Sometimes a Broken Heart is Better Than a Hallelujah

Okay so I only have time for a few quick notes about last week so, here goes...

·  We had our Great Kentucky Louisville Mission Christmas party yesterday. It was really fun an awesome. There were a lot of name tags in that stake center (like 270). I got to see Sister Griffiths, Sister Lloyd, Sister Cox (eee!), Elder Peck, and Elder Hill. Poor Elder Hill is in West End which the ghetto of Louisville. They're all doing great and loving their missions. 

·  One of our investigators missed her baptismal date on the 20th because she's been struggling really bad emotionally, because no one in her family really loves her. So, we've kind of been out of contact. Well, we finally found her again and she's taking lessons with us and we're trying to make her feel better. I think that she just needs the Holy Ghost in her life so she really really really needs to be baptized.

·  We won't be in contact with L until after the holidays. 

·  R is kind of hiding from us. 

·  We're moved in! (Ask my family for my address if you so would like) But, the plumbing doesn't work. So, I've been washing my hair in the sink and we use the bathroom at our old apartment or at members' homes. Other than that it's a great house! Michele is the member we live with and I love her to death. She's awesome. 

·  I am struggling. Today was the first morning I really wanted to go home. As I write this I know how silly it sounds. I've just been feeling like I'm not a good enough missionary. Yes, I know I've only been out three weeks. Yes, I know I'll get better. Yes, I know missionary work is HARD. Sister Ward generally takes over the lesson when we teach and when she turns to me to say something my mind goes blank. I'm starting to go numb to the doors that are closed and the "We have our own religion", "You don't know Jesus", "No, thank you", "I'm happy right now", "This church fits my life better", "I don't believe in Mormonism", etc, etc. Maybe I'm not so numb because I get really depressed sometimes. I don't want to go home anymore, but I really hope that I can actually become a great missionary. All I know is that I am very much humbled.

·  We went Living Christmas Card caroling with the Zone Leaders (Elder Black and Elder Geary) again. That's always fun and we meet some very nice families. 

·  I finally saw horses! We went to Goshen for a dinner appointment. Goshen is the place where the houses are so big that I wet my pants. They're huge and expensive. They're surrounded by gorgeous ranches with horses that probably cost more than my life is worth. If you Google Lousville, this is he place that shows up in the pictures. 

·  No, still have not had fried chicken. 

·  Yes, I have started to say y'all. 

·  Other lingo I have no mastered: usn's. 

·  I made chocolate covered pomegranate clusters. Yes, they're delicious. 

·  I GET TO TALK TO MY FAMILY ON CHRISTMAS!! 

·  There's a package at the mission office that I'm not allowed to step outside my area to get...rrrrr. Hopefully, some very nice member will be willing to get it for me.

Okay, I love you all!!!!!!! I'll talk to you on CHRISTMAS!!!!)  

No, I Have Not Seen a Single Horse

It's been two weeks since I've last written. Blegh. Things are going swimmingly! We left the MTC at 3:30 am (said goodbye to Elders Proctor, Steed, and Kozub who are going to Alberquerque, New Mexico) and flew out at around six. We had a layover in Atlanta, Georgia and then landed in Louisville, Kentucky in the late afternoon. Sleeping on planes is not the most comfortable thing in  the world. Our President and his wife were there to greet us and they are so nice. President Brough is absolutely hilarious and a great man. Sister Brough constantly has to tell us if her husband is lying about some stories he tells us. We stayed at the Mission Home for a night before the Transfer Meeting in the morning. The best part was eating real food. Not MTC food! No, it was not fried chicken. I haven't had any fried chicken, yet. 

The Transfer Meeting was scary and exciting. The mission has over 200 missionaries and most of us were gathered in the church building next to the Mission Office. The sad part was saying goodbye to Sister Cox, Griffiths, and Lloyd. I miss my adopted brothers too.  Sister Cox is now serving in Indiana! Woo! I forgot where Sister Lloyd went, but Sister Griffiths is in my Zone and I get to see her every now and then. :) 

I'm serving in the Westwind mission. I'm in Omaha county and our apartment is in Crestwood. I can't give the address because we're moving on Saturday into a member's home. We kind of live in the ghetto part of town so it's a good thing. Someone even tried to break into the apartment the day before I got there. 

It feels just like Washington without the rain. It's overcast all the time and very chilly. Replace all the evergreens with other trees and there's Kentucky. 

