Sister Ripplinger's First Email from the MTC on March 19, 2012

Our Dear Family and close Friends:

This is our first email from our Sister Heather Ripplinger!  You are receiving this email, first, because Sister Ripplinger's mission president has said we can forward them to our close family and friends.  You either told Heather you wanted to be on the list, or she loves you and thought you would enjoy the letters.  If you do not want to receive them, please email us back, and we'll remove your name.

You're going to have to put up with a little narrative from the Mother of the Missionary : )  I did not expect what happened to me this morning, when I opened this email.  We had a dear friend, who just returned from his mission, Elder Jed Sewell, tell us yesterday at Church, that he thought he remembered the P day at the MTC being Thursdays, so we had written our family letter to her Sunday evening, but were bracing ourselves not to hear from her until Thursday.  How surprised and thrilled we were to get it today!  I saw the email, and before I could read it, started crying, full crying.  I had to go in my room, and kneel down, and thank Heavenly Father for my sweet daughter and thank Him for the Gospel Plan.  How grateful we are to be parents of a faithful daughter who wants to serve the Lord.

We were instructed that over the time she is serving her mission, you can write a letter to her at the addresses below, if you would like.  You are not to email her directly.  We appreciate your support.

MTC Address: until April 4 Nauvoo Address:  after April 4 and until October

Sister Heather Ripplinger Sister Heather Ripplinger

MTC Mailbox #133 P.O. Box 215

IL-NAU 0411 Nauvoo, Illinois 62354

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT  84604-1793

Love,

Blaine and Nikki Ripplinger

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Heather Ripplinger <heather.ripplinger@myldsmail.net>
To: Nikki Ripplinger <bnripp@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2012 1:04 PM
Subject: Re: First Familiy Letter to Heather in the MTC March 18

On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Heather Ripplinger <heather.ripplinger@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This week has been absoutely WONDERFUL, INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE, AWESOME, and PERFECT. Perfect in the aspect of a lot happened, including spiritual experiences, joyful memories, and also a  few little bumps. Perfect.

 

I am. SO. HAPPY. I have a limited amount of time, so hold on to your chairs and I will type as quickly as I can. I will begin my adding a few entries of my journal.

 

Wednesday, March 14th  FIRST DAY IN THE MTC!!!!!!

      "I feel the Spirit BURNING like a fire inside of me. What a SPECTACULAR DAY!!!!!! :) This morning, my parents and I woke up at 5:45 am and drove from Bountiful Utah to Salt Lake. I had the amazing privledge of attending a session in the Salt Lake City Temple with my parents the day I entered the MTC. That temple is BEAUTIFUL. Elegant. GORGEOUS. When we finished the session and were sitting in the Celestial room, a woman approached us and asked us if we would participate in sealings-she had brought family names. I was OVER JOYED because I had really wanted to do sealing s before going on my mission. That prayer was answered. What a sweet, tender mercy.

 

    We continued to Provo, pickedu p a few things at Walmart, ate at Sonic (where I was able to stock up on fry sauce), then went up to the temple parking lot. Bishop du Preez met us there to say good-bye. I sure do love him!!!! At this point, my heart beat was getting deeper. TEN MINUTES until I told my parents good bye for a while. I felt incredibly peaceful all week, but the anxious curiousity was finally beginning to set in. At 1:00 pm, we climbed back into the car and drrove to the MTC. We joined the line of cars, went through security and received a special "missionary on board" sticker, and drove through. We were directed to a parking psace, in line with several other cars. Elders were being yanked from their parents on all sides. haha! That once in a lifetime experience of being a missionary for the first time and saying good bye to your loved ones...I've waited so long!

 Two elders approached our car and opened Mom's door. I jumped out before they could open mine. We got my suitcases out..... My family knows I love them and I find comfort knowing that they know I love them. The time to make sure they knew was past. I am now a part of the Missionary Training Center!!!!

