Well, this week has been pretty crazy awesome. On monday night we got a new companion. One of the sister's needed to go home because of medical problems so her companion stayed with us. We were told by president that we were to take care of both areas. That is alot of area to cover. I was very much tired of driving by the end. Tuesday wednesday and the morning of thursday we spent in corbin kentucky. it was very much fun and very much different. We taught so many lessons. My favorite lesson was with a guy named Jackie Sturgil. He WILL be getting baptized this transfer or beginning of next transfer. We met with him on wednesday. He is the most humble person in the world. Jackie is homeless. He lives in a homeless shelter. He was once married but now they are divorced and the woman took everything that he had. He goes around and he helps wherever he can. He has a job so that is good. He is 31 and he is very tall. I would say 6 foot 5 inches tall. He is a very great guy. This was our first official lesson with him and he said that he loves the book of mormon. He said that he can remember what he has read which is a great thing. We met in a bus stop bench area. It was great to meet him and it will be great to see him baptized. He also said that when he went to church, he felt like he was at home and he has not felt that with any other church. He is amazing.
we met with a potential investigator name connie. She was pretty much amazing. She has this certain look that says, "I am the next relief society president." She is so prepared to accept the gospel. We taught her and her husband and they have been reading a little of the book of mormon. They said that they had a book of mormon from many years before and said they would read it more as part of their study. They are very intrigued with the index. They loved it. :) I am very excited to go visit with them again. Her husbands name is Mitch. they are in their 50's.
We have a lot more promising investigators and i am very excited. It is alot different than Beattyville that is for sure. Oh do you want to know a surprise??? Sister mikami is leaving the area as well. Beattyville is now closed to missionaries. Surprising HUH??? I will tell you why. We have not been having too much success in this area lately. We have had 9 baptism dates and no one getting baptized. When at church there is hardly anyone there. When people are there, they leave after sacrament meeting (which is lame). We had our music concert which went really well. It was set up beautifully. They performers all came. I played my praise to the man song. Sister mikami sang I know that my redeemer lives for the last song and people were in tears. Do you want to know who all showed up? only 6 people from our branch. The rest were from Tates Creek Ward which is in Lexington. Oh we had one new person who may be taught the discussions soon if he wants it. But no one in the community came even after we passed out at least 400 invitations. I was very much not pleased. But those who were there had a great time feeling the spirit. But that is why the area is closed to missionaries. No one comes to church, they do not support the missionaries, and the members are not truely converted to the gospel. They need to figure out how to run the church with out the missionaries. I believe that this area will be bigger now that the missionaries are taken away.
My shoe has a hole in it, in the sole!!!! How cool is that? I believe I will be able to stick it out for six more months but I was excited to see the hole. It just shows how hard I work right? haha. I got a new watch as well because my other watch was driving me crazy with the latch. :)
Yesterday was pretty much the hardest day. People were crying like crazy. I never realized what an impact I had on people until I am leaving an area. Many people are not very happy. We went to go see irene yesterday after church and after lunch. We were dreading telling her that both of us were leaving. but we told her. She was not very pleased. She kept blaming God. It came time for us to go and we started to sing her a song like we always do. She wanted us to sing I am a child of God. We sang two verses. I had to really force myself to not cry. Irene was crying like crazy. Then she wanted to sing There is sunshine in my soul today. That is her favorite song. I held back my tears for the first two lines but when the chorus came I just started bawling. Tears were streaming. I could not sing. Sister mikami was crying. Irene was crying. Sister westover and sister nelson were crying. It was very much not a fun time. It was such a tender moment though. I am going to miss that Lady very very very much. Who knows if she will live any longer. I hope she just passes on soon and have happiness in her life.
Then we went to go tell the Snowdens. We clog with them every week. They were not pleased that we were both going either. Mable started crying as well. It was hard. Then we went to go see Gladys. She was fine with us leaving really. She will miss us but she knows the plan of salvation real well so she just said that she would see us later. Then Betty Johnson...oh boy. I purchased a purse from her and she gave me a note and a UK pin and some jam. Then we told her the news. She just started crying. We have been through a lot with her. We have kept her from hurting herself three times. She is a very mentally abusive relationship and we kept her from hurting herself many a time. Sister mikami hugged her and the heartbreaking words came. "You said that you would not be leaving." She was devastated. "what am I going to do without you?" We calmed her down eventually and said everything would be alright. Sister westover would be there to help out at anytime. That one was very hard. very hard.
Steve Gay. That one was hard. He came to the music concert and when he heard that we were both leaving I was just looking at him the whole time and his eyes were full of tears. I went over to him and told him thankyou for coming. He has been going through some hard things and now he is back. I gave him his baptism pictures and then he said that he was sorry for going astray. Then we went to the restroom to compose himself. I was very glad to see him and very glad that he is back and trying to be active again.
