Back in the saddle!

Hey Mom and Den!

Well things here are awesome!  I had to give a talk Sunday (found out Saturday night) so little time to prepare but I think it went well.  But wished it could have been a little bit longer because one of the speakers wasn't there as she ended up going into labor.  So I guess that's a pretty good excuse for not speaking in church.  Anyways... I got to see Sis. Futi and the kids.  They are doing great.  It was really good to see them.  And I got to see a few member of the Glenrose Ward the other night (The Clarks and the Hainesworths) so that made for a good weekend.  The work is going good.  It's funny just kind of picking up where I left off here, but it's nice.  I was surprised at just how many members remember me because they don't seem to remember Elder Smith and he was in this ward longer than I was.  Kinda funny...but like I said, it's good to be back.  And our address is:

2004 E. 34th
Spokane, WA  99203

The knee is doing good.  Biking really hurts, but that's how we have to get around for now until next month when we can get bus passes.  Ummm...trying to think of other things going on but my mind is blank right now.  OH!  Almost forgot our awesome experience of the week!  We saw some major blessings!  As we went tracting, we found a wonderful lady named Abby.  Abby is from Ethiopia and she has talked to the missionaries before in her country and she loves what they do there.  When we knocked on her door, she let us right in and we began to teach her about the restored gospel and how it blesses our families.  Abby is a mother of a two-year-old little girl.  We told her about the Book of Mormon and her face lit up with excitement as we shared how prophets wrote it in Ancient America and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ.  She asked if we had a church service she could attend and also when we would come back.  So we are going back tonight.  Unfortunately, she has to work on Sundays but we are going to ask her if she will ask for Sundays off so that she can come to church.  So that is just some of the good things that are going on here.

I love you guys and miss you tons!

Love, Elder Lance Ririe

Spokane/Lincoln Heights Part2!

Hey Mom and Den,

Transferred again, but back to Spokane (Lincoln Heights Ward).  That is the ward I was in before I was transferred here to Wenatchee.  Caught me by definite surprise!  I thought for sure I'd be here a while and not back to Spokane, but I know there is a reason for it.  Just what that reason is, I don't know.  My companion is going to be Elder Warnick (?sp).  I think he's newer.  I haven't heard of him before, so it'll be good I guess.  I called Sis. Futi to let her know and the whole family was way stoked!  But I know there are more reasons to go back than just them, though it will be really great to see them again.  But I really am sad to leave Wenatchee.  It was just starting to grow on me and everything.  And I haven't been able to tell Brother and Sister Haley about the news yet, but I'm really sad to leave them.  They are such a good family and I know that Sister Haley will make a great member of the church someday, but until then she's just one of the best people I've ever met.

So, that's the news.  I'm pretty sure its the same address for the missionaries that it was before...at least I think so.

Anyways...I love you guys and can't wait to hear what's been going on with you guys.  And I loved the package with the cinnamon rolls and the monkeys.  And the pictures were good too!

I love you guys tons and miss you even more!

Love,
Elder Lance Ririe

The Best Two Years!!!! And a little "trunky"

Hey Mom and Den,

Well, we are still struggling on finding more people to teach, but the Haley's are doing great!  The friendships you make with some of the families out here are just so awesome.  They remind me alot of the experience with Sis. Futi, except I don't get fed nearly as much!  But it's just so great being able to be around good people and being able to serve them.

I did get my letter and one of the packages, as well as the pics from the lake.  Geeeze...you guys go off and do all this fun stuff without me!  Bummer!!!  hahaha  Not really, cause I'd rather be here anyways cause I really love it here.  Wenatchee is growing on me, but I still like Spokane better.  Its kinda funny cause I can reflect on all the great people I've been able to meet that have changed my life and that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't done this. I'm so happy that I decided to serve a mission!!!

Well, not much else to say cause we're still struggling on finding people to teach, but we're working hard.

Oh...and on football...HUGE bummer!  I had to hear about it all weekend!  So my hope is that BYU redeems themselves this week, but it sounds like it'll be a rough game.  And I'm not really surprised that BYU stuck with Nelson cause he's got the experience and its usually better to err on the side of experience than have the new guy get too anxious and try to force a big play and have it blow up. 

Well, love you all and miss ya tons!!!

Love,
Elder Lance Ririe

Labor Day~

Hey Mom and Den,

Well, this week was alright.  I hate holiday weekends as a missionary.  You have to go out and work and either nobody is home or having family parties that you can't go to, most of which out here have involved football games - which was kinda fun to hear that BYU beat Washington.  The Lewis' are HUGE Washington fans, so that made for some fun trash talking this weekend. 

