Sister Heather Ripplinger's Weekly Letter, June 28, 2012

Finally!  We thought her P-Day was Monday, then nothing on Tuesday, then nothing on Wednesday, but finally this morning!  Her letter was worth the wait. Enjoy!  

Blaine and Nikki

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Heather Ripplinger <heather.ripplinger@myldsmail.net>
To: Nikki Ripplinger <bnripp@yahoo.com>; nauvoo president <nauvoopresident@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 10:38 AM
Subject: The Umphenator is Back

Dear friends and family,

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?! Sister Umphenour and Sister Ripplinger are companions again and LIFE. IS. GOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOO!!!!!!!! =D Words simply cannot express how INCREDIBLY grateful I am for Sister Umphenour and I have absolutely been in HEAVEN!!!!! We went to transfers last Thursday and when President Gilliland said that I was back with my precious MTC companion, I could hardly contain my sheer joy. I think I gasped outloud and a huge grin rushed across my face. I am sooooo excited to be with her!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! =D Sister Brown and Sister Zibetti are back together again, too! It just makes me so, so, so, soooo happy. =D (sigh) After our planning session in the evening, we cut up some watermelon, turned up "Redeemer of Israel" on our sa-weet little CD player, cranked up the fan, and soaked up the joy of our reunited companionship and our big room with our bunk beds and all.... oh yeah, we're living the good life. =D

Needless to say, this week has been FAN-TASTIC.

Last week, we were greeting at Sunset on the Mississippi and a man stopped me to ask a question. I sat down by him and started talking. He asked me what religion I was, we started talking, and I quickly discovered that he believed in Christ, but he didn't believe necessarily in organized religion. He was one tough shell to work with. Usually, the sisters leave right after the show starts and we start serving in the Referral Center, but I felt like I needed to keep talking to this man. Soooo... he totally zoned out the show and we kept talking. It took about a 1/2 hour, but he did end up referring himself. He's going to Florida for two weeks on vacation, and when he gets back, the elders in his area will be over to meet with him!!! Woohoo!!!! THAT experience was a miracle because the band, combined with tons of missionaries singing on stage, are easy to keep your attention. The Spirit helped things along, we were able to phase out the commotion, and had a really good conversation. 

The BYU Living Legends team was here this week and we were able to watch the show, as well as attend a fireside that they did. They are absolutely AMAZING. The fireside is one of the very best that I have ever been to. These team members are from different Polynesian and Native American heritage. There were a few speakers in between several musical numbers. The Spirit was so incredibly strong and I will always remember how powerful that meeting was. I LOVED IT. 

One afternoon that we were in the Visitor's Center, two older men and a young guy came in and I could hear part of their conversation as they were looking at the Book of Mormon display. Sister Umphenour and I went over and started talking with them. The oldest man was extremely skeptical and had all types of objections and thoughts to share. I started praying really fervently and pretty quickly he walked away to go look around. The other two men stuck around and we were able to explain some of their questions about the Book of Mormon. We pulled up the talk "You Matter To Him" by President Uchtdorf on the digital display and the Spirit was really strong. It was really interesting to see how the atmosphere changed from when they first walked in, full of doubts. We were able to testify and I know that they felt the Spirit. The older two men walked away for just a few minutes and the young man said, "Hey, tell me the name of this church again..?" We told him and he said that there was one of our church houses right across the street from his house. He said that he wanted to go there on Sunday and attend one of our meetings!

Monday morning, Sister Umphenour and I were standing next to each other working on memorizing a scripture  when a mom and her two young daughters walked in. I felt the Spirit really strongly and before I knew what was happening, I was sitting at the Apostles digital display watching some of the testimonies with the youngest girl that is 11. She was totally soaking up the videos and was jumping up to choose the next one immediately after the previous one finished. We started talking and she was so incredibly prepared to hear about the gospel. I was able to explain, in as simple of language as I possibly could, the  three degrees of glory and how our bodies will be reunited with our spirits when we are resurrected. She responded, "Wow! That makes so much sense because someone that is really, really, really good shouldn't go to the same place as someone that was just kind of good!!!" I smiled and thought, "Being a missionary is so AWESOME!!!" I looked over and Sister Umphenour was talking with the mom and older sister. GO COMPANION!!! WOO!!!! That brought me so much joy! They all came together and the little girl I had been talking with asked if missionaries like us could come to their house and talk more about the three kingdoms. The mom said YES and they are going to meet with the missionaries!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! I really loved that experience because I knew the Spirit was testifying to them that we were speaking truths and because Sister Umphenour was awesome!!!!

