10-28-13

Hola Familia! 

Man is it a great week to be a missionary!

Work here is going really well, we are blessed with people to teach and members who are AMAZING! They are all about missionary work and everyone cares about every person of the community!

A few quite amazing missionary experience and then i will get to the most exciting part of the week! First we had a second lesson with a young adult named Dallas. After sitting down, we asked him how reading the Book of Mormon went. He told us good but he didn't understand lots of it. So we asked him what he read so we could help to try to explain it. He then says, "oh part of 1st Nephi, 3rd Nephi, and Mormon." It was so awesome to see someone receive a Book of Mormon and run with it. We talked a lot about study tools we have and how important it is to make sure we understand the content rather than just reading through. We then talked about the Plan of Salvation and how God is watching out for us and knows us. It was great! As we were explaining. Every once in a while we would ask if what we were sharing was making sense, he then would respond that yes, yes it does, it makes a lot of sense. I feel as if the Spirit is truly giving him the answers that he has been looking for. we are simply tools in the Lords hands to get him this information. He talked about how he wanted to know what we believed because there is a lot of evil in the World and you never quite know what is the truth. That one experience could have made my week right there!

But wait, there's more! We had an Family home evening with Wendy, someone we are teaching,  and her 4 oldest children. They were a little shy at first being in the home of someone they didn't know. But as I was saying before the members are amazing here! Pretty soon they realized that they were in a safe enviornment and truly began to shine. Her kids are ages 7,6,5,4 and they are generally a pretty roudy bunch (a very cute roudy bunch). Along with the Fieldings (who have 4 kids 7 and under) we taught the kids about obeying God and the Ten Commandments. For Wendy to see that her children were actually learning things and remebering about Jesus put a huge smile on her face, especially when we got to honor thy father and thy mother. It was a great opportunity to show how powerful learning from our families is. It is truly a blessing from our Heavenly Father to have such experiences.

I know you are all thinking how this email could get better, well here it is. This last Saturday we had a meeting with the entire Washington Kennewick mission. Why? Good question. Because Elder M. Russell Ballard wanted to talk to us. As well as Richard Maynes and our area 70 Elder Risenmay. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! When he first came in each missionary got an opportunity to shake his had, what an experience it was to have the chance to introduce myself to a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! A living servant of our Savior Jesus Christ who has dedicated much of his life to Him. It was such a good conference. All of them gave talks that were truly amazing and I learned a lot from each and every one of them. I could sit here for hours and discuss all that was shared with us. But i received a witness of God's love, not only for me but every single person who has walked upon the Earth. They talked a lot about the fact that you will never teach those who you don't find, and that we need to literally talk to everyone! He also talked to us about member missionary work. He worries that as members are asked to do more that missionaries will feel that the members have more responsibility than we do and we need to let the members act and wait for them to give us someone to teach. He then said that we need to be the example and that if we are working hard the members will see that we love them and their area. He said with those efforts together, Members and Missionaries giving it our all, then we will see the miracles of member missionary work! So i will give Royal City my all. Since I have been here I have gained such a great love for the people here that I never want to leave!

Also from Elder Ballard, he said that we have to know the gospel to be able to share it. He said we don't need to know every detail there is but continually study the principles so that they are on our minds, and then share them. It is better to have a knowledge and share it with others. He said that they (the leaders of the church) are aware of Satan and what we are up against, but then he said... BUT, we also know the Lord. The Lord is powerful and he will always win over Satan.

Elder Maynes and Elder Risenmay both told stories about knocking one more door. Their stories were pretty similar in the fact that they were knocking door after door without finding much success. As they were finally getting ready to go home or start something else, they decided to knock one more door. And can i just tell you something? ALWAYS knock that last door! That night after the conference we had tried quite a few houses, it was dark and no one really wanted to talk to us. The last week here has been crazy for everyone with work. Anyway after knocking quite a few doors. we found ourselves in a group of 4 trailers that we have knocked many times. We knew one wasn't home. Another was busy and the other didn't answer, yes, leaving ONE more door. We had knocked on that trailer a few times, when cars were there with no success, but we decided it couldn't hurt to knock one more. As you can guess, she answered, let us in and we had a great discussion on prophets and the restoration of the church and she said we could come back again. Do i know where it will go teaching her? absolutely not, but God answers prayers and always has a plan for us even if we can't see it.

