Sister Ripplinger's Letter, This Week's Epistle, July 2, 2013

My dear friends and family, I've had some different questions asked, so I will try to include more information in this email to answer those. So many things happen around here!!! I LOVE IT! Transfers would have happened this, HOWEVER.... we got word that we are getting three more new sisters in the middle of JULY!!!! We weren't expecting them until the middle of August when some of us go home, but they are now coming earlier! So this transfer was extended by two weeks (making it an eight week transfer), so that we have a new transfer when they get here. I was so excited to know that I had a few more weeks with Sister Newell!!!!!! We have been making plans to have three more sisters. The Lord is packing in the missionaries! I absolutely LOVE it! The new sisters will come in right during Pageant season, so they will see Nauvoo at its finest. I love Nauvoo because there are literally hundreds of missionaries in a few square miles in Nauvoo and we're all in the midst of a temple. This summer, I have been really focused on strengthening the other missionaries and fulfilling my responsibilities with Sister Zibetti in doing all the scheduling, planning trainings, exchanges etc. However, Sister Newell and I are together every day but Wednesday (which is our administration day) or on exchanges and we get to do the regular missionary work that we are called to do in Nauvoo. We get to serve in the Visitor's Center, as well as the historic sites, and also in the Referral Center and on Mormon.org chat. The recent missionary broadcast talked about using the internet to share the gospel and we do a lot of that in Nauvoo already. We have time every day to be on mormon.org chat. So someone that is not familiar with the church comes onto mormon.org and can "chat" with missionaries. They often are more comfortable being taught online than having missionaries in their home at first. So we get to answer basic questions and get them started with the lessons until we can have their local missionaries come. Sometimes we are able to answer their questions and help them feel the Spirit in the first conversation and they are willing to give us their contact info so we can send a referral to the local missionaries. Sometimes we commit them to baptism and teach them for a little while until they are ready. This week online we taught someone from Mexico, Hungary, New Jersey, Trinidad and Tobago, Scotland, England, and Texas. I'll tell you quickly about the woman from Mexico. Her father passed away last Thursday and she has felt that he is somehow still around. She tried to tell her friends about the experiences, but no one believed her because he had died and couldn't believe that his spirit could still exist. She got online and googled "How long does it take a soul to enter heaven"? A few options came up and a mormon.org ad came along that talks about what happens after we die and led her to mormon.org. She came onto chat and we taught her from Alma 40. She described how she felt so peaceful and knew that what we were saying was true. She wanted to know more and we taught her a little more and invited her to have local missionaries come. She anxiously accepted, then asked us a question. It was, "I feel that my father is concerned for the welfare of his soul. What can I do for him?" Sister Newell and I smiled at each other and we just very basically answered her question and said that the missionaries will talk about God's plan for His children and she will learn more about what she can do for her father. She asked if it would be faster to have missionaries bring her a Book of Mormon or if she should order one online. :) It was so sweet and she was SO excited to learn more. She felt the Spirit and it was an absolutely incredible experience for us. I love testifying of the Plan of Salvation. Sister Newell and I have been working away at our "rainbow of referrals" this transfer. I mentioned a while ago that we cut out colored dots and write the referral names and where they're from and then we're making a rainbow over our window in our bedroom with them. We set a really high goal for the transfer and have been working away diligently at it. We had three days left in June and were behind. I know that Sister Newell has been praying faithfully that we could reach that goal and I could feel that the Lord was going to provide a way to do it. A few days ago, we got seventeen referrals in one day. We have already met our goal, and the transfer was extended two more weeks, so we can keep on working away. Last night, I was going through my notes I made a few months ago from President Weston about how to be a good trainer. One point was that when you are a trainer, you are entitled to revelation and you should expect to see miracles with the new missionary. You can pray for experiences that will teach them how to be a strong missionary. I know that Sister Newell has a lot of faith because we've been seeing miracle, after miracle, after miracle. I still remember that first day when we were companions and we went out in the garden and she said she wanted so badly to receive a referral. I asked her if she had faith, she gulped a deep gulp, and said YES. She got one about an hour later and she got 17 in one day this week. We've been focusing a lot of our companion studies on discernment and listening to the Spirit. Also on being bold and loving and having faith. It's been amazing to see how many opportunities the Lord provides us to have together in the VC or on chat. She soaks up everything and learns. She has grown soooo much and she's already a strong, strong missionary. One of my favorite memories this week was on Thursday, June 27th. All of the sisters drove out to Carthage Jail for the Commemoration of the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith. The meeting was absolutely incredible and the Spirit was strong. President Gilliland spoke and did a wonderful job. (I continue to observe him and learn a lot). Afterwards, all the sisters and the Gillilands stayed at the jail and had a testimony meeting in the martyrdom room. On the way home, we were driving into that beautiful sunset, with fireflies glittering the fields around us. We were singing missionary songs all the way, and I was just full of pure joy as I looked in the rear view mirror at my precious sisters that I love so much and my dear companion beside me. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a missionary in Nauvoo. This is the Lord's work and I absolutely love it. I've been praying that He'll prepare more and more work for me to do when I get home and that He'll pack my last six weeks with prepared people and spiritual experiences. He has taught me how to find people for missionaries to teach and for the rest of my life, I intend to continue being a "finder" everywhere I go and I want to build the Kingdom. Elder Holland gave a talk about missionaries working so hard that they have to go home on a stretcher.... I've got six weeks and I'm going to give it everything I've got. I have two paper back copies of the Book of Mormon that I'm working on right now. I am reading the Book of Mormon with my family and will finish it in July, marking references to ministering angels and prayer. With all the sisters, we are reading it marking references to strengthening power from the Lord and will finish it in the middle of August. I'm also trying to finish Doctrine and Covenants this summer and the book "Our Heritage", which is a lot about church history. Our companionship study time is always very inspiring and led by the Spirit and then we're just trying to work as hard as we can when we aren't studying. At this point, I'm completely relying on the Atonement. Without Christ we are nothing. With Him, we can do anything that God commands us to do. Love, Sister Heather Ripplinger