Miracles Never Cease – February 2, 2015

Guess what day it is? Monday! Yo Holla! 

So, the temple was the best EVER! Our entire Zone got to go to help us with our mission of 'shepherding God's children to the temple'. As you've probably figured out, my mission is very stressful and crazy. As soon as I walked through the second set of doors into that little, but beautiful temple I felt a huge wave of the Spirit. It was almost like all my worries and problems were being physically pulled out of me. It was the greatest experience of my life. 

I am still experiencing withdrawals. The temple is the greatest place on earth! Ah! I'm going to go there at least twice a week when I return to 'real life', haha. 

I heard about the Seahawks! Gosh darn it! It's okay, we're on God's team. Go Hell-Shakers! 

Thank you so much for keeping the K family in your prayers! It just goes to show that Heavenly Father will help us if we ask in faith and it's his will. 

We had a lesson with them last night. When V walked down the stairs he seemed like a happier person. The priesthood blessing he received definitely helped him in some form. Whether spiritually or physically we don't know, but he is seeing the difference. In fact, when he was talking about how much he loved our support and care for his family he started to tear up. Now, V is very quiet and shy so, seeing these emotions in him was really touching. We had a lesson on faith and how it can strengthen us. We read Moroni 7 with them and really focused on how miracles never cease and asked them to share their experiences on miracles in their lives. For some reason we felt prompted to talk about how Heavenly Father wants us to live with our families forever and that he is able to make that happen. When we asked K and V if that is something that thy would want, K began to cry. We then invited them to be baptized so they can have that miracle in their lives. They thought about it for a minute and then said yes. Ah! We're going to help them prepare for March 14th as their baptismal date. V starts chemo therapy tomorrow and will be doing that every week for three months. He was very nervous about being physically able to be baptized in March, but we promised him that if he had faith that Heavenly Father will strengthen him. And by golly gee whiz God helps His children whenever they need Him. 

Oh my flip! Sam, that car was awesome! I about died laughing from seeing Josh and envisioning the caption! "Punch me Guido!" Haha! You rock! How's the musical going, Josh? How's life? 

Daddy! Thank you for the e-mail! I sent it to Sister Ward and she thinks you're the coolest guy ever. I don't know why she thinks that ;) B is about 40 yeas old and is recently divorced. He has one daughter who is about 16 or 15. He's been a jailer for a really long time. Not sure how long, but I just know he's been doing it for a while. A lot of the stories he shares he usually laughs with Brother Button about since they work so closely together, but I can see the stress from and anger that he has for these prisoners and people they bring in. He really tries to control his emotions and stay calm when he deals angry nutcases. We've talked to Brother Button on how to open up B and really the only conclusion we came to was to help him feel safe around us. Thank you so much for the advice! It is going to help us so much! Like, seriously, I loved it. We are meeting with him on Thursday so that'll give Sister Ward and I plenty of time to pray and ponder on what we should do. I love you! 

D is doing great! She is really moving forward toward her baptism. She is reading her Book of Mormon everyday and even though she is having migraines she gets to church and she doesn't feel them for the rest of the day. Satan is being a brat to her though and she knows it. She prays every day for strength to make it. Her date and baptism time are in the Relief Society newsletter and everyone's super excited for her. 

Not so sure about J. He might not be taking this seriously, but we're going to try again to have another lesson with him. We stopped by the other day to see how his reading is going and he said, "I'm in the very early stages." That means he hasn't read it. So, we'll see how it goes from there, 

Man, I wish I could read more books, but I have no time to do much of anything, haha. There's this really good book you should try. It's called Man's Meaning or something like that. It's by a Jewish man who found happiness and purpose in life while he was in a concentration camp. Brother Simpson says it's one of the greatest books ever written. 

I have no idea where that dress is. Honestly, I though we packed it away...I can't think of anybody hat might have borrowed it. Is Emilee going to wear it? Gah! 

We went to a ranch as a service project on Friday. It was really fun! It was me, Sister Ward, Hermana Jensen, Hermana Wilkinson, Elder Gould, Elder Jensen, Elder Seymour, and Elder Black. The Elders got to clean out the chicken poop from the empty coop and it was a big coop. I do not envy them, haha. Chicken poop is the worst. The rest of us got to muck the horse stalls and because Hermana Jensen and I have horse experience we got to groom a Tennessee Walker named Sky. She was the calmest horse, but she was always spooked by the barn cats who were running everywhere. Sky was so muddy and dirty, that we worked on her for about an hour. It was a highlight of my week. I'm just upset that we're not allowed to ride the horses. Mission rules...meh, haha. Don't worry. I'm obedient. :) 

I finally finished getting your Christmas/birthday/Valentines presents! Gosh! (64.12) So, I have Sam's and Josh's birthday presents in there, plus stuff for all y'all. Get excited! Sending it today! By the way, I can't handle any more candy. I am gaining weight out here. Like, a lot! I am nervous about fitting into my maroon skirt it's that bad. I am able to fit into my jeans, but I really want to be able to keep buttoning them. You know what I mean? 

I tried this new hairstyle. Everyone at church thought it was really cute. Made me feel good. :) 

So, I have major confidence issues. Well, I did. I'm working on it. I felt like my progression to be a confident and great missionary was going so slow and that I wasn't reaching a certain standard. I felt like Sister Ward was the best and if I didn't teach like her then I wasn't getting better. Well, we kind of had a little 'come to Jesus' talk. She told me how proud she was and that she was sorry if I was stressed out because of her expectations. She told me that she sees so much potential in me that she can see that I can hit that level every time and that even the AP's took almost two years to become who they are now. My mission is all about 'becoming' and not 'being'. In fact, my whole life is going to be that way until I am who Heavenly Father knew I could become. She then asked me if I would like a blessing from the Elders after church yesterday and I said yes. I need all the help I can get. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting anything great from that blessing, but when Elder Seymour and Elder Black placed their hands on my head I had this familiar feeling. As Elder Seymour started the blessing he emphasized that it was from my Heavenly Father and I felt that overwhelming sense of peace that I had when I received my patriarchal blessing. I managed to write down a summary of what was said: 

-Heavenly Father is proud of you and knows that this is the right choice even though it wasn't easy. Diligently remember the sacred calling that you have. You have divine potential and are here to work miracles. You have the greatest authority on earth and have the power to summon angels. You will be bold and have confidence. You'll be able to leave feelings of home behind. As you study your scriptures and pray more earnestly you'll see the great strength that you have.- 

I feel great and am so grateful that those young men were so worthy to have that priesthood power. I feel calm and ready to preach the gospel. I know it won't happen all at once, but now I know that I am becoming. And I know that God is there to help me. 

I love you all and am so happy you're going to send me letters! Gah! I love mail. Here's the mail it never fails! It makes me want to wag my tail! When it comes I wanna wail, "MAIL TIME!" 

Aww, I don't want to stop typing, but I have no more fun stories...poo. 

I love y'all so much and miss you! 

The Church is True, the Book is Blue, and Jesus loves you! 

Forever and ever and ever and ever! 

Raye FRANCE not FRENCH :) 

I Only Design Thy Dross to Consume and Thy Gold to Refine – January 27, 2015

So, reason I am writing on a Tuesday again...Today we get to go to the temple!! Aah! I'm so excited. I borrowed a dress from one of the members of our ward. Yay! So, I will not have time to find a present today, but I will next P-Day. Also, expect my next e-mail to come on a Tuesday, because the library will be closed for President's Day.

I am doing rather well. My confidence is growing a lot. I think it's because I'm starting to understand how important my message is. I know that sounds silly. I should already know how important it is, but I wasn't very excited about it. Now that I'm getting more excited I'm not so nervous to talk to people. I'm sill scared to approach people by myself, but as soon as I get going the words just come. It also helps to look at them and see them as a child of God. Then I start to feel love for them and it makes approaching them easier. The worst they can do is say no, right? 

