Sister Ripplinger's Weekly Letter, January 22, 2013

Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 1:44 PM
Subject: Singing with JOY!!!!!

My dear friends and family,

 

Words simply cannot describe how incredibly HAPPY and full of absolute, sheer JOY I am!!!!!!!!!!

 

My new companion, Sister Benally (pronounced Be-NAW-lee) is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, I LOVE HER. (SQUEAL) She is an answer to so many prayers and I will be eternally grateful to Heavenly Father that He let me be with her. I think I've cried in all of my night prayers this week when I thank Him for her because she is amazing.

She is NAVAJO and she grew up on a reservation in New Mexico. She is SUPER hardworking, VERY diligent, devoted, dedicated, motivated, spiritual, athletic, and just all around wonderful. I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week has been amazing and I am just so dang excited for the next three months!!!!!!

 

So on Tuesday, Sister Nelson and I drove to the mission office to switch companions. She is up in Paradise now (an actual town...haha), so we met up with her new companion and she took off for the more northern part of California. I stayed at the mission office for a few hours and got to watch everyone switch companions and see the excitement happening. The other sister that is training this transfer is Sister Tittle and she is serving in Dry Creek, which was the first area I served in when I got here. The two of us went to a meeting with the elders that are training and were instructed by President Weston on training new missionaries. It got me totally pumped up and I could feel the Spirit soooo strongly!!!!! 

After that meeting, we had dinner with all of the new missionaries and I got to meet the two new sisters. I immediately loved Sister Benally. I felt the Spirit when I was talking with her....but I didn't want to try and "guess" who my companion would be at that point. haha.... After dinner, we went to the apartment in Dry Creek and we all passed out for the night. The nexrt morning, I discovered that Sister Benally loves to run and she likes sports. Halleluiah!!!! We went running together and watched the beautiful sunrise. The sky was all pink and as we were running, I thought, "This is a new horizon. Good things are going to happen." After that, we got ready for the day and then went to breakfast with the missionaries and President and Sister Weston. 

After breakfast, it was time for companions to be assigned!!!!!!! So I walked up to the big projector screen, pointed to my area where I am serving on the map, and introduced myself. Then.... my companion was announced and it was SISTER BENALLY. I tried to control my excitement as I gave her a great big hug. OH BABY!!!!!!! I was sooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a training meeting all morning and it was so exciting to talk with my new companion and to go over the material that we would cover during the next three months.

After the meeting, we got her suitcases, loaded them into our car, and took of for Wal-mart to get her groceries. Then we drove back to Loomis and quickly got her things unpacked. I just have to say that I loved her from the very start. She unpacked really quickly and was ready to get to work. Since then, we have been going a hundred miles an hour and I just feel on fire with the Spirit. As we are driving around, we are memorizing the scriptures that we recite at district and zone meetings, we role play, we review lesson plans, etc. Oh, it is so great!!!! Our companion study time has been AWESOME. She is just so motivated to learn and she's dedicated to the work. She immitates everything that I do....so I have to make sure that I'm doing it all right. haha! The first day I mentioned that we are supposed to read 4 pages from Preach My Gospel each day and read from the Book of Mormon, as well as study and prepare for our investigators. 

She wrote it in her planner, word for word, just like I do. In the morning, I make my bed really quickly and then put my shoes on so we can go run. She jumps out really quickly and is ready to go in a matter of seconds. It is just WONDERFUL. She graduated with a degree in Chemistry, so she's very studious and she likes to make charts and graphs to break things down. Planning for our lessons is so much fun because it is so thorough and she's EXCITED to plan the lesson!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!! Another huge tender mercy is that our members and investigators LOVE her. She is KIND, cordial, polite, genuinely interested, and just loveable. It is SOOOOO nice!!!!! She just immediately fits in and she is good with people. She watches me really closely and I try to explain different rules, etc. before they come up and then that awkward correction situation happens. I don't really have to do anything or say anything to her because she just watches me and DOES it. OH I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!

 

This weekend, we took Jacqueline to a baptism of a woman that the elders taught. Jacqueline LOVED the baptism and she is really excited for her husband to get to the United States and baptize her. It should be within the next month! This area is going to explode with awesome missionary work...I can feel it in my bones.

