Head aches!

Hello everyone, 

This week has been a very long week. I saw a doctor on tuesday. He has come to the conclusion that I have been having migraines. He said that it keeps getting re stimulated by different things. Lack of sleep, food, stress, my work load.... He has put me on a medication that is suppose to slowly start to take away the headaches. He told me that the next little while is going to be hard on me because this medication makes me very tired. I am now getting to sleep at night. which is great news, but the effects of the medication last all day. I feel very tired all of the time, its almost like being numb to everything around me. I hate it!! I have a hard time talking to anyone because it is hard to get my thoughts together. I have talked to sister Leavitt about how it is making me feel. She told me to keep taking it while she consults the area medical advisor. They say that it is going to take a while for it to get into my bloodstream. meanwhile I have been told to be patient. 

Well on a better note....We taught Gabbie on Friday and last night. Remember we are teaching her using Skype. She has gone home for the summer, and is preparing for Baptism. Technology is one of the most amazing things. I dont remember what I told you about Gabbie last week, but she is amazing. She is 22 yrs old. her father was a Baptist youth councillor, he passed away a few years ago, but he is the reason why Gabbie is so interested in religion. She told us last night that she knows that this is the true church. We have taught her most of the commandments. She loves all of them. She is so ready to be baptized. Gabbie lives on a little island down by St Stephen New Brunswick. There are about 800 people that live there...one member. She found this member (Sandra)..who happens to be a less active. She invited Sandra to go to church with her. Not even a member yet and she is already strengthening the ward. She attended a ward in Machias Main. It is not in our mission. She loved every minuet of it. she is planning on coming to saint John this weekend so we will be able to teach her in person. Oh she told us a neat experience that she had while on her way to church. She said that she was on her way to pick up Sandra. She found the house (she has never met this person before) She knocked on the house a couple of times but no one answered. She talked to a couple of men that were outside. The told her that it was the house that she was looking for. She tried again, but nothing. She decided to head for church. She said that she was about 10 min away when something told her to go back. She did not even think twice about it. she said that she knew that she needed to try one more time. She went back to Sandra's house...knocked...and Sandra opened the door ready to go. AMAZING! She is so prepared. She is already seeing the Holy Ghost guide her in her life. Gabbie told us that she has not been reading the Book of Mormon as much as she could have this week...we usually get nervous when investigators tell us this, but not with Gabbie. She said that she normally tries to read 15-20 chapters a day...now if that does not make you feel guilty, I dont know what will. her week was so busy that she only got to read about 5 chapters a day.

We attended our Zone Training on Saturday. It is always so good. We have the best leaders in this mission. I never thought that I could ever look up to and learn so much from young men...most of which are 3 years younger than me. The Elders in this mission are honest priesthood holders. They have such a strong testimony, and love for the church. I am so grateful for their hard work. I am also so grateful for them being so willing to use their priesthood. Saturday was really hard for me, so I asked my District leader (Elder West) if he would give me a blessing. I again am so thankful for the priesthood in my life! 

Oh I dont even think that I mentioned that we had a ward activity on friday. The missionaries volunteered to organize a variety show. It was a lot of work, but it turned out so great! We had several less active members come out, and we even had a couple of non members come. it was a great success. The members really appreciated it. 

So we got to watch the World Wide Leadership Broadcast last night. it was so great! I would recommend that every member 

watches it!!  

This week is going to be a great week!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!!

Love,

Sister Riddle

Halifax....Saint John.....

Hello Everyone,

This week has been interesting. I have spent the entire week in the mission home with Sister Leavitt as my companion. Being companions with the mission presidents wife is very different. On Tuesday after I got to the mission home all of the leadership council had a meeting. Not being on the leadership council I did not feel like sitting in on this meeting, but they did let me listen from the living room. Great things are about to happen in this mission. The work is moving forward. The force is getting larger. President Leavitt is truly called and inspired by God. The mission was just approved to receive 10 more sisters before the end of the year. When I came out Sister Rust and I put the total of sisters to 10. By December we will have 34!! It is so exciting. Wednesday we got up and (all of the leadership council) went to a nursing home and sang to the residents. It was great. There are many missionaries in the mission that are very musically talented. They have made a musical concert with these missionaries, they will be traveling through the mission to perform. They made a youtube video to advertise for it. you can look it up "Canada Halifax Mission". I think it is called the Orange Blossom Train or something like that. Well wednesday I also got to attend the temple....I have not been since January..It was amazing. We attended the French session. Very neat. I went out to dinner with President and Sister Leavitt that night. I think I have learned more about what is going on in the mission in the past week than I will ever again on my mission. Thursday and Friday kind of blur together for me. I saw a doctor on friday (Dr. Fox.) On Saturday I got to go to the temple again. :) The Saint John ward and all of the missionaries came to Halifax for the ward temple trip and I was able to attend with them. I also went to work with the Halifax Sisters that evening. It was good to get out and work!!! Sunday I attend church in sackville (I think) President goes around to all of the wards in the mission to speak and that is where he was speaking. It is really neat to live with the mission president and his wife. I always knew they were busy and always have a lot going on...but I never knew what really goes on...SO MUCH WORK!!! They are great.

 

ok well know for the update...the doctor (Dr. Fox) thinks that I have a Vascular Headache...not really sure what that means, but he did say that it can not be treated with normal Tylenol and Advil. He gave me a medication that he thought might help, but it did not. While I was in the hospital the week before the doctor told me to go see a neurologist...they set up an appointment for me for this week. Dr Fox also thinks it would be a good idea for me to go see the neurologist. I was suppose to see him this morning, but he was sick. I have an appointment with him tomorrow. President Leavitt and Elder Clark (his assistant) drove me back to saint john (4 hours away) last night. I will stay in Saint John until I see the doctor, and then I do not know what I will be doing. 

We are also having transfers this week. We have one new sister coming in on wednesday and he is not sure where we will all be serving. He wants to figure out what is going on with me before he makes any decisions. They are taking great care of me here..dont worry about me. :) 

The work in saint john is going great. Sister Sandberg is working with Sister Hodder. She is serving a mini mission right now. She is from Halifax. She is waiting to leave on her mission to France in a couple of weeks. They are doing great things in Saint John...I wish I could join them. I would not be surprised if President Leavitt either calls you or emails you after I see the doctor. But I have no idea! Well I think that is the update for now. I wish I had more exciting things to tell you. but that is about it. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!!