So yeah. That was my week. It was very productive. Now we get to clean our entire house and pack all of our stuff. I don't know how I fit everything in two suitcases when I came. It is not happening now that is for sure. :)
I love you all very very much. Keep strong. Amanda
Our Wonderful Life Together
Monday, May 23, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
May 16, 2011
I really do not know what happened this week. We pretty much just got rid of all of the investigators this week. The Flinchums are no longer progressing and Ruby Lutes she is not really progressing at all. We are going to officailly drop them sometime this week. Our amazing Jewell Mink has moved to Paris, kentucky so we need the elders to go find her and baptize her. I miss that girl so much. So yeah. Pretty much we are starting all over this next week which is going to be great. We have started a new approach to missionary work in this area. We have realized that a lot of people do not like us. They do not like to hear the message that we have to share and that when we share, it just goes through one ear to the other. This weekend we are doing something really neat. We have been setting up a music concert for the area. We have a whole bunch of people from the lexington wards coming and doing piano solo's and singing and playing violins. It is going to be a great spirit filled with Jesus Christ. It will be amazing. This week we really have been focusing on getting the word out about this concert. We have not really tracted because we felt as if to do this concert. So, we made a ton of invitations and we went to a ton of apartments and we put them up there. The invitations went away alot faster than we thought. So we made a lot more. Yesterday was amazing. We went up this new area and we tracted with the approach to invite people to this concert. The first person we talked to was a baptist. We said, "Hi, we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," then the lady had a wall. She was not going to listen to us. She said that she was baptist. We then said, "Well, we just were coming around and we were inviting people to come to this music concert that we are putting on." Almost immediatly the wall came back up and she was beaming and then she was really really friendly to us and actually talked to us and not ignored us. Her total persona changed. It was amazing to see that. She said she might come. Then we were going along and we talked to more people that day than we have ever while tracting regularly. WE got to another baptist lady who said that she was very tired and did not want to listen to us preach. We said, "Oh, that is okay. WE were just inviting people to come to this concert." Then she changed as well and we talked of the spirit and how wonderful it was going to be to have the spirit in abundance. WE talked to some who were very excited and asked a whole bunch of questions as to where the church was located. Some did not seem so excited. I am really praying hard that people come to this concert and want to be taught more. I am playing my Praise to the Man song. I am very excited for it. :) It ceases to amaze me that people were so much more responsive to us when we invited them and did not really teach about the restored gospel. We are trying to figure out what kind of approach we still need to do.
So we visited Irene and she is doing so much better. Her strength is returning again. One day she paid particular attention to me and didn't really talk to sister mikami. It was very strange. Well, I kind of found out yesterday as to why she did that. Yesterday I heard news as to what was going to happen to me next transfer. There is a sister that is going home tomorrow, a week before transfers, and we are going to be put into a trio. So sister mikami, myself, and sister nelson are going to be taking care of two areas at once. It is going to be great. It will just be for the week. Then, next week I will be permanently in Corbin. I am going to be transferred to Corbin and be companions with Sister Nelson. I am excited for this. I love sister Nelson. She is in my district so I have already somewhat gotten to know her. It is exciting that sister mikami is still in my district so I will still be able to see her. I am sad to leave beattyville but not at the same time. There was so much drama this week from the members and it is crazy. There are alot of people who do not come to church because they do not like a certain someone and they refuse to forgive which is absolute foolishness. I am ready for a new area. It is kind of funny. Sister Nelson was praying that I would come be here companion. And this area is a WARD. it is going to be so much different. The bishop already knows me. I went on an exchange when sister goodman was my companion and this first appointment that sister klefsky and i went on was dinner at the bishops house. Ever since then the bishop has wanted me to come to Corbin and i have no idea why. But he got his prayer answered. :) this may be my last area which is kind of scary to think about. :) Time is going by fast.
I really have to get going. We have to go 'babysit' irene today because her son is going to the doctors and irene needs someone to be there. There was not really anything else. Although we had a really great stake conference yesterday. :) it is great. I love you all very much. I hope you have a great week. Love amanda
So we visited Irene and she is doing so much better. Her strength is returning again. One day she paid particular attention to me and didn't really talk to sister mikami. It was very strange. Well, I kind of found out yesterday as to why she did that. Yesterday I heard news as to what was going to happen to me next transfer. There is a sister that is going home tomorrow, a week before transfers, and we are going to be put into a trio. So sister mikami, myself, and sister nelson are going to be taking care of two areas at once. It is going to be great. It will just be for the week. Then, next week I will be permanently in Corbin. I am going to be transferred to Corbin and be companions with Sister Nelson. I am excited for this. I love sister Nelson. She is in my district so I have already somewhat gotten to know her. It is exciting that sister mikami is still in my district so I will still be able to see her. I am sad to leave beattyville but not at the same time. There was so much drama this week from the members and it is crazy. There are alot of people who do not come to church because they do not like a certain someone and they refuse to forgive which is absolute foolishness. I am ready for a new area. It is kind of funny. Sister Nelson was praying that I would come be here companion. And this area is a WARD. it is going to be so much different. The bishop already knows me. I went on an exchange when sister goodman was my companion and this first appointment that sister klefsky and i went on was dinner at the bishops house. Ever since then the bishop has wanted me to come to Corbin and i have no idea why. But he got his prayer answered. :) this may be my last area which is kind of scary to think about. :) Time is going by fast.
I really have to get going. We have to go 'babysit' irene today because her son is going to the doctors and irene needs someone to be there. There was not really anything else. Although we had a really great stake conference yesterday. :) it is great. I love you all very much. I hope you have a great week. Love amanda
May 9, 2011
Mothers day was the day before so we did not get a letter. She is doing great though and will be transfered to Corbin this next transfer and she is really excited. Amanda does not have an accent like we all thought that she would but she does say the word Y'all all the time without trying to. It is now imprinted in her mind to say it. We all think it is funny. We love Amanda and are so proud of all her work she has done serving the lord and can not wait till she comes home December 21st. We wish her the best of luck through the rest of her mission and will all be praying for her. Thanks for all of your prayers too.
Love
The Ralph Family
Love
The Ralph Family
May 2, 2011
This week we were able to see Becky Wylie twice. The first time was not expected. We were getting out of our car and saw becky and she looked different. When we sat down she just let it all out. She started having doubts. It was not all that surpirsing because we know Satan. But her doubts were silly. She just could not accept the past of the church history. Mainly...polygamy. Of course. We refered back to the doctrine of it all and it was better. She started to relax and be more excited. She was very much different that time. We invited her to pray about it. The next time was so much better. We got there and she was a very bubbly Becky. She was back. She said that she just read the book of mormon and did not have anymore doubts and that she felt a lot better and was able to sleep more. Phew. We actually taught the Word of Wisdom with her and it went alot better than we thought it would be. She was acutally excited to stop drinking her coffee. She was even going to tell her mom who is not liking the fact that she is with us missionaires, "mom, you are on the path already to being mormon because you stopped smoking." haha. Becky was really funny.
