It's Cold....Really Cold

So, I learned that Kentucky distills more barrels of bourbon than there are people who live here. Just to let you know, that's a lot. 

Shout-out to my awesome cousins, aunts, and uncles who sent me all those letters! I love you guys! Sorry, Kaden, I will not be home next Christmas. ;) 

We had to drop Do's baptismal date. After much prayer and pondering between Sister Ward and I we decided that she wouldn't be ready by the 17th and that was later proved to be right when we had a lesson with her late last week. She has been researching anti-Mormon material and is constantly coming across excuses for not believing that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Our latest discussion was on polygamy in church history which went really well. Earlier that week I had felt impressed to study the subject on lds.org and I learned a lot. Basically, I came to the conclusion that, as Elder Bednar put it, that studying church history should be faith affirming and no faith destroying. When you study church history you have to study it a lot and thoroughly. Also, you need to read the Book of Mormon a the same time. We're hoping that Do is actually keeping her reading commitments and is actually praying to know if the church is true...which she hasn't been doing. She wants to know the church is true, but won't really do the things that would give her knowledge. Do you see the problem here? We had a lesson during Zone Meeting about how and when to drop investigators. We would hate to drop Do, but there is nothing we can do for her unless she prays, reads, and goes to church. 

Prim still loves me. Sister Ward offered Prim a peace offering of a yogurt lid this morning. We'll see how that turns out.

This week was really, really, really rough. It was, with wind chill, -15 degrees on Tuesday and only reached above 20 degrees on Sunday which was splendid. It...is...COLD. Luckily, my jacket is awesome. We have hardly found any investigators and we prayed desperately for a miracle. Yesterday, we decided to go to the apartments at Cross Keys and search for some former investigators and potentials that were in our Area Book. As we were looking we heard the voices of a mom and her kids through one of the apartment doors. So, Sister Ward got this excited look in her eyes and said, "Knock on that door!" I knocked and there was no answer for a good thirty seconds. So, we knocked again and this little old grandma opened the door. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could say a prayer with her and her family. She let us in and introduced us to her grand-kids who she was babysitting. They were ages 11, 7, and 5 and they were absolutely adorable. We talked to the grandma, B, for a while and we learned that their dad was deployed and their mom worked at the Kroger grocery market. They don't have any religion that they are apart of and are looking for a good church to join. Aaah! So, we left our card with our number on it and we're coming back on Tuesday when the mom, Mary, is home from work. God lives, the church is true, and miracles do happen. 

It is absolutely beautiful here in Kentucky. The sunsets are unbeatable. The trees are so bare and there are no mountains or hills that you can see everything and the colors would blow you away. The small country roads are my favorite, because we pass these beautiful horse farms and tunnels of trees. It's really fun. Sister Ward and I are planning on tracting through a neighborhood that has giant houses. Like HUGE houses. We about peed ourselves looking at them. 

On an unrelated note, I got two doors slammed in my face. That was fun. 

Hermana Jensen and I joined the Laurels class yesterday at church. It was Young Women's alright. I felt so old. It's kind of weird that even though some of them were a year younger than I am I still felt a lot older. To all the young women in my family, leave your phone at home and don't let your skirts become higher than your standards. ;) 

Sister Ward told me that every time I drop my scriptures my husband will gain five pounds. Dear Future Husband, I am sorry for those ten pounds. Hopefully, my prayers will make up for it. 

I am getting better at leading out the lessons. I hate role plays, but I am grateful for them. 

The Church is true, the book is blue, and Jesus loves you. 

All my love in the world, 

Raye

#Blessings

So, we have this dog. Well, we don't really own the dog it belongs to Sister Gosnell. Her name is Prim and she's a black lab, shepherd, and terrier mix. And she hates Sister Ward. Well, she's scared of every living creature that steps foot in her house. Sister Gosnell had hopes that her puppy would be a good guard dog, but Prim has a tendency to bark while running downstairs to hide under the bed. The best part is that Prim absolutely loves me. I'm usually the first one to walk in the door and there's Prim wagging her tail and happy to see me and then Sister Ward walks in. That's when her ears go back and she curls up on the couch in a fetal position, haha. It doesn't help that Sister Ward absolutely smothers her. Prim will warm up to her eventually. But, Prim is a little nuisance sometimes. We have to make sure our doors are securely closed before we leave otherwise she will claim the floor as her potty space and will find Sister Ward's shoes to chew on. She doesn't chew my shoes, but carries them to the couch where she curls up with them. She's a wierdo. So, yeah, that's an adventure. 

Da (recent convert) says my spirit animal is a mouse. He called me fragile. And everyone agrees.

Also, Sister Ward figured out that I talk in my sleep. Last night she said that I would call out her name and tell her we had to leave. I would also yell and say many more things that kept her awake at 3 am. Just for an hour and then he wierdness stopped. Luckily, I woke myself up and went to the bathroom. At which point she followed me to make sure I didn't walk out of the house. I am not proud of this. No sugar for me before bed again. 

This week we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I think the days leading up to that were the most stressful. Luckily, Sister Goodrich was very nice and super awesome. Sister Ward went to Louisville with Sister Bradley (who's a world gymnastic champion who gave up her chance to go the Olympics for a mission. She's uber awesome). I stayed in my area and had to plan everything-by-myself. Ah! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

Sister Goodrich told me that she had received a prompting that she was supposed to be with me for that day. She told me that she knew we were supposed to be together for a purpose which she didn't know yet. At the end of the day I knew why. She was great support for me and taught me so many things about being a missionary. She truly cared about the people we talked to and had a Christ-like love that I really want to achieve. I don't know if she learned anything from me, but I had a great experience. 

We went and visited A (the recent convert who's brother is Papa John) which was really great because she's an awesome lady who's very headstrong and fun to be around. She also has this cat named Leppy. Leppy is on a very high spiritual level. Ok, yes, you can laugh for a bit. But seriously. Whenever the missionaries come over Leppy all of a sudden starts looking at walls, freaks out, and runs all over the place as if she's playing with someone. She only does this when we are there. She's even more extreme when someone who was very close to that missionary had died. Elder Geary has had that experience with that cat. It happened again with Sister Goodrich. During our lesson with Anne, Leppy started to play with 'someone'. Turns out her grandpa who was really close to her had died recently. Insert mystery music. Dooweeooo. 

Do canceled our lesson with her that day which really upset me. A lot. Lately, because of stress and emotional distraught she has been getting headaches which cause her to cancel most of our lessons with her. Which is a blessing in disguise because she feels like she needs to pray more earnestly for strength. So...Sister Goodrich got the impression that we should visit Do anyway. And we did. Do was still feeling a little sick, but was alert enough to talk with us. It went really well, because of Sister Goodrich. She was very in tune with what Do needed and we were able to lift her spirits and help her feel like she was special. 

Overall, I think I like exchanges. But, I really missed Sister Ward. 

I can't think of how much I am grateful for her. She has helped me grow in many ways. We're even starting to teach the lessons together. The best part about her is that she purposely lets me fail so I can learn. And have I learned! I think that is brilliant because that's how our Heavenly Father works. He purposefully lets us fail so that we can learn how to pick ourselves back up again and become stronger. 

We are becoming really close friends which is awesome. You know what else is awesome? I officially hit my one month mark on the 8th. Woo! Ok, I'm not writing this because it's a countdown to when I'm home, but, as my best friend put it, it reminds me of how little time I have and how quickly it goes away. 

Our ward starts at 1:00 pm this year, so more people we invite want to come now. Blessings! 

I'm getting much better at talking to people and leading out lessons. Granted, there's a lot I need to improve on, but I'm getting better. It's only week 5 of my 12 week training. I can do it. 

Okay, so my feelings on member present lessons. They're great...sometimes. Members give great insights and experiences that really bring in the spirit, but sometimes they make the lesson go way off topic and that confuses our investigators. We had Do over at Brother and Sister Bu’s home, which was...interesting. They are great friends of hers, but the lesson went all over the place and confused her so much. Ugh. At one point Sister Ward and I turned to each other while Brother Bu was talking and weakly smiled at each other. It was a mess to say the least. Luckily, the Spirit kicked in. The best part was that when I asked Do what she expected to feel when she knew if the church was true her answer was the same as what she felt when she prayed, watched talks, and read the scriptures. We know that she knows. And we were able to bring it back and answer her questions. the bottom line was that she didn't understand the need for prophets. 

So, our next lesson we taught about the Restoration all over again. Which went great. So great!! A came to the church with us and was a huge help and testator of the gospel. At this point we know Do is ready to be baptized, but we needed to know what we could do to help her know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today, and that they are called of God. 

Suddenly, she opened up and started asking the questions that she had held back because she thought that they would offend us and we wouldn't see her anymore. She told us that the twelve apostles and the prophet today would fall because they do it for money and ego. She concluded that that is what happens to every famous clergy. 

As soon as we told her that nobody in this church gets paid to be in leadership positions, do missionary work, or to be the prophet something just clicked. It was then that she knew that only someone who was called of God would serve without seeing a single dime for their work. 

So...Do wants to get baptized on the 17th!! Woo!! We're going to keep working with her on her Book of Mormon reading and making sure that she feels ready to enter into that promise with God and receive those blessings. She is such a sweetheart and a blessing. She truly is special even though she doesn't feel like it sometimes. I would be saying this even if I wasn't a missionary. But I know that her decision will bring enormous blessings for her now and in the future.  Do is making those steps to become closer to Christ. We didn't do anything, but she knew by the Holy Ghost that these things were true. 

I have decided that I really don't like fast food. Give me the poor missionary cereal box. I have found that people around here really like to make Taco Soup. We went to Ch's home (recent convert) for dinner and she made the best version of it EVER. She gave me the recipe. Squee! 

Anyways, that's my week! I love you all! You're in my prayers every day. 

The Church is True, the Book is blue, and Jesus loves you. 

Love, 

Raye

I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ - 3 Nephi 3:15

Christmas was awesome! I loved talking with my family!! You all rock! I never really realized how much I missed you all until our conversation time was up. 

