This past week was full of a lot of crazy things!!!
First, the Oklahoma Tulsa mission closed and the Arkansas Bentonville mission opened. Then, President and Sister Shumway went home, and President and Sister Loveland came in.
Saying goodbye to the Shumways was absolutely horrible. It was so sad. It was like leaving home all over again. They are wonderful people. They made such a huge influence in my life. They helped me become the missionary I want to be. They were absolutely inspiring to me. I consider them some of my closest friends/parents. I love them and will forever be grateful for the things they did for me.
We got to meet the Lovelands yesterday. They are really nice. I know they will help me continue to become a great missionary and continue to help the Lord hasten the work. I am excited to get to know t hem more.
Next and probably the most crazy thing that happened this week. Me and Sister Parsels were getting ready for bed and we got a weather alert to our phone. It said, "Extreme tornado warning." That isn't super scary. I have had multiple tornado warnings. So I went about life while Sister Parsels was having a minor heart attack. Then about 2 minutes later, the Tornado sirens went off. That's when I freaked. I have never heard them and we got another text that said "Take shelter now." So we called the closest member and jumped in our car and raced around the corner to the basement of the members house. (We live on the top floor of the apartment complex, and we got almost every tiwi violation you can get. hahaha.) So we got to the Ludlows and we were panicked. I forgot shoes, the rain was pouring down, the sky was super crazy. It was horrifying. So we stayed in the basement for about an hour and by this time it was close to midnight. I didn't feel safe to go back home, so we called another member. We went to their house. They said we could spend the night there if we needed. We asked Brother Blank for a blessing. It was so powerful. It was an amazing feeling. I know the Power of the Priesthood is real. I know that the blessing was exactly what Heavenly Father needed me to hear. It was such a powerful blessing. Even though the tornado was absolutely scary, and I didn't know what to do, I know that that will be a great experience I will always remember on my mission.
We got a new investigator this week named Shane. He is amazing. He is very open to learning and he has a great desire to know the truth and to know God. He has been reading the Book of Mormon for awhile and he told us that he knows it is the word of God because he had a question and he prayed. Then he opened the Book of Mormon and started reading. He got his answer. That is what made him really interested in meeting with us. It was such a cool experience. I will never be able to explain the joy that comes as you see someone come to know the truth about God and receive a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the best thing in the world. I am so grateful for the power of the Book of Mormon and the influence it can have in each of our lives.
We also went to meet this man named Dohn. He is deaf, and he is very old, so we took Mykala (recent convert) because she knows pretty good sign language. He was thee sweetest man in the entire world. He had a HUGE smile on his face the entire time. We saw him on the 4 of July. He told us that he loved fireworks and that he loved my dress. hahahaha. I love him. He is just adorable. As we were leaving, he went to walk us to the door, but I guess if a patient gets to close to the door the alarm goes off. So the alarms went off and we were panicking and he was just there in his wheelchair with a look on his face like, "Why are these crazy girls panicking. I just opened the door for them." It was hilarious. I could feel the spirit really strongly as we were signing with him. I guess now I am learning sign language. (;
So this fourth of July was super fun. We went to the ward breakfast and we had an investigator, Karn, come. He loved it. He met a lot of the people and we saw him getting a drink. We asked him what he was doing and he said, "Getting juice for my people." We said, "Your people?" And he said, "yeah...the people I am talking with." It was super funny. Then that night, we had permission to stay out until 10. We went to a members house. It was SO fun. We did a ton of fireworks in the middle of nowhere. Joe set one of them off and it was like an atomic bomb. It shook my insides. The table was shaking too. It was a malfunction. It was supposed to explode way up in the sky....but it stayed on the ground. (: Such a fun night.
This was the last week of our 10 week goals for the OTM. We were trying to double our lessons and get 40 lessons. We got 32! It was such a great week. We worked so hard and we witnessed so many miracles. I know that the Lord is very proud of the OTM and he is blessing us so much for our hardwork. I am so happy that I am here. I love it. I love seeing all the things that Heavenly Father blesses us with.
I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Oh and I can't remember if I sent my new address or not.
Arkansas Bentonville Mission
1004 Beau-Terre Dr Ste E502
Bentonville AR 72712
Love you!
Sister Ritter
pictures:
1)Tornado night. Just chillin in the basement. (:
2)Last night in the OTM. #LongLiveTheOTM
3)Just enjoying Rolla.
4) happy 4 of July
5) Happy fourth of July from the Rolla Sisters!
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