Love, 

Sister Riddle

Sick!

Hello everyone,

I got the package!!! Thank you! Yes the Oreo's and Peanut butter made it!! :D No i did not look at the small box yet. I am patiently waiting to open it. Brother Cosman also showed me the video that he took...so fun to see al of you! 

Well this week has been a crazy week. We found a new investigator Gabbrielle this week. She is only 22. She is a nursing student here in saint john. She is a referral from a member. When we met her for the first time she asked us what course she needed to take to be baptized. She had already done a lot of research and wants to be baptized! I think we have another Lisa on our hands! It is so exciting to see people really prepared accept the gospel. Well we will be teaching Gabbie via skype..kind of different! She is going to be in and out of saint john all summer because of her summer job. We will teach her twice this weekend while she is here and then it will be via skype until she is back up in saint john. She is going to be baptized on July 27th. 

So President Leavitt has asked each area in the mission to make a giant map of the area! Well in order to do this we have to get a transparency of the map and project it onto the wall, and then draw (trace) everything onto the wall. Well we finally got to start this big project. As we were having trouble getting the transparency made I kept thinking that my dad could print a giant map and send it to me!! I was just about to ask if I could call you when we finally got the transparency! 

Well transfers are next week. I am not sure what will happen to me, but we found out last night that Elder Prince (our district leader) is going to be transferred tomorrow. He is going to be a zone leader in Nova Scotia. There is nothing I hate more than transfers!! Always saying goodbye. It is so hard to say goodbye to missionaries. It is like saying goodbye to family. Elder Prince is going to be a great Zone Leader! Elder West is going to be our new District leader. I dont know him very well but from what I do know he seems very nice and a great missionary. We are excited to work with him. 

So I have had a hard week this week. I have had lots of headaches. Sister Leavitt wants me to go to halifax and stay with them for a few days while I see a doctor that is a member there. I will be riding up with Elder Prince and Elder Gross, they are going to a Leadership training meeting tomorrow in Halifax. Maybe they will let me sit in and learn all of their secrets?! ;)

Well we have a lot things to do today...I have to pack for 5 days..and we are going to do something fun with the elders for Elder Prince's last preparation day here in Saint John. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!! 

Love,

Sister Riddle

GREAT THINGS!!

Hello Everyone,

What a great week it has been! It sounds like you all had a great week full of fun. Dad I can not believe that you broke a boys thumb and made a girl sick. haha I think you are a little out of practice. :D I am sure you all had a great time! We have been working hard getting ready for Lisa's baptism most of the week.

Oh before I forget. President Leavitt has come out and said "I realize that some parents have blogs for their missionaries and others also have your facebook passwords and are updating your facebook pages with pictures and comments. I very much discourage this as it just distracts from the sacred work that we are doing....Anything that reduces our focus on our true purpose and causes us to dwell on other things should be avoided." I know that there have been a few situations here in the mission where investigators and members are getting involved and it has caused problems for many of the missionaries. I hope you all will understand the council from my mission president and not put my letters on the blog. please forward my emails to everyone. I will try to send more pictures home you can share them with anyone. Sorry, I hope you understand my desire to follow the direction of President Leavitt.
 
Monday we had dinner with Bishop Ross and his family. I just love this family...they are great. Mondays are always crazy. We rush to have a relaxing preparation day, then we rush to work for the three hours that we have starting at 6. I never get anything (or everything) that I needed to get done during the day to prepare for the next week. OH, Lisa got engaged!!! What a great week!!

Tuesday we had our weekly district training. Elder Prince asked if I would give a training on patience. (something I much need to learn) It was great. I learned a lot. President Leavitt came to do interviews on Tuesday. He came to the last part of our district training. Meeting with President is always an uplifting experience. I truly have developed a testimony of our leaders being called by God. I know that President Leavitt was called by God to preside over this mission. And he has called other men and women to help him run the mission. I am so grateful for the many leaders that I have!

Wednesday we had "Exchanges" with Elder Prince. well as much of an exchange as we can get. Elder Prince and Elder Dubyk come and work in our area with us one day every month. We go to lessons together and go knocking together. It is a great way for us to learn more from our leaders. Nothing too exciting happened that day. We did teach Lisa (the elders taught) more about the priesthood. Sister Sandberg and I taught the Elders investigators Peter and Tarra. I love this family! I will have to get a picture with them and send it to you!

Thursday we had service at the hospital. We go every other week to help the dementia patients bowl. We set up foam pins and give them a foam ball that they push down a ramp. Last week they made Sister Sandber and I bowl! SO FUN!! It reminds me of all the good days of working in the nursing homes! This one guy that is there was singing to us. His name is Fred. He loves to sing all of the songs from when he was young (when he can remember them) Well he was singing to me, he paused and said "how much do you love me darling?" I said "So much Fred" then he chuckles and says "you're a doll" haha so cute! Jessica is the lady that we work with at the hospital. She has started to ask us questions about what it is that we do as missionaries. Hopefully one day soon we will be able to sit down and teach her. Thursday Night Lisa had her baptismal interview. I guess it went great! Elder Prince said that he loved interviewing her. She has such a great testimony. (even though she does not realize it)

Friday...Fridays are ALWAYS crazy! We are always going from lesson to lesson...and we have to do our weekly planning. And to make things worse...we went to a lesson where the kids were sent home from school because they had lice. Well that's just great. We also had to start filling the font. (only half way..the water is so cold they told us to fill it halfway the night before to reach room temp, then to boil water the next morning.  We also had dinner with the Clayton's. Brother Clayton is in the bishoprick. They are a great family. They love sharing the gospel with friends and family. and they are always looking for ways to continue doing missionary work. They have three girls Ada (6 or 7) Mia (4) and Emma (2). Little Emma came and sat next to me while we were teaching them. The one rule that is the hardest for me to keep as a missionary is not holding children. She wanted to sit on my lap but I had to make her sit next to me. I distracted her by doing Panabitten (not sure how to spell it) She loved it and she wanted me to do it over and over again. At the end of the day we went back to our apartment....planned for the day...and checked for lice...ALL CLEAR!! oh well that's a relief! 