We had Christmas dinner with the Deshler's which was very delicious and then we watched church movies the rest of the day. We can't proselyte on Christmas which kind of sucks. Who doesn't want to hear about Jesus on Christmas? Y'all crazy. 

Thank you Chamberlain family for the present! I loved it! Thanks for all the Emergen-C, now I will never get sick ;) Thank you Grandma Loretta for my Christmas jammies! I'll send a picture soon! Also, thank you for the Pringles. I love you. 

By the way most everyone has called me Sister French by now. Are you from France? Oui oui! Oh, the jokes never get old. 

So, I'm just going to let this out right now because it's so darn exciting. 

This Sunday Sister Ward and I were extremely encouraged to get our investigators and recent converts to church on Sunday. (We usually do, but we were a little more panicked this time). Remember how I said that Bishop Bednar was the son of Elder Bednar? Well...guess who came to church? 

Almost all of our recent converts were there and our investigator D. Elder Bednar and his wife both spoke during sacrament meeting. It was amazing and very powerful. 

In the second hour Elder Bednar had a private question and answer session with them. It was kind of funny that most of them didn't understand completely the gravity of the fact that an Apostle of Jesus Christ was in our Relief Society room. The missionaries sat in the back or by their investigators. He talked about the importance of the temple, making covenants with our Heavenly Father, being sealed to our families, and doing the work for our ancestors. It was great because that was exactly what all of them needed to hear to progress and become closer to Christ. 

This is how my conversation with an Apostle went: 

"Sister France, where are you from?" 

"Uh, Washington State." 

"What part?" 

"Puyallup." 

*Nods is head, but I don't think he knows where that is* 

*Bishop Bednar pipes up from the back* "Sister France was actually at the MTC on Thanksgiving when you were there."

"You were here for the Q and A?" 

"Yes." 

"And you're still in the Church, wow." 

*We laugh*

It was the greatest, most awkward, and funniest moment of my life. 

After the second hour the Relief Society, Priesthood, and youth all came into the chapel for a Q and A. He preferred that the youth asked the most questions because they ask better questions than adults do. Which I kind of agree with. The youth were very sincere in their questions and the best part was that Elder Bednar didn't just talk at them, but involved them so that they could receive their own personal testimony. 

After that, our investigator D still had questions but was afraid to ask them during the second hour. So, Sister Ward went to Elder Bednar and asked him to have a personal chat with D. And he did. He stood about two feet from us and answered her questions perfectly. Which makes sense because he's an Apostle. It was so great to see her understand and something just clicked with her. Last night we challenged her to personally gain a witness hat Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. She's committed and I feel that if she did get on her knees last night that she did receive a witness. 

Before he left I got to shake Elder Bednar's hand. He gives great firm handshakes. He looked right into my eyes and sincerely shook my hand. It was awesome. D got to talk with Sister Bednar for a bit which was amazing because all of her attention was on D. It made her feel really special. 

Also, Elder Bednar wears a trench coat. Thus, proving that they are cool. 

And now, a few things that I learned yesterday; 

·  Boy brains and girl brains are from two entirely different solar systems. If a girl cries and the boy asks, "What's wrong?" and she says, "I don't know," don't argue with her. Girls don't need a reason to cry. Just give her a hug. - Elder Bednar. 
Believe it or not I have learned a thing or two about marriage on my mission. In any companionship it is all about the other person. It isn't about you. I have found that the happiest moments I've had with my mission companion is when she's happy. Repentance literally means to turn away from yourself to Christ. Sin is very selfish. As we turn to Christ our priorities also turn away from ourselves. Have personal study everyday. Then, have companionship study. Have companionship prayer every morning and every night. Pray for your spouse out loud in front of them. Have companionship inventory every week or everyday. Ask each other how they are feeling. What's their strengths? What's their weaknesses? How can you help? 

·  Sister Ward is the best companion I could ask for. I expressed my feelings of discouragement and of not being good enough. I'm nervous when I talk to people. She changed everything for me after that with just a short bit of counseling. I now know that I can do it. I am supposed to be here. I don't have to be discouraged because I know that someday they'll accept the one true gospel. I am trying and that is enough. I can be better, but I am trying. 

I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is a true testimony that Jesus is the Christ. You haven't read it recently? Do it. Pray about it. After every page ask yourself, "Could Joseph Smith, a young man with a second grade education, write this?". No one on this planet could write a book like that in 90 days, be examined by educated people and everywhere, and find no fault in it. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the keys of the priesthood have been restored and thy are held by prophets and apostles today. Te atonement works. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and I will bear witness that this is His only true and living Church today. I have learned this for myself. And I will never deny the Christ. 

I hope everyone as an awesome New Year's. 2014 is almost over. Make 2015 a good one! I'll be going to bed at 10:30 on New Year's Eve so celebrate for me! 

I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Raye

(Mommy could you make sue everyone at at Grandma's reads this today? Also, Jeal, no boys. Boys are gross. No dating either. Else I will return home with a vengeance upon every boy who looks at you. Adam- I'm following the three steps! I'm having a great time! Thanks!) 

(I love you Mommy and Daddy! I'm sorry for being a punk and being a stupid head in high school. You were right about everything! I love you so much and miss you!)