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

 

Sister Ripplinger's Weekly Letter, October 29, 2012

Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 3:30 PM
Subject: The Lord's Sheep

My dear friends and family,

 

I absolutely LOVE being a missionary! This week was full speed ahead and I'll type as quickly as I can to report everything.

So transfers were on Tuesday. I am now with Sister Nelson and she grew up around Chicago! She has been in Loomis for one transfer before and she's been out on her mission for around four months. That day when we went to the mission office to switch companions, President asked me to be an Exhange/Coordinating Sister so I will be going on exchanges with companionships around my area every once in a while to help with training! I get to help with the mission training and planning, so I meet with all of the zone leaders, the assistants, and President Weston once a month! We received two new sisters in last week from the MTC and I got to go with them the first day to contact and go tracting. I cannot even imagine how they felt coming out and just going for it. I took them to Wal-mart and we chased some people around. haha I figured that if they can contact people bustling around in Wal-mart, they can contact someone washing their car outside of their house. =) It was pretty fun, but I'm still a little in shock myself. That night, I was driving our sweet, red car on the five lane interstate out to our area and that was a bit of a shock. haha! It is not Nauvoo anymore, that's for sure! I kind of love the hustle and bustle of California. The area that we live in, however, is not as busy and crazy. Our house is up on a hill, overlooking a GORGEOUS lake!!!! The leaves are changing colors right now and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We're up in the hills/mountains and I love it!!!!!

 

A little bit of background information on the ward I'm serving in. They've had FIVE baptisms in the last TWO YEARS. The bishop and ward mission leader are really, really supportive of missionary work and they are GREAT. I'm really grateful to have them helping in the work. Sister Nelson always has the map on her lap when I'm driving, and she helps us know where to go....I would seriously be lost without her. So the first day here, we dug right in and started contacting people and getting to know ward leaders. She was here for a transfer before, but she didn't know a lot of the members yet, so we've been going crazy with that. I also was going through the area book, looking for former investigators and potential investigators, praying a lot, and seeking help from the members. I feel like a lot of people are prepared here and they're just waiting for Sister Nelson and I to get to work! =) I LOVE IT HERE!!!!

 

I'll share a few miracles! So there's a lady named Jacqueline that has four children living at home with her and her husband is working in Germany. Missionaries tracted into her a while ago and had been stopping to visit about once a week. However,they never taught her the lessons, so she didn't have a teaching record. We went and talked with her Thursday evening and I could just feel the Spirit pushing and guiding us along. We set up a time to come back and invited them to church on Sunday. So... Saturday night, I was pleading with the Lord that they would come to church and feel welcome. The WHOLE family came and they all knew people their age. All of the kids, knew people from school and the community! They went to their classes and stayed for the whole 3 hours! In the meantime, a young man had just come home from his mission and reported in Sacrament meeting. Afterwards, Jacqueline was asking how her 16 year old son could serve a mission. Sister Nelson said that he had to be baptized first and she said that he had!!! "Like baptized MORMON??" She said he was!!!! So all of the sudden, a mystery was uncovered. The two older children were from a previous marriage and they were both taught and baptized by elders a few years ago. Jacqueline, however, had never been taught the lessons or anything! I was kind of nervous to ask, but I did, "So why haven't you been baptized yet?" She repsonded, "Well, I think I would like to be baptized! I just don't know how to go about doing that. Can you tell me?" Ummmm.... YES!!!!!!! We set up a time to come back that night and we talked about being baptized, receiving the Holy Ghost, and then renewing baptismal covenants through the Sacrament. We set a baptismal date for November 17th!!!!!!!!!!! =) She's living all of the commandments, she's legally married, doesn't drink or smoke, etc. So we were SUPER excited!!!!!!! She's totally prepared and it was a miracle that all of the information came and that she wants to be baptized!!!!! We're getting the kids records transferred to our ward! It was a total miracle and she plans to be baptized in a few weeks! =)

 

About two months ago, a family moved into the area. The mom and daughter are less active members of the church and the dad isn't a member. They were just under the radar and hardly anyone knew they were around. A friend of the daughter sent a referral through church headquarters and we went over to talk with them. They're having financial problems and we arranged to have ward members that work with finances help them. We went over Saturday night and two men in the ward gave Barton a Priesthood blessing. Afterwards, he just kind of lit up and we asked if we could start teaching the lessons this week. He agreed and the mom and daughter were absolutely ecstatic!!! I think that Barton could be ready for baptism soon. He's trying to stop smoking right now... =) It was a miracle that the friend sent the referral to us and now the ward is taking them under their wing. MIRACLE!!!!

 

There is another family of a mom (Veronica), and two daughters (Taina and Giovanna) that have been working toward baptism. Missionaries have been teaching them for quite a while now. We've committed them to baptism and we're trying to figure out when it will work because there are a few little roadblocks, but they're on the way and will probably be ready in a few weeks!!!!!

 

Another lady named Judy.... she's also been "taught" for quite some time now. On the teaching record it looks like missionaries stop by and visit with her a lot and sometimes read from the Book of Mormon. This week, we've been taking ward members and teaching the lessons. I think she'll be ready for baptism in a few weeks, also!!!! She's about 70 years old and she's darling. =)

 

Another lady named Nancy! She was found tracting by missionaries earlier and they've stopped to chat a lot with her. This week we went back to contact her and I found out that she dated a Mormon when she was younger and he gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She's been reading in it and is interested in understanding it more...she was just waiting for missionaries to talk about them being Mormon or something!!!!

 

Something else that I forgot to mention is that we live with a lady that is NOT a member of the church. =) She is absolutely wonderful and she treats us like we are her own children. She came to Sacrament meeting last week and we've started saying family prayers together this week. =) At night, Sister Nelson and I go to her grand piano and we sing hymns. Mama Rose comes in and sits on the bed by us and I can just feel the Spirit. She's a good, good woman!

 

I feel so blessed to be serving here. I love being a missionary and I'm so grateful for the people we've been blessed with to teach. Miracles have been happening and it's so neat to be part of the Lord's work. He's been preparing these people for a long, long time. I'm loving the area, the people, the red car, the life.... this has gotta be the good life! =) I was excited to hear the announcement of the new ages for misssionary service. I think it will be absolutely phenomenal. There is a lot of work to do and a lot of people are prepared. I think that 19 year old girls will be just as good as anyone. =) I love being a missionary! I'm grateful to have the Gospel in my life and for the direction that it gives me in my life. I am grateful that Heavenly Father is patient with me and has a plan for me. I know that I could not do anything without my Savior, Jesus Christ!

 

Love,

Sister Heather Ripplinger