Week 4 in La Grande

It's already almost the end of a transfer again!  It's so crazy.  I feel like now I made it over my 9 month hump the time is just going to go faster and faster.

Amber waves of grain in La Grande

I don't have a ton of time this week.  So I may not be writing a novel.  But I will write as much as I can!  We are in Enterprise right now at Bishop Lowes house!  We get to spend p-day up here because it's Ranzie's baptism later tonight.  So we are going to go on the tram finally and visit people I absolutely love!  I am so excited!  I couldn't go to sleep last night, and I woke up 10 minutes before the alarm went off because I was so excited =)  Felt like going to disneyland.  When we were almost here I told Sister M that this is probably what going home feels like.  I was just super super excited.  haha =)  I love it here!!!  More than anything!

So it was a crazy week.  But this coming week is going to be even more crazy!  Kaydon had his interview for baptism on Monday, then on Tuesday we had a fun district meeting.  Getting there was exciting.... So we went to our church to copy some music that Sister Duncan wanted.  And on the way out I realized that I left the keys in the locked library.  So we were stuck in the church!  Our car was locked and the phone was in it.  Haha.  We had like 10 minutes till the meeting started.  Sister M freaked out a little bit.  We went over the phone and luckily there was a ward directory sitting there.  So we called a bunch of people to see if they had keys.  We finally got someone =)  It was so funny.  I thought it was exciting.  Sister M didn't think so.  haha!  We made it to district meeting about 30 minutes late.  And no one even called us to see if we were okay!  What?  common:P  haha.  Later I wasn't feeling very good, so we stayed inside for a while so I could sleep.

Wednesday we went to Elgin like usual.  Did some yard work in Summerville, then visited a bunch of people.  Helped a lady start to clean out her pantry.  Will help her again next week.  Had dinner with a nice young couple that I met my first week in Enterprise actually.  Had a picnic. Then visited more people.  Got to spend a little time at mutual too.  Getting to know the girls a little.

Thursday we didn't get out of the house for a while because it was weekly planning and we had a lot to do.  Then we taught Kaydon the 5th lesson.  For those who don't know, usually before baptism we teach the fist 4 lessons in preach my gospel.  Then after baptism the ward mission leader in the ward will coordinate who will teach the 5 lessons in preach my gospel again.  They changed that.  Now we teach all 5 lessons before and after baptism.  And we are in charge of deciding who teaches the new member lessons.  Kinda cool.  That was my first time teaching the 5th lesson.  Kinda fun.  We went to a relief society dinner after that.  Kinda fun to get to know the members more.  We learned about healthy eating and exercising.  I think it was a hint for me.  haha.

Friday we helped serve food at a senior center thing.  It was fun. Weird to serve people coffee and iced tea though.  Haha.  Later we did a ladies dishes for.... guess how long.... 3 hours!  Just the dishes.  Her apartment is getting inspected today or tomorrow and she needed help cleaning it.  All we did were the dishes.  If you could see my face right now you would know how gross it was.  But we love her so we helped her!  I just have to say, thank you mom!  For making us clean things!  For keeping our house so clean.  But also for letting it looked lived in so it was comfortable.  You have no idea how much I appreciate that now that I've seen the worst.

Saturday we went to two baptisms.  The first one was an 8 year old. And the second one was Kaydons.  They both went really well!  I played the piano at Kaydon's and gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  Sister M gave a talk about baptism.  We gave him some gifts to go along with our talks.  For baptism we got him a white towel.  Because when we are baptized we are all nice and clean and pure, but because we make mistakes, and use the towel it gets a little soiled.  So every week we can wash it.  We can take the sacrament and because clean again as if we got baptized all over again.  We also got him some bandaids and talked about a splinter and how if we don't tell anyone it will get all festered and infected and hurt worse than if we just took it out at first.  If we repent right at first and not let our sin get infected it can heal much quicker.  I got him a little flash light.  Because the gift of the holy ghost is like a flashlight.  We can have it all the time as long as we choose to use it and are worthy to have it. 

