Sent: Monday, December 31, 2012 12:36 PM
Subject: Tis the Season
Subject: Tis the Season
My dear friends and family,
I just saw all of the pictures of Derek's farewell.....
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of him and I'm SO excited for him
to be a missionary. I know that Heavenly Father needs someone strong
like him and I'm so excited to be able to serve at the same time as
him. I'm so grateful for you Derek!
I just have a few brief stories that I would like to share this week.
I hardly ever mention all of the incredible things that are happening
with the missionaries I serve around.
There is a companionship of elders in my zone that are serving in a
tough area. They hadn't taught a lesson in nearly three months and I
could just feel it weighing on them. This transfer, a new missionary
came in from the MTC and he's putting up a fight against Satan. His
trainer is a really good missionary, very patient in challenges, and
they have both been working really hard together. On Christmas Eve, a
member set up a lesson with one of her friends that is not a member.
These two elders gave it their whole hearts and put it all out on the
line. They testified with power and authority and both the women they
were teaching, and the member, were in tears. They committed her to be
baptized in February. They came to caroling with us that night and
they were GLOWING. Words cannot describe how happy they are. Since
then, they've had several powerful lessons with her and it makes me SO
incredibly happy that they were able to have the Christmas Eve
miracle. =)
Another set of elders were in ward council and someone randomly knockd
on the door. It was a member saying that someone outside wanted to see
them. Confused, they left the meeting and went out to meet a man. This
man had found a Book of Mormon, read it, had been praying, found the
LDS website, and located our church building. He showed up at the
church building while the missionaries were there, they set up an
appointment to teach him that night, and they committed him to
baptism.
On Christmas Eve, we were caroling with the elders in our zone. We
were walking down the street and all the sudden, a woman shouts across
the street, "MISSIONARIES!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!! I'm so happy to
see you!!!!" She was a member of the church and was having a really
bad day. When she saw us, she was SO excited. It sure made us feel
good! =)
I found a quote that I really, really like:
"FAITH is the power,
LOVE is the motive,
OBEDIENCE is the price,
the SPIRIT is the key,
CHRIST is the reason." -Ed Pinegar-
This week Gabrielle and Melody were baptized!!!!!!!!!!!! Again, words
just simply cannot describe how I felt during their baptism program.
They both had a lot of challenges leading up to their baptisms. Right
before we were supposed to start, Gabrielle fell by the font and
commpletely cut her chin open. A ward member was a nurse and was able
to cover it and take care of it long enough for the baptism.
Afterwards, she had to go get stiches. Nevertheless, these two
perservered and they were baptized. Several ward members were there
and I could just feel of Heavenly Father's love for them beaming
around me. We watched a Mormon message by President Uchtdorf
testifying of the divinity of God's children. I looked over at those
two beautiful daughters of God and my heart just wanted to burst!!!! I
was so proud of their decision to be baptized and to progress in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was absolutely beautiful and I am so
grateful to have met them.
Saturday night, we were supposed to go to Sean and Debbie's house.
Some of the family are not members of the church, some are not very
active, etc. We've been working with Sean a lot lately. He has dated
Debbie for 8 years and never came to church with her. In the last
month or so he's come several times. So some of the family (visiting
from out of state and has had bad experiences with missionaries)
didn't want us to come and said they would leave when we arrived. Sean
insisted that the missionaries should come and that everyone would be
fine. So we came over and spent some time with the family. The next
day at church, Debbie whispered to us and said that their family has a
completely new perspective of missionaries and they really liked us.
She said it was a huge deal that Sean had told the family that
everything would be ok and his heart is opening up really quickly. We
were really grateful to hear that and are so grateful for the progress
that is being made. I love Sean and Debbie and I know that they are
one of the reasons that I am in Loomis.
I love being a missionary!!!!!!! I love my little black name tag. One
of the families that we love has a 14 year old daughter. Yesterday
when we went over for lunch, she had made a black name tag for
herself. =) It just made my day. I am grateful for the opportunity
that I have to serve as a full time missionary. As one of my friends
wrote, "Many are called, few are sisters." haha!
I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so eternally grateful for my
Savior. I am growing closer and closer to him. I LOVE serving in His
kingdom. Heaven is not very far away, in fact, sometimes I feel like
it is right where we are. I'm grateful that we have angels attend to
us and help us along the way. I love to read the Book of Mormon. I
know with all of my heart that it is Heavenly Father's words for me
and I'm grateful to have the Gospel in my life.
I hope you all have a WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!!!!
Love,
Sister Heather Ripplinger
At this point Sister Ripplinger sent her family a separate letter that said she and her companion had to be moved out of the house they were living in, because their landlady was having too many parties with drunk men! Yikes! Thank goodness President Weston takes good care of the missionaries!
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