I'm trying to be an adult I guess. I wanted to be the best missionary now and that really weighed me own a lot. I thought that if I just prayed and toughed it out everything would turn out okay. Right now I'm just taking it day by day and trying to get better. I'm really okay. My mission is fun. I love it. But they weren't lying when they said it was going to be hard. 

Alright, onto happy story time! Haha :) 

I realized that I haven't talked much about the K family. They are from India and their names are V K, K K, and V. I forgot his last name, but he's they're son. I think he's either eight of seven. They are wonderful and very fun. V is very smart and has lots of opinions, haha. K K and V K were married in India after the custom arranged marriage practice. They got to meet each other and K had the option to say no, but she liked him.:) They moved here in 2006 I think because V got a job working for Humana.Their family is going through a really hard time right now. V has stomach cancer and he is very close to it being terminal. Recently it has spread to his liver. K is being very strong, but is still saddened by it. She finds strength in our visits, but we rarely get to have actual lessons with them because V is always in pain or sick when we can come. It hurts my heart because I love them so much and the gospel would really help them be comforted and strengthened. Brother Lindman and Brother Simpson gave V a priesthood blessing on Sunday. We weren't able to attend, because of a fireside that we took Donna to. Brother Lindman said it went very well, so we're going to call or see the K's and see how they felt about it. They're in my prayers all the time and I hope that everything works out. 

We had another lesson with B last week. We read the Book of Mormon with him and he seemed to like it. He still hates questions and we can't seem to get him out of his shell. Dad, how do you unlock a cop? 

Ok, really cool story! We have a new investigator named, J and he is a dad of four kids and his wife's name is P. She's kind of scared of us and didn't attend the lesson. That'll change though, muahaha. We taught the Restoration and he was awesome! After we recounted the First Vision we asked him how he felt. He said that it made total sense and that if Moses could see a burning bush why couldn't Joseph Smith see God and Christ? 

Wait...say what? Did you really just say that?! Because that's what we thought too! 

We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he wanted to read the whole thing in one month. We invited him to be baptized and he said, "Yeah, if I read this and know it's true it's just logical right?" 

Oh...my....goodness!! Ahh! We have yet to schedule another appointment with him, but we can't wait! We're hoping to get his whole family involved and we hope to gt them all to church. 

Speaking of baptism...drumroll please....D wants to be baptized on Valentine's Day! When we asked her yesterday if she would be baptized on that date she started crying and said that was perfect. Woo! You were right about leading a horse to water. Sometimes I felt that we were dragging her to the font and now she's actually pushing herself to be there. Sunday was probably the best day for her. She keeps getting these migraines and wasn't going to come to church. So, we called her and said that if she came to church, her migraine would go away. She showed up to sacrament meeting and she didn't get a headache all day long. :) All the talks that day even applied exactly to her and she felt like her prayers were being answered. 

We took her to the Mission Home Fireside which was awesome. It was just a testimony meeting for recent converts and investigators. The Scott's were there and D sat by them. The fireside was beautiful and was great because D could talk to them afterward and it just strengthened her so much. all the testimonies were great. But there was one investigator who showed up really high. His testimony was....well....interesting, bless his heart. He was Sister Griffith's investigator. She was sweating bullets when he was up on the stand. 

Other than that it was great! 

After the fireside I got to talk to a deaf investigator. My signing sucks big time, but I was able to get to know her a bit. It was fun. :) 

Oh, Sister Ward and I almost died yesterday. So we were tracting and we starting walking toward this house that was really scary looking, but it was no big deal. Then, I saw this sign that said 'Protected by Invisible Fence' and I thought nothing of it. I thought that maybe there was just a lab or something walking around so I ventured forth. But...Sister Ward stopped dead in her tracks. On her mission she had been bit by a dog and she might have slight PTSD, but as soon as she heard a dog bark she yelled, "Sister!" I turned and saw two enormous hounds barreling toward us. They were going to kill us. I swear. The Spirit said run. I don't think I have ever sprinted that fast in my entire life. 

We made it outside the invisible fence and died from laughter. Sister Ward almost peed her pants. We hope nobody saw that. 

Sister Ward is great!  We get along very well. We never fight or get openly irritated at each other. She is a great companion and friend. I love her. :) 

By the way, my name is Sister French by half the people in the ward. I now respond to it. Someone gave me a french Book of Mormon. I'm learning how to read it. ;) 

I miss you all a ton!! The Gathering Post was the best thing ever!! My day was made. I just loved reading it over and over again. It looks like you're putting pictures up in the house. Exciting! Mom, I hope that my drawing of you gets placed somewhere! 
Mom, you are not getting fat. You look great! Hotty train! Woo woo! 

Thanks for the quote Emilee. :) I loved it! 

Josh...yo....where's my e-mail from you, dude?! Geez louise! 

You know, out here I see a lot of dysfunctional families. Thank you Mommy and Daddy for loving us and teaching us. My family is the best family ever! We are so freaking blessed even though we have Emilee. JK! JK! Haha! But seriously, I love you all and miss you. Don't be afraid to send me letters. I love mail in the middle of the week. :) 

I love you and miss you terribly! 

Forever and always, 

To the moon and back, 

Your favorite oldest daughter, 

Raye!

PS: More pictures to come!

He is my King and my Father. I am His daughter. - January 20, 2015

Yay! Tuesday! I'm glad that we get to e-mail today, because it makes me feel a little less guilty about absolutely loving that nap I took instead. 

So, last Monday I cried in front of my companion for the first time. Actually, it was my first time crying at all since I've been out. The weight of everything just came crashing down. I have been struggling so much with making decisions and teaching right and recognizing the Spirit and just feeling good enough. During companion study I was just feeling useless and during the long silence after Sister Ward had asked me what was wrong I lost it. It felt good though. Definitely relieved the stress. But, I guess this whole time I hadn't been really using Sister Ward to help me with my struggles. I guess I thought I needed to tough it out. She held me when I cried and when I stopped she comforted me and said things that I don't remember, but something clicked and I have felt more confident this week than I have the whole time I've been out. 

So, Brother Button called us that day at 11:00 in the morning and told us about his friend B and that he wanted to learn more about the church. Brother Button told us that we were meeting with him that night at 7:00. We didn't argue with him. Partially because he's the county Sheriff. B came across someone who was teaching about some Mormon stuff and because Brother Button is a member an they work together he asked him about it. B. Button said that he would love to talk about it and would invite some special friends to come teach him about our beliefs. B very adamantly pointed out that he did not want to be converted, but we were excited to come anyway.  

Sister Ward had me practice How to Begin Teaching about 50,000 times which was great because I'm kind of good at it now. :) Then, we role played the Restoration using the pamphlet about a hundred times. My confidence definitely boosted, but I was nervous since this was my first time teaching the first lesson to someone who's never heard the gospel before. 

Brother Button was the best thing we could have had there. B works at the jail and is hard as a rock and is about as open as a sealed book. But, with Brother Button there he opened up just a little and the Spirit was so there! We taught the entire Restoration with the pamphlet and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was the best lesson I have ever been in. Brian even wants us to come back so he can learn more. 

Let me just tell you that Brother Button is the best member missionary in the ward. He touches all the people that he works with in some way, shape, or form. There's even this one guy named R who may be interested. We love member missionaries. I don't think people realize how much we need members to share the gospel. It is essential. Knocking doors is not the best way to find those who are ready. 

My confidence in teaching is definitely boosted. I take part in the lessons more and I'm even approaching total strangers by myself without blinking. Heavenly Father knew what I needed that day. I'm not all the way there. but I'm growing. 

