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.