Gettin back to work!

Our Christmas phonecall from Elder Ririe was beyond great!  It was great to hear his voice.  He's doing awesome, although he did tell us a blew out his knee a few weeks ago.  Other than that he said things in Spokane were fantastic.  He told Tanner he really is having the best two years of his life!  Here's the letter we received from him today.

Hey Mom and Den,

It was awesome to get to talk to you and I miss you tons!  Don't worry about getting emotional Mom.  You're a mom...you're supposed to do that kind of stuff!  Well, not much has changed since Friday other than getting back into doing missionary stuff again after Christmas, so it's all good.  We are teaching a Micronesian family now and they are great!  What's even better is that Futi is helping us by fellowshipping  them, so that's been great!  I'm sure Marshall is glad to be home.  You'll have to have him email me about how he is doing.  I'd love to hear from him.  Well, my mind is blank now.  I might have a stroke of brilliance later.  I love you guys.  tell everybody hi for me.  I miss you tons!

Love, Lance

Its Christmas Time!

Hey Mom and Den!
It's Chrstimastime here and no snow...just lots and lots of rain....although nobody seems to mind...except me! They all say its just because I wasn't here for last winter when they got slammed, but its all good. Thanks for the dubbed "Christmas in a box". It's great!!! I set it all up and now I have to take some pictures so you can see what it looks like. You'll love it!!! And I'm excited to see what you guys sent me in those presents, but I'm sure none of it will be as good as talking to you! We get an hour this time and I'll call the night before to find out when I need to call you so I can get everybody home.

Well, I love you guys and miss you tons!
Love, Lance

Hey Den!

Letter to Dennis:

Hey Den!
How are you doing? Sorry I haven't been writing as often as I should. I'll do better! So we had a great baptism yesterday! It was so great to watch as a whole family came together in the gosple. Bro. Clark who was baptized about 4 months ago was able to do the baptizing. He did great! Bonita, who was baptized, is his mother-in-law.

I heard TCU and Boise State are in the Fiesta Bowl. Sounds like it should be a good game, but I didn't hear about anybody else. Did Florida head to the championship? How are the Jazz fairing? I hope they are doing alright. It's crazy up here when people talk about basketball everything is about the Zags! Have the playoffs started for football yet? I haven't heard anything about football other than the Seahawks are terrible.

Well, I hope things back home are good. I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas! It's only 10 days away! I miss you and I love you tons! Let me know if there's anything I can do for you guys.

Love, Lance

It's almost time 4 Christmas!

Hey Mom,

Well the nativities went great. Lots and lots of people came. I didn't get to see much of it because every time we came we had to sit outside and sing, so I only got a few minutes to look around. But it was awesome from what I could see.

Our baptism last night went great! It was awesome to see a whole family of recent converts come into the church. Bonita is 81! And she is absolutely loving the church. We have another baptism scheduled for the 26th - a guy named Randal and he's in his 90's so we're excited for him! This week has been great - lots of blessings! And I'm just excited for the next few weeks!

That's awesome about Nicki and going to the dance. I bet she just transformed! I can't wait for pictures!!! hahah I probably won't recognize her!

Well, not much else going on here. I love you guys and miss you tons!

Love, Lance

It's cold outside!

Hi Mom and Den!

Well, the baptism didn't go through this last weekend, so we're hoping that we can have it this Saturday. However, we are a little worried because they weren't at church this Sunday, but they did go to the nativity. What a great experience! And the coolest way I have seen to celebrate Christmas!

No snow here yet but it's frigid. It was 4 degrees last night and supposed to be like 2 degrees tonight. Crazy! But no snow anywhere. It makes tracting a whole lot of fun - let me tell ya! But its all good and we make it as fun as it can be since its so cold.

Um, as for the package I really don't know what I need. I'm good on a lot of things. I saw in the Deseret Book catalog that Chad Lewis wrote a book about his life, football, and the church. I thought that might be cool, but I don't know when I'd have time to read it.

Well, I love you guys. Stay warm and safe!

Love and miss you tons!

Love, Lance

Hey Mom and Den!!!

Hey Mom and Den,

Great week this week - got more stuffed than any turkey could ever be! Haha

President gave me a great birthday present - I get to stay here through another transfer! And Ti is on date for baptism for Jan. 4th, so we are stoked for that! My birthday was awesome! I loved every bit of it! I got two new lava lavas and one has pockets! And I loved the scarfs - they're excellent! And the note on the Forgotten Carols CD made me laugh way hard. The wings were awesome and just what I needed to get rid of a little bit of home sickness that I had. I didn't realize how hard it was to be away from home and not call with Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for you guys and I love you tons. And being away made me see that even more!

Well, we're off to help out with a huge nativity thing sponsored by the church. We're supposed to have 6,000 in attendance over the course of the week. I love you guys tons. Thanks for all the love and care. I miss you lots.

Love, Lance

A Letter We Received From Sis. Futi

We wanted to share part of a  letter we received Friday from Sis. Futi.  We don't think she'd mind.  It was very sweet.  She also sent a copy of a CD that Elder Ririe gave her with some beautiful hymns.


Dear Kim and Dennis,

Heavenly Father answered my prayers through Elder Ririe and Elder Hobbs.  God brought the missionaries to my home on that one warm August evening, I am so grateful he guided them to me.  We started studying the scripture and prayed.  The missionaries would always tell me to pray with a sincere heart, God will answer my prayers.

The turning point for me was when the missionaries invited me to church.  I walked in that morning and saw the sacrament.  I knew in my heart and soul that I was home.  This was what I have been searching for.  The Book of Mormon give me peace and joy - it brings me closer to our Heavenly Father.  I feel that I finally belong somewhere, and that is such a wonderful feeling.  The gospel has helped me in - such a short time - to feel and listen when our Heavenly Father is trying to communicate with me through the Holy Ghost.  So, this year, I am humbly grateful for my baptism and the wonderful people that I have met through His gospel. I just wanted to share my testimony with you.

Elder Ririe, we nicknamed him Elder Buff, his Samoan name is Tagipepe.  Elder Itgel is Elder Sweet.  It's a blessing to know these missionaries.

Fa'afetai tele (Thank you very much) & God Bless!
Futi

Turkey Week!

Hey Mom and Den!

It's been a good week. We've been tracting for most of it trying to find more people to teach. We had a lot of appointments fall through, which means......more tracting. For the most part people are pretty nice, but then you get a bunch of crazies and stuff like that. But on a good note, Ti decided he wants to be baptized! So we're really excited about that! The only thing is that he is leaving on Christmas vacation to see his Dad in Alaska and so he won't be getting back until mid January, so I may not get to be there for it unless I'm still close by :s

We have another lady getting ready to be baptized. We call her Gramma because she is one of the recent convert's in the wards mother and so that's what everyone knows her by. Her date is on the 5th. The only setback is that she is terrified of water, so we are going to be giving her a blessing sometime this week.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving. We've been invited to 2 or 3 dinners already and I'm gonna be more stuffed than any turkey!

I love you guys and miss you tons!

Love, Lance

Talofa!

Hey Mom and Den!

Well, it was a good week again! I have a new lava lava. It's pretty cool! I have pictures of me in it that I'll send in this next batch. So Futi's family is doing great. Ti and Ulu have been taking the lessons with us. Ti is 18 and wants to go to BYU Hawaii. Ulu, 20, is getting ready to go to the University of San Francisco. They are way cool and they call me Oso (oo-se...rhymes with moose). It's awesome though. They treat us like we are family and they are always giving us food, but it's delicious! My favorite so far has been the spam musupi, but it's all spectacular! We have another baptism scheduled for the 5th. Her name is Bonita and her family are all recent converts and so now she has started taking the lessons with us! So lots of exciting blessings recently! It finally snowed here the other day! Transfers here are coming up on the 30th and we get calls on the 28th, so I want my birthday present from President to be that I get to stay here through another transfer! :) And I'll try to write a letter for once. Maybe I can get a jumpstart on some ideas!

So, how is everybody? I hope you're all doing good. I miss you guys tons!

Love, Lance

What A Week!

Elder Ririe's letter was a little late this week and short but sweet. He must be way busy this week!!! Can't wait to hear from him next week... hopefully he'll share a little more of his exciting week!

Hey Mom and Den!

Well, first, only half of Den's email showed up today. Not sure why :s

Anyways, it's been an awesome week! We had the baptism and Futi wanted to call you so bad! She's so awesome! I don't think she's stopped smiling all week! And it was such an awesome baptism! We had lays and the Samoan BBQ was awesome...such amazing food! Even President and Sister Palmer came to the baptism! Wow, that made me nervous, but it all went great!

It's awesome that Nicki made the team. Is she varsity or JV? I'm excited to hear how it goes and I want to see pictures!!!

Well, I hope everybody is doing good. I'd write more but my brain is fried this morning from all that has gone on this week!

I love you tons! And I miss you even more!

Love, Lance

What a Surprise!!!

We had a great surprise last night! We received a phone call from Sister. Futi, the sister Elder Ririe baptized this past Saturday. She is from Samoa. She just wanted to tell us how grateful she was to Elder Ririe for bringing the gospel into her life and that it has changed her life and the lives of her family. She said the baptism was amazing and the spirit there was very strong. She and Elder Ririe were both a little nervous and he was talking to her before the baptism when he looked out the window and said, "I think that's the President's car!" (meaning Pres. Palmer, the Mission President.) She said President Palmer was in attendance as well as 10 other elders and that it was a full house. It sounds like she had a lot of support from her ward members. They had a BBQ after the baptism and she asked Elder Ririe if she could call his parents. She said, "He didn't even answer me...just grabbed my phone and put in your number!" Sis. Futi said Elder Ririe is doing great and talks about his family all the time and has a great love for his home. She said Elder Ririe is like a son to her. She knows his birthday is coming up and wanted to know what his favorite foods were and bake him a cake. Since his favorite dessert is pie, she is going to bake a pie and put a card by it that says, "Love BOTH your moms". (I've been trying to figure out how to get a pie to him for his birthday!! It's sort of a tradition.) Now if he just doesn't get transferred before then!

Were so thankful for Sis. Futi and the time she took to call and let us know how Lance was and how grateful she is to have the gospel in her life. Thanks Futi!!!

Voted One of MissionSite.net's Top 20 Mission Photos!

This photo was just voted #16 out of the top 20 worldwide mission photos on MissionSite.net!!! We're not sure who voted or how many...but it was kind of fun to see!!! The caption under the picture reads..."Elder Ririe and Elder Yancey...Friends, Neighbors, Missionaries!" This is our neighbor on the corner's son, Elder James Yancey. He and Lance were called to the same mission nearly one year apart! We had posted the picture a few months ago on Lance's MissionSite webpage.

Latest Letter - November 2, 2009

Happy After Halloween?!

Hey Mom and Den,
So, we had a pretty good week. Futi is getting all prepped and ready for her baptism. This Sunday she got up and bore her testimony. It was such a great joy to witness and I'm just blessed to have been a part of this life changing event for her.

Halloween for missionaries is not nearly as fun as it is for everyone else. We had to be inside at 6:00 and done for the day at 8:00 so not much got done that day. But we have slowly but surely been finding more people to teach. We have a new part-member family who just moved into the ward. The wife is from Iceland and she wants to be baptized! It's an amazing blessing to have yet another one so soon....we just met her yesterday! The Lord is really looking out for us here. It's a humbling experience to recognize that the baptisms that we are part of are gifts from the Lord. My testimony has been strengthened greatly because of the changes that I have seen the gospel bring to those who didn't have it before.

Thanks for the Halloween package. I loved it!!! The peanut butter cookies were legen....wait for it....Dary! Absolutely awesome as well as the rest. I shared most of it with Elder Itgel and Ti. Ti has requested some chocolate chip in the next package, so I told him that I would ask. The Clarks loved the little pumpkin that you had sent for them.

Thanks so much for all the updates from home and all the love that you share. I miss you guys tons!!! And I love you even more!!!

Love, Lance