SATURDAY!!!! Baptism Day!! We went to the church at 8..and started boiling water...4 large pots at a time. Elder Prince and Elder Dubyk were nice enough to come and help us. They took over the boiling while we set up chairs. (can I just say, I dont think they have ever had that warm of water here in saint john for a baptism! The service was great. Sister Joanne Hoffman spoke on baptism and Elder Prince Spoke on the Holy Ghost. Then the four missionaries sang "Nearer my God to Thee" and then the baptism was performed. After Lisa got up and boar her testimony. She said that Sister Sandberg and I are her candle holders..guiding her through everything. She said that she does not feel like she has a testimony, but knows it will come over time. but then she closed by saying that this path has brought her closer to God and "This is true" She is amazing!! After the service we had to clean up. That took most of the day.

Sunday...Fast Sunday. I love church!!! I always learn so much. This was a great week because Lisa was confirmed. Bishop did the confirmation. Lisa is officially a member of the true church! This is the best feeling ever!  

 

I am so glad that you got to meet The Cosman's. They are great!! Sister Sandberg and I are actually going to their house for dinner tonight...their kids are making dinner for us. Lisa's baptism was amazing! I know this was one of the reasons why I am here. Seeing one person being baptized and entering into the right path pays for all of the hard times that I have had on my mission. I would gladly go through another 11 months of hard work, joy, frustration, fun, anger, and happiness, (like the last 11 months) just to see one more person be baptized! This week is going to be a hard working week..well every week is a hard working week, but this week we are focusing on finding people to teach. It is going to be great!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all so much!!!

Thank you in advance for the package! :D 

Love,

Sister Riddle

Sister Riddle, Victor Woodruff (sharing umbrella..its not raining) Sister Sandberg

Sister Riddle, Lisa, Sister Sandberg

Brother Clayton and Lisa

"Fishing Trip"

Hello Everyone,

This week has been a very busy week. The busier we get the faster the time goes by. I can not believe that Brooklynn is already a month old! Crazy!! 
This week it has been raining NON STOP!!! I guess I should have expected the spring to be wet and cold!! So much has happened this week, I can not even remember everything. We had our first exchange with the Sister Training Leader (Sister Hart). Sister Sandberg went to Moncton and I stayed in Saint John with Sister Lewis (from Sandy.) She is great!! I love getting to know all of the new missionaries in the mission. 
Sister Sandberg and I have had a hard time finding people to teach. We decided that something needed to change so we fasted all of thursday. Amazing things happened. No we did not find any new investigators but we saw true miracles. The Lord is truly guiding this work. I am so grateful to be his "friend."  

John 15:13-16
 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Well I think the most exciting thing that is happening around here is that Lisa will be baptized this Saturday at 1! I am so happy for her! I have loved teaching Lisa. I love watching her grow and accept the gospel. We taught her parents the other day. They are very nice and supportive, but still seem very skeptical. I think that they will continue to grow in interest as time goes by. 
Oh so I sent some pictures. I sent some from our "fishing trip" we surprised the Elders last Monday for Elder Prince's b-day. Lisa and her boyfriend Chris took us all fishing...only the girls caught fish!! :D We had lots of fun! I am sorry I have not sent more pictures, time is too short!!
I forgot all about Memorial Day! They don't celebrate it up here. I am glad that you all had a fun time! I bet you are all happy school is out! BEST DAY EVER!! School does not get our for the summer here till the end of June. but then they don't go back till September. 
Sorry this is so short! I will have more to say next week!!

Oh my ward mission leader Brother Rob Cosman is going to be in Salt Lake this week. He said that if there is anything you want to send me he would be happy to bring it back with him. I think it is is tradition with the missionaries. He travels a lot for work so whenever he goes to one of the missionaries home towns he goes and meets the parents. 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all so much!! 

Have a great week!
Love, 
Sister Riddle 

Sister Sandberg, Sister Riddle, Elder Prince, Elder Dubyk

One of the fish I caught

Lisa, Sister Riddle, Sister Sandberg

Another fish I caught

Sister Sandberg, Sandra, Sister Riddle

"SHAMU"

Hello Everyone!

How is everyone doing? I got the package that you sent me! THANK YOU!! I love it!

This week went by faster than any other on my mission thus far!!! I can not even think of everything that we did. We talked to a lot of great people. We also talked to a lot of...interesting people! On Saturday we went knocking and the entire street no one was interested in talking to us. One guy came to open his door, yelled just a second..so we waited..and waited...and waited. We stood there for about 5 min...he never came back! We talked to this other guy that was not so happy that we came and knocked on his door. He said that he was not interested started closing the door and said “Kick a cat” and as we walked away he yelled “SHAMU” haha I am not really sure what that means other than please leave. But we did have some great experiences while we were knocking yesterday. We talked to this man who was very nice. He was not interested (they never are) but he told us about this (I think it is a vegetable) edible plant called a “fiddle head” It sounds pretty good, I guess I will have to go find some. We also talked to this lady..don’t ask what her name is because I could not even pronounce it when she said it. She immediately invited us in. She said that she had been watching us across the street. She said that we looked hungry. She told us to sit down and eat. She gave us some really good Banana bread and milk. We talked about her belief in God. She said that she was not interested in learning more, but that she is very mindful of others and try’s to be like Christ. Such a nice lady. Well we did talk to this great family. They have meet Elders before. They are interested in learning!! They asked us to come back when the entire family was home. I am so excited to teach them this Wednesday!!

Well Lisa is doing great! It has been so exciting to watch her grow. She is excited for her baptism. We even started talking about the program for the service. She is starting to invite family and friends to attend the service. Her boyfriend Chris came to church with her again yesterday...he even stayed for Sunday school.

Well I can not think of much else to tell you. Sorry again this email is short...Tomorrow is Elder Prince's birthday so we planned a fun surprise for the Elders. We are taking them fishing...Well I guess Lisa and Chris are taking us fishing!! Should be lots of fun!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!!!

Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister Rachele Riddle

Mothers Day! Preparing for a baptism!

Hello Everyone! 

Sorry I am going to make this short since I just talked with you last night. It was so fun to hear you all!
Things are going great here in Saint John. I told you that Lisa is preparing for baptism the beginning of June. We are working hard to find more people to teach. The ward here is starting to get really excited about missionary work. They have seen us bring so many people to church and they are looking for ways to help us. It is so exciting to see the ward catch on!! 
This past week has been great. We had a zone training in Fredrickton on Saturday. We have a new zone leader Elder Gross. He is going to do a great job..a little nervous right now, but he will get the hang of things. You asked about Sister Leaders yesterday. Its kind of cool how fast things get organized and set up in the church. The Sister Leaders have already been called and trained. We start going on exchanges with Sister Hart next week. 
I cant wait to see these pics of Alex from prom!! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!

I will have more exciting things to say next week!! :)

Love,
Sister Riddle

Calling home, transfers, and much much more!!

Hello everyone,

So we got to attend the CES Broadcast last night. The Hampton Sisters came down and stayed with us last night. Sister Rust informed me that yesterday was our 10 month mark. I thought I just said I have been out for 9 months!! Where in the world does the time go???? I really can not wrap my head around time in the mission field.

I think it was this week that we were out knocking, We talked to a pastor and his wife of another church. They were very friendly people. Very active in their faith (obviously) but they said something to us as we were leaving that I have thought a lot about... The man said "Thank you for dressing the way you do. You look very nice and very important. The world is becoming very ugly with the way some woman decide to dress."  Thank you for dressing the way you do...I have thought that over and over. How grateful I am to know who I am and not wanting to dress any lower than what I am worth.

This week has been a great week! I have really learned so much. I studied Confidence this morning in my personal study. I was reminded of the scripture D&C 121:45 which talks about having your confidence wax strong in the presence of God. I have been thinking a lot about confidence this week, the difference between worldly confidence and spiritual confidence. Confidence to the world means that you are good at something and you know it, but spiritual confidence means that you TRUST IN GOD. Work diligently and trust that God will make it all work for the best. My favorite scripture is 2 Nephi 22:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation." This scripture has become my favorite scripture so many times! I have related and learned so much from this short scripture. The word trust really stood out to me in studies today. In order for me to grow in confidence I need to have more trust. Trust in the Lord with all my heart!! And then do what I have been taught to do.

Sister Sandberg and I have been working really hard this week. We have talked to so many amazing people. The weather is starting to warm up...when I say warm up I mean I no longer need to wear a coat. Which is the best thing ever!!!  We have spent a lot of time out at the park. So many people go to the park during the week. We have been able to talk people at the park and invite people to learn more. I was able to teach a man about Joseph Smith yesterday while we were walking around the park. It is so neat to see the expressions on the faces of those who hear the first vision for the first time. You can truly see the spirit enter into their heart, and testify to them it is true. I have been able to pinpoint the exact moment when someone decides not to learn more. They say the eyes are the window to the soul..and it is so true. You can see their spirit jumping for joy when we talk about the gospel, then something happens satan steps in and tells them it is not true. And the window to the soul closes again. It is one of the worst feelings ever. To see them so close and then choose not to hear more. It truly breaks my heart.

We had an amazing lesson with Lisa this week. Lisa is so great. I have never met anyone that truly wants to know truth like she does. 
So another 6 weeks have gone by and it is time to start a new transfer. I will be serving in Saint John with Sister Sandberg for at least another 6 weeks...maybe longer!! I am so excited! There is so much work that needs to be done here! So many people to find and teach. I love it here!! 

So yes I will be calling home this week! like last time I will only have an hour to talk...so have your questions ready ;) I can not wait to talk to al of you!!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!!!!

Love,
Rachele

"Whats that Noise"

Hello Everyone!
Sounds like such an exciting week. How I wish I could be there! Brooklynn is so cute! I love her so much..and I have never even met her! Send lots of pictures!!!

This week has been a pretty exciting and busy week for me. A lot has been going on. We have talked to so many people. A lot of return appointments. And we even started teaching three new investigators.

Monday:
I finally made it onto someone's Facebook page! Haha We went to go contact a referral from a member. I don't even remember what her name is. We knocked on the door, in a matter of seconds someone opened the door. She look at us rolled her eyes and said “NO! I am not interested!” She slammed the door. Started yelling some not so nice words. Well later in the week we went to dinner with the members that told us to go visit this lady. They said that she had vented about us on Facebook. I guess that is a goal I can cross off the list ;)
I hope you had a great birthday Dad. Next year I will be home to celebrate your 50^th!! :D I was really hoping Brooklynn would come on Monday so that I would not have to wait another week to see pictures. I am just really glad I don't have to wait again!

Tuesday:
I guess Tuesday was our only slow day. We had dinner with a member, Courtney. She is so great. She has been a member for almost two years. The gospel has helped turn her life around. We did a lot of knocking and contacting people on Tuesday. Just another day as a missionary.

Wednesday:
We had exchanges on Wednesday. Sister Miehe (from Hampton) and I worked here in Saint John. We had a lot of fun, and worked really hard. All of our lessons fell through that day, except for our dinner appointment. We had dinner with Sister Raeburn. Sister Raeburn owns a hostel here in Saint John. She has people in her home from all over the world. Right now she has a young girl, Gabrielle, living with here. Gabrielle is going to school, so should be around for a while. We did not get to meet Gabrielle, but she is interested in coming to church and learning more about the church. We are excited to meet her...hopefully soon!! Well we exchanged back on Wednesday night.

