Just The Right Time, November 5, 2012

Sent: Monday, November 5, 2012 3:02 PM
Subject: Just the Right Time

My dear friends and family,

 

This morning I got a letter from my family saying that they had received six inches of snow. I have a sad confession to make.... this morning, (because it was my P-Day) I took a nap in our back yard in the 80 degree sunshine!!!!!! I kind of LOVE California!!!!!

 

The work here is going really, really well. I will share as many experiences as I can!!!!!

 

There is a family that missionaries have been visiting for a while now- the Godfreys. The dad is a less active member and the wife and children are not members. They are a young, cute family. I met them for the first time on Tuesday. Each week, missionaries have had a scheduled time to visit with them and have the Jensens present (members in the ward). So that morning, as I was studying, I kept thinking about this young family. I felt like we should go over the first lesson again and talk about our Heavenly Father. I went crazy pouring over the scriptures, trying to prepare for the lesson because I felt like it would be a really important lesson. In the afternoon, I found out that President Perez (our stake president) had heard about the lesson and wanted to come with us to the Godfreys home. He met us there and the lesson was one of the most powerful experiences I've had on my mission yet.

 

This family seemed to not understand much at all about our Heavenly Father and their relationship to him. President Perez shared VERY important insights and I know that he was led by the Spirit. I also felt some distinct impressions of things to share and ways to explain principles. The Jensens, my companion, and President Perez all brought the Spirit and it was a very powerful experience. At the end of the lesson, all of their children and everyone in there knelt down in a circle and said a prayer together. It absolutely melted my heart. Up to this point, Stephanie would never let the kids be part of the lessons.

 

So....days later, I found out something that hit me really hard in my heart. Scott (the daddy) told Brother Jensen this at the ward party on Saturday. "Stephanie had planned to kindly ask the missionaries to stop visiting every week. Her plan was to talk for a little while, then ask that we all stop meeting. After that lesson, she has had a complete 180 degree change of heart. Now she is all for the Church!" She told me that if she is going to be baptized, her WHOLE family is going to be baptized!!! =) I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan. Stephanie planned to stop meeting with missionarnies and it just so happened that the lesson was incredibly powerful, the stake president was there to testify, and it all worked out that Stephanie had a complete change of heart. We meet tomorrow night to set the baptismal date for their family!!!!! =)

 

Barton is making progress. He is the dad that I mentioned who is not a member. The wife and daughter have been less active and they just moved her a few months ago. No one else knew they were here and were totally under the radar. We've started meeting with them twice a week and they came to the ward activity, too! He's committed to baptism now, and we're trying to schedule a date! His daughter, Bonnie, is in college right now and we're also trying to get her activated again and into the singles ward in Rocklin.

 

Judy is also making progress. She is reading the Book of Mormon and we've now taught her all of the lessons. She has agreed to be baptized and she knows that the Church is true...but she's afraid of the water in a font. So we will be working through that this week, but I expect she'll be baptized really soon. She's come to church several times in the last year and she's living the commandments. She just hasn't been baptized yet! =)

 

We were driving down the road one afternoon, and I glanced over and saw a man in a tall, green "Mad Hatter" hat standing on the side with piles of wood. It caught my attention, but we had an appointment to get to, so we kept going. I felt like we needed to go back to that guy on the side of the road, so we went by again and Sister Nelson yells, "Hey!!! I know him! That's Brother Ivy!!!!" We pulled over (ok, I missed the driveway a few times first) and got out to visit with him. He hasn't been to church in a long time and his wife isn't supportive of his religion. We started talking with him and I felt really strongly to just tell him that his Heavenly Father loves him. Immediately he started crying. I could feel the Spirit and I could just feel of the love that Heavenly Father had for him. We arranged for someone to pick him up for church on Sunday (and he came)!!!! Before we left, we said a prayer and he just had tears pouring down his face. He told us he had been praying that somehow, he'd know that God loved him.

 

Jacqueline is doing GREAT!!!!!!! We've been teaching her and she's soaking everything up. She has gone to several activities and come to church and she's just really, really strong. Her husband is still working in Germany and is trying to come home for Christmas. If he can make it home, we want him to baptize her. He's a member and active, so if he can make it back, he'll get to baptize her. Otherwise, she wants the son, Arice, to baptize her sooner. So there's a cool story with this family. Arice and Venessa are in high school and they were baptized years ago in another marriage before Jacqueline came along. They became less active with the divorce and the dad working in Germany. So...they've been living here for a while and no one even knew they were members! Now they're coming to church and he's getting ready to receive the Priesthood!!!! =) Sister Nelson and I talked to President Weston and he said that we can go with them to do baptisms at the temple in about a month!!!!!! Their family is doing great and I'm soooo excited about them! I love Jacqueline.

 

On Friday, I went to Zone Leader Council, which is all of the zone leaders in the mission, the AP's, and President and Sister Weston. There are six exchange sisters in the mission and we get to be part of the meeting, as well. We talked about how many new missioanrnies will be coming in and I had the chills the whole time. I just feel it in my blood that this is the Lord's work and it is moving forward!!!!!! It was an absolute blessing to be at the meeting and to be surrounded by a whole bunch of awesome missionaries!!!! At times like that, I kind of get to step back and look at the big picture and it is very humbling. This is the Lord's work and we are His humble servants. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!

 

We have been meeting with several less active members and I absolutely love it. There is one man named Terry that has two friends he wants us to start meeting with. Another family that we've been meeting with on Sundays has a friend they want us to start teaching. Another active family has a family for us to teach. A lady that just moved into the ward just married a man that isn't a member of the church, but wants to start meeting with missionaries! We got to help set up some things for their wedding, and I kind of loved that a lot. =)

 

The work is just going forward with leaps and bounds! It is absolutely the Lord's work. It also has it's challenges. Sister Nelson was sick two days this week, so I was on splits with another young lady in the ward that is preparing for a mission. She's 18 and SUPER excited to put her papers in on February.She's awesome and I'm so grateful that Whitney has been willing to come with me. Literally, she gave up two whole days of her life to come be a missionary with me so we could keep our teaching appointments and keep going forward. Whitney and I found a few new investigators and Sister Nelson and I picked up a few earlier in the week from tracting. I'm dead tired at the end of the night and it feels sooooo good. Sister Nelson tells me that I'm bearing my testimony in my sleep. haha. I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!

I'm so grateful for the Atonement. Without Christ, I couldn't keep going. But because of the Gospel and everything that comes along with being a missionary, I just can't wait to find out what is going to happen next. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!! Thank you for all of your love and support!!!!

 

Love,

Sister Heather Ripplinger