 

I have gained a deepened testimony of the Atonement this week. We will have trials and sometimes we won't know how we can make it or if we will make it. We may wonderf if we will ever heal from our challenges. Through the Atonement and through Heavenly Father's promises, I know that we can be healed. I was really hurting before, but this week, it was as though all of those feelings were completely washed away. I know that the Atonement is real. Heavenly Father has promised that the Celestial Kingdom will be worth every struggle we have, if we endure them well. I know that we can trust Him. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all will be made right. We will be ok, we just have to keep going and do our best. I know that we will not be disappointed in Heavenly Father's plan for us. We will be full of joy and it will be so eternally worth it. I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers. He answers them at the right time and in the way that He knows is best. I am SO grateful for Sister Benally. I love her! I'm grateful that I will get to finish my time in California with her. I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary. Thank you for all of your love and support. It means a lot to me and I'm forever grateful for the influences that I was raised around.

 

Love,

Sister Heather Ripplinger

Sister Ripplinger's Weekly Letter, January 14, 2013

Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 12:53 PM
Subject: Answered Prayers

My dear friends and family,

This week has been so special for me. It has been absolutely wonderful. So many miracles happened and I received so many tender
mercies. This was one of the BEST weeks of my entire mission. I remember a few weeks ago saying that I had the most difficult week. It
is a testimony to me that adversity is part of the plan and we become stronger when we face challenges. President Gilliland taught me that
if we endure well, we receive tender mercies. We can trust that Heavenly Father will bless us beyond our comprehension if we will keep
pushing forward and do our best. This week was SO good!!!!!!!!

I have some big news!!!! Transfers calls came last night..... and I am going to train a new missionary that will be coming from the MTC!!!!!!!! =) I am SOOOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!! I mentioned before in one of my letters that I had a neat experience two weeks ago. I was having my personal study time and I had really strong impressions that I would be training and the day that she went into the MTC I was getting those impressions. I am so excited to meet her because I know that she is going to be incredible. She will be a strong missionary and she has a lot of potential. My goal is to train a trainer. As soon as I finish training, I want her to be able to train a new missionary. We train for two transfers (3 months). That will take me into April, where I will complete my time in California, and will return to Nauvoo. This sister can take over Loomis and train someone else there.
That's my goal. =)

This week, we had our zone meeting and it was absolutely AMAZING. We talked a lot about charity and love. The Spirit was SO strong. At the
end of the meeting, we all knelt down and Elder Langford offered a beautiful prayer and prayed for every member of the zone by ame. Afterwards, all of the elders were hugging each other like they were best friends. Aww... you've gotta love the missionary love! So Sister Nelson and I hugged each other and then watched sadly, wishing we could hug the elders. hahahaha I love our zone and we've had so many good memories and experiences together. Most of them will be staying for this next transfer, so I'm grateful they will still be around!!!! I learn SO much from all of the elders and I'm grateful for their examples.

We have been working with one lady that hasn't really come to church much since she was baptized years and years ago. She would come to
church with her daughter when she was in town, but other than that, she wouldn't come. This week, she came to church all on her own and
she is reading the Book of Mormon again!!!!!!! Our ward mission leaders said that in the 14 years he's been around, she's never come
to church on her own. He responded, "THAT is a soul saved, right there." It felt so good to see her at church. She was just glowing and
happy to be there. Prayers are answered.

I have been pouring my heart out in prayer for our investigators, our potential investigators, those that we haven't found yet, my companion, the missionaries we serve with, the ward members, my family, etc. This week we had more investigators at church than ever before. It was absolutely incredible. The chapel was packed and the Spirit was strong in Sacrament meeting. A convert from a few years ago spoke and it was INCREDIBLE to see how strong his testimony is. I want all of my investigators to be like him in a few years. I have a specific miracle to share about church yesterday....

There is a specific family that I have been pleading with the Lord for us to be able to have a spiritual experience with them. Because of different circumstances, we hadn't been able to see them hardly at all in the last three months. So the wife is a member of the church and her husband is incredible, investigating the church. The wife's father passed away this week and as she was dealing with the loss, she came across the song "Be Still My Soul". She listened to it over and over and over this week. On Saturday, she found sheet music online so she could play it on the piano. She played it over and over and loved it. Sunday morning, she said a prayer in her heart as she was getting ready for church that she would hear that song in church. Only Heavenly Father heard her prayer and knew that two sister missionaries were planning on playing "Be Still My Soul" in Sacrament meeting that very day. =) During gospel principles class, she leaned over to me with tears in her eyes and said, "When you sisters went up to the stand, I didn't know what song you were doing at first. But when I realized what it was, I started bauling and I never cry. You were an
answer to my prayers." The husband knew how touched she was by the experience and I know that the experience was an answer to MY PRAYERS.Prayers are answered.

