Sister Walker and me, after doing service last Monday
Hey y'all!
Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you had an awesome
celebration with lots of fun and fireworks! :) Texas sure does like to
celebrate - obviously we couldn't stay out to watch the fireworks, but it
didn't really matter because we could clearly see 3 or 4 good shows out our
apartment window. So much fun. :)
Summer is starting to get into full swing here in Houston... most of
the ward is out of town visiting family and friends that live in cooler parts
of the United States. And I don't blame them... it is HOT here.
There was actually one point in the week where it was hot and humid, and
we were walking down this long road between neighborhoods that has absolutely
no shade anywhere near it... miserable. I looked up at the sun and there
were no clouds in sight. Not good. All I wanted was a tiny bit of
shade, just a bit of a break from the pounding sun. I started a silent
prayer and asked God to provide a cloud so I could cool off just a bit. I
had somewhat of a conversation with Him, asking Him for ways that I could
endure well, because I know that He won't push me through anything that I can't
handle with His help. I was starting to think things like "you know,
maybe You think I'm stronger than I really am, because I feel like I'm about to
my breaking point right now!" and right when I thought that, a strong,
cool wind started, cooling us off. It wasn't a cloud, but it was so much
better. Just goes to show that He hears every prayer, and He knows and
loves each of us so much, and He will send exactly what is needed exactly when
it is needed. :)
We met our new mission president and his family this week!
President Mortensen - he's amazing, and I love him already. I can
tell that he's EXACTLY what this mission needs right now. He's a lot like
President Pingree - they both are energetic and inspiring, and young - he
has 6 kids, the oldest of which just started her mission and the youngest is 5.
Super cute family. I'm excited to get to know them better.
President Mortensen is a bit more... intense... (that's not the word I'm
looking for, but it will work for now) than President Pingree, but I think it's
good. He's very passionate about missionary work, and he gave an awesome
training about living up to our privileges - being exactly obedient so we can
get all the blessings. It was inspiring, and Sister Walker and I set some
goals so we can be better. I'm really looking forward to working with
him!
We met with Marilyn again this week. She's awesome, and
basically already has a testimony of the gospel. :) We had given her 3
Nephi 11 to read before we met with her again, and she not only read it, but
really studied it 3 or 4 times before we came over again. We invited her
to be baptized, and she told us not to worry - she's already been baptized...
we talked about priesthood authority, but I think we'll have to re-teach it
before she really understands. But she said she'd keep reading the Book
of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, and we have another appointment with
her later this week.
We had an awesome opportunity to do service this week, which was
awesome, because I feel like we never get to help with service projects in this
area because it's so hard to get anywhere when you don't have a car. But
there's a family in our ward that was moving into a bigger house in the ward
that has had so much stress with finding and buying a house, and then making
repairs on the house that they bought... needless to say they were super
stressed out. So last Monday we helped them clean the new house, and then
throughout the week we've been able to help them get everything packed up and
moved to the new house. It has been great - I love doing service.
Mosiah 2:17. It's great. :)
I don't know if y'all remember Maria, back from my first few
transfers in the area. Her husband and his parents (who they live with)
are members, but she's not. She's had 4 or 5 different baptismal dates,
but she just wasn't really ready to commit. So Sister Bonner and I
dropped her a few months ago to give her some time to think and pray about it.
I figured Sister Walker and her new companion could re-assess the
situation once I had left the area, but the Relief Society president gave us
something to deliver to Maria's mother-in-law... so we figured that we'd go
contact them again. We got in and taught a good lesson about building on
a firm foundation of scripture study and prayer and church attendance - and the
whole family sat down with us. Which is great, because we'll need to
reactivate the family while we're preparing Maria for baptism. They all
committed to reading the Book of Mormon every day! We'll follow up soon and
see how it's going and what they're learning. :)
We're still doing a lot of tracting and trying to find people to
teach. And the more people I meet, the more I realize that there are a
LOT of religions in Houston. We met a guy named Ray this past week that
said he'd tried a bunch of different churches... Catholic, 7th-day Adventists,
even Messianic Judaism, but finally settled on something called Hebrew Roots or
something like that. Basically they study the bible and take everything
very literally. And he tried to prove us wrong, but nothing he said
really worked... he told us we were following a pagan religion because we used
the name Christ and celebrated Christmas and Easter and had our church services
on Sunday instead of Saturday, and told us that we didn't need the Book of
Mormon. (A Bible, he has got a Bible, and he needs no more Bible... oh
the joys of being in the Bible belt...) He told us to pray about the Book of
Mormon, and that we'd get our answer through the spirit that it's not true...
what?? Haha but Sister Walker jumped in and said "I will if you
will!" At first he agreed, but later when we tried to give him a
copy he turned it down. Hopefully he will open his heart to it
eventually. :)
We also had a more positive experience knocking on doors this week
too. The woman that answered the door invited us in to share a message,
and I could immediately tell that she was one that Heavenly Father has
prepared. We taught the restoration using the pictures in the front of
the Book of Mormon, and it was a really powerful lesson. She (her name is
Perla) told us that she had just started going back to church, right now she's
attending a Spanish Pentecostal church, but she's looking for truth and really
wants a religion that will stick and help her really become better. We
asked her if she'd read the Book of Mormon, and she said "yes! I've
actually been looking for someone to recommend a good book to me!"
She asked where she could get one, and when we gave her a copy she was
thrilled. Unfortunately she doesn't live in the area - she was just
visiting a friend... but we got her information so we can send some
missionaries her way. :)
I love y'all so much, and hope you're having a fabulous summer!
Have a great week!
Sister Ririe
Mosiah 4:2-3
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