12-23-13

Hola Familia!

Merry Christmas! And Happy Birthday Lisa! I hope you are all having a great week. This past week has been a little crazy, we had transfers and Hermanan Heninger went up to Cashmere, WA and i have a new companion. Her name is Hermana Pullens from Sandy, UT. She is great and we are having a great time here preaching the gospel and sharing with people why we have this wonderful Christmas season.

This week we had some good lessons and we still have some people who are working towards baptism. It is exciting to see people want to make that change in their lives. One really cool one was with a lady named Guadalupe. She was really shy at first and we couldn't get her to say much, but towards the end we were talking about the experience of Joseph Smith and talking about knowing for yourself and she asked us how she could know. Then we got to teach her that pray was a 2 way communication and that God would listen to her prayers. She had never really heard that before and then she prayed with us. it was so awesome!!!

Other than that we are busy finding and teaching!! Sorry this email is so short, but i will be talking to some of you very soon. I love you all and hope you take the time to read more about Jesus this week and start the year off and decide to learn of him everyday by opening your scriptures. It is unbelievable how close we can get to Christ when we are learning of him!

To close i am going to share the word of I Heard the Bells on Christmas day. The message it brings is so awesome.

Although it may seem like there is no peace on this Earth sometimes and that hate has overtaken us. Verse 4 is my favorite and that is why we are out hear as misionaries. To share the message that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep:" and i know that indeed the wrong shall fail, the right prevail through Jesus Christ our Savior. Have a great week everyone!

Hermana Ray

12-16-13

Hola Familia!

Sounds like all is going well in Arizona. Mom I am glad you finally conquered the Christmas tree, because it isn't Christmas without one. Our house currently has three up. And I get to stay in Royal for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am super excited, but sad because Hermana Heninger is getting transfered. She is Heading up to Cashmere Valley, WA. It is up North, i don't think she will have to worry of having a white Christmas. But oh well, it will still be fun. I will just have to spend it with my new companion and I have a week to make Royal feel like home before Christmas. Challenge accepted.

Overall we have had a really good week, no complaints. Had many of the people we are teaching are continuing to grow and learn and accept. As we continue forward i have no doubt that they will accept the gospel, now i am just working on the Lord's time table.

As a missionary, Christmas time is an interesting thing. We spend so much time focused on Christ that it feels very similar to normal time, yet everyone else too is more focused on Christ. That part isn't quite as normal. It is amazing to see the change in people just because it is Christmas. One family we were visiting said he wished that people had the spirit of giving year round rather than on Christmas. Yes that is our ultimate goal, that Christ like love and Charity, but every little spark of that helps.

We had our Christmas Conference and it was filled with fun! We had some great musical numbers that helped us feel the spirit of Christmas. One that hit me, was an Elder sang "O Holy Night" and besides the fact that i was sitting in a church building in church clothes, it was like a Sunday night at Grandma's house around the Holidays. We had good spiritual uplift in some of the stories and then music and of course later some fun. They told a story about the importance of teaching children the true meaning of Christmas and then related that to us as missionaries teaching God's children the importance of Christ. It was so interesting how it applied to us. I want nothing more than everyone to understand the true meaning of Christmas, he was born that we could live! Even his birth was for us. Not a single part of his life was selfish. After the devotional we watched a picture slide show from the mission and then they fed us some "Christmas Dinner" it was sooo good. Then, we watched "Monsters University" it was really weird! but fun. I thought it was a pretty good second movie. Then for Christmas we all got a big picture from when Elder Ballard came to the mission. I forgot to take a picture to send. maybe next time. And a book. Never have I been so excited to get a book for christmas! The real story is this picture...

12-9-13

Hola Familia!

It has been a pretty fantastic week here in Royal City! The people we are teaching are truly starting to let the message sink deep into their hearts and open their minds. It has been really cool. I also want to thank mom and Aubree Swann for finding Jannae a truly delightful going away outfit, i will enjoy pictures :)

It is definitely Christmas time, people are starting to put up lights, Doreen got her Christmas tree put up, and I have to listen to Christmas music in the car because it is the only thing that justifies the cold weather in my brain. I discovered fleece lined tights and i am in heaven!

Overall it has been a really good week! The people here in Royal City are truly fantastic! The missionary work is doing really well, they are a very involved group and it is just fun, it is a small town and they all care about each other.

This week, Hermana Heninger and I literally got thanked for all that we were doing for one of our investigators families. The husband came out and said that he was really thankful for what he has been doing. It was pretty cool, because this theme of gratitude carried on after Thanksgiving. Now if I even have the thought, am I making a difference i can look and see the face of Owen, Beatrice, Wendy, or Beverly and really see that God is watching out for each and every one of us. 