Thursday:
Well I think Thursday was one of our busiest days of the week. We had an appointment with Holly. I love her. She is so great. We get to see her almost every week.  And then there are people like Lisa.  We taught Lisa The Plan of Salvation. She loved it. I think this is one of the lessons that I love to teach the most. “It just makes sense” is what everyone always tells us. Watching someone learn about the Plan of Salvation for the first time is amazing. Their face lights up, they now have a reason and purpose in this life. They now have something to work toward. “IT JUST MAKES SENSE.” I learn something new every time I teach a lesson. I always walk away from a lesson having greater understanding for it. I have learned so much about the plan of salvation...more the plan that my Heavenly Father has for me. The things that he wants me to do and the person he wants me to become. It is all beginning to make MORE sense. Well we went knocking on Thursday night. We started knocking Ready Street. After about the 5^th house where no one was answering the door, we decided we needed to go to another street. So we went to Charles Street. Well we started knocking, not finding too much more success than we did on Ready Street. But something told us to keep going. I have to tell you that a lot of the houses here have weird entry ways. Some houses you are suppose to go in the first door and knock on the second and then other houses you are suppose to knock on the first door. So we really never know what to do. So we standing at this house. We looked in the window and there was a door at the bottom of the stairs and one at the top. We did not know if we should go in or knock on the outside door. So we stood there for a second when this lady from up stairs yells down to us from the window. We start talking to her and she tells us to come up. Her name is Erika. She is a full time mom. She is about 30 years old. And lives with her 4 year old daughter and boyfriend. She says that she has been looking for a church to go to. She was raised Catholic, but has not been for a long time and does not really even know what they believe. She is very interested in learning. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her, and before we even asked her to read it she says “well I will be reading this tonight!” How great!! We taught her more about the Restoration of the Gospel. She loved it! We asked her to be baptized and she said yes. So she is now preparing for baptism on May 18^th. Oh almost forgot to tell you that we moved Lisa's baptism date to May 11^th. She is so ready, all she needs to do is finish the lessons and keep coming to church! Well we finished up at Erika's and had to drive to Hampton to spend the night.

Friday:
Mission Tour with William R. Walker of the 70. He is on the Temple and Family History Committee. Such an amazing man. We had to wake up at 5:30 to drive to Moncton on Friday morning. We had a training from Elder Walker until 4. Then we had to drive back to Saint John for a dinner appointment at 6. That's all after last weekend when we had to wake up at 3:30 to drive to Fredrickton for stake conference. Can I just tell you that when I get home I will be sleeping for about a week...strait!!! But it is always well worth it. I learned so much from Elder Walker. He talked a lot more about what to do after the mission than he did about what to do while on the mission. Scary thought! The mission is never really going to end..is it? Not in 6 months...Maybe closer to 8 ;) Well after being trained on what to do after the mission I no longer need to think about it! I wrote everything down, so I can refer to it when I am home. In one ear out the other.
Friday night finally came...how excited I was to go to bed! I was exhausted!! We finished our planning for the next day and our heads hit the pillows. I am pretty sure I was asleep before my head hit my pillow. Well for some reason I sat up in the middle of the night “something was not quite right” I looked at the phone..midnight!! “Great! 6 ½ more hours to sleep!!” was my first thought. Remember that I was really tired. As I was looking at the phone Sister Sandberg yells from across the room, “Turn off the alarm” the alarm was not going off. I put the phone back and tried to lay down to go back to sleep. Sister Sandberg says “whats that noise?” I replied that it was probably the pipes or something. (the pipes in our apartment are always making weird and loud noises.) After saying this I sit up and say whats that noise. We both jump out of bed. Head for the door of the apartment, open to find out that the fire alarm in the building is going off. We look out and see people leaving. So what do we do? First grab our name tags?! Of all things...thats what we grab first! Then the keys and the phone. Then a jacket. Then shoes. We are out the door in a matter of seconds. I did not even grab my glasses..so I am pretty much blind. Well we go stand out side with everyone...then we realized that they are drunk. So we decide to go sit in the car. (after all we are out past curfew ;) We sent a text to our District leader to let him know that we were out and what was going on. About 15 min later the fire department shows up. They go in and check everything out. They get back into the truck and leave. I guess the party down stairs got a little too out of control. Well only 45 min later we are back in bed ready to go back to sleep. Well about 5 in the morning we get a phone call. Haha Elder Prince calls to make sure everything is ok. Then we go back to bed...again!! What a great night!! I just want to sleep!!!

Saturday:
Nothing too out of the ordinary happened. We got to see Ester and the girls. They are so great! I just love them!! We also taught Erika. She is still doing great. She still wants to learn. We talked about the plan of salvation. She also wanted to know what our belief on marriage. We talked about families forever and asked if she wanted that? She agreed that she did. This was one of the most amazing lessons that I have ever been in. As we were talking about the temple. I said “if it is your desire to be baptized and your boyfriend also wants to learn and be baptized. In one year You can enter the temple with your family and be sealed for all of time and eternity” In my mind I saw them at the temple..dressed in white. Being sealed to one another. How amazing. We are always told to envision our investigators at the temple, but this time it was so real. They will one day go to the temple as a family. I know this. As long as they make the right choices.

Sunday:
I still love Sundays!! Lisa and her boyfriend came to church!! So great. We are going to start teach her boyfriend this week. The Elders called us last night and told us that they just found us 2 new investigators. The week just keeps getting better and better. This is going to be a great week!!

So I just read Bobby's email. Did not realize that we get to call home so soon. I am getting very excited!

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!!! 
Love,
Rachele

Great Week!!!

Hello Everyone!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!

Oh what a good week!!! I really can not believe that it has been 7 days since I emailed last. So crazy!! So much has happened this week. The Lord truly blesses those that are obedient and work hard. Dad I started expecting miracles...and you know what? I have seen many miracles this week!

Monday: I think last Monday was one of the busiest Mondays that I have had on my mission. We had to do all of the normal laundry, emailing, and shopping, then we had lunch with a member. Sister Crilley (Relief Society President) invited us over for lunch along with Heather (a recent convert.) We had a lot of fun. That night we taught Erin. She is doing pretty well. I don’t even know where to begin with her. I can not even wrap my head around the things that she has been through in her life. She reads The Book of Mormon all the time, I think she is already in 2 Nephi. She recognizes that it brings comfort into her life.  I have prayed for miracles to happen here in Saint John, and I know they will start with her. She is going to surprise herself. She is going to learn all of these things and become a very happy person. She is amazing. The church needs her, and she needs this church!!