We live in the rich part. If anyone does have an accent it is very slight. The houses are massive in Goshen and what we would consider really well off is the lower middle class. 

It's only in Western and Southern Kentucky that the accent is thick and people don't have teeth. 

My new companion is Sister Ward and she is awesome! President Brough (rhymes with' rough') definitely picked out the right one for me. She's outgoing and has the energy of a living pixie stick. She's super nice to me and calls me her baby. So, she's my mission mom (sorry Mommy). I'm learning a lot from her and we're becoming really good friends. We're even going to the same school. She even wanted to major in Deaf Studies and ASL! Coincidence? 

We live right above C who is a recent convert. She is really sweet and gave me a bracelet and a Washington cross-stitch pattern. So far I've met a few of the recent converts. The Scott family (they're awesome) and Anne and Blake (super nice, strong, and cool). Our investigator's are Donna, the Kumar family (they're Hindu!), and many others that I have not met. 

We tracted into the awesome big black man named R. He's a baptist, but he actually had been reading the Book of Mormon since the last missionaries in the area visited him. It was a little miracle because his wife had passed away and he was one page away from where Alma talks about the Spirit World. Coincidence? I think not! We do this thing called a Prayer Approach in which we ask people if we could pray together. It really works because it invites the Spirit and more people are willing to do this than listen to us. I said the prayer with R and he really liked what I said. We tried to run into him on Saturday again, but he was probably at the Baptist church Saturday meeting. The Baptist church is larger than the Louisville temple. We call it the Great and Spacious. 

The thing about Kentucky is that everyone knows Jesus. Everyone has a dog. Everyone and their dog has already been saved by Jesus. The biggest struggle for me is having the door close because they already have their own religion. One man kind of told us that we didn't know the right Jesus because we believe in the Godhead. Sister Ward says I'll eventually become numb to it after a while. She's been out a year this Wednesday. It kind of sucks because a lot of people think that they are perfectly happy where they are. They've already been saved. Not many people will accept that there is a way for them to be much, much happier. Most of the time our encounters with people are discussion about how our religions are similar or we clear up some false things they've heard about the Church. The Spirit flows in and out of those conversations. 

I'm confident that if we keep trying and working hard, Heavenly Father will lead us to those who are ready to receive the gospel. 

Like the other day! We were looking for past investigator's in our area and we tracted into L. She is a really sweet twenty year-old who is attended some classes at college and is looking for a job. She hasn't seen missionaries since 2013. After talking to her for a while we found that she is looking for some purpose and direction in life. She's been picking up the Bible, but only attends church with her parents every now and then. She wanted to learn more about God' plan and the Church. She agreed to meet with us for a Church tour and a short lesson on Wednesday! Pray that she actually shows up! 

I got to meet the ward (Crestwood 2nd) at the Christmas party. Sister ward and I decide to match that day. They are a really big ward. In fact they remind me of Sunrise Ward in Puyallup. They're really nice and friendly. I like them a lot. 

The Bishop's name is Bishop Bednar. He is the friendliest and nicest person on this planet. His only facial expression is happiness. Oh, and his dad is Elder Bednar. Which is awesome! 

I got to give a talk on Sunday about building the kingdom of God. It was kind of a last minute preparation, but the Spirit took over which was awesome. 

A quarter of the ward is Hispanic so the Hermanas (Hermana Wilkinson and Hermana Jensen) translate during the meeting. It's pretty cool and the Hermanas are awesome. They're really nice and they eat at our place for lunch sometimes. 

The Elders in our ward are Elder Black and Elder Geary (he just recently left the Navy for his mission and he really looks like a military man). They're really nice. We went Living Christmas card caroling with them last night and we'll be going again tonight. 

The sleep schedule was difficult at first. Going to bed at 10:30 and waking up at 6:30 is a struggle, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. 

More news to come! I love you all! Keep us in your prayers! 

Love, 
Raye

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning

Once again it is P-Day. I have enjoyed immensely your letters and have treasured them up. I like to show all the Sisters your letters and they love hearing about you guys. I'm happy Thanksgiving was awesome for you all! Tell Josh and Emilee to quit it with the spoilers of Mockingjay, haha. 

