10 Month Testimony

Holy Cow!!! 10 Months already???

This past month I have learned a lot!  Ive learned that God doesn't give us anything we cant handle.  I have also learned that serving others is the best and quickest way to cheer yourself up.

 

Ive thought about the scripture Mosiah 2:17 a lot.  "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God."

 

What a blessing it is to be able to serve for 18 months.  I am so happy I am able to give everything to the Lord and focus on his children.  I am most happy when I am teaching a lesson, bearing testimony, helping someone with chores, or anything else they need.

 

I know that God truly does shower us with blessings as we forget ourselves and focus on others.

 

I know that we all face trials.  Some are extremely difficult, but I know God is right by us the whole time, carrying us as we fall.  I know He loves us.  I know He is aware of us.

 

I say all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Transfer Week‏

This week has been absolutely crazy!  Transfer week is always crazy.

 

So Monday, we went to Ann's house after we emailed and we ate some more Marshallese food.  I am really going to miss that!  We learned to make even more food! 

 

The rest of the week there was just really sad.  I had to say goodbye to everyone. I am not even going to lie.  Leaving Springdale was harder than leaving home.  It was so brutal.  I cried basically everyday.  We got a lot of work done.  We met with all of our investigators, and they are all still very excited to get baptized.  I am sad I can't be there for their baptisms. But the most important thing to me is that they do make that covenant with Heavenly Father and get baptized.  I can see pictures right??

 

Thursday was transfer day.  Brother and Sister Garner drove us to transfer point.  Man was it a party.  They are amazing.  I am just going to miss them so much. 

 

So then I started on my long journey to Rolla.  It was a very long drive, but I got to see all of my past companions except for Sister P, so that was the best day ever!(:

 

Nothing has really happened here that is crazy.  I am still just trying to get used to the area and figure out how to  help Sister Parsels.  I am having a hard time being the trainer.  It is really hard.  I feel like she is the one that is training me.  She is such an amazing missionary.  She has such a strong testimony and she has gone through a lot to be a missionary.  I truly look up to her.  She is from Hawaii(: So that is cool(: 

 

This morning, we went to a potential investigators house named Deon.  She let us right in and let us have a lesson with her.  She has 2 little boys and she said that she is looking for a church that fits her.  She is amazing.  I am excited to go back and see her again.  She is very open to learning and has such a sweet personality. 

 

Life is going good here. (:  This is the last full week of the OTM and the last full week of President and Sister Shumway  being here.  I am really sad, but I am also excited. 

 

Have a great week. I love you all!

 

Sister Ritter

 

Pictures:

1)Goodbye Sister Burrows, I LOVE YOU!

2) Me and my new trainee(: Sister Parsels(:

 

 

Week of Firsts‏

Dear Family and Friends.

 

This week was intense.  We were so busy!!!! We always had somewhere to be and something to be doing.  It was amazing. It was horribly hot, and humid, but hey...its all good!(: 

 

This week we learned how to make tons of different marshallese foods.  I am so excited to come home and make them for you! We made a pumpkin roll, jabmijaok, and some other foods i don't know how to spell.  

 

We also saw a miracle this week.  We met the Karben family trying to contact less active members.  We went over for a lesson and it was super powerful.  We read 1 nephi 8 (lehi's dream) The wife said it was exactly what her family needed.  They all were able to relate to the chapter and said that it was perfect!  They all loved the lesson and want us to come back desperately.  We have another appointment with them tonight.  

We taught Hanto multiple times this week.  He is amazing. He is 14 and is getting baptized on the 27.  He doesn't know english yet, because he just moved here a few months ago.  Lessons are really cool because we are able to use the family he lives with and help them with their missionary work.  One lesson we had, we sang 'I am a child of God.' He had the words, but hadn't heard it.  He tried singing along and it was the sweetest thing in the world.  He is so Christ-like. And although i can't speak to him without a translator, i have learned more lessons from him then i know he has learned from us.  I am so blessed to get to know him.  

 

We had an AMAZING lesson with some investigators that have been learning for a long time.  James and Jolinda.  They are so prepared.  The spirit in their home is unreal.  We talked about what was holding them back from baptism.  Jolinda said that she wanted to wait for James.  James told us he has been trying and trying to quit coffee, but it is hard.  We invited him to pray and ask for help to overcome it.  We saw them 4 days later and he said he hadn't even thought of coffee and that he prayed for help to resist it.  We pointed out that instead of helping him overcome the addiction, Heavenly Father just took it away from him.  He is still going strong. I am so excited for them.  They are such amazing examples to me. And definitely one of my miracle stories of my mission. 

 

We went to dinner with the Perez family and Brother Perez said something incredibly deep.  He said, "I share the gospel with everyone because i don't have any money to help them. I just have the gospel. And i know the gospel will help them more than any money could."  It was amazing.  He is such a wonderful member missionary! He has taught me a very valuable lesson.  I know that as i share the gospel, it is the best thing i could ever do/share/or give to someone.  That is why i am a missionary.  I love this gospel and i want everyone to have the same blessings i have received. 

 

So the week of firsts:

1.  I saw a real life firefly and i caught 5 with the Elanzo girls.  It was literally the most fun thing in the world!

2.  I tried raw fish for dinner. (: Yup(: 

3.  One of my favorite people ever tried cheesecake for the first time! She loved it but she said, "Cross that off my bucket list, now i don't have to eat it ever again." hahaha I love ann!

 

So here is the part of the email you are all waiting for................

 

Sister  Ritter is being transferred ): I am super sad to leave these amazing people. I love the Marshallese so much.  I have learned so much from them.  They have taught me to LOVE EVERYONE.  They are so giving and charitable and i could never give them what they have given me these past 5 months. 

 

I am just as excited to move on though! I am going to be covering 2 areas(including a YSA)  in Rolla, Missouri. And here is the scary part....i am going to be training. She has been 1/2 way trained, so i am finishing training her. Her name is Sister Parsels.  I am really scared, but the Lord has strengthened me through much harder things.  I AM so pleased with my call to serve.  

 

Well, until next week:

Love you all!

 

Love, 

Sister Ritter 

 

1) Matching dresses(:

2)My favorite Ann(:

3) The food ann made us and taught us how to make(:

4) Me eating the raw fish(:

5) Catching fireflies(:

6) We caught 5 fireflies(:

 

 

 

 

Area on Fire!

Dear Family and Friends:

 

This week has been full of miracles!!! The Springdale Marshallese area is on fire right now!  The members are helping us and the marshallese are really receptive to the teachings of the gospel.  The work is hastening really quickly here!(:  

 

Some things that happened this week.

 

We met with the James family this week! They are probably one of my favorites.  They are so prepared and there baptism is coming up soon!(:  We went over to teach them the Word of Wisdom.  That is one of the hardest lessons to teach.  A lot of people have a lot of questions and don't understand.  They aren't willing to give up worldly things for the eternal blessings.  We talked about the coffee and tea and asked if They had any questions.  The mom said, "I drink tea, but if a prophet has asked us not to, then i'll just quit. It is only a drink." WHAT???? It was SO cool.  I have never had an investigator just decide right then.  It was so amazing!(: She came to church and she loved every second of it.  She is progressing well and is really excited for her baptism on June 27!(: 

 

This week our OTM goal was a finding hour.  We had set times where we were to do nothing but find new people to teach.  We decided to go to less actives house and ask if any of their friends would like to learn.  We met the Karben family.  We have been trying to meet with them ever since i got here in February.  They were home and allowed us to come in.  We started talking about the Book of Mormon and testifying of its truthfulness.  Sister Karben told us that she wants us to come back and do family home evening with her family and to help them study and get back into things.  It was really cool!  

 

During the finding hour every day, we were able to meet a lot of people.  We were able to share the gospel and meet members that didn't even know there was a church nearby.  We were truly blessed with many oppoortunites to open our mouths.  

 

At church on Sunday, Brother Elanzo came up to us and said, "This is my nephew. He wants to be baptized so he can pass the sacrament.  Can you come tonight to teach him?" "YES! Of course we can!"  We taught the lesson and he knows SO much already. He knows it is true and asked if he could be baptized soon.  We also started to teach his other nephew Biden.  We started to teach him earlier, but he quickly decided he didn't want to learn.  I am SO happy that his heart has been softened and that he is willing to learn again. This week we got a total of 6 new investigators!!!! We are so busy! It makes missionary life a lot easier!(: 

 

The last thing that happened this week: We had a zone conference with President and Sister Shumway.  The last conference with them and the last conference in the OTM.  It was amazing.  As president said, "It was spiritually overwhelming, and emotionally draining."  I am going to miss them so much.  I have loved being in their service.  They mean the world to me and saying goodbye was like leaving home again.  I am so grateful for them and all their sacrifice.  It is going to be weird having them leave.  As we left the conference, they hugged each missionary one by one (yup. We got to hug President Shumway. Best Day Ever.) and gave us each personal advice/encouragment for the rest of our missions.  I know that President and Sister Shumway love me and i am going to do everything i can to live up to the expectations President has for me.  We learned a lot about how to be truly converted and letting our mission pass through us, not passing through our mission.  President told a sister, and she related it to all of us. "When you go home, you won't be [makena] anymore. You will ALWAYS be [Sister Ritter] without a nametag."  

 

I truly feel like i am a different person.  I feel like coming on a mission has helped me set my priorities straight.  I feel more converted with a deeper desire to follow Christ.  I know who i am and what is expected of me.  I am so excited to be able to reach the potential that Heavenly Father has in store for me.  

 

Love you all!

Sister Ritter 

 

pictures:

 

1) Its official! I am pic-line free!(: 

2)Don't worry. If i don't make it home from my mission, its because i melted in the dead heat and humidity of summer.

3) We may or may not have discovered a new species of creature.

4) My final goodbye pic with President and Sister Shumway! I love you both!! <3 (sorry, it's super dark...Ash...you may need to do some editing (; ) 

 

 

Looking for the Miracles‏

Dear Family and Friends.

