2 Months!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

So this week was full of many spiritual moments and incredible miracles!

 

We had an apppintment with our investigator Heidi.  We haven't been able to meet with her since we first got here in Ozark! She wasn't ready for her baptism date and different things have been coming up so we haven't met. Well....Tuesday, we met with her! It was so nice to see her again.  We were teaching her and randomly in the middle of the lesson, she said, "I have picked my baptism date. Don't ask me how.  I just woke up in the middle of the night and had the thought, i need to be baptized on Nov 15."  AHHHH!!!!!! It was such an exciting moment. We explained to her that that was God telling her and influencing her thoughts. She agreed and she is doing awesome! Her desire to be a disciple of Christ has increased immensley.  We taught her 3 times this week!(: I just hope and pray that she continues to live the gospel standards so she is able to be baptized on that day!(:

 

We were invited to teach about preparing for a mission to the young women this week.  It went well, and at the end we got to be someone behind a door.  It was so fun because Sister P and I just did things people do to us.(: At the end we got twinkies dressed up like missionaries called, "minionaries." It was so cute!

 

We have also been teaching Pete, but we can only see him at the Farmers Market and it was the last week on Wednesday, so we were planning to get his number so we could continue talking to him.  He is amazing, he read the entire Book Of Mormon in 2 weeks, and he believes Thomas S.Monson is a true prophet, he reads the stacks and stacks of Ensigns we give him, and is so faithful and has such a strong desire.  Well, i learned a really unfortunate lesson this week that was really difficult to learn.  We were headed to the Farmers Market, and we were about 7 minutes late, and he was gone. We asked everyone where he was and they said he left 2 minutes ago. We missed him by 2 minutes. A perfect, golden investigator. Gone. Because we were late. It was terrible. I feel like his salvation is on my back. I was seriously depressed that night. Because i was late, i cost him a lesson and opportunity to come closer to Christ.  I know Heavenly Father has him in His hands, and i KNOW Pete the Popcorn Man will be baptized and continue to seek the truth, but it is sad i had to learn a lesson that way. 

 

Frank and Celeste were gone all week, so we made them a welcome home sign!

 

This weekend, The Flores' took us to dinner at their Russian friends house. They knew minimal English and their other friend would translate. It was really neat to here Russian and to learn some.  I learned how to write and say, Hello, Goodbye, and I Love you.  Luda, the wife was awesome! She was so nice and sweet! She told me, "You have the most beautiful eyes, and your hands are like Mona Lisa's, Gorgeous."  It was so cute! She sang us the Russian National Anthem.  The food was awesome!  We had so much food and i am not exactly sure what the meat was, but...YUM! It was so good! She made homemade bread and baked vegetables and meats of all kind (yes. i tried it all.) It was a cool experience.  I didn't know i was going to Russia on my mission(;

 

On Friday, our companionship study was so spiritual! The spirit was so strong it was loud.  I don't know how else to describe it, or if that even makes sense. It was intense. I couldn't believe it.  It was so comforting and relaxing.  We were talking about why we are serving a mission and our feelings about being called to the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission.  Sister Pereira said something that struck me so hard. She said, "You know, sometimes i think one reason we are on a mission is because Heavenly Father needs to teach us lessons He couldn't any other time.  Just like our investigators cancel appointments, don't keep commitments, or even drop us, we do the same to God. Maybe that one time we Heavenly Father was going to teach us a lesson that would change our lives, we were too tired to read scriptures or too tired to pray, so we "canceled our appointment" with God. Well. Now is our appointment with God. We have an 18 month long appointment to learn the lessons God needs us to learn."  It was such a cool concept to me!  How many appointments have we canceled with God in our lives? Millions.  But He NEVER gives up on us. He will always be willing to teach us. Always! We need to be better at keeping our appointment with Heavenly Father and doing the things he asks us to do to come unto Christ. It isn't hard to pray before bed. You just talk to Heavenly Father, it isn't hard to read the scriptures everyday. Even if it is one verse. It takes 30 seconds.  If we think about all the time God gives to us, our "appointments" with Him are no time at all.  It was an inspiring study, and i know that those words came from God.

 

Last fun fact: I HAVE BEEN OUT FOR 2 MONTHS!(:

 

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Ritter