Monday, October 7, 2013

Adventures in Katy


Note from Megan's mom - We had a weird glitch happen with my email last week where it decided to block all incoming messages from myldsmail.net, which meant we didn't get Sister Ririe's email last week. :(  The good news is we found and fixed the glitch and we got TWO wonderful emails today - here's her email from last week...(back to Sister Ririe)

Okay, so here's last weeks email.  I'm sorry for all the confusion with mom's email... It's weird that dad was never able to find mine, because I did get a notification that it somehow didn't make it to you, so I sent it twice last week.  When I left, there wasn't anything saying it hadn't sent, but I got a letter from grandma this week and she mentioned how she missed reading my blog this week... darn Satan, getting in the way of everything! ;)  Love you both!  Hope this message makes it through!

Hey y'all!                                                                                               September 30, 2013

First of all: Happy birthday to my dearest dad! I hope you had a day full of happiness!  I love you so much!! :)

Also, congratulations to my brother Seth on earning his Eagle Scout Award!  I'm so proud of you - Keep up the good work!!

Back to Katy... It's been a fun week full of adventure.  Let's see... where to begin...

We went on exchanges this week with the sister training leader and her companion.  Pretty standard - we go on exchanges once a transfer. Just one slight problem... Our sister training leader a Hermana - she's in a Spanish area.  There is only one companionship in our whole zone that is Spanish speaking, because most of the Spanish speaking missionaries are usually in their own zone.  But Hermana Gibson and Hermana Fletcher are serving in Sealy Branch, and Sealy is kinda the bottom corner of our whole mission, and the area is so big that it would be nearly impossible for them to get to their zone meetings without using a ton of miles.  So they got put into the Katy zone with us English missionaries.  And then Hermana Gibson was assigned to be the sister training leader.  So I spent 24 hours in a Spanish area. It was actually a lot of fun.  I learned a bit of gospel vocabulary, and even said a prayer in Spanish (just with Hermana Gibson, not in public or anything.)  And after taking 3 years of Spanish in high school, I was able to follow most of the conversations, but I can't really speak the language.  But I got some practice in. :)  Also, Sealy is beautiful - it is the country, mostly farmland, and hardly any buildings.  We had to drive for 30 minutes at least to get from place to place.  Definitely very different from Katy.  But it was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. :)

On Saturday we spent 5 hours at the stake center.  Our stake put together a dinner for all the relief society sisters in conjunction with the Relief Society Broadcast.  So all the sister missionaries in the stake gathered to help set up the cultural hall and prepare the food, and then we helped serve it when the sisters from the stake arrived.  Our stake relief society president was so happy that there are so many sister missionaries in the stake - right now there are 10 of us, but for a long time there weren't any.  It is so cool to hear about the changes that have happened just in the past year with missionary work, especially with more sisters going on missions.  I love being a part of this amazing wave!  We had one of the less actives that we've been working with come to the dinner and the broadcast, and she loved it.  We were hoping that more would be able to come, but one is better than none. :)  The relief society broadcast was wonderful - it really made me excited for general conference this weekend!

Unfortunately, we're pretty sure that Ron dropped us... We'll keep trying to get in contact with him, but apparently he's not ready for the gospel quite yet.  We're sad, because we know how much the gospel will bless his life and his family, but we just have to hope that one day the seed that has been planted will grow into a desire to be baptized.  We haven't given up on him yet, he just needs some time.

On the other hand, Brenda is doing awesome - she should be set for her baptism at the end of October.  She even worked it out with her work so she can come to church every Sunday.  She loves meeting with us, and she is learning and growing so much.  She says that the gospel has already blessed her life so much, and she can't wait to be baptized and have that fresh start.  Sister Wahlen and I are so excited for her!

We had 3 less actives come to church yesterday, and all 3 of them made the comment when they were introducing themselves to other members that they've lived here for a while but that they (the members) would be seeing a lot more of them. :)  We have such an awesome ward - everyone is so good about making sure that anyone new feels welcome. A lot of the less actives and investigators that have come to church have said that going to church feels like going home.  I love it!  I love how within the church we have instant friends, that we treat each other like family.  I love this gospel so much!  And I love that I get to help spread it throughout the world.

Oh, and just in case any of you were wondering, Jermaine (the guy we found but doesn't live in our area) hasn't been baptized yet.  He ran into a minor bump in the road... right now he's living with his kids and their mom, but they aren't married.  So he's trying to find a better paying job so he can save up the money to move out so he can be baptized.  He still has a strong testimony and really wants to be baptized.  And he'll get there, it will just take some time.  But he's already talked to us about receiving the priesthood and gong to the temple - he's so excited to be a part of the church!  If only everyone we met had the same fire as him!

All in all, everything is going well for us here in Katy.  Life as a missionary is one big adventure, and I'm loving every minute of it!

Have a fantastic week!! I love y'all so much!!

Sister Ririe

Alma 28:14

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