Service (For the Living and the Dead) (Oct 24)

Hello, once again!

This week, we've been volunteering at a store called ThriftSmart.  It's like a Goodwill or DI, and we've started regularly helping out over there, so that we can do some community service during some of the hours of the week which are hard to fill.  It's been a fun experience.  I certainly don't miss the retail world and it kind of feels like I'm an employee at a clothing store but I know that no effort is wasted and I am planting good seeds with everyone.  While at ThriftSmart, we saw an advertisement for ESL classes and we're hoping to get involved with that as well in the near future!  Service is fun.  It opens doors and provides many blessings for both those being served and those who are serving.

At church yesterday, one of the wards had their primary program.  It was fantastic to watch and the kids did an amazing job.  The Spirit was very strong during that hour as well.  Kids have such simple and powerful testimonies.  I also saw President Stone and his family too!  I don't think I mentioned this yet, but I'm serving in President's home ward!  It's kind of fun and also a little pressuring.  Sister Miller and I joke that one day we should go knock on their door when tracting:)

One of our investigators, Wanda, came to a family history and genealogy event the Nashville Stake was hosting, on Saturday.  It was a wonderful event and she really liked it.  I learned some things from it as well.  It's fascinating how Asian cultures like China and Japan, heavily emphasize honoring the elderly and one's ancestors.  Many people have family history and genealogy work completed that goes back for several centuries.  My companion and I were discussing this and we think that at some point in the past, those people had the knowledge of the gospel that pertains to temple and ordinance work for the dead but over time, that knowledge became lost.

I'm so grateful that a full knowledge of the gospel has been restored to the earth today and that I have the opportunity to share that knowledge with everyone.  This email has been a bit scattered!  Y'all take care!

Sister Ririe

Sister Ririe

Faith Removes Mountains (Oct 17)

Hey y'all!

I don't really have a whole lot to talk about, but we had Zone Conference this Friday and it lasted all day.  We had to be at the church for car inspections by 8am and we didn't leave until 4:30pm.  The Conference was so good though...President Stone went over some more mission rules and we learned more about working with members and inviting people to be baptized sooner.  We are supposed to try and invite people to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized during the 1st lesson!  If I weren't on a mission myself, I'd say that's crazy and way too soon.  But I've seen it work and I've done it myself.  The Lord really is in charge of this work.

After Zone Conference, we went on exchanges with the STLs.  Sister Miller stayed in our area with Sister Woodruff (who apparently used to serve in the Sunset Ward in the past!) and I went with Sister Matheson to the Green Hills area.  I love Nashville!  I was so happy to be back downtown.  We went with a recent convert named Pam to a lesson and the person we were expecting to meet with was t home but someone else was so we ended up teaching her instead! It was a wonderful experience and blessing to hear Pam give her passionate testimony of the Book of Mormon.  Sister Matheson and I surprisingly had many things in common as well, like knowing the piano, organ, and dancing for many years when we were younger.  The exchange was really fun and I was able to learn a lot.  

One of my favorite quotes to share with people, is by Bishop Richard C. Edgley, about faith: "When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast a devil out as they had just witnessed the Savior do, Jesus answered, 'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove' (Matthew 17:20). I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith, I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith, I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith, I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed."

I absolutely love that quote.  Faith is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Faith and Charity are the foundation of everything in the gospel and they enable us to access the power and blessings of heaven.  This gospel is not here just to make our lives better, it is to change us into better people!  And this time as a missionary has helped me gain a testimony of change through faith and repentance.

Lots of love,

Sister Ririe

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (October 10)

This week, we were able to go to the Nashville Temple! (Which is actually in Franklin). It's been over 7 1/2 months since I've been able to go to a temple.  The Nashville temple is incredibly small.  It is so cute!  I hope that one day, they will renovate it and make it bigger.  There was such a wonderful, peaceful feeling in the temple, especially the celestial room.  The whole experience reminded me of the time when I used to work at the Boise temple before coming on my mission.  And to top that experience off, David Archuleta decided to slip into the endowment session as well.  All of the sister missionaries were talking about it afterward.  It was funny.

