**** BREAKING NEWS ****

WE HAVE A RELEASE DATE!!!  HE'LL BE HOME MARCH 7TH!!!!!!!!

"Coming Home Soon Papers in the Mail!"

Hey Mom and Den,

Sorry I wasn't able to write much last week.  The internet kept crashing before I could get a letter out.


That's awesome that Nicki made the team again!

Things here are pretty good.  We found a new family to teach.  They are awesome!  The Keipe's.  They are Catholic but are really open and have lots of sincere questions about the church, so we look forward to teaching them more.  We found them through a family in the ward that invited them over for dinner, so we are very excited to be teaching them.  Other than that things have been pretty slow - lots of appointments canceling.

Glad to hear you guys are doing great.  I got yours and Gramma's letters, so let Gramma know that I got it.  Not too much of an exciting week other than the Keipe's, but things are good.  It hasn't snowed yet, just getting colder and rainy.  But it just won't snow.  They say maybe on Thursday, but I still saw somebody  mowing their lawn yesterday so who knows.    And I got the Ensign.  Thanks a bunch!!  That's fun for Hunter getting asked to the dance.

Oh.....I got my "going home soon papers" in the mail last week.  They need to know which airport I'm flying into, Pres. Welch's address, and the bishops address.  So if you could get me that stuff that'd be great!

So that's whats up here!  Love you guys a tons and miss ya lots too!

Elder Lance Ririe

November Rain!

Dear Mom and Den,

Well, all it did this week was rain - just hasn't been cold enough to snow except for when it's NOT raining.  Then it's just windy and cold.  The work is starting to pick up and we have an awesome new ward mission leader, Bro. Cribbs.  He's an awesome convert to the church.  Awesome story how he joined and so he's really gung ho about the missionary work here, so we're glad to have him here.

Halloween was uneventful.  We had to go inside as soon as trick-or-treaters came out, so we were done at like 4:30.  We had dinner at the Sosa's and then went home.  But with transfer calls....we are BOTH staying here, which will be great!  I'm way excited for that, but it has me a little worried for the next transfer that is 5 days before Christmas.  But I'll try not to think about that one right now.  I'm really excited for next Sunday!  It will be Sis. Futi's one year mark since she was baptized!  That's amazing to look back on that whole experience with them and how they are still coming to church.  And she's getting ready to go to the temple with Sis. Sosa!

That's all that really happened this week.  We tracted an apartment complex and it was filled with Iraqi immigrants....they don't like us too much so we got chased out of there.  But, hey, that's the fun of tracting!  Right?  Ha Ha

I miss you guys tons and love ya even more!  For my birthday I would love some peanut butter cookies (in a plastic container only cause they don't get hard as fast) but that's all I can think of.  At least for now!

Love ya tons,
Elder Lance Ririe

Change is in the air~

Hey Mom and Den,

It was a pretty good week. We had our whole ward leadership change here, so it has been pretty crazy! But it's all good.  The weather here has been super rainy but not even close to being cold enough to snow. I'm hoping its not like last year where it just rained all winter... that was pretty lame. But because I want it to snow it probably wont. haha  Anyways... the work is still about the same. My most recent struggle seems to be helping the ward get involved in missionary work. It's SO much easier when members invite their friends to take the lessons because tracting seems to only be good for stories, although I think back and I have had an amazing experience tracting with Si. Futi and the kids. But those seem to be a one in a million chance. Anyways, I love being here and we have so many great members that love to help us out and love to feed us even more. One of which is Sosa.  She's a Samoan lady that helped me when I was teaching Sis. Futi. She lives on the border of our ward and another ward here, so she calls us to make sure we have a dinner and if we dont she makes sure we get fed. She's great. She wants to go through the temple the same time as Sis. Futi, so that would be really exciting. So the reason I mentioned her is because she wanted the house number so she could call you guys and tell you how I was doing. So I hope that's ok.

I'll send pictures,  You might be having a November visitor coming too. Sis. Crump.  She's the allover super mission mom.  She offered to take a box of things home for me in November so I thought that would be something you might look forward too. Sis. Crump is great!  She and Bro. Crump have us over for lunch every Sunday. They are soo great! Needless to say we love them out here.  Good to hear that James is doing good. That was a bit of a scare, but glad that he's alright.

Well I love you guys and I miss you even more!!!

Love  Elder Lance  Ririe

Rough Road This Week!

Dear Mom and Den,

Well, this week was a rough one.  Not too many new investigators and most of our teaching pool has dropped us, so it's been harder lately.  And on top of that they rearranged our boundaries Sunday and so we have to make adjustments there.  Otherwise, things are good.  Elder Warnick is great!  He's optimistic about all of this, which really helps, so I'm glad about that.  Sorry not too much going on here.  It's just been harder.  But we did meet a great family, the Berman's.  Bro. Berman asked us to give him a blessing and after that we were able to get to know him a little.  And then we ended up helping him build a new wheelchair ramp for his back porch, so that was nice to be able to get to work with my hands a little bit.  Sorry there isn't much else going on, but things are still great out here!

Love and miss you guys!
Elder Lance Ririe

Our purpose in life...

Dear Mom and Den,

Wow!  That's some crazy stuff for the week.  It sounds like Elder Allridge is from Deer Park - at least that's the only Deer "something" that I know of.  That's a huge bummer about James too.  I hope he's alright.  I'll spread the word out here to some of his former companions.  I'm glad the elders were able to come over.   That's funny that Elder Allridge is from Spokane and you could talk about his home.  I haven't heard about the games (football) for a while.  Everybody here in this ward are students and don't have time to watch the games, so I don't know much unless Den or Bro. Flink (Shade Park Ward) gives me an update.

Our week was fast but slow.  Time is cruising along, but when you're sick and can't do much time starts to slow down.  But I'm getting better and I totally sprayed the apartment with bleach again (to kill the mold).  Same bottle I bought 6 months ago.  Ha ha  But I started to get better on Saturday just in time for stake flag football.  We had a great showing from our ward and they brought tons of non-members that came and played with us.  It was awesome!  I love when they have activities that people feel comfortable enough to invite people so we can get to know them.

As for teaching, our teaching pool has dried up somewhat.  Lots of people who we were teaching are either just not around or have been avoiding us, so we haven't taught Abby or Gavin (park bench guy) since the first time we taught them.  So it's a bummer, but we're still keeping our heads up and keep  looking for people to teach.  Last night I had a neat experience.  Sis. Futi called to tell me about how she shared an experience about back when Elder Itgel and I had taught her.  She told me they were sitting in class talking about our purpose in life and she shared how when we were teaching her we asked her that question...and she said she knew...or at least she thought she knew.  Her thoughts were that we should be good people, get up early, and work hard.  But as she shared with the class and eventually with me, as we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and God's plan for us and why we are here, she came to know that she was a daughter of God and that there was more for her than to just work and go about life, but to develop a relationship with Christ and to keep the commandments and to be baptized.  It was great to hear that from her and she wanted me to tell you about it today.

Well, I hope everybody is great.  I love you guys tons, and miss ya even more!!!

Love,
Elder Lance Ririe

The Trail Less Traveled

Dear Mom and Den,

Ha Ha!  Sounds like things are great at home...lots of good stuff going on!  I did get Tanner's letter and am working on sending him one back.  Conference was spectacular!  The favorite of my mission!  We watched it at the Stake Center.  There's something really amazing about watching conference at the stake center.  Sure it's a little more work, and you have to get all dressed up, but I really enjoy watching it there.  Who knows, might even do that at home.  It's crazy that Nicki's letter is that long!  Geeze!  I'll probably be home by the time she finishes it!

Elder Warnick and I had an amazing experience this weekend.  When we went out to tract, we found a trail that we had never before noticed, so we decided to walk down it. It was a beautiful trail.  As we continued down, we saw a man sitting on a bench and we started to talk to him.  He told us his story and all the things he had been through.  We then were able to share how the gospel of Jesus Christ could bless his life and we invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  Before we could even get to it, he asked us if we could pray with him.  Then immediately after the prayer he asked if we had a church service he could attend with us.  Unfortunately, he couldn't make it to conference, but we plan on meeting with him again this week.

So that was our awesome week in a nutshell.  I love you guys and miss ya tons!

Love, Elder Lance Ririe