A week in the rain...

1- MTC reunion!  Sister Bonner, Sister Laws, and Me

2- So... funny story... remember how we got locked inside a gated community last week?  Well, we went back this week to visit the member that lives there, and on our way out we happened to find this little button... In our defense, it was well hidden behind a sign.  Haha...

Hey y'all!  

It's been a wet week here in Houston.  Everyone says it's been an unusually cold and wet winter, and that the weather this time of year is usually beautiful.  ...I'm having a hard time believing them.  I'm starting to think there's no such thing as good weather here - it's either cold and rainy or hot and humid.  But that's ok, the work of the Lord goes on. :)

With the rain this week came a lot of plans that fell through... unfortunately.  So we did a LOT of walking, tracting, contacting, etc. in the rain.  We had one day where we didn't get into anyone's house until 5pm, when some members took pity on us.  We weren't able to meet with Robert and Melanie this week because our plans fell through with the Peruches - they had some sort of family crisis so they had to cancel on us about a half hour before. (This is the second time we haven't been able to meet with Robert at their house... obviously they are going to make awesome fellowshippers because Satan is trying really hard to make this not work out.)  But we have been staying in contact, and he's still super ready to be baptized.  And we'll meet with them this week.

We did have some funny experiences tracting... here are some of the most memorable responses: "I'm gonna go ahead and say that I can't be Mormon because I like my alcohol.  A lot." (well, at least she knows who we are and what we believe)  "I'm a sinner" *shuts the door* (... aren't we all?)  "I'm a devout Lutheran, and I will not accept any of your literature." (well, ok... we hadn't offered you anything yet...) Some people just make me laugh. Oh, and I've officially had a door slammed in my face.  I'm kind of surprised it took me 8 months to have that happen.  Anyway, tracting is great... you sure do meet a lot of people from all walks of life. :) 

The whole week wasn't plans falling through though, thank goodness.  We were able to meet with the Fernandes family and taught the plan of salvation.  Brother Fernandes is super nice, and he said we could come back anytime.  He had a lot of questions, and through the spirit we were able to answer most of them.  Unfortunately they didn't make it to church yesterday, but we'll see them later this week.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference, which was great, as always. :)  I was able to see a lot of my missionary friends, including Sister Laws (my MTC companion) and Elder Pauga (who served with Sister Wahlen and me in Westlake.)  (Also, speaking of other missionaries, I found out that my new district leader, Elder Chandler, was Elder Ririe's MTC companion.  It's a small world, out here in the Texas Houston Mission. :) ) During the Zone Conference, we talked a lot about the spirit of Elijah and Family History and how to use it in our finding efforts.  Sister Bonner and I think we can really use it as our area is more wealthy and less humble - maybe it can be a finding magnet in our area.  Of course we need to really learn how to do family history before we can teach others... luckily we have an awesome family history consultant in our ward who is willing to help us out. :)  

After Zone Conference we walked back to our area (Thursday was one of the only days this week where it didn't rain, and lucky for us the Zone Conference was at our church building - not too far!) We tried to contact some former investigators from our area book, and we got talking to a guy, his name is Wilford.  He lives with his uncle Wendy (who is our former investigator) and just moved here from Louisiana.  But we talked to him for a little bit and asked if we could come by later to teach more and he said yes!  So before our church meetings yesterday we taught him the Restoration.  He's super open, and excited to learn more.  And he told us that he's been feeling distant from God lately, and that when we came by it was like God was calling to him and trying to talk some sense into him. :)  He didn't come with us to church yesterday because he said he had too much to do, but he said he'd schedule it in for next Sunday. :)  We're excited to teach him and see how he progresses!

Before we went to church, we went to see Maria because she lives in the same neighborhood.  No one answered, and she didn't make it to church... so unfortunately we'll have to push back her baptismal date because she hasn't been to church at all since I've been in the area.  We'll keep trying to meet with her, but she needs to be the one to decide that she wants to ACT on what she knows.  Hopefully she'll be able to make that decision soon.

Missionary life is great, even though it's hard.  There's nothing better than doing the Lord's work full-time, and I am SO glad I have this opportunity.  I love y'all so much!  And I hope y'all have a great week. :)

Sister Ririe

Romans 5:3-5