We also saw Suzanne this week.  She is the family friend of Robyn and Louis, who own the creepy house I talked about tracting into last week.  We did some service for her by moving some heavy boxes around her apartment and other small odd jobs.  She asked us to throw away a leftover box of old books and when we looked at the books, we saw that they were a set of 

Harvard Classics!  She was going to just toss them out because they'd been in a house fire and smelled smoky.  They are some pretty cool old books.  Sister Miller asked for them Suzanne happily gave them to us.  So now, Sister Miller has 23 old Harvard classic books sitting in a box, waiting to be shipped home.  I flipped through the books and found some really cool old things, like an old train ticket and a post card.  The various small blessings one receives when serving others!  Suzanne took us to dinner at Longhorn steakhouse afterward and we invited her to come to church on Sunday.  She was planning to come but then backed out last minute due to other commitments with grandkids.  

On Sunday, we were finally able to meet the members of the Sunset and Old Hickory wards!  There are so many families and names and faces to remember!  It'll take me a while to get them all down.  The members are so wonderful.  I'm also kind of excited and nervous because President Stone and his family are in the Old Hickory ward!  The members here love sister missionaries.  One little girl came up to us yesterday and said that she'd been praying for 

Sister missionaries to come to her ward and our arrival was an answer to her prayers.  I am excited to work with the people here to encourage and help them in their member missionary work.  

We actually received two referrals yesterday.  One of which, is from the bishop.  We had dinner with Bishop Facer and his wife last night.  Whilst conversing, he asked us if we had any plans on Wednesday night.  We told him we didn't have any set plans, which was great because he proceeded to tell us that earlier that day, a man came up to him and asked to speak with him.  The man told Bishop Facer that he had a dream 25 years ago that he was ill or injured and that a boy came up to him, touched him, and he was all healed.  Many years later, he received a back injury which prevented him from working for a long time so he was laid off his job.  He asked for help from his Mosque but they said they could not do anything for him.  He then had the same dream again.  The boy looked exactly the same.  He touched the man's back and healed him.  When the man asked the boy who he was, the boy answered and said, "I am Jesus Christ."  The man went back to the doctor and told him he'd been healed.  The doctor re-examined him and said that he was indeed healed.  Now, the man is searching to find out who Jesus Christ is.  Of all the many Christian churches he could have gone to, he came to ours.  It's so fascinating.  Bishop told us the man said he was just driving along, looking for a church and saw our building and was drawn to it, and went in...and we happened to be there, having our services.  And so...we now have an appointment to see him on Wednesday.  I hope he actually shows up.  Like...whoa!  What an amazing miracle to be a part of!  This is the kind of thing you hear about in the Ensign or read in books or hear about from cool RM stories.  This is so surreal!  It is such a testament that God is in charge of this marvelous work and a wonder and I am abundantly blessed to serve in a small part of His vineyard.

I hope y'all have a blessed week:)
Sister Ririe

Tracting Adventures and Brushes with Death

Hello!

So...Brentwood, being renowned for being the city where wealthy people live with super nice and rich homes, we naturally ended up tracting down this back dirt road.  The first home we decided to try had a half-mile long driveway and there was a sign which said beware of dogs.  Then two dogs, as if on cue, came running out towards us.  We drove on and the road led us to an open cow farm.  Like literally, a cow was just standing a few feet away from our small car!!  And there was no fence.  We awkwardly turned around and decided to skip this property.

The next house we go to is this crazy creepy abandoned-looking house with a dedicatory plaque to a dead guy.  It was so unexpected and funny in its appearance that I was planning to take a picture of it when suddenly the door opens and this really old and pale man is standing there looking at us.  We introduced ourselves as missionaries and he immediately invited us in.  People do not normally respond with that.  We were surprised and asked if there was a lady in the house.  He replied, "yes, there are many."  Oookayyy...that's odd.  I was secretly wondering if those women were alive or dead!  We shuffled inside and he introduced himself as Lewis.  He invited us to come follow him towards the back of he house.  The home was dark, dusty and damp.  There were no lights on and the architecture was old.  It was crowded inside and there were old portraits of people on the walls and piles of antique stuff.

