It's a new transfer everyone!
Wow, each week, I look back at how much has happened and I'm blown away at how many things we've done.
On Tuesday, we had transfers. I said goodbye to Sister Peyton and hello to my new companion, Sister Hansen! Taking over the area isn't as scary as I thought it'd be, actually. With a lot of help from God, I'm successfully remembering names, people, and places we need to be. We've been doing a lot of hardcore tracting, this week. I know I've been saying we've been tracting a lot, in previous emails, but now I realize that we were mainly just following up on formers, a lot. This week, we've been door-to-door tracting a lot. And it's paying off. We found 7 new investigators and we're excited to follow up with them this upcoming week. I'm incredibly thankful that it didn't rain this last week, because it was "no car week", so we were able to walk/bike to wherever we planned to tract, in the sun. Speaking of the weather, it's beginning to get hotter over here in Nashville.
Wow, each week, I look back at how much has happened and I'm blown away at how many things we've done.
On Tuesday, we had transfers. I said goodbye to Sister Peyton and hello to my new companion, Sister Hansen! Taking over the area isn't as scary as I thought it'd be, actually. With a lot of help from God, I'm successfully remembering names, people, and places we need to be. We've been doing a lot of hardcore tracting, this week. I know I've been saying we've been tracting a lot, in previous emails, but now I realize that we were mainly just following up on formers, a lot. This week, we've been door-to-door tracting a lot. And it's paying off. We found 7 new investigators and we're excited to follow up with them this upcoming week. I'm incredibly thankful that it didn't rain this last week, because it was "no car week", so we were able to walk/bike to wherever we planned to tract, in the sun. Speaking of the weather, it's beginning to get hotter over here in Nashville.
There are so many miracles, both big and small, which we experienced this week. One of them occurred when we were walking to an apartment complex we were planning to tract. We came to a huge stoplight intersection and pushed the signal button. We waited on the sidewalk corner, and standing by us, is this other guy who is also waiting for his light to turn into that walking person sign thing. We stand there, keeping to ourselves, waiting for a few moments, and then Sister Hansen turns and starts talking to the man who is standing a couple feet from us. I start half listening to the conversation and half keeping an eye on the light. After a few minutes, I'm certain that the light is malfunctioning because it hasn't turned, when it was supposed to. Then, I stop for a moment and realize just how silly I'm being. Here I am, waiting for a light to turn so that we can make our way to some apartments we plan to tract so that we can find people to teach, when right here, is a person who is openly talking with us missionaries and expressing interest in talking about religion. Wi this revelation, I abandon all thought and attention I had on that malfunctioning light and became fully engaged with the conversation. That man's name is Darrell and he is running an organization which focuses on improving the education of youth, especially in financial literacy (both things I'm super passionate about!) and it turns out that he works with a lot of LDS people. He's been to church and talked with missionaries before. Even more incredible, is that he's totally willing to meet with missionaries again and he agreed to come to church on Sunday!! Unfortunately, he lives in downtown Nashville, so he isn't in our area, but we got his number and referred his information to the Green Hills Sisters. Looking back on that moment, I feel even more silly for even considering keeping my attention in that malfunctioning light in the first place. It's like, God was forcing us to just stay and talk with Darrell. This experience strengthen my resolve to just talk with everyone and not avoid unexpected/unplanned teaching opportunities.
The more people I meet, whether they be active members, less-actives, investigators, or random strangers, the more I see that everyone is going through personal insecurities, financial struggles, health problems, times of grief and much confusion. I realize just how blessed I've been, growing up. And my heart aches when I can see how life's trials are wearing these people down, whether they open up to us about their circumstances or not. But at the same time, I marvel at how so many of them turn to God during these trials and keep trying to just move forward with a hope that things will turn for the better in the future. I just want to give them all a long hug and give them strength, peace, and comfort. Many times, I can't do that. But I find solace in the knowledge that because of the Atonement, Jesus Christ can. And my purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come to Christ so that they can receive that strength and comfort. As Sister Hansen told me, God trusts me with the people in this area. That's rather motivating for me to make sure I'm doing the best that I can to be Christ's representative.
I love y'all! And to my dismay, I think "y'all" has officially become a part of my natural vocabulary.
Sister Ririe
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