My heart's forever changed and I'll never be the same...

June 17th...

So that is from one of my fave EFY songs.  And it's just a bit too perfect.  I didn't know it would be so hard.  I've been feeling okay about going home, obviously sad and scared, but after I read your emails today and realised I would be released soon I just started crying.  I almost couldn't control myself haha I think the librarian is getting really worried. :)  I'm just gonna try not to think about it.

We had a really great week!!!  It was so busy and full and we saw many miracles.  I don't have too much time to tell you about them all, I guess I can tell you in person soon.  So I'll save some of them!

I'll tell you about our day at church yesterday- it was fantastic!  Matt was there and had a great Sunday.  He tells us he isn't gonna miss church for the rest of his life.  Sweet! :)  A man named Tom also came.  We met him on the street Saturday night and talked to him for about 10 minutes.  He is from Poland, living in London, and is on holiday in Edinburgh for like 3 days.  We met him not long after he'd gotten off the plane.  He was really interested in what we had to say and coming to church.  He told us he'd come....AND HE CAME.  Miracle of miracles. :)  A couple in the ward totally took him under their wings and fellowshipped him like crazy. 

Don't worry it doesn't stop there!  When we were in gospel principles a man in the ward came in all frantic like, "sisters! sisters! you need to hurry and come out here!"  We were thinking, "who died?"  haha  He said that there was a young girl who had just walked into the church and nobody knew her.  We talked to her for a second...her name is Jade and she is 17.  She had watched a video about a mormon family on youtube and then watched the district on youtube. (hahaha)  She found mormon.org and chatted to missionaries a little bit and found out where the church was in Edinburgh.  She had someone drop her off and that was it!  She is an amazing young girl.  Can you imagine doing that?  She is so cute and one of the young women in the ward took her and treated her like they were best friends and it was awesome to see.  There was a baptism after church for the china town elders!  Matt, Tom, and Jade came to the baptism.  Is this real life? ;)  It was so great and the spirit was strong and everyone felt it.  So this is where we are at the moment: Matt is preparing to be baptised on July 6th, Tom is going to meet with the missionaries where he lives (and will totally be baptised), and we are so excited to start teaching Jade.  God is good.
I will need to get going soon, for my last p-day we are going to go to the mission home and play games and have fun with our district.  sigh.  I don't know if I'll be emailing next week...I might email on monday, but I'm not sure.  Just in case I don't: my flight plans say i will be arriving in Salt Lake at 8:40...is that what you were planning on?  I have this fear that I will show up and no one will be there.  haha.  Also make sure someone takes a video and takes pictures!  I want to see how ridiculous I look. :)
Before I go I have this quote to share.  Well, it's sort of a quote.  In the book "our heritage" there is a story of a man and a woman that cross the plains in the Martin handcart company.  People ask him if he thought it was worth it or if he regreted it.  He gives a beautiful response and I just applied it to the mission:
"Was I sorry that I chose to come on a mission?  No.  Neither then nor any minute of my life since.  The price I paid to become aquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to serve in the Scotland/Ireland mission."
It's been hard, but it's been my privilege.  I absolutely love this mission, I love this work, and I love my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I'm grateful that I could serve them and I just hope and pray I did my part.  :)

I love you all. :)

Sister Rindlisbacher

Much love from the land of Scot

June 10th

Hello dear friends and family :)

I cannot believe it's June, let alone the 10th of June.  This is such a weird experience...everyone asks if I'm ready/excited/nervous to come home.  I feel like I'm coming home for a week and then I'll be a missionary again.  I don't think it's ever going to sink in.  But!  a couple of glorious weeks left as a missionary!

