General Conference - AMAZING!!

Hey y'all!

This week has been a week of miracles, as is every week, if you really look for them. :)  And of course it all ended with General Conference, which is almost better than Christmas for missionaries.  Well... it might actually be better than Christmas... General Conference is amazing and awesome and I am sufficiently spiritually fed.  And physically, because my ward here is awesome.  But more on that later - back to the beginning of the week...

We were able to meet with Jo this week - she's been busy trying to get her house all cleaned up, and she wants to have a yard sale sometime soon.  We told her we would love to help out, and at first she didn't want to accept our help, because she didn't see that as our job, but we insisted, so later this week we'll be helping her get everything organized.  People don't realize that service is indeed a way for us to help others come to Christ.  Charity - Christlike love - you're right, Elder M. Ruesch - it's awesome! :)  Also, we were talking to her, and she was telling us one of her many life stories, and she fell asleep... mid sentence... after about 30 seconds she woke up and continued as if nothing had happened... it was great. :)  I love Jo!

We had a miracle with one of our potential investigators this week: her name is Lisa, and we've been trying to visit her for the past couple of months.  Most of the time she blows us off, saying she's too busy to talk, but we keep going back when we're in the area, because she hasn't specifically said "don't come back" yet... persistence... it's definitely a trait that us missionaries need to have. ;)  Anyway, we were in the area Tuesday night, and so we decided to try again.  She, along with her husband and daughter, were in their garage (I don't know if it's a Texas thing, but the people here use their garages as extra rooms, not as storage places for their cars...)  So we started talking to them.  At first, Lisa tried to blow us off again, but her husband kept talking to us, asking questions, and saying that he's seen us around a few times.  Eventually Lisa warmed up to us too, and we were able to have a good conversation with them.  I don't know that they're super interested in learning more right now, but at least we have some sort of a relationship with them now!  And they're nice - we'll keep stopping by to see if they're ready. ;)

We finally met with Robert to start the new member lessons - he's been super busy with work since his baptism, and his boss isn't being too nice about him asking for Sundays off, or at least a few hours so he can go to sacrament meeting... but we were finally able to see him, and talk to him about his baptism and how he now has the Holy Ghost with him - he loves it.  And he's looking forward to getting the priesthood soon, and he's frustrated that he can't take the sacrament - I think he realizes the importance of it more than most members do... it's awesome to see how he really is SO converted to the gospel!  He's relying on the spirit to get his work figured out, so hopefully he'll be able to attend more in the future.

We had exchanges this past week, and I went with Sister Shell to serve in the YSA ward for a day.  We helped a member get her apartment all packed up to move, tried to visit a less active member who has been avoiding them, and then drove up to the woodlands to give a church tour.  When we got up to the Woodlands, we had about 45 minutes to spare, so we decided to go through a drive through to get a quick bite to eat.  We were using a gps to find fast food, because the Woodlands is, as you can imagine, full of trees that you can't see anything from the road. ...unfortunately, the first place we tried was under construction, the 2nd place didn't exist (although we had a fun adventure where we accidentally somehow managed to get on the freeway... the roads in Houston are SO confusing...)  Evenutally we did find a place to eat, we scarfed down our dinner in the parking lot, and then drove back to the church to give the tour that we were now late to.  And we were still in our service clothes... :/  So we let the investigator and member inside the foyer, ran to the bathroom to get changed, and everything worked out in the end.  The church tour was amazing, and the spirit was SO strong.  Basically, the church is true, and everything will work out, even if you have the most hectic 45 minutes ever. :)

Now to the highlight of the week: General Conference!!  We watched all 4 sessions with different members, and it was great.  The members here love to support their missionaries, which is great - basically we were fed breakfast, lunch AND dinner, both Saturday and Sunday.  So yes, we are physically and spiritually fed. :)  We watched the Saturday Afternoon session with the Kunz family - they're ward missionaries - and they invited Maria over as well, so she watched most of the session with us before she had to leave.  And during Elder Ballard's talk on Sunday Morning, the one about following up, Robert sent us a sweet text saying thanks for following up with him - it was pretty awesome.  So we know he was able to watch at least a bit of conference!  One of my personal favorite talks was President Uchdorf's talk on gratitude - how we should see gratitude as a way of life more than just being grateful for things.  It is so true!  When we have a grateful attitude, it makes everything seem brighter.  Also, Sister Oliverson, I too LOVE the emphasis that has been made recently with the responsibility that we have to keep our covenants - it is something important that we should all remember.  

Yep, this week has been great. :)  I absolutely LOVE being a missionary!  I hope y'all have a great week!

Sister Ririe

2 Nephi 2:25