Sister Miller saw a huge chainsaw in the backyard...we really thought we were going to die!  

But it turned out to be a super good experience.  We talked with the man, Lewis, and a family friend named Suzanne, and it turned out the Elders had been over just the week before and that Lewis and Suzanne had been talking about the Book of Mormon for the last 10 minutes and then we knocked on their door!  That's why Lewis let us in the door immediately.  It was a great conversation and we are planning to do service for Suzanne later!  

General Conference was fantastic.  The Spirit was strong and I loved how Elder Oaks spoke about the importance of members doing missionary work.  It's true.  Members are so critical!  

I'm loving my new area so far.  I'm over two wards, the Sunset and the Old Hickory wards, and it's crazy keeping track of two phones:).  The members we've met here so far are fantastic though and I'm really excited to work with them to build this area up as a special part of God's kingdom.

Sister Ririe

Visiting the zoo

New companion, Sister Miller

                                                      Saying goodbye to Allison and Mike

This is Sister Miller, my new companion!

   

Exciting Times!

So apparently the main gas line from Alabama that supplies gasoline to Tennessee broke?  And now everyone is scrambling to find gas.  A member named Deven, told us it took him 50 minutes to get gas on Saturday and when he was filling up, he got 6 gallons and it ran out.  There is literally no gasoline available to buy aIt's kind of funny.  We only have a quarter of a tank left so we're praying it it'll last us until the line gets fixed.  Two members offered us gas while we were visiting them, the day the incident happened, and we declined both, slightly confused as to why people were offering us gas??  And then we heard we news from the Elders, later that night.  Ahhh!  Why is there such a delayed news report system for missionaries?!  Haha, we should be fine though:)  We heard there was a bombing in New York too.  There is much calamity happening in this exciting time of the last days.  It really makes reading the scriptures and finding the parallels and prophecies so much more interesting.

Greetings everyone!

This week we were not able to see Jeff again because he is in New Orleans and Allison and Mike also took an out of state trip to Utah to go to Temple Square and also meet up with Sister Kronmiller's family (it's just so casual), so we didn't see them either.  

On Tuesday, we had interviews with President Stone.  Interviews with him are different than with President Andersen, but I suppose that's only to be expected!  He told Sister Kronmiller that he had he impression that her work in the Thompson Station 2nd area is not done and he told me that I'm becoming one of the more experienced sister missionaries in the mission which...nope, nada, no way!  I'm still a fetus missionary!  I am almost at my 7-month mark and that is so crazy!  Time flies by so quickly!!

We weren't able to teach Isabella a lesson because her sister was sick.  Brother Escobar asked us to keep her in our prayers and thankfully, she got better!  Isabella also came to church!  Her mom dropped her off, which is kind of a big deal because her mom was initially against her being baptized, and she had a great time!  Just one more Sunday and then she can be baptized!! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to talk to Isabella much, other than give her a hug before she left, because I was busily trying to keep track of the other 3 investigators who came to church on Sunday as well!

To start off with, we got a call from Sister Helquist in the morning on Wednesday, and she was just asking if there was anything we needed that day.  It was kind of an odd call and threw me off for a bit because I've never gotten a call like that before.  Actually, we were in the middle of studies so we asked her if we could call her back.  When going over our plans for the day, we thought of Katie, an investigator who we've kept around for the past several weeks and who'd not been making any progress.  We were about to drop her but we managed to get a last minute set appointment with her the day before.  We asked called back Sister Helquist and asked her if she'd like to come with us to that appointment and she said she would.  We read part of 3 Nephi 11 with Katie and invited her to come to church.  She didn't have a car so she initially said no but we offered to find her a ride and she then she said yes, she would come.  Come Sunday, Sister Helquist brought Katie and her two young kids to church.  Katie has two young kids and her oldest daughter is four.  Her daughter is a super social and active child!  We brought a coloring book and a bag of Cheerios to help keep her entertained during sacrament meeting.  In Relief Society, a sister mentioned how hard it was for her to give up coffee when she converted.  Katie was busy attending to her baby so I was desperately hoping that Katie would be wearing spiritual earmuffs but no such luck.  Katie looked up, surprised and asked, "y'all don't drink coffee?"  The whole room went silent and everyone was looking at us.  Ummm...the news has been broke!  Haha!  We told her to not worry about it and we'd explain it to her later.   She told one of the sisters she'd probably come back again and Sister Helquist told us that she's planning on watching the General Women's Broadcast too!