We have had a really good week.  I'll tell you about my favorites:
1.  Last P-day all the missionaries in Edinburgh took a hike up Corstorphine hill (it's like 2 minutes from our flat).  It passes right by the zoo so we got to see the zebras for free!  Who needs to pay £16?  We also had lunch and just played fun games up at the top.  It was really really fun!  Nevermind I walked into stinging nettle.  twice. haha My legs itched for days!
2. Matthew or Matty as he likes to be called...is doing so good!  We had an awesome lesson with him and he came to church yesterday and loved it.  He said every lesson and every talk seemed to be 'just for him'.  He told us that he could finally feel the love of God and he's getting back to who he once was/wants to be.  We're going to try and set a date for him to be baptised tomorrow.  He has become really excited about the gospel this week.  So good!
3. We helped Jackie with some painting this week.  it's always so fun!  We are pro painters by now.  She also fed us our tea! yum!  We had a really good lesson on the plan of salvation.  She is slowly progressing and gaining a testimony.  She believes in the Book of Mormon and loves learning about it.
4. We had an all scotland conference!  It was so good!  We had the family history people for this area come and teach us how we could better use family history in our work.  President spoke to us alot about referrals and finding people through the people we already know!  People at home: help the missionaries find people to teach!  You'll be able to feel the amazing feeling of helping someone know they're a child of God who is loved.  It's pretty great. 
It was also a weird day.  My last zone conference.  It was hard to say goodbye to everybody. :(  But even if I never see them again I am so stinking grateful for the people I met out here, the friends I made, and everything they taught me.  Love them all!
I'm sorry I didn't have too much to say this week.  We've kind of got to hurry, the baptist family that I've told you about is taking us to Calton (?) Hill.   It should be fun!

Have a great week.  I loooooooooooove you.

Sister Rindlisbacher
ps- Here is a funny tidbit that probably won't be funny to you.  So everybody here says "hiya" as a greeting.  I say this all the time, but I think I'm just getting really tired/losing my mind because I got off the bus one day and instead of saying 'thanks' to the driver I said 'hiya' and hopped off the bus. hahaha And a few times as we've been talking to people on the street I've said 'biya' as I've walked away.  That is NOT  a word and NO ONE says that.  I felt so dumb. haha

June 3rd

Hi!

I never know where to start these emails.  My mind just goes blank.  There is so much to say that I never know what to say. :)  But hey!  How are you?  I got the pictures of Amber and Dave and I almost burst out crying. haha.  They are so darn pretty.  It's summer!  You're all finally free from school.  I remember what a great feeling that was.  So this week for us has been good.  We had really good weather.  So hot!  It was probably nothing compared to home, but I was dying.  It's been an exhausting week, but that just means we worked hard, right? I hope so. haha.

Matthew, the guy we started teaching decided to drop us this week.  He decided that God wasn't for him.  He forced us to take the Book of Mormon back and everything.  It was really sad.  We saw him a few days later on the bus.  He told us that he hasn't been happy at all.  He feels like God is punishing him for 'not choosing Him'.  I don't think he's being punished he just isn't experiencing all the blessings that come from living the gospel.  Anyway, he recognized that a little bit and said he wanted to come to church next week and try again.  We'll pray that he feels something this week and gains that desire to try!
I don't remember if I've ever told you about Jackie???  Jacki is AWESOME.  She is the best friend of a member here in Edinburgh, so she has been to church and some church activities.  She is just such a lovely lady.  She has really been struggling though.  We visit her every once in a while and try to lift her spirits.  We have also helped her paint a bunch.  Oh and she feeds us sometimes!!  Anyway, the bottom line is she is great.  She is probably in her 50's.  She decided this week that she wanted to take the missionary lessons 'for real'.  We are so excited to teach her!  I think it's because she came to the Joseph Smith fireside a few weeks ago and really felt the spirit.  So.  Good.  Missionary work is awesome when members bring their friends, they become comfortable in the church, she learned to trust us through service, etc.  I wish it worked out like this more often!  I'm going to be such a different 'member missionary'  when I get home...in like 6 months. :)
Funny/awkward/great moment:  We were street contacting after church yesterday.  There is a ton of construction so we were walking on this temporary sidewalk with fences on both sides.  There was room for 2 people tops.  good thing there was the three of us and like 4 other people walking towards us. haha.  We tried talking to the first couple as they awkwardly slid past us.  Nope.  Then we tried talking to the next guy.  Shot down.  haha.  Then we look up and there is a contruction worker/security guard up on a ladder just looking down at us and chuckling.  We were just like, "Hey, can we just talk to you about it?" haha.  So we had a good wee conversation trying to talk loud enough so he could hear us from way up there.  He gave us his number because he's interested in learning more! woot! 
Okay!  have a really great week!  Remember you only have like 3 weeks to write your lovely sister missionary an email/letter. ;)

Love you,

sister Rindlisbacher

ps sorry I haven't sent pictures in forever.  My camera is dead and I lost the charger.  awesome I know.

