She Made It!!!

Hello Friends and Fam:

 

I am here!! I am finally in the mission field! I love it so much!

I left the MTC at 2:30 am on Wednesday morning and we had a layover in Denver and i was at the mission home in Tulsa at 10:30 am. At the Airport and i got to call my family and talk to them! It was nice to hear their voices and talk to them, but next time i go on a mission....i am NOT calling.  It was too hard, and i just cried for a minute to get over it after.  Good idea, not a good execution.

 

I got to the mission home and got the biggest, best hug from Sister Shumway and a nice solid handshake from President Shumway! I felt like i knew them forever, and i instantlly felt loved! They are my parents away from home. We had a dinner there and they said they wanted to give us a dinner that was Oklahoma Famous. We had Briskett and "The worlds greatest baked beans." Yeah...sounds like i wouldn't eat any of it at home right? Well, thats all there was, and i was starving. so i ate it. Turns out....i actually really liked it. (I know, I know, dad and chris.... "You can't say you don't like things before you try them." Then i had an interview and a driving test thing, and i got my tiwi card! (That means i can drive!) Then finally the time came to find out where i would be serving. The president read it like a mission call.

 

"Sister Ritter, your companion will be Sister Pereira. The biggest trial you will have with her is saying her name. You will be serving in the Ozark Mountains in Ozark Missouri." I was so happy!!! It brought so much peace to me! I love Missouri! Here they call it, "Miisery." Because it is so stinkin hot here! But not as bad as everyone made it out to me.

 

The people in Ozark are so incredible. They are all so nice, and will always listen to a message even if they aren't interested, They are all very humble and i love these people so much! I have a mission grandma named Sister Worley. She is the best. She bakes 20 loaves of bread a week and we take it to less actives and non members and visit them. She might as well have a missionary badge, because that is all she thinks, talks, and lives for. She is so incredible and she reminds me of Grandma T, so i love her to death. Obviously.  Last week we got 21 lessons from Thursday to Saturday.  So you could say we are pro. (; I am just kidding..we totally aren't."

 

My companions name is Sis Pereira, and i love her to death. She is so nice and hilarious and we are both really fun loving! She is adorable. She is from Orem and has been out 10 months. Seriously so blessed to have her! She is a great trainer and has such a strong spirit and testimony! I definitely lucked out. I live with the Flores Family! Frank pretends to hate us, but we all know he loves us, because he would bend over backwards for us. He took us shopping on monday and bought us scarves. I know, he totally hates us. (: His wife Celeste is amazing. She is like my mom. We tell her everything and she is so caring and nice. She made our bed, cleaned our basement, and buys us tons of treats. She even tells everyone, "These are my girls, i am a missionary mom." I love her! I have been blessed with an incredible "family" and p.s i have a queen size bed. yeah...mission life..... (;

 

I have taught 22 lessons since i have been here! They made me get up in sacrament and bare my testimony, these chapels though...they are the size of the primary room. So weird!!

 

Me and Sis Pereira decided we needed to be better at praying. I feel like i am not very sincere, but i really want to be better about it and feel more confident when i pray, so we decided we would work on it together. We said a prayer together that we would get better at praying and learn more about it and how to be more sincere. It was weird to pray about praying, but...one of the things we teach is that you can pray about anything. No joke. that night..That EXACT night, the Zone leaders called us and said, "Tomorrow at zone teaching we would like you two to teach on the power of prayer." Holy. prayer instantly answered. That sounds hard and freaky, but what better way to improve, then to learn for yourself? Then we got to the zone teaching and flipped right to the hymn "Did you think to Pray?" and that is the song we sang. Heavenly Father really needs us to be better at prayers.

 

I know that Heavenly Father loves us. I know that he knows us better than we would ever think to know ourselves. I know that if we follow him and live worthy of the spirit, that we will be directed and guided to those places we need to be.  I know Heavenly Father knows me and my potential.  I know he is with me every step of the way on my mission, and i know that He has my life in His hands. 

I love being a missionary. I love Missouri with all my heart, and most importantly, i love the Lord with all my heart. I know i am where i am supposed to be.

Thank you for all the love and support from everyone!

XOXO

Sister Ritter

 

P.s. No pictures...i forgot my camera ):