#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!)

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