Also this week, a kid named Carter Helquist called us and asked us to come to early morning seminary with him and his non-member friendHe has a few friends who have been coming to seminary with him regularly so we got to wake up at 5am and have a seminary flash back experience.  It was great.  It was Sister Kronmiller's first time experiencing early morning seminary, actually.  And then Michaela, Carter's friend, came to church on Sunday!  I didn't get to talk to her either but we called Carter later in the day to follow up and he said she should be coming to church next Sunday again!

Also, we finally got to meet with Mark again.  (It only took us like, 7 or 8 weeks!)  Mark is an 18-year old who recently moved out and is kind of just struggling through life on his own.  We met him while tracting, super late in an evening, last transfer.  We were able to meet with him thanks to Deven (same Deven who told us about his experience getting gas) who picked Mark up from his home and drove him to a park where we could all meet up.  We talked about faith in Christ and how this gospel can bless us.  We invited him to come to church to see how he felt and also to be able to interact with more people.  He agreed to come if he didn't work on Sunday and he was able to come!  Deven gave him a ride so that he could come.  After all three hours, we asked Mark how he liked it and he said, "it was good, but I didn't like the church part of it."  What?  Mark, it's all church!  Haha he meant sacrament meeting.  He didn't like how formal and traditional everything in that meeting was.  But he really liked Gospel Principles and Priesthood Meeting, and he said he'd like to come back!

Church was so stressful.  But in a good way.  None of the three other investigators would have come if it weren't for member involvement.  Crazy and exciting times!

Sister Ririe

 Unexpected detour car drives down beautiful parkways are always welcome.

Our district

Us and Katie and Annabelle, her daughter

Sparkling cider at goodbye dinner before transfer.

I got a haircut this morning.  It's shorter than I wanted but...meh.  It'll grow back soon.

No Hablo Español Bien & If It's Not Sparkly, I Don't Want It!

Language barriers will continue to be the bane of my existence.

Greetings!

This week, I went on exchanges with the Hermanas to Columbia!  It was kind of difficult to not be able to understand everything but I was thankfully able to understand some parts of our conversations throughout the day.  Plus with the Hermana's translating for me, I was able to help teach a little, sometimes.  The gift of tongues is real!

On one of the evenings, we went to find a less active named Kurt.  We'd tried his home a number of times before but no one answered he door so this was the first time Sister Kronmiller and I were able to successfully meet the man.  I don't know what I was expecting but our experience was quite simply one of the most appalling yet greatest interaction I've ever had with a human being yet.  I have never met anyone who loves money and himself, more than Kurt.  Basically, the whole conversation was Kurt bragging about how much money he'd made that day selling cars and how nice his home is.  He pointed out the $1000 carpet under his motorcycle, the casinos in his home, his hired personal chef, his pedicure he'd gotten earlier that day...and his sparkle enhanced floor.  Literal quotes from him, said in all seriousness: "if it's not sparkly, I don't want it" and "everybody in Spring Hill knows me."  Man, the guy was beginning to give Tony Stark a run for his ego.  Through it all, though, I could sense that in spite of all of this, he wasn't truly happy.  I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what can bring people real and everlasting joy and peace.  In the past, I've personally thought about how nice it'd be to have a lot of money but after meeting Kurt and seeing him basking in all of his wealth, I know for sure that no amount of money or wealth will ever bring me more happiness than my Savior.

Isabella finally came to church on Sunday!  It was awesome.  Sister Kronmiller and I smiled all throughout church so much, my mouth hurt afterward haha.  We went over the baptismal questions with her this week and she seems pretty solid with it all.  The only thing left now, is helping her come to church another two times and making sure that she will want to continue coming to church after she is baptized.