Hiya :)

Hello family!

How is everybody this rainy day?  Have you had a good week?  Amber's wedding plans so far sounds great...I approve.  Send more pictures though.  And send me her engagement pictures as soon as possible.  I'm pretty much dying to see them.  Pretty much everybody emailed me this week! ha so thanks! 

This week the weather was up and down.  Rain then hail then the past couple of days have been BOILING.  (I don't think I'll be able to survive a summer at home ha).  My mood has kind of been like the weather.  It's been a good week, but that just means Satan will give you something to try and bring you down.  But it's okay...all is well. :)
We have someone new we are teaching!  His name is Matthew.  He's really, really good.  Here is the story: A couple weeks ago we had two sets of sisters in our area.  Sister Clegg and I were together and Sister Larsen was going around with her new comp Sister Rousseau.  The other sisters were waiting at a bus stop and a man was running by.  He stopped and asked them the time and got into a gospel conversation.  he was really interested in learning more!  The sisters wrote his information down, but we didn't see it.  A few days ago we were waiting at a bus stop and this guy runs by.  He stops and asks us for the time (haha at first this story may appear creepy...and at first we thought so too.  But don't worry it sorts itself out ha).  Then he tells us how he met the sisters and had asked them the exact same thing.  He had been baptised in another church and was really 'into God' for a long time.  He even tried going out on Princes street (busiest in Edinburgh) to talk to people about Him. :)  He fell away for a long time.  He told us he's been ignoring God for too long, and when he had passed the sisters before and us that day-he felt compelled to stop.  He felt like he needed to talk to us.  Anyway!  We had a great lesson with him and he accepted the invitation to be baptised!  He came to church with us yesterday and really enjoyed it.  A member called us and said they had ridden the same bus after church and Matthew said he was coming back next week.  Woo!  Pray for Matthew!
We also had an interesting fireside at the church this week.  A couple from America came to speak to us...they're doing a European tour.  They are both Mormon historians or something.  It was really interesting.  They're really smart.  Sister Clegg wrote a note to me that said, "I feel really stupid."  I wrote back, "Me two." haha we thought it was hilarious.  Sister Caswell was like, "Guys, it's spelled too." hahaha Anyway that was a tangent...It was interesting to hear all their theories and such, but the overwhelming feeling I came out of there with was, "I believe in Jesus."  There was a lot of deep doctrine thrown out there, but to me the gospel is simple and "I believe in Jesus."  I liked something they said about faith: "Faith has to operate where there are reasons to believe and reasons to doubt.  And every soul is free to choose to believe."
Well, have a great week.  Write letters and emails...you don't have very long left!  I'm expecting lots of redemption mail. :) (haha just kidding...mostly)

I love you all!

Sister Rindlisbacher

Well hello there er'body!

How is life?  It's been another good week here in Scotland.  I had a dream last night that I was on a.....date......and they asked me where I had gone on my mission.  I remember saying I went to Scotland and then I just started bawling.  The sad fact is I can see that happening.  Love it here.  Here is a quote from Sister Clegg: "The work is hastening here in Scotland and it's in the form of estrogen."  haha so true!  We have about a million sisters in the mission now.  I used to know all of them, but now I know about 1/3 of them.  Weird.  But it's great that there are so many missionaries.  There are so many new areas being opened.  Soon Scotland and Ireland will only be populated with missionaries. :)

We have a new companion!  Her name is Sister Caswell...she is from Washington state.  We had a really fun day on Wednesday climbing Pratt's hill with all the newbies.  I had to say goodbye to all the missionaries going to Ireland cause I won't see them again on the mission/ever?  Hated that.  But the day was fun.  We had a lot of meetings as usual and even though we always go over the same thing in the trainer/trainee meetings I still learn what I can improve.  Humility and charity.  Yep.  The hardest ones. :)

Have I ever told you about the baptist family that we are "teaching"?  We were chapping probably back in March and we met this guy named Allie.  He said we could come back later in the week.  We did and we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. haha.  They are a big, English, really strong Christian family.  I think they have the bible memorised.  :)  We have met with them on and off.  They are interested in learning more about our church...general knowledge I suppose.  Although they intimidate the heck out of us we really love them.  And they invited us over for dinner this week!  Isn't that sweet?  It was so fun too.  We even got to play a game with them after and just relax and not have to defend the Book of Mormon or our church. :)  No...they are an awesome family and really great examples of Christians.  Their oldest daughter Elspeth is great (she's around our age) and we are even gonna do something with her on P-day. 

