Change is good!

Picture #1 - Sister Ririe with her cousin, Elder Ririe, serving in her same mission, on transfer day - the first time they have seen each other in the mission field

#2 - after running to their car in a Houston rainstorm - the picture doesn't do it justice, she says. ;)

#3 - Saying goodbye to Sister Wahlin on transfer day

#4 - Sister Ririe with her new companion, Sister Morris.

Hey y'all!

Happy birthday to my favorite Sister!! I can't believe you are 11... stop growing up! :)  Love you so much, and I hope you had a fantastic day!

So it's been a crazy week!  To answer dad's question, here's a brief explanation of how transfers happen in our mission:  We get a call a day and a half before transfer day from our zone leaders if one of us is being transferred, and then we'll get a call the night before either from President Pingree or the assistants if we're training. Either way, we go to the transfer meeting on Tuesday, look at the transfer list, and then leave to our new area or pick up our new companion and return to our area.  It's crazy, and there are so many missionaries running around.  But I managed to run into my MTC companion, Sister Laws, and Elder Ririe!  It was fun to see both of them.  My new companion is Sister Morris, and I love her so much!  She is exactly what I need right now - it's funny, we both consider each other as the answer to our prayers.  I wasn't exactly sure before transfers what I needed, but I prayed that Heavenly Father would give me who I needed, and as soon as I met Sister Morris I knew that she is exactly who I need right now.  It's crazy how similar we are... but it's great - because we understand each other and we work together SO well.  I love it, and I love her!  She's from Kearns Utah, and she's been out here in Houston for 10 months.  So I'm not training, which kind of surprised me because there are so many new sisters this transfer, but I'm so glad - I get another transfer to focus on learning and not have to worry about teaching my companion everything. :)  Both our zone and district split this transfer because there are so many missionaries!  I love being a part of this huge wave! :)

I've had to work hard this past week because I'm the one in our companionship who knows the area, and it's been kinda stressful making sure that no one falls in the cracks.  But I made it through the week, and Sister Morris catches on quickly.  Unfortunately, no one that we've been teaching came to church yesterday... including Brenda, so we'll have to push her baptism date back a few weeks... But we're meeting with her tomorrow to recommit her to baptism.  It's so hard when you know that they want to be baptized, but they aren't quite ready to make all the commitments... we're working with her, and hopefully she'll be ready soon! :)

We took an adventure up to College Station on Saturday - Sister Morris was just transferred from there, and one of the investigators she worked with was getting baptized.  So I went to my first baptism as a missionary!  It was a LONG drive, not quite as long as from home to Logan, (which reminds me, Sister Morris went to Utah State!  I told you we have a lot in common;)  Which also reminds me - the college football teams around here are the aggies and the cougars... it's kinda weird...) anyway... it's pretty far... It was fun, and for the first time since leaving Utah, I saw hills! It was so exciting – I hadn't realized just how much I missed hills and mountains!

I love y'all so much and hope you have an awesome week!

Sister Ririe

D&C 6:34, 36