We went to zone conference and it was really good. I learned a few good points. one of the best was 7 Habits of Greater Spirituality. 1) Read Chapter 4 of Preach my Gospel. 2) Journal 3) Obey- Alma 57:20-21 4) Music- best music that brings in spirit 5) clean 6) words- wholesome, positive 7) Study Pray Attend church. I really enjoyed that. I have been trying to seek ways to be more spiritual and that helped me out alot.
We are getting a new mission president in July. His name is going to be president Woodberry. It is going to be alot different without the Glende's. The woodberry's seem really nice though. :)
Our poor Irene Noble. We have been seeing her every day for the last four months and last weekend she had a terrible fall. She did not break any bones. She is like a rock. But this week she is not doing well. She has been very very sick to her stomach and she is not happy and the nurses are not doing anything about it. It is quite frustrating. Irene just wants to die and I don't blame her. Sister Mikami and I have prayed that she would die soon. She needs to be happy. There was one night that we were just crying our eyes out. We really think that she is going to pass away really soon. There was one day that she ate 5 bites of ice cream and she threw it up about 2 minutes later. It was horrible. I am going to miss her like crazy. I have gotten really close to her. SHe is 93 yet she is my best friend and I have learned much about love with her around.
We got to visit with Jewell mink on thursday and she was amazing! We got to her house and we saw her walking. She looked at us with a huge smile and it was the best. She was very excited to see us. :) Then we taught her about the Gospel using 3 nephi chapter 11 and it was amazing. She accepted a baptism date. For May the 21st. I am excited for that because there is a better chance that I get to be here for it. Transfers are that week. I hear about transfers on the 21st and if I am leaving i will be in my area the 24th. :) I am so excited for Jewell. Is the most progressing along with Becky. We have a total of 9 baptisms but alot of them are not progressing so we are going to have to drop a couple of them. :( but it is all good. I would rather have them actually converted than half converted and baptized making it more likly that they would be less active. :)
I have the missionary dinner that I do not want ever again. We went to a members house and guess what they had for us to eat? Fish. Not just any fish. Fast food fish. It was from Long John Silver's. When I got in there my stomach was not doing too well and the smell of the nasty fried fish and cole slaw entered the air and into my nose. It was not the most pleasent smell. Thankgoodness though. They bought some chicken. But even that was really gross. Remind me to not go to Long John Silver's. It is not my favorite.
I was able to go to the temple on Friday. It was a great experience. I love the temple and not being able to go since novemeber was driving me crazy. It was very much good for us to go. :)
So yeah. That was pretty much my week. Nothing too crazy. Not like the week before :)
I am going to go now. I love you all very very much. I pray that you all have a great week and that it will not be frustrated. God is always near us, waiting for us to talk to him.
Sister Amanda Ralph.
P.S. Somthing funny that Irene said to me. I was walking out the door and she called out to me to say goodbye. She said, "Goodbye Brother Ralph." hahahahahaha. It made me laugh. She said she can remember my name the most because it is a boy name. She has a hard time with Sister Mikami's name. :) so I am special. hahaha. :)
We went to zone conference and it was really good. I learned a few good points. one of the best was 7 Habits of Greater Spirituality. 1) Read Chapter 4 of Preach my Gospel. 2) Journal 3) Obey- Alma 57:20-21 4) Music- best music that brings in spirit 5) clean 6) words- wholesome, positive 7) Study Pray Attend church. I really enjoyed that. I have been trying to seek ways to be more spiritual and that helped me out alot.
We are getting a new mission president in July. His name is going to be president Woodberry. It is going to be alot different without the Glende's. The woodberry's seem really nice though. :)
Our poor Irene Noble. We have been seeing her every day for the last four months and last weekend she had a terrible fall. She did not break any bones. She is like a rock. But this week she is not doing well. She has been very very sick to her stomach and she is not happy and the nurses are not doing anything about it. It is quite frustrating. Irene just wants to die and I don't blame her. Sister Mikami and I have prayed that she would die soon. She needs to be happy. There was one night that we were just crying our eyes out. We really think that she is going to pass away really soon. There was one day that she ate 5 bites of ice cream and she threw it up about 2 minutes later. It was horrible. I am going to miss her like crazy. I have gotten really close to her. SHe is 93 yet she is my best friend and I have learned much about love with her around.
We got to visit with Jewell mink on thursday and she was amazing! We got to her house and we saw her walking. She looked at us with a huge smile and it was the best. She was very excited to see us. :) Then we taught her about the Gospel using 3 nephi chapter 11 and it was amazing. She accepted a baptism date. For May the 21st. I am excited for that because there is a better chance that I get to be here for it. Transfers are that week. I hear about transfers on the 21st and if I am leaving i will be in my area the 24th. :) I am so excited for Jewell. Is the most progressing along with Becky. We have a total of 9 baptisms but alot of them are not progressing so we are going to have to drop a couple of them. :( but it is all good. I would rather have them actually converted than half converted and baptized making it more likly that they would be less active. :)
I have the missionary dinner that I do not want ever again. We went to a members house and guess what they had for us to eat? Fish. Not just any fish. Fast food fish. It was from Long John Silver's. When I got in there my stomach was not doing too well and the smell of the nasty fried fish and cole slaw entered the air and into my nose. It was not the most pleasent smell. Thankgoodness though. They bought some chicken. But even that was really gross. Remind me to not go to Long John Silver's. It is not my favorite.
I was able to go to the temple on Friday. It was a great experience. I love the temple and not being able to go since novemeber was driving me crazy. It was very much good for us to go. :)
So yeah. That was pretty much my week. Nothing too crazy. Not like the week before :)
I am going to go now. I love you all very very much. I pray that you all have a great week and that it will not be frustrated. God is always near us, waiting for us to talk to him.
Sister Amanda Ralph.
P.S. Somthing funny that Irene said to me. I was walking out the door and she called out to me to say goodbye. She said, "Goodbye Brother Ralph." hahahahahaha. It made me laugh. She said she can remember my name the most because it is a boy name. She has a hard time with Sister Mikami's name. :) so I am special. hahaha. :)
April 25, 2011
I am staring at the list of things that happened this week and i am amazed at what all happened.
