Happy Anniversary

How is everybody this week?  Sounds super cold.  It's been cold here as well, but probably not that cold.  brrr.  So-I'm sad I missed Justin's birthday, I can't believe he's 9!  Ach!  Sounds like you got some good stuff though.  :) 

Our week has been cold and snowy, but it was really good!  I have really missed the snow.  We had a snowball fight, I tried to build a snowman, and we've been dying to make snow angels. ha. 

Here are the high-lights of this week:

1. We had interviews and training with President Brown!  Yay!  Oh how I love him and Sister Brown.  They're the best.  We were standing outside the church (it was locked) waiting with our district leader and his companion when President pulled up.  He got out of the car and hugged the elders and then I stuck my hand out to give him a handshake (like usual) but he's like, "Oh, no one's watching give me a hug!" haha So training was great, we talked a lot about our purpse-to invite others to come unto Christ....(ps-I'm really glad you're studying PMG for Family home evening!)  Sometimes I just go through the motions and forget WHY I'm here.  And WHY I'm doing what I'm doing.  Good reminders.  Our interview was also good, he's always so full of encouragement and advice.

(I love the scotland/ireland mission--just saying)

2. I think it was last week we were trying by a less-active in the ward.  She was on our ward list, but we'd never met her so we went by.  A younger (21ish) lad opened the door and said she didn't live there anymore, but it was his grandma!  So we talked to him for a bit and went back a few days later to teach him!  We're also seeing him tomorrow!  He doesn't have a belief either way, he doesn't want to say God is there or isn't until he has proof.  (I was reading alma 30 this morning and I'm hoping that doesn't happen to him haha)  But he is quite open and desires to know.  He really likes the morals of religion as well.  Please bless!
3. We were in a wee village called Brechin the other day.  All our appointments dropped so we were out talking to people and chapping all day...and it was snowing super bad so we were soaked!  One of our backups was to try by this less active couple.  They are usually never in, but they were that day!  She let us in, made me take off my tights and 2 pairs of socks so she could dry them, and gave us hot chocolate.  So great.  We also had a good lesson with her where she told us about her concerns with the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  She hasn't read it for a long time, but she is going to try to read and pray again.  :)  Before we left she asked what size of shoes I wore, I told her, and then she left the room for a second.  She came back with a pair of wellies (like rain boots...do we call them wellies back home???) for me!  I didn't want to take them, but of course she insisted.  How good are some people?  I told her my mom would love her for that. :)
4. We chapped on a door and talked to this guy for a really long time.  He had a lot of doubts and questions, and we shared a lot of the plan of salvation with him.  Anyway, near the end of the conversation he asked if I was originally from Montrose...as in he thought I was Scottish! haha yay!  Okay..it's not really saying that much-he's not too great at identifying accents-he thought sister Tylka was Polish. ha.  But still. :)
5. Another funny moment..we stopped by a former investigator called Mary.  She let us in and she also had a friend there called John (from her church).  He is from Nigeria.  When we were leaving she grabbed my hand and grabbed John's hand and started talking about how he was looking for a wife...my eyes just got really big. haha But John was like, "oh no no!  She's already married!" and points to my CTR ring.  Phew.  Saved by the CTR ring.  Choose the right, people.  Works everytime.
Welp, I think that's all I've got for now.  Have a wonderful week.  Remember I love you!  Oh, and did I mention I hit my year mark this week???  How in the world?  Happy anniversary to me! 

The church is true and we are so blessed.

Love,

Sister Rindlisbacher

hola....

Another week.  So it sounds like it's super cold back home...we finally got a wee bit of snow last night!  Not enough for my liking though. :) I hope you had a great week...Happy Birthday to my wee sister!!!  Hope you got my card.  I know.  It's very classy. haha Oh!  And we got a new bishopric!?  Wow!  Tell the old bishopric I love them and am grateful for them.  And I'm super duper excited for the new one..so good!

We had a ton of weird and interesting and good experiences this week.  Sister Tylka is a little ball of fun. haha  Ach.  Where do I start? 