Last night, we went to a recent convert's house with one of our awesome ward members. This convert hasn't been able to attend church
recently because of a change in his job. We went over and were able to witness him blessing the Sacrament and exercising his Priesthood. He
was also able to bless olive oil and to consecrate it. I could tell that he was very nervous, but the Spirit was so strong. I loved the experience of watching this man exercise his Priesthood and to see him be coached along in the learning process. Oh, this Gospel is TRUE!!!!!!! The last time I watched oil be consecrated, I was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We started teaching a new family this week. Our ward mission leader's family invited a family to take the lessons and they are totally prepared. Prayers are answered!!!!!

We went to the temple this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, my goodness... it was SO good to be in a House of the Lord again. I knew that Satan
didn't want us to go to the temple. This weekend, I got really sick and was praying hard that I would make it through an endowment session. I woke up Saturday morning and was feeling ok. Prayers answered. Then when we got out to the car, we realized that the windshield and windows were totally frosted over, and I didn't think to pack a windshield scraper for our California vehicle. =) So we pulled off our name tags and started scraping away as quickly as we could!!! We made it to the Pilchers house and then jumped into their car. We made it to the main road that goes up to the temple area and all the sudden, it was like the street to the temple didn't exist anymore. Sister Pilcher has been to the temple countless times, but we couldn't find that street to get to the temple! We tried to find it in the GPS and it wouldn't come up there, either! Finally, we called the
temple to get the address, said a prayer, and we were able to find the right street. It really was quite weird that we couldn't find the street, but we made it! When we pulled up in the parking lot, Sister Stearn was there, and Veronica was, too!!!! Veronica just wanted to be on the temple grounds while we went to the session. As we walked toward the temple, I felt the Spirit SO strongly. I was so excited to be back at a temple and this was Veronica's first time EVER on temple grounds. I looked up toward angel Moroni and I just took a deep, happy breath and thought, "Oh, this is the good life!!!!!!!!!!" We took Veronica into the waiting room and then went on into the temple. Throughout the endowment session, I kept receiving very specific impressions about some of our investigators, my new companion, etc. I was also grateful that after three months of not going to the temple, I was able to remember everything and it was like I had never been away. The Spirit helps us remember things. It is AMAZING!!!!!! The Celestial room in the Sacramento Temple is GORGEOUS. I absolutely LOVED it!!!!!

I feel like the heavens have been pouring blessings down in my life and I am so eternally grateful for the tender mercies that have come. I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and He answers them in the right ways, at the right time. I also know that in the times when we are struggling, we can trust that we will be ok if we stay faithful. A few weeks ago, I was really struggling. But now it is past and it seems as though it is so far in the past. The Atonement truly can heal our hearts. Have resilient faith!!!! Keep pressing forward!!!! The future is SO bright. I'm grateful to know without a doubt that He hears our prayers and He loves us. I know that with all of my heart. I love this Gospel and I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister Heather Ripplinger

Sister Ripplinger's Letter, January 7, 2013

Sent: Monday, January 7, 2013 1:55 PM
Subject: Time to Arise

My dear friends and family,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!! This week has been really busy, really great, really crazy...and I feel like 2013 is going to be a great year! =) I
hope everyone was able to set some temporal and spiritual goals for the upcoming year and that everyone is looking forward to it. I know
that I sure am! Woohoo!!!!!!

Transfers are coming up next week!!! I can't believe that I've been in California for the amount of time that I have been... I feel like I've
been here for a long time because of how many things have happened since I've been here, but yet, the time has absolutely flown by. I'm
trying to soak up every single day. I have a few months left here and I'm just going to try and work away with all of my heart so that I
have absolutely nothing left in the tank to give in California. I have three months left here. I've been getting pretty specific promptings
of what is going to happen during that time and I'm really, really looking forward to it. Then I'm going back to my good, old town of
Nauvoo with everything I've got left to give on my mission and I'm going to finish hard. I feel like there is still so much ahead to
accomplish and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father has been consecrating my time. It's really interesting to step out of my little
missionary world and look at the big picture. Speaking of the big picture, eternal perspective, and feeling the Spirit.... I GET TO GO
TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Words cannot express how incredibly, deeply, sincerely JOYFUL I am that I get to go
to the Sacramento Temple. I was really blessed to be able to attend the temple once a week while I was going to school for the last couple
years, then once a week since I was endowed last December all through my mission until October. I haven't been in three months and I am
REALLY missing it. Sister Nelson and I get to go with some of our favorite members and I am SOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!!!! =) I LOVE THE
TEMPLE.

