In Which Nashville is Full of Famous and Good People

Hello everyone!

First off, thank you so much to all who wished me Happy Birthday last week!  I wish I could respond to each one but I suppose this will have to do.

This week was kind of a rough week.  The adversary was working really hard to keep us from meeting with our investigators.  We ended up having to reschedule multiple times and not being able to teach any of our new investigators, lessons.  But I don't feel down about this.  In fact, this just confirms to me that we're doing a good work and miracles are about to happen.  Actually, forget about the future miracles waiting for us; we still found many small miracles throughout this week!  We were able to find other people who are interested in our message and also, finally visit a less active in our ward.

On Saturday, our mission had a conference, in which Elder Craig C. Christensen, Elder Meredith, and Elder Bednar were present!!  It was so cool!  We covered a lot of topics, some of which were faith as a principle of action, agency, understanding the Holy Ghost, and learning by the Spirit.  Some things which impressed me were learning that even if we are obedient and righteously qualified, we cannot demand the Spirit and nor expect immediate answers.  That causes very own selves to be the barrier for the Spirit.  And sometimes, we must consider that the Lord just trusts us to do what is right, without a constant reassurance from Him that we're doing okay.  The Holy Ghost provides answers that are line upon line, and precept upon precept. Instead of praying for more answers to our questions, we should pray for the eyes to see what we have already received.  Also, we give our will to His by making covenants and by doing so, our agency is enlarged.  The entire conference was more of a large discussion than a lecture-styled talk from the pulpit.  The way Elder Bednar taught us was engaging, honest, funny and inspiring.  He constantly asked us what we were learning from the Spirit throughout the three hours and toward the end, we had a question/answer session.  I almost raised my hand to ask a question but a lot of other missionaries had questions too and I was pretty sure with a little digging, I'd find the answer on my own.  After everything, all three plus President and Sister Anderson bore their testimonies and then we all got the opportunity to assemble in a line and shake their hands!  When it was my turn, Elder Bednar shook my hand, sincerely looked into my eyes and quietly said "Thank you, Sister Ririe."  

Whoa.  I totally just shook hands with one of the 15 Most Important People in the World! 

Later that day, the Bellevue ward had a musical testimony meeting in which, Sister Peyton and I performed at the end.  We sang "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again," whilst playing the ukulele, mainly because that hymn was the easiest for Sister Peyton to learn on the instrument.  I don't really know how well we did but a lot of people told us that our number was good so I suppose it turned out all right after all! :)  The Spirit was definitely present that evening and it was a great opportunity for the ward members to get to know us better, as well as us get to see the musical talents of many other people too.

I forgot to mention this last week but we'd gone out to dinner with the Relief Society secretary of our ward, Sister Olsen.  As we were getting to know her, she told us that she tours the country with her sister, singing as a duo, and loves to share her testimony with her fans through her musical career.  I really wish I had Google available to look up a Kori Olsen because neither Sister Peyton or I have a clue as to how famous she is :P

Two other fun things about being in Nashville: David Archuleta is currently the YSA ward mission leader.  Their ward meets after ours but I've seen him around a few times for brief moments.  And some of the band members from Imagine Dragons are in one of the wards here.

This email is a little scatterbrained but hopefully y'all can tell that I absolutely love being here and am so thankful I've been called to serve the people of Bellevue.  I wish y'all the best!

--

Sister Ririe

Learning From the People

 

                                              Picture drawn by Sister Peyton's sister for my birthday!

Greetings all!

As of today, I can no longer say I am a teenager!  (P-Day birthdays are the best) But I know that I have so many more things to learn.  

This week has been really good.  Many appointments fell through and there have been a lot of stumbling blocks but we were able to work out a lot of them anyway and meet so many cool investigators.  

