The 9 Miracles of Fairfield

Sister Funk found a little hitchhiker on her bike. :)

Hey y'all!

Alright, this week has been packed full of miracles - I'm not sure how Sister Funk and I were able to have the time to witness all of them. Seriously - we're exhausted because of everything amazing that has been happening - it's amazing.  The Lord works in mysterious ways, but it's always for the benefit of his children!

1- I finally was able to meet Grisel this week - she's a less active and her husband Carlos is one of our investigators, but I still haven't been able to meet him.  They've been crazy busy - Grisel has been going to massage therapy school and was studying for her final exam when we stopped in to see her on Tuesday.  But she still let us in and we were able to talk with her and share a message.  And we found out on Friday that she had passed!  See what happens when you let the missionaries in?  Your whole life is blessed. :) Now she just needs to finish her practice hours (which are all on the weekends, unfortunately) and then she will be able to come to church!

2- We met a guy named Joe this week while tracting and got into a long grace vs works discussion with him.  We were able to keep it from becoming an argument, thankfully.  And then Sister Funk pulled it all together by saying at the end of the conversation, "We actually have a lesson that we teach as missionaries that goes over everything that we've been talking about today.  Would we be able to come over sometime next week and teach it to you and your family?"  He said yes!  So we'll be going to teach him and his family the Plan of Salvation later this week. :)

3- Remember how we prayed and fasted for Honorio to let go of pride and be humble?  Well... the Lord answered our prayer... he lost his job. :/  Yeah... we still feel kind of bad about that one... but the Lord knows what he is doing.  I wish Honorio would just CHOOSE to be humble - but I guess he's more of the compelled to be humble type.  We're hoping it works!

4- We had the most amazing Zone Conference ever this week!  President Mortensen gave a training on becoming master teachers through asking inspired questions - it's definitely something that he has felt is important to focus on.  And I can see why - asking questions and getting those we are teaching involved is definitely a better way to teach.  The theory behind it is the same as the theory behind Socratic Discussion - basically that everyone has the truth within them.  So we're focusing on  asking questions that will bring the truth out of our investigator instead of simply presenting the information.  We spent an hour and a half role-playing the restoration lesson - one companionship teaching for 10 minutes, then 5 minutes of evaluation, then the other companionship teaches for 10, and so on.  We ended up teaching the lesson twice so each lesson lasted 30 minutes minus the evaluation.  We were able to help each other come up with questions to ask investigators, questions that we could ask so the investigators brought the truth out of themselves.  It was amazing, and Sister Funk and I have seen so many miracles come from us using this approach.  For example:

5- We taught a guy named Ryan - Sister Funk had tracted into him before I got to the area, but then he left to work out of town... anyway, he's back now. :)  And we taught him the first lesson using this master-teacher approach and as we would ask questions to help him think he would respond with "oh, that's a good one - y'all are making me think!"  He LOVED our discussion, because we were helping him realize the truth for himself instead of presenting information that doesn't mean anything to him yet.  Unfortunately he's YSA, so we'll transfer him over to those missionaries.  But he is SO prepared. :)

6- The master-teaching approach even works on 9-year-olds.  I don't know if I've told y'all about Collin, but he's the son of a less active.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and obviously we couldn't ask the same questions that we would an adult, but with the Spirit we were able to come up with other, more age appropriate questions that helped him get involved, and I think he understood more than he has in the past.  And the "with the Spirit" part is key - I definitely would not be able to come up with these questions/things to say on my own!

7- We tracted into a guy named Jim - turns out he's friends with a member family in the ward.  But we didn't know that when he first invited us in... I must admit that because of situations I've been in before I thought he was just letting us in to bash with us.  But that was so far from true - he was sincerely asking questions to find out what we believe, and we were able to share the message of the restoration with him.  He was so excited to get his own copy of the Book of Mormon, especially when we told him that our message is either true or it isn't, and he can find out for himself if he will read and pray and ask God.  It's amazing how the little associations that members have with their friends can soften hearts!

8- Probably the biggest miracles of the week involve investigators coming to church.  First of all - Chris came this week - WITHOUT Melody (she was sick).  But he still came and stayed for all 3 hours and absolutely LOVES church.  He is so outgoing and friendly that he fits right in. :)

9- And then... MAYRA AND JACOB CAME!!!! I can't remember if I told y'all, but they dropped us right after I got to the area because all this family and life craziness came up and they said they'd get back with us when they were ready... And usually when investigators say that it really means that they aren't planning on seeing us again.  But they came to church!!!  And we're meeting with them later this week. :)

Well that's all - a week of miracles here in Fairfield. :)  I love my life, I love being a missionary, I love that I'm serving here in Farifield with Sister Funk - I love her, and I love y'all!  Thanks for being so great!  And I hope y'all have a fantastic week! :)

Sister Ririe

Alma 7:24

The Power of Fasting Coupled with Prayer

Cy-Fair District: Elder Ririe, me, Sister Funk, Sister Jeppson, Sister Heaps, and Elder Parkinson

Hey y'all!

Time is a funny thing... while some days seem to take forever to pass, it still feels like it was yesterday that I was emailing y'all... and still, so much has happened since then.  It's weird.

This week has been good.  Sister Funk and I have been practicing our "Master Teacher" approach which we learned about last week at Zone Meeting - basically we're learning to teach like the Savior did, with the focus on asking inspired questions.  I must say, it does help to get our investigators more involved in what we're saying.  Instead of just preaching at them, we involve them in a discussion and ask questions that basically result in them teaching themselves gospel truth.  It's cool.  And the spirit is SO much stronger in these type of lessons - I think this method is definitely helping Fairfield to progress.

We met with Honorio again this week and engaged him in this type of discussion and he told us what has been holding him back from baptism.  He had read the first 6 chapters of Moroni and come across Moroni 6:2 which talks about needing a broken heart and a contrite spirit in order to be baptized.  He doesn't feel like he has that yet, and basically told us that his pride is getting in the way.  And he realizes that this is a problem... but he doesn't have the desire to change.  We're still working towards August 30th, and we know that he CAN be ready by that time... it's all down to weather or not he WANTS to be ready by that time. 

So after the lesson, later on in the week Sister Funk and I had weekly planning and we talked about Honorio and how we could help him.  Sister Funk had studied about fasting in her studies that morning, so she suggested we fast for him.  So we prayed, and decided what exactly it was that we needed to fast for so we could focus all our spiritual energy into exactly what he needed.  And we determined that our fast would be: "FOR HONORIO: that his heart will be softened, that he will let go of pride, and that he will have a desire to change."  We wrote it on our whiteboard and decided to fast on Sunday.

So Saturday evening came, and we knelt as a companionship and poured out our hearts in prayer to our Father on behalf of Honorio.  And we said many prayers throughout Sunday - both together and individually.  And we sat by him at church on Sunday, and during the Sacrament we thought about him and how much the covenants that we make at baptism and renew each week with the sacrament would help him.  Honestly, I don't think I've ever poured out my whole soul like this on behalf of any other person... It's not that I care about Honorio any more than I care about any of my other investigators... I guess I have grown spiritually throughout my mission and finally realize how I can apply the principles that I have learned about my whole life.  

Anyway, our prayers were answered with the second speaker during sacrament meeting.  He was a recent convert asked to speak about his conversion story, and when I heard that I immediately got excited because I know how much Honorio LOVES conversion stories (He always says that those of us that have grown up in the gospel have it too easy because we have been brought up with the standards of the church whereas he was raised with completely opposite values.)  But this speaker was EXACTLY what he needed.  David (the convert) had given up EVERYTHING to learn about the gospel - he would wake up at 3 in the morning to read the Book of Mormon in secret because he knew his family would be furious if they found out.  And he tried several times to take the discussions but each time his parents put a stop to it.  Eventually when he went away to college he was able to be baptized, and his family disowned him, but he stuck true to what he knew was right.  And as he was telling his story, Honorio was completely captivated.  It was amazing, and the spirit was so strong, and somehow through the noise that comes from being in a ward with 140+ primary kids we were able to clearly hear every word.  We talked to Honorio a bit after, but we'll be able to discuss it more when we meet with him this week.  But we KNOW it touched him. 

It is simply amazing how the Lord works.  He knows exactly what Honorio needs, and in response to our fasting an prayers he arranged, weeks in advance, to have the perfect speaker share his story during our sacrament meeting.  Our God is definitely a God of miracles!

In other news - Melody texted us this week and told us that Chris had told her that he believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet!  :D  Chris has changed SO MUCH since he started taking the discussions, and both he and Melody are progressing and coming closer to Christ.  They have an... interesting... situation that prevents them from being baptized right now... it's too complicated to explain via email.  But they are working towards the beginning of next year. :)

I was able to go on exchanges this week with Sister Jeppson - a different Sister Jeppson than the one I have been on exchanges with before.  And no, they aren't related.  This Sister Jeppson has been out for 2 months, and during the whole exchange she was telling me how much she looks up to the sisters that have been out for a long time and how we seem to know everything and have everything put together... I'm not sure when I became one of those sisters, because I still feel like I have no idea what's going on sometimes... I guess I'm just more confident in my knowing nothing. ;)  She's great though - she was taking over her area for the first time and she did a great job.  And I think it gave her more confidence in her skills as a missionary.  It is amazing - I have come a long way since my 2nd month out... and yet it doesn't feel like it has been that long at all.

I love y'all so much!  Thank you so much for your support!  Have a great week!

Sister Ririe

D&C 88:76

Content-ion is of the Devil

Hey y'all! :)

Sister Funk and I had the coolest revelation of sorts during studies this week.  We were studying for a few of our investigators who are of the eternal variety... they just don't have the desire to change.  They are content with where they are.  And so we got into a discussion of how the gospel is all about change, and how Satan wants to keep us as far from the gospel so he makes us feel like we're "happy where we are".  He gives us a feeling of contentment, so we don't feel the desire to change, become better, and move closer to Christ.  Therefore: contention (being content) is of the devil.  Case closed.

This week has been pretty great.  Full of challenges, but what better opportunity to avoid being content in our circumstances, right?  We had a few days where everything that we had planned for fell through, and we biked all the way across the area as fast as our legs would take us only to find that the person we had an appointment with wasn't there.  But we talked to people in the area - hopefully some seeds were planted.

Sister Funk had been feeling some pain in her mouth for the past week or so, so we went to the dentist this week (luckily the Bishop in this ward is a dentist) and found out that she needed a root canal... :/  Not exactly the good news that we were hoping for.  So we went back the next day and had one of them done, and now she's as good as new.  And we saw our investigator Chris at the pharmacy when we went to pick up her prescription - he told  us later that the LAST place he had expected the missionaries to show up was at his work.  Luckily he's cool and doesn't think we're stalking him or anything. ;)

We had an AWESOME lesson with Honorio and Jennifer this week.  Honorio is one of our "eternal" investigators, and so we planned this awesome lesson to help him be able to set a baptismal date about covenants and how they draw us closer to our Heavenly Father, and how sometimes it seems like God's commandments tie us down but it is really His commandments that make us free, and how it is Satan that wants to "free" us from God's commandments but really bind us down with the "chains of hell" in the end.  We had a LONG discussion with him, and it could have gotten really heated but thankfully the Spirit was there, SO strong, no one could deny it.  Jennifer testified to Honorio about the importance of covenants and kept telling him that he needs to act - try the experiment as Alma says.  And in the end we were able to set a baptismal date!  We're shooting for the end of the month, and he said he's not ready yet but he'll work towards that date.  :)  We are SO excited for him, and we're working on getting him to be as excited for it as we are. ;)  He'll get there. :)

We had a great Zone Meeting this past Friday.  President Mortensen is starting to make the changes that he feels are inspired for the mission - mostly he's focusing on exact obedience and accountability.  And I can see how the changes are making our mission as a whole better.  Great things are happening in the Texas Houston Mission!  President Mortensen is working on organizing a Mission President's Fireside - something that their home mission (in California) had done regularly - basically a fireside where members are strongly encouraged to bring their non member friends, and we as the missionaries get all of our investigators to come and there is tons of music and testimonies from recent converts and the Spirit is so strong and everyone walks away converted.  Something like that, anyway. ;)  And Cypress Stake gets to be the trial run - exciting!  It will happen towards the end of September, so we're working to prepare for that.

Awesome miracle experience for the week:  We were tracting on Sunday after lunch and we ran into a guy named Taylor.  He came outside to talk to us, and we ended up having a 45 minute discussion with him in which we taught the Restoration in response to his questions.  He was SO open-minded, and very willing to ask us his questions and listen to our answers without getting offended.  And he had read and understood the bible and was quoting or paraphrasing parts of it throughout our whole discussion.  His main question at the end was "why do we need the Book of Mormon?" so we explained that it was another testament of Jesus Christ and that it, with the Bible, contains the fullness of the gospel and so on.  And then he asked... ah, I can't remember the exact question... something along the lines of "If I were seeking this out, what would you as missionaries tell me to do?  Because I feel like I have the truth already."  And honestly, I surprised myself with the answer I gave - normally I would have directed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, and I did that, but in a bolder way.  And I think the fact that we were talking in a somewhat hypothetical situation (because he had used the word "if") gave me a little more courage... I've been out for more than a year and I'm still working on being bold with my testifying.  Anyway, I told him, "I would tell you that you don't have the whole truth yet, and the truth that you are missing is found in the Book of Mormon.  I would invite you to read it with an open mind, seeking to know the truth, and then ask God if it is His word."  We read Moroni 10:4-5, and he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would do as directed.  He is awesome, and someday he'll be baptized.  Someday soon, hopefully. :) Unfortunately he's leaving to join the Marines in the near future, so I don't know if we'll be able to see him again... :(  But even if we don't - it was definitely a seed that we planted in fertile ground!