Shortly after that experience, I noticed a woman walk in that I felt like I needed to talk to later. Someone else took her on a tour and was telling her about the history of Nauvoo. I was talking with other people in the meantime and wasn't able to see what happened. I started talking to two other people that were sitting in the chairs on the far end of the VC and I don't think they realized that I, myself, was "Mormon". It was quite funny and they were asking about the big, white building on the hill. I grabbed a temple pamphlet and started explaining and to my pleasant surprise, the same woman that I had noticed earlier walked up. She was here with these two people I was currently talking with!!!! I was able to explain the importance of the temple and the other two were interested, but didn't seem like it meant much to them. HOWEVER, this woman was totally soaking it up. I invited her to meet with the missionaries in New Mexico and she said YES!!!!!! Dominique is GOLDEN.

In the Brigham Young Home, there are a bunch of broken dishes that were excavated behind the house and there is a GREAT spiritual lesson to be learned from them. A missionary several years ago took the time to go through the broken dish pieces and put them together. He first glued the pieces together, so you could see it was a plate, but there were still big spaces in between and gaps in the cracks. Next, he took clay and filled in the empty spots. Then he sanded the plate, and continued the process, until the plate looked perfect and like it had never been broken. So there are several dishes sitting on the table and each demonstrate a step of the process. You see the broken pieces that are only glued together, all through the process, to the last one that looks like it had never been broken. Think about how that relates to the Atonement. We are like the dishes! We have flaws, imperfections, we might be broken. But the Savior can take our broken pieces, and through the repentance process, we can be made whole. He can take all of those cracks and gaps and make us into "plates" that are perfectly perfect. After we repent, the Lord remembers our sins no more. We have a totally clean and perfect plate-because of Jesus Christ. Even if we think we are THE most broken and ruined plate, Christ can help us change and become perfected and beautiful. Even if we think that we are the most hopeless, useless, and terrible person on the face of the entire earth, Christ can change our lives and help us turn them around. He can help us become the beings that Heavenly Father designed us to become. We have to give Christ the pieces, though. We have to turn our hearts to Christ and desire to experience that change. As we repent, we experience that change, the turning of our heart to Him, and the Lord will remember our sins no more. We can feel the relief of having those unnecessary burdens lifted and we can become clean every bit. 

I love to read in Alma 36 of the Book of Mormon. Alma testifies of his own personal experience with the Atonement. Throughout the chapter, he says that he was "racked with eternal torment, for his soul was harrowed up to the GREATEST degree and racked with all his sins", he felt that he should be banished and extinct and shouldn't stand in the presence of God. He had the pains of a damned soul. He was racked with torment while he harrowed up by the memory of his many sins. AND THEN he remembered to have heard his father's prophesy concerning  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who would atone for the sins of the world. Alma the Younger says, "Now as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart "Oh Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains... when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more, yea I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what JOY and what MARVELOUS LIGHT I did behold, yes, my soul was filled with JOY as exceeding as was my pain." He remembered Jesus Christ and allowed the Atonement to be part of his soul. He became a changed being and had power to testify of the Atonement because he had personal experience with seeing how his life was changed. I KNOW that each of us can have this same experience. Because of the Atonement, we can be forgiven. We do our very best, and then Christ makes up the rest. We need to enter the covenants of baptism by the proper authority, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and partake of the Sacrament each week. As we partake of the Sacrament, worthily, and repent, we are purified and sanctified. Our mistakes, our flaws and imperfections are forgiven and we can progress. I KNOW that as we strive to progress and become more like the Savior each day, that we will be filled with the same JOY that Alma described. I know it works because I experience it every day. 

There are so many other precious experiences that I would love to write about, but I don't have time. Yesterday was the day that Joseph Smith was martyred in Carthage Jail. The sisters and I sang at the Commemoration and then we had a testimony meeting in the Martyrdom room. It was absolutely WONDERFUL. The Spirit is so strong here and I LOVE being a missionary. 

I really, truly LOVE being with Sister Umphenour.She is rock solid, so strong, steadfast and immovable, and I appreciate her soooo much. She is a great strength to me and I feel like I have my wings to fly. She is happy and constant, is a hard worker, and I LOVE her. I LOVE being a missionary here and I am soaking up these precious experiences. 

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!!!!!

Sister Heather Ripplinger