First off is Becky Wylie. We met with her and it was amazing. We had her read 3 nephi 11 and she came up with the most amazing answer and revelation to that scripture. She said something concerning the people when they heard God's voice three times. She said, "How many times is God going to give me an answer to my prayers and me not do anything about them?" So that was really cool because she has been feeling really good about reading the book of mormon and everything that we talk about. So the time was right. She brought the converstaion up so we exteneded a baptismal committment. She said yes and that she would be baptized May 21st. It was such an amazing feeling because Becky is so ready to make that next step in her life. Expecially so she can be sealed to her husband who passed away. But she is almost frustrating because she is 'not ready' to come to church. She needs to feel comfortable going to church. She just does not want to let her other church down which is understandable to a point. But really she just needs to come and see. :) I do not think she will be baptized on may 21st because she has to come to church three times and she needs to stop drinking coffee which will be hard for her. *sigh* so much work. :)
On tuesday I did not go without the easter season. We helped the library hide easter eggs. There were so many kinds there. 90 kids. I do not know where they all hide but there were 90 kids. It was cute to see the little 1 1/2 year olds get the eggs. We did not hide them hard. Just along the lawn. On Friday Sister Westover (senior couple) volunteered to help a sister who said was not going to come to church because she needed to decorate 3 dozen eggs. So, sister westover volunteered to do that. Well, come saturday night, sister westover was very stressed and tired, so we ended up decorating the eggs. haha. We didn't even volunteer yet we did them. I think that was funny. I was glad to do them though. It was very very fun. I didn't know if I could be as creative as our family is with the coloring but I did anyway. I was trying to make one look like a rock like jaden can do but I could not do it. :)
The lady who was not going to come to church her name is sister caputo. She has a granddaughter who was at her house when we went to go eat there. We talked to the granddaguther. Her name was jewell. Next thing you know, she is an invetigator who is willing to come to church. Jewell said she always went to the activities, when there were some, when she was younger. She doesn't like the meetings on sunday. Well, come sunday, I was glad to see the caputos and jewell at church. it was so great. after the first talk, given by sister westover, jewell left because she could not control the tears that were coming down her face. Sister mikami and I ha da musical number and it was great. After church we went outside with Jewell to get her a book of mormon. She then started crying again. Jewell had the most amazing time at church and felt an overwhelming spirit in which she loved. She said she will be coming to church next week. I believe that she will be baptized...soon. :)
the dinner at the caputos was weird. There was good food but when we got there they did not invite us to sit down at the table. We all stood up for a while, then sat down in the living room and then talked for a while. Then, I think Elder Westover said something about the food, we were invited to the dinner table. We were there for 30 min. It was...strange.
Sister mikami took sick this week. on friday I almost got in an argument with her. We had some time in the morning where some scheduled meetings fell through. I told her that we needed to stay in and rest. She was very defiant and said no and that she could handle it. But I told her that she needed to stay in and rest her body. I know that I would want to go out too even if I didn't feel well and that she would force me to do the same thing. I made a proposition with her. We would go and see Irene as planned but then we were to go home and rest for three hours. She kindof rolled her eyes and said okay. So we did and she did not think she would fall asleep as fast as she did and stay asleep as long as she did. She was not feeling well and she needed the sleep. :) So, I helped by being stubborn. haha. The lord blessed us with Jewell that night so in conclusion, sometimes satying inside is good for us.
We have had quite the time with the dryer in our house. It keeps breaking. I think it was just an electrical problem. Well, I believe on thrusday night, we came home early(so sis m could rest) and we notice that we could not turn on half of the lights in our house. Yikes. It was because our landlords (the Arnolds) came and took out an electrical box and put in a new one. We tried calling them but there was not answer so we decided to just deal with it. Well, I went to get some water from the fridge and I noticed that the fridge had no power in it and it was getting warm. Yikes. That was not good. That needed attention. So we called again and the Arnolds came over right away. Mr Arnold was downstairs looking at all the fuses and trying alot of things. It took 30 min. Aoubt 25 min into the search he flipped a switch and the whole house died. There were no lights at all in the house. I could just see mr anold in my head in the cellar with no lights. Scary. So I yelled out to him if he needed any lights. I guess it was a funny saying, how I said it, and sister mikami laughed. Well, a short time later, mr arnold was able to turn the light back on and he fixed the fuse so all the electicity was on. Yeah! Mr arnold said, " I just want to fix the dryer. I will rewire the whole place if I have to, to get the dryer working." Haha. what a great landlord.
Tuesday night was a little scary. There were sever wather warning out. Over the night I believe that I heard that 60 tornados toughed ground in kentucky. Thankfully nothing happened where I was. 60 tornados is alot.
Hazel Dunn is another great story. We met her two weeks previous and the 2nd week we had a meeting with her and her mom but they were not there. So we went back this past week and we were not expecting her to be there. But she was. She surprized us alot. She told us that we have been on her mind alot and that she was wanting us to come back. So we started the lesson and then she later said that she started the book of mormon and loved it. We later after that asked her to pray about the book of mormon and she said, " oh, I don't think I have to, I know that the book if true and the word of God." SO COOL. Then we committed her to baptism and she accepted a date of May 21st. I don't think it will happen (maybe a couple weeks after). she has a major smoking habit to get rid of. But I think she will do it. She said she would get work off to come to church. :) She is amazing already. I am excited for her. As sister mikami was talking durning the lesson about baptism, I think satan was in a butterfly. haha. Because all of a sudden, a butterfly totally attacked her neck and stayed for a couple seconds. Sister mikami garbbed the butterfly and threw it. It was pretty funny.