Kaydon's baptism

 After the baptisms we had dinner at Sarah's.  She invited a member! So that was cool.  It sounds like she is making changes in her life that we didn't know.  We aren't even really doing anything.  She can just feel the spirit when we come.  She really doesn't like organized religion, so we don't talk much religion there.  Though we do try to sneak some in.  We were thinking that it wasn't doing anything but using up our time.  But it sounds like it is helping her a lot!  I love it when that happens =)  You influence people even when you don't think you are!

Sunday Kaydon and his family showed up a little late.  So it was pretty crazy.  We were really worried.  But they did show up!  And he received the Holy Ghost! =)  After a long day of church we got to go to a birthday party for dinner.  Had a yummy steak, had to run before the birthday cake though.  haha.  Then we taught Colton =)  He is just so awesome!  Still counting the days till his baptism.  That lesson went really well.  Then I got to play a duet with a teenage girl after the lesson.  That was fun!  Shoulda got it on video.  Oh well.  After that we visited some people we set appointments with, but neither of them were home or available. :P  lame.  

And now today!!  It's like a mini summer vacation!  Long over due.  Haha.  we are so excited!  I've said that multiple times now haven't I.  haha.  I am super duper excited =)  had butter flies in my stomach the whole drive up here.  =)  Anywho... that was my crazy week.... but just wait till you hear about next week.  We are already almost booked with appointments and such.  So it will be an adventrue =)  I love adventures.  They are so great.

So.... I hope you all have a fantabulous week!  I have gained a testimony of baptism while on my mission.  My covenants are much more meaningful to me now that I've seen that ordinance done so many times.  I now know that it is the one and only gate into Eternal life.  if we are baptized and keep those covenants we made our whole life we can live forever with our Heavenly Father, and our families.  I am so so so blessed to have that knowledge!  I hope I can share that with everyone else I come in contact with the rest of my life!

Love you all!

~Sister Radmall

A member's grand piano--my dream setup with windows and all!

9 months, 7 companions, 4 areas, and Counting...

There are just a couple highlights from this week.  So I'm not even going to go through every day.  Haha.  It might be a little less boring =)

On Tuesday we got a baptismal date!  His baptism is actually this Thursday.  But we are trying to change it to Saturday.  His name is Kaydon.  He is 11 I think.  His mom is a member, his dad isn't.  He is pretty excited, but nervous to get baptized.  Been wanting to forever but they haven't been able to follow through with the dates they set.  So hopefully this time we can get him =)

On Wednesday we went to Elgin.  Always fun in Elgin.  

We met with the bishop.  Which, I don't know if I already told you, is Esther Palmer's brother.  Crazy small world huh?? =)  Kinda fun!  He has been past my house!  Haha.  He visited them when they lived in Trenton.  I never would have thought that a neighbor's brother would be my bishop in the mission.  Connections everywhere.

We had a picnic with a less active lady on Thursday.  She had so much fun.  She has had some trauma in her life I guess, and she hasn't really been out in the world for a really long time.  So we are trying to help her get out.  She has been wanting to have a barbecue, so we took her on a picnic because it was kinda close to a barbecue.  She is coming to sacrament meeting regularly now.  We just have to work on getting her to Sunday school, and she has a calling in the nursery.  So that is the next step =)  She is so fun.  I love her!  We had another lesson with Colton.  He is still so excited for his baptism.  We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It went good.  But I was feeling kinda sick that whole day, so I was really out of it.  My brain was seriously not connected to my mouth.  I couldn't say anything I wanted and it was just embarrassing.  But funny now.  Sister Mackelprang had my back though.  She helped me out a lot in that lesson.  That's what companions are for!  And the next day she couldn't get out what she was trying to say, so I had her back.  It's pretty great.  haha.  I don't know what's going to happen when neither of us has our head screwed on right one day.  Haha!  Oh ya!  Also on Thursday we had a flat tire.  That was exciting.  I'm sure we could have called Les Schwab, but I wanted to show Sis. M how to change a tire so she could do it.  Those lug nuts were on there good.  haha.  I was so sore the next day!  I got all of them off then a member stopped and helped get the last one on.  Though I loved the help I was really disappointed that I did all that work and wasn't even able to finish it. haha ;)  He was so nice though.  And hopefully Sis. M knows how to change a tire now.  Haha.