Also on Sunday, the Elders had an investigator come to church who mainly spoke Chinese and unfortunately, there was nobody available to translate for her.  I walked by and said hello but I didn't know much more than that.  I don't think I've regretted not putting forth more effort before my mission to learn Chinese more than I did at that moment, even when I was in China.  Grrgh!  Language barriers! 

Anyhow, I'm doing well.  Spring Hill and Thompson Station are doing well.  We weren't able to meet with Jeff but we are hoping to find a different time to see him this week.

See y'all later!

Sister Ririe

  We had a zone p-day!

  exchanges with the STLs and their companions.

 We randomly saw Allison at Walmart whilst shopping for groceries today:)

 The Old School Cafe...literally one of the best places I've eaten at ever!!  And it's just right down the street from us.  It's an old school building that's been remodeled and turned into a cafe!

Finally had cheesy grits, tasted like nachos!

List Not and New Humans Found!

Another week gone by already?  It's hard to believe that I've been out for over 6 months...

Yesterday in my personal studies, I was reading Mosiah 2 which is the section where King Benjaman is addressing his people in a final sermon before he passes away.  In verse 32, he says, "But, O my people, beware lest there shall arise contentions among you, and ye list to obey the evil spirit..."  I discovered the word "list" in that sentence and I knew that he wasn't talking about a grocery list, so I looked the word up in the dictionary to see what "list" is defined as.  What I discovered was really cool!  List means, "inclination; cause to lean to the side; move; tilt to one side; angle; slant; tip..."  The word "listeth" is found in future verses another three times and they all are in reference to which spirit or voice we hearten to during this life.  I found that to be really meaningful to me.  We are being counseled to not even lean or tilt toward anything evil or negatively influential.  It really emphasizes how narrow and straight the path of righteousness is!

This week we found found three new investigators! We've been in kind of a dry spot for the last few weeks and they are the first new investigators we've been able to find for a while!  We found them all while tracting, which is great because there were definitely some days where we didn't feel like going out knocking doors. One of them is comfortable where she is right now but we had a fantastic conversation with her...(she was so funny!) and while she isn't interested now, we walked away happy that planted a good seed with her.

Another one of them is a girl named Lexie, who said she'd heard of our church from one of her middle school teachers.  And when we asked her if she'd had the chance to read the Book of Mormon, she said, "I wish!" Haha we got so excited and eagerly gave her one, with a pamphlet in the front. We set up a time to see her again, which is actually later today!  I hope the meeting turns out well!

Another of our new investigators, Cameron, had played basketball with members before so he was curious to know more about us. We asked him if he'd read the Book of Mormon ("no") and if he'd like a copy. He gave a hesitant "...yeeeeesss..." and asked what he'd have to do to get one. We both were beaming outwardly and inwardly laughing with glee as we handed him one and told him, "Nothing! We have one for you right now!"  (We do not solicit these books, Sir!). We are excited to meet with his family his Saturday and see what their thoughts of the Book of Mormon are.

Many members from our ward left this weekend to help out with the flooding in Louisiana.

We were not able to see Jeff this week but we are planning on meeting with him this Tuesday!

Also this week, Allison texted us and asked to take us out to dinner.  We wet to Cracker Barrel again and it was delicious.  We had a super nice waitress, who is actually going to graduate school here in Tennessee for therapy.  Sister Kronmiller got super excited and wanted to know more because she is planning to come back to Tennessee for grad school in drug rehab therapy as well!  Afterward, the waitress thanked us to talking with her and cheering up her day.  Turns out, she'd pulled a muscle in her thigh and was not having a very good day so far.  You never know who you can influence!

What else did we do this week?  Oh yeah, we had zone meeting!  More changes are happening in the TNM.  Our President has shortened our list of weekly and daily goals to motivate us missionaries to simply our focuses and place an emphasis on finding new people to teach.  Also, he has asked us to do more service in our agendas so Sister Kronmiller and I went to the library to return a wifi router we checked out and while there, I asked about volunteer opportunities in the community.  We are thinking of maybe helping out in the food pantry sometime in the near future.  

Lots of appreciation for y'all reading this!

Sister Ririe