Monday, July 14, 2014

Finding the Faith to Find

Sister Stepp and me on exchanges



Hey y'all!

It has been a crazy busy week here in Houston.  Just the way we missionaries like it. :)  We've been doing a lot of tracting and trying to find those that the Lord has prepared to hear our message.  That's one of the goals that President Mortensen asked us to focus on - finding - specifically the number of contacts we make each day.  He asked us to set a goal of 20 a day, which is about double what we used to get.  And it has been hard, because our area is so small and hardly anyone is ever outside because it's so hot and we don't have anywhere indoors in our area that we can contact in... so hence the lots of tracting.  We made our goal though, which is huge.  So far, no new investigators.  But LOTS of potential that we will be following up with in the next week.  

There was one evening that was particularly productive - last Monday.  Because of our p-day, we didn't have as much time as usual devoted to finding.  We went to dinner, and planned on tracting in the neighborhood after.  Except a HUGE Texas-sized thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere, and seemed to stop right over our area.  It poured all through dinner, and through our message... we weren't sure quite what to do, because we still needed to finish getting our contacts for the day!  An idea came to my mind to have the member give us a ride to our apartment complex - we could tract there and be a little more sheltered from the storm.  So that's what we did.  By the time we got there, put our rain boots on, we only had an hour and a half left of the evening, (we had to be back at our apartment early because our STL and her companion were going to meet us there to start exchanges) and usually it takes us about 3 hours of tracting throughout the day to get that many contacts because of people not being home or not answering their door and such.  So Sister Walker and I knelt in prayer and pleaded with God to let people answer the door and be willing to listen to our message.  And miracle of miracles we made our goal, and taught a few lessons on the doorstep, and found 3 potential investigators.  All in an hour and a half.  I must say, that was probably the most faith-filled finding experience I've ever had on my mission.  We KNEW that the Lord would provide. :)  (Sorry for the long-ish explanation and the random details; I just want y'all to know just how HUGE of a miracle that was for us. :) )

Next - Exchanges!  Miracles always happen on exchanges. :)  Sister Stepp joined me here in Memorial Springs for the day, and it was wonderful!  Sister Stepp is one of Sister Walker's former companions, so that was fun.  A triangle of companionship. :)  She's been working really hard to become more comfortable with talking to people, specifically with tracting, and we got to work together on it throughout the day. :)  Every time we tracted, we were able to teach at least one person on the doorstep.  No new investigators, but lots of potential.  AND, at the end of the day, we ran into a part member family that we haven't seen in a long time - the Fernandes family - and talked to them for a while.  Sister Fernandes invited us over for dinner on Sunday, but that unfortunately didn't work out... hopefully we'll be able to reschedule for a different time this week.

Maria and family are doing well - we followed up with our Book of Mormon challenge, and Maria had read some!  She said she has a hard time understanding the scriptures so we read a bit with her and her husband Bryce and committed them to continue to read together every day.  We'll see them this Sunday (hopefully at church, but if not, we'll visit them after) and see how it went!

Also - Robert came to church yesterday!  He's been kind of slipping out of activity, and has been dodging our appointments... it was SO good to see him there.  And the ward totally made sure he felt welcome and a part of our ward family.  Hopefully we'll be able to meet with him this week.  Thanks for all the prayers in his behalf - keep them coming!

I love y'all so much and hope you have a fabulous week!  Thanks for the continued love and support as I serve the Lord in Houston, Texas.  I couldn't be happier! Love you!

Sister Ririe

Ether 12:4

P.S. I'm collecting inspiring and uplifting quotes, scriptures, and stories, so if y'all have anything you'd like to contribute, I'd appreciate it. :)  Thanks!



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