This week was so jammed pack full of crazy events. Be prepared for a long email.
So monday, we had a lesson with a less active girl named Regan. She is so sweet. We texted her and asked when we could meet and she said she would feed us as well as a lesson. It was such a blessing. So we had a really great lesson with her and even got a member to come with us. She was very open and honest with us and we tried to help her feel the spirit and help her regain her testimony. After the lesson, we invited her to come to the church to have FHE and volleyball. She said she had a lot of work to do, but if she finished she would come. She seemed like she wasn't interested at all. So we left and went to FHE and had a great week! Then as we started playing volleyball REGAN WALKED IN! And she stayed and played volleyball forever. It was so cool! It was so much fun and she loved it. She texted us after and thanked us for inviting her. I am excited to meet with her again.
Tuesday was a great day! We had Dani come with us to meet some people and help us find things around springfield. We tried a random girl on the list and ended up meeting her roomate who was really interested in coming to the activities. It was a tender mercy, because we are looking for people to teach. We got in the car and Dani looked her up of facebook. She found her in close to 1 minute. In the YSA there is a madeup calling called FBC. It stands for facebook creeper. Dani used to be an FBC, So that is how she is so quick. Sister Jacobsen and I were super impressed. I told her she should find me without my first name. It only took her about 5 minutes. It was impressive. In the middle of the exchange, a giant ice storm came through. It was raining and instantly froze so the roads were super slick. Everyone cancelled and told us we had to stay inside. So Bishop Nothum came to pick us up and we went to his son's house to help him move. On the way, we were trying to find a detour that would be quicker than waiting in the massive amount of traffic. We were driving down a road and cute little Sister Jacobsen quietly says, "Why does that say 'Do Not Enter'? " We all busted up laughing and the bishop turned super sharp off the road as traffic was coming towards us. It was hilarious and we laughed about it forever. We finally got to his son's house and had everything moved. As we were driving to his new house, the moving truck got stuck on a hill and was sliding all over the place. It was so terryfying. We could barely move and had to stop multiple time to try and get the moving truck back on the road. One of the members was with us and she said, "leave it up to bishop to try and move his family on the worst day of the year." hahahhaha! The roads were awful from the ice. We said tons of prayers and the Elders were praying really hard too. We finally made it safe to the bishops house. He fed us dinner and then it was time for us to go home. On our way back, he said, "We are going to stop at the airport and go to a missionary homecoming." So Bishop Nothum, the Elders, Sister Jacobsen, Kierstyn and I walked into the airport at 9 at night in our sweats. When we got to the terminal, a member of the mission presidency was standing there. I have never felt so out of place in my whole life. It was crazy. As we were walking through the airport, Elder Dye points to a plane in the airport and says, "How far is that plane Sister Ritter?" I said, "I don't have any idea." He said, "Its only 5 weeks away." It wasn't a funny joke at all....but it kind of was. It was definitely one of the funniest nights of my mission.
Wednesday was nothing short of an adventure. We started with a worldwide missionary training. It was a really good meeting. They talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how critical it is in our lives. It made me think about what i am doing everyday. Do i invite the Holy Ghost into my life? After that meeting, we started to recognize and think about all the things the Holy Ghost has done for us. I have felt an increase in spirit in my life as i have been focusing and praying diligently to have the spirit with me. I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life. I am so happy that i am able to have that guide and comfort, expecially through my mission. I know that without the spirit i definitely could not have seen and experienced as many things as i have on my mission. I am grateful for the spirit.
Bishop called wednesday and said he was going to pick us up at 4:30 to go to a crossfit class because the teacher is an inactive member. We were so excited to go. We got in the car and guess who was there?? REGAN! She has been coming so much more just in the last week. It is awesome. So anyways, we get to crossfit and we have to fill out a liability form. We didn't know any of the information on the page since we just got here, so we just filled it out like we were bishops kid. It was so funny. Then the class started. Can i just say that Crossfit is the worlds hardest. Sister Jacobsen and i were the entertainment on Wednesday. We had to do 100 butterfly sit ups with a weight while the other person held a weight up the whole time. After, we had to do 100 shoulder press while the other person did squats and to end we had to do 50 burpees with a weight while the other person held a weight above their head. It was hilarious. We had to use these wimpy little weights while everyone else was using huge heavy weights. It was a really good work out though, and we got to talk to the teacher a lot. As we left, my legs already felt like jello. It was awful. While we were driving home, Bishop ran a stop sign and Sister Jacobsen jokingly said, "Why does that sign say 'Stop'?" HAHAHAHA We all died laughing again. But then we cried, because it hurt so bad!
After that, we went to the english class that we teach. It was a lot of fun to meet new people. We got to meet some new people who came up to us and wanted to learn more about the church. So we got 2 new investigators!!! It was so cool! I loved going to the english class. It was the highlight of the day. After the english class, we left and got home and couldn't find our phone anywhere. Of course it was my day for the phone, so i was panicked. Then we hear a knock on our door and it was a former investigator who wanted to come meet us and tell us where she lived so we could go and see her anytime. It was incredible. An investigator came and knocked on our door. We asked to borrow her phone and told the elders and our ward mission leader. NO worries, later that night we had another knock on our door. It was the elders with our phone. It was such a great day!
Thursday morning we get a text from Bishop and he told us to come outside. We werent expecting him, so we opened the door and sister jacobsen slammed it shut. Bishop threw a snowball up the stairs to our door. Sister Jacobsen opened it a bit later thinking that he needed to talk to us for real and he threw another one and it hit her right in the face. It was so funny!!! Then we asked him what he needed and he said, "Nothing. I just wanted to come and throw snowballs at you." Then he yelled at us to talk to the guy outside. I told him we would in 2 seconds. He said we had to talk to him now. So i grabbed my boots and halfway put them on and we went outside and met Andrew. He told us that bishop saw him face plant it in the snow. We told him about some activities and he told us to come buy anytime. We are hoping to start teaching him this week.
Friday we had to wake up at 4:30 am to drive to Arkansas and go to MLC. It was a fun time. We were super tired, but it is always great to hear from President and Sister Loveland. It was also really sad, because it was the last time we will see Sister Betts before she goes home. (She promised she would come to my homecoming though.) I am really excited to see her again. Sister Betts is such a cool lady. I love calling and just visiting with her. We got home from MLC around 7:30 and we had an appointment. We tried to open the institute building and our key got stuck. We couldn't get it out so we had Kierstyn try. She couldn't get it out, so we called Bishop. He had to end up calling the building maintenance guy...so we lost our key to the institute. Sister Jacobsen and I are soul companions. We are so spacey and clumsy. It is seriously entertaining to see the things that happen to us. I love it. I love Sister Jacobsen. I am so so so grateful that i get to be her companion. I love her more than i could explain. We haven't stopped laughing since we met each other.
Saturday, we woke up at 4:30 again because we were going to go to the temple. We got all ready and got to the institute. When we got there, Bishop told us that he had a prompting and prayed 3 times and felt we shouldn't go to the temple. So he took all of the YSA to ihop at 5:30 in the morning. The second time this week that i have been out in public with bishop in non missionary clothing not following the missionary schedule. I can already tell it is going to be an interesting transfer. It was really fun to spend time with the YSA and get to know them better. After we left ihop, it was time to study. We didn't have anything planned, so we just went walking for most of the day. Earlier in the week we got a blessing and in each of our blessings we were told to not be afraid to walk up to students and start talking to them. We decided to talk to everyone. We met this guy named william at a crosswalk. We started talking to him and inviting him to different activites. He didn't know english too well, but thats okay. we didnt give up. He kept asking us different questions about who we were and everything we do. We followed him all the way to class and when he got to class we just turned around and left. That was definitely one the of the most bold things i have done for awhile. It was a really cool experience. We talked to multiple people who are excited to come to the english class. I learned so much. I learned that Christ really is right by us throughout our lives. I know he gave me the courage to talk to those people. I know he gave us the words to say. I know that when we do the Lords will, he will provide a way for us to be successful.
On Saturday afternoon, we went to dodgeball with some of our investigators.
Sister Jacobsen....funniest dodgeball player alive. One of the elders went to throw it at her and she screamed, turned around, threw the ball over her head and ran away. It was so hilarious!!!!! The elder was laughing so hard he didn't even throw the ball. After talking to sister Jacobsen about it she said, "Who cares. It worked....ill embarass myself to stay in the game and i don't even like dodgeball."
I still laugh out loud everytime someone brings that moment up, and believe me...it comes up often.
We also had a really cool lesson with Hannah. She told us that she has never felt the spirit before. She said she didn't know the spirit even feels. We asked her about different experiences she has had as she is learning about the church. She said that she loved going to the temple grounds because she felt holy and peaceful. We testified of the Holy Ghost and the power it has had in her life. She said, "I didn't know i had been feeling the spirit, i had thoughts but no words. But the sentences you just said is my thoughts. I know i have felt the spirit." It was such a powerful experience for me. We invited her to pray about baptism. She didn't feel comfortable praying in english, so she prayed in Chinese. The spirit was so strong. I couldnt understand her, but i could feel the spirit so strongly. The room was filled with peace. AFter the prayer, our ward mission leader was tearing up. It was a powerful lesson.
Sunday we had a cool lesson with a recent convert. She wanted to write down a question and randomly open the Book of Mormon and read to look for her answer. We did that and i wrote the question "How can i make the Lord proud in my final 6 weeks?" We flipped to Words of Mormon. It talks about what is on each of the different set of plates, so i didn't think i would get an answer. I got so many answers though. It was almost a list of things i had to do. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know it was written for us. I know it can answer any questions we have or solve any problems we don't know what to do. I know it is true and i know it is the word of God.
This week was so great! I am so blessed to be here. I love it. I love life. I love looking for miracles and being in the service of the Lord.
Love,
Sister Ritter
1) The famous MSU bear statue with my fave Sister Jacobsen.
2) Our last time seeing Sister Betts. We will miss her!
3) Chalking it up at MSU.
4) We got to hold the worlds cutest puppies at a birthday party! I almost kidnapped one.
No comments:
Post a Comment