I had a weird dream this week. There were 6 people in an elevator. two celebrities, sister mikami and I as missionaries, and two teenage girls. Well we were in the elevator and the two teenage girls were trying not to act all crazy because of the celebs. It was funny to see them. Then the celebs got out and then I had the genious plan to pretend we were celebs. So, I say, "Man, I think it is aweful silly that our fans get all crazy when they see us." Then I snuck a peak at the girls and their faces were priceless. They were trying to figure out what celebs we were because surely they would know. So sister mikami hits the second level and gets off quickly so the girls do not ask who we were. I forgot to get off for some reason and we were seperated for a little while. That is a big no-no. But I hit the level three and got off just in time because the grils were going to ask me. haha. Sister mikami and I found each other eventually. Then we went to zone conference and I say alot of missionaries. We were all seated in a big movie theatre. The movie started and then I woke up. (we are not supposed to watch movies. :) )
Friday night I found something disgusting in my hair. I was scratching my head to make my hair grow faster. and as I was doing so I felt a bump on my head. I know I did not have any moles on my head so I was thinking that maybe i bumped my hear somehow and it was just dried blood. So I picked at it for a while and then finally in came loose. I was dragging it down my hair and it finally got into my hand and wouldn't you know, it was a red bug! NASTY. I looked at the bug and it had a piece of white coming from its mouth. So, the bug had a part of my skull. Great. That was the nastiest thing ever. I get the heeby jeebies now. That was not my favorite thing to find. I wonder what would have happened had i not scratche my hear that night. I don't even want to know. gross.
So, irene came to church this past sunday and when we took her back to the nursing home she was feeling pretty weak. She does not eat hardly anthing at all so she is weak alot. we got her some food from the cafteria and she would not eat it even if we forced her to eat it. We left and then later that night we went to the church so I could practice the organ for an organ solo I am doing soon. <---yikies. So, i start playing the organ and one measure later sister m. says, "What do you think about seeing irene?" i say, "do you feel we sould" she says 'yes' then I say 'lets go.' Then I ran to the car and said, "missionaries to the rescue. haha. Then we get the nursing home and as we walk up to irenes room the curtain is pulled which it never is. We get in the room and there is no irene. We go out in the hall and ask the patients in the hall where irene was. They pointed down the other hall and said she went to the hospital. We got really concerned after that. We finally found her and there she was with a bruise on her head and a bloody knee. What in the world happend? We talked to a nurse. I guess irene was getting up, on her own, and brushingg her teeth and she fell. I think she hit her head on the sink. Somehow this frail 93 year old lady did not break any bones. She is one tough rock. haha. She came to the conclusion that she will need the help of nurses to help her with things. She cannot walk all that well and for such an independant lady, it was hard for her to come up with that conclusion. I am just glad she was okay. I dont want to see her leave this world. It will be so hard to see her go. I am glad that sister mikami listened to the promptings on the spirit. Irene was praying that we would be there.
So yeah. that is all that happened. Crazy huh? I have to get going now. Time is about up. I love you all very very much. I hope you have a great fantastic superbly wonderful week. :) Love, Amanda Ralph
First off is Becky Wylie. We met with her and it was amazing. We had her read 3 nephi 11 and she came up with the most amazing answer and revelation to that scripture. She said something concerning the people when they heard God's voice three times. She said, "How many times is God going to give me an answer to my prayers and me not do anything about them?" So that was really cool because she has been feeling really good about reading the book of mormon and everything that we talk about. So the time was right. She brought the converstaion up so we exteneded a baptismal committment. She said yes and that she would be baptized May 21st. It was such an amazing feeling because Becky is so ready to make that next step in her life. Expecially so she can be sealed to her husband who passed away. But she is almost frustrating because she is 'not ready' to come to church. She needs to feel comfortable going to church. She just does not want to let her other church down which is understandable to a point. But really she just needs to come and see. :) I do not think she will be baptized on may 21st because she has to come to church three times and she needs to stop drinking coffee which will be hard for her. *sigh* so much work. :)
On tuesday I did not go without the easter season. We helped the library hide easter eggs. There were so many kinds there. 90 kids. I do not know where they all hide but there were 90 kids. It was cute to see the little 1 1/2 year olds get the eggs. We did not hide them hard. Just along the lawn. On Friday Sister Westover (senior couple) volunteered to help a sister who said was not going to come to church because she needed to decorate 3 dozen eggs. So, sister westover volunteered to do that. Well, come saturday night, sister westover was very stressed and tired, so we ended up decorating the eggs. haha. We didn't even volunteer yet we did them. I think that was funny. I was glad to do them though. It was very very fun. I didn't know if I could be as creative as our family is with the coloring but I did anyway. I was trying to make one look like a rock like jaden can do but I could not do it. :)
The lady who was not going to come to church her name is sister caputo. She has a granddaughter who was at her house when we went to go eat there. We talked to the granddaguther. Her name was jewell. Next thing you know, she is an invetigator who is willing to come to church. Jewell said she always went to the activities, when there were some, when she was younger. She doesn't like the meetings on sunday. Well, come sunday, I was glad to see the caputos and jewell at church. it was so great. after the first talk, given by sister westover, jewell left because she could not control the tears that were coming down her face. Sister mikami and I ha da musical number and it was great. After church we went outside with Jewell to get her a book of mormon. She then started crying again. Jewell had the most amazing time at church and felt an overwhelming spirit in which she loved. She said she will be coming to church next week. I believe that she will be baptized...soon. :)
the dinner at the caputos was weird. There was good food but when we got there they did not invite us to sit down at the table. We all stood up for a while, then sat down in the living room and then talked for a while. Then, I think Elder Westover said something about the food, we were invited to the dinner table. We were there for 30 min. It was...strange.
Sister mikami took sick this week. on friday I almost got in an argument with her. We had some time in the morning where some scheduled meetings fell through. I told her that we needed to stay in and rest. She was very defiant and said no and that she could handle it. But I told her that she needed to stay in and rest her body. I know that I would want to go out too even if I didn't feel well and that she would force me to do the same thing. I made a proposition with her. We would go and see Irene as planned but then we were to go home and rest for three hours. She kindof rolled her eyes and said okay. So we did and she did not think she would fall asleep as fast as she did and stay asleep as long as she did. She was not feeling well and she needed the sleep. :) So, I helped by being stubborn. haha. The lord blessed us with Jewell that night so in conclusion, sometimes satying inside is good for us.
