The Stories of a Spokane Sister: Ritzville Adventures

It's Monday!! You know what that means. :)

Check it out below:

"Howdy everyone!!

This past week was definitely an adventure! My new area is small, great, and wonderful! I love it!! But, before I go on and on about Ritzville, let's do a week recap :) A lot has happened this week, so please bare with me....it's going to be long (:

Monday, was a very bittersweet day, as all last day of transfers are. Sister Erickson and I saw D'yani and Kaylee from the group home who introduced us to a new friend :) It was fun to teach them again! I really love them dearly and will miss them. After the group home, we went to go see Pam, Tatiana and Jeanine at the Wimpfheimers! As always, they brightened my day! As we shared one last lesson, tears started flowing down my face as I was privileged to share one last testimony with these beautiful daughters of our Heavenly Father! I'll miss seeing them on a weekly basis, but look forward to coming back to visit them! I love them so much and they have made me a better person!!

Tuesday, I met Sister Brown! She is so great!! She's from Logan Utah and is also 19. She just finished training with Sister Mills (from my MTC district). Sister Brown and I have a lot in common! She's so sweet, cute, funny, and helps me become a better missionary! She has a strong testimony and love of the gospel. She loves talking to everyone and is just so great! She was prepared and ready to serve a mission! We spent a lot of our day in the car on Tuesday. Because we're going into an area that had no missionaries in it for 6 months, we had no supplies. We had to gather some from other missionaries and branch members. Also, it was an hour and a half drive from Spokane (where we meet at transfers) to Ritzville with some stops on the way. Sister Keil (Keel) picked us up! She's so sweet! She took us out to eat and even paid for all of our groceries! The members are just so great!!! Oh..and we're in a Branch. For those of you who don't know, our congregations are called either a ward, branch or unit based on size. A ward is the biggest, branch is a little smaller than that, and a unit is teeny tiny! I've never served in a Branch before but it's awesome! Haha, we have members from other wards assigned to come up on Sundays to be a part of our congregation...that's how small our Branch is! I love it though! Tuesday night, we got a new investigator named Bonita! She's so sweet and has been through some tough times! She's been to churches before, but has never felt welcomed or loved. We told her about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and she said we could come tell her more!! Also, we'll be living in an apartment, but not until September 1st (tomorrow), because it's being used right now. In the meantime, we're living with the Nelsons who are totally awesome! Brother Nelson is our Branch Mission Leader and Sister Nelson is the Primary President! She said she make us all our breakfasts and dinners while we stay with them :) Needless to say, it was a great first day!

Wednesday, we got 2 new investigators, Dylan and Anastasia. We're not sure how open Dylan is but he said we could come back. Hopefully when he hears how unique and powerful the message of the Restoration is, he'll have a greater desire. Anastasia has a strong belief in God. She loves talking about Jesus and we had a good discussion with her! She said we could come back for the weekly Bible study she and her father have! We're excited :)

Thursday, we met a family named the Elders. Brother Elder joined the church a year ago and he and his wife just got sealed! What a blessing it is to be sealed to the ones you love most, and to live with them for all eternity! They are a part-member family and their kids have taken the discussions before. We're excited to meet with their kids again and hopefully help lead them to the waters of baptism. Their son Sage seemed interested, and we haven't met the rest of the family yet, but will this week! We are so stoked to get to know this awesome family more!

Friday we met our huge district and they're pretty awesome :) I'm excited to get to know them more.

Saturday we met with Bonita again and taught her the Plan of Salvation. She's been through a lot of tough times. We just found out yesterday that her husband has cancer and the future isn't looking too hopeful. We pray she will find peace, and comfort through the message of eternal families and the Restoration. We put her on date to be baptized October 10! She said if she comes to know it's true by then, she'll do it! We know God is loving and merciful and will answer her prayers by then! We gave her a Book of Mormon as well! We're excited to see where this goes :) We also saw Anastasia again and realized she's pretty set in her ways. We loved talking with her though, and learning more about who she is. We admire her strong faith in Christ and hope one day she'll be open to studying the Book of Mormon alongside the Bible :) We also met a girl named Alexis. She is also a part-member family! Her aunt (whom she live with) is semi-active. Alexis loves the message and knows she'll be baptized. She doesn't want baptism right now because her parents (especially her father), are strong Catholics and are making her feel guilty about looking into the church. We hope as we continue to meet with her and teach her, that she'll see how this Gospel will greatly bless her family. I'm thankful for the blessings my family has received because of the Gospel and pray she'll recognize that in her own!

Yesterday we went to church! Our small Branch is so cute! Haha, instead of having a middle-aged to older woman play, we have one of the Young Women play the music for sacrament, that's how small it is! It's cute though and the members are wonderful! Our Branch president is great and we're excited to work with them more! Yesterday we also got 2 new investigators! The first is Ashlynn. We were trying to contact a less active family and saw this man and son getting into their car a few houses down. We went to talk to them and they were about to leave, but the man said to go talk to his wife....we did :) She said she's very busy but that we could come back. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she'll try to find time to read from it. She said she was thinking about baptism and is also looking for a good church for her kids to attend. We'll see her tomorrow so we're hopeful that she'll feel the Spirit as we testify of this message! We also met a lady named Marianne. She's dating a less active member and has taken discussions a while ago. She's not sure if she wants to continue them but said we could come back in a week and talk more about it!

This week was very good, hence the novel the size of Harry Potter. We both feel very blessed to serve here together. We love this place, these people and one another! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you and pray for you daily!

I love my calling!

Sister Wilson"