Eggnog Wasted?

Dear Friends, 

This week was amazing. It went by super quickly.  I can't believe it is already monday again!!(: 

We had a ton of funny/random things that happened to us this week.

On Monday, we went to the car wash to wash our car like usual.  It was hilarious.  Sister Hill paid and she pulled forward. Then it told her to stop, so she did, but it kept having her back up.  We were in the middle of a car wash and i was NOT getting out to back her because i didn't want to be caught outside the car when the machine started.  So she backed and backed and it made her back all the way out of the car wash into the street.  It was hilarious! So we went in and told the cashier, he helped us get it fixed and we got back in our car and tried again.  This time, the car wouldn't drive over the rails, so the car wash was starting, but we couldn't get in.  I was hysterical the entire time and it was just super funny. I wish you coulda seen it!(: 

So the next day, we told a lady named Cathy that we would go to Institute with her.  We drove to the church, and waited and waited. No one came, so we called everyone and no one would answer their phones.  It was ridiculous.  Finally we found out that it was at a members house and we started our journey.  Half way there i remembered that i had NO idea where this member lived.  It was ridiculous.  So i said a quick prayer and did my best to drive there.  After driving around in circles for a decade we finally ended up where we started and finally made it to institute.  We got there and Cathy said, "Where did you learn how to drive?" hahahahha(:(: It was hilarious.  

Institute was a super awesome class. We learned about the symbolism of Christ in the Old Testament, and the fulfillment of that sign in the New Testament and Book of Mormon.  I didn't even know half of the stories were symbolic of Christ.  It was really cool, and i ended up restudying it the entire week.  I learned a lot.  The message was that our whole world symbolizes Christ.  It helped us place Christ at the Center of our lives so that we can focus on Him and see how much He is in our lives each day.  I am grateful we got the opportunity to go.  

The next day, we went to visit Roni.  We took Cathy with us.  He is such a cool dude.  I love going to visit him.  He wants to be a missionary, so we are teaching him the missionary lessons. We took Cathy with us because she is returning to church and we thought it would be a great opportunity for her to share her testimony with Roni.  After the lesson, Sister Hill says, "I am hungry." And Roni said, "I will fix ya something.  What do yins want?" Roni went inside and came back with a block of cheese and a package of Salami. We literally ate an entire block of cheese for lunch.  It was ridiculous. But it was hilarious. That was also the same day that we bought a carton of egg nog and drank the entire thing in one sitting. (; 

Previous to this week, we met a lady named Briana in Salem. (I can't remember if i have talked about her before.)  We tried to teach her the restoration, but her kids were running around and screaming, so it was a half lesson, but she really enjoyed it.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to start reading it.  This time in Salem, we met with her and started talking about the Book of Mormon.  She said, "I read the introduction. You guys might think i am crazy, but i already believe its true." AWWOOOGA. My eyeballs left my head.  I couldn't believe it.  It is so incredible how the Lord has prepared her to hear the restored gospel.  I am so grateful we were led to her our first day of Salem.  She is such a blessing to us.  We are so excited to see her again and continue to see the miracles that come from teaching her.  

We also got to see Penny again this week.  My heart just adores her.  She is so amazing.  I have a deep care for her and for her progression in the church.  We met with her 3 times this week. She is already over 100 pages in the Book of Mormon, she started reading the Old Testament and she reads 3 times a day.  She tells us every single time we go over there that she knows its true.  She knows that it is "her" church.  She loves the gospel and says that she has never felt this happy in her life, but then she told us that she is not going to get baptized right now and she doesn't know if she will ever.  It breaks my heart.  

We also saw Deon this week and talked to her about Temples.  We had her get on LDS.org and look at all of the different temples.  She wants to go to the temple and see the inside.  She wants to be able to feel the spirit inside the temples and draw nearer to her Heavenly Father.  As we were looking she said, "They are so beautiful. They are real life castles."  She also has a knowledge of the truth of the gospel.  She still has the desire to be baptized, but she still is praying about things in her life so that she can be completely cleansed and ready to make that covenant.

It is so hard to see people have such a bright testimony and a knowledge of the truth, but then they don't act on it.  It is so discouraging.  I know that if our investigators would act on the things they "know" to be true, that they would see amplified blessings in their life.  It's hard because i want to say, "Just get baptized, or just come to church." But I know that they are in the Lords hand and i just have to do my best to help them come unto Christ and trust in the Lords' timing.    

This week, we got to go to Cheyanne's choir concert.  She invited us and was incredibly happy that we could go.  She called and texted us all day reminding us about it.  She is so cool.  She is 15 years old and loves going to church activities, but she has a lot of trials right now.  We do our best to support her and love her.  She loves it when we come and read the Book of Mormon with her.  She also wanted us to sing with her while her friends were there.  We sang "I am a Child of God."  Anyways...back to the concert.  We got there a little late and we seriously had to run multiple blocks to get there.  We ran inside and she sang 1 song and got off the stage, we felt horrible, but we explained what happened and she didn't really care.  She was just happy we could go and see her.  It was pretty cool too, because tons of the people in the ward were there, so we got to support all the youth!(; 

We went and saw Fern again this week.  Every time we go there, she says something that really makes me think.  Even though she just talks and talks.  This week she said, "When you pray for something, be sure you tell Him how much, because you will get it."  I thought that was a really cool thought.  She was talking about rain and floods, but i think it could be for anything really.  Heavenly Father promises us that if we have faith we will receive.  So if we ask for something and we have faith, he will fulfill his promise to us.  I have started to make my prayers more specific and i definitely have seen a difference in my mission.

The funniest thing that happened in Salem this week was that we were trying to meet a less active family that lived in the country.  We knocked on this door and asked for them and they said that they lived next door.  So we walked down this super long gravel driveway to the next house, and we knocked.  The husband came to the door and he said, "Yes?" And then he stared at our nametags for awhile and then he said, "Oh you can come in.  I thought you were Jehovahs Witness. I will listen to the Mormons."  It was so funny because usually when people see our nametags they shut the doors, windows, and run as far away as possible...but this time our nametag is what got us in the door. It was awesome and we get to go back and see them again this week. 

I love being a missionary so much. 

 Have a great week, my peeps! I love you <3 

Love, 

Sister Ritter 

Pictures: 

1) This is us in the possessed car wash. (; 

2-5) Just some pictures at Roni's house.  I made Sister Hill and Cheese Carved heart!(: 

3) "Eggnog Wasted" haha(: Never Drink that much eggnog in one sitting. It isn't fun. (: