Hey y'all!
It has been an AMAZING week. Mostly because of John's
baptism! It was AMAZING. Of course Satan will do everything he can
to try and stop it... there was HORRIBLE traffic on HWY 290 out to the Waller
Building where the baptism was... and so we ended up being late... but it
wasn't just us - plenty of people were caught in the traffic too. So we
started right on time - Polynesian or Mormon standard time, that is. :)
It was AMAZING. So many people came - ward members, friends, and
family - even John's extended family who were opposed to him being baptized
were there! There were so many people that showed up that we had to open
the overflow - we didn't all fit in the chapel! The whole night was so
spiritual, and the ordinance was beautiful, and John bore his testimony after
and it was great. :) And I had a realization during the closing hymn
(Love at Home - we had a tradition of singing that to start our lessons with
them because we wanted to have some music to bring the spirit and that was the
only hymn that everyone knew all the words to. :) ) I looked over at the whole
family and they were all crying and I realized that now they can be a forever
family. THIS is the work of salvation. I absolutely LOVE being a
missionary!
In other news - Thanksgiving was great. :) Unfortunately
Sister Ostvig and I both woke up feeling sick... :/ But we still went and
had fun anyway. Melody and Chris invited us over and we feasted with
them. Melody LOVES to cook, and so we had a HUGE feast even for our
little group of people. It's amazing how you can fill a large plate even
when you only take a little bit of everything... but it was all delicious.
:) Sister Ostvig and I finished filling our Gratitude tree - we
took a picture to send to y'all. It is amazing how our Heavenly Father blesses
us with the most wonderful, and sometime simple, things. I am so grateful
for the gospel, for family, for my mission, for the atonement, for the plan of
salvation, for miracles, revelation, spiritual gifts, awesome members, friends,
memories... the list could go on and on. I am SO grateful, especially for
all of you!
We saw another miracle this week. Sister Fielding hadn't been
to church for 10+ years now, but her sister is serving a mission and I think
that is starting to soften her heart. We visited her a couple of weeks
ago and she was telling us about all that her sister is doing - helping people
come to church and such... and so last Saturday evening we texted her, and used
her sisters own words, and it worked! She came to church! :D When
we stopped by later this week she invited us in and out of the blue she asked
if we would teach her and her family the missionary lessons. Of course we
said yes, after we picked our jaws up off the ground. This is the woman
who just a month ago wouldn't even let missionaries inside her house. She
would be friendly and talk to us on the doorstep, but we never got in.
And now we're teaching her whole family. Yep, I believe in miracles!
Church yesterday was interesting... We went to Sacrament meeting and
part of 2nd hour in the Fairfield ward, and then we went to all of Cypress
Lakes. It will be interesting trying to balance overlapping church
meetings... it will be easier in January when the times change and they won't
overlap anymore. It's a work in progress... we're still figuring it
out. Each ward got a new ward mission leader though! Brother Burns
and Brother Crandall. We're excited to work with both of them - fresh
ideas to work with. :) Change is good - we're working with it.
I think that's all for the week... sure. Today starts the last
transfer of my mission... kind of weird... but it's going to be a good one. :)
I love y'all! Have a good week!
Sister Ririe
2 Nephi 7:5
#ShareTheGift
No comments:
Post a Comment