We had a great district meeting.  Our district leader talked to us alot about the new year.  What we want to accomplish this year.  And how we can make it better than the last.  We have lots of goals for our area and our zone and our mission.  This year is gonna be a good one.  The definition of new (according to his dictionary) is: different from the former, refreshed, regenerated.  I like that.  Let's have a refreshed, regenerated year..one that's different (better) from the former.  (3 Nep 13:47-48)

We visit this less-active usually every week.  She has a son that isn't a member, but he's a really good kid and if he's there will always sit in on the lessons.  He's been taught by missionaries in the past, but nothing ever really happened.  His mom says he knows it's true (it's the change thing that gets him).  Anyway, the last lesson we had with his mom was brilliant.  She pretty much just taught it.  She told us about some experiences that she had this last year and it was just an intense experience.  Very spiritual.  Anyway...Sister Tylka and I both had the thought that it's time to try to teach her son again...so she's going to talk to him and we'll let you know!
We also had kind of a...scary...experience. haha I have learned to never ignore the promptings of the Holy Ghost, even if you aren't sure if it's Him.  We were chapping doors a few nights ago.  The street was lit, but here they have a lot of doors around the backside of the buildings, so it's super dark back there.  Every time we went back I just thought, "I don't like this.  We should go.  I really don't like this.  We should probably go."  I said it a few times as well.  We were discussing whether it was just me being scared :) or the spirit when this guy opened his door and we both felt this weight and just knew we needed to go.  So I handed him a Book of Mormon, he invited us in, I pretended to look at my watch and said we had to go haha .  So we started walking away and we heard him opening the door again behind us, and we both just started running.  We ran until we were off of that street, and then went to see a member. :)  We didn't feel so good, but I learned a great lesson to never ignore the Holy Ghost.  He's there to protect us.  So, is it just me or is it the Holy Ghost? As Elder Bednar says, "Quit worrying about it.  Be a good boy.  Be a good girl.  Keep your covenants and the Lord will guide your steps."
Funny moment: We were chapping and we came to a door that had a few numbers on it.  Normally, you just go in that door and there is a little hallway with several doors you can chap.  So, like normal, we walked in the first door, but come to find out...it was a bar. haha!  We walked into a bar. :)

That's it for this week!  I love you! 

Sister Rindlisbacher

Happy 2013!!

Hello dear family!

How are you all this week?  I'm sorry mom that it's Thursday and I haven't emailed yet...the libraries have been closed!  I was wondering if you would contact Pres. Brown, but I haven't heard from him yet...haha :)

So, we've had a really good week!  I don't remember when I talked to you last...can't really remember what I've told you.  But we have had a good week!

We got our moves call on Sunday...I'm staying!  I had the 'feeling' that I was moving, but alas, I'm not.  Sister Shead is going to........LIMERICK.  Seriously?  If my next companion goes there they're taking me with them. :)  She's going to serve with sister Millward and Sister Francis...it's kinda funny, all my mission posterity (my daughters and a grandchild) are serving together where I started my mission! haha  She was pretty nervous, but she's gonna do so good.  And Sister Tylka is coming here to Montrose.  She's from Cotton Wood Heights.  My first companion from Utah-woot!  I already know her pretty well, we both served in Paisley zone...it'll be really good!

On New Year's eve we went to a light house!  It was closed so we couldn't climb to the top, but still!  I have a new obsession with light houses.  They're so cool.  And the rest of the evening we had to be in the flat.  So we pretty much just ate and packed and made face masks and watched missionary training videos. haha We are party animals.  :)  Then on the 1st (did I mention it is January? what?!) we mostly just finished packing.  We also got to go have lunch at a members home.  We also went to the bishops house and got to watch movies again. :)  We watched the end of peter pan! (the Jeremy Sumpter one)  "Who are you?" "I'm...John..."  "John...take ahold of this!"  Remember when we watched that movie all the time?  I still love it.  We also watched The Wizard of Oz.  I didn't choose that one. :)  But I imagined kelli doing her impression of the lion.  We had to leave early though to travel down to Edinburgh.  Guess who got to drive?  Ope! me!  It actually wasn't too bad.  It was pretty quiet because of the holiday.  We stayed at the Edinburgh's sisters flat that night and took Sister Shead to the bus station early, early in the morning.  We went to the mission home and got some breakfast before we headed back to Montrose.  I love the mission home.  I love President and Sister Brown.  I love missionaries.  yup, I do.
What else?  Danni had an baptismal interview this Sunday!  It was really, really good for her.  She still has  a ways to go before she can actually be baptized, but she's happier and she's changing for the better.  Her family and friends don't always like it, but she knows it's right.  She's so funny.  She called me yesterday just to tell me she was listening to gospel music.  She said that NEVER would have happened before.  :)  We love her.  Our investigator, Cara, called us on New Year's Eve to tell us she didn't want to meet anymore.  It's not for her.  Well....it is.  She just doesn't know that yet. 

I love you! 

Sister Rindlisbacher

pic 1: 14 strippling warriors

pic2: walking to the lighthouse
pic 3: bye bye sister Shead :(

8 days till Christmas!

Helloooooo everyone!

It's been FOREVER since I've talked to (emailed?) you.  Well, it feels like it anyway.  I've had a good and crazy couple of weeks.  I feel like I have so very much to tell you, but I am seriously drawing a blank....

It's been a super busy week!  On Wednesday we drove down to Edinburgh for our 'all Scotland conference'!!  It was sooo great.  Every missionary in Scotland was there (I think Ireland did one the next day-I wish we could all get together...).  So, Elder Kearon (from the seventy) is doing a mission tour of the Europe area.  Oh man it was so good!  I always come away from things like that feeling two things: 1. I'm a rubbish missionary and have A LOT to work on 2. I always feel uplifted and like I'm where I should be.  And I love being a missionary. :)  You should have heard us at the end singing our mission song..I've never sung it with so many people.  Chills.  ;)  Elder Kearon spoke a lot about having the faith to find, having a vision, and going by the spirit.  When I shook his hand he said he said, "Oh, Rindlisbacher, that's a big name in the church." ?? I guess he knows someone that works at church headquarters with our name or something...shveet.

So, right after the conference we got to go on exchanges!  I went up to Aberdeen with Sister Ryan (who i love).  It was really good!  We always seem to perform better on exchanges, I guess that's the purpose of them.  I need to do them more often apparently.  Aberdeen is good, it's a big city.  I'm used to my small, hillbilly areas. :)  Oh!  Sister Ryan put on a christmas cd and it sounded really familiar...and then the angelic voice of david archuleta came on. hahaha.  I've been meaning to ask you to send me the cd he does with the mo-tab (too late now.)  Tender mercy though, I got to hear it.
One funny story from exchanges (we thought it was at least)...we got the train from Montrose to Aberdeen, and in our minds it was 7:10 (but really it was 6:10) so we get off the train and walk to their flat, drop our stuff off, and we're like "okay.  We've got 20 minutes till 9:00, we'll go out and street contact."  We were trying to be obedient and effective.  And then we hurried back to be in on time.  Well, we say a prayer and start planning.  And then I look at my watch and it says 8:15.  At first I thought my watch had stopped, so I asked her what time it was.  Oh.  8:15.  haha We just laughed our heads off, got our coats and stuff back on and went back out until 9:00 really came.  haha.  Anyway, probably only funny to missionaries who are really tired. :)
We had the ward Christmas party on Saturday night!  We pulled up and it was only the bishop's car that was there...oh dear.  But we waited for a few minutes and quite a few people showed up!  Danni came!  (and she came to church again!)  And their were two father's who aren't members of the church, but they came and brought their kids (even though their wives who are members didn't come!)  So good.  Sister Shead and I were in charge of the games.  We had so much fun with everybody.  And we ate too much.  What could be better??
So at district meeting we all had a little testimony meeting.  It was so good.  This one elder said something that we all needed.  I've served around this elder for a while, and he's never shown any sign of weakness or vulnerability.  At all.  But as he was talking about a really rough time in his mission and some advice his mom had given...he broke down.  He tried SO HARD to hold it in, ha, but he just couldn't.  It was very sweet.  But, the advice was "fight.  Just fight to the end of the hour.  Fight to the end of the lesson.  The end of the day.  Just keep going.  And when you feel like you can't fight anymore, take a step off the front lines for a minute and talk to the people who love you adn want to help you.  Then fight.  Just keep fighting."  I can't put it as well as he did, but it was simple, and so profound.
Anyway, I better go!!  I love you all!  Have an excellente week! :)

love,

Sister Rindlisbacher

pic 1: me holding an owl.  Yes...an owl.

pic 2: Sis. shead, Danni, and I at the Christmas party..  don't worry, I'm happy even though my face doesn't show it :)

It's December!

Hellooo me lassie's and lads!  Fit like? :) haha (i try...)
Can you even believe it's December???!!!  Oh my goodness gracious, time is flying.  I love, love, love this time of year.  I don't think it's healthy for sister Shead and I, we love it so much.  Everytime a christmas song comes on or we see a christmas tree we almost have a heart attack. haha.  But it's also brilliant because most of the world is coming together to celebrate Christ.  It's a good time to be a missionary (and a cold one, by the way!) 
Have you had a good week?  Hope everybody is okay.  I can't beleive shannon and Ben are leaving on the trek the day I get home haha, I might as well just come with them.  :)

Soooooooooo.....it's been super cold!  Hopefully the boots come soon...my toes are continuously frozen. :)  This week...we went to Edinburgh!  We had smart starts (which is the training for the new missionaries)  It was really good!  We always learn so much from dear President and Sister Brown.  I'll tell you a funny (not) story.  I started getting a pretty bad head ache at the end of the day.  We were driving home (thankfully it was Sister Shead's day), and we had to drop some elders off in their area.  (luckily this all happened after they left haha) so my headache turned migrane was killing me, and it made my stomach feel horrible.  Add that to my motion sickness and what do you get? haha Us stopping on the side of the dark, wet Scotland roads all the way home.  haha It was fantastic...let's just say I'm never eating corned beef hash ever again. :)  Sorry if it was too much information!  Just thought I'd share!

Kyle and Rebecca...we had a word of wisdom lesson with them this week.  And then we were worried they were avoiding us for the rest of the week, we couldn't get ahold of them.  But luckily we stopped by last night, and they let us in.  They're doing okay.  rebecca's faith is growing.  We really need to help them see the importance of all of this.  Sidenote: they got a new kitty (tolouse like from aristocats).  He was sitting on my lap during the prayer and started biting/clawing my hands hahaha You all know how I react to these situations.  I had to hold it in during the prayer, but as soon as it was over I made sister Shead take him. :)

Cara!  Our relief society president wanted us to find a less active couple, but she wasn't sure exactly where they lived, but gave us a street to chap to try and find them.  We chapped it one day and NO ONE answered.  So the next day we went back and chapped it again...and guess what?  The first door we knocked on was a young Uni student, named Cara.  She was like, "Oh what a coincidence, I was just looking online for stuff about religion and God.  Come in."  Umm...come again? :)  So we were able to teach her about the restoration!  She will be reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.  We're very hopeful!  Another Sidenote: She had these huge pet rats and they had just had babies.  I suprised myself and sister Shead by asking if I could hold one. It was just so tiny and cute/really ugly because it had no fur and it's eyes and ears were glued shut. :)

Anyway, I hope you all have a brilliant week!  I wish we could just have December all year round.  It's magical.  I was thinking of one of my favorite primary songs this morning, "He Sent His Son" and the end line is brill..."what does He ask?  Live like His son."  That's what I'm gonna focus on this Christmas is trying to be like Jesus Christ.

I love you all!!! 
Cheerio,
Sister Rindlisbacher

pic 1: Scottish night at the church!  (for St. Andrew's day)
pic 2:We see snow!

 

Hey there family!

How are you all??  I'm glad to hear you had a good week.  Thanksgiving sounds like it was good!  Unfortunately, NO ONE took pity on my "american-ness" and cooked Thanksgiving for us. haha But me and Sister Shead tried!  I'll send a picture, it didn't turn out too bad. :)  And Kayla is going to Chile??!!!  Woah!  That's super exciting, congrats to her!  As for us...it's just been one of those weeks.  Lot's of ups and downs and some struggles, but we just learn to get through them.  Sister Shead's grandma passed away on Tuesday.  She's been sick for quite a while.  She doesn't always show it, but I know it's really hard for her, so if you could keep her and her family in your prayers.  And also if you could pray for me that I can be a better companion, I don't think I've been doing so good...thanks. :) Danni is doing well, she isn't engaged anymore (did I tell you she was?)  But she if starting to progress, and she came to church yesterday!  woo! Rebecca and Kyle are doing well....as well. haha.  They have been reading and prayed about the Book of Mormon together, so that's REALLY good.  They don't feel like they've received an answer yet, but we know they will.  It just takes a wee bit of time.

So this week I studied a lot about discipleship.  (I always seem to study random things..), but it was really good!  I came across a quote when I was reading Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from conference, that triggered it.  "Discipleship is the pursuit of holiness and happiness.
It is the path to our best and happiest self."  I don't want to sound all negative and complain-y, but with this week not being our best that quote really hit me.  If we want to be happy...if we want to be our best selves...if we want to live a meaningful life...all we need to do is become a disciple of Christ.  So!  I read a ton about how to become one!  In everything I read there were quite a few things mentioned over and over...I came up with a list of about 9 or 10 things.  Ready? Okay :) 1. Love the Lord 2. Love one another 3. Have charity and serve each other selflessly 4. Keep the commandments 5. Follow the example of the Savior 6. Have faith in and trust the Savior 7. Preach His gospel, labor in His work, and feed His sheep 8. We need to see ourselves as He see's us 9. He needs to become our friend
It sounds like a lot, and sometimes all of that seems a wee bitty out of reach, but I guess becoming a disciple doesn't happen over night.
It's a lifelong process, but as we try to do these things we'll be happy and we'll be our best self.
Well, I'm gonna go now, but have a good week!  I'm going to Edinburgh tomorrow so I can pick up the packages...hopefully the boots come soon.  Oh wait!!!  one more thing, Sister Millward is training??

yay!!!!!!!  I'm a grandma. :)  Oh, she's gonna be so good.

too-da-loo (sp?)

love ya,

Sister Rindlisbacher

pics: St. Cyrus beach and thanksgiving

 

 

holla from the grandma sister missionary :)

Well, hello again!!!

Thank you for all the 'happy birthdays!'  I'm 22!  Weird.  Soon all the young elders and sisters will be coming into the mission, and I will be needing a walker. haha.  Oh!  And thanks for the pictures.

For some reason it made me a little emotional to see everybody, and I teared up a bit. haha The lady next to me asked if I wanted a tissue.  hahaha I'm a mess!  So!  The day started out with great intentions, ha, but everything seemed to be working against us.  Normally it would be p-day, but with moves this week it's on wednesday, so we just needed to email and then go out and do the usual.  Well, nothing was going right and I was in a pretty bad mood, thinking great.  This is the best birthday ever.  :)  So after we had lunch, we went out to try by a couple of former investigators.  They didn't live at the address anymore, but we got to talk to the young, single mother who lives there now.  She lost her grandpa recently and has lost her belief in God.  We were able to share the Book of Mormon with her and just tell her a little about the plan of salvation.  We walked away from that and surpise, the bad mood and poor me attitude was gone.  I just love being a missionary and being able to do that.  It's so true what Pres. Hinckley's dad said, "forget yourself and go to work".  Lesson learned: I'm called to SERVE, not called to dwell on myself. ;) So my bday is looking up.  Does that make any sense?  ha Sorry if it didn't! 

Anyway!  How was your week???  Mine was short.. it just flew by.  We had moves call last night....we're staying!  Sisters normally stay in this area for a long time for some reason.....we shall see. 

Here are some memorable moments from the week:

1. Kyle and Rebecca!  They'er doing well.  They have sooo many questions and just want to understand everything, so that's really good.  In the beginning Rebecca didn't have a belief in God.  She told us that since we've been meeting she's been able to gain her faith back.  She's been praying and even told us about a time this week where God answered her pray. :) So that's exciting!  They love the Book of Mormon, and the things we teach.  They just have some things that they don't want to change.  I don't think they see why it would be worth it to change.  But, they're brilliant and we'll be seeing them again tomorrow!  Keep praying. :) 

2. We had to take our car in to get it fixed..twice! meh.  The second time we took it in there were two men standing outside smoking, obviously on their break.  They, so kindly, came over and helped us fix the problem.  When they were done I asked them if they needed to see our card (the mission gives us to pay for anything)...one of them pointed at my nametag and said, "Nah, I ken because of yer badge.." aka:  He trusts us because we wear the name of Jesus Christ.  So cool!

3. We had stake conference yesteray, which was amazing!  Elder Kearon was there and spoke to us about The Atonement, and how we need to stop being so hard on ourselves.  We need to stop 'digging' up the past.  It was really good.

4.  Before we came to the library to email there was a guy walking towards us on the street, so I stepped off the sidewalk to talk to him, but I must have forgotten there was a curb there, haha, so I stumbled off the curb (luckily I didn't break my ankle) and was just like, "woah! haha Watch out, there's a curb there!"  Surprisingly, he didn't want to listen....? :)

Well, I better get going!  Thanks again for wishing me a happy birthday!  I love you!

cheers,

Sister Rindlisbacher

pics:

sister Shead's birthday set up, and birthday pancakes

 

Fit like?!

 

Hello everybody!!

Fit like?!  I've been working really hard this week on my Scottish accent and lingo. haha.  So, it's been a pretty good week I would say.  It's been pretty sunny, which has been great.  Remembrance day was yesterday...honoring those who fought in the first world war.  We had two minutes of silence in sacrament meeting, and then sang their national anthem.  On Saturday we were walking around town and we heard a pipe band playing!  We listened for a minute, it was brilliant!  I love love the bagpipes.  I think I'll learn to play when I get home. haha  My Scottish pride was through the roof this week. :)

So!  We met with Rebecca and Kyle again this week.  (I'm pretty sure I told you about them last week..the young couple with the baby) anyway, we talked with them about the plan of salvation and they were a little overwhelmed with everything, but really felt the spirit.  They both said they would be baptized!  Rebecca really wants that feeling of being cleansed and renewed.  Did I say they were married in my last email?  Well, I lied.  They're getting married in June....which means they can't get baptized until June...but we'll be meeting with them tonight and talking about it.  They're really good, though.

We had a little miracle that started out as something really annoying. ha.  We lost our map for one of the towns that we cover.  We looked everywhere!  No luck.  So we decided to go buy a new one, and on our way to buy the map we met Anne-marie.  She was walking her dog and carrying a bunch of groceries, but she put everything down to listen to us.  She has had a really hard life, filled with so many struggles.  She just wants to know why we're here, what the purpose of life is. So we talked and testified and read from the Book of Mormon.  She got a little emotional and she really wants us to come back around.  yay!  Thank you to Heavenly Father for hiding the map. :)\

 Sister Shead and I have started running.  What?!  ha.  We always get up and excercise, just not very hard core.  But we've been running in the mornings and we feel so much better!  It's easier to run over here..sea level?  dunno.  It's definitely not cause I'm in better shape, I'm chubbs. haha Hopefully running will help. :)

We had a dinner appointment this week, they're a really cute little family.  They have 3 little girls and one baby boy (with the cutest chubby cheeks).  Anyway, we were eating dinner and one of the little girls comes over to my chair and pulls my head close and whispers, "What are we gonna do now?" So I whispered back, "We're gonna go read a scripture!!"  She thought about it for a second, and then brought my head really close again and whispered, "well, what are we gonna do that's fun?" hahaha.  I just had to laugh.  Scriptures are fun! At least I thought so. :) 

I don't have much time this week, because I was sitting here reading your emails and the guy next to me started asking me questions.  He was asking about Jesus and that he see's us around talking to people.  He said he had just broken up with his girlfriend, she kicked him out and he wanted to know if Jesus could help him.  Yeah!  So, I was thinking, wow this is a little miracle.  Then he started asking me if I had a boyfriend back home and blah blah blah. hahaha.  Soooo....we'll let you know how that one goes. ha.

Well, have a great week!  I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Rindlisbacher

pic...us at the halloween party