This week I have grown a lot, at least I feel like a different missionary. The importance of why i am here has really come to the surface. I have been humbled and served and enlightened by an Apostle of the Lord. My faith in the Lord has never been stronger in my life. I know what Faith is, I know it is real and that i have the Good hope in Christ that will anchor my soul (Ether 12:4). Looking for scriptures on faith? read Ether 12, it uses the word a bigillion times. I love you all and hope you are finding joy in your journey of life. We have the freedom to choose what our attitude will be in life. Choose to be happy!

Hermana Ray

10-21-13

Hola Familia!

This week has been a really good one! I don't want to make this sound like every other email you are probably reading, but our week has been focused on members and missionaries all week. Everywhere we turned! It is a really good thing. As missionaries we see the influence and difference of when members are sharing the gospel with their friends. 

This week has also been a lot of focus on the Book of Mormon. And it has been really good. I love it! yesterday at church, one young person from every family in the branch gave a talk on the Book of Mormon. Each and everyone of them was focused on a Book of Mormon story and how it has blessed their lives. It was amazing to see each and everyone of them personally apply it! After, the High Council man spoke on the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it helps us and our children be converted unto the Lord. I too have a personal witness of that as our family read the scriptures together and as i have personally spent time studying the scriptures. 

I am currently reading about the brother of Jared and his experience with the Lord. His faith was amazing! And later it says that someday people will have faith as the brother of Jared. Imagine having the such great faith that we can see the Lord! 

The work is definitely being blessed as we try to strive to be exactly obedient. I have seen the blessings as we have been finding trailers that no one knew existed and teaching people who before didn't really have any desire to talk to us, but some event in their life has brought them to a state of mind of asking questions. If we have the answers, great! There is nothing in the World that having a faith in Jesus Christ is made harder. Our attitude about everything makes a huge difference. 

We had a really awesome lesson where we talked about the love of God and how we, as people need to be going to church for that reason. Just so many cool, different spiritual experiences. Yesterday we were having a lesson and Marlo was saying the prayer. After asking the lord to bless pretty much every type of person in the world, he prayed for his family and for his job, not once did he pray for anything for himself, but totally for other people. I am continually stunned as i learn new things form people i am "teaching". It goes to show that we all need to continually learn so we can grow.

Any way... Back to member missionary work, we had a zone conference that was centered on member missionary work. We were challenged to go back and read Elder Ballard's talk and i really really liked it. The one from conference. the title is "Put Your Trust in the Lord" for me that was an interesting title. Like with obedience or pretty much any other principle of the gospel, it all comes down to putting your trust in the Lord. Anyway, we talked about how/what could help the members we are serving. Remember that: WE (as missionaries) are called to serve you as members in your area. You know the people, the culture, and what aspects of the gospel people are looking for. If you are trying to think of how to share the gospel, call the missionaries in your area, they will be happy to help. I loved when Elder Ballard talked about the "One". it didn't mean invite someone random, but that "one" person who is continually on the back of you mind. I know that I have those people and when he was speaking they came to mind mind as they often do. Start working to have the faith and strength to invite the "one". i Know that is something i struggled with before my mission. Elder Ballard totally got me when he was telling the story about people not praying for missionary opportunity in the fear of actually having one. I know and can testify that when a member works to bring someone to the gospel, and when that person begins to accept it, the person will understand just how much you meant to them to share the gospel with them. We have heard it over and over again in conversion stories of people being so grateful for the person who shared the gospel with them. Go find the "one" so you can be their one. Christmas is about a 2 months away, what better gift for the Savior. (I will get off my soap box now, i might return next week though)

I love you all thanks for the continued support you have shown to me! Have a great week

 

 

10-14-13

Hola Familia!

This week, we have felt really blessed. The Lord has definitely been watching out for us. I have definately witnessed His hand.