We have had quite the time with the dryer in our house. It keeps breaking. I think it was just an electrical problem. Well, I believe on thrusday night, we came home early(so sis m could rest) and we notice that we could not turn on half of the lights in our house. Yikes. It was because our landlords (the Arnolds) came and took out an electrical box and put in a new one. We tried calling them but there was not answer so we decided to just deal with it. Well, I went to get some water from the fridge and I noticed that the fridge had no power in it and it was getting warm. Yikes. That was not good. That needed attention. So we called again and the Arnolds came over right away. Mr Arnold was downstairs looking at all the fuses and trying alot of things. It took 30 min. Aoubt 25 min into the search he flipped a switch and the whole house died. There were no lights at all in the house. I could just see mr anold in my head in the cellar with no lights. Scary. So I yelled out to him if he needed any lights. I guess it was a funny saying, how I said it, and sister mikami laughed. Well, a short time later, mr arnold was able to turn the light back on and he fixed the fuse so all the electicity was on. Yeah! Mr arnold said, " I just want to fix the dryer. I will rewire the whole place if I have to, to get the dryer working." Haha. what a great landlord.
Tuesday night was a little scary. There were sever wather warning out. Over the night I believe that I heard that 60 tornados toughed ground in kentucky. Thankfully nothing happened where I was. 60 tornados is alot.
Hazel Dunn is another great story. We met her two weeks previous and the 2nd week we had a meeting with her and her mom but they were not there. So we went back this past week and we were not expecting her to be there. But she was. She surprized us alot. She told us that we have been on her mind alot and that she was wanting us to come back. So we started the lesson and then she later said that she started the book of mormon and loved it. We later after that asked her to pray about the book of mormon and she said, " oh, I don't think I have to, I know that the book if true and the word of God." SO COOL. Then we committed her to baptism and she accepted a date of May 21st. I don't think it will happen (maybe a couple weeks after). she has a major smoking habit to get rid of. But I think she will do it. She said she would get work off to come to church. :) She is amazing already. I am excited for her. As sister mikami was talking durning the lesson about baptism, I think satan was in a butterfly. haha. Because all of a sudden, a butterfly totally attacked her neck and stayed for a couple seconds. Sister mikami garbbed the butterfly and threw it. It was pretty funny.
I had a weird dream this week. There were 6 people in an elevator. two celebrities, sister mikami and I as missionaries, and two teenage girls. Well we were in the elevator and the two teenage girls were trying not to act all crazy because of the celebs. It was funny to see them. Then the celebs got out and then I had the genious plan to pretend we were celebs. So, I say, "Man, I think it is aweful silly that our fans get all crazy when they see us." Then I snuck a peak at the girls and their faces were priceless. They were trying to figure out what celebs we were because surely they would know. So sister mikami hits the second level and gets off quickly so the girls do not ask who we were. I forgot to get off for some reason and we were seperated for a little while. That is a big no-no. But I hit the level three and got off just in time because the grils were going to ask me. haha. Sister mikami and I found each other eventually. Then we went to zone conference and I say alot of missionaries. We were all seated in a big movie theatre. The movie started and then I woke up. (we are not supposed to watch movies. :) )
Friday night I found something disgusting in my hair. I was scratching my head to make my hair grow faster. and as I was doing so I felt a bump on my head. I know I did not have any moles on my head so I was thinking that maybe i bumped my hear somehow and it was just dried blood. So I picked at it for a while and then finally in came loose. I was dragging it down my hair and it finally got into my hand and wouldn't you know, it was a red bug! NASTY. I looked at the bug and it had a piece of white coming from its mouth. So, the bug had a part of my skull. Great. That was the nastiest thing ever. I get the heeby jeebies now. That was not my favorite thing to find. I wonder what would have happened had i not scratche my hear that night. I don't even want to know. gross.
So, irene came to church this past sunday and when we took her back to the nursing home she was feeling pretty weak. She does not eat hardly anthing at all so she is weak alot. we got her some food from the cafteria and she would not eat it even if we forced her to eat it. We left and then later that night we went to the church so I could practice the organ for an organ solo I am doing soon. <---yikies. So, i start playing the organ and one measure later sister m. says, "What do you think about seeing irene?" i say, "do you feel we sould" she says 'yes' then I say 'lets go.' Then I ran to the car and said, "missionaries to the rescue. haha. Then we get the nursing home and as we walk up to irenes room the curtain is pulled which it never is. We get in the room and there is no irene. We go out in the hall and ask the patients in the hall where irene was. They pointed down the other hall and said she went to the hospital. We got really concerned after that. We finally found her and there she was with a bruise on her head and a bloody knee. What in the world happend? We talked to a nurse. I guess irene was getting up, on her own, and brushingg her teeth and she fell. I think she hit her head on the sink. Somehow this frail 93 year old lady did not break any bones. She is one tough rock. haha. She came to the conclusion that she will need the help of nurses to help her with things. She cannot walk all that well and for such an independant lady, it was hard for her to come up with that conclusion. I am just glad she was okay. I dont want to see her leave this world. It will be so hard to see her go. I am glad that sister mikami listened to the promptings on the spirit. Irene was praying that we would be there.
So yeah. that is all that happened. Crazy huh? I have to get going now. Time is about up. I love you all very very much. I hope you have a great fantastic superbly wonderful week. :) Love, Amanda Ralph
April 18 2011
this week has been a really good week. We are teaching a lady named Vanessa Flinchum. She has a baptism date for may 28th. The transformation in her life is absolutely amazing. At first when we started to teach her, she was not very excited to see us. But the past two weeks she has been getting more and more excited. She is smiling when we get in the door now. Her husband Tim is still being annoying and disturbing the spirit but we are able to feel the spirit for the most part. Vanessa came to church yesterday and she had such a great time. She was just beaming. The ward members really did a great job with her. They took her under their wings and made her feel at home. When it came time to go, Vanessa just stayed around for a while just talking to the members. It was an amazing experience for her. She was very much smiling and felt very much a peace.