A few days ago, we needed a place to tract and we ended up picking a random street to knock doors on.  The second door we knocked on, a family answered and it was one of the most bizarre but cool experiences I've ever found myself in.  The mom, Kelly, has a really strong testimony in God.  We stood on her doorstep for over an hour, just listening to her tell her story.  They are going through a really hard time right now.  A lot of bad and crazlegal dark valleys as well.  She was also very open about her story and I just found myself blown away at how incredible she has been through it all.y things are shaking up their lives but they are working their way through these many trials, by focusing on Christ.  They were actually a former investigator who were dropped a long time ago and we were able to restore them because they're letting us "practice" teaching, with them.  They have a giant pig in their house too:)

Later in the week, we met with Ashley, a member in our Bellevue ward, who is going through a lot of familial and 

The strong character Ashley and Kelly have, has strengthened my testimony and made me so grateful to have the family I have.  

Last Monday, we had an appointment with a mom named Tabitha.  She is so prepared to hear and accept the gospel!  I'm very excited to teach her.  When we presented the Restoration pamphlet to her, she commented that it looked like Christ was holding the lamb like she'd hold her kids.  That comment made an impact on me and just reinforced how much Heavenly Father and Christ love us.

Yesterday, we also got to meet a teenager named Alicia face to face for the first time.  She's the granddaughter of the grandma, Pauline, I've mentioned in I think, the first email.  We've kept missing her for the past couple of weeks and we almost did this time too but her work let her off so we were able to visit with her.  Turns out, her mom is also interested in learning about the gospel.  When we asked the two about a time when their prayers were answered, Alicia talked about two times when she'd pray for her friends to be safe or to keep having faith through tough times.  Sister Peyton and I were both touched that when she prayed, she prayed for others.  

Sister Peyton and I had the awesome opportunity to teach the lesson in Young Womens to four Laurels and a Mia Maid.  The lesson was a little scatterbrained but the discussion went well and the Spirit was definitely there.  Next week, we'll be teaching the Beehives.  Young Women are so great!  

I am learning so much from the people here in Bellevue!  

When I started researching Tennessee before I came out on my mission, I started falling in love with the state and the people.  Now that I'm here, I'm getting to understand why.

Love y'all!

--

Sister Ririe

March of Miracles

Hello all!

From the very beginning of my arrival, I've been told that this transfer is the miracle transfer, and this area is full of miracles.  And I'm beginning to see that.

One amazing thing which happened this week, was when we were out tracting, we accidentally missed the bus stop we wanted to get on, to get to the street we wanted to tract.  Turning around, on the way back, a couple in our ward were driving by and they stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride.  We gratefully accepted and were dropped off on the street, 2 minutes before the bus would have picked us up.  The first door didn't answer and the second, we knocked and the dog started barking.  The woman who lived in the house was angry because her baby had woken up and told us to stop "knocking on random doors."

A little down because of that chiding, we continued on.  It was cloudy, raining, and really cold outside.  We finished all the houses on the street, with no success, and were about to either move on to a new street, when we decided to talk to this one young man, we had passed by earlier.  He was not the owner of the house.  He was simply painting the bathroom tiles while the owner was away.  We knocked on the door of the house he was working in, after Sister Peyton pushed me to work up my courage to go talk to him. He answered and was really open to the message we shared with him.  Michael has been going to different churches to experience what each are like.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and the number for the area the missionaries over the area he lives in.  He promised he'd call them with questions later and seems to be a golden investigator!  

After that amazing moment, I realized we were meant to go to that street, that day, to teach that man at that exact hour, and the Lord helped us get there through small miracles.  We might have missed him if we had taken the bus instead, or if we had given up too soon.  He mentioned he was just finishing up, when we spoke with him.  Even our maps app, incorrectly guiding us to walk past the bus stop we wanted, was a miracle because the couple driving by probably wouldn't have seen us or might have turned down their offer.  God works through small means to bring about great things.

Another fun thing which happened, again when we were out tracting during an evening.  (Finding and tracting is pretty much all we do in between appointments.)  We knocked on a door and introduced ourselves as the missionaries.  The man who answered, immediately motioned for us to come inside.  Surprised, we step inside and go to the kitchen and there's a group of women gathered. We'd tracted into a Bible study!  The man invited us to say whatever we had to say to the whole group and then I got really nervous. Thankfully, Sister Peyton was of sound mind to actually start talking and eventually, I joined in.  I bore my testimony of Christ, the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  We taught the whole Restoration lesson to that group and they were open to listen to us (they even offered us food :P).  Afterward, we left a Book of Mormon with them.  That was such a cool experience!  We'd been praying for an opportunity to find someone receptive and to give away a Book of Mormon that day, and it happened!

