👻 Happy Halloween! 🎃

👻 Happy Halloween! 🎃

President Stone swapped our p-day time today.  We got to work and proselyte from 10am to 1pm and P-day is from 1-9pm but be inside by 6pm.  They don't want us missionaries being out at dark during Halloween.  That's just a formula for trouble!  We were in the middle of the Nolensville town when P-day starred this afternoon so we spent the day window shopping at antique stores and looking at the different Amish foods and furniture shops.  We also went to Goodwill and did a little bit of actual shopping.  Consequence of the store being located in the Brentwood area where most people are really rich and privileged is that we saw tons of really nice things for super cheap prices.  Tender mercies hee hee! 😄

This week has gone by so quickly!  We started the week off going to ThriftSmart to see if we could volunteer at the ESL classes.  We found success!  They are thrilled to have more volunteers and it turns out that hardly any of the people to come to the classes are Spanish speakers.  Many are from Middle Eastern countries and speak languages like Arabic, Turkish and Farsi.  It was a really cool experience to be able to help out these people who are trying their best to grasp a difficult language like English.  

On Wednesday, we got to do one of the coolest service projects ever: drive a group of brand new 2017 Chevy Malibu's to the mission office.  It was so fun.  While waiting for the cars to be ready, the mission office suggested we hop in one of the blue convertibles that was on display and take pictures.  Sister Miller and I joke that we got to be Sister APs for that afternoon!!!

Finding adventure: we tracked down a potential investigator named Jimmy, who we've had in our area book since we arrived to the area.  We find the home that belongs to his address and walk up his steep driveway.  When knocking on the door, we hear loud voices singing from inside and wonder if we're knocking into a band that is practicing (it wouldn't be my first time). The door opens and long story short, Jimmy invites us in to listen to one of his co-workers sing some songs.  It turns out that Jimmy is a music producer and we got to listen to both Jimmy and a guy named Ryan Counts have a mini jam session.  We were only going to listen to one song but then they started playing and we instantly became a captive audience.  Ryan recently signed a contract with Sony Records so the songs we listened to might possibly be on the radio in the future.  Basically...we got to meet a To-Be Famous county star singer and he graciously pulled out a chair and sang a few of his songs for us before they were released.  It. was. awesome.  Not just the sheer experience itself but the actual music as well.  But back to the missionary work side of it all: we aren't sure how interested Jimmy really is but we're planning to go back and try to catch him when he and his wife aren't working.

We met a less active sister, Sister Boardman.  She is 86 years old and one of the spunkiest people I've met!  We went over with her home teachers to do some service for her.  We helped put up curtain rods whilst listening to her life's story.  She joined the air force when she was 23, married and then divorced, and had to work and raise 4 young kids on her own.  She told us that when she moved to across the country to Arizona, she arrived with 4 kids and $2.50 in her pocket and not another penny to her name.  She is such a fun lady and we're really excited to go back to finish doing service for her this week.

On Friday, we took a mini road trip to Bellevue!  Sister Miller served there after I left and taught a woman named Karen, who was shortly after, baptized.  We recently discovered that Karen and her kids have been struggling in coming to church and so President granted us permission to not only call her but go over and visit her.  It was a good visit and it was surreal to be driving around the familiar streets and shops of Bellevue again.  I remembered exactly where everything was and it was like I'd only been gone for a week.  Oh the nostalgia! 🤗

Oh goodness...there's still more from this week I could write about!  I'm having a great time out here and I'm learning so much more than I could have ever expected.  I love y'all and hope you have a great Halloween!

Sister Ririe