool experience I have to share: Sister Wahlen and I were out trying to contact less actives yesterday before dinner, and we knocked on one door and an older guy opened the door... He was kinda scary looking at first, I'm not going to lie - and he just stared at us... I
asked if RJ (The sister we were looking for) was there, and he said no, and then asked how we got her name. We said we were the new sister missionaries in the westlake ward, and he said "Oh, you're... Mormons." with not the most excited tone of voice. We said yes, and
he shocked us by smiling, and saying that she's never had Mormon missionaries come visit her before. He shook our hands and introduced himself, and said we could come by next Saturday afternoon. Just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover - don't jump to conclusions!
We're supposed to do service every week, so the Elders invited us to join them for their weekly service on Friday - they go to a retirement home and talk to the people there. We got to play bingo and do puzzles, and get to know some of the older folks - a lot of the people
we talked to don't usually get many visitors. Sister Oliverson, you would love it there. :) We had a great time, and are looking forward to going again this Friday.
I love you all, I love Texas, I love serving the Lord! Yes, it's hard, but it is so worth it. I do miss home sometimes, but I am so happy here! As my best friend would say: I LOVE MY LIFE!!! ;)
Have an amazing week!
Sister Ririe
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