The new senior couple came on thrusday night. I absolutely love them. They are going to do so many great things for this area. Their names are the Westover's. Sis W. is very very bold. She knows what she wants and is going to go for it. Elder W. is wonderful. It seems as if I have known him for a very very long time. He has been a mission president and a temple president. I feel as if I have to be on my best behavior and make sure that I am following all the rules. I already do but to have an authority near to me, we have to be sure we are doing what is right or I am sure we will get reprimanded. Haha. But he is very funny guy.
We took the westover's to see the Mullin's family. We have only met them twice and they have met with missionaries many years before. There is Deborah and Clyde, Susie and Gary, and Norma. WE have never met with Norma before. She just got released from Jail and she was there that night. The first thing that happened when I got in there was her taping my shoulder and asking me if I had two book of mormons. It was a great experience. Over the course of an hour, Norma told us of her jail experience and how she felt God and wanted to know everything about him and wanted to change her life around. We testified that this was the way to go and we told her of Alma the Younger and his experience when he was the vilest of all sinners and how he was able to change his life around. So that was good. Then the conversation turned to Deborah. The perfect opportunity arose to ask her to be baptized. When we asked her, bless Elder Westover's heart, she was about to answer and he said, "So, how are we going to get you to church." it is funny now but in the moment I was like, 'Yikes, Way to get rid of the spirit." Haha. But later on sister Westover said, "When my husband interuppted you were about to make your decision." So Deborah looks over at Clyde and asks him and he says, "Yeah. I am sure that would be great!" I was thinking, "What?" I was totally not expecting that from Clyde. He did not really seem all that interested in the lessons. So, okay. They want to be baptized. Susie said that she wanted to as well. So we walked out of the trailer with three baptism dates for May 22. I am very very excited. So in total, we have three baptism dates to prepare for. It is an amazing thing.
Time to go. I love you all. Amanda
The new senior couple came on thrusday night. I absolutely love them. They are going to do so many great things for this area. Their names are the Westover's. Sis W. is very very bold. She knows what she wants and is going to go for it. Elder W. is wonderful. It seems as if I have known him for a very very long time. He has been a mission president and a temple president. I feel as if I have to be on my best behavior and make sure that I am following all the rules. I already do but to have an authority near to me, we have to be sure we are doing what is right or I am sure we will get reprimanded. Haha. But he is very funny guy.
We took the westover's to see the Mullin's family. We have only met them twice and they have met with missionaries many years before. There is Deborah and Clyde, Susie and Gary, and Norma. WE have never met with Norma before. She just got released from Jail and she was there that night. The first thing that happened when I got in there was her taping my shoulder and asking me if I had two book of mormons. It was a great experience. Over the course of an hour, Norma told us of her jail experience and how she felt God and wanted to know everything about him and wanted to change her life around. We testified that this was the way to go and we told her of Alma the Younger and his experience when he was the vilest of all sinners and how he was able to change his life around. So that was good. Then the conversation turned to Deborah. The perfect opportunity arose to ask her to be baptized. When we asked her, bless Elder Westover's heart, she was about to answer and he said, "So, how are we going to get you to church." it is funny now but in the moment I was like, 'Yikes, Way to get rid of the spirit." Haha. But later on sister Westover said, "When my husband interuppted you were about to make your decision." So Deborah looks over at Clyde and asks him and he says, "Yeah. I am sure that would be great!" I was thinking, "What?" I was totally not expecting that from Clyde. He did not really seem all that interested in the lessons. So, okay. They want to be baptized. Susie said that she wanted to as well. So we walked out of the trailer with three baptism dates for May 22. I am very very excited. So in total, we have three baptism dates to prepare for. It is an amazing thing.
Time to go. I love you all. Amanda
April 11, 2011
What is Benny the Bear's last name? Random question but I want to know. Well, I know but I want to know if you know. Respond on that for me. :)
Last monday was a very fun day for us. We went to the Red River Gorge that day and we say a whole bunch of different things. We hiked a little. We went with the Lloyds and with brother Roberts. In fast and testimony meeting brother roberts said, if you want to see the Sister's with their hair down, go to the Gorge with them. haha. He said he had a whole bunch of fun with us because we were able to let loose and laugh and have fun. I almost fell off a cliff. Shh. don't tell anyone. If was very very windy and I loss my footing and i had to take a step back and I stopped thankfully. Me and those cliffs. brother Roberts thought it was great because we took a picture of us jumping up to a tree in path and hanging on it. It was a side that not many people see. It was fun.
Becky wylie. She is an amazing person that we are teaching. She watched a session of conference and we called her afterwards and she said, "I can't believe that i did not watch the rest of the conferences. I will have to go back and watch them." I love Becky. She is so close to the spirit. One of these days we will be having her baptized.
Happy late birthday Grandma Ralph. And happy birthday to Grandma Ryan and Emily. :)
So Thursday was very interesting day. I don't know if I should even tell of this experience or not. Just don't freak out okay? So, Thursday was very interesting day. We went to go see Irene and we sang to her Praise to the Man. When we did, we were in the second verse and her roommate starts screaming for us to stop. But we did not really stop. Her roommate then got out of her bed and was jibbering something and she goes over the faucet and says, "I am going to fill this water up with hot scalding water and throw it on you eyes." I have to tell you that i was pretty scared. We motioned for the nurse to come and help. They got the water bottle away from the roommate. A phycologist came by and talked to her roommate and we took irene out of the room for a while. We stayed there for 2 hours. Then we had to go and we went to go to a dinner appointment. When we got there we both consulted with eachother. One of the appointment fell through because she was sick and we had an appoinment with David and Sue after that. But we both REALLY felt that we should not go to that appointment. We were scared to cancel though because we already did in the past. But I called and canceled with them. I don't think we will go back to David and Sue. But after we called, we both still felt different. Different like somehting bad was going to happen. But we went to go eat and after the dinner appointment we felt very nervous. We ended up getting home and the feeling was so bad that we decided to stay home the rest of the night. I can' t even describe the feeling we both had. I know that my heart was tight and I felt like something was on my back. When we got home those feelings went away and any time we thought about going outside, we were urged to stay inside. I do not know what would have happened if we were to go out that night. I don't think that good things would have happened. Nothing natural happened that night. We believe that Satan was on the watch of us. Then the next day (friday) we were completely fine. But at 2:00 we went to a certain area and BOOM. All of a sudden those feeling came back. There was something ever present on my back and it was not a good feeling. I remembered the time when there were a couple other sister in the this area before that felt Satan's prescence and I believe we were feeling his prescence again. We went to the Lloyd's because I thought that it would be a good idea to get a blessing. So we go and we got a blessing. In my blessing Eldery Lloyd rebuked the evil presence away from me. At that time I just started crying. The bad feeling was gone. He then said that i was a good missionary and that the lord was very pleased with me and that I would be able to discern where the elect people are. :) It was good. I felt so much better after that and Satan has left both of us alone. Satan really does not want to find the elect people that are out there because he knows what will happen. I did not know that i was going to be in the face of Satan so much. It is crazy. But I am safe. :) We made some smores that night because we felt like it. They were huge jumbo smores and you could roast them three times. It was amazing.