Tuesday: We had a district training on Tuesday morning. Our zone leader Elder Clark surprised us by being there. He is such a great missionary. Elder Prince always does such a great job with the trainings. I always feel like I can truly “take over the world” (only with the Lords help) after we leave these meetings. Tuesday night we went knocking on a street called “Alexandra St.” We met this great guy, Joe. He was very nice, when he opened the door he came out and talked to us for about 20 minuets. He is held up on the fact that we have a prophet. (He is very catholic.) He asked us how we knew this...one of my most favorite questions to answer....its only a one word answer....PRAYER!!! We asked if we could leave a Book of Mormon with him to read for himself. He agreed. He said “I will read it and I will pray about it and I will let you know what happens.” We decided to give him a few days to read, so we will be going back tonight to see him again.

Wednesday: One of our investigators, Barb, dropped us. We called to set up another appointment, and she said that she wanted to stick with her own church. 
Well we also went to visit a potential investigator this week, Lisa. Lisa is 22 and a full time student, and has a full time job. She referred a visit from missionaries through mormon.org. She has been looking at the website since October. She also listens to the Mormon channel every day. We went to see her the week before last and ended up teaching her dad because she was not home. We taught her the restoration. THE EASIEST LESSON I HAVE EVER TAUGHT!!! It was almost too easy. When we taught her dad we left a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet. She read the pamphlet and did all of the extra study questions in the back. PREPARED!!! She knew everything we were teaching. She was answering questions before we even asked them. Well we asked her to be baptized and she agreed. She also came to listen to Elder Holland this week end!!! So good! We don’t get to see her till Thursday because she has finals this week. But we are very excited to see her.

Thursday: Well the only lesson that we had lined up for the day was with this guy named Steve. We met him a couple of weeks ago while we were knocking, and he asked us to come back. 

Friday: Weekly Planning! I don’t think there was really anything that was too exciting on Friday.

Saturday: We had dinner with the Hurtado family (Ester, Rosa, and Cloudia) I just love them. The girls are so cute, and hate when we have to leave. They got a new baby kitten. So cute...so yes I had to hold it. I know I could hear you the whole time mom....but I could not resist...Which you know was not so good for me later. But hey I survived!! We taught the girls about missionary work. Read from their Book of Mormon stories book about Aaron. They are growing in the gospel so fast! They love church and love learning about Christ.

SUNDAY!!!! THEY DAY WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!! We had our stake conference in Fredrickton. About an hour and a half away. There were a lot of missionaries there, and a lot of members coming, so they asked all of the missionaries to sit in the primary room and watch it on a tv. We all of course agreed. Lisa came!! The first three rows were saved for non members, recent converts and less active members. So we took Lisa in to get her a good seat. There was room for her and she was fine sitting by herself, but then we were told that we could not leave her to sit by herself (the guy that was telling us this was in the stake presidency) he winked at us and showed a seat in the second row. Elder Holland is amazing...but even more amazing in person!!! The meeting was full of the spirit. Lisa cried the whole time, and said she had goose bumps. Yes that is the spirit testifying that it is so true!

The church is so very true! I know it with all my heart. I heard words from an apostle this weekend and I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. He gave us an apostolic blessing. It was one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced. I want you all to know that you were all included in that blessing. An apostle of the the Lord has truly blessed you. I am so very grateful for the sure knowledge that I have, Joseph Smith truly is a Prophet of the Lord. We have a living modern day prophet Thomas S. Monson. Christ lives and I know I can live with my Heavenly Father because of the sacrifice that Christ made for me. I love it and I know it...and I always try to live it!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!

This will truly be the best week!

Love,
Rachele

Great things!!!

Hello!

What a great week this has been. There has been so much going on this week its hard to remember everything. We have had great success this week. We are teaching two investigators (Erin and Barb) Both of them have committed to be baptized. Erin on May 25th and Barb on May 18th. So exciting!!

Monday:Lets see Monday morning was just like any other. We did laundry, grocery shopping, and emailing. Then we went to the nature park with the Elders. Monday night we had dinner with the Woodruff's. I love them. They have two kids (Madlynn and Victor) Too funny!! Madlynn knows everything about any kind of dog you can think of! She is very smart. Victor loves freeze tag (we play every time we are there.) Great members. We also had a lesson with Heather and Brendan. Well Brendan texted us earlier that day and asked if his sister (Erin) could sit in on the lesson....Would we really say no?!! I don't think so!! Well we taught Erin the Restoration. She seemed interested. She said she would read and try to pray to know if it is true. Erin has been through a lot in the past few years, and has a hard time understanding that God loves her. 

Tuesday: Every Tuesday morning we have our District Training. They are always helpful and fun. Elder Prince is our District leader. (lets just say he does not have any sisters...we have trained him pretty well.) The rest of Tuesday was a little less productive. Not much happened that day. 

Wednesday: We always have breakfast at The Cosman's on Wednesdays. Bro. Cosman is our Ward Mission Leader, so he invites us over for breakfast while we have our weekly update meeting. The rest of that day was just like any other ordinary missionary day...not much went on. Knocking and contacting people. 

Thursday:  We had a triple blitz for our area. Which means both the Zone Leader (Elder Clark) and the District Leader (Elder Prince) come and work in our area. Oh and their companions as well. These are two of the best Elders that I know. They are the hardest working, and most focused.  President told us that we are the only sisters in the mission working with the elders like this..he said he wants to see how it works before he has everyone else do it as well.  We have a total of 19 Sister in the mission, 6 more coming in three weeks, and only one leaving. 

Friday: oh weekly planning day! Love it...  We also had some lessons on Friday. We got to see Holly..Finally!!! We have not seen her forever! she has been sick and busy with work. Ps she does the best Donald Duck impression ever!! haha. Well we also had a lesson with Barb (the first time) She is such a nice lady... but she is great. She has been baptized baptist. We taught her the restoration, and asked her to be baptized. She said she would! So exciting!! We will she her again this week. 