Saturday we got some really yummy fresh cherries.  We took some around to people =)  Yup, that was fun.  Had dinner with a non-member who feeds us every week.  She is opening up a little I think. She isn't interested in religion, yet she feeds us, and now she is inviting her mormon friend from work to eat with us.  So that's good progress =)  It's amazing how the Lord softens hearts even when you really don't think they can be softened.  And you absolutely know that you can't soften them.  It's the spirit working within her.  So cool.

We had so many meetings on Sunday!  Ward council at 7:30, missionary correlation meeting at 8:30, church at 9-10:50, another ward council at 11, run home for lunch and go to a non-member's birthday party for 10 minutes, then to a stake missionary correlation meeting at 12:30, and church at 1-4 where I was talking in sacrament meeting.  Crazy day!  Then we had dinner and a lesson with Colton at a member's house at 5.  After that is when if finally slowed down.  We were able to visit a couple people.  One of which is a member who just sent her son off to the MTC in Chile.  So we were able to talk to her about that and help some of her fears.  It's kinda fun to talk to people who have missionaries.  Gives me an idea of what you guys think about ;)

That was my crazy week with the fun experiences and the not expected experiences.  haha.  Always an adventure.

My talk on Sunday was about how to recognize revelation.  I learned a lot from it.  And I know I was supposed to talk on that because my topic was the Holy Ghost and when I started preparing for other subjects under that topic I was blank.  I just couldn't come up with anything.  So I know someone in the audience needed to hear how to recognize revelation.  And it very well could have just been me!  So here are the 4 things to remember when wanting to recognize your revelation

1. The Lord's timetable is not your timetable- be patient with his answer.... if he says yes it is to build confidence, if he says no it is to correct error, if he with holds his answer it is to help us grow.

2. The Lord rarely speaks loudly.  His message almost always come in a whisper, a feeling

3. Answers don't come until we study it out in our minds and act on our own judgement and agency.

4.Revelation that gives us a testimony is not an event but a process.

So remember those =)  Wish I could give more detail, but I'm running out of time.  I got the ideas from a Dallin H. Oaks talk in August 2013 ensign and Richard G. Scott in June 2014 Ensign.

Have a great week!

 Give everyone hugs for me! =)

Love, Sister Radmall

Happy Independence Day!

So, this week had it's ups and downs.  I think the best part of the week was Thursday and Friday.

Beautiful Elgin

  The others were a little hard.  But not terrible =)

Monday after emailing we did our normal shopping, cleaning, etc.  Then we went to the church like usual to play piano.  Always fun.  We are working on a piano organ duet of come come ye saints.  So cool!  I really want to play an organ piano duet in a sacrament meeting some day! 

Tuesday we went to Elgin to visit some people.  I think the hardest part of this last week was the fact that NO ONE was home!  They were all out of town at families, or camping up at Wallowa lake (where I wish I could have been.  haha.)  We did go on splits with some members.  That was fun.  I went with Sister Miller again. She is just so adorable!  Very talkative.  Which is good cuz I didn't have a lot to say that night.  We went to one house and didn't get a very friendly farewell.  But Sister Miller heard him say 'cya later'.  Not what he said....  But that doesn't matter.  We are going back to visit his wife.  Sorry, I'm kinda blubbering today.  haha.  

That night we got to teach the Bishop and his wife lesson 1.  We are trying to get into the member's homes more and bring the spirit of missionary work.  So we are wanting to teach all the leaders the restoration to show them it's really not scary.  It went well I think.  They enjoyed it.  We commited them to think of someone they can bring closer to Christ and to pray about how they can best do that.  =)  I think it will turn out well in the long run.  Something will come of it... probably after I leave. =P  That seems to be the pattern of my mission.

