Time Flies!

Hey y'all,
 This week really went by fast. Doesn't feel like it should be Monday again... But it is. Last Monday was interesting. After P-day we went to Thomasons (Ward Mission Leader) for family home evening. A recent convert, Rex, came with his girlfriend. He told us that he and his girlfriend are getting married! It's kind of a weird situation because Rex hadn't met her until earlier that day. But both of them really want to get married, so they are. It seems to be a good match. But we are really hoping it works out. Luckily she is a very strong member though. So that's good.

 Tuesday we just went around contacting people. Trying to find new investigators by going through our area book. We didn't find anyone new, most of the people we were trying to find had moved and the current resident wasn't interested in us. But we did share a couple lessons.

 Wednesday we did that same thing. This time we found someone! We were looking for a girl named Rachel, but she had moved and the girl that lived there said she was interested in learning more. Whether she was actually interested or just trying to get us off her porch I don't know... but we went back the next day and she wasn't home. Stood us up :P Kinda lame. We are still trying though. 

Thursday we got stood up, then visited a lot of less actives. It was really good. We shared a lot of messages and uplifting scriptures. None of them came to church, but hopefully we helped them in some way! We contacted a referral.. his name is John Schmidt! =) Kind of the opposite of the piano guys Jon Schmidt. Haha. This John is a biker. He owns a auto body repair shop. We went over there to see him and we had a really good conversation about the gospel and what we each believe in.... while playing a game of pool. Haha. It was great. It's frustrating to hear him talk so much about God, and know that his beliefs are so close to ours... but still not be able to help him understand why there is only one true church on the earth, and how our priesthood authority came straight from Jesus Christ. It makes sense in my head.. why can't it make sense in his too? Haha. After that we went to another referral who has a lot of questions about the church because his son in law is a member. So we went over there and right off the bat he asked for a Book of Mormon. So we gave him one, and some pamphlets that will help them understand a lot more. We are hoping that will spark more curiosity so we can teach them. They are looking for something more in their life anyway... I think the gospel is probably the best choice =) Thursday was pretty much just a really good day. I enjoyed it.

 Friday... I lied, we contacted those people and gave the a Book of Mormon on Friday. Haha. I'm too lazy to fix that though. =) We gave one of our investigators a church tour. Hoping it would help her feel more comfortable and get to church... but it didn't. So that was lame.

 Saturday was crazy! There was so much we did, and so much more we wanted to do but couldn't. We met with one of our ward mission leaders in the morning and had breakfast with them. Then we went to a funeral where me and Sister Lyman (another sister in Weiser) did a musical number. I accompanied while she sang. It was alright. I messed up really bad because my music fell of the piano! Haha. It was embarrassing, but funny. I'm sure many people got a chuckle out of it. After that funeral we helped clean up then waited at the church and played 'I have never' until the next funeral started. Me and sister Lyman did the musical number at the funeral too. That one was a lot better because I had Sister Krauss hold my music. Haha. At the end of the second funeral we had been at the church from 10 to 7... so me and Sister Breen went to Idaho Pizza for dinner. It was nice to go out and not have to talk to anyone for a bit. Then we went to our other ward mission leader's house. And that is what our crazy day consisted of.

 Now... what we wanted to do....lol. That recent convert, Rex, went to the temple to do baptism with the youth. We really really wanted to go but couldn't. He said it was amazing. It was so awesome to hear of his experience! =) He was able to watch one of the young women get baptized for his wife. He told us he was crying, and she was crying, and he just loved it. Made us so happy =) (I really hope this is all making sense cuz I'm not rereading or editing this). The other thing that I wanted to do was go to Nampa for Christine's baptism. But I wasn't able to do that either :P But I heard from Sister Bowler and Foster that it went really well and the spirit was there. That's the 4th person that has gotten baptized that I've taught. It's so crazy how much I love them and how proud I am of them for taking that step, when I only knew them for a couple weeks. It's awesome being a missionary =)

 Sunday really wasn't too exciting. Though me and sister Lyman got asked to do that same musical number in sacrament. But she can't, so I may end up singing or doing a piano solo again or something. I love the opportunities I'm getting to play the piano. It's super fun! And challenging! And when people find out I play the piano they let me play their grand pianos ;) So it works out great. Haha.

 That was pretty much my week. It was a great week. It was super tiring, but very fulfilling. It was great.  Here is a good quote I heard yesterday in relief society "It will be alright in the end... and if it's not alright, then it's not the end." Have a great week! =)
Love, the one and only, Sister Radmall

Transfers... again! Email received February 17th

This week was rough, just because it was transfers and everyone was excited and anxious to know what was happening.  Plus me and Sister Breen had a pretty good cold going on  so we were always so tired. But we did our best at doing as much as we could =) 

Monday we got to go to Nampa! Sister Breen had to do something there so we made a fun p-day out of it.  We said hi to Bro and Sis Sayre, had lunch with some other missionaries that I miss, and went shopping a bit.  I got some spring clothes because I am tired of the boring winter colors I have. Lol.

