A Very Merry Christmas Week

Our gingerbread house with our melting reindeer

At the temple with John and family!  :D

For our Christmas Eve party with the Westbrooks we exchanged ornaments - the only requirement being that they be hand-made... So I made one in the shape of Utah - cute, right? :)

Sister Ostvig used one of her Christmas presents to dress our tree up like a ninja turtle...

Christmas Morning with the Grovers :)

Sister Ostvig and me hiding out underneath the playground (this picture was taken after we were a little wet but before we got completely soaked)

Hey y'all!

I hope you had a most wonderful Christmas!  It was so good to see and talk to you on Christmas day! :) The few days leading up to Christmas we were kept busy with less actives and part member families - I think we ended up having a "traditional Christmas dinner" (you know - ham, potatoes, and all the other fixings with some minor variations) three nights in a row... it was great. :)  We had dinner on the 23rd with the Glenns - the parents are ward missionaries and one of their YSA sons (who has moved out, but he was home for Christmas) is less active, so it was good to share the Christmas spirit with them.  We also had a fun adventure when they gave us a ride home and somehow Sister Glenn managed to drop her keys in a storm drain outside our house... :/  but don't worry - we enlisted the help of the the Grovers and their kids who are in town for Christmas and one of them managed to get them out. :)

On the 24th we had our Christmas dinner round 2 with the Westbrooks - I don't know if I've told y'all about them... one of the daughters was baptized (as a convert) when Sister Ostvig was here before and they've been mostly active since... just with a few times here and there where they struggle to come.  Sister Westbrook's husband isn't a member and his family came over for Christmas Eve and so we had fun getting to know them and sharing more Christmas spirit with them. :)

And then the 25th we spent the day with the Grovers. :)  I love them so much - they seriously have become my family out here!  We opened presents, had breakfast, talked to family (yay!), had Christmas dinner round 3 (this time with mac and cheese instead of potatoes to keep the grandkids happy ;) ), and even had a gingerbread creation contest (I would say gingerbread house contest, except my group was the only one that stayed traditional and made a house... other structures included an oil rig, the Eiffel Tower, and a working aqueduct.)  Ours was pretty creative though - we had Santa's sleigh made out of different candies, complete with reindeer sculpted out of chocolate flavored taffy.  Unfortunately they started to melt, so by the time we were done it looked like our reindeer had been run over by the sleigh... :/  We just called it "the last house on Christmas night" - those poor reindeer were exhausted!  haha :)

Oh, and while I'm speaking of Christmas I must say thank you to everyone who had an input in the quote/scripture book that my mom put together - I LOVE it!  Thank you thank you thank you!!!! :)

On to our other adventures this Christmas week - we have had SO much rain... we got caught outside in it on Saturday, and tried to seek shelter at a nearby park... but here in Texas, when it rains it pours and NOWHERE is safe (unless you're inside)... so we got drenched.  Oh well, it just adds to the fun, right? ;)  

Also, COLIN CAME TO CHURCH!!! Remember him?  he's the 10-year-old son of a less active member.  We've been meeting with them pretty much every week since I've been here and every once in a while his mom will come but for whatever reason he won't come with her... but this week the whole family (except the dad, who not a member and actually kind of anti-mormon...) came!! YAY!  We really want Colin to be baptized, but he needs to be in the habit of coming to church EVERY week.  This is a good start! We're SO happy! :D

And then - Honorio got a calling! Yes, he's still not a member, but he comes enough that they gave him a calling.  He and his wife Jennifer are going to be teaching in primary!  He's actually really excited for it, because he worked a lot with the kids in one of the other churches he used to go to.  And they'll be teaching the kids that are turning 8, so hopefully those kids that are getting ready to be baptized will have a softening effect on his heart!

I think that's all for the week - we're looking forward to a very busy post-Christmas schedule where all our investigators will be able to meet with us again. :D ... at least that's what we're hoping for. ;)  I love y'all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Ririe

Merry Christmas Week

One of Megan's ward members sent us this picture today with this note: "Monday night is Texans night at Firehouse Subs. :) We love your daughter!"  Good to know she is being well loved and taken care of. :)

Hey y'all!

Merry Christmas week!  I am SO excited to celebrate!  Between the two of us, I think Sister Ostvig and I have a total of 4 countdowns... yep, we're excited.  :)  We're spending most of the day with the couple that we live with and all their kids and grandkids - it'll be a full house and tons of fun. :)  I love Christmas!

