Sister Ripplinger's Letter, These Are The Days, August 12, 2013

My dear family and friends, This week was an answer to my prayers. I've been praying that the Lord will use me to the very end and use everything that I have left. Tuesday night, we had practice tracting for the 14 sisters that are new this year before we actually went tracting. All of the second summer sisters had different scenarios they took on as the new sisters were paired up and went around the upstairs floor of the Visitor's Center knocking on the office doors. I was with Sister Garner and we were two 80 year old sisters that had heard a lot of rumors about the Mormons. We had a lot of fun with it...haha All of the new sisters did AMAZINGLY well!!! When you serve in a Visitor's Center, you get pretty good at striking up a conversation with strangers and tying in some gospel principle with just about anything. They are all getting excited for their outbound assignments that will be coming in almost a month from now. A few friends have asked about what my assignments have been as an Assistant to the President, so I'll share some of those in this email. Since we got back to Nauvoo in April, Sister Zibetti and I were serving as the Assistants while we were training our new sisters. So we were with our own companions most of the time, except for when we were doing Assistant things on our administration day or when we needed to do something else that came up. For the last few weeks, we've been companions and with Sister Umphenour so we can train her to do the AP duties before Sister Zibetti and I leave this week. So... throughout the summer, we are in charge of working with the mission scheduler to make the schedules for all of the young sisters and rotating them through the Visitor's Center, historic sites, to Carthage on Sunday, etc. We report key indicators to the President each week from all the sisters. We meet with him each week and plan training meetings, ask needed questions from the sisters, etc. Then Sister Zibetti and I plan the weekly training meetings for the sisters, which can include anything from tracting ideas and practice to being totally consecrated in our missionary work. About once every two months, we got to do the training for the whole mission. Those trainings rotate through the mission presidency and three zone leaders (senior elders and their wives). We planned with the mission president and elders from the Iowa, Des Moines Mission for all the sisters to tract in three different cities in Iowa and worked out all the details. And so on and so forth. It has been an absolute blessing to be able to be part of all of it and to work with Sister Zibetti. We've grown together and learned really well how to rely on each other and work together. There is no way I could have made it without her. Somehow, we were able to get everything done and still fulfill our regular missionary responsibilities. On Friday, I went tracting in Quincy. Ten of us loaded into a twelve passenger van and divided to conquer the city. haha I was with Sister Holt in the first few hours and then with Sister Wood. We found a grandma with her three grand daughters out in their yard and the Spirit was extremely strong. They recognized us as servants of the Lord and asked us to pray for a few of their family members. We knelt together in their yard and offered a prayer. The clear impression that I had was that the little girls would be the ones to accept the gospel and learn from the missionaries. That was a special experience. The rest of the day was pretty much one slammed door after another. All of these experiences are for our gain!!! I'm grateful for the contrast of experiences because we appreciate the good times a lot. On Saturday, a different group and I went to Keokuk. We have so many new sisters that a few of us old geezers went two different days so that the new sisters had someone with a little experience to help. I was with Sister Searle in the early part of the day and we were out in the ghetto. The elders had said that area needed tracted and that's where we ended up. The Lord has His hand in these things, so we went forward with faith. We found a big family out in their yard and started talking with them. The dad was the most involved in the conversation. Almost immediately we had started talking about prophets in the Bible and I saw that he had a gun in his front pocket. At some point in the conversation, he told us that he had been in prison for six years. He also LOVED his family and talked about all the changes he was trying to make to be better. Tonight, we are having a BBQ with all the sisters, the Pageant Coordinating couple, and the Gillilands (President and his wife). Tomorrow morning includes packing, lunch, and then our transfer meeting with departing testimonies and everything at the mission home. Afterwards, the departing sisters and I will go with the Gillilands to the temple. We are going to do sealings...President and Sister Gilliland get to be the parents and we will be the daughters and sealed to them. :) YAY!!!!!! I am SO excited for that!!!!! Afterwards, we have dinner and departing interviews. The five of us get to stay at the mission home that night and we leave Wednesday! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve as a full time missionary in Nauvoo and in California. I have LOVED my mission. I will forever cherish the experiences I have had. I am grateful for the people that I was blessed to be with that I will love forever. I'm grateful that I could see other people change through the Atonement, but especially that I could be changed through the Atonement. I have a gained a stronger testimony and understanding of the Atonement on my mission. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all things will be made right. We can trust our Father in Heaven. We can trust His plan, His timing, and all that He has in store for us. I love my Heavenly Father and I love the Savior. I look forward to building the Kingdom wherever Heavenly Father sends me. I LOVE missionary work and I love this gospel!!!!! This is the work of salvation. Love, Sister Heather Ripplinger