Steve bore his testimony yesterday. i was so proud of him. :) I feel like a mother proud of her child. :) haha. The coupel days ago I woke up at 5:00am and I could not fall back to sleep. So I stayed awake for an hour and a half waiting for the alarm. it is annoying when that happens. Maybe i won't be able to sleep in when I get home. :)
We got transfer news and I am staying in Beattyville for another transfer and am staying with Sister Mikami. I am excited to be with sister m. I am not all that excited for the same area but I will still work hard. The Lord needs me here for some reason and I guess I will figure it out. :)
I love you all. Nothing else real interesting has happened this week. I really am just trying to battle my emotions. I seem to have a lot of them lately. It will all work out though in the end. I am still being happy. :)
I love you. Amanda
Last monday was a very fun day for us. We went to the Red River Gorge that day and we say a whole bunch of different things. We hiked a little. We went with the Lloyds and with brother Roberts. In fast and testimony meeting brother roberts said, if you want to see the Sister's with their hair down, go to the Gorge with them. haha. He said he had a whole bunch of fun with us because we were able to let loose and laugh and have fun. I almost fell off a cliff. Shh. don't tell anyone. If was very very windy and I loss my footing and i had to take a step back and I stopped thankfully. Me and those cliffs. brother Roberts thought it was great because we took a picture of us jumping up to a tree in path and hanging on it. It was a side that not many people see. It was fun.
Becky wylie. She is an amazing person that we are teaching. She watched a session of conference and we called her afterwards and she said, "I can't believe that i did not watch the rest of the conferences. I will have to go back and watch them." I love Becky. She is so close to the spirit. One of these days we will be having her baptized.
Happy late birthday Grandma Ralph. And happy birthday to Grandma Ryan and Emily. :)
So Thursday was very interesting day. I don't know if I should even tell of this experience or not. Just don't freak out okay? So, Thursday was very interesting day. We went to go see Irene and we sang to her Praise to the Man. When we did, we were in the second verse and her roommate starts screaming for us to stop. But we did not really stop. Her roommate then got out of her bed and was jibbering something and she goes over the faucet and says, "I am going to fill this water up with hot scalding water and throw it on you eyes." I have to tell you that i was pretty scared. We motioned for the nurse to come and help. They got the water bottle away from the roommate. A phycologist came by and talked to her roommate and we took irene out of the room for a while. We stayed there for 2 hours. Then we had to go and we went to go to a dinner appointment. When we got there we both consulted with eachother. One of the appointment fell through because she was sick and we had an appoinment with David and Sue after that. But we both REALLY felt that we should not go to that appointment. We were scared to cancel though because we already did in the past. But I called and canceled with them. I don't think we will go back to David and Sue. But after we called, we both still felt different. Different like somehting bad was going to happen. But we went to go eat and after the dinner appointment we felt very nervous. We ended up getting home and the feeling was so bad that we decided to stay home the rest of the night. I can' t even describe the feeling we both had. I know that my heart was tight and I felt like something was on my back. When we got home those feelings went away and any time we thought about going outside, we were urged to stay inside. I do not know what would have happened if we were to go out that night. I don't think that good things would have happened. Nothing natural happened that night. We believe that Satan was on the watch of us. Then the next day (friday) we were completely fine. But at 2:00 we went to a certain area and BOOM. All of a sudden those feeling came back. There was something ever present on my back and it was not a good feeling. I remembered the time when there were a couple other sister in the this area before that felt Satan's prescence and I believe we were feeling his prescence again. We went to the Lloyd's because I thought that it would be a good idea to get a blessing. So we go and we got a blessing. In my blessing Eldery Lloyd rebuked the evil presence away from me. At that time I just started crying. The bad feeling was gone. He then said that i was a good missionary and that the lord was very pleased with me and that I would be able to discern where the elect people are. :) It was good. I felt so much better after that and Satan has left both of us alone. Satan really does not want to find the elect people that are out there because he knows what will happen. I did not know that i was going to be in the face of Satan so much. It is crazy. But I am safe. :) We made some smores that night because we felt like it. They were huge jumbo smores and you could roast them three times. It was amazing.
Steve bore his testimony yesterday. i was so proud of him. :) I feel like a mother proud of her child. :) haha. The coupel days ago I woke up at 5:00am and I could not fall back to sleep. So I stayed awake for an hour and a half waiting for the alarm. it is annoying when that happens. Maybe i won't be able to sleep in when I get home. :)
We got transfer news and I am staying in Beattyville for another transfer and am staying with Sister Mikami. I am excited to be with sister m. I am not all that excited for the same area but I will still work hard. The Lord needs me here for some reason and I guess I will figure it out. :)
I love you all. Nothing else real interesting has happened this week. I really am just trying to battle my emotions. I seem to have a lot of them lately. It will all work out though in the end. I am still being happy. :)
I love you. Amanda
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)