It has been a busy week here.  The elders have officially taken over Fairfield, so now we're just over the Cypress Lakes ward.  Kind of bitter sweet - It's sad to say bye to the members and investigators that we know and love, but at the same time it is going to be good to be able to focus all our time and energies on one area so we can make sure that no one falls through the cracks.  We're doing everything we can to make sure the Elders have everything they need to make this a smooth transition.  It helped that the Fieldings came to church (yay!) so we could introduce them to the elders and they could get to know each other a bit before their teaching appointment this Tuesday.  

Because Christmas is the busiest time of year for most people, a lot of our investigators have found they don't have time to talk about Christ... how ironic... :/  But we're staying busy.  We're talking to everyone we see and inviting them to Discover the Gift.  That's a good thing about the Christmas season here in Texas - everyone is willing to listen to a good Christmas message.  Even if they're not Christian.  We've run into quite a few Buddhists who are busy setting up their Christmas decorations who will listen to us and wish us a Merry Christmas as we leave.  Gotta love the spirit of Christmas. :)  

We have been able to spend a lot of time with our recent converts this week - at least they don't think they're too busy for us. :)  We had a lesson with Alice, and she took us out to dinner one night.  I absolutely love that woman. :)  And during Gospel Principles class yesterday both Alice and John had a lot of good comments to make.  It is SO amazing to watch them progress in their conversions!  

The highlight of the week was being able to go to the Temple with John and his family to do baptisms!  It was such a spiritual experience for all of us.  I LOVE the temple, and it made me SO happy to be able to bring one of my converts there.  This is what it's all about - baptism is an important step but even more important is the temple.  Their family is looking forward to a year from now when they will be able to be sealed as a family for eternity!! :D

We also had a Christmas conference where everyone from the mission gathered together to celebrate our Saviors birth.  It was a great day full of thoughts of Christ.  I was asked to bear my testimony (all of the missionaries who are leaving this transfer were) and it was an amazing experience for me to see just how much my testimony has grown.  I know and love my Savior and I am SO grateful for His atoning sacrifice.  It is because of Him that we can change and become better - become the person that our Heavenly Father knows we can be.  I know that He lives.  And I know that He loves us.  I am SO grateful for this opportunity that I have had to learn of Him and come to know Him in a way that I don't think I would have been able to anywhere else.  I know that this is His church and His work.  And with Him we cannot fail.

I love y'all!  Merry Christmas!

Sister Ririe

Luke 2:11

sorry, my camera is being funny again... :/  Look forward to pictures next week!

The Elders are Coming, the Elders are Coming!

 This ward has a tradition of doing a "secret santa" type thing for the week leading up to the Christmas party - families sign up and they deliver gifts to whatever family they are assigned.  We dressed up as ninjas to help the Grover's deliver theirs one night. :)  Do you think the nametags gave us away?? ;)

Hey y'all!

Crazy week here... wow... where to begin... 

So, because of the recent ward split we've been super busy - trying to build up the work in Fairfield while keeping the work going in Cypress Lakes (most of our investigators and less actives that we work with are in the Cypress Lakes boundaries).  But, after last Sunday's craziness and our super busy weeks we decided to ask president if we could split the area and have a set of missionaries for each ward.  We thought he'd work on it and at the transfer the area would be split, or something like that.  Well, we learned that President Mortensen likes to jump on things like that and get it done!  So... yeah. Our area is splitting.  We're not sure when... the Elders were supposed to get here to take over Fairfield today, but something happened with their apartment, so who knows when they'll actually get here.  President is hoping for the end of this week.  But no one really knows.  So I guess we'll just keep on keeping on. :)

We have been able to do some of the building up of the work in Fairfield - we were able to get in and start teaching a part member family this week - the Fieldings.  Sister Fielding is a member - her husband and 3 kids are not.  But we taught the Restoration this week and it went super well!  And we extended a soft baptismal commitment and all of them said that once they know it is true they will be baptized.  Finn, the 12 year old son, is SUPER ready - he is very religious for a teenager, and is really searching for the truth.  And I think he recognizes that we have it. :) We're excited to continue seeing them progress in the gospel!  

Another super awesome miracle for Fairfield - Right as Cypress Lakes Sacrament meeting ended a member from the Fairfield Ward summoned us over to him, saying that a skater kid had just wandered into the church building and wanted to know more about God.  So of course we went over to talk to him, and he explained his situation.  His name is Hunter, and until recently he didn't even believe in God.  But he had some experiences that made it so he could not deny a supreme being.  And he talked to his grandpa about it and his grandpa told him he should go to church so on his way home from work he saw our building and wandered in.  We talked to him about our relationship with Heavenly Father, and we taught him about the Book of Mormon, too.  and he 's super excited to learn more!  I'm still stunned at how that all worked out... Heavenly Father was definitely watching out for him - because he wandered into exactly the right place at exactly the right time. :)  I love how He makes everything work out like that!

