Hey y'all!
It's been an adventure of a week - with weather everywhere from the
low 30s to the high 70s... I know what you're talking about Elder M. Ruesch...
the weather here in the south is crazy. Basically, the "arctic
freeze" that spread from here to New Jersey hit on Tuesday, and we didn't
get much ice, but everything shut down anyway. We didn't get to go to the
temple... :( But we're supposed to go this Wednesday - Hopefully another
"snow day" won't hit and we'll actually be able to go.
Other repercussions from the ice storm last week: we were supposed
to have interviews with President on the day the storm hit, so our interviews
were canceled. We figured we'd find out when they were rescheduled to
from the APs, or the Zone Leaders, or our District Leader... yeah... Wednesday
morning we got a text from some of the sisters in our Zone saying "hey,
are you coming to interviews?" ... ... oh, and there was one other
problem... I was on exchanges with other sisters in the zone, who had already
had their interviews... So Sister Goodrich and Sister King called Sister
Loo and me, and we rushed to get everything ready, drove to pick them up, went
to the stake center where they dropped Sister Goodrich and me off for
interviews. Crazy. But we made it. And we were only an hour
and a half late. As for who's fault it was... the APs texted everyone,
but their phone has been having problems recently and our phone never got the
text... so... no one is to blame, I guess. But it was a crazy adventure,
and after we were done, Sister King and Sister Loo came back and we resumed the
exchange. Crazy day. It was great. :)
Interviews with President were awesome. He always knows
exactly what to say. Are you ready? I'm going to let y'all into a
little portion of my soul here... So... I've been struggling lately with
figuring out exactly why I came on a mission. Not that I was thinking
about going home or anything, I was just letting Satan get into my head.
I had read through old journal entries, and spent a lot of time on my
knees talking with God. As I expressed my thoughts with President
Pingree, he said something that really stuck with me: "Why are you
worrying about why you CAME on a mission? That part's not important
anymore. You're here. So now you need to figure out why you're
STAYING on your mission." He then read Matthew 22:36-39. The
greatest commandment is to love God, and then we are to love others.
Relating that to missionary work, the most important reason we serve a
mission is because we love God and are SO grateful for everything He has done
for us. The second most important reason we serve others is because we
love others and want them to experience the joy that comes with knowing the
gospel. I had never thought about it that way, and President Pingree said
it in a way that helped me to understand. I've been pretty good about
loving others - I know what joy the gospel can bring, and I want everyone to
have that. But that's second best - We really need to love God, and show
our gratitude by sharing what he has given us. Anyway, I thought that was
great advice, and thought I'd pass it on to y'all.
We were able to teach Robert and Melanie, and had an awesome lesson
about the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was SO strong, and we could tell
that he was feeling it and learning that what we're teaching is true. He
had a few questions, and we were able to answer them - something he told us no
other religion was able to do. I love our Church - it really does have
the best answers to all of life's questions - I love it! Robert had been
really close to his grandma who passed away, and it was so neat to be able to
testify to him that he will be able to see her again. Like I said before,
the spirit is SO strong, and he is SO prepared to receive the fullness of the
gospel. Hopefully we'll be able to teach him again this week - he said
he'd text us today when he gets his schedule. Oh, and both he and Melanie
came to church yesterday! Robert has been pretty good about coming
consistently, but this is the first time I've seen Melanie at church. And
they both stayed for all 3 hours, and they enjoyed it. :) They're
awesome. :)
On Friday night, we went to a fundraiser for the YW girls camp.
They got the whole ward involved, had a dinner, and did a silent auction
where people could auction off baked goods, little crafts, services, etc. and
all the money made would go to the YW. Some people had invited non-member
friends, so we went. We had a good time visiting with everyone and
helping the YW out. We even bid on a few things, but... as we are poor
missionaries, we knew we would be outbid. ...so we put the scripture Alma
60:35 next to our name and bid... look it up, it's funny. :) (Michelle’s note – just in case you don’t want to take the time to
look up this scripture, here’s what it says, “And behold, if ye will not do
this I come unto you speedily; for behold, God will not suffer that we should
perish with hunger; therefore he will give unto us of your food, even if it
must be by the sword. Now see that ye fulfill the word of God.”) People outbid us
anyway. But it was fun to watch people pull out their smartphones and
look up the scripture and laugh. And the ward loves us, so we still ended
up with some cookies that someone else had bid on for us. :)
Also, at the YW fundraiser, A bunch of the men in the ward suddenly
came up to us and asked us if we had any pass-along cards. We did, of
course, and gave them to them, so they could give them out. At first we
were a little confused as to why they all wanted pass-along cards so
suddenly... but then we saw Brother Rackleff talking to them... I'm telling
you, the guy's awesome - if there were a member missionary of the year award,
he'd get it. He had been finding and challenging all the super
competitive men in the ward, getting a competition going for who could pass out
the most pass-along cards before Sunday. We're not complaining - it's
getting the members more missionary minded for sure! When we unofficially
tallied things up yesterday, Brother Rackleff had won for the week by a fair
margin, but there were a lot of men passing out pass-along cards. We gave
a pack to Bro McLane to pass out to those that wanted them in Priesthood, and
when we went to get the extras there were none left. A little healthy
competition never hurt anyone, right? :) The best part - we talked to
Robert and Melanie after church, and I saw that Robert had picked up a few. :)
Member missionary work is awesome, and this ward is starting to feel it.
We managed to get two passed out to the relief society this week... they're a little
bit slower than the men on this one, but that's ok - they'll get there
eventually. :)
Well, that's it for the week. I love y'all so much and hope
everything is going well! Have a great week!
Sister Ririe
Acts 1:8
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