Tuesday was Zone meeting in Baker city.  Baker is about and hour and a half from Weiser.. plus there is a time change.  So that took pretty much all the day.  Left at 9, got there at 9:30 (with the time change) then stayed till 3 and got home at like 5.  But we learned a lot of good things about how to street contact and how to find new investigators.  We had lunch at a pizza place and got a super HUGE pizza.  like 2 feet in radius. Haha.  When we got home we went to a relief society thing and talked about missionary work and what we can all do to be missionaries.  It was good.  The spirit was really strong.  Sister Breen is really good at bringing the spirit.  =)

Wednesday was one of the only days we really got a lot of missionary work done. We went around and visited a lot of people that have been kind of lonely.  It was fun.  Tried to contact some referrals that we got, but they weren't home.  We will try again!

Thursday we went to a lady's house who just got in a car accident.  She is just sore, but has a hard time moving around.  So we did all her dishes.  It took us about an hour.  Our hands were prunes.  Lol.  But she was very grateful.  Her husband has some kind of handicap so he can't do them either.  Then we went to dinner at a cute restaurant here called "Homestead".  Has really good food.

Friday was district meeting.  It was crazy.  We had breakfast with the district before hand because the elders had an appointment later. But it turned out they had canceled it... so we had breakfast, district meeting (also a bday party for the district leader), then lunch.  Spent a lot of time with the district.  Probably because it was the last one before transfers and we didn't know who was staying or who was leaving.  After dinner we weren't feeling very good so (for valentines day) we took the color personality test and love language test. I'm 75% white, just an fyi. :)  Haha.  We also helped out one of the sister's in Weiser who knew she was leaving and was freaking out about packing because she has so much stuff.  Tried to help her calm down.  So that was good.

Saturday was transfer calls!!  Everyone was so anxious.  I wasn't sure if I was just a 'floater' and was just going to go back where ever president needed me.  Or if I was going to stay in Weiser for a little bit.  But I get to stay! I am so excited!  Sister Breen is staying too.  Our whole district is staying except that one sister we helped move.  It's kinda funny. =)  But we are all happy.

Sunday was weird.  Both me and Sister Breen were feeling really sick when we were supposed to get up.  Neither of us felt like we could make it to ward council at 7.  So we slept and planned to go to church at 8:30 but Sister Breen was still feeling yucky.  I got up and ready so I could be ready for when she got up.  We finally got out to church when sacrament meeting was almost over.  We sat on the couch listening and one of our new investigators walked in.  We had forgotten to tell him what time his ward was when we moved him in last week.  He thought it started at 9, so if we weren't sitting on the couch he would have walked in (probably very loudly) and disrupted the meeting.  So I think us being late for church was meant to be so we could get him to the right ward.  Interesting huh? =)

So... ya! That was pretty much my week. I hope I didn't bore you all. =)  I am finally really settling into Weiser.  Feeling more welcome, and more like I belong.  And I love my companion. So everything is great!

I wanted to share a funny thing that my bishop in Nampa said... I don't even think he realized what he said, but I love it =)

"Sometimes all you can do is all you can do, and that's all you can do." ~Bishop Minor.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

~Sister Radmall

I found my name!

Snow!!!

Howdy,

This week went by pretty fast, but slow at the same time.  I guess that's how all the weeks are though.

On Monday we got a tour of an old radio station just outside of Weiser.  It was cool. 

Then we got to go to Ontario to go shopping and such.  I realized that my zone (which consists of 2 stakes I think) covers 2 time zones.  Weird huh?  LaterMonday night we went to Idaho pizza to have dinner with our investigator Ashley.  We talked to her about how she won't be able to get baptized if she is living with her boyfriend (this is the one that is moving to Oklahoma).  She understands, but doesn't want to think about anything else until she is settled and not as stressed.  She is excited to meet the missionaries down there, but is scared that "they won't be as nice as us".  She is going to write us =)  Hopefully the missionaries down there will help her feel the spirit more and help her want to get married and/or baptized.  I'm really curious as to how that will work out.  We saw her for the last time yesterday at church.  I got really attached to her in just the 3 weeks I've been here.  She is the only one that has called me her missionary so far =)

Tuesday we helped Rex with family history again.  That was super fun as always. It is just so awesome to see the excitement and light in his eyes when he sees that he can take a family name to get baptized.  He is so excited to take a trip to the temple sometime this month.  We also taught a lesson.  It went pretty good.  The spirit was there and they had been praying and reading as a family.  It was actually very interesting how the lesson came about.  We were really excited to teach about the plan of salvation because we thought it would be really good for them... but while we were planning neither of us could focus or really practice what we were going to say, nothing was coming to mind.  So we just decided that it would come to us when we taught.  We didn't say one thing about the plan of salvation in the lesson.  We started reading the Book of Mormon with them.  It was just interesting to see how much we were struggling with planning and it was probably because we weren't supposed to teach that.  Cool huh? =)  After dinner we went on exchanges with some people in the ward.  I went with a lady named Amber.  It was fun.  We only go into one house.. .but it made me have to step up and be in charge.  So that was good.