Cheryl has had a pretty hard week.  We couldn't get in contact with her for a long time, so we were kind of in panic mode.  We saw her at stake conference though and she was doing okay.  We were about an hour into stake conference and Sister Clegg looks at me and is like, "is that Ethan?"  haha In fact it was!  So glad that she came!  She has had a tough week, Satan is really trying to work on her.  She has so much potential and he doesn't want her to reach it.  But she's tough and she'll get through. 
Yesterday was a long day of finding.  We thought it would drag, but we were blessed with tons of success.  It was about 8:30 and we were walking home and we stopped a lady named Carol.  Her brother had recently died and she was struggling.  She told us that she's really scared of dying.  She hopes God is there, but just doesn't know.  We told her about the Book of Mormon and read a little bit with her.  We even invited her to be baptised (sister Caswell's first! woo) and she said she would.  We said a prayer with her before she left and she teared up a lot.  She just said thank you for what we told her.  Hopefully we'll meet with her again this week...I'll let you know how it goes!
Quick request: We are having a zone conference next month and some family history people from SLC are coming to talk about how we can use fam. history in missionary work.  We are supposed to have some stories of ancestors and a 4 generation (?) pedigree chart.  Could you send me at least the chart.  Grandma Bacher sent me some stories that would work. (thanks!)  gracias.
Okay. I'm gonna go, but have a brilliant week!  Love you,

Sister Rindlisbacher

ps..someone told me this week that our last name means deer basin....???

May 14th

Hey family!

It was pretty great getting to talk to you on Sunday!  And it was fun to meet Dave, hopefully he doesn't think I'm too much of a freak. haha.  I don't have too much time...again!  I'll tell you about Cheryl though.
Her baptism was on Saturday!!!!  It was soo so good.  We actually had a wee bit of a scare on Friday.  She was coming to dinner with us at the bishop's house, but we couldn't find her anywhere.  We tried by her house, called her, texted her...nothing.  And we didn't hear from her until Saturday morning.  ugh.  She has had a few baptismal dates in the past and even had a baptismal service and didn't show.  so we were scared!  But we found out she had been in the hopsital for her stomach and had left her phone at home.  We felt pretty bad for our lack of faith.  :/  But we met with her before the baptism and she was so excited.  Her family took her to the church (her aunt and uncle are members).  She looked like an angel in her dress.  She loved it! :)  There was also a mother and two kids being baptised, which was awesome.  A lot of people came out to support.  The program was really nice.  We had to (yes. had to.) do a musical number.  We sang I am a Child of God with Cheryl.  :)  The water was super cold.  She said she couldn't even breathe, but when the bishop (who baptised her) started to talk she just felt warmth.  She said she just felt so happy.  She even bore her testimony after-it was beautiful.  She was confirmed on Sunday and it was a beautiful blessing.  Ethan was even quiet...the whole time!  Miracle.  We just love Cheryl.  She'll be a really strong member.  She loves the gospel.  Ach-it makes us happy.
Okay I better get going.  Oh!  Did I mention I'm staying in Edinburgh?  Edinburgh till the end.  Sister Clegg and I are both staying and getting a new missionary.  :)  It'll be grand.
Have a great week.  Amber...keep me posted on the wedding plans...I have many ideas. haha
Love you all!

Sister Rindlisbacher

 

 

Heeeey!