Wednesday was my half way birthday!!!  It was weird.  Not gonna lie, I wasn't completely excited.  Though it was fun to think that I am not one of the new sisters anymore.  I am actually the 'oldest' sister in my zone.  That was crazy to grasp.  Sister M was so nice.  She gave me a cute little gift and a note for my 9 month day =)

We did a lot of service.  Planted a flower in a non-member's yard (which now isn't doing so good :P whoops)  Then we went to a place called People Helping People and helped sort clothes and put them on hangers.  Then we went to go wash our car while in jeans because the next day Elder Short was taking it and he wanted it spick and span.  That was a really good way to cool off!  I highly suggest washing a car on a hot day.  We may have gotten in a small water fight.  haha!  Then we had to run over to the store to get some change to vacumm.  haha.  It was weird to walk into the store in jeans.  I felt really out of place.  Which is odd, cuz no one wears skirts in the store.  Bought a box of Klondike bars, got some change, and vacuumed.  A lot of work just to get the van vacuumed.  And you probably didn't care.  Oh well =)  Later we taught our investigator, Colton, the first lesson.  And he accepted to be baptized!  It was fantastic!  We are so excited.  He is a golden investigator.  So ready for the gospel in his life.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked if he would like to start from the beginning or if he wants us to give him a chapter... he said, very excitedly, "oh, I'm going to go home and sit down and start reading it right now!"  It was so cute =)  He is 13 by the way.  What 13 year old boy wants to sit down and read the Book of Mormon?? Or any book for that matter?  

Thursday was zone meeting.  Lots of fun.  But a lot of people were way late.  So we started late, and ended late, and didn't get a break in the middle.  But that's okay!   It was still good.  We switched cars.  So no more Dodge minivan.  It's now a little red Subaru.  Fun to drive.  Nothing exciting on Thursday.  Visited some people.

Friday the 4th!  We went to a ward breakfast.  Fun stuff.  I didn't recognize hardly anyone.  I'm still getting there.  But I did recognize a few.  So I was happy about that.  We were asked not to proselyte that day, so we did our weekly planning.  Then we went to a member's house up in the mountains in Elgin.  That was fun.  Had a barbeque, then just relaxed for a bit because no one else had invited us over.  We also had to be in at 6 pm.  So we had 3 hours to do stuff.  We had a spa night =)  Did our nails and facials.  It was nice to take a breather.  That was a holiday that was very much needed.  We had a lot of cookies that night, so we were pretty giggly and silly.  IT was a blast!  The fireworks started at 10 at the university, so we were able to watch them because we could see them from our house and they finished in time for bed.  It was fun!

Wow, this is a novel.  Sorry.  I wouldn't be surprised if you are bored already.  haha!

Saturday we did a lot of yard work again.  Helped a recent convert plant some seeds.(it's a little late to start planting, I hope they grow)  Then we went to a member's house who we knew needs yard work done but can't do it.  We just showed up and said, 'Where do you want us to start?'  She was so grateful.  We will be going back next week. (Gaining the member's trust has begun!) After that we saw a recent convert who is going through a really rough time.  She was so grateful for our visit.  It was perfect timing.  We are going to go to lunch with her this week.  It should be fun!  Then we had dinner at a non-member's.  That was good, then met with the ward mission leaders.

Sunday was just really long.  6 hours of church while fasting.  Wasn't bad. Just really long!  Had another lesson with Colton.  That went well again!  We asked him how he is feeling about his baptism.  He said, "Good! I just keep wanting it to come faster and faster!"  He is so awesome =)  So excited!  Later we met with some investigators that we took from the elders.  Hoping to get them progressing more.  That was exciting.  Someone else to teach!

That was pretty much our week.  I seriously had a lot to say.  haha!  hope you didn't get too bored ;)

Love you all

~Sister Radmall