That's all for the week - I hope y'all have a great one!  Don't let Satan make you content - always be willing to change for the better!

Sister Ririe

3 Nephi 11:29

Loving the Life in Fairfield

#1 - Sister Funk and me :)

#2 - Mama Grover (the member we live with) and one of the new puppies!! :)

Hey y'all!

Transfers came and went, and although it was hard to say goodbye to all those I know and love in Memorial Springs, I went to the transfer meeting excited to see what my future holds. :)  I have been assigned to the Fairfield ward, which is somewhere in Cypress, TX... I'm not sure exactly where, I'll have to look at a map.  I'm still on bike - Yay!!  Seriously - I'm SO glad I'm still on bike.  Even though it's hot... I like being active.  It makes me happier.  Plus everyone sees us when we're biking all over the area - I guess it's good publicity.  Either that or they think we're crazy... but at least it gets them thinking. ;)  My new companion is Sister Funk, and she is awesome. :) She's been out for 9 months and has been in the Fairfield ward for 2 transfers now, so she has been showing me the ropes.  She's from Twin Falls Idaho and graduated in 2013, so she hasn't done any college yet - I'm trying to convince her to come to Utah State. :)  We live with members - the Grovers.  They are empty nesters... except they have missionaries living upstairs... I don't know, does that make them not empty nesters anymore?  Anyway, they are super sweet and fun, and I like living with them. :)  And they have dogs, and one of them had puppies yesterday, so CUTE! :)  I love having pets around!  Also - my new District Leader is Elder Ririe - crazy!  After a whole year of only running into my cousin at the occasional transfer meeting I now get to see him every week. :)  For the last month of his mission, anyway - I can't believe he's going home so soon!

Anyway - that's the basics of my new area, in a nutshell.  Hopefully it makes some sense to y'all- sorry if it seems all over the place.  Just know that I love it here! :)

There is a lot of good work going on too - We are teaching a lot of part-member families, which is awesome.  And from what Sister Funk tells me we have at LEAST 2 investigators to church every single week, which is crazy to me because in my other areas one of our biggest struggles was getting investigators to church.  But I guess people are more open to it here.  Now that's not saying that it's the same 2 every week, but most of them come pretty often.  And we meet with most of them at least once a week, which means our evenings are really busy and we are teaching a LOT.  I'm so excited!  Not that we didn't teach in Memorial Springs, because we did... just not nearly this much.  It will be a lot of fun to really get to know the people we're teaching and help them prepare for baptism. :)

Here's a brief intro to the people I've met so far:

Melody & Chris:  Melody is a returning less active, and Chris is her non-member "significant other".  They've been to church the past 3 weeks, and Sister Funk has told me that Chris has come a LONG way, even though he still has a long way to come before he can be baptized.  But they are so friendly, and love having us over, and they have loved church so far. Chris loves "boys club" (priesthood) and Melody is slowly warming up to Relief Society (she's had a hard time with women in the church in the past.)  And Melody LOVES to cook, and is SUPER good at it... and when we're biking around all day we have no problem eating. :)  She made us lunch the other day... I can now add cactus to the list of thing's I've eaten in Texas.  It was actually pretty good. :)

Honorio & Jennifer:  Jennifer has always been active, and her husband Honorio has started to show interest in becoming a member.  His family converted in Venezuela after he had moved out, and then he married a member... he's just destined to join the church. :)  He's super funny, and he says he knows he's going to be baptized someday, we're just working on helping him realize that sooner is better than later. :)

Mayra & Jacob:  Jacob is a returning less active, and Mayra is his wife.  They are working on building good scripture study habits, because Mayra wants to feel like she really understands before she gets baptized.  She says she's working on getting her answer by reading and praying.  Jacob is so excited that she's taking the lessons - I think they both want to have a church to raise their 1-year-old daughter in.

Sister Funk and I had an awesome miracle this week - on my first day in the area, we decided to try and visit some potential investigators.  After trying a few, with none of them being home, we decided to tract in the area.  On the very first door we knocked on, a woman answered the door.  Her response to us introducing ourselves was "oh, I already go to a church" but instead of letting her end the conversation there we asked her questions about her church and her beliefs.  As we showed genuine interest in what she was saying, her attitude changed.  As we talked, she eventually invited us in and we were able to share the message of the Restoration.  As we were leaving, she said "honestly, when I saw you at the door I fully intended to send you away.  But as we were talking, something told me 'just let them in' so I did!"  It's amazing to see how the spirit can touch the hearts of the people we talk to - even when it's 30 seconds on a doorstep.

Well, that's all for the week! Fairfield is great, Sister Funk is great, and I'm so excited to serve here with her. :)  I hope y'all have a great week!

Sister Ririe

Mosiah 27:28-29