I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS MY LAST EMAIL! I am so full of so many emotions. I am excited, and sad, and overwhelmed, and stressed, and scared all at once. I am so grateful for this incredible experience that i have had to serve the Lord for 18 months. And this week was the absolute best way ever. It was so cool.
Monday was probably the best preparation day in the entire world. One of the YSA works in a zoo so we got a VIP tour and got to hold a lot of the different animals. It was pretty much the dream. We got to hold..wait for it.......wait for it.....A BABY SLOTH. It was so cute. It just grips on and holds you. I loved it. We also got to hold an animal called a screaming hairy armadillo. IT WAS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ANIMAL. I asked the zookeeper how i can acquire one. I am so in love with those things. I will definitely attach a picture. If anyone wants to buy one for me, you can be my best friend. (;
Tuesday we had one of the coolest lessons ever. We got a new investigator named Jenny. She is so cool. She is also a chinese student. I have really enjoyed teaching them, they are so humble and willing to learn about Jesus Christ. She didn't know who God was, so we taught her about Him and invited her to pray. She asked the coolest thing. She said, "Can i still pray even though i am not Christian yet?" We told her that she could of course pray. She didn't feel comfortable praying with us, but she said she would pray the next lesson we had with her.
Wednesday, we had our last district meeting. It was really sad and i had to give my departing testimony. It was really sad. Then Elder Dye made all of us sing 'God be with you til we meet again.' It was really hard.
Remember how i got hit in the face with a dodgeball by a potential investigator? Well, we texted him and asked if we could meet more and teach him the gospel. He was really excited to meet with us and we had a really powerful lesson with him. He was genuinely interested and we get to meet him again this next week. He had a lot of really great questions and as soon as we taught the restoration he had a different attitude about him. I compared life to getting hit in the face with a dodgeball and ryan said, "Can we laugh about that yet?" It was a great lesson.
Thursday i had one of the most touching lessons in my life. We got a new investigator named Jessica. She is so cool. We started by singing a hymn and we taught her about the Godhead. As we went to say the beginning prayer, she wanted to say it. We were on splits and i was with Latea. Jessica was afraid of Latea and she whispered the prayer in my ear. It was such a powerful prayer. She absolutely loved the idea that Jesus Christ was her brother. She also loved that she could feel peace, happiness, and joy through the spirit. It was a very powerful lesson. She knows minimal english and so it is a challenge to teach her, but the spirit was very strong in the room. At the end of the lesson, we explained that she could feel that all the time if she was baptized and received the Holy Ghost. She agreed that once she learned more, she would be baptized.
Bonus miracle for thursday. We saw a shooting star. It was really really slow. It was really cool!
Friday we had a lot of lessons on the street. We prayed that we would be led to people and be able to reach our goals. We were able to teach so many people and we were led to different people. I can't recall any specific events, but I know that i was really happy and we were busy all day long. It was a really productive day. Hannah made us homemade dumplings! It was the absolute best dinner ever.
Saturday.....You will never believe what happened. WE GOT TO MEET AN APOSTLE OF THE LORD! We got Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It was the coolest thing that could have happened to end my mission. I got to shake his hand! He is so funny!!!! He had so many great things to say. He talked a lot about how we live in a day of miracles. I wish i could write all of the things that i learned. It was a really spiritual experience.
This week we were able to be apart of 3 new investigators to say their first ever prayer! It was so cool! I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to pray. Something i have learned from the Chinese students is how genuine our prayers can be. They talk to Heavenly Father like he is right there. They tell Him all about their day and what they have coming up. I have learned that i need to be more humble in my prayers and actually think and ponder as i pray.
This week was incredible! I am grateful for modern day miracles.
See you real soon!
Love,
Sister Ritter
pictures:
1) THEE worlds cutest animal! I want a puffy guy!
2) We got to hold a baby sloth!
3)We had a fantastic trip to the zoo!
4)We did service on Wednesday and borrowed the elders key. We may or may not have locked their key with all of our stuff in the institute buiding and had to wait for 30 minutes for someone to get there. (:
5)Bus ride to Tulsa to meet Elder Christofferson!!!
6)We matched. The unity in the YSA is unreal!
7) Well....the welcome mats don't lie.
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