Unfortunately, not anyone new to teach this week.  Still working with the Haleys, but they were out of town...stupid holiday.  But as for everything else, it's great!  Sister Lewis showed me the email that you sent here.  I'd hoped you guys liked the video.  I thought it was one of my best yet.  I'm hoping we have some more good things happen out here, but I guess I just gotta do what I can to make them happen. 

I miss you guys a ton!  I can't wait to hear how things are back home this week!

Miss ya'll tons!  Love ya!

Elder Lance Ririe

Feeling left out :(

Hey Mom,

Answers to your questions.....

#1 The charge on my debit card was for x-rays for....guess what?
#2  I got the email pictures and our new address is:
1725 5th Street
Wenatchee, WA  98801
#3  I got the package with the G's and the cookies, but the cookies had gotten hard when they got around to me (9 days after being originally post marked)

Well, this week was really good except for hurting my knee again, so never going to play soccer ever again - stupid game.  Got your last letter today actually, so it was good to hear about the first day of school and so forth.  Pretty fun to hear about the waitress at Pizza Factory.  Maybe the missionary she's waiting for is me?  Haha...yeah right.

Umm...well, the work this week really picked up.  We found a few more people to teach as well as an awesome part member family that we have been helping out, the Haley's.  They are great.  Brother Haley is a convert and a super good guy.  And is wife is awesome. We have been helping them with their backyard and garden.  They both happen to be RN's, so that has been good cause they know about a lot of good things to help me with my knee....ice, heat, elevation.  And Sis. Haley is an awesome cook.  In general, they are just a super family, so I always look forward to helping them out with their yard and being able to have gospel discussions with Sis. Haley.

It's really weird being the only non Spanish speaking missionaries in the district and 1 of 3 in the zone, so we don't do much on P-days because everyone else has a car, is far away from us, and speaks Spanish so we usually only see them at district meetings and on Sundays, which we don't understand half of because of Spanish jokes.  I'm never going to exclude anyone like this ever!!!!!!!  I'm glad that Elder Card and I get along so well or else I'd be going crazy!

Well, that's about all I can think of off the top of my head, but I love you guys and think about you tons!  Just think, only 6 more months!!!

And on top of that, I had a crazy dream last night that I somehow came home as a missionary and Tanner was the only one home, so I gave him a hug and then left.  Weird!

Anyways.....love you guys!
Elder Lance Ririe

Wenatchee....And then some!

My cool apron from the primary kids back home!

Hey Mom and Den,
So first things first, sorry i didn't e- mail 'til today because we had a meeting yesterday with Elder Christensen from the 70's and so continues the story of our week.  We didn't end up getting to go to the temple because the group that was going got too big.  So since we are the only English missionaries  we didn't get to go. So maybe we can go in the next couple weeks but i don't think we'll get to. Other than those lets see, we don't have too much going on in our teaching pool just the same rebuild that I've been in a lot, which is kind of a bummer but I guess I probably wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't in a situation like this one. So yeah, but Wenatchee is great!  I think I told you about the Lewis'.  They are awesome! Elder Card is pretty cool.  We are still getting along.  Oh so we helped a local HOA build a park that was pretty cool.  We were going to help a member with his yard and then we saw all of these people building a park so we just asked if we could help.  We are gonna go back next week and lay sod, but it was pretty cool to be able to do that and help more people see just how good the church is when it comes to helping out. Well I love you guys.  I loved the back to school pictures, Hunter needs to fix his unibrow a little bit (haha just teasin) Let me know how the vacation went. I love you guys and miss ya tons.  Did ya'll get my pictures? Please tell me you did, cause it feels like I sent them forever ago. Anyways love ya!

Elder Lance Ririe

Hey Hey!

Hey Hey!

Well the trip to Wenatchee was forever long, but I really like it out here.  My companion is Elder Card and he's from Orem.  He's a really good guy and we get along real well, which is great because we are the only English speaking missionaries in the district and 1 of like 3 in the zone.  Not sure why but there's always a weird rift between the Spaniards and the English missionaries.  But, anyways, not a whole lot of work out here at the moment.  We have a few potentials, but we have set a really high goal this month of being able to baptize 5 people...we just have to go and find them.

I got your letter that you sent and am working on sending some out to the kids (just need envelopes).

Wenatchee is pretty cool.  Well, it's really HOT but is a neat place...the third largest city in the mission just behind Cd'A.  And the work out here is just exploding!  The stake has almost doubled it's baptisms for the year and it's only August.  So we're stoked about that!  Umm...oh, the family we live with is super awesome!  The Lewis'.  They have 5 boys and one is on a mission right now another is in the military and then the rest are at home.  It's like having three little bro's..haha...but I love mine more!

Well, I think that's it for this week.  Hope it was enough info.  Oh...wait!  Going to the temple tomorrow (Tues) so maybe I'll get to see some people in Spokane on the trip there or something, but I don't know.

I love you guys!

Love, Elder Lance Ririe