Dear Family and Friends
It has been yet another week here and gone. This week felt like forever long and seemed like we didn't have much going on, but at the end of the week as we were looking at our goals and the things we accomplished, it was one of the best weeks we have had here in Rolla. We were able to get 4 of our investigators to church on Sunday! We were able to find 3 new people to teach this week, and we also set 3 baptism dates. The Lord truly blessed us this week.
I want to start my email with Mary and Samantha. I love them. Mary is 14 and samantha is 10. We started to teach them this week. Mary was recently adopted by a family in our ward and samantha just hasn't been baptized. As we were visiting the family and sharing the Christmas video with them, we had the impression to ask Mary if she would be interested in taking the missionary discussions. She played it off cool and said, "sure. Thats fine." Samantha just ran around the house saying how much she wanted to get baptized. We later found out that after we left, Mary was freaking out and was incredibly excited that we invited her to take the lessons. She said it was the coolest thing that happened. It was so cute to hear her side of the story. We taught them their first lesson on Tuesday. The house was in chaos, but the girls listened, and they understood what we were teaching. They said they would read the Book of Mormon and pray. We went back on Sunday to see them again and asked if we could read the Book of Mormon with them. Mary told us a really cool story. She said, "My teacher had to have a hip replacement this week, I told mom to pray for her and then the day after you guys gave me the book we got a call from my teacher saying she was fine and walking. There is no way that just happened. I know its because of God." It was so cool to see how touching and powerful that was for her in her life. We read the Book of Mormon with them and Mary said, "Just reading that one page helped me feel the spirit way strong. I know it is true." Samantha sat next to me and i helped her read with us. Both Mary and Sam committed to be baptized on January 2. I am so grateful for this miracle that happened this week.
Thursday was a super awesome day. We got to meet Elder Foster. He came to our mission and did a mission tour. We were invited to come with personal questions and to come fasting for an answer. I was uplifted a lot during that meeting. He told a really cool story about the power of prayer and how we KNOW Heavenly Father knows us personally and individually. It was a story about a man named Joseph Millet. Im going to try and summarize it the best i can. He was making dinner one day and his kids ran home from school. When he asked them how their day at school was the young daughter said, "Brother Hall is out of flour." Joseph Millet looked at his wife and they silently agreed to give up some of their small supply of flour. The kids go on helping and then a knock somes at the door. It is Brother Hall. Brother Millet says, "Brother, my children told me you need some flour. He says, "I went to the cedars to pray for help, no one could help me, but the Lord told me to go and see Joseph Millet." Brother Millet gave him the flour and Brother Hall left. The daughter watches her father and sees tears come to his eyes. She asked if everything was okay and Joseph says, "Its good to think the Lord knows Joseph Millet." It was so cool to me that at the moment, Joseph knew God loved him. His prayer was answered through the actions and prayers of someone else wanting to find an answer. It made me think so much about how powerful and all knowing our Heavenly Father really is. I know that God knows us individually and that he will answer our prayers. I know God knows our names and he is so aware of us. He provides and protects us every second of our lives. I had so many spiritual experiences at that meeting. Elder Foster was so inspiring and helpful to me, i definitely received answers to my personal questions.
On Friday, we had another super incredible experience. We decided to go tracting before the ward Christmas party. We went on the street right next to ours because it was close to the church. We knocked on tons of doors with no success. One lady answered the door and said, "No thanks. We are eating dinner." and then she shut the door. It was getting a little discouraging. We decided that we were done tracting on that street. As we were walking back to get our car. I looked at a house and kept on walking. The spirit told me that we needed to go back. We went awkwardly back down the street a little ways and knocked on the door. We met Nikki. She was SO nice. She was excited to hear what we had to say. We got to show her the Christmas video, and talk with her about the Book of Mormon. She accepted and told us to come back sometime next week. It was a really powerful doorstep lesson that boosted our spirits. I am so grateful for that experience. As we were leaving her doorstep, a lady across the street waved to us and said, "Come back over here. I have been coming outside every couple of minutes looking for you." We were so surprised, i don't think we said anything. As we got next to her, i recognized her as the lady who said they were busy eating dinner. She said, "As soon as i shut the door, i felt bad. I kept telling my husband, i need to apoligize to them. They were just trying to share a video with us." It was SO cool. I have never had anything like that happen in my entire mission. We told her how much we appreciated her kindess. Although she still didn't want to see the video, it was a really cool experience that i will forever be grateful for.
We also got to meet another new investigator this week. We tracted into him about 3 weeks ago and have been trying to get in contact with him since. We finally were able to set up a time to meet. His name is Jaren. He is really nice and interested in learning about different religions. We invited another member, Libby, to come to the lesson with us. It was the perfect match. We sat down, said a prayer, and Libby totally just taught the entire lesson. She was able to address his concerns, tell him our purpose, and what the gospel means to her. After the lesson, we went to leave and Libby stayed with Jaren to hang out for awhile. It was really cool. We invited both of them to the ysa Christmas party and Jaren came! And he brought a friend. He met a lot of the ysa and became friends with them all really quick. The ysa kept asking us when his lessons were so they could come. We are so excited to see him again this week.
Sunday we had a really cool experience that helped me develop a much stronger testimony on the priesthood. Deon was at church and in the middle of class, she got up crying. We went to see what was wrong and she told us some really personal, hard things she is going through. We taught her about the priesthood and told her she could get a blessing of comfort and counsel. She accepted and we went to get our ward mission leader, Brother Nordwald. We didn't tell him anything other than the fact that she needed a blessing. Her blessing was so specific and detailed. It was powerful. Brother Nordwald was crying, Deon was crying, the whole room was SO full of the spirit. I know without a shadow of doubt that those were Heavenly Fathers words to Deon. I know the power of the Priesthood is real.
This week Sister Hill and i started a new thing. We have been writing down every time we recognize the Lords hand in our lives. It is so cool to see all the ways the Lord blesses his missionaries throughout the day. We are able to recognize things that we otherwise wouldn't realize. I know it helps me to see all the ways the Lord helps us when times get tough. It helps me see how much the Lord truly does care about us individually and how much he blesses us for our effort.
I know this Church is true. I know Heavenly Father loves us. I know that miracles still happen today.
Love you all!
Until next time,
Sister Ritter
Pictures:
1)Our zone with Elder and Sister Foster and President and Sister Loveland.
2)All dressed up at the Ward Christmas Party.
3)Happy Sweet 16 months!!!(:(:
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