One really cool lesson we had this week was talking to Beverly. She is very concerned with where the World is headed and all the evil happening. As we were talking about it, we had asked her if she ever thought of praying for them. that was like a week ago, we went back and asked her if she had been praying for them, she said that she had and at that point she said you know what i have and i it has actually been helping a lot, Ed is a lot less worried for my health. She said it has been helping her heart. Then we asked if she had prayed and asked if Joseph Smith was really a prophet, and she said something along the lines of ya i have and pretty much every question was settled when we watched that film (restoration dvd) and no ordinary man could have written that book. Then she just kept talking like what she had just said was no big deal!! She is so funny. Overall as we talk with her, she is allowing me to really see it through her eyes, she shares her experiences with us, we can see the testimony building and then we talked about the Priesthood, Baptism, Christ's life on Earth, and then the Christmas Devotional, she was really excited to watch it! Such an awesome experience. It has been really nice to see our investigators learning on their own and coming closer to Christ. 

Since our training with Elder Richards, we have been teaching really simply and letting people build of that and it really helps us teach to their needs. It has been cool to see what happens as we focus on following the words of our leaders. 

The Christmas Devotional was good, and I was telling my companion that i missed out on doughnuts, but it doesn't look like i did, which is funny because it was a kind of crazy day yesterday. In a good way, we were running all over the place. Anyway we watched the last part of the Christmas Devotional with Wendy and it was really good. Elder Nelson's talk was so perfect for two of the people we are teaching. Anyway after it was over she made us Tortas! (Mexican Sandwich) and i thought to myself, well it isn't doughnuts but man it was so good! then to find out you didn't even have them made me laugh.

Overall I have nothing to complain about I am a happy servant of my Lord Jesus Christ "in whom there is no darkness at all." -Pres Uchtdorf. Which is comforting because it gets dark around 4:30-5pm here right now. I love you all, continue to be happy as we have this wonderful time to remember our savior Jesus Christ and his birth that truly changed our lives forever. Have a great week!

Hermana Ray

 

My favorite place in the house!

 

12-2-13

Hola Familia!

Looks like you all had a fantastic turkey day. Well I did too! Ate Lunch with one of the families in the ward and we used like real plates and sat around a set table... it was weird.. Just kidding. It was sure different than how we do it Ray style, but was really good! And what is Thanksgiving without eating something weird right? We went to the Wilhelms, Brother Wilhelm is our ward mission leader for pie later that night and to teach Owen and Brother Wilhelm made us try his bacon pumpkin pie. It wasn't horrible it was just weird, but I just kept thinking to myself, this is totally something my family would do! So don't worry you weren't forgotten. It was actually a pretty great day all around, we found 2 new people to teach and that was, for us, truly something to be grateful for. It was a great day and I got to reflect on what I was grateful for which is so many things that I just don't have time to write them all!

We also had another great family home evening with Wendy. Her little kids are so funny. It was great that as we talked about baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, we were aided by two of the Gilbert (members) children. Grace, the newest member of our ward, explained baptism in the best 8 year old way she could (which was great, probably better than i would have done) and then Faith described the gift of the Holy Ghost, they did awesome as they helped us prepare and explain how to become closer to Christ.

There other big news coming out of Royal this week was the baptisms on Saturday. Jesus and MariaCruz Perez live in Royal City and the other sisters have been teaching for over 6 months. 2 weeks ago Jesus came up to me and said, Hermana did you hear? I asked him did i hear about what. with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye he told me that they were going to get baptized! So exciting, he comes to church every week pretty much since june or july. Their baptism was awesome and at the end, the other sisters learned that Daniel, one of their other investigaotrs had really prayed for the first time this week and after the baptism he said, "I am going to be the next one." then he asked the other sisters if he could get baptized next week. Miracles! he has been talking with the missionaries for over a year I think. This community is truely amazing and i can't wait to see the miracles that come from my efforts. The Lord allows us to be a way for the Spirit to communicate with others. What an awesome opportunity we have.

I started the Book of Mormon over again and it is amazing how much i have already learned. I am paying attention to every reference to Jesus Christ and if people would do that they would realize that it truely is centered on him and what he teaches. I don't know if there has been a page that hasn't made a reference to him. It is such a good book. Who would have ever thought that I would like to read?

I am really growing an appreciation for everything that i have because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as i sit and listen to people, the gospel seriously answers their every concern. Sometimes they don't see it right away, but it is there. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our plan while on this Earth to help us receive all of the blessings of His plan for us for all of time.

I read a scripture this morning while trying to understand the way the word "weak" was being used in the scriptures. The reference took me to 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 and it says, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will i rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when i am weak, then am I strong." As we strive to be like Christ let us not be weighed down by our weaknesses, let us remember that it is part of the refining process. Let us rejoice that it is through them that we are made strong. I love you all and hope that you have a good week! I am so excited that it is Christmas times, and by the looks of it i might have my first ever white Christmas ever. Let us remember the reason for the season and share Christ message and love with others.

Love ya!

Hermana Ray

 

Happy Thanksgiving. Us with Doreen Iverson, our house mate!