Why Don't We See People Parting Oceans Anymore?

Happy Father's Day!
Monday, Sister Burton and I visited a Hindu Sri Ganesha temple.
Ganesha is the god of knowledge and wisdom in Hinduism and it was the
main god there but there were several other smaller gods around the
room as well. We were able to witness a group worship Ganesha; it was
very different and fascinating.
Hossain! We tracted into him on Friday. He is originally from Iran
and used to practice Islam but no longer believes there is a God or
afterlife. We talked with him for a long time about his views of the
world and there are a lot of questions that he has which have gone
unanswered for a long time. He's a funny but good person and I had
the impression to ask him to help us out by letting us practice
teaching the lessons to him...and he graciously agreed! I don't know
what will come of these lessons with Hossain but I'm hoping along the
way he will desire to take the lessons for himself. At the very
least, I'm praying that he will be inspired to believe in God again.
#whydontweseepeoplepartingoceansanymore? #answer:cellphones
#wewouldhaveproofofit #teachinganatheist! #satanispouting
Miracle on Saturday! The Elders have been teaching a woman named
Scarlett since before I white-washed Bellevue and she is awesome.
I've been able to watch her progress in the gospel for the past 3 1/2
months and the change in her is radiant. She was baptized on Saturday
and I really wanted to go the baptismal service but missionaries
cannot attend other missionaries baptisms unless they bring an
investigator or less-active with them. We'd planned on Vern coming
with us but he politely declined since he already had plans over the
weekend and since Latisha and Nathaniel have both already attended
previous baptismal services, we did not have an investigator to ask to
come with us. Then, Sister Lawrence suddenly texts us one evening and
asks what time the baptismal service is. Turns out, she was planning
to go to it and she was willing to give us a ride there and back! The
puzzling thing about it all is...not only does she not personally know
Scarlett, she was not at church when Scarlett's baptism was announced.
I cannot figure out how she even knew it was happening. But she
somehow did and the Lord in His tender mercy, blessed me with the
opportunity to support Scarlett and go to her baptism that day.
I am so thankful I have a great earthly father and a wonderful
Heavenly Father, both of whom love and support me, and have blessed my
life.

Until next week!
Sister Ririe

Blue Bell ice cream is delicious
!

Visiting a Hindu Temple

The Gospel is True; The Book is Blue!

Time is so different as a missionary.  There are things that I did only last Tuesday which I feel happened like, two weeks ago!

Hello everyone!

CMA Fest was going on in Nashville this weekend, but I was too busy to even remember it was going on.  So much has happened that I don't know what to touch on or where to begin!

Remember Nathaniel?  Well, we met up with him on Saturday and taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ, while also reviewing the Restoration and Plan of Salvation.  He had good questions and the lesson went well.  Sister Burton remembered that the Sister missionaries of the Green Hills ward had an investigator who was getting baptized that evening and invited him to come.  And he did!  Additionally, we invited him to church and he came to both sacrament meeting and stayed for the 2nd block.  It took three and a half months but I finally had an investigator come to church!  Well, okay, Jackie was technically the first, but she slipped in and out without anyone knowing she'd come so I kind of only half count that one.

Since it was a walking week, my feet started hurting on Thursday, after traveling everywhere by foot.  The weather has also been incredibly humid and hot lately.  But at the end of the day, Sister Burton and I counted how many lessons we'd taught Thursday, and we totaled 9 lessons!  We typically have about 12-13 per week right now.  We were blown away.  Miracles!  #Godblessesusonwalkingweeks #butHe'llmakeusworkforthem!

On Wednesday evening, we had an new investigator named Vern come to our Book of Mormon study group.  It was awesome.  I actually didn't think Vern would become a progressing investigator because he expressed disinterest in converting and mainly only wanted to read the Book of Mormon to gain a better insight as to what our beliefs were.  I totally thought we were going to drop him.  But when we met with him to give him a Book of Mormon, we testified of its truthfulness and invited him to come to the study group.  He not only committed to come, he really enjoyed it and wanted to come back to another one!  Vern is a very cool guy and I learned this week that I should not be so quick to lose hope in someone.  I also saw just how powerful testifying of the Book of Mormon really is.  

It really is another testament of Jesus Christ.  Reading it brings us closer to our Lord and Savior.  And with it comes a promise that if we sincerely read and ponder the words it has to offer, and ask God if it really is His word, He will answer our prayers and we can receive a witness from the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true.

I love the Book of Mormon.  I've been marathoning the Bible lately and I just finished the book of Job this morning.  Reading the Bible has helped me gain an even deeper appreciation for the Book of Mormon.  Both work together to establish the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If you haven't done this before, or even if you haven't done this lately, I challenge you to read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover, like a novel or with a question in mind.  I can promise you that will bless your life.

I love you all and hope you're having a good summer.  Stay safe and use bug spray!  Also, fireflies are basically the most magical creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, EVER!