Great news!  Elder Bednar is coming to our mission next Saturday for a mission-wide meeting.  I am so excited!!!

Anyhow, these are just a few of the many small miracles I've experienced this last week and I look forward to the times ahead.

Take care!

-- 

Sister Ririe

Whitewashed into Nashville! (Both companions new to area)

Hello!

This week has been kind of crazy!  But a good crazy.

I left the MTC early in the morning and we drove to Salt Lake via bus.  When checking my bags, I looked at the weight and one of my bags weighed 48 lbs and the other, 49!  Phew!  Just barely!  One of my MTC Sisters, Sister Black, said her's weighed exactly 50!  We are so thankful to the Lord for his small blessings.

The flight to Atlanta, Georgia lasted a little over three hours and when we landed, we met two Hermanas who were with Sister Allie Rigby at the Mexico MTC!  How cool is that?!

When we arrived to the Nashville airport, we soon were greeted by President and Sister Anderson and their PA's.  We drove to the mission home (Nashville is huge!  We'd been driving from the airport for over 20 minutes on a freeway and we were still in Nashville!)  At the mission home, we had a lovely homemade dinner and training for that evening.  We stayed over at the mission home that night and in the morning, we drove to a stake center for more training and to meet our trainers!

My new companion is so awesome.  We have a lot in common and a part of me suspects she's my American twin.

When President Anderson called on my name to announce who I'd train with and what area I would be sent to, he grinned and said that I'd have a challenge.  My companion and I have been whitewashed into Bellvue, a section of Nashville that kind of feels like a town in itself.  We didn't have the area book on our first day and so after much confusion, we finished the first day by tracting in the evening.  It was dark.  It was heavily raining.  It was cold and really windy.  My umbrella did that thing I only see happen in movies and it inverted/flipped because the wind got really strong.  And we knocked on a lot of doors but no one wanted to listen or they weren't home.  So, yeah.  That was my experience of the first day and first time tracting.  And it was actually kind of awesome!!

We thankfully had dinner with a family, the Larson's, which is good because we had no food in the apartment :)  And afterward, we were able to meet with the Ward Mission Leader, who is so good at this calling!  The Bellevue ward is amazing.  They are so missionary focused.  They recently issued a challenge to the ward, to take a Book of Mormon and put in the place that they are at most frequently.  They do this for two reasons: one, to continually remind themselves of the obligation they have, as members, to share the gospel and two, so that someone can see it and a natural conversation about the Book of Mormon can be sparked.  They are also having a musical testimony meeting, later in March, which would be a fun event to invite friends and non-members to.

On Wednesday, we were able to get a car to drive around in so for the rest of the week, Sister Peyton and I have just been really busy going around, meeting the potential and progressing investigators, and tracting.

In the South, everyone has a dog :)  Doorbells?  Nah.  Dogs?  Yeah!

Also, there aren't very many sidewalks and the roads aren't that bike friendly so I'm not sure how biking is going to work out here.  Apparently the previous sisters walked a lot to go everywhere.

This week, we met Pauline!  She is a black, 71-year-old grandma who stays over at her grandaughters, often.  Pauline has such a beautiful, strong faith in Jesus Christ!  She warmly invited us in and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon.  We dropped by a few days later and she's been happily reading more of the Book of Mormon and even sharing it with her daughter!  We're not sure if we'll be able to keep her as our progressing investigator though because she lives far away and only visits often.  But hopefully we'll be able to continue seeing her in the future!

The people we tract into are really nice.  Many tell us to keep warm and to be careful, especially when it's getting dark soon.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait until Daylight Savings comes.  Then, it'll be lighter, later in the day, when we tract in the evenings.

Anyhow, this week has been pretty good.  I finally feel like I'm adjusting to missionary life and Sister Peyton and I are getting a better grip on our area and we're excited to work miracles here.

Love y'all and take care!

--

Sister Ririe

Little tree she took with her to have a little part of home with her.