Saturday: ok so we found this really cool part of our area...I think its called the Kingston peninsula. WE GET TO TAKE A FERRY TO GET THERE!! So Fun!!! We had a referral from mormon.org. Her name is Lisa, and she requested a missionary visit. Well she was not home, but we talked to her dad for a while, he invited us in and let us teach him. He said that he did not know if he wanted to know more, but he would sit in on his daughters lesson when we came back. Such a great family!!! All they need to do is listen!! Well we have a lesson with Lisa on Wednesday, so hopefully her dad will be there too. 

Sunday: yesterday was our missionary Sunday  I was asked to speak...I was not really given a topic, and when I was, it changed five minuets before I spoke. One thing you learn as a missionary is to expect the unexpected!! Well I did not have to speak long, only like 3 min. I was asked to talk about how deciding to go on a mission has changed me. I did not even know where to start! There are too many ways that it has changed me!! It may have been one of the hardest decisions that I have had to make, but I know I made the right one!!! I know I am here for a reason, I have met so many amazing people on my mission. I have come to know my saviour. 2 Nephi 22:2 has become one of my all-time favorite scriptures. I am so grateful for everyone who has encouraged me to serve, and supported me at home. I will never forget the process of making this decision.   I love it here...This week is going to be the best week!!!!

I love you all so much!!!
I hope you all have a great week!!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!!!

Love, 
Rachele

PS Elder Holland is here this weekend!!! :D

For I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left...

Hello Family!

What a great weekend! I love conference! I have learned so much this week end. 
Sorry in advance this letter will be short we have a lot going on today. 

WOW...Half way? Really?! It really hit me the other day while I was studying, I only have 9 months left. There is so much more that needs to be done, yet there never seems to be enough time to do it all. I really like how Bobby said that he wants to end on "empty." I too have set a goal for things that I want to accomplish in the next 9 months. I have been reading a really good talk called the 4th missionary. It talks about how to become the best missionary that the Lord wants you to become. 
This is something that I think of often. WHO DO I WANT TO BECOME. The list is very long, and there is no time to waste. Time is too short to put "me" on the back burner. After all is that not why we are all here. To become that which our Father in Heaven wants us to become? 

This week has been really...slow. I guess slow will be the word for the week. A lot of the less actives and recent converts that we are teaching we could not get into contact with this week. Everyone seems to be busy at the same time. We have been doing a lot of knocking this week. Trying to find people, families to teach. 
We had a really neat experience today. We were getting out of the cart to go into the store to buy our weekly groceries. Well the man that was gathering up all of the carts stopped us. He said "when is your service?" I told him when church is, and continued talking to him about the church. He is pentecostal. He said that we would be interested in coming to church for a couple of weeks to see what we have to offer. He said "it cant hurt right, I mean I am not going to loose anything" Well we continued talking. He has heard of the Book of Mormon, but also believes the Bible (king James version) to be true. He agreed to us teaching him. We have a lesson this Wednesday evening.!  We are always told that the Lord is preparing people to hear the message that we come to share, and most of the time we have to find them and invite them. Its not very often that they come looking for you. How prepared he must be!!
Oh I almost forgot to tell you about Pete and Cheyanne. They are two of the Elders's investigators. They have been taught for about 2 weeks. We went with the elders to teach a lesson the other day. I just love them so much! They are preparing for baptism. Their baptism date is April 27th. They are getting married on the 20th.!! I love seeing people's lives change when they come to know that the church is true! When they truly come to know Christ. 

Well I cant think of much more to add. Sorry this email is short today, we promised the elders we would do something fun today, and we have an early dinner with a member later!! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!!!!

Love,
Rachele

Guess Who's Coming!!!!

Hello everyone!

I so wish I was in St. George with you last week! The weather here is warming up, but today is really rainy and wet! This week has been a good week. The work is still really slow here, but we are doing a lot of finding.

Monday we did not have any miles on our car so we did not do anything really fun. We hung out with the elders and thats about it. Monday night we had dinner with the Crilleys (Sr.). They have us over once a month. They are the nicest people I know! I love them. After dinner we stopped by a less active, Dian. You would never believe the way that some people live. I have seen so much on my mission it breaks my heart. Especially when they know how much the gospel can bless their lives, and choose not to partake of the blessings. 

Tuesday was a busy day. Sister Davis had to start packing. We also had lunch with Sister Crilley (daughter in law to the other crilleys.) She is amazing! She is the Relief Society president! She is a great sister. She has 2 young boys (that she adopted) their family is beautiful. We also got to go visit the Woodins: Mike and Crystal. I think I have told you about Mike (11) and Crystal (13)...recent converts of almost a year. We are teaching the new member lessons. The kids love it when we come over. They are very eager to do the things that we ask them to do. I KNOW the gospel has blessed them as a family, and will only continue to do so as time moves on. Well after the Woodins, we had dinner with Bishop Ross and his family. Bishop is a funny guy. But it is really hard to tell when he is joking and when he is not. I have learned so much from him. Every time I see him he asks me "what did you learn today? Everyone is suppose to learn something new everyday." It catches me off guard every time he asks me.  I have to sit there and think about what I have learned. Looking back at the day I usually find more than one thing that I have learned, and I am also more aware of the tender mercies of the Lord. This is something that I am trying to look for each day. 
Well Tuesday morning we got a call from a sister in the Hampton ward..Sister Duecett. She told us that she had a friend that was in the hospital, and she would like to receive a priesthood blessing. She asked us to find someone to come with us to see her. We called brother Cosman (ward mission leader) and asked if he would go. He came, and he brought his son with him. It was such a neat experience to go visit this woman (non member.) She has seen the miracle's that come from blessings. I am very proud to have men in my life that honor that priesthood! 

Wednesday we had our ward mission correlation meeting. Where we are always served breakfast! We then went to visit Holly. Oh I just love her. She has such a strong testimony of the church, she reads her Book of Mormon everyday, she does good things, but she does not come to church. It seems like such a small thing, but it is one of the most important commandments that we have been given. Church is where we truly can feel the spirit and learn from it. But the most important thing is the sacrament. I never realized how important the sacrament really is. We receive the greatest blessings when we go to church and partake of the sacrament, if we don't do that, then we are not promising to follow Christ. Holly has a difficult time coming to church, and I know it is the work of the devil trying to get her not to go...he knows the happiness that we can and will have if we attend church. 
Well we also got to go see Heather and Brendan (less active).  Next Sister Davis did more packing. Then we got to go visit some of my most favorite people ever...Ester, Rosa, and Cloudia!! We taught them the word of wisdom. I think the girls really liked it. And Ester has some great questions. Which makes me think that she is really understanding and wanting to change. I love teaching this family. I have seen so much happiness in their lives as they attend church, and as they have us into their home to teach them. Well for dinner we were invited over to Butch and Sandra's house. Sandra is a recent convert and her husband Butch is not a member. They are one of the funniest couples that I have ever meet. Butch is so nice, he made us a pizza pasta. yummy!! 

Thursday: Transfer day.. Well we had to be in Moncton (2 hours away)by 9am. The assistants bring all of the missionaries that are going to be serving in New Brunswick or PEI to Moncton in a big 12 passenger van. Then they take all of the missionaries that are going anywhere else in the mission from these places and takes them back to Halifax. Well this is where I met my new companion  Sister Sandberg. She is a new 19 yr old sister. She is from British Columbia. I love her. She is very excited to be here!!!! I can not believe that it has been 9 months!! It is terrifying to me!! I only have 9 months left...and I have been told that last half goes faster than the first. I am not ready to go home...I don’t know if I ever will be...sorry..I love you all at home, but this life, serving the lord, not thinking about yourself...its amazing!!!!! I can not think of doing anything else! The next few weeks will be so different than the rest of my mission. Training. I don’t even know how to explain it. For the last 9 months I have been working with very experienced missionaries. They knew what they were doing, and I was able to follow their example, but now, its different. I have to be the example, I am the most experienced. Crazy!! I am always reminded by the elders that I serve with of how old I am. Not only am I the oldest in real age, but I am also one of the oldest mission wise. The elders that I am serving with have only been out for up to 7 months, and they are all 3-4 years younger than me. Its weird!! and they won’t let me forget it! haha

Well the rest of the weekend was full of normal missionary work. Knocking...a lot of Knocking...we met this man yesterday who says all religions are a cult...because the catholic church owns a country inside of a country!? makes no sense!! We had a Muslim lady try to teach us yesterday. haha that was neat we told her that we were here to teach her and she said not thanks. 

So guess what happened in church yesterday?! We are having our stake conference in a few weeks and the stake president (president Spragg) is from the Saint John ward, so he often attends our meetings, but he got up and said that a very special visitor would be attending stake conference...Elder Holland!! So exciting!! I can not even wait!! The next several weeks are going to be gone before you even know it...this week is Conference (ps I cant wait for that either!!) then we have Stake conference two-ish weeks after that...then we have our mission tour where a member of the seventy will be coming. 

Well I think that is all the exciting news here! I miss you and love you all!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU TONS!!! 
I hope you all have a great week!!!

Love,
Rachele

Transfer News!!!! Trainer???

Hello Family!!

How is everyone doing this week? 
This week has been a fast, but really long week. Its hard to explain...time is so different on a mission. Monday was just like any other Monday. We did not really do anything fun, it was a slow day. 

Tuesday we had a couple of lessons lined up. We met with Heather (recent convert.) She is doing great. She loves the church and she loves her calling a librarian. (I would love that calling too.) We also had a lesson with Brittany  our new investigator from the week before. Brittany is about 15 so we decided that we would take one of the young women with us to her lesson. We picked up Andrea and went to Brittany's  (she lives in an apartment.) Well when we got there we could hear a lot of yelling between her and her mom. At this point Brittany has now only been home from school for about 20 minuets. We stood in the hall for a few minuets not knowing what we should do. We decided we would go back to the car and give her a call to see if we could still come over. She told us that it was not a good time, but that she still wanted to learn. We took Andrea back home. After that we talked about how much we miss our own mothers and how grateful we are for them. 

Wednesday we went on exchanges. Sister Miehe (Mia) came to Saint John with me. She is a new sister she is only 19!! So crazy to be serving with the younger sisters. Tuesday night we had dinner with a member. On Wednesday  we got to go over to the Hurtado's!! (Ester, Rosa, and Cloudia) I just love them so much!! Our lesson was on tithing and fast offerings. I am really coming to realize the things that I have taken advantage of. Like primary!! These two young girls don't know anything about the church, but they love to learn and their knowledge is growing. I don't think I have ever really realized how much children learn in primary. I am so grateful to have been able to attend primary. As well as having parents teach me by example the principle of the gospel. PS how in the world did you teach me about tithing and fast offerings? That is the first time I have been able to teach that on my mission. It went very well. 

Thursday morning we had mission correlation with Brother Cosman (ward mission leader) He always cooks us breakfast when we go. One week we had raw salmon :S bleh!!! Last week was just normal eggs and fruit. Well after Mission Correlation we had a lesson with Holly. Holly is still doing really well. She has met with the Bishop in preparation for her patriarchal and temple recommend!! It is one of the most exciting things to see someone that you are teaching progress to that. The time when they can receive those blessings for themselves! Well after Holly we had a lunch appointment (yes only about and hour after we had breakfast. We went to Sister Crilley's. She is the new Relief Society President.
I don't know if I have told you about "Bird Finding"? haha well we go to this park to contact people. We feed the little birds and squirrel's and talk to everyone that is there. It is pretty fun!! Well thats what Sister Miehe and I decided to do on Thursday afternoon. We exchanged back that night. 

Friday....my favorite day..not really...Fridays are the longest days of the week!! Weekly Planning!!! We plan...plan...eat lunch...plan...plan..oh and plan some more. It is really hard to sit in an office for that long...PS, I will never have a desk job. Planning is the most important part of this work. Without it we can not accomplish anything!! 

Saturday!! Just the day I could not wait to get to!!! TRANSFER NEWS!!!! Well President has called me to stay in Saint John and train a new sister that will be coming out this week. I am supper excited...supper scared/nervous. I have learned so much in the past couple of transfers!! I am excited to continue learning!!

Sunday came and went...the fastest day of the week!!! I wish it was the longest!! I love church! 

Well I had better get going!!! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL TONS!!!! 

Hope you all have a great week!!!!!!

Love,
Rachele