We're getting into the Christmas spirit - I LOVE this time of year!  We've been out caroling and sharing Christmas messages, and it is amazing how much people open up when you sing on their doorstep. :)  Of course, there are the scrooges that cut you off mid song and tell you to go away... but most people are really nice. :)  I LOVE Christmas!!  We had our combined ward Christmas party on Saturday - because the ward was so big before it split we had planned to have the party at an elementary school.  And because they had already reserved the building, they decided to have one last party all together.  And it was a blast - There were so many people (active members, less actives, investigators, etc.) that came and had a good time. :)  People here go all out for parties - the theme was polar express and someone from the Elders Quorum built a train... it didn't move or anything, but still - it was pretty intense. We had lots of fun celebrating together.

Yep, that's our week.  Pretty crazy busy - just the way we like it. :)

Have a great week!!

Sister Ririe

John 3:16

Hey y'all!!

#1 - John's baptism

#2 - I know it's a little late, but here'a a picture of our gratitude tree in November

#3 - Trio! - Sister Ostvig and me with Hermana Baxter :)

Hey y'all!

Once upon a time Sister Ostvig and I were sitting in our room doing companionship study.  Suddenly we get a call from Sister Possin who was at the Hafer road church building, where transfers were going on...

Sister Possin: Are you on your way?

Sister Ostvig: ... no, neither of us are getting transfered...

Sister Possin: Oh... you're getting a third companion!

Sister Ostvig: What?? no one told us!

... so yeah... we frantically spent time moving our stuff around in our one little bedroom to make room for her stuff, Sister Ostvig even made her bed on the couch so our new companion could have a bed, and she found a ride from someone out to our area because we don't have a car.  It was a crazy hour and a half.  But eventually she made it here - Hermana Baxter!  She's awesome, from Seattle, Washington, been on her mission for a year... she spent 9 months in the Spanish program here and then was transferred to English, but she still wears a Spanish name tag and is pretty much fluent, which is awesome because pretty much all of our investigators have some sort of Spanish connection.  Yep, she's awesome.  And the three of us go perfect together.  Pretty much a trio made in heaven. :)

Once upon another time Sister Ostvig, Sister Baxter and I were sitting in our room doing companionship study.  Suddenly we get a call from the APs who were at the TC Jester church building, where the new trainee meeting was going on...

APs: Sister Baxter, there was a mix up in the numbers, and we need you to pack up your stuff and get here as soon as you can, we're transferring you back to your last area.

... so yeah... we were stunned.  And sad, and we cried... :(  Apparently Sister Possin (her last companion) was supposed to train but somehow something happened wrong and when she showed up at the trainee meeting on Thursday morning there was no trainee for her to train... so they pulled Sister Baxter back to be her companion... we miss her. :(  

Yeah, it's a confusing story.  I'm still confused.  But I am glad that the three of us got to be companions for a short time... 48 hours... it's amazing how you don't have to be friends for long to be friends forever though.  And we all feel like she belongs here, so who knows - maybe she'll be my replacement here in the area for next transfer.  

In other news... We had a Relief Society Christmas dinner party, with tons of musical numbers, and it was so awesome.  I love Christmas. :)  Sister Ostvig played the guitar and we both sang "Far Far Away on Judea's Plains"... which apparently you already know, family, because someone sent you a video... gotta love technology. :)  Some of the men in the ward served the dinner, and John participated too - it was awesome.  He LOVES serving others, and was absolutely glowing.  :)

Speaking of John, he was confirmed a member yesterday!  It's official!  :)  AND he was given the priesthood, AND he was given a calling (he was called into young mens, and he is SO excited because he had been around missionaries for so long and now he gets to be on the other side and prepare the young men for their missions) AND he had a temple recommend interview so we'll be able to go to the temple with him to do baptisms soon. :)  I am SO glad I've been able to be a part of his conversion!  We went to their house last night and watched the Christmas Devotional with them, and John shared his testimony, and the spirit was so strong... yep, it's amazing.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

I'm not sure how other missionaries cover multiple wards - having just done it for a few weeks now I think it is the hardest thing ever... We spent a solid 8 1/2 hours at the church building yesterday - between correlation meetings and ward councils and the regular church blocks, we were BUSY.  We even went on splits for a couple of hours so we could be in two places at one time - I went to Cypress Lakes' ward council while she was in Fairfield's sacrament meeting.  It was a long day.  But it was good, with John's confirmation and all. :)  And Melody and Chris came, which was awesome because we haven't been able to see them in a long time.  But we have two appointments set for this week, so it should be good.

Yep, it was a crazy week.  But I can't really expect much less from the mission... Life is great. :)  I love y'all so much!!! :)

Sister Ririe

2 Nephi 1:15

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