Wow.  Just wow.  It has been a really interesting and fun and exhausting and awesome week.  I don't even know where to begin!  I'll just dive right in.
1. Cheryl is doing okay.  She had a couple setbacks this week.  We didn't get to see her all week long; I think she didn't want to see us and disappoint us, which of course we weren't.  We are really sad, but we just love her.  She got some news this week that was really hard.  And because of a couple of other things she was worried she couldn't be baptised.  She was just heart broken, she wants it so much.  She didn't show up for a few of our appointments this week and so we decided to do a suprise attack (haha) on Saturday night.  We got her in!  We were able to talk to her and help her and pray with her, which she hadn't done all week.  When we first walked in I could tell something was wrong, but as we left she was almost back to her usual self.  She told us that it must have been Heavenly Father that sent us there that night. :)  She also came to church yesterday!  Ethan came too!  I think she had a good day, she just gets stressed about Ethan.  The good news is, despite some new trials, she is still working for baptism (not so sure on the day yet though....I'll keep you posted.)  Pray for Cheryl, please!
2. Gary.. poor Gary.  We didn't see him at all.  We aren't sure whats wrong.  He's been struggling and not feeling so well.  We just need to see him and figure out whats wrong so we can help him.  Pray that he gets better and can feel the spirit again.
3. Have I ever told you about Jackie?  She is the best friend of one of the members here.  She has been taught a couple of times by missionaries and will come to church or activities every once in a while.  We seen her a few times and helped her paint once.  We just really love her.  She's so great.  Anyway she had a really bad week.  She called us on Saturday and we told her we'd come see her that day.  She really opened up and told us her struggles.  Breaks my heart, but I think us just being there helped her out.  And she fed us tacos!  yum!  Sister Larsen and I were talking later that night about how we felt like "real" missionaries that day. :)  Sometimes you get caught up/go through the motions and live for how many lessons you get or whatever, but we feel like real missionaries when we just do what Jesus would have done...minister.  We liked that feeling.
4. I had a cool experience after interviews (we had interviews on Friday and it was great-how I love the Browns!)  We were waiting at a bus stop and this guy came and stood near us.  I was thinking of how I could start the conversation without being too awkward...oh wait...not possible.  haha So I turned to him and was going to comment on the weather (haha it was sunny and scottish people like to talk about their weather) but as I turned to him he put his hands together, like he was praying and pointed to my badge.  I soon realised (I hope you don't think I stupid for the way I spell-they spell things differently over here) that he was deaf.  He was trying to ask me something and I was trying to make up signs to answer him back ha It wasn't working very well (too bad I dropped out of my sign language class)  So I took out a piece of paper and a pencil and we wrote messages back and forth.  I asked him if he prayed, believed in Christ, in God, etc....he told me he didn't really believe but he wanted to try.  He also told me he has been sober for 5 years and his mom was ill.  It was such a cool experience.  We were sitting there writing back and forth while everyone else watched us.  I gave him a book of mormon and my testimony and we are going back to see him this week! 
5. We had a Relief Society activity!  It was all about missionary work.  We talked about standing as a witness of God.  We did some skits.  We ate cake.  it was a great night!  Here is a paraphrased quote from one of the relief society counselors..."We all go through trials.  And I'll be the first to admit I don't like them.  They are hard.  They can be painful.  And sometimes we feel like we can't get through them.  But what's even harder is watching someone I love go through a trial, because I can't take their pain away from them.  I can't be brave for them.  But I know someone who can."  She then just bore her testimony of the Saviour and His atonement.  Ach, it was so good.  There are so many people out there who need help and we know someone who can help them.  That's the beauty of sharing the gospel.  When we open our mouths or invite or are a good example we help people find the one who can take the pain away.  Who can help them be brave.  (Share the gospel with somebody!!!!) :)
6.  This email is getting too long.  One more thing.  Last night we had a brilliant fireside.  It was a group from the Glasgow stake.  They sang all the songs from the Nashville Tribute Band: A Tribute to the Prophet (or whatever it's called) and had testimonies and a slide show and clips about Joseph Smith and the saints.  It was smashing.  The singing was ridiculous. (in a good way)  It was an 18 year old kid that put it all together.  Jackie came and she cried through the whole thing.  It's just  the thing she needed. One of the guys in the show came up to us after and asked if we had any investigators there and we pointed out Jackie.  He went right over and started talking to her.  People are good. 

Okay, I'm going to go!  Have a great week.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SHANNON!  I hope you got the lovely card I made you. :)

Love you,

Sister Rindlisbacher

 

pic 1: me and the castle...don't look at me...just look at the castle