Hello everybody! Oh my gosh I just cannot believe that it is p-day again already! Wow this week flew by so fast. You know I am just so glad that I get to be a missionary full time. It is crazy never getting a break and sometimes you just want to take a nap and chill for a little while, until you get to a house that has the most prepared person you have ever met before. There are so many people out here who just slam the door in your face, but there are also people out here who are searching for the gospel. Searching for something constant in this constantly changing world that is going to make them happy. That is what we have! That is why I am out here serving a mission because Heavenly Father loves His children so much and He wants them all to return and live with Him again. If I can help them do that then that is just so great. This week was filled with finding miracles. Our days can go really rough but they always end with a miracle, God is really looking out for His missionaries.
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!” --Marjorie Pay Hinckley
Christina is someone who we found last week and oh my gosh is she prepared. She has two kids and a fiance. She grew up Catholic, but doesn't really like what they are teaching. She doesn't believe that it is true. She told us that she has so many questions, and she really wants to get back to church. Her kids are at the age where they are starting to ask her about God and she doesn't know what to tell them! We told her that we have the answers that she is looking for. I am so grateful that we were led to her last week and we were able to see her again. This was a short restoration get to know you lesson and I am so excited to go teach her more!
Thursday was such an amazing day! We woke up at regular time but had to be at the church at 8:00am and the stls took us up to Richmond because we got invited to this super cool Mlc meeting. It wasn't just any meeting though, the Presidents from the missionary department from headquarters in salt lake came, they talk to apostles and things like that about missionary work. They came and taught us as well as the president and his wife. Only 40 companionship's were invited and sister Stoker and I are SO blessed to be able to go! It was such an amazing experience! We are able to use FaceTime and Skype now in our mission! That way it will solve so many problems like not having enough miles and members being too busy to come out with us, or investigators being to busy to meet with us. It will be even better than a phone call but it can be a face to face call! I am seriously so excited! I know that the Lord is hastening his work even more. This isn't going to change missionary work or anything but we can now have daily contact with our investigators without it being weird or overbearing. We already have texting and calling but this is so much better. We can even skype multiple people onto the same video message so that we can have a member and the investigator all together, even if they don't have time to leave their home and all get together. This is also a great way for returned missionaries to be able to stay involved in their investigators lives and lessons as well. I have felt the spirit so strongly in this meeting and I am so excited to be a missionary at this time in the world right now. The Lord said that He is going to hasten His work. This is the hastening! What a time to be a missionary. They also focused a lot on how planning is the key to missionary work. Planning= revelation. If you want to get the ratio of baptisms to the number of investigators to lower than you need to plan. For the mission right now you need 51 investigators to get one baptism. They predict that if we really take planning seriously and use all the tools we have to the fullest, that number will drop by half. One mission got the ratio from 9:1. On a mission we want people to progress, we need to teach according to needs. We won't find more people to teach but we will get more baptisms.
I received a lot of revelation and a lot of answers to my prayers during this meeting. I am beyond grateful that I was able to go to it. I now know even more fully, that God is managing the fine details of our lives! I know that God loves His missionaries. The Lord is continually blessing us with tools to bring even more people to this gospel!
Since we couldn't weekly plan yesterday because we were at the meeting all day, we did on Friday. It was the best planning session I have ever done in my entire life! After the meeting we had on Thursday, I thought of planning in a whole new way. It was all about the investigators and what they really need. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I was planning and received so much revelation for our investigators that day. We didn't have as much time to go proselyting, but it was one of the most spiritual days I have ever had! I know that planning is the key to baptisms and successful missionary work.
Saturday was one of those days where NOTHING WORKED OUT. We started off the day great with a zone meeting which was amazing, then lunch with our investigator named Doug. After that, every lesson fell through and people just slammed the door in our face over and over again. But hey, what is missionary work without days like this? There has to be opposition in all things. The sour makes the sweet even better, right?
Sunday my favorite day of the week, and it was fast Sunday so even more blessings! We fasted all day and were so hungry when dinner rolls around and go to our dinner appointment and it ends up being another late thanksgiving. A Polynesian thanksgiving. Yes, we were stuffed leaving and so grateful! They even gave us four plates of leftovers haha.
Today we found 4 new investigators! The greatest feeling is when you know that you need to tract this one street, and then you tract for a while and people are not interested and you keep tracting and then finally, you find the person. The person who is so prepared. Kiera opened the door and said come in! Her friend died a year and two days ago and she has really been thinking about God and what His plan is for us. She really wants to know what God wants her to do so that she can be a better person. She even told us that this was not a coincidence! We came to her door for a reason and I know that we were led there!
You know it is the greatest thing when the kids can talk to us because the kids know who we are! There are so many times when we go to someones house and the kids are so excited to talk to us and the parents are all like, this really weird she is normally really shy. The kids are always excited to talk to us. If we could just teach the children that would be so amazing because they feel the Spirit so easily.
Wow missionary work is like being on a roller coaster all day every day. Something that I learned this week is that our message is not the restoration. It is that Jesus Christ lives and He performed the Atonement for us and because of that we can live with our Heavenly Father again. The good news of the message is that the gospel has been restored. We need to not ever change our focus from our Savior Jesus Christ. Just like when Peter was walking on water, when we change our focus to other things that is when we are going to sink. "But Joseph Smith had multiple wives." That is irrelevant. Don't focus on commandments, focus on why Jesus Christ wants me to do this. Jesus Christ has always been the central part in Gods plan. I love my Savior Jesus Christ with all of my heart and I am so grateful for all he has done for me. Remember, that God is in the details of our lives! He loves you so much and with Him we can do and be anything!
Don't forget to light the world! In 25 ways, over 25 days. I know that if you serve just like Jesus Christ and become more like Him, it will make this holiday season so much better! Check it out on mormon.org
- Sister Ruffner
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