 First house in Bellevue.

 Giant Magnolia blossom

Visiting a Hindu Temple

Come and Partake of the Fruit!

Another week's gone by!  How crazy is that?  The weather has been the 90's and 100's.  There have been a handful of good storms this last week as well.  I was so thankful for the car and AC.  But we won't have the car this week.  Wish me luck:)

President Andersen just sent an email to us this weekend, that our whole mission exceeded our goal of number of people baptized this month!  Also, he notified us that the Cookeville area will be transferring from our mission to the Knoxville mission this month.  Sister Hansen and Sister Brennan (my former STL) are currently serving in Cookeville.  This is happy news, because with the move over, the Knoxville mission will now have 6 stakes and qualify for a temple in the future!  We are actively working to make the Vision of the South come true.

I don't think I've mentioned the Vision of the South before.  Every morning, we have companion study and we recite a handful of different things from memory.  The Vision for the South is one of them.  One of my favorite lines included in the Vision goes: "Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men's souls."  This is so true.  Especially when it comes to God's work.  Because through Him, all things are possible.  A part of the Vision of the South, is that there will be temples, plural, in the South States.  And helping the work progress toward making that Vision a reality is such a blessing.

We saw Latisha twice this week and we've re-set her baptism date to be July 2nd.  She finally understands that the Book of Mormon is not another version of the Bible and that it is an account of different nations and their testimonies of Jesus Christ.  She has been overwhelmed with work lately and she hasn't been able to come to church at all.  But she understands the importance of coming to church and is making an effort to change her schedule.  Latisha's testimony and commitment to God is so strong!  We got black raspberry ice cream to celebrate :D

Yesterday, during tracting hour, we met a man named Michael.  He suffers from social anxiety and felt that because he couldn't be a "light on a hill," to others, he wasn't being a enough good disciple and God wasn't answering his prayers.  He also had questions about whether men were subject to time and chance or directed by God.  Sister Burton and I tried to explain to him that both could be true and that God looks upon the desires of our hearts when he judges us but he didn't accept our answers.  He believed that no matter what our efforts were, all of our lives are determined by chance and in frustration, walked back into his house, stating that he was tired and had long over time, come to terms with the fact that he would never receive salvation.  

Sister Burton and I just stood there, in shock and overwhelming sadness.  I'm praying that somewhere down the line, Michael will come to feel and know how much our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love him.  I'm so thankful to have the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm grateful to know that I am a daughter of a loving God, who only wants the best for me and who is ever present in my life.  It is through the Atonement that I can find a certain peace and joy that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, and I am pleased to accept my calling to testify of our Savior's love so that some other soul can come closer to Christ and partake of the fruit which is most sweet and pure, and desirable above all other fruit.

I love all y'all!

Bellevue Adventures

Hello again!

Another week into another transfer. Same area, new companion. Sister
Burton is amazing and I can tell that this transfer is going to be so
much fun! She's been on her mission for 6 months and Bellevue is her
second area. She is from Hawaii...well, she says she's from Hawaii
because she knows the most about that place. Her dad is in the Navy
so she's lived in many, many different places.

Bellevue is doing great! We did a lot of walking this week and I have
a really bad tan line on my feet, which refuses to go away.

We had an incident this week in which google maps lied to us so we
were trying to blindly figure it the bus system to get back to our
apartment. I kind of feel bad for Sister Burton because this week was
her first experience of riding on a bus in America. I figure that we
probably spent about 4 1/2 hours on a bus that day. It was thanks to
memories of my previous bus experiences and really kind bus
drivers/other people, that we were able to find our way back to the
apartment. Overall, it wasn't actually that bad of an experience.
Just long, repetitive and tedious. And now, I understand the
Nashville bus system so much better!

We lost one of our ward missionaries, Brother Sabey, on Sunday because
he's been called to be the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. Brother
and Sister Sabey are basically angelic member missionaries, as far as
I'm concerned. And we're so sad to see him leave but also so excited
that we'll have a ward council member who's pumped about missionary
work!

One really awesome thing that happened last night. We have this less
active family that we have been visiting regularly on Sunday evenings.
Lately, only Sister Owens has been present when we come by. But last
night, Brother Owens was there too! Before now, he has always either
been gone, sleeping because he has night shift, or cooking dinner in
the background. But he was there last night! And he said he made a
commitment to come listen to our lessons/messages more often in the
future...without us having to say anything! #miracles

Two other miracles happened on Sunday: Sister Green brought a friend
to church and Brother Thompson brought a friend to a patriotic
concert, sponsored by the church. It is so inspiring to see members
of the Bellevue ward sharing their testimonies and doing missionary
work.

My favorite miracle this week though: fireflies galore! I am seeing a
lot more and they are so beautiful!

I hope all y'all are doing well. Happy birthday Cami! Enjoy your
last year as a "teenager" :)
Sister Ririe