It will be interesting to see what happens with transfers and who I will be with. Earlier this week, I was having my personal study time
and I kept feeling the Spirit and thinking about the new missionaries. I started trying to calculate out how soon a sister would enter the
MTC to come out in time for our transfers and I think I was feeling those promptings the morning after someone special went into the MTC.
I am not positive about what will happen.... but I think that I am going to train and I think I'm going to get a really good companion.
This week, Heavenly Father has been lining things up and it is interesting to see His hand in preparing the area for upcoming people
and their specific talents. We'll see what happens! But I'm getting ready for whatever it is!

I went on exchanges with two different sisters this week, as well as attending Zone Leader Council...so the week was CRAZY!!!! It went
really well and I am just totally pumped up about the new year. My planner is filled with scribbles of people that we are teaching, the
lesson plans, the commitments we are going to leave, the miracles that happen, the impressions that the Spirit gives, etc.... If I step back
and just look at it, it gives me a head ache. haha Luckily, the Spirit helps keep us organized and sane. This is the Lord's work!!!!!

I have some SUPER EXCITING NEWS!!!! Jacqueline's husband (who was trying to immigrate from Germany) RECEIVED PERMISSION TO
COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We've been waiting for a few months to hear and he finally gets to come. She is just dying to jump into the baptismal
font and now her husband gets to baptize her!!!!!!!! She is SO excited and WE are sooooo excited!!!!!!!! She is one of the most prepared
people that I've met or taught. Everything just makes clear sense to her and she embraces the gospel with all of her heart. She is going to
be a strong, strong member.

So one night this week, our previous dinner plans had fallen through and we hadn't had time to figure anything else out. So the night
before, we receive a phone call from one of my favorite, sweet voices on the phone and she invited us over for dinner with their family. We
ended up having a really big discussion with two of their family friends. They had watched a show on TV about Mormons, which wasn't
true at all. It started out with questions about the show and then we ended up teaching basically the whole first lesson. This young couple
was surrounded by current missionaries, a young man with a mission call to leave in the next month, returned missionaries, and all.
hahaha It was really fun to be part of. =) It was cute because at first, the rest of the family was cleaning up dinner and it was pretty
loud in the kitchen. We were just sitting at the table in our little bubble, teaching about Joseph Smith and prophets, etc. By the end of
the conversation, however, all of their family was sitting reverently at the table listening to the conversation. =) I LOVED it!!!

One day on exchanges, we went tracting and we came to a man standing out in his driveway. At first, he had his walls up around him and
wasn't very friendly at all. Within a few minutes, though, he was smiling and happy and super nice! After a few minutes, his wife walks
out with a happy smile and starts talking with us. Come to find out that she is a less active member of the church! No one else in her
family is a member, however! They invited us in and the mom went to get her two teenage daughters! We were talking with their family for
about 20 minutes and there seemed to be a glow in the room. It was really interesting. I kept looking at them and just felt like something special is going to happen with them. We said a prayer before we left and scheduled a time to come back this week. I'm REALLY excited about them! It was a miracle that things worked out like they did because we couldn't have gone in if the wife wasn't there and she
was right inbetween work schedules ( PERFECT TIMING).

Another tender mercy is that our stake president is in tune with the Spirit. He is AWESOME. I had a few people that I've been worried about
and a few lessons that we wanted him to come to. When I called, he was already all over it. =) Tender mercy!

I am so grateful for this time to be a missionary!!!!!!! I AM SOOOO EXCITED TO GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!! If you haven't been to the temple in a while, please make time to go soon!!!!  It is such a blessing and privledge to be able to attend the temple. =)

Love,
Sister Heather Ripplinger

Sister Ripplinger's Weekly Letter, Dec. 31, 2012

Sent: Monday, December 31, 2012 12:36 PM
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!