The week started out awesome when and appointment went through. You are probably wondering how that is awesome. Well it also managed to mess with our plans for the rest of the day. Because of that we had to really sit and think of where we needed to be, because obviously it wasn't where we had planned. After some thought, discussion, and prayer we finally decided to try someone back who had hung up twice when we tried to call. Obviously this is why what happened earlier happened. As we sat and talked with this lady we found out that someone had been prank calling her house and so she had been hanging up the phone to try to get the to stop. As we sat and explained to her what we did as missionaries she couldn't believe it, as we changed our focus to Christ and how he can help us in our lives, tears came to her eyes, she told us that no one had every really explained things about God to her in such simple terms. She had lots of questions, mainly because she couldn't believe that two 20 year olds girls would give up there life to talk to people about God. As we talked about trials and God, she explain some of the things that were bother her, and we got a chance to introduce to her the Book of Mormon. We also lent her a CD of songs about Christ, which she loved! there was the most powerful spirit there, stronger than I have felt the first time meeting someone before.

We ended up going back over last night and teaching her about the Restored Gospel and prophets. Again the Spirit followed and it was strong! She again couldn't believe that the leaders of the church were voluntary and that the church was teaching the same thing all over the world in different countries. It is funny, because we go on a lot of tangents, because she has a lot of questions. There is no better way to teach than addressing peoples questions and talking open and honestly with one another. She is so awesome and definitely just looking for more in her life.

Other than that there were many things that happened this week, but one other especially close to my heart was Leti. We have been talking with her quite a bit and the other day we went over and she was struggling with some homework, normally i would help her, but I had never taken the class before and didn't know how to use the program. We didn't want to distract her and so we just told her aabout prayer and how it can truely help us with anything. She asked us to pray for her that she could have help on her homework, so we did. We then encouraged her to pray and left. The next time we went by she had received a witness that prayer really works, she took our advice and said that it helped a lot and then she told us that she was planning on coming to church this Sunday and then she came! It is amazing what happens when people realize that they can talk to God and that he really does care.

So many other things that I could say, but I don't have the time as if i was sitting face to face with you all. But I have been Studying about Unity and the importance of being United in a common goal. As I study this i am in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon, and if anything witnesses to me about the importance of Unity with God and with one another it is those Chapters. Staying close and Unified with God makes us the winner, every time. As we try to be more like Jesus we automatically become more in Unity with God. He love us and he answers prayers, i have seen it, I know it to be true.

The other day i was asked if i personally believed in miracles. As an answer to that i replied absolutely!I God is watching out for us. love you all, and hope that you can find time to draw yourself closer to Jesus Christ. It will benefit you more than any other way that you could spend your time. As we get closer to him we can see the smaller miracles happening all around us. Have a great week!

Hermana Ray

We are supposed to change our toothbrush every 6 months (I think....), So, on October 10, 2013, i changed my toothbrush! Ah! What happens to time?!

10-7-13

Hola Familia!
Well, it was a short while since we all spoke last, but it has been a good few days. especially conference (that goes without saying). Life here on the Royal Slope is good. Busy because harvest is coming to a close and everyone is working to get their crops done. As a result we stay busy contacting people and trying to offer the help and service we can to this community.

Conference was really really good. I seriously just sat and absorbed the words. I loved that we had the chance to listen to the prophet and all the apostles. I honestly don't remember all of the talks, but what I do know is i can't wait to get a conference issue of the ensign to really study them and learn even more.

One specifically that i remembered was the talk on meekness. I don't remember everything that was said but i do remember that it was about being meek. Meek is one of those words that i hear often at church but it has never really sank in. as a result, i am going to start to study it. Hopefully as i study, it can sink in and start to become a part of me. I can't think of anything better.

Honestly i enjoyed seriously everyone of the talks at conference. I sat and enjoyed them scribbling a few notes. Everyone seemed to touch on various topics that related to almost everyone i know including myself.

I also remembered in a talk about imagine if the Savior were personally walking there beside you and put his arm around you. I think of how many times a friend or family member has put there arm around me and how it just makes you feel so good. Now to imagine the Savior of the world, someone so well known to the world and someone that i have a personal relationship with to put his arm around me. It made me smile just sitting there thinking about it.

Elder Nelson- "A child is never to young to learn and an adult is never to old to change" 

Family i love you all and hope that this conference you were able to hear answers to questions and receive a witness of the truthfulness of prophets and the inspired messages that were delivered. God live and he has sent those messages because he loves us and wants to help us out in this world.

The area is going pretty well, one really cool experience. We were outside making  some phone calls in between sessions of conference and we got a phone call from a number we didn't recognize. Answering made our day. Pedro, the man on the other side of the phone we someone we had run into probably like 4 weeks ago. It was really late one night, our plans had fallen through, it was too late to go anywhere else, but too early to go home. We didn't know what to do, we found a house off to the side of the road so we stopped. Outside we found a man (Pedro) who was carrying in some food. We sat and chatted for maybe 5 or 10 minutes and he said that he never knew where he was going to be because his work changed his location every couple of days between the 3 cities. He told us to try and call him later. He then walked us out to our car to make sure nothing would happen to us. Well we called him the next week and he was out of town. We told him to call us when he was in Royal. Well when he called us the other day it took us a while to realize who he was. He then said, I do really want to learn from you and change, work is just so crazy. It was really cool, after all that time, he had called us. His desire to learn and change had not faltered over that period of time.

Thanks for all of your love and support. Keep working hard in whatever you are doing. Don't forget that God is there and that he loves you. And as Elder Holland said, "If the bitter cup doesn't pass, drink it and be strong." I love you all and pray for you!

Hermana Ray

The other night we got home and my sheet had just gotten out of the dryer. When my companion came back into our bedroom this is what she saw!!!!

10-2-13

This week and a half has been awesome. we had a temple trip today so
our pday was changed to Wednesday. Suprise! But it was all really
good! I love going to the Temple. We had to drive through Pasco to get
to the temple and i couldn't stop thinking of the memories and the
experiences there. It is no joke that your mission becomes a part of
you and every area you serve. I am definitely becoming a better
person.
This last week has been really good. We had a lot of work to do and
that is a good thing. There has been some crazy storms up and so the
work schedule of the farmers has been changing a lot. Anyway, one day
we had such an amazing experience of getting to show 3 guys the church
building and talking about Christ. Every single one of them talked
about feeling the Spirit and have been very accepting of many of the
things we teach. I hope they can start to see that taking action and
trying to change will help them. It was just a really cool experience.
Along with that, we have really been working hard to have members in
the missionary work. And every time we have had a member with us the
Spirit has been so strong and it has been a really great experience
for me, i hope it has been like that for them as well. The power of a
personal testimony from a "real person" is just so awesome. They
instantly have a friend who has shared one of the most important parts
of their life with them. It has been really good.
General Relief Society Meeting was pretty awesome. The importance of
promises is huge, especially when they are promises with God. But one
part that really stuck out to me was when the story was told of the
hike and how the girl was so excited to hike to the top and ended up
being the last one up. For me that was a huge girls camp flash back. I
remember being put at the back and wanting to be up front running up
the trail but it has been recently that i have recognized the
blessings form being in the back of the group. Never before would i
have thought that being in the back would have helped me to grow and
be a leader. but that is exactley what it did. it taught me how to
observe and look at others to see how i could help. So, mom, thanks
for helping me be the person i am by putting me at the back of the
hike. that talk was like a reflection for me, and it was really cool
to hear.
I also had the awesome opportunity to talk with a man, who turned to
me and said, now i have a question. then he asked me a question and
about faith in Jesus Christ. He talked about his saving power and if
it was more of a solution than modern medicine. It was and interesting
question, but luckily i have seen the blessings of faith combined with
action. I know that whatever is Christ's will could be done. no
questions asked, but i also know that faith usually requires action.
It is hard to explain, but to be able to open up and express what i
know to be true, with no fear. I know that it was Christ who has
helped me to this point in my life. God loves us. He wants what is
best for us, but just like parents, that doesn't mean he will just
give it to us. Don't give up, continue to work for it, He won't let
you down. have a great week.
Hermana Ray
I know this has been short but I love you all