 

This week was a HUGE miracle.  Our OTM goal this week was to get 100% member present lessons.  That is a huge task and a huge challenge.  Especially in our branch.  We worked so hard and we saw millions of miracles. More than we can even count.  I have never felt so tired/pleased in my entire mission.  This week was CRAZY.  And yes....we did get the goal. And our zone was the only zone in the mission that got 100%.  We were truly blessed. 

 

This is what President Shumway said this week,

 

"Wow!    again…….WOW!!!  The record for member present lessons before this last week was 1,082 lessons with a member present, and that represented 55% of all lessons given.
The NEW record, which you set last week, was 1,521 MPL’s given, which represents 93% of all lessons given in the mission.  That is almost an unbelievable number.  Sister Shumway and I are overjoyed. Your efforts and desires are unreal.

But…

You weren’t done.  You also set a new record for Referrals received.  262 referrals in one week is over 90 more referrals than the previous record. The interesting thing about that record, is we weren’t even going for it…It JUST HAPPENED!   Amazing.
One last pat on the back for you.  So far this year, we are ahead of last year in number of baptisms by a fairly significant number.  
Keep in mind Elders and Sisters, we are doing this with about 70 less missionaries than we had last year at this time.  You are TRULY showing that you are--- Special Operations Missionaries."

Some of the miracles this week:

 

I can FINALLY wear a normal shoe(: 

 

We had a member set to come with us Monday night.  She cancelled. So we went to our investigators house and prayed that the member she lived with would be home.  SHE WAS.  We had a wonderful lesson with Jessica.  We then had 2 other lessons that night and no member. During the closing prayer, i had a though come to my head, "Ask Arbella if she can come."  When this thought came into my head, i thought it was crazy. She doesn't know english.  But i asked anyways.  Jessica translated and Arbella said YES." WHOOOO!(:  It was unreal.  So she came with us to our other lessons(:  

 

We also asked Sister OIo if she could come with us a few days.  She said she could come with us for 4 hours every single day.  What a champion.  She is my role model.  She has such a love for sharing the gospel.  She is so in tune with the spirit and she will do anything to support the missionaries. I love her.  I am grateful for her, and i hope to be like her one day. She has a powerful testimony and will do anything for the Lord.  She is amazing.  Everyday we had her, all of our appointments fell through.  She said, "Don't worry.  Just don't give up. We still have a whole city we can try to see."  She drove us all around Springdale taking us different places and taking us to her families houses that weren't members. She was amazing.  We met tons of new people and found those who were ready to learn.  

One of those people was Katy.  We had just 15 minutes left with her and she asked if we wanted to go get our car or try one more person.  We told her we could go and get our car.  As we were driving i thought about this house that we have been trying to visit for awhile.  I told her and she took us there.  That is where we met Katy.  She was visiting that house, but she has been waiting to meet missionaries because she wants to become active again.  It was crazy.  She let us share a message with her, and said that she will start to come back to church. 

 

We were also able to finally get into contact with the James family again.  We haven't seen them since before my surgery.  We took Arbella with us.  We taught the lesson and they all had great comments and questions.  At the end, Arbella started sharing her testimony.  Then the family talked back and forth in Marshallese for awhile.  At the end of the lesson Josephine said, "I really like that you brought her.  She helped me understand what you were teaching.  I want to be baptized on June 27 with my whole family."  They all committed to baptism and came to church the next day.  

 

We also had a lesson with a recent convert who we haven't been able to see EVER.  Sister Kejon came with us and THEY WERE HOME.  We retaught the restoration, and when we recited Joseph Smiths first vision, the spirit filled the room.  It was so strong and everyone could feel a difference.  They loved the lesson and set up an appointment for us to come back and to keep meeting with them.  

 

We also went on exchanges this week.  Sister Maiava came to Springdale with me.  It was so fun! She is a wonderful missionary.  I learned a lot from her and we saw many miracles.  

 

Along with all of these miracles, we also had Sweety's baptism.  It was so cool! Most of our branch was there.  She was so excited to be baptized.  She was bouncing off the walls she had so much energy!  We even got to sing a Christmas song because it is her favorite song(:  That was fun.  Along with her, 3 other girls from our branch had to get re-baptized because the records were lost.  The Elders were there and everyone was very happy for Sweety.  She was adorable!

 

We saw many many miracles this week.  I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for all of the wonderful things he blesses us with.  We were able to overcome the set backs and trials this week.  We had such a wonderful and fulfilling week.  I know that the Lord is watching out for us and that this is truly his work.  He is here with us every step.  He guides us and influences us.  I am grateful for the Spirit i have in my life to help me in this great work. 

 

I love you all!

Look for miracles! They are everywhere!

Love, 

Sister Ritter 

 

Pictures:

1) This hilarious coaster that a member  had in her car!(:

2) Sister Maiava and I on exchanges in the rain(: 

3)Sweety's baptism(:  Sister Burrows, Ricilla, Sweety, and Me(: 

4)All of the baptisms that day(: 

5) I love these two little girls so much!(:  It has been so fun to teach them(: