Subject: Blessings from Heaven
Dear family and friends,
I feel so blessed to be back in Nauvoo. The Spirit here is incredible and we have so many rare opportunities in this special place. Over the last few days, we've been doing a lot of training and learning. However, we had the opportunity to attend the temple with all of our sisters, went out to Carthage Jail last night for a testimony meeting, we watched Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo, the Joseph Smith Movie, Remembering Nauvoo, visiting several of the historic sites, etc. One of my absolute favorite parts of the day is driving up the hill at night to go home and driving right next to that beautiful Nauvoo Temple, glowing in the night.
My companion that just came from the MTC is Sister Mills. Heavenly Father has blessed me with her. She is full of fire and energy, she is like a sponge and wants to learn everything that I can possibly teach her, she remembers everything, she isn't afraid to talk to people, and she is just WONDERFUL!!!!!! She has a gorgeous singing voice and I love sitting next to her in church and for our companion study. She's from Cache Valley, Utah!!!!! She is very patient when I have to leave with Sister Zibetti to plan schedules or do assistant assignments. She goes on exchanges with Sister Zibett's companion, Sister Richardson. They both are wonderful. All of the sisters this summer are absolutely wonderful. There is a spirit in our home that is just so strong. We are all growing close together and there is unity.
I've been striving to develop a vision of what Heavenly Father needs me to do this summer. One of my goals is to help these sister missionaries truly become sisters in Zion. I know that we are all together for specific reasons and I want to have unity and strength within us. When I see them, I see future leaders of the church, mothers that raise disciples of Christ, wives that strengthen and love their husbands, and strong daughters in God's kingdom. I want to have eternal perspective and learn life long lessons together. President Monson gave a talk in the Priesthood session a few conferences ago and spoke of a missionary who would strive to see everyone he spoke with dressed in white. I strived to do that throughout my mission. Last week, I had the opportunity to actually see these sisters dressed in white in the temple and it was powerful. They are all strong and faithful. I'm just so excited to be with them this summer!!!!!
We had the opportunity to be in President and Sister Gillilands' home a couple of times this weekend and I absolutely LOVE those opportunities. They both sit in chairs in front of us and we all gather around on the couches (semi-circle) and sit on the floor in front of them. Imagine 20 sister missionaries all gathered around their mission president and his wife. I LOVE IT!!!!!! I feel very blessed to be back with the Gillilands again. So many things that they taught me last summer stayed with me all winter and will stay with me for the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn from them. Sister Zibetti and I also get to serve around President Gilliland a lot and he is teaching us a lot about leadership and I'm learning from him. Oh, I never would have expected all of the things that have been happening. I love this work so much!!!!!
This week, as I was running in between meetings and everything that was happening, I saw four men wandering around together and felt like I needed to speak with them. I looked at my watch and didn't have much time before I was supposed to be upstairs, but I veered off and started talking to them. Three of the men were visiting from Saudi-Arabia and wanted to know about the Mormon religion!!!!! I had the opportunity to testify in a few short minutes and it was just incredible to think that Heavenly Father already has people coming from all over the world. I am sooooo excited to see what happens this summer. I know that the Lord is hastening His work. I can feel this sense of urgency in every fiber of my body. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!
"The more people you love, the happier you will be." Sister Gilliland
Love,
Sister Heather Ripplinger
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