     I was taken with a sister who will be serving in Germany and she got everything situated. (I'm skipping a few details for time's sake). When I got to my "classroom" I met my companions! YES, I have TWO companions! =) We are a trio for our time at the MTC!!!! Sister Baird is from Virginia, 23 years old, blonde and likes yoga, personal fitness, physical therapy, etc. Sister Umphenour (pronounced Umph-an-hour) is 21, from Salt Lake area, wants to be a nurse. Also blonde. So us three sisters are blonde!!!!! haha

I have seen many familiar faces in the MTC already and it's awesome to see them! After introductions in class, we were taken to a new missionary meeting. Sister Baird and Sister Umphenour and I walked into the room and were completely surrounded by young men in dark suit coats. There were hudnreds of new missionaries! The three of us filed in to an empty row...the whole time being carefully watched by the elders. Talk about awkwarrrrrrrd. haha We are sacred of them and they're scared of sisters. So all of the rows filled with elders except for ours. There were three other chairs, but no one dared sit on the same row as us. Everyone started singing and two elders walked in late. The ONLY open seats in the whole room were next to us, SISTERS. hahaha They looked at each other and with great hestitation sat down, leaving the one extra seat open between us. The three of us looked at each other and giggled a little. The two elders looked over at us like they had seen the Ghost of Christmas Past-pale and wide-eyed. hahaha

One thing I thought was SOOOO cool- we were singing Army of Helaman. The line usually says "we will be the Lord's missionaries." Not this time. This time we sang, "We are NOW the Lord's missioanries. I got the chills as hudnreds of missionaries and I sang that, with my two companions next to me. I am a missionary!!!!!!

After the song and prayer, PResident Brown introduced a special guest-none other than the ambassador of Mongolia!! He gave a brief address and expressed that he was thoroughly impressed with the church. It is very rare that someone like that comes. President Brown said once, in the year that he's been President.

Missionaries come to the MTC from Brazil, Australia, China, Mexico, Phillippines, Sweden Samoa, and ALL OVER.  I can't type them all.

There was power in that meeting. We were reminded that we were represenetives of JEsus Christ and that we have His name on our name tags.  (Going to skip some details now)

We've had our first teaching experiences. WOW WOW WOW. I LOVE IT. I feel like my eyes and heart were opened by some experiences. Some people will have years of disbelief behind them and they will have an iceberg around them to melt down. Others will be ripe and ready to hear the truth they've been seeking. Either way, or anywhere in between, they deserve the Gospel, the joy, happiness, sense of security and comfort-that is provided by the knowledge of Christ's teachings. I am prepared to do the work necessary to have the knowledge, Spirit, and testimony to convert ANYONE the Lord places in front of me. He will bring them for a distinct purpose, which purpose is for me to testify and for the Holy Ghost to convert them. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK.

My companions and I are having a blast. We wake up at 6:00 to attend the special sister's exericise class, which includes kick boxing!!! Woo!!! Also, we are goign to try out for a special musical numbmer performance. They have those at each devotional, some firesides, etc. I'm playihng the piano and Sister Baird will sing- The OLIVE TREE!!! Yeah! We also "applied" for special MTC choir. I'll let you know about that next week.

WE have a weekly service opportunity to clean a apart of one of our buildings. We mopped a set of stairs and had WAAAAY too much fun singing happy songs in the resonating corridor of stairs and made friends with some missionaries from Samoa and Tonga. They are naturally so loving and FUN!!!

At this point, I have two minutes left. AH!!!

Well, I am doing incredibly well. We are learning basic doctrine, which has deepened AND simplified my testimony. I feel solid as a rock. My testimony is growing and increasing significantly...even in this less than a week amount of time. I am beginning to see what Heavenly Father intended the entire time and see that this mission is going to help me reach my full potential.

We were teaching an investigator this week. She lost her mom and is taking care of her siblings while dad works most of the time. I was able to bear testimony of tthe SAvior and His experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. There was power. The power of the Holy Ghost was STRONG. I am soooo excited to do this for the next ...well rst of my life.

 

I have to go now, but I love you, FAMILY!!!!!!! SOOOO MUCH.

I'll write in the mail. bye 

Sister Heather Ripplinger