1. Our awesome gratitude tree - thanks again mom :)
2. Our day without thumbs... we didn't use the tape all day, just while we were in the apartment.
3. Fall colors do exist in Houston!! yay! :)
4. Sidewalks in Texas...
Hey y'all!
This week has been crazy busy and stuffed full of miracles. I
LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!
But first of all - Happy Thanksgiving!! And thanks mom for sending
the gratitude tree - it's been a great way for Sister Morris and I to really
focus on what we're grateful for, especially during this season. We filled out
all the leaves that you sent, and we even made some more. :) I'll send a
picture of what our tree looks like now. And as Sister Morris and I have been
focusing on looking for things to be grateful for, we've noticed how our
prayers have become so much more sincere. We really do have a lot to be
grateful for! I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving here - yes,
I'll miss family and our traditions, but there's an awesome ward family here in
Westlake that is taking care of us. :) We have plans to go over to the
ward mission leaders house for dinner, and another family invited us over for
dessert. And we have plans to visit Jenny (one of the less actives that
we visit) - she's in a rehab center because she had a mini stroke this past
week and she'll probably have to stay there over Thanksgiving... so we're going
to visit her to help cheer her up. :)
Also, this week we found two new investigators!! We tracted into Melissa
- she's basically a less-active Jehovah's Witness. She still believes
what they do, but she doesn't go to church or anything. We taught her the
restoration on Tuesday, and she seemed willing to accept it, but she has a lot
of skewed beliefs about the Plan of Salvation... that will be interesting to
teach this week. :)
Our second new investigator is an awesome miracle - she basically
fell right into our laps. On Wednesday, we were just finishing up our studies
when we got a text referral from church headquarters with a name (Elizabeth),
an address and a phone number - no other information. So we had no idea
what to expect - we figured it could be anything from a good friend or family
member referring her or someone who had just got the information out of the
phone book and decided to send the missionaries over (something similar had
happened to Sister Morris in a previous area - she had contacted the referral and
they said they didn't even know that they knew any Mormons...) We kind of
prepared ourselves for the worst, practiced what we would say, and went to see
if she was home. She answered the door, and welcomed us in saying "I
didn't know if you'd actually come!" Apparently she had referred
herself on Mormon.org.
She was raised Catholic, but she wanted to find a church that was family
oriented and would help her build her relationship with God, because she just
felt that something was missing. She has a 2 month old son, and she
really want's a strong religion to bring him up in. We told her that we
could help with that. :) Her fiancé is a less active member, so less
active that he's not on the Westlake membership records, but he expressed a sincere
desire in coming back to church. They're so golden! We taught them two lessons last
week, unfortunately they weren't able to make it to church yesterday, but we
have plans to see them at least once this week - probably more. They are
awesome, and they are so ready to let the gospel touch their lives. The
Lord is definitely preparing people and helping them to find the truth!
Even though Elizabeth and Eric (her fiancé) weren't able to come to church
yesterday, we did have a few less actives there. And one (her name is
Elizabeth too) came completely out of the blue - she hadn't expressed any
desire to come back to church, and then she showed up yesterday! It was
awesome! It always makes me so happy when I can see the progress of the people
that we're working with, and coming to church is a huge step. :)
Now for a completely random story that doesn't have much to do with missionary
work... We had dinner with the Schoenbecks this past week - they are an awesome
family that invites us over whenever we don't have anyone else feeding us, and
they make sure that we feel completely at home while we're there - they love
missionaries! And I love them, they're basically my adopted family here
in Westlake. :) Anyway, we learned that Sister Schoenbeck had a birth
defect that basically makes it so she doesn't have usable thumbs... but we
hadn't ever realized before, because she is so proficient at using her other
fingers that she doesn't really need her thumbs - crazy! She challenged
us to go for a day without using our thumbs - it was hard. Some things
weren't as bad as I thought they would be, but other things we had to get creative
with. :) I'll admit - I didn't make it the whole day without my thumbs.
But "thumbs" were definitely added to our gratitude tree. :)
Last but not least - Happy birthday to my best friend Sister Oliverson!!
I hope you have a great day full of fun and happiness. And I wish you the best
during this upcoming year that you will spend at the ripe old age of 20. ;)
I love you so much!!!
Anyway... I love you all and hope you have an awesome week and a
happy thanksgiving! Thanks for all the love and support!
Sister Ririe
Alma 34:38
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