Wednesday we had a good lesson with another investigator.  I invited her to baptism and it completely shocked her... she said she likes what we are teaching her and wants to learn more, but isn't quite ready for baptism.  We challenged her to think and pray about it and come up with a date she feels she would be ready. We are praying for her.  Later we just went around visiting former investigators that we found in our area book.  To see if they are still interested or if they have moved, etc.

Thursday we had lunch with an older lady who had a stroke recently.  She had us pick up some pizza and we brought it back and we chatted and ate. It was fun.  She really needed the visit.  She makes SO much jewelry.  It's all over her house hanging up and decorating things.  They are all so pretty.  She gave me and Sister Breen both a necklace.

Friday we didn't do a ton.  Visited a lot of people, but didn't really get much done.  It was just a weird day. It snowed a bunch though, so later we went to the family history center to do some missionary training for Sister Breen and watched some mormon messages.  I'm scared to drive our fancy car into the ditch. Lol.

Saturday... interesting day.  Some elders called us and said one of their investigators was moving up to Weiser and asked if we could get some people to help.  So last minute we called a couple people and they willingly came and helped.  Kind of a sketchy dude.  Not judging! He had some pretty gross stuff.  It was snowing while we were moving too, so it was kinda cold and crazy.  Good times =)  Afterwards we went home and through all of our stuff in the wash.  Then we visited some people and went home early because the snow was really bad.  Watched The Testaments and talked and wrote in journals and such.  

Sunday was fun.  Long, but good.  Me and Sister Breen spoke in 3rd ward.  About turning our hearts to God.  Sister Breen talked about having a change of heart and king benjamin.  I talked about D&C 4.  It was one of the best talks I've written.  It was good.  Talked about how that truly turning our hearts to god requires us to gain the christlike attributes mentioned in D&C 4:5-6.  I expounded more on Faith, Hope, Charity and Love.  When I was finished I cleaned all my stuff off the podium, set it under my chair and headed straight for the piano (I was doing a piano piece as well)  haha.  It was a bit awkward.  But it was good.  I played "Redeemer".  The one I played at home a couple week before I left.  They loved it.  Sunday night we were super tired and it was a very productive night.  But we tried.  =)

That was pretty much my week.  I am out of time!  I hope you all have a great week.  Love you all!

Love, Sister Radmall

1st Week in Weiser

This week was great.  Hard, long, tiring, but great!  Got lots done.  Got lots learned.  Started talking like a redneck again ;)  Haha... just kidding. 

Monday was awesome.  Went to the ice sculptures in McCall.  So gorgeous!!! I was in photography heaven.  It was great.  Wish I had a better camera but oh well. It was so nice to see the sun! We started on one end of town and walked through stopping at all the ice sculptures.  The ice sculptures are kind of just placed through out the town in parking lots and where ever there is room so we had to walk around town to find them. The best one was the pyramid.  Super cool.  Our district is really close and we have a good time.  Too much of a good time. Haha.  We went out onto the frozen lake.  That was fun.  Gorgeous view.  I want to serve in McCall now.  I have so many pictures.  To many to email all of them so I'll just send my favorite.

Ice Sculpture in Macall

Tuesday we helped a recent convert with family history.  It was so fun to see him get excited about all the work he can do for his dad and grandpa.  He got really excited when he saw that someone had already been working on his line and really wants to figure out who it is.  That was probably the best part of the day.  We taught a girl named Ashley.  She is like 27 and is interested in the gospel.  Loves it every time we go over to teach.  But she is moving to Oklahoma to live with her boyfriend who is a less active member.  So tonight we are teaching her the law of chastity... should be fun.  We are hoping to being able to teach it in a way that she understands that she can't get baptized until she is married or not living with him, but not make it sound like she is a bad person and she should still meet with the missionaries in Oklahoma.  I'm sure it will be good.  That probably didn't make sense but oh well =)

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nothing really exciting happened.  I honestly can't think of anything that happened.  We just contacted a lot of people.  Updated people on who has moved and who hasn't.  For a small town they don't know much about a lot of people.  I am trying to connect with everyone and let everyone know that I am here to help them.  Trying to figure out how to help the wards want to do more missionary work.

Sunday I bore my testimony in both wards.  I felt like I did a pretty good job.  Hopefully made a good impression.  I decided that Sundays are the hardest because we have to act 'perfect'.  The members are always watching us to see if they would trust us with their friends and it is just super exhausting to be perfect for so long.  But it is fun to see all the members there and meet them.  

This week Sister Breen was talking about how it is hard to interpret what is thought and what is the spirit.  I told her: (before I realized what I was saying) "aren't they the same thing?  If we are living righteously anyway.  If we are doing what God wants us to then our thoughts go along with his thoughts, so our thoughts are the spirit."  Isn't that so true?  I am always trying to figure out if I am just thinking something or if the spirit is prompting me.  But if we are living righteously then it is all the same. =)

I hope you are all doing well!! I miss you!  Have a fantabulous week!

Love, Sister Radmall