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to sing in the MTC choir as an alto. It was an an amazing experience. We sand "Nearer My God To Thee" and it is now my favorite song. The best part was we got to sing for Elder Dallin H. Oaks when he came to speak for the devotional. He gave a great talk and I absolutely loved it. It's interesting how whenever he looked in my general direction he looked like he was staring into my soul, haha. 

Everything is still going great here at the MTC. I'm enjoying gym time. We play four square, basketball, and run laps around the upstairs track. It's helping me lose what I gained from all that chocolate milk, haha. I'm weaning myself off very slowly. The best part about here is that the showers always have hot water. 

Thanksgiving was awesome! I missed you all terribly, but managed to count my blessings and our district had a great time. We had a nice breakfast, but we quickly left so that we could be in the choir for the devotional. Unfortunately, we were too late to grab a seat so we sat on the chairs on the floor by the bleachers and listened quietly to them practice "Come Thou Fount". We were a little bummed, but then were asked to be ushers. After we did that we were given the seats in the second row right in front of Elder David A. Bednar! He gave such a great talk and the Spirit really touched me. (He's just as short as I imagined), After the devotional we had a service project in which we made casserole packets for the Utah Food Bank for children who need food on the weekends. It was super fun and they let us listen to pop LDS music. We then went to a Thanksgiving show thing in which we listened to music from missionaries and a few short talks. Lunch consisted of turkey slices, green beans, potatoes and gravy, rolls, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce. I miss the canned cranberry sauce from home ;). We then got to watch 'Meet the Mormons' which was an awesome movie! Please watch it. I loved it. 

Sister Cox and I have been called as Sister Training Leaders for the Zone. We've been working with Elder Peck and Ritchey (The Zone Leaders) in preparation for the new missionaries that are coming in on Wednesday and the foreign missionaries arriving tomorrow. We're so excited. I hope that we can work together to be great leaders for the Sisters.

We had a Skype chat with a member of the church earlier this week for a bit. Her name was Sister Finch and apparently she lives in Yakima and home teaches with Aunt Erin and has taught Cole in Seminary! Small world, huh? We had a great lesson and discussion with her. She is so sweet. 

Our temporary investigator, Will, finally accepted the commitment to pray and read the Book of Mormon. The only thing that softened his heart was the Atonement. He was a challenge because he only took the lessons because his Mormon friend said to try it out. The experience really strengthened my desire to place the Savior at the heart of every lesson, because He changes hearts. Not me. We are done teaching Will since Jordan will be back today. We're going to teach him the Plan of Salvation. More than anything I hope that the Spirit will be there. 

On Sunday we got to hear from Sister Sheri Dew in Relief Society. She is such a wonderful lady and has a spirit of fire when she bears her testimony. I don't know why she isn't married yet, but I know whoever the Lord has for her will be rockin'. Her talk was wonderful especially since it was on the Priesthood. She gave me greater knowledge and understanding about how it works and I'm glad I'm able to use it in my life. 

We also watched a talk by Elder Bednar called "Characters of Christ" and after that I felt like I needed a real change of heart. I'm trying to be less selfish every day and try to help my companion.

And now, things I'm thankful for: 

A Bed: There are mattresses here! I have two cuddly teddy bears, two blankets, and I'm always warm. 

Food: The food here is free and I'm never hungry. (Well, sometimes I miss breakfast because of gym time) There's always chocolate milk, ice cream, and jello. 

My Companion: She's a rough riding, farm-girl, tomboy, and my buddy. She is smart and has an amazing testimony of the gospel. She takes everyday in stride and never lets her disease get in the way. For everything that I lack she makes up tenfold.

My District: What a fun bunch! We are the best of friends and enjoy every minute we have in class and during doctrinal study. 

My Family: I love you!!! 

My Friends: And I love you!! 

The Gospel: Alma 26:35-37. Need I say more? 

Jesus Christ

The Atonement

The Restoration 

The Book of Mormon 

The Plan of Salvation

Heavenly Father 

The Holy Ghost 

The Bible 

The Love of God 

Missionaries 

Kentucky

My District President: President Gines! Woop! 

I could go on and on, but I am very grateful for everything that is happening in my life and on my mission. We leave December 8th for Kentucky and I'm nervous, but am so excited to get out there and bring the world His truth. I'm excited to fall in love with the people there. Sure it will be hard, but I'm planning on having an awesome time in the Lord's vineyard. Nothing would make me happier. 

All my love from the MTC, 

Raye