Funny story time! 

So, we tracted into the last home at the end of the street into this cute woman, J, and her daughter, C. She wanted us to pray with her whole family there and said for us to come back. We came back at the appointed time, but no one answered. 

As I was looking through our former investigator teaching records I actually found them and was really curious as to why they were dropped. The previous Sisters wrote: 

We went back to pray with them and we found a little note on the door explaining that she was lesbian and wasn't ready to change at the moment Try back! 

So, being the persistent missionaries that we are and thinking that maybe it was a joke to get us to go away we went back...and J's partner slammed the door in our face. It was hilarious, but sad...but still funny. 

Funny story number two! We went to Walgreens yesterday to see if they had any instant printing for pictures. Sister Ward needed to print some for her planner cover. We went in and asked and the lady called the manager to help us. We stood around for a bit and when she showed up we asked about it again. She gave us this puzzled look and said, "She called me up to help you with that?" Confused, we watched her walk down an isle. She beckoned to us and we followed. Then she showed us where the instant pudding was. It was so hard to not laugh as she showed us our options. Needless to say, we went to CVS for our pictures. 

We haven't been able to see the K family for three weeks now. V has stomach cancer and doesn't feel well all the time. We really hope that he gets better. Kh (his wife) has really been struggling through it all. 

D has been slow and steady. She's at the high point in her cycle,but is starting to hit the downward slope. We had a great lesson with her on Sunday with N (she's leaving on a mission in two years). It was great and the Spirit was there. Everything that D needed to hear was said. She even voiced that it was exactly what she needed. We commited her to pray about a baptism date. Then, yesterday she called us before our lesson to tell us about her headache...she has those a lot. It's weird how they happen only on days we want to meet with her for a follow up. She still has the ache today, but we're hoping she takes some Tylonol and a nap. Slow and steady. Patience, patience, patience. 

The weather has gotten a lot warmer! The sun has been shining all week and it might do the same this week. It has brought a lot of people out of their homes and into the great outdoors where we are. Haha! 

We met this one wonderful woman named M. She is awesome. She loved talking to us. We probably stood there for a good 45 minutes. M talked all about her life. Her daughter died in a car accident when she was 15 years old and her husband is completely paralyzed from being hit by two semi-trucks. We talked to her about how the message that we have has strengthened our families. I even shared about my awesome brothers. Yeah, you. Josh and Sam. :) She was really intrigued, but was too busy to set up a return appointment with us. She said to try her in the Spring. Well...guess who's going to be here in the Spring? Also, she had a beautiful Great Dane. I loved him. I want one someday, maybe. 

Yesterday was the best member dinner appointment I've ever been to. The F family is young and cute. I played 'Cars' with their youngest son, Da. He is adorable. H is the next Taylor Swift and D knows girls have cooties. Except for mom. When it was time to eat thy realized that the food was completely burned. So, Brother F started the car so he could go get pizza. The car didn't start. So, we drove into the garage and jump started it. We played basketball with the kids until he came back with the pizza. Da insisted that we sit on either side of him. 

He turned to me in the middle of the meal and said, "Do you have a baby?"  

"Nope." 

"Oh," and then he turned to Sister Ward. "Are you a Mommy?" 

"No, I'm a missionary." 

"Oh..." 

"Plus, I need a Daddy to be a Mommy." 

Da quickly turns to face her, "Why?" 

I almost choked on my pizza and died. 

Elder Geary left to Indian trails and our District Leader, Elder Wallace, got promoted to Zone Leader somewhere else. Elder Seal went home. I survived my first Transfer! Woo! Our new District leader is Elder Russel. 

Anyways, that's my week! 

Love,

Raye 

Pictures: 

1- My first District! Left to right: Elder Seal, Elder Geary, Elder Jacobson, Elder Hardy, Elder Black, Elder Wallace, Hermana Jensen, Hermana Wilkinsen, Sister Ward, and me.

 

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