Jan. 23, 2012

Man, sorry my emails have come so late! Our pdays have been sooo busy. It's good to hear that you are doing well. I cannot imagine Shaelyn driving. I can't even imagine Austin driving. But, he is and so is she. Crazy. I'm glad your Klondike Derby Camp-out went well. Winter came this week. We had one day that it was a windchill of -11. It's been a bit breezy. But, we have a busy week planned. And someone was telling us today that the coldest days of January are the 18th and 19th. And, those are past. So, it should all be getting warmer now...right? Maybe. We'll see, either way we'll go out and do the Lord's work. We got 1-2 inches of snow this week. That's exciting. Oh, and I had my birthday. It was a busy day. Sister Madsen made a happy birthday sign out of sticky notes while I was in the shower. It was cute. I give her props, especially since she only had like 2 days notice. Thank you so much for the shirt! I'm going to wear it to the sisters conference on Friday! I'm excited. :D And, the necklace and earrings are super cute and I'll be wearing them often :)

That's cool that you had thunderstorms! I miss good midwestern thunderstorms! They are so amazing. I'm glad mom is enjoying the use of your IPAD. It is a fun toy/tool. Thanks for updating the blog. I wonder if anyone reads it? Best of luck with the table. It sounds like quite the adventure... and tell Shaelyn that I'm not offended. It's pretty hard to offend me. :D

Well, cool experiences from the week... I guess I can start with transfers. It was hard to say goodbye to Sister Cook. She taught me a lot and really helped me with the struggles of missionary life. I will always appreciate what she has done for me. But, I felt very calm that this is what the Lord wants. I quickly found out one of the reasons why Sister Madsen and I were put together and I really feel like what Sister Cook taught me will help me to help her and to help future companions. She's had a couple of tough transfers and really needs love and encouragement while someone who can teach her. I really feel like that over the past 3 transfers I've been able to learn how to be able to help her in this situation. She's great and I really do love her. It will be a fun transfer :)

Today, we went with bishop to a Jewish community center where they have a class that meets--it's senior citizens--and for 3 weeks they were studying Mormonism. Actually the "Mormon Quest for President." Bishop did a great job at explaining our core beliefs and then it was opened up to questions. It was super interesting. They asked lots of questions and I was grateful that I knew a small piece of my family history, because they asked questions about whether any of us 4 missionaries had ancestors from the beginning of the church. But, then they asked if our family had stayed within the religion and I was like, well, my immediate family is...but probably someone somewhere walked away. Anyway. It was an interesting experience and there were so many interesting questions. It was cool though :)

Saturday night we went to teach a recent convert/less active who is too old for the Singles Ward. We had been given the responsibility of inviting him to attend the family ward-which was hard, because the last time they tried he got upset and didn't talk to missionaries for quite some time. We were able to bring a member from the family ward with and we went and taught him. We ended up being 15 minutes late, due to unexpected traffic, but our Joint teacher went ahead and went in and got to know him. I was praying so hard that the Spirit could be there and direct the lesson. We read from 3 Nephi 11:10-17 and 3 Ne 19:5-8. We talked about Christ's purpose and how He set up a church and then how they split into congregations with the 12 disciples and how it was the same church but just in different areas. We had asked him a question and he answered it with something about being able to help others. This whole time I was praying to be led in the wording and direction that we took and as he said that the idea came to mind to talk about his ability to help and serve those in the family ward as they can relate to his experiences and he to theirs. The Spirit was so strong. The lesson was only about 20-25minutes, but the Spirit was there. I was so grateful for the guidance we were able to receive. He accepted the invitation and should hopefully go starting next week. It was a great experience that helped me learn to trust more in the Lord. 

I think that's the best thing I've got for you this week. I am grateful for the letters and cards I have received this week :) I love hearing from the people I love! So, Sister Madsen and I are doing a 40 day fast of things that are keeping us from being consecrated missionaries. We fasted yesterday and created lists of things that we need to either start doing or stop doing and we are going to fast from or begin doing those things for 40 days, that way they become who we are and we become more powerful missionaries. It's going to be awesome :)

Well, what are you all up to this week? I'm sure that you are keeping busy. I love you all very much and pray for you daily. Keep on keeping on and I will leave you with a quote that my friend Stephanie sent me this week:

"...the heart and soul of the gospel is love, and all the rest is commentary. Whatever else we may perceive religion to be, we are wrong--for true religion is love in action--God's love for us and our love for God and for our neighbors." Stephen Robinson

I love you! Have an awesome week!

Love, Sister Randall