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 (; )
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