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!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.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!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)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!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! :DLove,Sister Riddle
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| Sister Riddle, Victor Woodruff (sharing umbrella..its not raining) Sister Sandberg |
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| Sister Riddle, Lisa, Sister Sandberg |
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| Brother Clayton and Lisa |
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